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Bullet train to Vegas could serve as ‘economic catalyst’ for Inland Empire

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

Inland Empire officials are touting the Brightline West bullet train project linking Southern Nevada and Southern California as a "catalyst" for the region's economy. "Transportation projects like this one and others underway will bring more than $6 billion to the region and serve as an economic catalyst for development and tourism," a release announcing a news conference Monday stated.Officials from the City of Rancho Cucamonga, Metrolink, Omnitrans and others will gather at Cucamonga Station - the southernmost terminus for the train - at 10:30 a.m. to give further details about the project, which is expected to break ground in 2024.President Joe Biden announced a $3 billion federal grant supporting the project in Las Vegas last week. The railway will mark the “first world-class high-speed rail project in the nation,” Biden said.Brightline West previously agreed to finance $10 billion of the estimated $12 billion project. What we know about the high-speed rail from metro Lo...

Miguel Urias Dies in Hit-and-Run Motorcycle Accident on Manchester Avenue [Los Angeles, CA]

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

37-Year-Old Man Killed in Motorcycle Collision near San Pedro StreetLOS ANGELES, CA (December 11, 2023) – Miguel Urias died Tuesday, November 7th, in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident on Manchester Avenue and San Pedro Street.Emergency responders rushed to the scene in response to numerous dispatch calls. According to officers, Urias, riding a motorcycle, was cut off by the driver of a vehicle. Consequently, he fell onto the roadway, where another vehicle struck him.Following the collision, the driver continued without offering assistance or seeking help. Medical personnel, upon arrival, transported the injured motorcyclist to a nearby hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.After initial procedures, authorities in Los Angeles identified the deceased rider as 37-year-old Miguel Urias. Currently, law enforcement is on the lookout for a black or green Dodge Charger driven by a female in her 20s or 30s.Anyone with additional information regarding the fatal inciden...

These Bay Area residents live in affordable housing. Why did their rent skyrocket?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

BY JEANNE KUANG | CalMattersWhen California lawmakers passed a rent cap four years ago to protect tenants from large and frequent rent hikes, they exempted hundreds of thousands of units reserved for some of the state’s poorest renters.Low-income housing, after all, is usually built with public subsidies that already impose rent ceilings on developers and property owners. Some are already managed or overseen by local public housing agencies.But California also has more than 350,000 privately owned low-income housing units — built with the help of federal tax credits — exempted from the state’s rent cap. Residents of some of those units have seen their rents soar despite being the exact demographic the law sought to protect.The 2019 law, known as the Tenant Protection Act, prohibits landlords from increasing rents more than a certain amount — 10% this year, though usually it’s less — and more than once a year.It’s meant to guarantee some level of stability for tenants, proponents say...

Israeli forces battle militants in Gaza’s main cities

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

By Wafaa Shurafa and Jack Jeffery | Associated PressDEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians dug under crushed buildings Monday to recover the bodies of families killed in strikes around Gaza as Israeli forces battled militants in the territory’s two largest cities, where many thousands of civilians are still trapped by the fighting.Residents said battles went on in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli ground forces opened a new line of attack last week. Battles were also still underway in parts of Gaza City and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, where large areas have been reduced to rubble.Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles its military capabilities and gets back all of the hostages taken by militants during Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel that ignited the war. The Israeli campaign has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and driven nearly 85% of the territory’...

Harry and Meghan among Hollywood’s ‘biggest losers’ in 2023, but Harry still ‘intriguing’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the town’s “biggest winners and losers” in 2023 could make Meghan Markle’s powerhouse agents worry about their efforts to relaunch her U.S. career — if they haven’t already begun to rethink their association, as surmised by PR and branding experts since she and Prince Harry were caught up in furor surrounding Omid Scobie’s controversial book “Endgame.”THR, one of Hollywood’s leading trade publications, placed Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, among its list of “losers” for the year — along with Disney, Marvel and DC superhero movies, embattled actors Ezra Miller and Jonathan Majors and Elon Musk and X. The winners, on the other hand, include Taylor Swift, Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Christopher Nolan, Netflix, horror movies and “silver fox” actors like Patrick Dempsey.But it’s not all bad news for Meghan and Harry at the end of what turned out t...

