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Q&A with Amanda Frye: She took on California’s famous Arrowhead bottled water brand — and won

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

Amanda Frye of Redlands took on the company that owns California’s famous Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water over water rights to Strawberry Creek in the San Bernardino National Forest. She was among a number of local residents, community groups and non-profits, and everyone took actions like boycotting the company, signing petitions and donating money to organizations fighting Arrowhead’s water take in the San Bernardino National Forest.Last month, the State Water Resources Control Board agreed that BlueTriton — the company that owns Arrowhead — doesn’t have rights to the water in the national forest and issued a Cease and Desist order for the headwater springs, significantly reducing water withdrawals and leaving the door open for further action.Arrowhead bottled water dates back to 1909, when the historic Arrowhead Hot Springs hotel bordering the national forest land at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains began selling spring water from its private...

Bicycle thieves hit two Saratoga residences

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

Nov. 27Petty theft: Between 12:22 a.m. and 7:40 a.m., someone stole a bicycle and a helmet from the front porch of a residence in the 18000 block of Harleigh Drive for a total loss valued at approximately $600.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Credit card thieves try to make fraudulent purchases at Los Gatos Apple store Crime and Public Safety | String of vehicle break-ins reported in Campbell Crime and Public Safety | Break-in, food theft at Saratoga Woods Swim Club Crime and Public Safety | Man brandishes handgun at someone who ‘got in his face’ Crime and Public Safety | Customer bites staff at Charley’s Los Gatos Expired registration, no proof of insurance, possession of drug paraphernalia: At 8:44 p.m., deputies stopped a motorist in the 13000 block of Saratoga Avenue for expired registration. An investigation revealed the driver did not have proof of insurance and was in possession of drug p...

Tesla fined for Fremont worker pinned in car on conveyor belt

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

By Dana Hull | BloombergTesla Inc. has been cited by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health for four safety violations after an employee was seriously injured when she got stuck in a Model Y at the company’s Fremont factory earlier this year.The EV maker failed to ensure power was cut to a conveyor belt while workers were performing quality inspections, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg through a California Public Records Act request. As a result, in April, the worker became trapped in a car after its open door struck a fixed vertical gate at Tesla’s Fremont plant, according to the documents.California OSHA proposed fining Tesla $18,000 for the “serious” violation, which the regulator said the carmaker addressed during an inspection at some point between April and October. The company also received another $18,000 fine for failing to maintain an effective injury and illness prevention program, while it received two other $1,000 fines for “general” viola...

Celebrity heartbreak 2023: The 15 most shocking, messy splits of the year

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

Ava Gardner knew a thing or two about the agony of a celebrity divorce. With one of her divorces — maybe from Frank Sinatra? — the thrice-married actress rented a house in Palm Springs and “sat there and suffered for a couple of weeks.” She said: “When you have to face up to the fact that marriage to the man you love is really over, that’s very tough, sheer agony.”Alas, there were a number of celebrity couples who presumably went through “sheer agony” in 2023. And, maybe one of the partners retreated to a glamorous resort destination to “suffer for a couple weeks.”Were there more celebrity break-ups in 2023 than in years past?  It sure seems like it, given that a number of these splits felt genuinely shocking and dominated headlines for days, weeks, even months. Some involved A-list stars in seemingly happy unions. Others were particularly messy and litigious. In two notable cases, the shock came from the world learning that these long-term couples had separated ye...

Solid US hiring lowers unemployment rate in latest sign of a still-sturdy job market

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. businesses and other employers added a healthy 199,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell, fresh signs that the economy could achieve an elusive “soft landing,” in which inflation would return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target without causing a steep recession.Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 3.9% to 3.7%, not far above a five-decade low of 3.4% in April. The jobless rate has now remained below 4% for nearly two years, the longest such streak since the late 1960s.Last month’s increase was inflated by the return of about 40,000 formerly striking auto workers and actors, who were not at work in October but were back on the job in November.The jobs report and other recent data portray an economy and a labor market that, while still sturdy, are downshifting back to pre-pandemic norms. Businesses are hiring but are less desperate to fill huge numbers of jobs. More Americans have come off the sidel...

