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Expect big crowds for the summer travel season -- and big prices, too

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

The unofficial start of the summer travel season is here, with airlines hoping to avoid the chaos of last year and travelers scrounging for ways to save a few bucks on pricey airfares and hotel rooms.Some travelers say they will settle for fewer trips than they hoped to take, or they will drive instead of fly. Others are finding different money-saving sacrifices.Stephanie Hanrahan thought she'd save money by planning ahead for her daughter's birthday trip to Disney World in Florida. Instead, it ended up costing the same as the Dallas-area family's trip for four to California last summer, so now her husband and son are staying home.“We just had to grit our teeth,” said Hanrahan, a writer and speaker who also runs a nonprofit, as she and daughter Campbell waited for their flight last week at Dallas Love Field. The number of people going through U.S. airports hit pandemic-era highs last weekend, and those records are almost certain to be broken over the Memorial Day holiday. AAA predic...

Santa Clara: Grand jury transcripts reveal how 49ers handled leaked report

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

In the hours and days after Santa Clara Councilmember Anthony Becker allegedly leaked a confidential grand jury report to the San Francisco 49ers, the team and its consultants intently strategized about how to shape public opinion of its explosive details and undercut any political leverage the findings could give Mayor Lisa Gillmor, according to transcripts of the investigation obtained by this news organization.The 850-page transcript from the March and April criminal grand jury hearings offers a detailed look into how the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report, “Unsportsmanlike Conduct,” became public days before its official release and the ensuing fallout over its expose of the cozy relationship between the team and the city council.In April, Becker was indicted with a misdemeanor for leaking the document and felony perjury for lying about the leak.The report criticized five Santa Clara councilmembers — Becker included — for taking regular closed-doo...

Livermore: Fatal crash leaves Interstate 580 with several lane closures

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

One person died in an early morning collision on Interstate 580 in Livermore on Thursday, forcing several lane closures ahead of the morning commute, according to the California Highway Patrol.A three car pileup on eastbound 580 near First Street left one person dead, a CHP officer said Thursday morning. The crash was first reported at 3:31 a.m. As of 5:45 a.m., all lanes except for one were closed on eastbound 580.The offramp for First Street was left open to temporarily divert traffic off of the highway. There was no estimated time of reopening as of 5:45 a.m.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Teen held to answer for Peninsula DUI crash that killed passenger Crashes and Disasters | Two killed in Highway 1 head-on collision in Monterey County Crashes and Disasters | Woman dies of injuries suffered in five-vehicle crash in San Jose Crashes and Disasters | San Jose: Scooter driver who was ejected after hitting brush pile...

U.S. census: Bay Area population grew older, Asians are now the region’s largest racial group

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

Over the last decade, the Bay Area’s population grew older and more racially diverse — with White residents no longer the region’s largest racial group — while soaring housing costs meant fewer people could afford to own homes.The demographic and household shifts, highlighted in newly released U.S. census data, could have major implications for the local economy and workforce while underscoring the region’s deepening housing affordability crisis.The data, comparing census results from 2010 and 2020, comes with a caveat: It doesn’t fully capture the sweeping societal changes brought on by a once-in-a-generation pandemic. That includes a roughly 3% drop in the region’s population since the onset of COVID-19.Even so, the data sheds new light on how the Bay Area is changing and what challenges it could face in the future. Here are four of the main takeaways:1. The Bay Area is graying The region saw a 38% spike in the number of residents 65 or ol...

Christian McCaffrey could propel any of 49ers’ three QBs to Super Bowl

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Organized team activities are mostly manufactured drama and the 49ers are no different.Will Brock Purdy be ready for Week 1?Can Trey Lance show enough to challenge Purdy until he’s ready?Is Sam Darnold a darkhorse candidate to start Sept. 10 in Pittsburgh?One thing was clear as the media got its first look Tuesday on Day 2 of OTAs — none of those quarterbacks are going anywhere near the 49ers’ desired destination without Christian McCaffrey.Lots of players sat out, which is typical of voluntary OTAs. Nick Bosa, Deebo Samuel, Trent Williams and Javon Hargrave weren’t there. Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw contributed with encouragement from the sideline. Cornerback Charvarius Ward and wide receiver Jauan Jennings worked with trainers on the sidelines.Yet there was McCaffrey, looking spry and explosive, whether taking handoffs in the non-contact drills or running pass routes. He was decisive, explosive and decidedly the most eye-popping skill p...

