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Hey, Caltrans, you need to repaint some signs on I-680: Roadshow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

Q: At about 10 p.m. Thanksgiving night, I entered northbound Interstate 680 at Monument Boulevard in Concord. Luckily, I knew how to get to westbound Highway 4, because overhead signs were almost unreadable. Reflective paint on all the signs was worn off, to the point where some would have made no sense to a driver relying on them.I don’t know if the problem is more extensive than what I saw on that short stretch of 680. It was pretty alarming.— Gail Wiemann, RichmondA: I’ll forward your message to Caltrans.Q: Your column on illegal dumping reminded me that in the 1960s, illegal dumping and its consequences were made famous by a singer/songwriter, Arlo Guthrie, who documented the experience when he and a friend dumped garbage alongside a road and faced consequences. His famous song, “Alice’s Restaurant,” sold millions of copies.The incident Guthrie recounts in the song was reported in the Berkshire Eagle on Nov. 29, 1965. It describes the conviction of ...

NFC playoff picture: 49ers’ best chance at top seed is beating Eagles in Philly

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

The 49ers don’t have to beat the Eagles Sunday.There. It’s out there. Apologies to those who breathlessly anticipate the end of the 49ers world as they know it should they lose again at Lincoln Financial Field as they did in last year’s NFC Championship Game.It’s Week 13, so it’s getting serious. As regular-season games go, 49ers-Eagles is as good as it gets based on the whole Brock Purdy drama last Jan. 29.While the provincial prevailing notion is the 49ers would have gone to the Super Bowl had Haason Reddick been walled off and unable to rearrange the anatomy in Purdy’s elbow, I’m one of the few locally who thought the Eagles were the better team and got what they deserved.They were better on both sides of the line of scrimmage, and let’s face it, Reddick’s sack wasn’t a cheap shot. It was part of football. And taking out the other team’s quarterback with a legal play is brutal but fair game.Yet judging from what we...

Kaiser Permanente grabs empty San Jose land site in expansion quest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

SAN JOSE — Kaiser has bought a big chunk of San Jose land, paving the way for a possible expansion by the healthcare titan at the location — a deal that also jolts prior plans for an office project on the choice site.The land that Kaiser bought is located at 1601 Technology Drive in San Jose, a short distance from the interchange of State Route 87 and Skyport Drive.Kaiser Foundation Health Plan paid $43.5 million for the vacant land site, according to documents filed on Nov. 21 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office. Hudson Pacific Properties, acting through an affiliate, sold the land.The purchase also paves the way for a possible Kaiser expansion in the area.The just-bought land is next to a parcel that accommodates an existing Kaiser Permanente medical office building, Google Maps shows.The transaction serves as a reminder that economic conditions have deteriorated for office properties in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley during a time of rising vacancy ra...

Skelton: Schwarzenegger shows the value of an upbeat attitude

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to Sacramento recently and reminded us of a beneficial trait he possesses that is sorely lacking in today’s polarized politics: an upbeat attitude.There’s currently too much bellowing, blaming and belligerence — and hatred — to make democracy work productively the way the republic’s founders intended.True, it’s easier to be upbeat when you’re super rich and a global celebrity — one who has soared to the top in three competitive ventures: bodybuilding, movies and politics.Conversely, being upbeat and an eternal optimist throughout life surely is a major reason why Schwarzenegger, 76, rose to the top of the heap, accumulating stardom, wealth and power.It made him an extraordinarily interesting moderate Republican governor for seven years — not always successful, but constantly trying and bold.I was reminded of Schwarzenegger’s value to the political world when he came back to the sta...

Google new geothermal electricity project could be a milestone for clean energy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT | Associated PressAn advanced geothermal project has begun pumping carbon-free electricity onto the Nevada grid to power Google data centers there, Google announced Tuesday.Getting electrons onto the grid for the first time is a milestone many new energy companies never reach, said Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Google’s geothermal partner in the project, Houston-based Fervo Energy.“I think it will be big and it will continue to vault geothermal into a lot more prominence than it has been,” Latimer said in an interview.The International Energy Agency has long projected geothermal could be a serious solution to climate change. It said in a 2011 roadmap document that geothermal could reach some 3.5% of global electricity generation annually by 2050, avoiding almost 800 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.But that potential has been mostly unrealized up until now. Today’s announcement could mark a turning point.Fervo is using this first pilot to la...

