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Death rate among L.A. County homeless population continues to increase, report shows

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

The mortality rate among homeless people in Los Angeles County has increased by 55% in recent years, according to the latest county public health report.In 2019, 1,289 people experiencing homelessness died. This number increased to 1,811 in 2020 and 2,201 in 2021, according to the report.The report also found that drug overdoses continue to be the leading cause of death among unhoused individuals in the county. Drug overdoses have been the leading cause of death among homeless people since 2019 and accounted for 37% of all deaths in 2020 and 2021 combined, officials said.Researchers found that overdose rates among unhoused Black and Latinx people in Los Angeles County are higher in comparison to their white counterparts. The report also said that fentanyl-related overdoses have nearly tripled since 2019 when the rate was just 20% and rose to 58% by 2021.Coronary heart disease and traffic injuries were the second and third leading causes of death among homeless individuals in the cou...

Create defensible space or face fines, Pasadena fire officials say

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

Firefighters in Pasadena are going house-to-house to offer free safety inspections in an effort to save homes - and potentially lives.The fire department has sent letters to around 4,000 homeowners in high-risk zones, telling them to clear dry brush, create defensible space, or face fines.Bruce and Sue Porter, who live in the Eaton Canyon area, were among those who received a visit on Friday.“Every year we worry about it especially when the Santa Ana winds come… it’s terrifying,” said Bruce.See the current fire danger mapPeak fire season in California is typically in the late summer and fall, but experts say large wildfires are also possible earlier in the year, including in the month of May.Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin believes the 2023 fire season will be challenging.“This has been a record year for rain. We see nice green hills,” Augustin told KTLA. “Those hills will be brown in a few months from now … We’re in store for a rough fire season.”Firefighters say homeowners can b...

Letters: Ready for RCV | Deserve to know | Suspensions useful | Positive results | Ease transition | Fox light

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Santa Clara Countyis ready for RCVRe: “New bill could allow ranked choice voting” (Page B1, May 11).As the person who brought the idea of using ranked choice voting (RCV) to the county’s Charter Review Commission in 1997, I’m pleased that we are finally making progress toward its implementation.Your article does mention the error the Alameda County Registrar of Voters made in tabulating a recent Oakland school board election last year. Thanks to a Public Records Act request and a lawsuit by Oaklandside.org, the Dominion RCV manual became publicly available, and at its May 8 meeting the Santa Clara County Citizens’ Advisory Commission on Elections (CACE) established a committee to review that manual, to make sure that no incorrect settings are made when RCV is eventually implemented by our registrar. (I am a member of CACE and of that committee, but I do not speak for CACE.)O...

People’s Park housing developer abandons UC Berkeley project, citing lost federal funding

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

The developer slated to build permanent supportive housing for UC Berkeley’s controversial project at People’s Park has backed out, after ongoing lawsuits jeopardized crucial federal funding late last year.Resources for Community Development, a Berkeley-based nonprofit, recanted its commitment to build 125 units on the site for extremely low-income, unhoused or formerly housed people, the organization confirmed in a statement Friday. In a separate building, UC Berkeley is also hoping to construct 1,100 beds for students.After a state appellate court ruled that UC’s housing plans violated CEQA, the ongoing delays and challenges of keeping the project alive proved too much for the nonprofit to continue moving forward with financing the construction, according to Lauren Lyon, RCD’s director of marketing and communications.In February, the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned approvals of the development, which were originally greenlit by the UC Regent...

Good golly, Miss Dolly: Why travelers are flocking to the music icon’s Dollywood theme park

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

Linze Rice | Chicago TribuneGrowing up in DeKalb, Josie Shattuck was surrounded by the unending flatlands of corn country. The medium-sized city sat as an island amid a sea of stalks that changed from green to gold as the familiar frost began to set in.When Grandma Nadine returned from her senior group trips with handfuls of exotic brochures, Shattuck only needed to read a trifold pamphlet to transport around the world. When she saw one for Dollywood — an entire world dedicated to the glamorous country singer whose records her mother devotedly played at home — the destination became one of her most coveted travel dreams.“They wouldn’t really bring back paid souvenirs; I think this was just their way of sharing the experience,” said Shattuck, now a McHenry County resident. “I remember learning about Dollywood pretty early on. I had no personal experience with resort theme park areas like this — it just kind of seemed like this cloud-in-the-sky, magical place.”Now 33, Shattuck is head...

