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The race for a better battery: Stanford, SLAC and Silicon Valley join forces

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

As the nation moves to an all-electric future, demand is growing for cheaper, better, safer and more sustainable batteries.A new SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, launched on Thursday, aims to spur research — combining the power of a national lab, top university and Silicon Valley’s tech companies to accelerate the transition away from the fossil fuels that are causing climate change.“We are looking to make battery technology more robust, with an enhanced life, at an affordable price,” said Jagjit Nanda, the battery center’s executive director, at a conference of scientists and engineers gathered for the announcement.The center’s three partners — the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University and private industry – “will work together for the grand challenge in energy storage,” he said. “This is a very unique ecosystem.”Each partner will contribute something different. Stanford will provide education and training in chemistry...

Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Lucas Dennis, Saratoga baseball

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

Saratoga baseball player Lucas Dennis has been named the Bay Area News Group’s boys high school athlete of the week for April 3-8 after he had 49.81% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Antioch baseball player Cristian Bajjalieha (38.72%) finished second and Los Gatos baseball player Donovan Freed placed third.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Dennis, a senior pitcher bound for Pomona-Pitzer, threw a perfect game, retiring all 21 batters as Saratoga won at home over Lynbrook 4-0. Dennis struck out seven and also went 2 for 2 with a triple, two RBIs and a walk. Last season, he pitched back-to-back no-hitters.To nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, email [email protected] by Monday, April 17, at 11 a.m. Please include stats and team results.We also review stats submitted to MaxPreps.com by coaches/team statisticians for consideration.Winners are announced each Friday on the Mercury News & East Bay Times...

Farhan Zaidi: Sean Manaea has ‘earned’ rotation spot, Stripling to bullpen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

DETROIT — Despite making his Giants debut out of the bullpen, Sean Manaea will make his second start of the season Friday against the Tigers, and it appears that the rotation is where he will remain for the foreseeable future as the club manages its glut of starting pitching.President Farhan Zaidi said Thursday on KNBR that Manaea had “earned the right” to start every fifth day, while fellow free-agent addition Ross Stripling will primarily pitch out of the bullpen as the homer-prone right-hander works through his early season struggles.“For the time being,” Zaidi told hosts Tom Tolbert and Adam Copeland, “I think we will see Manaea making regular starts and Stripling will be slotted in there when it helps to give guys an extra day.”It was an open question how the Giants would manage a group of capable starters that numbers seven with the inclusion of Jakob Junis. The Giants gave Stripling the nod in their third game of the season, while Manaea an...

Vast San Jose ranch owned by China-based firm may land local buyers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

SAN JOSE — A vast San Jose ranch is on the verge of being bought by local investors in a deal that offers fresh evidence that the Bay Area real estate empire of a China-based firm is being steadily disassembled.A preliminary deal has been reached for the purchase of Richmond Ranch, which is nestled on about 3,654 acres of pristine hills, vales and fields in southeast San Jose, according to documents filed on April 12 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.Z&L Properties, a China-based real estate and development firm with a local office in Foster City, is the current owner that has struck a deal to sell the Richmond Ranch, the county documents show.Terrascape Ventures, a San Jose-based real estate firm whose principal executives are Tony Arreola and Mark Lazzarini, has agreed to purchase the property.Open fields along San Felipe Road on the Richmond Ranch property in San Jose. (Google Maps)In 2017, Z&L paid $25 million to buy the ranch. As has been th...

Editorial: Antioch police text scandal tests mayor’s leadership

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

The newly disclosed racist, sexist and homophobic texts exchanged by members of the Antioch Police Department are vile.The boasting about shooting Black men with rubber bullets and kicking one man’s head like a “field goal,” admissions of falsifying police reports and claims that bigoted language can be bandied around in front of supervisors with no repercussions are abhorrent.The cops who sent the messages or signaled approval should not be carrying a badge and gun. They should have no place in law enforcement.But even they are entitled to due process. Not all of them have equal culpability. And if their rights are not respected, the city risks undermining the ongoing criminal and internal affairs investigations into their behavior, which would set back the quest for racial justice.Which is why City Council members, especially Mayor Lamar Thorpe, need to step back and let investigators do their work — and stop making politically charged comments that could jeopardize the outc...