UK leader faces a Parliament in revolt over Rwanda plan

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

By Jill Lawless | Associated PressLONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced a rebellion from restive lawmakers over his signature immigration policy, while fending off tough questions Monday about his judgment during the COVID-19 pandemic.The twin pressures add up to one of the toughest weeks of Sunak’s 13 months in office, with both his present authority and past record at stake.Legislation intended to salvage Sunak’s blocked plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda faces a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday. While disparate groups of Conservative lawmakers met in Parliament to pick holes in the bill, Sunak was undergoing a six-hour grilling at the U.K.’s pandemic inquiry, where he denied taking risks with public health.Sunak was Treasury chief to Prime Minister Boris Johnson when the pandemic hit, and backed a discount initiative that encouraged people to go back to restaurants in August 2020 after months of lockdown.The government’s scientific advis...

Sale closed in San Ramon: $2.3 million for a four-bedroom home

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

6045 Alpine Blue Drive – Google Street ViewA spacious, recently built house located in the 6000 block of Alpine Blue Drive in San Ramon has new owners. The 2,967-square-foot property, built in 2016, was sold on Nov. 15, 2023. The $2,310,000 purchase price works out to $779 per square foot. This two-story house offers a roomy layout with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. In addition, the home comes with an attached two-car garage, allowing for convenient vehicle storage and additional storage space.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:On Hyacinthus Lane, San Ramon, in March 2023, a 2,967-square-foot home was sold for $2,144,000, a price per square foot of $723. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.A 2,967-square-foot home on the 6000 block of Alpine Blue Drive in San Ramon sold in September 2022, for $2,225,000, a price per square foot of $750. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In January 2023, a 2,085-square-foot home on Rowan Drive in San Ramon sold for $1,...

A group of California children sue EPA in federal court, alleging it allows climate pollution to continue despite harms

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

By Ella Nilsen | CNNA group of 18 California children – ranging in ages from 8 to 17 – has filed a new constitutional climate case in federal court against the US Environmental Protection Agency, alleging it has harmed children’s health and welfare over decades.The case, Genesis B. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, alleges the EPA “intentionally allows” planet warming pollution to come from the sources it regulates, such as vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, power plants, and oil and gas wells. It follows the first constitutional climate case in the US, which youth plaintiffs successfully tried in Montana earlier this year.The case further alleges the agency allows this pollution “despite knowing the harm it causes to children’s health and welfare.” The case was filed Sunday night in US District Court in the Central District of California.“There is one federal agency explicitly tasked with keeping the air clean and controlling pollution to protect the health of every ch...

Jury seated in Giuliani election workers’ defamation trial

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

By Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price | Associated PressWASHINGTON — A jury was sworn in Monday in the federal case that will determine how much Rudy Giuliani might have to pay two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of fraud while pushing Donald Trump’s baseless claims after the 2020 election.The former New York City mayor has already been found liable in the defamation lawsuit brought by Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who endured threats and harassment after they became the target of a conspiracy theory spread by Trump and his allies. The only issue to be determined at the trial is the amount of damages, if any, Giuliani must pay.Giuliani did not speak to reporters as he entered Washington’s federal courthouse — the same building where Trump is set to stand trial in March on criminal charges accusing the former president of scheming to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden.Opening arguments in the case were expected to...

Workers at Oakland coffee shop at center of antisemitic graffiti incident slam owners

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:42:05 GMT

(KRON) -- Former and present employees of an Oakland coffee shop at the center of an incident involving antisemitic graffiti have issued a statement slamming the business' owners. The owners of Farley's East knew about the graffiti in the bathroom, which equated Zionism with fascism, for two months, according to the statement from the group, Former Farley's East United.Farley's East has been at the center of a controversy that emerged after a viral video on social media surfaced showing employees of the business appearing to deny a customer access to the bathroom with the graffiti. In the video, three employees of Farley's are seen blocking the customer from going into the bathroom, before finally relenting.The woman then enters the bathroom and films the graffiti. SantaCon, Haney fight in SF draws nearly 100K BART riders "The narrative is that they denied her entry because she is a Jewish woman," said the statement from past and present employees. "That is a lie."According to sta...