Critics throw barbs, fans toss tomatoes as Oakland A’s waterfront deal set to expire

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

OAKLAND — This city’s ambitious dream of sandwiching a giant ballpark and thousands of new homes into its busy waterfront is now dead — possibly once and for all.The Oakland A’s are expected to let their exclusive negotiating contract for land at Howard Terminal expire Saturday morning, leaving them with no further ties to the 55-acre property in the middle of Oakland’s industrial seaport that had until recently been slated for a large-scale development guided by the team.With recent shake-ups in Las Vegas indicating a bumpier path to a new stadium there than the A’s had previously indicated, this might not be the final nail in the coffin for the franchise’s relationship with Oakland.But it does point to a different direction for the future of Howard Terminal, now used mostly to store shipping containers and parked trucks and which city leaders have indicated will be left on the market for possible new suitors.Mayor Sheng Thao said as much l...

New coordinator Steve Wilks brings ‘tweaks’ to maximize 49ers’ defense

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

SANTA CLARA — More blitzes. More powerful defensive linemen. More man-to-man coverage.The 49ers want more out of their star-studded defense, and new coordinator Steve Wilks strives to do that with aggressive yet complementary measures.Not that Wilks thinks anything is glaringly wrong with what has kept the 49ers in perennial playoff contention.“You have to embrace the success that they’ve had here,” Wilks said Friday in his first remarks since being hired three months ago.“It is a foundation that we all agree we wanted to keep,” Wilks added, “and it is an opportunity as we go through the process, which we already have, to try to tweak things a little bit.”One noticeable tweak: Wilks will call the defensive signals from the coaches’ booth, rather than on the sideline like fiery predecessors Robert Saleh and DeMeco Ryans, who parlayed their coordinator posts into head-coaching jobs with the New York Jets (in 2021) and Houston Texans (2023), respectively.Wilks considers the...

Montgomery High School lockdown lifted, no gun found

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

(KRON) -- A lockdown that was initiated Friday at Montgomery High School amid reports of a student with a handgun on campus has been lifted, police said. No handgun was located after several classrooms and larger congregating areas were searched. The Santa Rosa Police Department received a call from a student at 10:45 a.m. who reported seeing a fellow student on campus with a handgun. San Carlos samurai sword beheading suspect enters insanity plea The gun was being "shown off" to other students, the reporting student said. Police said it didn't appear the suspect was threatening people with the handgun. SRPD dispatched several officers to campus and alerted the School Resource Officer on campus.The SRO identified the area where the student with the gun was reported to have been. SRPD officers arrived at 10:48 a.m. Several students ran when they saw the officers arrive on campus, police said. The students who fled were isolated in three portable classrooms on the north side of camp...

Woman named 'Thor Kill' convicted for felony possession of ammunition

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A woman named Thor Kill has been convicted of felony possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced Friday. Kill, 45, who was prohibited from having ammunition due to a 2012 misdemeanor assault conviction, was found in possession of a massive quantity of ammunition, the DA said. Montgomery High School lockdown lifted, no gun found Officers with the San Francisco Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives executed a search warrant on Kill's residence and storage unit on the 1400 block of Folsom Street. While serving the warrant, officers discovered and seized:Multiple crates and boxes containing thousands of rounds of live ammunition87 firearm magazines125 pounds of explosive powderTens of thousands of components used to make ammunitionAmmunition manufacturing equipmentKill's social media pages also revealed multiple posts of equipment used to manufacture ammunition, acc...

One killed, one in critical condition after Hayward double shooting

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:10:10 GMT

(KRON) -- Two people were shot in Hayward on Thursday afternoon, the Hayward Police Department said. One victim was killed and the other is in critical but stable condition.Officers responded to the 100 Block of Cassia Drive at about 2 p.m. after HPD received 911 calls about gunshots. Upon arrival, the officers found two victims with gunshot wounds. Montgomery High School lockdown lifted, no gun found A 30-year-old woman from Hayward was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. A second victim, a 28-year-old man from Oakland, is considered to be in critical but stable condition. Officers also served a related search warrant at an address on South Eldorado Street in San Mateo. Police have not arrested anyone in connection to the shootings. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call (510) 293-7176.