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He sold luxury watches on Rodeo Drive. The FBI says he scammed customers out of $3 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

By Faith Karimi | CNNAnthony Farrer’s lifestyle was as flashy as the luxury wristwatches he sold in Beverly Hills.His watch consignment business, The Timepiece Gentleman, had a storefront on the city’s fabled Rodeo Drive. His red Lamborghini and his Ducati motorcycles sat outside his lavish rental in Santa Monica. He made frequent gambling trips to Las Vegas, where he spent tens of thousands of dollars.Farrer, 35, collected Patek Philippes, Rolexes and other pricey timepieces and sold them to collectors. The typical agreement with his clients netted him a 5% commission on every sale, according to a federal criminal complaint obtained by CNN.Business was thriving, or so his clients thought. Farrer displayed watches worth up to $430,00 on social media, where his 300,000 followers on Instagram and YouTube marveled at his haul.But it all came crashing down when FBI agents arrested him last week for allegedly scamming customers out of $3 million by selling their fancy watches and pocketi...

Protesters in San Francisco try to block CEOs from APEC trade summit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

Hundreds of protesters waved signs and badgered men in suits headed toward an historic Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit Wednesday in San Francisco that President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom will attend and that demonstrators argue will do more harm than good for working people.Police in riot gear pushed up against a crowd of demonstrators representing workers’ rights, environmental and other causes gathered at Fifth and Mission streets trying to prevent attendees from entering the conference at nearby Moscone Center.“The goal is to try to shut down meetings,” said Donna Denina of Seattle, one of the No to APEC protest organizers. “They’re going to talk about trade deals that are not good for people or the planet. What they’re doing impacts billions of people around the world. There’s a lot of collusion between government and corporate interests, not in line with working people. We don’t have a seat at the table, they should...

49ers’ Nick Bosa earns another NFL award

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Nick Bosa’s best game of the season earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.Bosa was just one of several 49ers defenders who led the way out of a three-game losing streak and produced Sunday’s 34-3 win at the Jacksonville Jaguars.Bosa’s marquee moment came when he and Chase Young split a sack on Trevor Lawrence, with Bosa forcing and recovering a fumble on the play at midfield. It was one of five sacks the 49ers (6-3) had on the day.Bosa again sacked Lawrence to end the third quarter, after earlier hitting him as he threw an interception to Talanoa Hufanga.It wasn’t just Bosa who excelled in his native Florida. So did fellow defensive linemen Javon Hargrave, Arik Armstead, Clelin Ferrell and Young, the latter of whom was making his 49ers debut after last month’s trade reunited him with Bosa, an Ohio State teammate.Related ArticlesSan Francisco 49ers | 49ers mailbag: Purdy’s NFL-leading passing stat, chance...

Review: Amazing vocalist delivers music and hope during only NorCal concert

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

She gave them new songs. She gave them old ones. She gave them ones that rank somewhere in between.Most of all, however, Lauren Daigle gave them reasons to feel hopeful as she performed a roughly two-hour concert that was filled with uplifting music and encouraging words.“You have a purpose. You are here for a reason,” she told the roughly 10,000 fans in attendance at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Tuesday night (Nov. 14). “And if you need to know that, this song is for you.”With that intro, the 32-year-old pop star — who is blessed with one of the finest singing voices in all of music — unraveled a simply gorgeous version of “Valuable.” Each lyric came with a sense of purpose, dispelling guilt, shame and feelings of unworthiness and replacing them with warmth, kindness and compassion.“I watch you from afar and think, ‘What a work of art,’ like the depths of the Grand Canyon or a canopy of stars,” Daigle s...

A little do-ahead help for that Thanksgiving feast

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

Hosting a Thanksgiving feast isn’t a leisurely walk in the park. The race to get all the dishes done at the same time is worthy of an Olympics of cooking medal. But a few hours of cooking ahead can reduce the hassle. Prepare in advance, and you’ll even enjoy this holiday meal, in all its gravy and side dish glory.Sure, you can’t stuff the turkey ahead. The potatoes taste best when cooked and mashed the same day they’re served. And the gravy, made from turkey drippings, is still a last-minute chore.But you can make the cranberry sauce, salad dressing, braised red cabbage and dessert in advance and tuck them in the refrigerator or pantry, depending on the dish.That’s your insurance policy for sanity on the big day.Pumpkin Cake with Buttermilk IcingThe flavors in this delicious pumpkin Bundt cake continue to develop when made a couple of days in advance. I like to serve it with ice cream; when I can find it, my ice cream choice is pumpkin or rum raisin.To make a...

