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Oakland police hit with scathing report, more fallout from misconduct scandal

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

OAKLAND — Oakland police officers continue to face consequences for their role in a misconduct scandal that, according to a new report on Thursday, has ensured the department won’t get out from under the watchful eye of a federal monitor any time soon.The latest report authored by Robert Warshaw, a monitor appointed by a federal judge to oversee the police department’s affairs on the city’s dime, reaches a scathing conclusion: OPD, it says, faces “very serious questions about its capacity to police itself.”By the end of last year, OPD appeared to be on track to end two decades of oversight by reaching full compliance with a set of reforms demanded by Judge William Orrick; Warshaw’s new report, however, found the OPD has failed to ensure that “discipline is imposed in a fair and consistent manner.”“Deep into the sustainability period, issues embedded in the history of the organization… have reappeared,” concludes...

Letters: Residents’ concerns | Compromise needed | Groundwater lesson | GOP at fault | Narcan policy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Richmond ignoresresidents’ concernsI am upset and appalled by the Richmond Planning Commission hearing regarding development of a former PG&E natural gas tank site on Brickyard Cove Road.After 2 1/2 hours of taking public comment pleading with the Planning Commission to reject the proposed project because of its reliance on 130,000 cubic yards of fill, because there has been no project specific EIR to determine the stability of the hill, and because other, alternative plans could achieve the same density without the objectionable fill and cut into the hill, the Commission approved the developer’s plan without once addressing the public’s concerns. What I found so appalling was that the chairperson’s only concern was whether there were documents somewhere in the city’s file that he could point to as a CYA.What has happened to common sense? If a project can be built that doesn’t risk the he...

Judge strikes down ACA’s preventative care requirement

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

By Paul J. Weber | Associated PressAUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in Texas who previously ruled to dismantle the Affordable Care Act struck down a narrower but key part of the nation’s health law Thursday that requires most insurers to cover preventive services that include screenings for cancer, diabetes and mental health.Other no-cost services, including HIV screenings, are also impacted under the ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor that opponents say will jeopardize preventive care for millions of Americans.Experts cautioned that insurers are unlikely to stop any coverage immediately. The Biden administration was expected to appeal and seek a stay of the ruling.“This is not the potential fatal blow to the ACA like previous court cases, but it would limit a very popular benefit that tens of millions of people use,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.The decision comes more than four years a...

A's win 'significant legal victory' for Howard Terminal Ballpark project

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

(KRON) -- The Oakland A's plan to put a new multi-billion dollar ballpark and sports entertainment complex at Howard Terminal in the Port of Oakland cleared another hurdle in court Thursday. The last time the Athletics won the world series was in 1989. Will the next time be in Las Vegas? A San Francisco appellate court ruled in the team's favor regarding an environmental review of the project, deeming the city's environmental review of the project sufficient, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle. While a win for the team, the ruling is a setback for the coalition of port workers, truckers and cargo terminal operators that filed a lawsuit last year, claiming the city did not adequately study the project's adverse impact. Oakland A’s ballpark ranked worst in U.S. In a statement to KRON4, the A's celebrated the decision, saying, "We are pleased with the appellate court's decision, which affirms the significant and thorough work completed on our environmentally sound...

New SF robot paints nails using AI tech

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Artificial intelligence – or AI -- continues to change the way we think about traditional jobs and day-to-day tasks. Starting this month, you can now get your nails painted by a robot in San Francisco, the first-of-its kind in the city. EA Sports announces 6% staffing cut KRON4 anchor Stephanie Lin met with the startup behind the service, which promises a quality manicure in just 10 minutes. Could this be the future of the nail industry?Watch the video in the player above to find out more

Bay Area, California leaders react to Trump indictment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Former President Donald J. Trump became the first ex-president of the United States in history to be handed a criminal indictment on Thursday. The former commander in chief has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in a hush money case stemming from alleged payoffs he made to a porn star to keep her from coming forward during his 2016 campaign with details on a supposed affair.Trump has responded by calling the indictment "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history" and maintaining his innocence. In Washington, opinions on the matter have predictably been divided along party lines.In the Bay Area and across the Golden State, elected leaders have begun weighing in on Trump's historic indictment.Lee: "No one is above the law"Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) issued a simple statement on Twitter:"No one is above the law."Now do the rest of his crimes."Swalwell calls indictment "a somber day for America"U.S. Representative E...

