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Wish Book: PitStop goes ‘on the front lines’ for the homeless people of Gilroy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

On a recent dark, cloudy night, Sam “Pit” Brown and Jan Bernstein Chargin drove through the streets of Gilroy, trunks full of dozens of hot meals tucked away in insulated bags.They stopped by a roadside to hand out food before pulling up to an unlit underpass. Big rigs zoomed by, illuminating the RVs and trucks clustered into a loose encampment below. Then Bernstein Chargin honked her horn and shouted, “Hello, It’s Jan! I got dinner!”That’s the sound of a meal call for PitStop Outreach, the nonprofit that Brown co-founded with Bernstein Chargin. Every weekday, Brown and a small force of helpers deliver as many as 150 hot meals a night, offering much-needed supplies and assistance to the homeless residents of Gilroy.“Our mission is to be there for people on the street while they’re trying to survive — while they’re going through their housing process, while they’re trying to deal with the day-to-day,” said Bernstein Chargin.PitStop first took shape in early 20...

Prep roundup: Mitty set to face country’s top girls basketball team in nationally televised tournament final

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

Girls basketballNo. 1 Archbishop Mitty 69, Crestwood Preparatory College-Canada, 55Archbishop Mitty, which has been favored in every previous game and is considered an invincible juggernaut in NorCal, will play an unfamiliar role in the nationally televised championship game on Thursday. The San Jose school will be…..gasp….the underdog in the Nike Tournament of Champions finale. The Monarchs, ranked No. 3 by MaxPreps, will face Long Island Lutheran, the No. 1 team, in a game shown on one of ESPN’s channels at 7 p.m. In terms of New York star power, Kateryna Koval and Syla Swords are both Top-11 recruits in the class of 2024 according to ESPN, and Lutheran also have two other players ranked in the Top 100. “We’re absolutely going to relish this role in terms of being the underdogs,” Phillips said. “And we’re excited to get better and play against the nation’s top team.”Of course, this isn’t the kind of talent mismatch the Bay Area sees in its football Op...

Man convicted of killing woman, 70, with butcher knife at California boarding home

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

A 69-year-old man was convicted of murder on Wednesday, Dec. 20, for using a butcher knife to stab his 70-year-old housemate to death in what he called an unprovoked “mercy killing” at the breakfast table of their Anaheim boarding home.An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for several hours before finding Michael Hallgren, now 69, guilty of second-degree murder on Nov. 20, 2018 — killing Lucinda Palma in the 1200 block of North Siesta Street.Hallgren acknowledged picking up a butcher knife and repeatedly stabbing Palma in her throat. Authorities estimated he stabbed her four to 12 times, with enough force to break off the knife’s handle.He left the blade in Palma’s throat.Two roommates tried to stop him. One recalled Hallgren telling him, “I’ve got to kill her, she must die.”In an interview hours later with an Anaheim detective, Hallgren explained that he had wanted to put Palma “out of her misery.” He said “the devil” told him to “go for it,” but added that he made the f...

Man charged with murder in road rage shooting that killed a 4-year-old California boy as he sat in the back of his family’s car

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

By Cindy Von Quednow | CNNA man has been charged with murder in the killing of a 4-year-old boy who was shot during a suspected road rage incident while sitting in the back seat of his family’s car in Lancaster, California, last week, authorities said.The suspect, 29-year-old Byron Burkhart, also faces two counts of attempted murder, one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle and five counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the criminal complaint obtained by CNN.Burkhart was traveling with his girlfriend on December 15 when he allegedly cut off a vehicle carrying the boy and his parents, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday in a news release.Burkhart allegedly “engaged in aggressive driving maneuvers and road rage” before pulling up next to the family’s car and firing eight shots into the vehicle, hitting the child, the district attorney’s office said.The boy was struck once and taken to a hospital, where he later died, authorities said...

