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Happy hours, corporate swag and haircuts: Meta morale gets a boost after layoffs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

By Aisha Counts | BloombergMeta Platforms Inc. employees are slowly starting to enjoy coming into the office more, bouncing back from a morale crisis that set in after 20,000 of their teammates were laid off over the past year. One reason: the company has revived a number of popular pre-pandemic perks, from branded T-shirts to happy hours.Workers have spent most of the year fearing for their jobs during rolling cuts. Productivity slowed because employees were unsure what to work on, or if they should be working at all. Employees that survived the layoffs were sad that their friends were no longer at the company, and that the perquisites — the little extras that made work fun — were reduced, multiple current and former workers said.Now, entire divisions of Meta, which owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, are ordering their branded T-shirts again, something that wouldn’t have been considered worth the expense in the past eight months, during Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’...

Motorcyclist killed in Highway 4 crash in Martinez

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

MARTINEZ — A motorcyclist was killed Sunday morning when he crashed on Highway 4 after the California Highway Patrol said he encountered some debris in the roadway.He was identified Monday by the coroner’s office as Brian Apodaca, 57, of Hercules.The crash happened about 2:03 a.m. Sunday in the westbound lanes of the freeway near Pine Street.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Gilroy: 34-year-old pedestrian hit and killed by driver Crashes and Disasters | San Jose pedestrian killed in 35th traffic death of 2023 Crashes and Disasters | Two dead after Marin County crash Crashes and Disasters | Vigil to be held for East Bay boy who died, siblings injured one year after tragic accident Crashes and Disasters | Motorcyclist dies on rural East Bay road after truck pulls out in front of him The California Highway Patrol said its preliminary investigation indicated Apodaca encountered some debris ...

Thousands of Californians are losing Medi-Cal every month. What to do if you lose coverage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

BY SHREYA AGRAWAL | CalMattersTens of thousands of Californians are losing health insurance every month as the state resumes checking people’s eligibility for Medi-Cal, which it suspended during the COVID-19 public health emergency.About 16 million people in California will be evaluated for eligibility from June 2023 to May 2024. About half of those up for a review were automatically renewed because officials were able to verify their information in the system. Others were sent yellow renewal packets that they were supposed to fill out and send back to their county Medi-Cal office.More than 300,000 Californians have lost their Medi-Cal eligibility since July 1. The majority of lost coverage in June and July due to procedural reasons, such as not sending their renewal forms back or having incorrect information in their forms, according to state data.Some people losing coverage are no longer eligible because of changes in their personal lives, such as starting a job with higher pay. B...

Stolen French bulldog found; 3 arrested by San Jose PD

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

(BCN) -- Three suspects who allegedly stole a French bulldog from its owner at gunpoint three months ago in San Jose are in custody, police said Monday. The robbery took place about 11 p.m. on June 22 in the 2000 block of Southwest Expressway. The trio allegedly took the victim's property and the dog at gunpoint, fleeing the scene before police arrived. Surveillance video helped investigators identify and track down the three suspects and detectives obtained warrants for their arrest and to search their homes, police said."The victim's French bulldog was also recovered uninjured and reunited with the owner," police wrote.   Oakland mother killed after being struck by stray bullet while asleep On Sept. 7, the San Jose Police Department Covert Response Unit arrested Milpitas residents Isaac Ortiz, 21, and Jesse Saavedra, 20, and San Jose resident Alyssa Castro, 19. They were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of armed robbery. Copyr...

Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Sinaloa cartel leader ‘El Chapo,’ pleads not guilty to US drug, money laundering charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Ovidio Guzmán López, son of Sinaloa cartel leader ‘El Chapo,’ pleads not guilty to US drug, money laundering charges.Source

Rams show promise with breakout performances by Nacua and Williams in loss to Niners

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams are clearly facing many weeks and months of work before they’re a Super Bowl contender again.It’s also increasingly clear Sean McVay has a collection of talented skill players who can make his schemes come to life in what could become an exciting year of renewal for his offense.The Rams have rarely emerged from meetings with the 49ers feeling good about themselves in the past half-decade, but Sunday’s 30-23 loss had far more positives than most of those nine consecutive regular-season defeats.Rookie receiver Puka Nacua, second-year running back Kyren Williams and third-year wideout Tutu Atwell led the way in a 386-yard effort by Matthew Stafford’s offense, which was only a couple of mistakes away from hanging with powerhouse San Francisco for the entire afternoon.“I love the rapport of that group,” McVay said. “I love the way that they play for one another. I love the energy and the edge that they play with. I think we ...

Airstrike on northern Iraq military airport kills 3

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — An airstrike on a military airport in northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region killed three people Monday, local officials said.The region’s counter-terrorism service said in a statement that the attack on the Arbat Airport, 28 kilometers southeast of the city of Suleimaniyah killed three of its personnel and injured three members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.The airport had recently undergone rehabilitation to facilitate the training of anti-terror units affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two often-competing main parties in the region, whose seat of power is in Sulaymaniyah.The counter-terrorism service did not blame the attack on any party, but the Sulaymaniyah governorate in a statement urged “countries in the region to respect the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq,” implying that the strike was carried out by Turkey.Also on Monday, the Kurdistan National Congress, an umbrella organization of Kurdish groups and part...

Speaker McCarthy running out of options to stop a shutdown as conservatives balk at new plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy is running out of options as he races Monday to come up with a plan to keep the federal government from shutting down as even a plan to include hardline border security provisions wasn’t enough to appease the far-right flank in his Republican House majority. The speaker told his Republican conference that they should be prepared to stay through this weekend to pass a stopgap measure, called a continuing resolution, that would keep government offices open past the Sept. 30 deadline. But many are already bracing for the heavy political fallout of a federal shutdown.McCarthy suggested Monday that time is still on his side.“This isn’t the 30th —we’ve got a long ways to go,” he told reporters at the Capitol.McCarthy panned the idea of compromising with Democrats as he tries to pass the annual spending measures on his own, saying there were “a lot of good ideas” still coming from Republicans.McCarthy on Sunday night House Republicans pitched ...

High-octane Chiefs relying on defense to keep them in early season games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs have relied for years on their dynamic offense to rescue their middle-of-the-road defense. On Sunday, it was the other way around. Given the makeup of the roster, and the way Patrick Mahomes and Co. have performed in a close loss to the Lions and their 17-9 win over the Jaguars, that could be the norm this season. The Chiefs have struggled with dropped passes, wide receivers that have been unable to get open, an inconsistent run game and far too many penalties to effectively keep drives alive.Oh, but that defense. Time after time, coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s bunch made plays to keep Kansas City in the game, holding Jacksonville to 271 yards and quarterback Trevor Lawrence to just 197 through the air.“You know,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “I’m an offensive guy, but that was a beautiful thing defensively. Offensively, we got to take care of the penalties and turnovers, but the battle-through-it showed me a little something...

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts ahead of Fed’s next meeting on interest rates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next meeting to focus interest rates.The S&P 500 was 0.3% higher in afternoon trading, coming off its second straight losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76 points, or 0.2%, at 34,693, as of 1:42 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%.Stocks have been see-sawing since early August on uncertainty about whether the Fed is finally done with its drastic hikes to interest rates. Higher rates have helped cool inflation from its peak last summer, but they also hurt prices for stocks and other investments while slowing the economy.Traders almost universally expect the Fed to keep rates steady at its meeting this week, which ends Wednesday. More attention will be on the forecasts Fed officials will publish about where they expect interest rates, the economy and the job market to head in upcoming years.One of the first the market will fixate on is how high officials at the Fed see i...