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California rents down 2.4% in a year, biggest drop in 29 months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

“Rent Watch” tracks what’s happening at the intersection of landlords and tenants – who is paying what and where.Buzz: California rents are dropping at their fastest pace since early 2021.Source: My trusty spreadsheet’s look into ApartmentList’s tracking of rents and vacancy rates across California using their yardstick for the monthly cost of for units of all sizes.Top LineThe typical California apartment cost $1,958 a month in August, that’s off 2.4% in a year – the biggest drop since March 2021 as pandemic-era lockdowns were still chilling the economy. Nationally, rents fell 1.2%.The previous year’s decline is a relief for Golden State tenants who’ve seen rents rise statewide at an annual rate of 4.6% over the previous four years.You see, landlords became discounters this year because renters have options. Just ponder the growing number of empty units.The statewide vacancy rate was 5.1% for the third month in a row in August – up from 4% a year earlier. This is the biggest number...

Andrew Luck quietly returns to football in Palo Alto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

PALO ALTO — Andrew Luck stood across the street from Stanford Stadium, where a dozen years ago he reached unimaginable heights.Back-to-back double-digit wins seasons and Top 10 finishes for the previously woebegone Cardinal. Two Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year awards, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy each time. Soon to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, leading the Indianapolis Colts on playoff runs.Luck ascended in the football world on the west side of El Camino Real. He abruptly ended the climb four years ago, retiring at 29, saying he needed to “remove himself from football.”Now, Luck is back on the field — but on the east side of El Camino Real, helping coach Palo Alto High School.Luck came in cold but quickly got up to speed.“The first week he got here, we have our whole playbook and he walks in not knowing any of our plays,” Palo Alto senior quarterback Declan Parker said. “The next day he comes, he knew every single play. It was crazy — he knows everything about footb...

Here’s what got cheaper and what got more expensive at grocery stores last month

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

By Elisabeth Buchwald | CNNNew York — As overall US inflation heated up last month, consumers got some relief at grocery stores.Grocery price increases in the United States slowed down in August, up just 0.2% for the month. That’s an improvement from July, when grocery prices were up 0.3%, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, released Wednesday. For the year, grocery prices are up a modest 3%. This time last year, prices were up 13.5% compared to 2021.But just how much inflation relief you got at grocery stores last month depends on what was in your shopping cart.You needed to bring home more of the bacon to buy more baconBacon prices jumped by 4% last month, the biggest monthly increase since June 2020. The increase comes as wholesale pork belly prices -— the cut of meat used to make bacon — hit a near-record high of $2.37 a pound last month, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture. Prices have since come down by about $1 a pound.Overall pork prices also in...

Man stabbed inside ATM vestibule at Chase Bank in Berkeley

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

(KRON) -- A man was stabbed early Thursday morning in front of a Chase Bank on Shattuck Avenue, according to the Berkeley Police Department. Around 3:36 a.m., officers responded to the scene and located a man inside the ATM vestibule with several stab wounds. The victim, who is in his 50s, was taken to Highland Hospital and is listed in stable condition, police said. Car impounded after alleged sideshow activity on Bay Bridge The suspect has not been identified or located. BPD is still at the scene as they conduct their investigation.

Man barricades, holds victim hostage in car for 7 hours in Alameda

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

(KRON) -- A man was arrested on Wednesday after he barricaded himself inside a car while holding a person hostage for seven hours, according to the Alameda Police Department.Around 8:30 a.m., officers responded to the report of a trespassing in the 400 block of Stardust Place. Two people were barricaded inside a car on the private property, police said.The man was found to have an outstanding warrant for domestic violence involving the other person that was inside the car. According to police, it appeared the other person was being held against their will.Photo: APDPhoto: APDPhoto: APDCrisis negotiators with APD's Critical Incident Response Team was called in and helped to safely resolve the incident after more than seven hours. The man was arrested and booked into the Santa Rita Jail for trespassing, outstanding warrants and a restraining order violation, APD said.

