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Celebs balk at paying Twitter for a blue check mark

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

By Matt O’Brien | Associated PressWilliam Shatner, Monica Lewinsky and other prolific Twitter commentators — some household names, others little-known journalists — could soon be losing the blue check marks that helped verify their identity on the social media platform.They could get the marks back by paying up to $11 a month. But some longtime users, including 92-year-old Star Trek legend Shatner, have balked at buying the premium service championed by Twitter’s billionaire owner and chief executive Elon Musk.After months of delay, Musk is gleefully promising that Friday is the deadline for celebrities, journalists and others who’d been verified for free to pony up or lose their legacy status.“It will be glorious,” he tweeted Monday, in response to a Twitter user who noted that Friday is also April Fools’ Day.After buying Twitter for $44 billion in October, Musk has been trying to boost the struggling platform’s revenue by pushing more peop...

Downtown Oakland housing highrise could be city’s tallest tower

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

OAKLAND — A highrise with hundreds of homes and some office space is being proposed for a downtown Oakland site, a project that would become one of the East Bay city’s tallest towers if it’s built.The mixed-use development would feature 425 rental units and a few floors of office space on the lower floors of the project, proposed for 2044 Franklin Street, which is a short distance from the 19th Street BART station in Oakland.Preliminary plans for the tower, along with some images for the proposed project, were filed by the project’s developer with the Oakland city planning department, which posted the proposal on a municipal public website.The 39-story tower would soar 440 feet. If built right now, it would be higher than the current tallest tower in Oakland, the Ordway building, which is 404 feet tall.Two tower proposals that are in the works in Oakland, though, would be taller than either the Ordway or the 2044 Franklin Street building. These other projects...

Fundraiser started for family of woman killed during Hercules police chase

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

HERCULES — Friends have started an online fundraiser for the family of a 31-year-old woman who died last week when a person driving a stolen SUV and chased by police crashed into her vehicle.The crash also injured her two 6-year-old twin sons, including one who has life-threatening injuries, authorities said.The fundraiser identified the woman as Ryniqueka Dowell. Authorities on Monday did not identify her publicly.By 10:30 a.m. on Monday, the fundraiser had raised $6,080 of the $50,000 it was seeking for expenses to help with Dowell’s funeral and the children’s medical costs.“More importantly, please keep Ryniqueka’s family in prayer during this time of adversity,” the fundraiser entry said.Police identified the driver who trying to escape police as 20-year-old Ralph E. White III, of Vallejo. Hercules Police Chief Joseph Vasquez said White was was arrested on suspicion of one count of second-degree murder; three counts of evading a police officer...

NCAA winners and losers: Gonzaga and UCLA hammer each other as lower seeds thrive and UConn emerges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

The rapidly intensifying Gonzaga-UCLA postseason rivalry has one winner and, it seems, two victims.Twice in the past three years, the Zags eliminated the Bruins from the NCAA Tournament in thrilling fashion, with their epic Final Four game in 2021 and then a riveting Sweet 16 matchup last week.The Zags won the former on Jalen Suggs’ 40-foot buzzer beater and the latter on Julian Strawther’s long 3-pointer with  seven seconds remaining.But in each case, the effort required to oust the Bruins appeared to exact a significant physical and emotional toll as Gonzaga struggled to recover adequately for its next assignment.The Zags trailed Baylor by double digits early in the 2021 national championship game and could not keep pace with UConn in the second half in the Sweet 16.So while they hit the Bruins with two gut-punch losses, UCLA made sure to grab a pound of flesh on its way out.Now the teams, which had designs on the Final Four when the tournament began, will watch the se...

Netanyahu delays Israeli judicial reforms after mass protests

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

By Ilan Ben Zion and Tia Goldenberg | Associated PressJERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a delay in his judicial overhaul plan Monday, saying he wanted to give time to seek a compromise over the contentious package with his political opponents.Netanyahu made the announcement after two days of large protests against the plan.“When there’s an opportunity to avoid civil war through dialogue, I, as prime minister, am taking a timeout for dialogue,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address.Striking a more conciliatory tone than in previous speeches, he said he was determined to pass a judicial reform but called for “an attempt to achieve broad consensus.”Immediately after Netanyahu’s statement, the head of the country’s largest trade union said it would call off a general strike that threatened to grind Israel’s economy to a halt.Netanyahu spoke after tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside pa...

