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Antioch City Council will not assume control over hiring, firing police chief

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

A proposal that would give Antioch City Council the authority to hire, fire and supervise the police chief failed to advance this week after one council member revised her stance on the issue.The council had approved a first reading on the structural changes on a 3-2 vote Aug. 22, with Councilmembers Lori Ogorchock and Mike Barbanica dissenting. But on its final reading Tuesday, Mayor Pro Tem Tamisha Torres-Walker, one of those who had originally proposed the idea, asked that the council add a condition that would end its authority after a year or as soon as a new permanent city manager was named.The councilwoman said she had second thoughts knowing “absolute power corrupts absolutely” and pulled the item from the consent calendar.“A lot of times when people who haven’t had power get a little, they misuse it – and that can happen in politics,” Torres-Walker said. “That can happen among the city council… And so I offered the compromise because most of us work full time. We also...

Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh, to release a memoir

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

By Hillel Italie | Associated PressNEW YORK — The California professor who testified that then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had assaulted her while they were in high school has written a memoir. Christine Blasey’s Ford’s “One Way Back” is scheduled for publication next March.According to St. Martin’s Press, she will share “riveting new details about the lead-up” to her testimony in 2018; “its overwhelming aftermath,” when she allegedly received death threats and was unable to live at her home; and “how people unknown to her around the world restored her faith in humanity.”Ford, a professor at Palo Alto University and the Stanford University School of Medicine, made headlines when she told the Senate Judiciary Committee about a party she and Kavanaugh attended in the early 1980s. She alleged that he cornered her in a bedroom, pinned her on a bed and tried to take off her clothes, while pressing his hand over h...

Fallout from Sunol school ban on Pride flag, as parents keep kids home and consider recall

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

After a contentious board meeting on Tuesday night in which the tiny Sunol district approved a controversial resolution to prevent the town’s single elementary school from flying a Pride flag, some local parents kept their kids home on Wednesday out of fear for their safety, concerned that the hostility would continue.“It’s disconcerting, it’s scary, it’s not right. We’re reeling and trying to figure out how to push back against this,” said Matthew Sylvester, a parent at the school.Related: Sunol school board meeting devolves into chaos, audience thrown out as Pride flag bannedThe meeting, at which the three-person board voted 2-1 in favor of the ban, eventually adjourned close to 10 p.m. — only after the entire audience had been cleared from the room by Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies.But the following day, it was clear that the emotions would not be limited to one single meeting.In fact, some community members said it felt that a dark cloud had been...

Trump, GOP rivals want to shut down Department of Education

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

By Kate Sullivan and Katie Lobosco | CNNFormer President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to close the Department of Education and have state governments “run the education of our children,” pushing for a long-held Republican goal that has been endorsed by several other 2024 GOP candidates.“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, DC. We’re going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states,” Trump said in a new campaign video.But eliminating the US Department of Education would not necessarily give any more power to states over K-12 schools. While the federal agency helps the president execute education policies, the power to set curriculum, establish schools and determine enrollment eligibility already lies with the states and local school boards.Trump has been floating the idea of eliminating the Department of Education since his 2016 presidential campaign. ...

Newborn boy’s suffering and death on full display as parents blame each another at start of Richmond murder trial

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

Amary Darn lived for just five weeks before he went unconscious inside the second-story Richmond hotel room where he spent almost all of his short life and died at a hospital.But during those five weeks, little Amary suffered more than most adults will in a lifetime, authorities say.By the time the newborn boy’s parents took him to a hospital, Amary was covered in sores, burns and mold. He suffered broken ribs, a broken femur, a fractured wrist and a fractured skull. There was methamphetamine in his bloodstream — and nothing in his stomach or intestines. He wasn’t just malnourished; he’d been starved, an autopsy later found.And now, Amary’s parents — Ray Ray Darn, 37, and Marilyn Northington, 30 — are before a Contra Costa jury, facing charges of murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse. At the start of their trial on Wednesday, prosecutors for the first time revealed the horrific details of Amary’s brief life and agonizing February 2021...

CSU Board of Trustees unanimously vote to increase tuition

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

(KRON) -- Today, the California State University Board of Trustees unanimously voted to increase the tuition by 6 percent each academic year until the end of the decade. According to CSU, the initiative is “a multi-year revenue sustainability plan for systemwide tuition, nonresident tuition, and the graduate business professional program fee.” CSU is adamant that the plan will “provide necessary resources for each university, provide tuition stability and predictability for students and parents, and enhance financial aid and affordability for those students with the greatest financial need."The tuition rate increase will span five academic years from 2024-25 to 2028-29. At the end of the 2029 academic year, tuition rates will be held at the 2028-29 rate until the Board decides to raise or decrease rates beyond that academic year. CSU states the tuition increase will bring in additional resources to "continue to provide its students with an accessible, high-quality education." This i...

Judge again declares DACA is illegal, setting up likely showdown before US Supreme Court over the fate of ‘Dreamers’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Judge again declares DACA is illegal, setting up likely showdown before US Supreme Court over the fate of ‘Dreamers.’Source

Netflix’s ‘Full Swing’ won’t be getting full access to the Ryder Cup team rooms

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

The Netflix golf documentary series “Full Swing” won’t have full access at the Ryder Cup.U.S. captain Zach Johnson says he spoke to all 12 players on his team when concerns were raised about a film crew in the team rooms, and they unanimously decided to keep certain areas off limits.“Netflix is going to be there,” said Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America. “I would say all things involving the team we leave to the team and the captain. I think there’s a sanctity to the team room, and the experience is important to them. It’s part of being a team, right? Netflix has been great for the game. They’re doing great things. The team collectively decided there are areas of privacy that need to be respected.”Netflix is in production for its second season of the series that has been popular with golf fans and even those who didn’t pay much attention to the sport. Nielsen Media Research analysis in U.S. markets showed 60% of viewers are between the ages of 25 and 54, and 63% of viewers watche...

The Pirates believe Andrew McCutchen can help them in 2024 after recovery from Achilles injury

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen wants to keep playing in Pittsburgh. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington is confident it will happen.Cherington said Wednesday he believes McCutchen will be able to “help us” in 2024 after he recovers from a partially torn Achilles tendon in his left foot that cut short his homecoming season.The 36-year-old McCutchen, who is sitting on 299 career home runs, is scheduled to be a free agent in the offseason after signing a one-year deal to return to Pittsburgh last winter. The five-time All-Star and 2013 NL MVP made it very clear he wants to finish his career with the Pirates and said last week “it’s not going to feel right anywhere else.”Pittsburgh is in the midst of a massive youth movement designed to return the franchise to contention. McCutchen, who hit .256 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 112 games primarily as a designated hitter, provides a veteran voice who knows what it’s like to win in Pittsburgh after helping the franchise to three...

US military resumes drone, manned counterterrorism missions out of Niger bases

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:50 GMT

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (AP) — The U.S. military has resumed counterterrorism missions in Niger, flying drones and other aircraft out of air bases in the country more than a month after a coup temporarily halted all those activities there, the head of U.S. Air Forces for Europe and Africa said Wednesday. Since the July coup, the 1,100 U.S. forces deployed in the country have been confined inside their military bases. Last week the Pentagon said some military personnel and assets had been moved from the air base near Niamey, which is the capital of Niger, to another in Agadez. Niamey is about 920 kilometers away from Agadez. In recent weeks some of those intelligence and surveillance missions have been able to resume due to U.S. negotiations with the junta, said Gen. James Hecker, the top Air Force commander for Europe and Africa. “For a while we weren’t doing any missions on the bases, they pretty much closed down the airfields,” Hecker said. “Through the diplomatic p...