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Norman Lear, producer of TV’s “All in the Family” and influential liberal advocate, has died at 101

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

By LYNN ELBER (AP Television Writer)LOS ANGELES (AP) — Norman Lear, the writer, director and producer who revolutionized prime time television with “All in the Family” and “Maude,” propelling political and social turmoil into the once-insulated world of sitcoms, has died. He was 101.Lear died Tuesday night in his sleep, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles, said Lara Bergthold, a spokesperson for his family. A liberal activist, Lear fashioned bold and controversial comedies that were embraced by viewers who had to watch the evening news to find out what was going on in the world. His shows helped define prime time comedy in the 1970s, launched the careers of Rob Reiner and Valerie Bertinelli and made middle-aged superstars of Carroll O’Connor, Bea Arthur and Redd Foxx.“I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my second father. Sending my love to Lyn and the whole Lear family,” Reiner wrote on X, fomerly Twitter.“A...

Christmas decoration thieves caught on video

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

As Southern Californians prepare for the holiday season, Christmas Grinches targeting Riverside County homes remain at large.On Dec. 1 at around 4:30 a.m., Alexandra Falcon’s surveillance video caught at least two suspects trespassing on her property on Calle Vejar in Moreno Valley.“A group of guys were on my lawn and on my neighbor's as well and they had unplugged from the extension chord on two of our inflatables,” Falcon said.The woman’s security cameras captured at least two people stealing large, pricey Christmas decorations from the homes on her street.“We had a singular reindeer, like a Rudolph reindeer, and then we had a Santa,” Falcon said.Video from Falcon and her neighbor across the street shows a man approaching Falcon's home, then walking away. Minutes later, he returns to grab the holiday inflatables from her front lawn and calmly walks away.Surveillance video captures two thieves stealing large, pricey Christmas decorations from a Moreno Valley neighborhood on Dec. 1,...

Never Mind, It’s Hayden James

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

Never Mind, It’s Hayden James: Multi-platinum, Melbourne-born, L.A.-based producer/DJ Hayden James started DJing way before he got into producing and writing music.“When I was 16 I started playing a bunch of weddings etc because I wasn’t old enough to play in clubs in Aus,” he says. “It started getting serious when I began writing music. A couple songs just connected with people and I was being booked all around the world. Such a surreal moment.”Today, James describes his sound as, “Melodic house music with a bit of deep house and pop mixed in.” He performs at Proper NYE in San Diego on New Year’s Eve.“I’m going to be testing out a bunch of new music I’ve been writing for the last few months,” he says. “So excited for the set.”His latest release is “Beggin You / Never Mind” via Future Classic.“They’re both very special records that I feel really fit together melodically and sonically,” Ja...

A Little CBD For Lucid Dreams? — Does CBD Have An Impact On Dreams?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

Many people “dream” of having complete control over their nightly dreams. Sometimes called “lucid dreams,” these unique experiences allow people to consciously choose the direction of their sleepy-time sojurns. While some claim there are ways to achieve lucid dreams at a higher frequency, it’s still difficult for most people to deliberately create these scenarios.However, some customers claim various herbs and tinctures may increase the odds of experiencing vivid dreams. For instance, there’s some debate in the hemp community over whether CBD impacts dream activity. Anyone thinking about using CBD for sleep must consider the impact hemp may have on the quality of your dreams.Can CBD Oil Influence Our Dreams?Admittedly, there’s little research on how CBD-rich hemp influences our perception of dreams. However, most preliminary trials suggest CBD use isn’t correlated with increased dream activity. If anything, people who take CBD oil have...

Bay Area News Group high school football predictions: Week 16, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

We’ve reached the end of the line for the 2023 high school football season.Thank you for following along as we’ve done our best to entertain and inform as we made our all-in-fun picks each week and discussed all things high school football in our video forum.For anyone interested in the standings, I finished first, Mike Lefkow took second and The Kid — aka Joseph Dycus — placed a distant third.We have four more picks to close out the season as a quartet of teams from the Bay Area News Group’s coverage area — Serra, De La Salle, Los Gatos and Acalanes — will play for state championships this weekend in Southern California.Dycus — the free swinger in this picks competition — swung out his shoes again, picking Serra to stun Mater Dei for the Open Division title.“Yesterday, I did some research on the biggest upsets in California state playoffs championships and the one that comes to mind — the one that I found — was...

