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Why this Bay Area couple swapped California for Spain

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill | CNNAfter a number of failed IVF rounds, health issues and the death of their beloved dog, US couple Jason Luban and Selena Medlen were in need of a change of scenery.The couple, then based in Oakland, had penciled in a trip to Andalusia, Spain, months before, but were unsure whether to go ahead with it when the health of Luban, who has torsion dystonia, a rare movement disorder, began to deteriorate.“We were figuring out how to get him healthy again,” Medlen tells CNN Travel, before explaining that Luban was also grieving the loss of a friend and mentor. “So we had this vacation on the books, and we weren’t sure if he could travel.”According to Medlen, they ultimately decided to “go for it” after Luban, who suffers from insomnia, began sleeping better.Spanish adventureAfter visiting scenic town Ronda in Andalusia, Spain in 2016, US couple Jason Luban and Selena Medlen, who were based in Oakland, California, liked it so much they ended up moving there.&nbs...

Bay Area high school football 2023: Week 10 preview, schedule

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

Welcome to Week 10 of the high school football season.This week’s matchups include a big one in the South Bay as Los Gatos travels to rival Wilcox for a league championship and a huge one in Walnut Creek as undefeated Las Lomas plays host to red-hot Acalanes for first place in their league.There’s also a crucial one in Brentwood as Pittsburg will visit Liberty in a showdown between league leaders.The Bay Area News Group will have coverage of those games and more. If you have not already, please sign up for a digital subscription. Your contributions keep us going.Here are this week’s top matchups and schedule:ThursdayCapuchino (7-1, 3-1) at Aragon (7-1, 4-0), 7 p.m.: Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division finale for both teams. Capuchino fell a game behind Aragon in the standings after being upset by Sequoia 24-21 last week. Two Ocean teams automatically qualify for the CCS playoffs. Aragon has secured one spot. Cap will lock up the second spot and tie Aragon for first ...

7 incredible Bay Area things to do this weekend, Oct. 27-29

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

It’s shaping up as a another deliciously wonderful weekend, full of great concerts and plays, yummy cooking shows and spooky cocktails. So let’s get to it, shall we?Just be sure to double check event and venue websites for any last-minute changes in health guidelines. Meanwhile, if you’d like to have this Weekender lineup delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning for free, just sign up at www.mercurynews.com/newsletters or www.eastbaytimes.com/newsletters.1 SEE & HEAR: Great shows are breaking out all overFrom an otherworldly symphony to the return of sizzling soul singer SZA, there are a lot of great Bay Area shows to catch this week and beyond.2 MAKE & SIP: Spooky cocktailsHere’s a scary thought: If you are hosting a Halloween bash — are you serving the right cocktails? Here are five ghostly concoctions to add to your repertoire.Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey star in “Fellow Travelers.” (Showtime) 3 WATCH: Heartbreaking ‘Travelers...

‘Death spiral’: It’s getting obscenely expensive to build housing in San Jose

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

It’s no surprise that building housing in San Jose isn’t cheap, but this year is shattering records for construction costs in the nation’s 12th-largest city.A new report commissioned by San Jose officials finds the residential development landscape for both market rate and affordable projects “bleak” as builders face “numerous challenges” due to enormous economic pressures, including historically high interest rates, soaring construction material and labor costs and other inflation-related issues.Buried in the study is an astounding figure: The cost of building a single unit of affordable housing in San Jose over the past year exploded by 24 percent, from $757,900 to $938,700 — a three-fold jump compared to relatively routine annual increases over the last decade and a half. Compared to other Bay Area counties such as San Francisco and Alameda, San Jose’s prices are 26 percent higher per unit, a figure attributed to a shortage in...

With a potential multi-billion-dollar Oakland Coliseum project at stake, legal fight could shake Black-led development group

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

OAKLAND — A group tapped by the city to help develop a $5 billion plan to transform the forsaken Coliseum complex into a hub of live sports and entertainment appears to be fracturing, with two of the founding members suing the others.The legal complaint filed this month ensnares one of the six partner organizations in the African-American Sports and Entertainment Group. Two of the eight members within the flagship entity are alleging their equity shares in the project were unfairly diluted.None of the parties involved in the complaint — filed in the Alameda County court — agreed to be interviewed on the record, but documents and video evidence obtained from the group paint a starkly different picture than the one presented in the complaint, calling its central claims into question.The group ultimately plans to acquire Oakland’s share of the Coliseum property for $115 million, and earlier this year it unsuccessfully tried to buy the site’s other half-own...