Bay Area rapper Lul G sentenced to 21 years for fatal shooting

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

Vallejo rapper George Harris, who fatally shot a 26-year-old Vallejo man nearly four years ago in a Fairfield home, was formally sentenced on Monday to 21 years in state prison.George Harris, aka Lul G (Solano County Sheriff’s Office) Harris, aka Lul G — who, on March 2, pleaded no contest for killing Rashied Flowers — appeared in Department 9 for a morning sentencing hearing in the Justice Center in Fairfield.Solano County Superior Court Judge Carlos R. Gutierrez, who received a pre-sentencing report on Harris, 24, handed down the sentence for voluntary manslaughter that was determined during the plea deal.When he pleaded, Harris faced a first-degree murder charge on the verge of a jury trial. A previously convicted felon, he also admitted to the personal use of a firearm during the shooting, an enhancement.But with the plea, Harris avoided the possibility of being found guilty of the murder charge and a sentence of 25 years to life, plus more time for the firearm charge and f...

Big real estate players grab two old South Bay apartment complexes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

Vista Pointe Apartments, a 68-unit residential complex at 3455 Homestead Road in Santa Clara. (Google Maps)SANTA CLARA — Two six-decade-old apartment complexes in Santa Clara with a combined total of hundreds of apartments have been grabbed by big-time Bay Area real estate players.Normandy Park Apartments and Vista Point Apartments were bought on the same day for a combined $75.6 million, according to documents filed on May 23 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.Sobrato Family Foundation, acting through an affiliate, paid $49.5 million for the 140-room Normandy Park Apartments at 48 and 50 Washington Street in Santa Clara, the county property files show. The Sobrato firm is one of Silicon Valley’s iconic real estate companies.The deal shows that investors continue to hunger for apartment buildings as investments, even with the economic uncertainties that arose out of the coronavirus outbreak.Related ArticlesHousing | Big San Jose housing d...

Manjoo: AI photoshopping is about to get very easy. Maybe too easy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

Photoshop is the granddaddy of image-editing apps, the O.G. of our airbrushed, Facetuned media ecosystem and a product so enmeshed in the culture that it’s a verb, an adjective and a frequent lament of rappers. Photoshop is also widely used. More than 30 years since the first version was released, professional photographers, graphic designers and other visual artists the world over reach for the app to edit much of the imagery you see online, in print and on billboards, bus stops, posters, product packaging and anything else the light touches.So what does it mean that Photoshop is diving into generative artificial intelligence — that a just-released beta feature called Generative Fill will allow you to photorealistically render just about any imagery you ask of it? (Subject, of course, to terms of service.)Not just that, actually: So many AI image generators have been released over the past year or so that the idea of prompting a computer to create pictures already seems old hat. Wh...

Corporate landlord’s California buying spree alarms tenants: ‘I only earn enough to pay the rent’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

BY ALEJANDRO LAZO AND WENDY FRY | CalMattersGladys Balcazar says she can barely afford food after paying rent to her new landlord, Blackstone Inc, one of the world’s largest private equity firms.Balcazar, a 60-year-old janitor, lives with her 27-year-old son in a two-bedroom apartment in Imperial Beach. She supports her son, who has a disability, on a salary of $2,800 a month.Blackstone bought her building and 65 others in San Diego County in 2021, becoming one of the region’s biggest landlords and alarming lawmakers, affordable housing advocates and Balcazar. In March Balcazar’s monthly rent rose $200 to $2,000.“All of this has really depressed me because I don’t see a way out,” she said in Spanish. “I only earn enough to pay the rent, and after that there is nothing left.”Adding to her stress were large swaths of dark mold outside her building, on walls and window ledges, climbing to a roofline. A building manager said she would be responsible for mold remediation in her unit if s...

Opinion: Mia Bonta bill attacks charter school construction funding

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:22 GMT

Fifteen thousand students, nearly one-third of all children in Oakland public schools, attend charter schools. While all children deserve safe and equitable education facilities, a bill introduced by Oakland’s assemblymember would make it more challenging for public charter schools to purchase and improve their schools.Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s legislation, AB 1604, makes it more expensive, and possibly prohibitive, for charter schools to finance new facilities or improvements to existing ones. The bill focuses on construction bond financing and how charter facilities are turned over if a school closes. But, at its heart, it’s a labor-backed bill that makes serving children, especially in communities such as East Oakland, harder.Under the current state-run system, charter schools borrow money through the bond market. Bonds for charter schools are issued at a higher rate of interest than a school district is afforded because the smaller size of charters presents greater bond risk to...