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Strategists: Biden needs to keep reaching out to Black voters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

By Bill Barrow | Associated PressATLANTA — Some top Democrats are worried that a dip in Black voter turnout, along with other challenges, could doom President Joe Biden and his party in 2024.A group of Democrats is offering a new analysis of the most recent campaigns in Georgia and Michigan, pitching those battlegrounds as models for drawing in more Black voters next year and beyond. They argue that Democratic power players need to think — and spend money — in new ways, going beyond efforts that can be last-minute or superficial as they try to reassemble Biden’s 2020 coalition.“The days of the symbolic fish fry and one-time church visit are over,” wrote the authors of the analysis by strategists widely credited for helping flip Georgia and Michigan to Biden. “Black voters have always required an approach to voter engagement as diverse as the Black voting coalition.”Biden has long depended on Black voters — first as a Delaware senator and most notably in...

Ravens ‘disrespected’ by point spread favoring 49ers on Christmas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

As the NFL’s lone two 11-3 teams standing, the 49ers’ and Ravens’ clash on Christmas Day should be a gift for football fans.But the Ravens seem to think the point spread is a lump of coal and are intent on making it bulletin board material.In comments this week, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley, the Ravens expressed defiance in the face of the point spread that lists San Francisco as 5.5-point favorites in Levi’s Stadium.“I don’t want them to pick us,” Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson said. “I like being the underdog. I believe we play better when we’re doubted and [when] people aren’t choosing us to win the game. I feel like we play better all the time, so just do it all the way to February. That’s all I ask.”It’s not surprising that the 49ers would be favored at home, but 5.5 is a substantial mark. Baltimore has only been an underdog once this season, when it upset the Bengals in Cincinnati.Ravens head c...

San Lorenzo attempted robbery suspects take jail, probation in plea deal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

OAKLAND — Two suspects in a San Lorenzo bank robbery attempt were sentenced to jail and probation after pleading no contest to lesser offenses, court records show.Kevin Perry, 22, and Dewey Nguyen, 21, were originally charged with attempting to rob a Citi Bank on Paseo Grande in San Leandro last August. But last month, Nguyen was given 180 days in jail and Perry was sentenced to one year in a plea deal that required prosecutors to drop the bulk of the charges.Perry pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of an accident, where police say he struck a “juvenile pedestrian” — whose age isn’t listed in court records — during a police chase to avoid capture for the attempted bank robbery. Nguyen pleaded no contest to possessing a stolen Lexus the day after the robbery, where authorities arrested both men in Alameda after a brief foot chase.Last Aug. 28, Perry and Nguyen allegedly entered the Chase Bank, with Nguyen keeping watch by the door and Perry wa...

Sales finally start for condos at fraud-tied San Jose housing project

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

SAN JOSE — Sales are finally underway for condominiums at a San Jose housing complex that’s among the properties engulfed in a vast Bay Area real estate fraud case that arose after hundreds of investors were swindled.The 91-unit residential complex is at 1821 Almaden Road in San Jose, a project that was launched by real estate entrepreneur Sanjeev Acharya and his Silicon Sage Builders firm, which both are accused of wide-ranging fraud allegedly perpetrated against investors in several Bay Area projects.A federal judge shoved Acharya’s real estate empire into receivership after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a fraud case against the disgraced developer and his company. The judge appointed David Stapleton to act as receiver for the company’s assets.Stapleton has been overseeing efforts to sell the condos at the 1821 Almaden Road site as a way to raise cash to provide the investors even a tiny amount of compensation for the cash they lost by invest...

This cargo plane flew over Northern California with no pilot on board

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

One of the world’s most widely used cargo planes completed an entire flight with no one on board for the first time.Lasting approximately 12 minutes in total, the flight departed from Hollister Airport, in Northern California, and was operated by Reliable Robotics, which has been working since 2019 on a semi-automated flying system in which the aircraft is controlled remotely by a pilot.The company recently announced that the 50-mile flight took place in November. The plane was a Cessna Caravan, a robust single-engine aircraft that is a popular choice for flight training, tourism, humanitarian missions and regional cargo.“Cessna has made 3,000 Caravans — it’s the most popular cargo plane you’ve never heard of,” says Robert Rose, CEO of Reliable Robotics. “Pilots will tell you it’s the workhorse of the industry.“But the challenge with this aircraft is that it flies at lower altitudes and more adverse weather conditions than many large aircraft do today. So operating it is much more d...