Jurors: Gwyneth Paltrow not responsible for 2016 ski crash, awarding her $1

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

PARK CITY, Utah (ABC4) -- Jurors in Park City, Utah, ruled in favor of Gwyneth Paltrow in the eight-day trial over a 2016 ski crash at Deer Valley Ski Resort, awarding her $1 this afternoon, March 30.The jurors ruled that plaintiff Terry Sanderson, 76, was 100% responsible for the crash, despite his claims that Paltrow crashed into him on the slopes, resulting in his four broken ribs and a possible concussion. Paltrow's $1 award for damages came from her countersuit to Sanderson's. Paltrow's defense team argued that Sanderson actually crashed into Paltrow and that any injuries he sustained were his own fault.The verdict came only three hours after closing arguments wrapped.Jurors had to rely on the testimony of expert witnesses who were not on the scene and conflicting eyewitnesses who were. Either way, very scant evidence exists from the actual crash. While there was a lot of discussion about possible GoPro camera footage floating around, possibly on the internet, it never surfaced...

FBI documents give new view into Las Vegas shooter’s mindset

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The high-stakes gambler who opened fire on a concert crowd on the Las Vegas Strip in 2017, killing 60 and injuring hundreds more, was apparently angry over how the casinos were treating him despite his high-roller status, according to a fellow gambler whose interview with the FBI is detailed in hundreds of pages of documents made public this week.The revelation comes years after the FBI in Las Vegas and the local police department concluded their investigations without a definitive motive, although both agencies said gunman Stephen Paddock burned through more than $1.5 million, became obsessed with guns, and distanced himself from his girlfriend and family in the months leading up to the massacre.In a statement Thursday, Las Vegas police defended their inconclusive findings and dismissed the importance of the documents released this week in response to an open-records request from the Wall Street Journal.“We were unable to determine a motive for the shooter,” the st...

High inflation pushes poverty rate even higher in Argentina

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — One of the world’s highest inflation rates is making it more difficult to make ends meet in Argentina, where at the end of last year nearly four of every 10 people were poor, official figures revaled Thursday. Poverty increased to 39.2% of the population in the second half of 2022, a three percentage point increase from the first six months of the year, said Argentina’s national statistics agency, INDEC. Among children under age 15, the poverty rate increased more than three percentage points to 54.2%.In a poor neighborhood in Argentina’s capital, those who run a soup kitchen don’t need the statistics to tell them what they have been seeing amid an economy wracked by inflation that reached 94.8% last year. “There’s more poverty than before,” said Graciela Gamarra, who runs the soup kitchen in the Fraga district that hands out more than 800 portions of food every weekday afternoon.“After the pandemic, everything got worse,” she said. “Most h...

Longtime LA politician guilty on federal corruption charges

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:32 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A longtime Los Angeles politician was convicted Thursday on federal corruption charges in a scheme in which prosecutors said he promised to help steer a multimillion-dollar government contract to the University of Southern California if his son got a scholarship and a teaching job.Suspended Democratic City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas — a former legislator, county supervisor and a fixture in local politics for decades — was found guilty in U.S. District Court of seven felonies, including conspiracy, bribery and fraud. The jury’s verdict marked a stunning fall for a once-commanding figure in Los Angeles County politics known for his involvement in civil rights and racial issues.Marilyn Flynn, who was dean of USC’s School of Social Work from 1997 to 2018, pleaded guilty last year to one count of bribery in the case. Prosecutors said that as part of the plot, she concocted a scheme to funnel $100,000 that Ridley-Thomas provided from campaign funds through the ...