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Even in Berkeley, the disabled community faces new challenges in a post-ADA world

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

This week marks 33 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in workplaces, schools and a host of other aspects of public life.While the 1991 federal law has drastically improved the quality of life for many in the disabled community, modern barriers to the accessibility it promised still abound — particularly amid the Bay Area’s housing crisis, emergency disaster planning and rapidly changing technology in the digital age.Locally, Berkeley is widely credited as a birthplace of the disability rights movement. In the 1970s, disabled residents began transforming both urban landscapes and cultural assumptions, spurring everything from the installation of the nation’s first curb cuts to the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.But in the wake of the passing of two of the city’s pioneering activists, Hale Zukas and Judy Heumann, in the last several months, many of the city’s disabled residents are left ref...

Swiftonomics: California could see big economic boom from Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

Taylor Swift is reigniting a “Gold Rush” in California as the final leg of her record-breaking U.S. ‘Eras Tour’ comes to Santa Clara and Los Angeles with massive fanfare at the sold-out concerts.The cultural phenomenon is on track to boast the highest-grossing musical tour of all time, with more than $1 billion in revenue anticipated — along with a big boost to the economies of the cities in which she sets foot. Over the last several months, the impact of the ‘Eras Tour’ has trickled down from Swift herself to the entire U.S. economy, with one estimate from market research firm QuestionPro predicting her tour could generate $4.6 billion in spending across the country.The preliminary numbers from cities that Swift has already passed through are staggering.Visit Pittsburgh estimated $46 million in direct spending in Allegheny County, while Cincinnati Regional Chamber’s Center for Research and Data and Visit Cincy said the tour brought in more ...

California has adopted a new plan to teach math. Why are people so riled up?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

California is preparing to overhaul the way its schools teach math with new state guidelines, a 1,000-page effort that’s drawn both staunch support and fierce criticism over the nearly four years it’s taken to produce.At its core, the new approach reignites a years-old debate about the best way to teach math and how to balance the needs of students with different skill levels.The revision comes at a time when two out of three students are not meeting California’s math standards, according to state assessments last spring. Those results were even more staggering for minority students: Last year, 84% of Black students and 79% of Latino students did not meet those standards.“The traditional approaches (to teaching math) have yielded really poor results, really inequitable results, and whole generations of people who do not like math,” said Rachel Ruffalo, senior director of strategic advocacy for The Education Trust-West. “We’ve made traditional math instruction so na...

San Francisco was too expensive so they moved to Spain and bought a beautiful house for $50,000. Here’s how they did it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

By Inka Piegsa-Quischotte | CNNJohn Flores and Michael Leitz. (Michael Leitz via CNN) When John Flores and Michael Leitz were looking for a home in which to spend the next stage of their lives, they realized that where they lived in San Francisco was too expensive.Instead, they began looking further afield – eventually buying a beautiful 120-year-old, three-story home in rural Spain for less than $50,000.Both Flores and Leitz worked in education in the US before retiring – Leitz was a high school history teacher while Flores was an administrator at UCLA.While they said they both enjoyed their San Francisco lifestyle, they realized that it would be unaffordable to live in rented property on pensions much lower than their salaries.“Europe was an obvious choice for us,” said Leitz. “I am part German and part Irish, so there were European roots from the family.  John is part Mexican, which makes for the Spanish connection, and he is fluent in Spanish too.“The closest you can come t...

49ers know Super Bowl contention isn’t what makes history. Winning it does.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

SANTA CLARA — The words “Super Bowl” haven’t been heard much through the first two days of media availability since the 49ers arrived at training camp.Then again, it’s not necessary. Everyone knows what’s at stake in 2023, and in the eyes of the fanbase as well as most of the players, if the 49ers don’t win their sixth Lombardi Trophy in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, 2024, the season will go down as a colossal failure.That may not be fair. It lacks perspective and common sense.Then again, the 49ers last won the Super Bowl following the 1994 season, and tying the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers with their sixth ring would put the franchise back on top.Whether it’s a ticking clock or a closing window, the 49ers know it’s time to strike with one of the NFL’s most loaded rosters and their best assemblage of talent since Steve Young threw six touchdown passes against the San Diego Chargers on Jan. 29, 1995 in Miami.“I...

