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Facebook owner Meta threatens to pull news content in California if bill to pay publishers passes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

By Samantha Delouya | CNNMeta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, threatened to remove news from its social media sites in California if the state passes a bill requiring big tech companies to pay news outlets for their content.In a statement posted on Twitter, Andy Stone, Meta’s communications director, called California’s Journalism Preservation Act “a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers.”“The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves and that substantial consolidation in California’s local news industry came over 15 years ago, well before Facebook was widely used,” Stone said.The bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, requires digital companies such as Google and Facebook to pay local news publishers a “journalism usage fee” whenever their news content is used or posted on those platforms. The bill also requires...

Krugman: How wind power became woke in the eyes of Texas Republicans

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

The world is experiencing an energy revolution. Over the past 15 years or so, huge technological progress has, in many cases, made it cheaper to generate electricity from solar and wind power than by burning fossil fuels. The Inflation Reduction Act — which is, despite its name, mainly a climate bill — aims to accelerate the transition to renewables and also to electrify as much of the economy as possible; this effort, if it works quickly enough and is emulated by other countries, could help us avert climate catastrophe.Even before the act started to take effect, however, America was experiencing a renewable energy boom. And the boom has been led by a surprising place: Texas.To be fair, California has more solar power, and a lot of geothermal electricity, too. But Texas dominates in wind power. Texas, whatever its flaws (which are many), is a place where things can get built, and that has included a lot of wind turbines.You might think, then, that Texas politicians would be celebrat...

9-hour police stand off in Monterey County ends with suspect fatally shot

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

A person suspected of shooting a Monterey County Sheriff’s deputy has been fatally shot, ending a 9-hour standoff in Salinas.The suspect had exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers through much of Wednesday afternoon according to a statement from the County of Monterey. Several attempts were made to resolve the standoff peacefully, the statement said,  however, “the suspect continued to fire on law enforcement. Return fire was initiated and at 5:45 p.m., the suspect was fatally injured.”The person, who has not been identified by authorities, is suspected of opening fire on a sheriff’s deputy making a “routine call” Wednesday just before 9 a.m. in the East Market and Sun Street area of Salinas. The wounded deputy was rescued from the scene by fellow deputies and Salinas Police officers and taken to the Natividad Medical Center where surgery was performed. He is expected to survive said Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto.  Nieto would not identify the deputy except to say he i...

Opinion: I’m in my 40s, have never owned a smartphone and don’t want one

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

I’ve never had a smartphone or used social media, and I’m in my 40s, so when I see young people like 17-year-old Logan Lane and those in her “Luddite Club” take a stand and pause the technology that’s been in their lives since birth I am in awe.Poverty made me a late adopter. I had no computer throughout college nor any phone — not even a landline — in my early 20s. My boyfriend’s family lived nearby and I could use theirs when I needed one. In 2006, I bought my first cellphone, a prepaid Nokia brick phone, to coordinate my father’s cancer treatment while away from home, and finally committed to a monthly plan 11 years later, in 2017.When people discover I don’t have a smartphone, they expect me to give them a sermon on technology’s ills or they congratulate me for going off the grid. I correct their misconceptions that I avoid technology. With a computer and Wi-Fi, I use the internet for email, news and research; Zoom for remote teaching, meetings and medical appointments; YouTube ...

Alleged neighbor spat in Santa Cruz County leads to attempted murder charges

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — The Pleasure Point man charged with attempting to murder his neighbor during a dispute remained held without bail after a hearing Wednesday morning.A defense attorney for Cody Arnold, 31, withdrew his request for Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Syda Cogliati to set bail after reviewing a pretrial public safety assessment report ordered in the case, he said.Arnold is charged with criminal threats, vandalism and shooting his neighbor in the chest April 7 on the 2800 block of Lakeview Drive.Leading up to Wednesday’s hearing, Assistant District Attorney Emily Wang also opposed having bail set in the case. According to Wang’s filing, Arnold’s neighbor reportedly yelled at Arnold to slow down as he drove quickly through the neighborhood on the evening of April 7. Arnold reportedly had a reputation for playing loud music and driving fast through the area, she wrote.Separately that night, the neighbor called Arnold’s father to complain about Arnold’s driving, as his fath...

