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California High-Speed Rail awarded $3B by Biden Administration; largest grant in its history

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

The California High-Speed Rail has received its biggest boost from the federal government yet, being awarded more than $3 billion in grant funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.The announcement was made Tuesday and was confirmed by California Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Nancy Pelosi."California takes great pride in our ambitious status as the leading edge of high-speed rail in America," Pelosi said on X, previously Twitter. "With $3 billion in new federal funding, we take an important leap closer to making high-speed rail a reality in California."The grant is the largest chunk of federal funding the California High-Speed Rail Authority has been awarded since the state's most ambitious public transportation project was approved by voters in 2008.Construction work has been chugging along steadily in the Central Valley, as crews construct the first portion of the California High-Speed Rail, which is being referred to as the "initial operating segment." The initial operating ...

Man armed with crowbar vandalizes nearly 30 vehicles in L.A.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

An armed suspect is wanted for vandalizing approximately 30 vehicles in Koreatown. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the vandalism occurred on Monday between noon and 3 p.m. in the area of 4th Street to 7th Street and Westmoreland Boulevard to Virgil Avenue.  Suspected DUI crash leaves 2 dead on 5 Freeway Witnesses say that the man was bashing in windows and denting the bodies of the vehicles with a yellow crowbar. Video submitted to KTLA by a neighbor shows the man walking around with the crowbar, smashing parked vehicles at random.Another silver Chevy sedan had its rear driver side window completely smashed in; the vehicle owner had since covered the damage with what appeared to be a piece of cardboard, part of a garbage bag and tape. (KTLA)Video from the scene captured by KTLA shows a white Toyota SUV with a shattered back windshield.Another silver Chevy sedan had its rear driver side window completely smashed in; the vehicle owner had since covered...

Taco Bell brings back its Double Decker Taco

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

Taco Bell’s Double Decker Taco is returning to menus nationwide, the fast-food company announced Tuesday.Taco Bell customers can now purchase the fan-favorite menu item for $2.99.The Double Decker Taco could have returned to menus in 2022 when Taco Bell asked fans to vote to determine which “retired” food item made a comeback. Fans voted to bring back the Enchirito instead.Taco Bell’s Double Decker Taco is returning to menus nationwide, the fast-food company announced Tuesday. (Taco Bell) Taco Bell releases Nacho Fries Lover’s Pass and debuts new entrée “The Double Decker Taco holds a deep space in the hearts of our Taco Bell Fans. The insane amount of love for this product from fans across our social platforms was impossible to ignore,” Taylor Montgomery, chief marketing officer, said in a statement.“The sentiment was particularly strong following last year’s spirited face-off with the Enchirito. We listened to what our fans wanted from us and knew we couldn’t deny them the joy ...

Orange County's beaches are washing away. This is what's being done to stop it

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is spearheading a major effort to save Orange County's world-famous beaches from a natural threat: erosion.The problem of disappearing sand is nothing new but has become more alarming in recent years. In March, the U.S. Geological Survey released a report predicting that rising sea levels could erode 25% to 70% of California’s coastline by 2100, The Orange County Register reported.The erosion isn’t just a threat to the beauty and recreational uses of the beaches. It also threatens infrastructure including roads, rail lines and homes.Contractors are moving sediment from the Santa Ana River to replenish sand at Newport Beach. Dec. 5, 2023. (KTLA)Contractors are using backhoes to dig up sand from the Santa Ana River while barges are dredging sediment from the ocean. While some of the sediment will be spread out in the immediate area of Newport Beach near the river, managers say the more important work will be done further to the north. Conflicts betwee...

Letters: Fine inadequate | Invest in housing | Innocent Gazans | Vaccination rates | PAC money

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Speed camera fineis too little to deterRe: “Map: Speed cameras are likely to be placed on these San Jose streets” (Nov. 20).Speed cameras seem to be an adjunct to the understaffed San Jose Police Department. A test program is a great idea. However, the proposed fines are: drivers going 11 to 15 mph over the speed limit will be sent a $50 ticket. Sixteen to 25 mph over the limit is a $100 ticket, and 26 mph over is $200. Those who exceed 100 mph will receive a $500 penalty.That last fine is preposterous. Anyone driving on city streets at 100 mph, regardless of the posted limit, should face severe consequences — perhaps confiscation of the vehicle and/or jail time.Mike RobertsSan JoseS.J. must invest invaried housing plansI am writing to emphasize the critical need for increased efforts in creating more affordable housing options for the residents of San Jose. The escalating cost of living in o...

