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Spare the Air alert issued for Friday as temperatures begin to heat up

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

The Bay Area’s hot air will bring with it dirty air after all, officials said Thursday.As the thermometer showed its first signs of moving up Thursday, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued a Spare the Air Alert for Friday. It is expected to be the first day of the intense part of the heat wave that for much of the region is expected to peak on Saturday.The air-quality forecast earlier in the week did not indicate dirty air.“We anticipated the the possibility of unhealthy conditions coming later in the week due to the increasing temperatures,” air district spokeswoman Tina Landis said. She added the district didn’t have confidence in the bad air conditions until Thursday.Temperatures by Saturday are expected to be in the 100s in the far interior region, 90s in more centralized locations, and in the 70s and 80s closer to the coastal areas.On Friday, some areas of the region are expected to have air with enough particulate matter that it will be u...

Frosty fun: 6 cool ways to beat the heat in the Bay Area this summer

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

Don’t let the heat stop you from having a cool time this summer. There are plenty of ways to mix thrills and (literal) chills in the Bay Area — from trying out an icy Olympic sport to bundling up for an evening concert on a mountaintop. Here are six ideas for having some frosty fun over the next few monthsCurling timeYou might have watched this fascinating sport during the Winter Olympics or perhaps on one of the many ESPN channels late one random night. Now you can try it out for yourself. The San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club, the oldest of its kind in California, opened a facility in Oakland last year.The sport’s origins date back at least 500 years to medieval Scotland, and it’s been a hit in Canada for eons. It’s the fastest-growing winter sport around the world, not just in icy climes, but in Mexico, India and here too, with the number of league-playing curlers nearly doubling in the last dozen years, according to USA Curling.Sarah Walsh of Oakland, slides a ston...

Bodycam footage of Vallejo Police Department shooting released

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

Vallejo police released footage Wednesday of last month’s officer-involved shooting.The video clips, which the Vallejo Police Department screened at a 4 p.m. town hall meeting just blocks away from the scene of the June 27 incident at 1401 Springs Road, largely track with authorities’ accounts over the past two weeks. However, certain key details – including when, precisely, Officer Brad Kim shot 29-year-old Jamazea Kittell and just how badly Kittell was injured – remained murky Wednesday.Footage from three police body cameras, including Kim’s, shows authorities arrive around 4:12 a.m. June 27 at the scene of an alleged burglary at a gas station.“Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands! Let me see your hands!” Kim is heard shouting as he runs in front of a Dodge Charger that a suspect has just entered. The Charger then accelerates forward, throwing Kim to the ground, then careens into a parking lot across the street before crashing into a pole.“That’s fine. That’s fine,” Kim is...

Murder charge filed after police trace burning body in Oakland hills to Richmond shooting

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

RICHMOND — A 42-year-old man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a June shooting where the victim’s body was moved to Oakland and set on fire, authorities said.Jose Vazquez-Cano was charged with killing 25-year-old Bryan Barrios-Marroquin in a June 3 shooting in Richmond. Barrios-Marroquin’s body was found later that day inside a burning pickup truck parked on the 9500 block of Mountain Boulevard in the Oakland hills, police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Months after rejecting one plea deal, Alameda County judge sentences Delonzo Logwood Crime and Public Safety | Two children among four people injured in Oakland shootings Crime and Public Safety | ‘I want my daddy’; Family mourns young father slain in Oakland Crime and Public Safety | East Bay resident robbed after returning home from bank Crime and Public Safety | Just six months into Al...

Vermont cleans up while bracing for more rain

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

By Kathy McCormack | Associated PressVermont prepared for the next round of storms — and possibly a tornado — as people took advantage of calm weather Thursday to clean up from historic flooding that damaged thousands of homes, businesses and roads, and left some residents stranded.As floodwaters receded, the good news was that there were no new rescue missions, dams were holding up and more roads reopened. The bad news was that strong thunderstorms were expected to move into parts of the state by Thursday night, which could cause more flash flooding, Gov. Phil Scott said at a news conference. Conditions could spawn a tornado, he said. And the state could get more heavy rain over the weekend.“The period we are more concerned about is Sunday because that could be more widespread and heavier, but not nearly on the scale of what we saw earlier in the week,” National Weather Service meteorologist Seth Kutikoff said.Scott said it’s important for Vermonters to be vigilan...