Ancient mastodon tooth fossil found on Santa Cruz County beach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

APTOS — Who said the tooth fairy doesn’t deliver? Sometimes it just takes a couple hundred thousand years.The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History added a breathtaking ancient artifact to its collection this week after an almost 12-inch tooth belonging to a mastodon – a mammal from the last ice age similar in appearance to the woolly mammoth – was discovered washed up on a beach in Rio Del Mar.Museum Visitor Experience Manager Liz Broughton said the prehistoric molar was first discovered, appropriately, near the mouth of Aptos Creek on a misty morning last Friday by Jennifer Schuh, a visiting tourist with ties to the area. Fascinated by the object but not recognizing exactly what it was, Schuh snapped a picture before leaving it where it had come to rest and shared the photo on Facebook.A fossilized mastodon molar found near the mouth of Aptos Creek this week. The tooth is estimated to be less than 1 million years old. (Contributed – Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History) The po...

5 minors arrested on suspicion of assaulting 3 off-duty Marines at Southern California beach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies were continuing to search through surveillance and cellphone footage on Wednesday, May 31, for additional suspects involved in an assault of three off-duty Marines over the Memorial Day Weekend in San Clemente, officials said.Four teen boys and a teen girl were arrested on Tuesday, May 30, after a video showing the group of teenagers physically assaulting the Marines at the San Clemente Pier circulated on Twitter over the weekend.Those arrested were not publicly identified because they are juveniles.The victims were attacked by about 20 teenagers at the pier around 9:50 p.m. on Friday, May 26, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Mike Woodroof. The Marines suffered minor injuries and were treated and released at the scene.In the video, the group of teenagers are seen punching and kicking the Marines as the victims lay on the ground. They were booked into Orange County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon not ...

Macy’s slashes expectations for the year after a pullback by shoppers in the spring

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Macy’s slashed its outlook for the entire year with sales weakening sales in the first quarter during an increasingly challenging economic environment, including stubbornly high inflation. Quarterly profit and sales dropped to open the year as sales began to flag in March, forcing the New York department store to cut prices on clothes and other discretionary items. Shares tumbled more than 10% before the opening bell Thursday and dragged other retailers down as well. Macy’s reported net income of $155 billion, or 56 cents per share, far short of the 45 cents Wall Street was looking for, and a significant decline from the $286 million earned during the same period last year. Sales fell to $5.17 billion, also short of analyst projections, and a decline from $5.56 billion in the first quarter last year. Comparable sales — sales coming from digital channels and stores opened at least a year — fell 7.2% across all categories including licensed businesses like ...

México planea lanzar una aplicación para que migrantes tramiten su solicitud de asilo

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

(CNN) — El gobierno de México lanzará una nueva aplicación para agilizar el proceso de asilo en un momento en el que el número de solicitantes de asilo alcanza cifras récord, incluso después de que una aplicación similar en Estados Unidos fuera objeto de duras críticas por sus fallos y dificultad de uso.Andrés Ramírez, director de la Comisión Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados (COMAR), dijo a CNN que creía necesaria una aplicación para gestionar el abrumador número de solicitudes de asilo en Ciudad de México.“Estamos recibiendo tanta gente que simplemente no damos abasto”, dijo Ramírez.Ramírez dijo que por primera vez en la historia de su agencia, durante los primeros 18 días de mayo, se presentaron más solicitudes de asilo en la Ciudad de México que en la ciudad sureña mexicana de Tapachula, fronteriza con Guatemala.Durante ese tiempo se presentaron 3.300 solicitudes en Ciudad de México y 3.000 en Tapachula, dijo Ramírez.La nueva aplicación —denominada simplemente ...

Reeds: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:42:00 GMT

NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — NORWALK, Conn. (AP) — Reeds Inc. (REED) on Thursday reported a loss of $4.4 million in its first quarter.The Norwalk, Connecticut-based company said it had a loss of $1.70 per share.The beverage and candy company posted revenue of $11.2 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on REED at https://www.zacks.com/ap/REEDSource