California program to lease land under freeways faces scrutiny after major I-10 freeway fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

By JULIE WATSON and AMY TAXIN | Associated PressLOS ANGELES — The area under an elevated Los Angeles freeway that burned last weekend was a kind of open-air warehouse with businesses storing everything from wood pallets to cardboard boxes to hand sanitizer on lots leased by the state through a little-known program that now is under scrutiny.The blaze Saturday burned about 100 support columns, forcing the closure of a vital mile-long stretch of Interstate 10 near downtown that is used by hundreds of thousands of people daily. It could take crews working around the clock between three and five weeks to repair the freeway, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.Newsom said the state would reassess the practice of leasing land under roads to bring in money for mass transportation projects.Details of that program remain opaque. Newsom’s office directed questions about whether the state has any regular inspection protocols to state transportation officials. The California Department of Transportation, kn...

East Bay highway reopens following overnight closure caused by crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

SUNOL — A highway closure caused when a vehicle slammed into a telephone pole Tuesday night was lifted early Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Map: Peninsula roads closed for Biden-Xi meeting at Filoli Crashes and Disasters | Help! Jarring, ‘teeth-rattling’ connector ramps at 87 and 280 need to be smoothed out: Roadshow Crashes and Disasters | Letters: MTC tax proposal | South Bay jewel | Creating danger | Tuition hike | Using leverage | Array of technology Crashes and Disasters | ‘If I was only solo in the carpool lane briefly, should I really get a ticket?’: Roadshow Crashes and Disasters | Letters: Shelter help | Social workers | ‘Bulb Guy’ | ‘Killing device’ The CHP did not have information on the condition of the driver or anyone else who may have been in the vehicle.Both the east and west direc...

Beer bottle-wielding man tried hitting Petaluma restaurant patrons: police

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

(KRON) -- After an hours-long standoff with the Petaluma Police Department at an area restaurant on Tuesday night, a man was taken into custody for allegedly trying to hit customers with a glass beer bottle, according to authorities. A Nixle advisory from Petaluma PD said that the police activity surrounded Taco Bell at 406 E. Washington Street.Damion Grissom, 49, was located by responding officers inside the restaurant while still holding the glass bottle, police said. After refusing to drop the bottle to police commands, authorities evacuated patrons from the restaurant. Grissom did not converse with officers inside the business, according to Petaluma PD. San Jose drug dealer sentenced for selling fentanyl that killed man The Petaluma Police Department Investigations Team obtained a warrant for the suspect’s arrest for assault with a deadly weapon as the Crisis Response Team and a crisis intervention specialist attempted to negotiate a de-escalation.After nearly two and a half h...

Roads near Filoli Estate to close for Biden-Xi meeting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

(BCN) -- Roads near the Filoli estate in Woodside will be closed to motorists until Wednesday night due to a planned meeting between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the historic country house. The portion of Canada Road between Interstate Highway 280 and Highway 92 will be closed. Edgewood Road is also shut down at Highway 280, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office said in an advisory. APEC updates: Protest erupt across SF ahead of Biden-Xi meeting Vehicles, bicycles, or pedestrians will be prohibited from passing through the area. Travelers are urged to use alternate routes. The roads are scheduled to reopen after 8 p.m., the Sheriff's Office said.Voice of America, a media outlet funded by the U.S. government through the U.S. Agency for Global Media, earlier reported that Biden and Xi would be holding their bilateral meeting at the Filoli estate, which includes a 54,000-square-foot Georgian revival-style mansion among 654 acres in Woodside.Copyright ...

Lanes of Highway 84 reopen after crash in Sunol

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:17:51 GMT

(BCN) -- Lanes of state Highway 84 in Sunol were closed to motorists early Wednesday morning due to a crash. All lanes have since reopened.The eastbound and westbound lanes of Highway 84 from Interstate Highway 680 to Main Street were shut down, the California Highway Patrol said on social media around 5:45 a.m.The portion of Pleasanton Sunol Road from Paloma Way to Koopman Road was also closed, the CHP said. San Francisco undergoes transformation as APEC kicks into high gear The crash on Tuesday night impacted power lines in the area, according to the CHP.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.