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Colorado House passes property tax relief, Senate approves rental assistance as end of special session nears

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

Updated at 11:35 p.m.: The Colorado Senate gave final approval to a bill that will nearly double funds in the state’s rental assistance program by adding $30 million. The Senate voted 23-12, along party lines, and HB23B-001 now will head to the governor’s desk. The bill, once signed, will direct $30 million to the Emergency Rental Assistance Grant Program, raising the total in the state’s fund to $65 million, with all required to be spent by June.The funding would flow to nonprofit organizations and, then, to landlords for the purpose of preventing eviction of at-risk tenants. Progressive lawmakers have prioritized aid for renters hard hit by rising housing costs in recent years, while Republicans have opposed the bill, with some citing it as straying from the session’s focus on property taxes.It was approved without further debate Monday.“People across the state live on the brink and are one job loss away, or one emergency away, from losing the roof over their head,” Re...

Mother and son killed in hit-and-run involving drunk driver

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

A man has been arrested after a hit-and-run collision claimed the life of a mother and her son.According to Los Angeles Police Department officials, calls of the collision originally came out to police at 5:20 p.m. Sunday evening at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Burlington Avenue in L.A.'s Westlake neighborhood. Further investigation revealed that the driver, identified as Isaiah Villegas, was heading east on Wilshire at a high rate of speed when his black 2008 Cadillac CTS lost control and collided into a traffic light pole. Man standing in 101 Fwy fatally struck by pickup in Ventura "The vehicle continued eastbound and struck two pedestrians that were standing near the southeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Burlington Avenue," LAPD said in a release.Villegas then tried to flee the scene on foot but was apprehended about one block away.Upon being detained, Villegas displayed "objective symptoms of being under the influence of alcohol," authorities said, and ...

Lawsuit alleges drunken debauchery at L.A. area Taco Bell holiday party

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

A former Los Angeles area Taco Bell employee is suing the company and a franchise owner after she claims a Christmas party at the fast-food restaurant descended into drunken debauchery.Alana Bechiom filed her lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.In the suit, she alleges that her supervisor invited her to the Dec. 18, 2022, party at the San Pedro Taco Bell at which she worked. She was encouraged to bring food for a potluck-style buffet, and her contribution was a bowl of guacamole.Once she arrived, Bechiom “discovered that [her supervisor] covered the windows of the restaurant with wrapping paper” and “also covered the cameras for the lobby in the inside of the restaurant,” according to the complaint, the NY Post reports. In-N-Out Burger announces new expansion plans She claims her supervisor provided alcohol to staffers, several of whom were “overserved.”Around midnight, after Bechiom had stepped outside for a short time, she walked back into the restaurant and saw a co...

Kim Kardashian to produce and star in new comedy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

After starring in Ryan Murphy's latest installment of "American Horror Story," Kim Kardashian is making further acting moves in Hollywood.The Skims co-founder is set to star and produce the upcoming comedy film "The 5th Wheel." Snoop Dogg clarifies the smoke he’s giving up The film is written by Paula Pell and Janine Brito, with Pell producing with Kardashian according to Deadline. Sources tell the outlet that at least five studios are fighting for the film.The publication says the reality star has been "very hands on in the pitch for the female-driven comedy" and that she's been present for every meeting with the studios.Kardashian seems to have caught the acting bug recently. She played Emma Roberts' no-nonsense publicist in "American Horror Story: Delicate," which premiered in September.Kim Kardashian attends the Metropolitan Museum of Art gala on May 7, 2018 in New York City. (Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)Her performance garnered rave reviews from viewers.She's alread...

The holidays push Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce to new relationship milestone

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s parents may not meet each other Monday as originally planned when Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs play the Eagles, since Swift will be performing in Brazil after postponing her Eras show on Saturday.But TMZ has reported that Swift and Kelce are still doing everything they can to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together. Their plans include bringing their families together this week for the festivities, likely at Kelce’s home in Kansas City, Missouri, for what clearly would be a major milestone in their relationship. As TMZ said, “Thanksgiving with 2 fams is a BIG step.”TMZ cited multiple sources, who said that the pop mega-star and the NFL tight end are “moving forward” with plans to see each other on Thanksgiving and Christmas and are “are trying to work out their schedules to make sure they set aside as much time together as possible.”News about Swift and Kelce’s potential holiday plans comes as Kelce solidified the idea th...

