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Orange County Transportation Authority declares emergency over threatened railroad track

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

The Orange County Transportation Authority has declared an emergency related to a sliding hillside in San Clemente that has threatened a railroad track and led to the intermittent halting of train service in parts of Southern California.The OCTA Board declared the emergency Monday, just days after the land beneath the historic Casa Romantica cultural center began to slip away, sending dirt and rocks onto the train track below. The emergency vote will allow OCTA CEO Darrell E. Johnson to take the necessary actions to "protect and reopen the track," according to a release from the Board.OCTA is working with Metrolink, the commuter rail system that serves Southern California, to develop a new plan and implement safety measures to protect the rail line, which is located beneath the cultural center just north of the San Clemente Pier.A landslide in San Clemente on April 27, 2023, impacted Amtrak train service between Irvine and San Diego. (SkyFOX)Both organizations hope to have the track...

California ranked the 'most fun' state in the U.S.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

“Fun” comes in a lot of different shapes and sizes, but if the folks at WalletHub are correct, California has the most of it.The personal finance website just released its ranking of 2023’s Most Fun States in America, and the Golden State took the top spot.WalletHub developed the rankings based on two key categories: “Entertainment & Recreation,” and “Nightlife.”For Entertainment & Recreation, factors included the number and variety of “fun” attractions like amusement parks, movie theaters, beaches, golf courses, national parks, ski resorts and restaurants.Fitness and weather were also considered.For Nightlife, WalletHub looked at the number of bars per capita, beer and wire prices, the time of “last call,” movie costs, and the number of music festivals, performing arts venues and casinos per capita.California received a score of 64.56, nearly three points ahead of Florida (61.72). Nevada, New York and Illinois rounded out the top 5.California ranked #1 in restaurants per ca...

Wildfires in California are getting bigger, more destructive

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

Human-caused climate change is largely responsible for an explosion in wildfire devastation in California over the past quarter century and the problem is only going to get worse in coming years, according to a study from the University of California.Researchers found that between 1996 and 2020, wildfires consumed five times as much land in California as they did in the 25 years prior from 1971 to 1996.“The 10 largest fires in California history have all occurred in the past two decades, and five of those have happened since 2020,” said Amir AghaKouchak, a UC Irvine professor of civil and environmental engineering. “Through our study, it has become clear that [human-caused] climate change is the major driver of this increase in wildfire damage.”Burnt vehicles are seen in Greenville, Calif., after the Dixie Wildfire Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)For a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from several UC schools used climat...

Rebecca Romijn and Anson Mount talk 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

Captain Pike, Number One and the entire "Star Trek" crew are back for a new season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."For those who have never really watched the series, you can jump right into this one. You don't have to be up-to-date on the entire "Star Trek" universe. "It's a perfect series for the Trek Uninitiated," explained Rebecca Romijn to KTLA 5's Scott "Movie" Mantz. "So many of the series have become so serialized, it's a little bit intimidating to try and jump in and understand what's going on. These are all standalone episodes and it's a little bit of a throwback to the original series, we really tried to embrace the original series."Rebecca Romijn talks "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on June 12, 2023. Scott is a huge fan of the franchise and pointed out the relationship between Chris Pike, played by Anson Mount, and Commander Una Chin Riley, played by Romijn. "I think their friendship goes all the way back to the academy ...

Personal Struggle & Family Legacy Brings Innovation to Precious Market Market

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

Brandon Aversano, the founder of Alloy Market, Inc., always had a knack for building things, which he attributes to his great-grandfather, Louis Field. Field was a first-generation Jewish American working as a welder in Philadelphia’s Naval shipyards. Without formal education, he learned metallurgy on the job and in the 1940s opened up a small business of his own fabricating aluminum tank trucks on the outskirts of Philadelphia, PA.His business, Allied Tank, remained in the family into the early 2010s when his father and grandfather finally wound it down. Aversano fondly recalls spending time with his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father at the Allied plant located in Norristown, PA, citing it as the location of many treasured childhood memories and his early but in-depth education in metals and entrepreneurship.A Personal Struggle Leads to A New Market Solution for ConsumersNearly a decade after his family shuttered their metal business, a serious health challenge unexp...