Northern California power bills likely to increase for PG&E customers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Power bills for about 16 million people in Northern California will likely increase after state regulators released two rate proposals for one of the nation's largest utilities Wednesday.The California Public Utilities Commission is finishing up its once-every-four-years review of Pacific Gas & Electric, the Oakland-based utility that provides electric and gas service to a 70,000-square-mile (181,000-square-kilometer) area in northern and central parts of the state. The commission must approve how much PG&E can charge customers and how it will spend that money.The commission on Wednesday could not say what the increase would be for the average residential customer. But it is likely to be far less than what PG&E had initially requested — the company had asked for rate increases large enough to boost its revenue by 26%, but the two proposals the commission released would increase revenue by a maximum of 13%.PG&E had asked for more revenue in p...

Suspects flee after attacking, robbing couple in Piedmont

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

(KRON) -- A couple was attacked and robbed Wednesday night in the Community Center parking lot, according to the Piedmont Police Department.Around 7 p.m., the suspects approached a couple from behind and knocked them down. Before fleeing the scene, the suspects took the woman's purse and phone, police said. Man stabbed inside ATM vestibule at Chase Bank in Berkeley The robbery suspects are described as three men who wore face masks. They fled in a black Volkswagen Golf with a license plate that reads "6BFT777".Anyone with information is asked to contact PPD at 510-420-3000.

Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s next book is a collection of lyrics written for singer Stacey Kent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s next book will be one for music lovers. Alfred A. Knopf announced Thursday that Ishiguro’s “The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain,” coming out March 5, is a collection of lyrics written for the million-selling jazz singer Stacey Kent. Ishiguro and Kent are longtime friends and collaborators; Ishiguro wrote lyrics for a handful of songs on Kent’s “Breakfast on the Morning Tram,” which in 2009 received a Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album, and also contributed to such Kent albums as “Dreamer in Concert” and “I Know I Dream.” “I’ve built a reputation over the years as a writer of stories, but I started out writing songs,” Ishiguro, best known for such novels as “The Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go,” said in a statement Thursday. The book combines older compositions dating back to 2007 and four “cinema” works for an upcoming project with Kent. “The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain” also includes a...

New US sanctions target workarounds that let Russia get Western tech for war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

The United States said Thursday that it was sanctioning more than 150 businesses and people from Russia to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Georgia to try to crack down on evasion and deny the Kremlin access to technology, money and financial channels that fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.The sanctions package is one of the biggest by the State and Treasury departments and is the latest to target people and companies in countries, notably NATO member Turkey, that sell Western technology to Russia that could be used to bolster its war effort. The package also aims to hobble the development of Russia’s energy sector and future sources of cash, including Arctic natural gas projects, as well as mining and factories producing and repairing Russian weapons.“The purpose of the action is to restrict Russia’s defense production capacity and to reduce the liquidity it has to pay for its war,” James O’Brien, head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, tol...

Alex Jones spent over $93,000 in July. Sandy Hook families who sued him have yet to see a dime

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:32 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Alex Jones’ personal spending is frustrating families who are trying to collect on the $1.5 billion in judgments against him for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting a hoax.The conspiracy theorist and Infowars host has been paying his own wife, Erika Wulff Jones, $15,000 a month, according to the most recent spending report he filed in his bankruptcy case — payouts called “fraudulent transfers” by lawyers for some of the shooting victims’ families. Jones says they’re required under a prenuptial agreement.In July, Jones spent $7,900 on housekeeping. He dished out more than $6,300 for meals and entertainment, not including groceries, which totaled nearly $3,400 — or roughly $850 per week.A second home, his Texas lake house, cost him nearly $6,700 that month, including maintenance and property taxes, while his vehicles and boats sapped another $5,600, including insurance, maintenance and fuel.His total personal expenses for Jul...