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Air-quality advisory in effect for Bay Area, but cleaner skies expected

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

A haze of brown and gray hovered above the East Bay portion of the Bay Area as the sun rose for the final time in August this year, and fresh air smelled non-existent.In this case, however, it was not a tone-setter for the rest of Thursday, according to air quality officials.“We’re seeing a difference in the amount of wildfire smoke,” Bay Area Air Quality Management District spokesperson Tina Landis said. “We’re really expecting to see improvement as the day goes on.”An air quality advisory remained in effect through midnight, a day after the district issued a Spare the Air alert. Advisories were issued in two straight days leading up to the Spare the Air.More clearing is on the horizon, according to Landis and weather forecasters. Northerly winds that helped funnel wild-fire smoke from vegetation fires burning in southern Oregon and far Northern California into the region are expected to shift into a more normal Bay Area pattern.Air-quality index...

Trump pleads not guilty to Georgia election subversion charges

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

By Kate Brumback | Associated PressATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Thursday and sought to sever his case from other defendants who are accused along with him of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had set arraignment hearings for Trump and the 18 others charged in the case for Sept. 6. A court filing waiving arraignment means Trump won’t have to show up for that.The decision to skip an in-person appearance averts the dramatic arraignments that have accompanied the three other criminal cases Trump faces, in which the Republican former president has been forced amid tight security into a courtroom and entered “not guilty” pleas before crowds of spectators. Georgia courts have fairly permissive rules on news cameras in the courtroom, and this step means Trump won’t have to enter a plea on television.An attorney for Trump also asked McAfee on Thursda...

Fire in South Africa kills at least 74, many of them homeless

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

By Gerald Imray and Mogomotsi Magome | Associated PressJOHANNESBURG — A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown apartment building mainly occupied by homeless people and squatters in Johannesburg early Thursday, leaving at least 74 dead, officials said. Some people threw babies out of third-story windows to others waiting below in the desperate scramble to evacuate, witnesses said.At least 12 of those killed were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to city and medical officials. They said at a news conference that an undetermined number of people were still missing and many bodies recovered were burned beyond recognition.More than 50 people were injured, six of whom were in a serious condition in the hospital. Emergency services officials had earlier warned that the death toll could rise as they continued to search the scene more than 12 hours after the blaze broke out at around 1 a.m.Dozens of bodies recovered by firefighters were laid out on a side road outside the apar...

People reporting illnesses after Tough Mudder race in Sonoma County grows to 300, officials estimate

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

By Jamie Gumbrecht | CNNAn outbreak of illnesses after a Tough Mudder race in Sonoma County, California, this month has reached about 300 cases, the county estimated Wednesday.The Sonoma County Department of Health Services issued a health advisory last week after reports of rash, fever, muscle pain, nausea and vomiting among participants in the August 19-20 Tough Mudder event at Sonoma Raceway.Matt Brown, a spokesman for Sonoma County, said Wednesday that 300 cases is a “conservative estimate.”“The Tough Mudder race involved extensive skin exposure to mud. Most affected persons have pustular rash, fever, myalgias, and headache. These symptoms could be indicative of a minor illness called Swimmers’ Itch, but they can also indicate a Staph infection or other more serious bacterial infection such as Aeromonas,” the county said in its advisory.Brown said Wednesday that the county is asking health care providers to take cultures from infected patients and report the results, but it’s “o...

Ivanka Trump shares pizzeria owner’s post to slam ‘ridiculous trials’ of her father

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

Ivanka Trump has been circumspect in what she says about Donald Trump’s multiple criminal indictments, as she’s reportedly been trying to walk a tightrope between publicly distancing herself from her father’s alleged crimes and trying to signal her support for him — in case he gets re-elected president and she gets a chance to again have a prominent role in his administration.But Ivanka Trump nonetheless found a way to unleash against her father’s prosecutors, ahead of his pleading not guilty Thursday in his criminal case in Georgia, charging him with efforts to interfere with the 2020 election results. Trump’s beloved oldest daughter did so without using her own words to slam the multiple investigations against him. Instead, she turned to a statement from a Miami-area pizzeria owner, sharing his comments in an Instagram Story post that she knows will soon be automatically deleted.It’s also likely that Ivanka was attracted to the social medi...