Body camera video shows man fatally run over seconds after deputy tased him on Colorado highway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

Body camera video showing a Larimer County Sheriff’s deputy tasing a man on Interstate 25 seconds before he was hit by a passing SUV was released Wednesday by attorneys for the man’s family and by the sheriff’s office. The man, 28-year-old Brent Allen Thomspon of Loveland, died shortly after the incident at a hospital.Brent Thompson (Provided by Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC) Last week, the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office announced that no criminal charges will be brought against Deputy Lorenzo Lujan in connection to the Feb. 18 incident. On Wednesday, attorneys Qusair Mohamedbhai and Siddhartha Rathod, who represent the Thompson family, released the video.“No one in their right mind would tase someone on the highway,” Rathod said in a phone interview Wednesday. “The public has a right to see this.”During a traffic stop on the highway ramp, Thompson took off running after Lujan told him he was being arrested, as seen in the video. Lujan chased Thompson toward the highway, fi...

Hundreds of homes are eyed on parking lots next to downtown San Jose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

SAN JOSE — Hundreds of homes — potentially including affordable residences — could replace surface parking lots on a site just east of downtown San Jose, documents on file with city officials show.The housing would be built on several parcels whose addresses include 95 North 17th Street.An estimated 213 units would be built on the project site, which is at the corner of North 17th Street and East St. John Street, according to the development plans.Housing development site in San Jose near the corner of North 17th Street and East St. John Street, shown within the outline. Project boundaries are approximate. (Google Maps)The Core Cos., a veteran real estate firm, and Eden Housing, which specializes in affordable residences, have teamed up to develop the housing project, which is in San Jose’s Julian-St. James neighborhood.The 213 units would consist of 113 large-family apartments that would be affordable, 64 apartments for seniors, and 36 for-sale townhome...

SF Giants’ first-round pick Bryce Eldridge makes big impression on visit to Oracle Park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Taking a seat on the top ledge of the bench in the third-base dugout Wednesday, Bryce Eldridge gave the gathered media a glimpse into his everyday reality. “Am I gonna fit?” he wondered.The Giants’ first-round pick was able to get situated, with maybe a few inches separating the top of his 6-foot-7 frame from the roof of the dugout. His introduction to Oracle Park, taking batting practice, visiting with current and former players, even getting a locker in the Giants’ clubhouse, was “a dream come true,” he said.But it was just as otherworldly to see an 18-year-old, not two months removed from his high-school graduation, tower over everyone else in the building.“He’s a big boy,” said Blake Sabol, who shared the cage with him and is not exactly undersized himself.It’s no wonder why his mom, Beth, was forced to bring his birth certificate with her to his Little League games. Growing up in the Washington, D.C., s...

Clendaniel: Oppenheimer, Hanford and unintended consequences

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

Hanford is mentioned only once in “Oppenheimer,” the blockbuster movie about the Manhattan Project and the first atomic bombs.It’s hardly a surprise. Especially to those — like me — who grew up near the Columbia River plutonium-production site in south-central Washington. The vast majority of Americans still remain blissfully unaware of Hanford. But without the efforts of 150,000 workers at the 586-square-mile site, there would have been no Trinity bomb for Oppenheimer to test. No “Fat Man” bomb to drop on Nagasaki.From World War II until the end of the Cold War in 1991, more than 60% of the plutonium for the nation’s nuclear weapons program came from Hanford, enough for tens of thousands of weapons in our nuclear arsenal.Hanford is a story of historic scientific achievement followed by massive unintended consequences. “Oppenheimer” does a remarkable job of framing the moral debate over the use of nuclear weapons. But the movie i...

Farm workers demand OSHA issue federal heat rule

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:30 GMT

(KRON) -- The United Farm Workers, UFW Foundation and La Union del Pueblo Entero are calling on the Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration to immediately address permanent rules on heat protection standards for outdoor workers.This comes after several recent heat-inflicted deaths of farm workers. Through the nature of their work, farm workers perform labor in dangerously high temperatures and are vulnerable to heat illnesses and death. 2 arrested in San Francisco Sanchez Stairs crash, carjacking The organizations are backing their support for the reintroduction of the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Safety and Prevention Act, named after a California farm worker who was killed by the extreme heat while harvesting grapes in 2004.“Farm workers are at the frontlines of climate change as extreme heat continues to expose them to more danger,” said UFW Foundation Chief Executive Officer Diana Tellefson Torres. “We must prevent heat-related deaths and we can do so b...