Gov. Wes Moore to Maryland county leaders: ‘I know that our trust is being tested’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Annapolis, Md., Thursday, March 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)(AP/Susan Walsh) Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Annapolis, Md., Thursday, March 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)(AP/Susan Walsh) Gov. Wes Moore (D) told a gathering of county leaders still reeling from news of deep cuts in transportation projects that he backs the proposal, describing it as hard medicine.For two days, officials from around the state have grumbled about $3.3 billion in cuts including deep reductions to highway user revenues, the primary source of local road repair funding for counties.“I know that our t...

Tentáculos de mafias criminales están tocando el fútbol y medios en Ecuador, advierte embajador de EE.UU.

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

(CNN Español) — El embajador de Estados Unidos en Ecuador, Michael Fitzpatrick, arremetió este jueves con dureza sobre la situación del crimen organizado en el país, la debilidad del sistema de justicia y la presunta infiltración de mafias asociadas al lavado de dinero y el narcotráfico en equipos de fútbol y en los que denominó “medios sociales”.Las declaraciones del embajador se registraron durante un evento en la Universidad de las Américas de Quito para conmemorar el vigésimo aniversario de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas contra la Corrupción.“Están lavando su plata y los bienes reales en cuentas bancarias, en empresas ficticias. Sus testaferros ahora están metidos en hasta la pasión nacional, el fútbol, usando algunos equipos para lavar su cara y su plata”, dijo Fitzpatrick en declaraciones recogidas por Ecuavisa, afiliada de CNN. El embajador estadounidense no mencionó cuáles serían estos equipos de fútbol.El mayor reto de Daniel Noboa, presidente electo de Ecuador,...

The year in review: Influential people who died in 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

Yevgeny Prigozhin rose from being an ex-con and hot dog vendor to winning lucrative Kremlin contracts and heading a formidable mercenary army. But it all came to a sudden end when the private plane carrying him and others mysteriously exploded over Russia.Prigozhin’s Aug. 23 death put an exclamation point on what had already been an eventful year for the brutal mercenary leader. His Wagner Group troops brought Russia a rare victory in its grinding war in Ukraine, capturing the city of Bakhmut. But internal friction with Russian military leaders later burst into the open, with Prigozhin briefly mounting an armed rebellion — the most severe challenge yet to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule.The rebellion was called off and a deal was struck in less than 24 hours. However, just two months later, Prigozhin joined the list of those who have run afoul of the Kremlin and died unexpectedly.He was just one of a number of noteworthy people who died in 2023.The world also said good...

Stock market today: Stocks drift up as Wall Street weighs whether economy is too warm or just right

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are drifting higher Friday as Wall Street weighs how to read a report showing the U.S. job market isn’t slowing as much as expected.The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in morning trading, close to extending its weekly winning streak to six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 92 points, or 0.3%, as of 10:27 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher.Yields rose in the bond market following the report, which said U.S. employers added more jobs than economists expected last month. Workers’ wages also rose more than expected, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly improved.The strong data keep at bay worries about a possible recession, at least for a while longer, and stocks of some companies whose profits are closely tied to the strength of the economy were rising. Energy-related companies had the biggest gains, with those in the S&P 500 up 1.2% as oil prices rose amid hopes for more demand for fuel.Carrier Global gained 5.5% for one of the ...

Chronic fatigue syndrome is more common than some past studies suggest, CDC says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:57:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials on Friday released the first nationally representative estimate of how many U.S. adults have chronic fatigue syndrome: 3.3 million.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s number is larger than previous studies have suggested, and is likely boosted by some of the patients with long COVID. The condition clearly “is not a rare illness,” said the CDC’s Dr. Elizabeth Unger, one of the report’s co-authors. Chronic fatigue is characterized by at least six months of severe exhaustion not helped by bed rest. Patients also report pain, brain fog and other symptoms that can get worse after exercise, work or other activity. There is no cure, and no blood test or scan to enable a quick diagnosis. Doctors have not been able to pin down a cause, although research suggests it is a body’s prolonged overreaction to an infection or other jolt to the immune system.The condition rose to prominence nearly 40 years ago, when clusters ...