Ex-Proud Boys organizer Biggs gets 17-year sentence

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

By Michael Kunzelman | Associated PressWASHINGTON — A former organizer of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison for spearheading an attack on the U.S. Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.The sentence for Joseph Biggs is the second longest among hundreds of Capitol riot cases so far, after the 18-year prison sentence for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.Federal prosecutors had recommended a 33-year prison sentence for Biggs, who helped lead dozens of Proud Boys members and associates in marching to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Biggs and other Proud Boys joined the mob that broke through police lines and forced lawmakers to flee, disrupting the joint session of Congress for certifying the electoral victory by Biden, a Democrat.U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the Jan. 6 attack trampled on an “important American custom,” certifyi...

55-year-old man injured in SF's Potrero Hill shooting

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

(BCN) -- A 55-year-old man was injured in a shooting in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood Wednesday morning, according to police. The shooting was reported shortly after 11 a.m. in the area of 25th and Connecticut streets, where the victim reported hearing a popping noise and then looked down and realized he had been shot, San Francisco police said. The man was taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening. No arrests have been made in the case and no suspect information was available as of Thursday morning, according to police. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Police Department's tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to send a tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Vallejo police officer who killed Sean Monterrosa gets his job back

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

VALLEJO, Calif. (KRON) -- A Vallejo Police Department officer who killed Sean Monterrosa three years ago is getting his job back, according to attorneys. Detective Jarrett Tonn fatally shot Monterrosa, 22, of San Francisco, near a Vallejo Walgreens store in early morning hours of June 2, 2020, following reports of possible looting. At the time Monterrosa was shot, there was civil unrest across the Bay Area in response to the death of George Floyd.Monterrosa was attending one of the George Floyd demonstrations to protest police brutality when he was shot by VPD, according to his family. His sister, Ashley Monterrosa, previously told KRON4, "Sean was murdered by the Vallejo Police Department while he was on his knees with his hands up during the George Floyd protest."Sean Monterrosa (Image via GoFundMe) Sean Monterrosa's sisters will hold a news conference Thursday outside Vallejo City Hall to speak out against Tonn's reinstatement on the police force.The family's attorney wrote, "He ...

Oakland firefighters rescue trapped goats near Klamath National Forest

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

(KRON) -- Goats have become a commonly employed firefighting tool, helping firefighters to clear brush that can be burned as fuel in wildfires. This week, a group of Oakland firefighters returned the favor by helping out some goats that were trapped in the vicinity of a wildfire.The firefighters were deployed as members of a California Office of Emergency Services strike team deployed to fight wildfires in Northern California, according to a tweet from the Oakland Fire Department. While deployed near the Klamath National Forest, the firefighters came across some goats that had become trapped in a fence line. Newsom plans to transform San Quentin State Prison. Lawmakers and the public have had little input The firefighters took time out from their firefighting duties to free the goats from the fence."Several OFD members successfully rescued some of our furry friends that became trapped in a fence line near the Klamath National Forest," Oakland FD said in a tweet.Photos accompanying...

‘Transportation crisis’: Howard Co. schools head apologizes for bus cancellations

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:26:37 GMT

The superintendent of Maryland’s Howard County Public Schools is apologizing after 20 school bus routes were canceled, which led to a tough start to the new school year for over 2,400 students.The school system first apologized Monday, saying one of the county’s independent contractors, Zum Transportation, announced it did not have enough drivers to cover the 20 routes for the remainder of this week — the first week of the new school year.Howard County Public Schools Superintendent Michael Martirano then held a news conference Wednesday to address the “transportation crisis” and later released a statement.“I apologize for the transportation challenges you have experienced,” Martirano said. “It is not lost on me that as we start the year talking about the importance of attendance, that Howard County failed as a school system to provide on-time, reliable transportation to many of our students.”While shouldering some of the blame and promising ...