Santa Clara County reports low COVID-19 vaccination rates for latest booster shot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Despite the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, Santa Clara County health officials say a much lower percentage of residents have gotten the latest vaccine compared to previous booster shots.Only 19% of county residents have received the updated vaccine, which was released in September. Vaccination rates among certain populations are even lower, with only 9% of Latinos and 11% of African Americans having received up-to-date shots. That’s in comparison to 22% of white residents and 19% of Asian residents.“One of Public Health’s most important roles is to track systemic factors causing health inequities and to raise the alarm about the impact on Santa Clara County communities,” Dr. Sarah Rudman, the deputy health officer for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, said in a news release. “Culturally centered outreach and education must be strengthened to remove barriers and to connect people to the preventative care they need.”The county said that whi...

How Cord Jefferson’s backstory figures in his hit ‘American Fiction’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Satire often leans toward one of two directions — a scathing critique where no one gets spared or an outright farce that broadly spoofs the absurdity of a given scenario.Filmmaker Cord Jefferson took a more compassionate path with “American Fiction,” his triumphant adaptation of Percival Everett’s acerbic 2005 novel “Erasure.” In this highly entertaining look at one modern Black American family in the Boston area, and a woke culture that isn’t nearly as woke as Americans like to think it is, Jefferson takes on hot-button issues such as race, ambition, family, sexual preference, academic pretense, the publishing industry, media misrepresentations about being Black, even aging.Whew!Jefferson’s feature debut focuses on a self-centered Black writer/professor (Jeffrey Wright, whom Jefferson envisioned in the role as he read the novel) who’s forced to reunite with — or, at the very least, try to engage with — his dysfunctional, highly intelligent family. He’s...

Disneyland announces fireworks and parade lineup through summer 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

Fans of Disneyland fireworks will get to see five different pyrotechnic shows between now and the end of summer as the Anaheim theme park rolls out a familiar and somewhat complex lineup of nighttime entertainment for the first half of 2024.Disneyland will host the “Believe in Holiday Magic,” “Mickey’s Mix Magic,” “Together Forever,” “Wondrous Journeys” and Star Wars-themed fireworks shows over the next nine months.ALSO SEE: Look inside Zootopia land pitched for Disneyland expansionYou’ll need to break out a calendar to keep track of all the fireworks shows coming and going from Disneyland. Here’s the breakdown of the schedule.“Believe in Holiday Magic” runs through Jan.7 when the holiday season ends at the Disneyland resort.“Mickey’s Mix Magic” runs Jan. 8 through March 21 at Disneyland.“Wondrous Journeys” takes to the skies March 22 through April 14 with nightly fireworks throughout the run.ALSO SEE: First look inside Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Disneyland — See photos“Mickey’s Mix...

Suspect in fatal Pacifica stabbing that led to school lockdown still on the loose

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

(KRON) -- The suspect in a fatal stabbing that led to a temporary lockdown at Vallemar Elementary School in Pacifica Thursday morning is still on the loose, the Pacifica Police Department said. Officers responded to a report of domestic violence in the 200 block of Naomi Avenue at around 7:45 a.m.Arriving at the scene, officers located a male and a man and woman both suffering from stab wounds. The suspected killer was seen leaving the area on foot, police said. Serial Bay Area shoplifter arrested 90 times The female victim was transported to the hospital. The male victim was pronounced deceased at the scene. No one else was injured during the incident, police said.Pacifica PD and officers from allied agencies searched the area. Vallemar Elementary, which is just five minutes by foot from the scene of the incident, was placed on lockdown "out of an abundance of caution," police said.Pacifica PD was unable to locate the suspect who they believe has left the area. With no apparent p...

Swastika graffiti discovered on campus of junior high in Los Altos

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:00 GMT

(KRON) -- Several swastikas were discovered on the campus of Blach Intermediate School in Los Altos last week, a representative of the Los Altos School District confirmed. A swastika was found sketched in pen on the boys PE lockers Friday, according to a statement sent out to parents earlier this week.Following further inspection, four other swastikas were found on lockers, including lockers unassigned to students, the school said. Two additional swastikas were found in the boys PE locker room on Tuesday, the district said. Serial Bay Area shoplifter arrested 90 times The swastikas were all "clearly drawn by the same person," a district spokesperson said.The school said it has since cleaned the lockers following its procedures for such incidents. In the letter to parents, the school said it was been in contact with local police to investigate the incidents."I want to assure you that if we find this was perpetrated by any Blach of LASD students, appropriate disciplinary action will...