What you need to know about Misoprostol, another drug used for abortion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

By Kelsey Butler | BloombergWhile the fate of mifepristone, also known as the abortion pill, plays out in US courts, health-care providers have another drug they can continue to use to offer medication abortion.Misoprostol is primarily an ulcer medication, but it’s used in conjunction with mifepristone in 98% of all reported medication abortions in the US, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that backs reproductive rights. The combination is “the gold standard for medication abortion in the US and elsewhere,” said Alice Mark, interim medical advisor for the National Abortion Federation.But misoprostol can also be used on its own to end a pregnancy and multiple health-care providers have said they’d prescribe it on its own if mifepristone disappears from the market.Last week US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, appointed by President Donald Trump, issued an order suspending the decades-old approval for mifepristone. Late Wednesday, the 5th US Circuit Court ...

Elias: Effort to restore single-family zoning in California likely to win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

Immediately after state legislators passed the landmark Senate Bills 9 and 10 in 2021 — taking most local land-use decisions away from city councils and county supervisors — resentful local officials vowed to run a referendum campaign and kill those new laws.Related ArticlesLocal Opinion | Elias: State of Jefferson plan in California still far from serious Local Opinion | Elias: California joining Western power grid makes no sense Local Opinion | Elias: Supreme Court case in works may cancel California’s EV mandates Local Opinion | Opinion: Senior year is a costly high school rite of passage The laws essentially eliminated R-1 single-family zoning everywhere in California, allowing up to six housing units on lots formerly limited to one and making approval automatic for high-rise residential buildings on all streets reasonably close to mass transit.That meant easy permitting, for example, for buildings up to five ...

FAA refers 17 more unruly passengers cases to FBI for criminal prosecution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Thursday it has referred 17 more unruly passenger cases to the FBI for criminal prosecution review bringing the total to 250 since 2021.Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said there is “zero tolerance for unruly behavior,” and “we will come after you with serious consequences.”Recent incidents in 2023 included alleged assaults of female passengers, assaults of flight attendants, inappropriate touching, and one passenger who refused to remain seated, acted erratically and said they needed to fly the aircraft, according to anFAA news statement.In 2021, the FBI and FAA launched a partnership to streamline the criminal review of cases after unruly passenger reports skyrocketed. The FAA investigated 1,113 unruly passenger incidents in 2021 and sent 37 for review to the FBI.In 2022, reported incidents dropped by almost half and the FAA investigated 831 incidents. By February 2022, Reuters reported, the FAA sent 80 ...

1 killed in Northwest DC shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

A man is dead after a shooting Friday morning near the Park at LeDroit in Northwest D.C.D.C. police responded to a report of sounds of gunshots at the 200 block of V Street NW at around 2:45 a.m.When officers arrived, they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was later dead.Third District Cmdr. James Boteler said cameras showed a dark-colored SUV pulling into the area, and at least three people got out of the vehicle and shot toward the man.The man ran into a nearby apartment building, whose windows shattered from the gunfire.Boteler called the shooting “senseless gun violence.”“Too many people with too many guns in their hands committed violence over what many times we find to be just conflict where people take it out with gunfire,” Boteler said. “It’s very unacceptable in our communities, and we’re very troubled by that.”Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call 2...

Citigroup: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:02 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — NEW YORK (AP) — Citigroup Inc. (C) on Friday reported first-quarter net income of $4.61 billion.The New York-based bank said it had earnings of $2.19 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $1.86 per share.The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 12 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.66 per share.The U.S. bank posted revenue of $37.49 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $21.45 billion, also beating Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $19.93 billion.Citigroup shares have risen roughly 5% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has risen 8%. The stock has dropped roughly 6% in the last 12 months._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on C at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CSource