How two candidates would break the Oakland school board’s deadlock over labor issues

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

OAKLAND — The immediate future of the Oakland Unified School District could be heavily influenced by a special election in November for a crucial swing seat on the divided school board.The two candidates, Jorge Lerma and Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez, have strongly differing views on the key question that has led the board into all kinds of political strife: how to tackle the district’s deficit.Whoever wins would take office immediately after the election and serve out the final year in the District 5 seat, which by that point will have sat vacant for roughly eight months.The election will also determine the balance of power between the district’s central office and the Oakland teachers union, which went on strike in the spring to demand that socially progressive policy changes be embedded in the language of the faculty labor contract.While students waited on the sidelines, the board repeatedly hit a 3-3 deadlock on votes that could have resolved the strike much earlier, ...

A list of the 36 mass killings in the United States since January

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

The latest mass killing in the U.S. happened Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, when a man opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar, killing at least 16 people, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. Dozens of people were also wounded.The alert for Lewiston was made shortly after 8 p.m. as the sheriff’s office reported that law enforcement agencies were investigating “two active shooter events.”The man identified as a person of interest in a mass killing in Maine is a firearms instructor trained by the military and was recently committed to a mental health facility, according to a state police bulletin.The shooting was the country’s 36th mass killing this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 188 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people have died within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition...

San Jose encourages bicyclists to report the many obstacles in bike lanes: Roadshow

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

Q: Recently, my kid and I were biking to downtown San Jose to meet my wife, and hit a problem on Second Street between William and  Reed streets. There was a parked car, no driver, in the bike lane. We started to go around. Another car was illegally parked in the bike lane 20 feet in front of the first. We didn’t have to swerve into traffic, but it was stressful trying to get around these cars during rush hour.It’s dangerous, especially for younger riders like my 13-year-old. My kid’s reaction? “Why would they do this? Let’s call the police.” I’m thinking 311 next time. I wonder if reporting this to the police would result in any action. I recently learned about California Vehicle Code 21211, which states that parking in bike lanes is prohibited, but see it all the time.We just want a safe ride. Can we raise awareness on this?Eric Snider, San JoseA: Yours is one of many messages I received recently on this. The city is working on it. “Many of us i...

AT&T offers $5K reward in copper cable thefts in Contra Costa County

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

(KRON) -- AT&T has been challenged by multiple incidents of copper cable thefts in Consta Costa County since July 2023, and the telecommunications company is offering money for information leading to an arrest and conviction.According to a statement from AT&T, the copper thefts in the county have been an ongoing problem for months. Now, the company said up to $5,000 is being offered “for specific and detailed information about copper cable thefts or the attempted sale or purchase of stolen copper cable from AT&T in Contra Costa County.” San Leandro gym murder suspect also shot up crowded In-N-Out: DA Anyone with information is asked to contact AT&T Asset Protection at (800)-807-4205.

WATCH LIVE: Police update following 18 dead in Maine mass killing; manhunt on for shooter as residents take shelter

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:11:01 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — Maine’s governor says 18 people were killed and 13 were injured in shootings in Maine. Gov. Janet Mills made the remarks at a press conference Thursday.A man shot and killed the victims at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston and then fled into the night, sparking a massive search by hundreds of officers while frightened residents stayed locked in their homes Thursday under a shelter-in-place advisory. Mills said the shooting suspect, Robert Card, is considered armed and dangerous, warns people not to approach him.A police bulletin identified Card, 40, as a person of interest in the attack in Lewiston that sent panicked bowlers scrambling behind pins, into corners and a back room when shots rang out around 7 p.m. Wednesday. Card was described as a firearms instructor believed to be in the U.S. Army Reserve and assigned to a training facility in Saco, Maine.The Lewiston Police Department identified Robert Card as a...