Bay Area ‘mad’ crazy about holiday festival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

Organizers will often say their upcoming event is better than ever, but due to recent weather reports, it’s hard to doubt Frank Malifrando.Malifrando is the co-founder of the annual Mad Hatter Holiday Festival in Vallejo, which is now in its 13th year. Although he’s put in work over the years to advertise the event in movie theaters, cafe bulletin boards and highway billboards, Malifrando is also optimistic this year’s event will be better thanks to Saturday’s weather forecast.Hardly any chance of rain.A year after the event was hindered and shortened due to a number of storms in Vallejo, the Mad Hatter is back with more than 60 parade entries after only having approximately 35 last year, according to Malinfrando.The parade will once again feature dancing groups, local schools and their bands, the Vallejo Fire Department, grand marshals the Tonga Twins, local dignitaries, nearly two-dozen stormtroopers, recently crowned Mrs. Vallejo, a Grinch, a church, a number of vehicles put toge...

IRS data: Marin town among most generous statewide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

Marin County ranks high when it comes to generosity, according federal government data.Details on more than 1,400 California ZIP codes reported by the Internal Revenue Service shows that the most generous Californians live in Marin and other northern California communities.According to U.S. Census, Postal Service, IRS and other data compiled by UnitedStatesZIPCodes.org, Inverness residents in the 94937 ZIP code donated 8.64% of their adjusted gross income to charity — the fifth highest statewide.Other leading charitable donation figures in Marin included 2.74% of adjusted gross income in Greenbrae; 2.64% in Belvedere and Tiburon; 2.59% in Point Reyes Station; 2.51% in the 94901 ZIP code of San Rafael; 2.36% in Sausalito; 2.14% in Mill Valley; and 2.01% in Larkspur.RELATED: Who are the most generous Californians? We quantify your compassionThe top area in California for generosity was San Francisco’s 94104, where residents donated 17.64% of their adjusted gross income. Ranking second...

Opinion: What kind of seafood is morally ethical to eat?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

Do you like cod, shrimp, salmon, crab or pollock (also known as fish sticks)? Of course you do. Do you shop at Walmart, Costco, Kroger or Albertsons for fish? Who doesn’t? Do you eat at one of the more than 400,000 restaurants supplied by food distributor Sysco? Almost certainly.If so, you’ve likely been served or sold seafood caught by Indonesian forced-labor victims on Chinese vessels or processed in China by Uyghurs, a cultural, racial and religious minority that faces systematic repression. Some 79% of the seafood sold in the United States is imported, according to the latest data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. China alone supplies nearly 10% of American seafood imports.Chinese-owned and -flagged ships are the largest distant-water fishing fleet in the world. This fleet includes an estimated 6,500 ships, and they fish in every ocean. To put this fleet in context, neither Japan nor the United States has more than 1,000 such ships.Some of these distant-w...

Walnut Creek man gets two-year sentence for installing cameras in Starbucks restroom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

(BCN) -- A man was sentenced to two years in prison for three counts of eavesdropping and two counts of invasion of privacy after he installed hidden cameras in a restroom at a Walnut Creek Starbucks. Steven Novelli, 54, was a Walnut Creek resident when he installed small cameras underneath a sink in the unisex bathroom at the Starbucks at 1340 N. Main St. An employee found cameras on two separate occasions. Man hid cameras in Walnut Creek Starbucks bathroom to make child porn: DA Walnut Creek police were contacted both times and an investigation was opened, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office. One of the cameras showed Novelli checking the camera angle while he was seated fully clothed on the toilet. Other footage showed multiple people using the toilet. Novelli, who was in custody, reached an agreement with the DA's office in August. By then, he only had 120 days left on the negotiated two-year term. Novelli also must register as a sex offender for 1...

Stock market today: Wall Street quiet ahead of US consumer confidence survey, inflation report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:36 GMT

Premarket trading is muted ahead of an inflation report and a survey of how American consumers are feeling about the economy.Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were essentially flat before the bell Tuesday. The Conference Board will publish an update on consumer confidence, which has been in decline for three months. Economists expect the survey to show that Americans’ confidence in the economy fell again in November, according to a poll by FactSet, potentially bad news for businesses with the holiday shopping season in full swing.On Thursday the government releases its October data on the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation. Economists expect that measure to continue easing, as it has been since the middle of 2022.Investors have grown cautiously optimistic that inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to put a definitive end to its aggressive interest rate hikes. Meanwhile, the broader economy has remained strong enough in...