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BART watchdog to get $1.7 million boost amid calls for increased oversight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

The inspector general’s office tasked with investigating fraud and waste at BART will get a $1.7 million boost – more than doubling the watchdog’s current budget – under a deal announced Wednesday that will bolster an office mired by funding disputes and allegations of obstruction by the transit agency.The announcement is a sea change for BART, which previously rejected calls to fund its inspector general, and is now bowing to demands for increased oversight. As part of the deal BART will provide $600,000 from its operating budget and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission will supply $1.1 million in bridge tolls on top of the $1 million in bridge tolls already dedicated to the watchdog body.The funding is expected to be approved by the BART board and the MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority later this spring.“This new funding, if approved, will help bolster BART’s Office of the Inspector General at the same time we will be onboarding a new Inspector General,” said BART Gen...

The 10 most expensive homes reported sold in Oakland in the week of March 20

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

A house in Oakland that sold for $880,000 tops the list of the most expensive real estate sales in Oakland in the past week.In total, 14 real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $702,929. The average price per square foot was $581.The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of March 20 even if the property may have been sold earlier.10. $705,000, detached house in the 800 block of 44th StreetThe 1,241 square-foot detached house in the 800 block of 44th Street in Emeryville has now been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in February and the total purchase price was $705,000, $568 per square foot. The house was built in 1914. The house features 2 bedrooms and 1 bathrooms.44th Street9. $710,000, single-family house in the 1300 block of 32nd StreetThe property in the 1300 block of 32nd Street in Oakland has new owners. The price was $710,000. The house was built in 1925 and...

NL West preview: Did SF Giants do enough this offseason to compete with Dodgers, Padres?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

Addressing reporters this winter, Giants president Farhan Zaidi said that “one unfortunate aspect” of his team’s offseason was the “attention paid to the players we wound up not signing.” When those guys were Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, Zaidi said, “maybe (it was) inevitable.”But there was always going to be increased scrutiny on Zaidi’s ballclub after it followed up a surprising and exciting 2021 campaign with a disappointing and at times unwatchable 2022 season. What’s left to be determined is if, in the wake of missing out on their top targets, they did enough to close the gap in the National League West.While the Dodgers remained mostly quiet, the Padres were active as ever, and no team is receiving as much buzz about a potential breakout season as the Diamondbacks. As for the Rockies? Well, the Giants can only hope to beat up on them as much as they did in 2021.Los Angeles Dodgers2022 record: 111-51FanGraphs projection: 8...

Tech art with a Mexican twist arrives in San Francisco’s Mission District

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, a media artist born in Mexico and based in Montreal, is obsessed with communication. He once set up stations on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border where people could shine spotlights at each other to open up remote-audio conversations. After modeling the fluid dynamics of human breath, he created the world’s “first 3D-printed speech bubble” – gross-out alert, it looks like a booger-shaped cloud.Lozano-Hemmer’s visions are the subject of the retrospective “TECHS-MECHS” in the Mission District, itself a hotbed of cross-cultural dialogue. In a funny twist, what looks like a security camera shows video of people disabling surveillance cameras in Mexico City. A robotic noose twitches every time ICE made an arrest in 2019 (that would be every 3 to 4 minutes). The show’s dazzling centerpiece is a hanging web of 3,000 light bulbs pulsing to different people’s heartbeats. You can stick your hand under a sensor and have your own pul...

Cal hires Stanford alum Mark Madsen to turn around men’s basketball

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

Cal has found its next men’s basketball coach in Mark Madsen, who faces the tall task of turning around a program that has had six consecutive losing seasons, including a 3-29 mark this winter.Madsen, a former star at Stanford, coached Utah Valley to a 28-9 record this year and reached the NIT semifinals, where the Wolverines lost in overtime to Alabama-Birmingham on Tuesday night.Madsen went 70-51 over four years at Utah Valley after coaching as an assistant at Stanford for the 2012-13 season and with the Los Angeles Lakers from 2013-2019.The nine-year NBA veteran replaces Mark Fox, who went 38-87 in four seasons with the Bears.“Having grown up in the area, I have always admired Cal as an institution and as an athletic program, with so many of my teachers, coaches and friends impressive Cal graduates,” Madsen said in a release from Cal. “We will win with young men who have elite academic and athletic talent and who will represent Cal with pride.”Athlet...