Man and girlfriend charged after body parts found stuffed in plastic tote, dumped on shore of Minnesota lake

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

KATHIO TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Two people have been arrested and charged after human remains were found last Tuesday along the shore of Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota.Bradley Allen Weyaus, 21, of Isle, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, and interference with a dead body or scene of death-concealing a body and evidence.Bradley Allen Weyaus, 21, of Isle, Minn., faces charges in connection with the death of Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., 25, of Isle, whose remains were found March 21, 2023, stuffed in a plastic tote dumped on the shore of Lake Mille Lacs. (Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office via Forum News Service) Weyaus’s girlfriend, Alexis Marion Elling, 21, of Rochester, was arrested Thursday and charged with felony aiding an offender as an accomplice after the fact.Officials identified the victim as Rodney Pendegayosh Jr., 25, of Isle. His remains were found Tuesday after highway workers clearing an area near Mille Lacs Lake fo...

Single-family home sells in Saratoga for $3.9 million

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

20579 Ashley Way – Google Street ViewA 2,633-square-foot house built in 1973 has changed hands. The spacious property located in the 20500 block of Ashley Way in Saratoga was sold on March 15, 2023. The $3,857,000 purchase price works out to $1,465 per square foot. The property features five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a garage, and two parking spaces. The unit sits on a 0.3-acre lot.Additional houses have recently been purchased nearby:In August 2022, a 1,748-square-foot home on Foothill Lane in Saratoga sold for $3,400,000, a price per square foot of $1,945. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.On Paramount Court, Saratoga, in October 2022, a 2,930-square-foot home was sold for $4,000,000, a price per square foot of $1,365. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.A 7,262-square-foot home on the 13000 block of Paramount Court in Saratoga sold in February 2023, for $8,550,000, a price per square foot of $1,177. The home has 5 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. 

Amazon driver arrested after altercation and alleged assault on angry customer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

Authorities in St. Paul say an Amazon driver was arrested on suspicion of assault after an altercation with an unhappy customer escalated into a fistfight followed by the customer jumping on the hood of the vehicle and then falling off as the driver drove away.It began about 1 p.m. on Saturday when officers were called to the 900 block of Randolph Avenue on a report of an assault.When officers arrived, they found a 51-year-old man with facial injuries, said St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Man and girlfriend charged after body parts found stuffed in plastic tote, dumped on shore of Minnesota lake Crime and Public Safety | 3 children, 3 adults dead in Nashville school shooting Crime and Public Safety | Amid FBI investigation, East Bay police refuse to release use of force records, including a controversial neck hold that has since been widely banned Crime and Public Safety | Former B...

3 children, 3 adults dead in Nashville school shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

By Jonathan Mattise | Associated PressNASHVILLE, Tenn. — Three children and three adults were killed in a shooting at a private Christian grade school in Nashville on Monday, and the female shooter also died after being shot by police, authorities said.The violence occurred at The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school for about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade.Police said the shooter appeared to be in her teens and was armed with two assault-type rifles and a pistol.The killings come as communities around the nation are reeling from a spate of school violence, including the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last year; a first grader who shot his teacher in Virginia; and a shooting last week in Denver that wounded two administrators.The Nashville victims were pronounced dead upon arrival at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, according to Craig Boerner, a spokesperson for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which is affiliated with the ...

Twitter hunts for identity of source code leaker

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:23 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) -- Twitter filed a petition in federal court in San Francisco on Friday asking the court clerk to issue a subpoena that would help the company learn the identity of the person alleged to have publicly released parts of Twitter's source code in violation of the U.S. copyright law. Wall Street, banks rise after SVB sale to First-Citizens The alleged infringer, known to Twitter only by the name FreeSpeechEnthusiast, is alleged to have posted the intellectual property to GitHub, a popular website where software developers share code. The subpoena would compel GitHub to produce documents that identify the alleged infringer's name, address, telephone number, email, and "social media profile data." Twitter is requesting the same information for any GitHub user who "posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified" the data posted to FreeSpeechEnthusiast's repository at GitHub. A repository is an online space where data may be posted and made accessible to other users...