As drought batters Arizona, Scottsdale bans new grass lawns

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

By Mitchell McCluskey and Holly Yan | CNNAs drought-stricken Arizona bakes in searing heat, the Scottsdale City Council unanimously agreed this week to ban natural grass in front of future single-family homes in an effort to conserve water.The new ordinance will apply to new houses constructed or permitted after August 15.“By adopting this ordinance, Scottsdale aims to lead the way in water conservation practices, setting an example for other communities across the region,” said Brian Biesemeyer, executive director of Scottsdale’s water department.According to Scottsdale City Council, feedback gathered from Scottsdale Water customers in June found that 86% of those who responded supported the ordinance.“It’s a positive step that supports responsible use of our water resources and an initiative that works in tandem with Scottsdale Water’s existing residential and commercial rebate programs that offer water saving options and maintain the beauty and functionality of Scottsdale’s neigh...

Majority of people arrested for drugs in SF not from the city, according to mayor

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The "overwhelming majority" of the 115 people recently arrested for public drug use in San Francisco are not residents of the city, according to SF Mayor London Breed. None of those arrested accepted services upon release, Breed added in a lengthy tweet thread about drug enforcement in the city.Arrests for drug dealing in the Tenderloin and South of Market have doubled in the past two weeks, Breed said, resulting in the seizure of "alarming levels of fentanyl." The increased arrests are a result of the San Francisco Police Department increasing enforcement as part of a coordinated drug market enforcement effort. Jenkins talks about her first year as San Francisco District Attorney During that two-week period, SFPD seized 9.5 kilos of fentanyl, the mayor said. That's a third of what officers seized in all of 2022 -- 25 kilos -- in just 14 days."This is why our coordinated efforts matter," Breed said.The San Francisco Sheriff's Office has also been part of th...

Gilroy man charged with South Bay arson spree

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

(KRON) -- A 32-year-old Gilroy man is accused of staging his own wildfire season by igniting a series of arson fires across Santa Clara County. Daniel Catano is charged with intentionally igniting 10 fires in Gilroy and Morgan Hill this summer. "This dangerous man’s personal fire season is over," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Thursday. For two weeks, the suspected arsonist's blazes "shook the South County community, leaving homes, cars, and businesses scorched, and a housing project burned to the ground," prosecutors wrote. Catano's targets appeared to be random, prosecutors said.Police were able to identify Catano as a suspect after receiving a tip from the public. He was arrested on July 11 after a multi-agency manhunt. Catano will be arraigned on 10 felony arson charges at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill. If convicted, he will face prison time. "The public, the police, and the firefighters have now done their jobs – and now we will do ours," R...

Tentative deal reached in port strike on Canada’s west coast

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A tentative deal was reached Thursday between employers and workers in a strike that has halted shipments in and out of ports in Canada’s west coast region of British Columbia for nearly two weeks.A statement from the BC Maritime Employers Association said it had reached a tentative agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The strike by 7,400 members of the union began July 1 and shut down more than 30 west coast ports. The statement said the four-year deal is subject to ratification by both parties, so details are not yet being released.The affected ports handle cargo worth over 800 million Canadian dollars ($600 million) every day.Business groups and the provincial governments had called on the national government to force an end to the strike. Source

Phone of man who killed 3 at Indiana mall had Hitler photos, `extremely graphic’ videos of killings

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 09:00:52 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The cellphone of a 20-year-old man who fatally shot three people last year at an Indianapolis-area mall contained photos of Adolf Hitler, Nazi propaganda, firearms and “extremely graphic” videos of previous mass killings, police said Thursday.Police said the FBI found nothing on the phone about the mall or plans for last year’s mass shooting, but it contained what appeared to be a suicide note Jonathan Douglas Sapirman had written more than two years before the attack.Greenwood police said the FBI was able in May to unlock the phone, which Sapirman dropped into a mall toilet before he opened fire inside the food court of Greenwood Park Mall last July 17. Sapirman was fatally shot by an armed shopper shortly after the shooting began in the city just south of Indianapolis.Police said the FBI recovered more 200 videos and more 3,400 images from the phone, along with notes kept on the device, call and text logs and internet searches. Many of the videos were of ...