McCarthy, GOP hardliners reach deal to resume floor business

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

By Melanie Zanona, Lauren Fox and Haley Talbot | CNNHardline conservatives have agreed to end their blockade of the House floor while they continue discussions with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about future spending decisions and a new “power-sharing agreement,” according to multiple members leaving the speaker’s office.Conservatives who had voted against a procedural vote in retaliation for how GOP leadership handled the debt ceiling deal now say they are willing to support the procedural vote, after they received new commitments from McCarthy about how the California Republican plans to operate going forward, though they said the exact details are still being worked out and did not say whether they would ever be made public or put into a written statement.“I think you’re gonna see an agreement to move forward in the next day or two on moving the legislation we wanted to move last week,” said Rep. Bob Good, a Virginia Republican who has repeatedly criticized McCarthy.Rep. Ralph Nor...

Single family residence sells for $2.1 million in Piedmont

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

2026 Oakland Avenue – Google Street ViewThe spacious historic property located in the 2000 block of Oakland Avenue in Piedmont was sold on May 10, 2023. The $2,100,000 purchase price works out to $845 per square foot. The house, built in 1912, has an interior space of 2,484 square feet. The property features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a carport. It sits on a 5,560-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:In March 2022, a 2,327-square-foot home on Langdon Court in Piedmont sold for $3,750,000, a price per square foot of $1,612. The home has 4 bedrooms and.A 3,491-square-foot home on the first block of Craig Avenue in Piedmont sold in August 2022, for $2,795,000, a price per square foot of $801. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On Oakland Avenue, Piedmont, in June 2022, a 2,699-square-foot home was sold for $4,400,000, a price per square foot of $1,630. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. 

Letters: Dairy’s efforts | Increase transparency | Recognize tribe | Trump’s recklessness

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Dairy farmers doingtheir part in water useRe: “It’s time that we realign state’s water usage priorities” (Page A6, June 1).The recent op-ed about realigning priorities for water usage missed the point for dairy. People and communities are top-of-mind as dairy farm families continually improve water conservation and protection. The amount of water used to produce a gallon of California milk has decreased by more than 88% over the past 50-plus years.Up to 40% of feed ingredients used in California dairies are agricultural byproducts, such as almond hulls, cottonseed and citrus pulp. Researchers at UC Davis estimate that this reduces the amount of water needed for dairy feed by as much as 1.3 trillion gallons each year.Dairy farmers are doing their part to understand how climate change and the path toward groundwater sustainability will impact farms and communities, and what opportun...

Bay Area man is now a suspect in two mass shootings, including recent San Francisco attack that injured 9

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

A Bay Area man is wanted for involvement in two mass shootings, one on Friday in San Francisco where nine people were injured and the other in January in Oakland where a teen was gunned down and others were struck by bullets during a music video shoot, multiple law enforcement officials said Monday.Javier Campos Jr., an alleged member of a Bay Area subset for the Sureño gang, was not in police custody as of Monday afternoon. He has been named as a suspect in the Friday mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District, as well as the Jan. 23 shooting at a Valero gas station in Oakland, during a music video for a Stockton rapper, the sources said. The Oakland shooting occurred after a group of Sureños crashed the set of the video, prompting a shootout between them and a number of alleged Norteño gang affiliates, police say.Campos, whose whereabouts are unknown, is out on bail facing gun possession charges in Alameda County. He has a warrant for his arrest on assault charges in ...

Letters: Smoky skies | Consigned to RV | Biden ageism | Choking air | A low bar | Justice for Trump

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:55:45 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Nation’s smoky skiesshould spur actionRe: “Bay Area feels East Coast pain” (Page A1, June 8).I wonder whether the smoke from the Canadian wildfires now polluting the air in many Midwestern states will persuade Republican voters there to finally demand action to fight climate change from their members of Congress.If it does, and Republicans no longer set roadblocks to effective environmental action, that would be a silver lining to the clouds of smoke now blanketing the region.Martin Delson, San JoseIt’s time for San Joseto try something newThe homeless crisis in San Jose is getting worse. What we’re doing isn’t working. We need to get creative and turn to innovative solutions we haven’t considered in the past.The fact is reallocating a portion of the Measure E funds — $38 million — to homeless services isn’t going to have a major impact on the estimated $5.7 billion dollars per year tha...