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Opinion: If the Earth burning isn’t enough, what will spark climate protests?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

What does it take to launch a successful social movement – one that brings pressure on world leaders to bring about actual policy changes?Of course, there needs to be a sense of profound injustice, something that makes a segment of the population break out of their day-to-day focus on meeting immediate needs – food, shelter, earning a living, caring for loved ones –  and take to the streets and demand change.There must also be a sense of urgency, the perception that action is needed soon, if not immediately. Either the consequences of inaction will quickly become intolerable or frustration over long enduring social injustice builds to the boiling point.Examples of social movements that have brought about meaningful political, economic, and societal changes include the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, the women’s suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the anti-war movement in reaction to American intervention in Vietnam, and the outpouring of grief, anger, a...

Chef Thach Tran leaves Ace East Serve to devote himself to health food

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

The avocado toast at the Energy Bar Cafe in downtown Denver. (Provided by Energy Bar Cafe)Chef Thach Tran has shifted to the healthier side of cooking.After six years working for the Secret Sauce restaurant group in Denver, Tran has left his job as executive chef of Ace Eat Serve to fully take over his own spot, the Energy Bar Cafe in the Colorado Athletic Club-Tabor Center downtown.“The cafe fell into our laps,” said Tran, explaining how the manager of the gym contacted him last year after he signed up for a membership. “He knew I worked at Ace and asked if I knew anyone who could operate the coffee space.”Thach Tran, left, and his husband, Dustin Tran. (Provided by Energy Bar Cafe)Suddenly, Tran started thinking about what it would mean to run his own spot, something very different from the Peking duck, bao buns and signature sauced wings he became well-known for at Ace. He went home and started working out plans with his husband, Dustin Tran. He found out ...

Tropical Storm Hilary expected to become major hurricane Thursday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

Tropical Storm Hilary is rapidly intensifying in the Pacific and is expected to reach major hurricane status in the next 24 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm continues to be on a track to reach Southern California as a tropical storm, or possibly even a hurricane, later this weekend.A tropical storm watch has been issued for the southern portion of Baja California Sur Thursday, the Hurricane Center stated in its forecast.Hilary is forecast to reach Category 3 status at some point Saturday before likely arriving in Southern California as a tropical storm late Sunday or Monday.There is also a chance Hilary could reach the Southland as an extremely rare Category 1 hurricane. A Category 1 is believed to have hit San Diego in 1858. Hilary is forecast to drop from 3 to 6 inches of rain on the Southland with some areas reaching 8 inches, according to the Hurricane Center. Damaging winds and areas of flash flooding are also possible...

Stanford football: New coach, new offense, transfers provide ‘blank slate’ for O-line hopefuls

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

STANFORD – It would be difficult enough for the Stanford offensive line to replace five players with a combined 142 career starts who all transferred after last season. The Cardinal also have to do it while learning a completely different offensive system.The group of inexperienced underclassmen has spent the offseason getting used to playing with each other as well as adjusting to new coach Troy Taylor’s hurry-up, no-huddle offense, a drastic change from the pro-style offense that Stanford used to run.“It’s definitely been challenging with the fast pace,” said Lucas Heyer, who came to Stanford in 2022 as the top-ranked recruit in Minnesota. “Just to read defenses and get the calls, it’s tough to think that quickly when you’re a little fatigued as well. Pro style, you’re huddling up and catching your breath between plays.“This is completely different. As a unit, we really had to buy in this offseason in getting to a different level of shape and I think we did that.”Heyer and f...

What 49ers cornerback Ambry Thomas learned from a lost season in 2022

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

SANTA CLARA — One of the longest held beliefs among NFL coaches is that the biggest leap in a player’s development comes between Year 1 and Year 2.How, then, to explain Ambry Thomas, who started slowly as a rookie cornerback before inserting himself into the picture of a playoff team and then played so infrequently in 2022 the 49ers could have been forgiven for filing a missing persons report.Thomas was praised Tuesday by new defensive coordinator Steve Wilks for doing a “tremendous job” in a 34-7 loss to the Raiders in the preseason opener, just as Kyle Shanahan did on Monday, calling Thomas “a different player.”Taken in the third round, No. 102 overall out of Michigan, the 49ers were intrigued with Thomas’ length and coverage ability at 6-foot, 190 pounds. But after a 2022 season during which seldom was heard an encouraging word, there were no guarantees Thomas would even make the roster this season unless he made people sit up and take no...