Huge project at old Bay Area mall changes focus as real estate shifts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

CUPERTINO — A vast redevelopment of the old Vallco Mall in Cupertino will shift gears in a fast-changing economy — a move crafted to make the project more feasible and enable the first buildings to sprout by late 2024 or in 2025.The Rise, as the ambitious mixed-use development is known, could bring about a new downtown for Cupertino that would emerge from the cleared-away remnants of the moribund Vallco Mall.For that to become a reality, the project’s owner, an affiliate of busy Bay Area developer Sand Hill Property Co., proposed on Tuesday several key changes in the development.The towers in the project will be considerably shorter and the development itself will be reconfigured to make it easier to coax lenders to provide construction financing for an array of properties that together could coalesce to create a new city center for Cupertino.“Challenging market conditions of the past year have affected real estate projects throughout our region, and The Rise...

Rep. Greene says GOP colleague got physical with her

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

By Melanie Zanona | CNNIn a private meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson last week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused fellow Georgia Republican Rep. Richard McCormick of getting physically aggressive with her, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter – a charge that McCormick has denied, saying it was a “friendly gesture.”Greene claimed to Johnson that McCormick grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her following a public spat they had over competing resolutions to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the sources said, and asked the speaker to address the issue. McCormick voted against Greene’s censure resolution and then introduced his own, more narrow version – which prompted Greene to say to reporters at the time that McCormick had his “ego bruised.” She also publicly bashed other Republicans who voted against her resolution.In a statement provided to CNN, McCormick said the interaction was intended to be friendly, but he apologized to the congre...

Johnson demanding border changes in Ukraine aid bill

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

By Stephen Groves and Lisa Mascaro | Associated PressWASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson told fellow Republicans on Tuesday that sweeping changes to U.S. border policy would be their “hill to die on” in negotiations that have already grown tense as Congress considers President Joe Biden’s $110 billion package for the wars in Ukraine and Israel and other security needs.Johnson delivered the hard-line message Tuesday morning ahead of classified briefings the Biden administration organized to underscore how desperately the aid is needed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to address the senators via video but had to cancel his appearance, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.Instead, the meeting erupted in frustration and yelling as Republicans insisted on including border security in the discussion. Democrats have dismissed the Republican border proposals as attempts to return to the draconian policies of former President Donald Trump.Bide...

Steve Jobs wrote a check in 1976 to Radio Shack. Now it’s up for auction

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

It’s a pristine piece of Silicon Valley history — and it comes with a famous autograph.A check that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs made out to Radio Shack on July 23, 1976, just months after the pioneering computer company was founded, has gone up for auction.The latest bid tops $30,000, with less than a day remaining in the sale by RR Auction. Bidding will close Wednesday, Dec. 6, with any initial bids required by 3 p.m. PST.The check is made out on an Apple Computer Company account opened at a Wells Fargo branch in Los Altos. Listed is Apple’s first official address at 770 Welch Rd., Ste. 154, Palo Alto — “the location of an answering service and mail drop that they used while still operating out of the famous Jobs family garage,” the listing says.RR Auction, a Boston-based specialist in Jobs and Apple memorabilia, calls Radio Shack an “unsung hero” of the personal computing revolution and notes that co-founder Steve Wozniak would spend...

Peruvian court orders release of former President Fujimoro

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:09:05 GMT

Associated PressLIMA, Peru — Peru’s constitutional court ordered an immediate humanitarian release Tuesday for imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, 85, who was serving a 25-year sentence in connection with the death squad slayings of 25 Peruvians in the 1990s.The court ruled in favor of a 2017 pardon that had granted the former leader a release on humanitarian grounds but that later was annulled.In a resolution seen by The Associated Press, the court told the state prisons agency to immediately release Fujimori “on the same day.”Fujimori was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison on charges of human rights abuses. He had been accused of being the mastermind behind the slayings of 25 Peruvians by a military death squad during his administration from 1990 to 2000, while the government fought the Shining Path communist rebels.Fujimori’s 2017 pardon granted by then-President Pablo Kuczynski was annulled under pressure from the Inter-American Court of Hu...