Court weighs reinstanting gag order on Trump in DC case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

By Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer and Lindsay Whitehurst | Associated PressWASHINGTON — A lawyer for Donald Trump urged a federal appeals court Monday to revoke a gag order against the former president in a landmark criminal case, while a prosecutor argued that curbs are necessary to prevent intimidation and threats against participants in the case that charges Trump with scheming to overturn the 2020 election.Appeals court judges asked skeptical and at times aggressive questions of attorneys on both sides while weighing whether to put back in place an order from a trial judge that barred Trump from inflammatory comments against prosecutors, potential witnesses and court staff.The judges raised a litany of hypothetical scenarios that could arise in the months ahead as they considered how to fashion a balance between an order that protects Trump’s First Amendment rights and the need to protect “the criminal trial process and its integrity and its truth finding function...

The 10 most expensive homes reported sold in Danville, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton in the week of Nov. 13

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

A house in San Ramon that sold for $1.3 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Danville, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton in the past week.In total, 10 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $930,800. The average price per square foot was $712.The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of Nov. 13 even if the property may have been sold earlier.10. $520K, condominium in the 200 block of Reflections DriveA sale has been finalized for the condominium in the 200 block of Reflections Drive in San Ramon. The price was $520,000 and the new owners took over the condominium in October. The condo was built in 1988 and the living area totals 624 square feet. The price per square foot ended up at $833. The condominium features one bedrooms and one bathrooms.9. $720K, condominium in the 3400 block of Dublin Blvd.The property in the 3400 block...

Melania Trump’s tribute to Rosalynn Carter came after Trump mocked Jimmy Carter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

Like other former first ladies, Melania Trump paid tribute to Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday at age 96.But, as with anything related to the Trumps and their fraught relationships with current and past occupants of the White House, Melania Trump’s statement about Rosalynn Carter was overshadowed by something incendiary that her husband said. In this most recent case, Melania Trump’s description on X of Rosalynn Carter’s “meaningful legacy” and her “devotion to her husband, family, and country” came the day after her husband mocked Jimmy Carter at an event in Iowa for his 2024 presidential campaign, USA Today reported. FILE – Former first lady Rosalynn Carter speaks next to her husband, former President Jimmy Carter, during the opening ceremony for the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, Aug. 26, 2018, inside the University of Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind. Rosalynn Carter, the closest adviser to Jimmy Ca...

Review: New ‘1984’ invokes old fears about Big Brother

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

Big brother is always watching you in George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece “1984.”Ironically most of us now live under a state of constant surveillance from our various apps and algorithms but few of us are bristling against the erosion of our civil liberties in the name of catching a ride or swiping right on a date.That unsettling high-tech context informs Michael Gene Sullivan’s starkly powerful, stripped-down adaptation of the novel in its long-awaited regional premiere at Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre, astutely directed by Barbara Damashek.Sullivan, best known as a stalwart of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, wrote the play 20 years ago, and it’s been staged all around the world already, but it definitely feels like a red alert for society right now.The action here unfolds as one long grim interrogation, punctuated by acts of torture, which robs the narrative of some of its emotional power, undercutting the final climactic reveal, but also sharpens its edge as a political parable. If...

Less driving but more deaths: Spike in traffic fatalities puzzles lawmakers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:41:03 GMT

Tim Henderson | (TNS) Stateline.orgTraffic deaths are lingering near historic highs in most states despite less driving overall, prompting policymakers to consider deploying more police or installing automated monitoring such as speed cameras to curb speeding and reckless driving.People are driving fewer miles than they were in 2019, but more are dying on roadways. Traffic deaths spiked 18% from 2019 to 2022 — though miles traveled fell 3%, according to a Stateline analysis of federal records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.Experts blame bad driving habits that took hold when roadways suddenly cleared out as the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. At the same time, law enforcement agencies shifted their priorities away from traffic violations and many struggled to hire officers amid heightened scrutiny and criticism, especially after a police officer killed George Floyd in May 2020 in Minneapolis.States and citi...