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Editorial: Stalled Bay Area bridge toll hike should prompt transit changes

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

The pausing this past week of efforts to ram through a Bay Area bridge toll increase should prompt transit agencies — especially BART — to rethink how they are delivering service.Public transportation remains critical to the region’s economy, reduction of carbon emissions and survival of those with no other means of transportation. But it must be provided in a cost-efficient way that realistically recognizes post-pandemic demand and ensures coordination, rather than duplication, of services.We expect that state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, will try to resurface some variation of his proposed $1.50 bridge toll hike next year. And the Metropolitan Transportation Commission likely will push plans for a 2026 ballot measure to raise the region’s sales tax another half-cent to further fund commuter rail, buses and ferries.Before they do, they should take the temperature of the region.Wiener should note that he didn’t have the votes to push his toll increase through the ...

High school football: St. Francis throws first punch, but Helix-La Mesa responds and rolls to win

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

MOUNTAIN VIEW — St. Francis could not have scripted a better start to the 2023 season if it tried.But it didn’t take long for Helix-La Mesa to burn that script up entirely.After a Lancers threw the game’s first punch with a quick touchdown, the San Diego-area powerhouse responded with 25 unanswered points in the first half to roll to a 45-21 win on Friday night in Mountain View.St. Francis had a dream start to their season opener, forcing a three-and-out on defense and seeing star junior running back Kingston Keanaaina need just five carries to go 42 yards and ram his way into the endzone.“First game, we don’t know if we’re any good, we don’t know anything,” St. Francis coach Greg Calcagno said. “That was great, it was exactly how you want it … And the rest of the half didn’t go that way.”Helix (2-0) coach Damaja Jones felt that the quick bully-ball touchdown from St. Francis was actually a wake up call for his team, which had flown up to the Bay Area on Friday mor...

Opinion: Popular California housing narrative upended by planning expert

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

California clearly has a housing affordability crisis. Unfortunately, the response from Sacramento politicians has only made the problem worse. Cities and resident groups are now pushing back, and a recent court filing by one of the country’s leading planning experts confirms their contention that state leaders have got it wrong.Lafayette Councilwoman Susan Candell (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)The narrative widely circulated is that if we simply densify our cities, eliminate single-family zoning and remove the ability of our local councilmembers to review housing developments, the result will be more affordable housing. In a stunning legal filing, this narrative was upended by a top urban planner.Professor Michael Storper, from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, filed a legal declaration in support of the Southern California cities’ lawsuit against the state of California over the passage of SB9. SB9 is the law that eliminates single-family zoning and allows ow...

Blow: It’s clear that Ron DeSantis is no longer on the rise, but someone else is

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

MILWAUKEE — In a crowded debate, you can tell which candidates are seen as the greatest threat because they take the most incoming fire from their rivals.During the Republican presidential primary debate Wednesday night, that person wasn’t Ron DeSantis, who was once considered Donald Trump’s greatest threat, but Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old political upstart with little chance of actually securing the nomination.Watching the DeSantis campaign collapse has been an extraordinarily edifying spectacle.There would have been no DeSantis without Trump. Trump endorsed DeSantis for governor of Florida when DeSantis was struggling against a strong Republican opponent for the party’s nomination. DeSantis rode Trump’s endorsement to victory.So there was always something about the DeSantis campaign that seemed reminiscent of Macbeth coming to kill his king. The only problem is that DeSantis has ambition, but not the bloodlust. He lacks the courage, which is ironic given that before his r...

Stanford teenager Asher Hong in first place entering final day of men’s U.S. Gymnastics Championships 

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

SAN JOSE — One day after 19-year-old Stanford sophomore Asher Hong finished Day 1 of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on the top of the leaderboard, his coach was still thinking about how much better it could’ve been.Hong had shocked Stanford coach Thom Glielmi when he fell during his floor exercise, earning him a 13.561 score that ranked 21st in the exercise.Even so, Hong was so dominant in every other exercise that the Texas-born teenager will enter Saturday’s finals at the SAP Center with an 85.615 score while sitting in first place.“I can’t believe he missed his floor routine,” Glielmi said. “He’s been very consistent with that. He just got a little buckle on the punch going into that second pass. That was a bit of a surprise. But he’s pretty consistent, trains the way he competes. But it could be even better.”Hong, a three-time NCAA All-American during his freshman season while helping lead Stanford to a national championship, is still looking for his first individual na...