Big San Jose affordable housing development edges closer to reality

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

SAN JOSE — A big affordable housing development in San Jose has edged closer to reality with an environmental approval that clears the way for the city to land federal funds for the project.The project, which would contain nearly 100 apartments, would replace fire-scarred homes and a former restaurant that’s now closed.The development of 99 affordable homes is being proposed for 797 South Almaden Avenue near downtown San Jose.Berkeley-based Resources for Community Development bought the development site in 2021, paying just under $3.6 million for the five parcels where the homes would be built.On August 9, San Jose officials revealed that the city has determined that the project poses no significant impact on the “human environment” and that a full-fledged environmental impact report isn’t needed as part of the approval process.As a result, the city says it’s applying to the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department for a release of funds to h...

San Francisco police find 1 dead in U-Haul; investigation leads to Northern California homicide at illegal cannabis grow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

BERRY CREEK — The Butte County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an ongoing investigation into a homicide it says happened during a recent armed robbery at an illegal cannabis grow.According press release Wednesday by the Sheriff’s Office, Alexander Licona-Romero, 21, of Oakland, was found Aug. 4 dead inside a U-Haul truck by the San Francisco Police Department — and evidence found by police indicated that he had died in the Berry Creek area.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Body of missing Bay Area man found in San Pablo Bay Crime and Public Safety | Oakland man free on bail in earlier shooting charged with murder near same retirement center Crime and Public Safety | Defendant in East Bay homicide case gets 16 years behind bars Crime and Public Safety | Bay Area activist loses appeal of Oakland murder conviction after contentious trial Crime and Public Safety | Major lawsuit filed against FCI Dublin, wo...

5 lightning fires contained in Northern California forests

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

SUSANVILLE — U.S. Forest Service firefighters have contained several fires sparked by lightning strikes Tuesday in the Lassen and Plumas national forests.In Lassen National Forest, one fire measured one tenth of an acre in the Thousand Lakes Wilderness and another fire measured eight acres near the Philbrook Reservoir.The eight-acre fire, designated as the L-1 fire, began Tuesday evening and resources from the forest service and Cal Fire-Butte County responded to the fire.Both of these fires are 100% contained and the first has been controlled, the forest service said.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Maui wildfire: Disasters more likely in California or Texas, not Hawaii Crashes and Disasters | Evacuations ordered after winds whip Northern California wildfire near site of 2022 deadly blaze Crashes and Disasters | Map: Head Fire evacuation order expands in Siskiyou County Crashes and Disasters | Did powerlines cause Ma...

Walters: Legislature is avoiding key issues, including fire insurance crisis

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

As the Legislature reconvenes this week for the final month of its 2023 session, it will be deciding the fate of hundreds of remaining bills.It would be fair, if a bit cynical, to say that California could survive quite nicely if 90% of them never made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.It would be equally fair and cynical to say that the session will adjourn in September without effectively dealing with some very serious, even existential, issues that adversely affect the lives of those legislators are sworn to serve.The housing crisis is one. Another session will end without addressing misuse of the California Environmental Quality Act to stall or kill much-needed housing projects. Newsom persuaded the Legislature to reform CEQA’s effects of public works projects, but is apparently unwilling to take on the heavy lift of reforming its impact on housing.As the housing crisis persists, it forces ever-more low-income Californians out of homes and apartments and into the streets, thus wors...

Body of missing Bay Area man found in San Pablo Bay

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:19 GMT

American Canyon native Christian Massey, reported missing a week ago, was found dead on Sunday when a kayaker stumbled upon his lifeless body in San Pablo Bay near Cal Maritime Academy in Vallejo.“We are still in the dark on the how and why,” cousin Sumer Lyn Parchaso said on Wednesday. “We are waiting for his autopsy to finish in two weeks’ time.”A missing person police report was filed last week for the 27-year-old Massey, saying that he had been missing since Monday, Aug. 7. He was last seen on that day leaving UCSF wearing a light blue shirt and dark blue trousers. Massey works in San Francisco.Massey’s gray Honda with a license plate that reads 7PGL679 was caught by FasTrak going over the Carquinez Bridge on Aug. 7 and found on Sunday in the Cal Maritime parking lot.Parchaso said that she had no knowledge of Massey ever going kayaking.The autopsy report is expected to be done in two weeks. Until then Parchaso asks that others respect the families’ privacy.