So far, so good as Bay Area airports brace for record holiday travel a year after meltdown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

Jose Herrera and Eloisa Zuniga were among millions of travelers caught up in a holiday air travel meltdown a year ago, but that wasn’t enough to intimidate them from flying to the Bay Area to spend the holidays with family in what is forecast to be a record season.“We just traveled a few days earlier this year, to just make sure we were here,” Zuniga, 28, said Wednesday after their Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago landed at Oakland International Airport.Jose Herrera, center, and Eloisa Zunija, right, prepare to exit Terminal 2 of the Oakland International Airport on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) Across the U.S., more than 115.2 million people are expected to travel by air, road, rail or ship for the December holiday season between Dec. 23 and Jan. 1, a figure that’s 2.2% higher than last year and marks the second-highest number since 2000, AAA reported. That includes more than 15.4 million traveling C...

Stockton Kings NBA G League player allegedly admitted fatally strangling woman in Las Vegas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

LAS VEGAS — A former NBA G League player allegedly admitted to fatally strangling a woman whose remains were found earlier this month near Las Vegas, according to court records obtained Wednesday.Chance Comanche, 27, was taken into custody last week in Sacramento, where he described for Las Vegas detectives the alleged murder of Marayna Rodgers, 23, according to a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department affidavit.“I cannot comment on the substance of any statements made to law enforcement, Comanche attorney Michael Goldstein said Wednesday. “We made our initial appearance yesterday, and the allegations will be addressed in court.”The basketball player, who is being held without bond, appeared in a Sacramento County court Tuesday and agreed not to fight his transfer in custody to Nevada, where authorities said he’ll face murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges.“We’re going to let the courts deal with it,” Goldstein told reporters outside the court. “We’re going to deal with i...

Barabak: Colorado decision is a boon, not setback, for Trump’s campaign

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

Donald Trump received an early Christmas present Tuesday, courtesy of the Colorado Supreme Court.In a move without precedent, the justices ruled 4-3 Trump was ineligible for the state’s 2024 presidential ballot, owing to his role in the attempted Jan. 6 overthrow of the federal government.However, the decision was stayed until Jan. 4, or until the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to take up the matter — a move that seems all but certain.The immediate impact was predictable: a headlong rush by Republicans to rally behind the party’s serially indicted presidential front-runner.“Removing Trump from the ballot in Colorado under this theory is spurious, likely unconstitutional & a sadly predictable but outrageous form of lawfare. SCOTUS should end this,” Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy wrote on the social media platform X.Before issuing his fulminating statement, Roy was last seen campaigning in Iowa on behalf of Trump’s fading rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.Democrat...

Biden Administration seeks accountability, solutions to rising transit worker assaults

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

In response to exponential increases in assaults on public transit workers, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a directive on Wednesday, Dec. 20, requiring urban transportation agencies to monitor the dangers faced by workers interacting with passengers and to list safety strategies.The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) together with DOT are taking extraordinary steps to understand the scope of escalating attacks on bus and rail operators, requiring additional reporting accountability and concrete solutions from transit agencies nationwide, including Southern California. The goal is to keep workers on the job without fearing attacks from angry or frustrated passengers.“Everyone deserves a safe workplace, including and especially the frontline transit workers who keep our nation moving,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement released Wednesday. “Assaults on transit workers are unacceptable.”From 2008 to 2021, there were, on average, 241 assault...

Where in Maryland are customers buying the most cannabis?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

Marylanders have been buying cannabis since it became legal on July 1, 2023, with a sales tax rate of 9%. Following a new report from Comptroller Brooke Lierman, WTOP knows where people are buying it the most.Central Maryland has the largest number of dispensaries and that’s where the most money from the sales tax on cannabis is coming in, according to a report by the Baltimore Banner.The region has 50 of the state’s 96 licensed dispensaries and includes Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll, Harford and Baltimore counties, as well as Baltimore City.“Maryland interestingly set a pretty low tax rate. And one of the reasons why they did that was to make sure people would buy legally at dispensaries,” Pamela Wood, Maryland politics and government reporter for the Baltimore Banner, told WTOP.The tax does not apply to Marylanders who hold medical marijuana cards.According to the new report from Lierman, the state has collected $5.49 million from those areas out of the more than...

Paychex: Fiscal Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:00:22 GMT

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — Paychex Inc. (PAYX) on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $392.7 million.The Rochester, New York-based company said it had profit of $1.08 per share.The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.07 per share.The payroll processor and human-resources services provider posted revenue of $1.26 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Eight analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.27 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on PAYX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/PAYXSource