San Jose baker to compete on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

Just as many relationships start nowadays, the first contact San Jose baker Elizabeth Medina had with the Food Network was when their reps slid into her DMs. (That’s reaching out via direct message on social media for any non-Instagrammers out there.)The message? Would Medina, who runs her own cookie-decorating business, Sugar Queen Baking, be interested in competing on the network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge“? Now in its seventh season, the Food Network show pits four participants against each other each episode to complete cookie-related baking challenges and impress judges Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson.Medina will be up to bat — or rather, up to (cookie bat)ter — Dec. 7.Medina was hesitant initially. Having seen the show, she knew that one of the challenges involves building a three-dimensional cookie structure, but she’d never even made a gingerbread house. Most of her customers, after all, prefer her art — royal icing on vanilla suga...

Recipes: Make 3 dishes that showcase fresh fruit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

Crackling leaves and football games. Nippy evenings and early sunsets. Cups of steaming hot cocoa. And glorious fruit — apple desserts with pomegranate, green salads with the perfumy sweetness of pears and Hachiya persimmons baked into warm cakelike pudding.Cakey Persimmon PuddingThis dessert showcases the likeable elements of fruitcake without the components that many find objectionable. The underlying sweetness of the Hachiya persimmons shines through, augmented with the taste and texture of nuts and dried fruit. If you like, substitute dried cherries or dried cranberries for the raisins.Yield: About 10 servingsINGREDIENTSNonstick vegetable spray1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened2 cups granulated sugar2 eggs, well beaten1/2 teaspoon vanilla2 cups all-purpose flour1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon4 teaspoons baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt2 cups persimmon pulp, about 3 to 4 very ripe Hachiya persimmons; see note below3/4 cup finely chopped dried apricots3/4 cup raisins1/4 cup fine...

Kurtenbach: If you don’t take Brock Purdy’s MVP candidacy seriously, you don’t know football

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

It shouldn’t be surprising that 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is now the betting favorite to win NFL MVP this season.After all, he played a nearly perfect game and out-dueled the previous betting favorite for the award, Jalen Hurts, in Philadelphia on Sunday.The truth is that with five weeks to play in the regular season, there is no clear-cut top option for MVP. The race remains wide open, with Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, Tyreek Hill, and even rookie C.J. Stroud still in the hunt for the award.With so many names being bandied about, it’s easy to dismiss Purdy’s candidacy as a fad.But this isn’t lip service — Purdy can absolutely win the award.And if he continues the form of the last four weeks, he absolutely should win it.Because not only is Purdy playing exceptionally well for the NFL’s best team — he’s also playing at a historically high level.(AP Photo/Chris Szagola) Related ArticlesSan Francisco 49ers | ...

To save on their mortgages, Bay Area buyers are increasing their down payments

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

Who has $235,183 lying around in a bank account? The average homebuyer in Silicon Valley, apparently. That’s the median down payment for a home in the San Jose metro area — and it’s on the rise.In the third quarter of 2023, the median down payment in San Jose reached nearly 25% of purchase price, up from 23% in the first quarter, according to data from Realtor.com. In San Francisco, the median down payment increased to 24.4% from 21.8%.Even with sky-high Bay Area purchase prices, those percentages are higher than anywhere else in the country — and significantly higher than the national average of 14.7%.“Because interest rates are so high, people want to keep their mortgages affordable,” said Esther Chien, a mortgage officer based in San Jose. “The only way to do that is with a higher down payment.”Take, for example, a $1.27 million home — the median sales price in the Bay Area. With existing mortgage rates at 7.22%, a down paymen...

San Jose doctor in ‘Dragon Balls’ lawsuit against Los Gatos restaurant claims the truth has come out

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:02:00 GMT

A doctor suing a Thai restaurant in Los Gatos over claimed internal burns from a spicy appetizer alleged in a recent court filing that she now knows what led to the incident.San Jose neurologist Harjasleen Walia sued Coup de Thai in July, claiming its Dragon Balls chemically burned her vocal cords, esophagus and the inside of her right nostril, leaving her with permanent injuries.The restaurant in an October court filing denied Walia’s allegations or causing injury to her.She claimed in the lawsuit that when she had gone to eat at the downtown Los Gatos restaurant with her friend in July 2021, the Dragon Balls were advertised as spicy, so she asked her server that they be made with less spice because she does not tolerate spicy food. The server “said that they would have the chef make them less spicy,” the lawsuit claimed.In a recent court filing, Walia alleged that a later admission — the filing does not specify when or by whom — made clear what led to...