Pittsburg murder defendant who accidentally told on himself sentenced to 32 years to life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

MARTINEZ — An Elk Grove man was sentenced to 32 years to life in prison in a murder and attempted murder case where he believed himself to be a police informant until the cops slapped handcuffs on him.Paea Tasini, 46, was sentenced to 25 years to life for murdering 22-year-old Danny Guyse Jr. in 2000, and seven years to life for an attempted murder conviction that stemmed from a shooting several months earlier. Tasini implicated himself in both crimes, and his statements were played to jurors during his 2022 trial.Guyse was shot and killed Sept. 27, 2000 as he sat in a brown Datsun vehicle in Pittsburg. Prosecutors say Tasini and two other men were driving by in a Mustang and spotted him. Tasini is not believed to be the shooter, but allegedly told the shooter to get out of the car and execute Guyse.The motive, according to prosecutors, had to do with Guyse allegedly insulting the shooter and being friends with members of a drug ring that was feuding with the occupants of the ...

Bay Area storm: Video shows hail in Berkeley, SF

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

(KRON) -- The rain will continue on and off through Wednesday with much of the Bay Area experiencing possible 30-mile-per-hour winds and pea-sized hail. San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley are under a special weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service, while the mountain communities should expect more snow.Previously saturated soil could lead to downed trees and branches and power outages, as the area has seen from recent storms. More rain means more money for East Bay MUD customers Stay up to date with the latest storm-related news.Wednesday, March 291 p.m. -- Accident reported on I-280 near Serramonte Boulevard(North County Fire Authority)(North County Fire Authority)The North County Fire Authority reported an accident on northbound Highway 280 south of Serramonte Boulevard. The fast lane is blocked. Expect delays and avoid the area. Make sure to slow down and plan for extra trave time.12:35 p.m. -- Hail reported in San Francsico Video shows hail fall...

Large pig nicknamed 'Ham-rietta' found by Pleasanton police

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

PLEASANTON, Calif. (KRON) -- Are you missing a 200-pound pig? A large female pig was found by Pleasanton Police Department, and officers are hoping to reunite her with her owners. KRON4 exclusive: Frank Somerville does first tv appearance since DUI crash The pig, nicknamed "Ham-rietta" by officers, was found near Dublin Canyon Road. She is salt-and-pepper colored with a dark patch on her snout. 'Hamrietta' with officers (Photo courtesy of Pleasanton Police Department)Photos shared by the department show Hamrietta hamming it up for the camera while officers give her some pets. Police ask anyone with information about this pig to call 925-803-7040.

Matt Gaetz’s Legislative Aide Is a Convicted War Criminal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

Derrick Miller, a former U.S. Army National Guard sergeant who spent eight years in prison for murdering an Afghan civilian in 2010, now serves as a legislative assistant covering military policy for Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.While on a combat mission in Afghanistan’s Laghman province on September 26, 2010, Miller shot 27-year-old Atta Mohammed in the head during an interrogation. Miller has maintained that he was acting in self-defense, alleging that Mohammed, who had walked through a defensive perimeter established by Miller’s unit, could be a threat to his unit and that he had tried to grab Miller’s weapon during the interrogation. But another National Guard member testified he heard Miller threaten to kill Mohammed if he did not tell the truth; and then sat on top of him — Mohammed was lying prone — before shooting him in the head, killing him. According to the prosecutor, Miller then said, “I shot him. He was a liar.”Mohammed’s body was left in a latrine, in violation ...

Mel King, who helped ease Boston’s racial strife, dies at 94

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Longtime Boston civil rights activist Mel King, whose 1983 campaign for mayor helped the city begin to repair some of the racial divisions sparked during the school busing crisis, has died. He was 94.King served in the state Legislature for nearly a decade before becoming the first Black man to reach a Boston general mayoral contest, facing off against a fellow state representative, Ray Flynn.Gov. Maura Healey ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at all state buildings Wednesday, acknowledging the death of King, whom she described as a “dedicated public servant and civil rights champion.”The election was a test for the city, which had undergone years of strife following the court-ordered desegregation of the public schools in the mid-1970s. Flynn, who represented the predominantly white, Irish neighborhood of South Boston, was an opponent of busing.But instead of reigniting the discord, the race had the opposite effect, being seen as respectful, even friendly at tim...