FIFA suspends Spanish soccer president Luis Rubiales from office while disciplinary committee investigates his conduct

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA suspends Spanish soccer president Luis Rubiales from office while disciplinary committee investigates his conduct.Source

Siete tornados azotan Michigan: al menos cinco muertos, entre ellos una bebé de 1 año

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

Al menos siete tornados tocaron tierra en Michigan como parte de fuertes tormentas que dejaron al menos cinco muertos, y cuyos fuertes vientos derribaron árboles, arrancaron techos y provocaron apagones que afectaron a cientos de miles de usuarios, dijeron las autoridades.El Servicio Meteorológico Nacional confirmó el viernes que un tornado EF-1 con vientos máximos de 125 millas por hora azotó Lansing, la capital estatal, donde el jueves por la noche causó la muerte de una persona y lesiones a otras tres.El portavoz del Departamento de Policía de Lansing, Jordan Gulkis, dijo que una mujer de 84 años murió después que un árbol cayó sobre su casa. Los bomberos sacaron a la víctima de la vivienda pero fue declarada muerta en un hospital. Impresionante tornado de fuego en incendios en Canadá Niño de 10 años gana $25,000 tras diseñar un sistema de alerta temprana de tornados En el oeste de Michigan, la policía del condado Kent informó ...

SpaceX y la NASA lanzaron a cuatro astronautas de cuatro países hacia la Estación Espacial Internacional

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

(CNN) — Cuatro astronautas, en representación de cuatro naciones y agencias espaciales de todo el mundo, se lanzaron a bordo de un cohete SpaceX hacia la Estación Espacial Internacional, dando inicio a una misión que se espera que dure más de seis meses.La tripulación viaja a bordo de la cápsula SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance en la misión, denominada Crew-7. La nave espacial se lanzó sobre un cohete SpaceX Falcon 9 desde el Centro Espacial Kennedy de la NASA en Florida a las 3:27 a.m. ET de este sábado.Los cuatro astronautas de la misión incluyen a Jasmin Moghbeli de la NASA, quien se desempeña como comandante de la misión; el astronauta danés Andreas Mogensen en representación de la Agencia Espacial Europea; Satoshi Furukawa de la Agencia de Exploración Aeroespacial de Japón (JAXA); y el cosmonauta ruso Konstantin Borisov de Roscosmos.Después de alcanzar la órbita, la cápsula Crew Dragon se desprendió del cohete Falcon 9 y comenzó su viaje en solitario a través de la órbita. La...

Shelling kills civilians in Ukraine’s northeast as fears grow of a second Russian takeover

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces struck a cafe in a key front-line area in northeastern Ukraine Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding a third, regional officials said. The shelling near the city of Kupiansk came as U.K. officials said that Russia may try to retake the area, which was captured by Kyiv in a lightning counteroffensive last September after more than six months of Russian occupation. Fierce fighting there earlier this month prompted mandatory evacuations and fears of a second Russian takeover. Russian shells on Saturday morning struck the cafe in Podoly, an eastern suburb of Kupiansk, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram post. He added that rescue teams were working at the site. U.K. military intelligence on Saturday assessed that Russia may “increase the intensity of its offensive efforts” around Kupiansk and nearby Lyman in an attempt to take pressure off its forces near Bakhmut and in the Zaporizhzhia region, where a Ukrainian counteroffensiv...

Brazil’s Marcelo Huertas becomes the second oldest to play in basketball World Cup

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:12:44 GMT

Brazil’s Marcelo Huertas became the second oldest to play in the basketball World Cup in Brazil’s 100-59 victory over Iran on Saturday. He scored 10 points.Huertas is 40 years and 3 months. The only older player in tournament history was Eduardo Mingas, who was 40 years and 7 months when playing in two games for Angola at the 2019 World Cup.Later in the tournament, one of the youngest is expected to play — South Sudan’s 7-foot-1 center Khaman Maluach is just 16.Maluach, who is widely considered a 2025 NBA draft prospect, turns 17 next month. The only players younger than Maluach in World Cup history were Ivory Coast’s Georges Lath (16 years, 3 months in 1986) and China’s Gao Ailun (16 years, 9 months in 2010).Maluach was on the bench in Saturday’s loss to Puerto Rico but didn’t play.It’s the fifth World Cup for Huertas, the first of those coming in 2006, about two weeks before Maluach was born.Only 11 players before this year had appeared in five World Cups. ...