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Opinion: California’s salmon season shutdown was avoidable

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

Fishery managers announced last week that salmon fishing in California and most of Oregon is completely closed this year. No weekend trips on the river, no local salmon on the barbecue, no opportunity to see your kid reel in a fish.I fish salmon commercially from Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge from my boat, where Chinook have passed for millions of years on their journey from the ocean, through the bay and Delta, up the Sacramento River.There is communal anticipation before the first trip of the summer, checking anchor winches and hydraulic hoses, safety equipment, leaders, weather reports. Boats are freshly painted and deck tanks for holding fish are installed.Not this year — this year feels like a funeral.Salmon and Dungeness crab are the backbone of the San Francisco fishing fleet. Other fisheries like black cod, shrimp, halibut, rockfish, anchovies and herring contribute, but salmon and crab pay the bills and keep us working year-round.Wit...

Opinion: Ukraine has given the world a blueprint to fight hunger

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year triggered tumult across global grain markets. As the cost of corn and wheat surged, panic spread about instability in countries from Yemen to Bangladesh that depend on the warring region for low-cost grains. Would famine worsen? Would civil unrest ensue?While food-insecure countries have suffered keenly from high grain prices over the past year, some of the consequences we feared most have been avoided. Even as the conflict continues to rage, grain markets have calmed down considerably, with prices close to pre-invasion levels — a better outcome than many expected.Astute diplomacy, next-level technologies, a resilient distribution infrastructure and efficient trading strategies were key elements of coping with these disrupted markets. The world acted quickly to leverage those strengths across global networks, moving grain from regions where it’s cheap and plentiful to those where it was scarce and costly.At a time when the global food supply is...

How low are California’s property taxes?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

The “Looking Glass” ponders economic and real estate trends through two distinct lenses: the optimist’s “glass half-full” and the pessimist’s “glass half-empty.”Buzz: California property tax bills – as a slice of a home’s value – look low on a national yardstick.Source: My trusty spreadsheet reviewed 2022 property tax payments for single-family homes in 188 counties with 100,000 residences, as compiled by real estate data tracker Attom.Debate: How much can Californians complain about their property taxes when Proposition 13 limits big jumps in valuations used to calculate these government levies?Glass half-fullSix of California’s big counties were among 50 of the 188 with the lowest average “effective” property tax rates last year – that’s tax bills as a share of the property’s value. San Mateo was 32nd highest of the 188 at 0.58%, Santa Clara, No. 34 at 0.59%, Orange, No. 36 at 0.60%, San Diego, No. 40 at 0.62%, Los Angeles, No. 45 at 0.65%, and Alameda, No. 49 at 0.66%.These low r...

UC Berkeley police investigate 3 sexual assaults on campus

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

BERKELEY, Calif. (KRON) -- UC Berkeley police believe three assaults in the past week may be connected. The last assault happened just hours ago as a young woman was walking to one of the residence halls on campus, according to UC Berkeley police.UC Berkley police released photos of the man they are looking regarding an assault that happened just after mid-night Tuesday morning. Police said a woman was walking near the Foothill Complex, which is a residence hall, when she said she was grabbed from behind and knocked to the floor. Officials said she fought back by kicking and was able to get away, but that suspect is still on the loose.Police believe Tuesday morning's incident is related to the two sexual battery cases that happened last week.The first happened last Wednesday, April 5, at the Eucalyptus Grove around 1:30 p.m. The second incident happened this past Sunday, April 9, around 9:40 a.m. near Stephens Hall.In both of those cases, the suspect grabbed a female student’s priva...

South Bay Water Agency considers rescinding water shortage emergency condition

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

(BCN) -- As the record amounts of rain and snow from more than a dozen atmospheric river storms have pulled most areas of California out of the drought during the last three months -- including most regions of the San Francisco Bay Area -- water officials in the Santa Clara Valley are re-evaluating their drought emergency condition. On Tuesday, the Board of Directors of Valley Water -- which manages water for Santa Clara County's nearly two million residents -- will consider at its afternoon board meeting recommendations to be discussed, one of which is to rescind the agency's water shortage emergency condition. Another recommendation is to ease associated mandatory water use restrictions. Agency officials said Monday that the National Drought Monitor shows Santa Clara County is now designated "free of drought" for the first time in three years. The heavy storms of the last three months have also improved Valley Water's imported water allocations from the State Water Proje...

Moderna says potential flu vaccine needs more study

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

Moderna shares slipped Tuesday morning after the COVID-19 vaccine developer said its potential flu vaccine needs more study in a late-stage clinical trial.The company said an independent data and safety monitory board found that the potential vaccine “did not meet the statistical threshold necessary to declare early success” in the study.The board recommended that the trial should continue.Moderna is developing the vaccine, labeled mRNA-1010, to guard against seasonal flu. It is testing the vaccine in two, late-stage studies in the Southern and Northern hemispheres.The vaccine developer said Tuesday it expects to launch six vaccines in the next few years.The company’s COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax, has been its main revenue generator so far. It brought in more than $18 billion in sales last year.Moderna also is developing potential vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.Shares of Moderna Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachu...

A 100 días de la Copa Mundial Femenina: así prepara Telemundo toda su cobertura

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

Sólo 100 días es la distancia que separa a millones de aficionados de la patada inicial de la Copa Mundial de Fútbol Femenino que se disputarán 32 selecciones, seis de ellas latinoamericanas. El balón empezará a correr de forma simultánea el 20 de julio en las canchas de Eden Park, en Auckland, y en el estadio Australia, en Sídney, en juegos que serán transmitidos en vivo por Telemundo y Peacock.La Copa sigue estando en la cancha de Telemundo, que verá a las mujeres buscar la gloria y alzar el codiciado trofeo un mes después, el 20 de agosto.El espectáculo está a la vuelta de la esquina, cuando las mejores jugadoras del mundo, como Linda Caicedo, de Colombia; Jennifer Hermoso, de España, y todas las estrellas del Team USA lideradas por Megan Rapinoe y Alex Morgan, salten a la cancha. Todo lo que debes saber sobre la Copa Mundial FIFA 2023 de Fútbol Femenino Una por una: las nuevas camisetas de Nike para 13 selecciones de la Copa Mundial femen...

Crisis de opioides en EEUU: el gobierno sancionará a los traficantes de fentanilo

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

Estados Unidos centrará sus esfuerzos y fortalecerá la lucha contra el fentanilo, un potente opioide sintético que es hasta 50 veces más fuerte que la heroína y 100 veces más fuerte que la morfina, como parte de su estrategia para combatir contra la preocupante crisis de los opioides en el país.Entre algunas de las medidas, el gobierno bloqueará las actividades financieras ilícitas de los narcotraficantes involucrados en el tráfico de fentanilo aumentando las sanciones en su contra, según un comunicado de la Casa Blanca difundido este martes.EEUU decomisó en 2022 más fentanilo del que se necesitaría para matar a todos los estadounidenses. “El fentanillo es ahora la amenaza más mortal de drogas que enfrenta este país”, advirtió la DEA a finales del año pasado. Más letal que la heroína: decomisan cargamento de droga “zombie” Narcan: cómo usarlo al momento de una sobredosis de drogas “Se ampliarán los esfuerzos para...

Disciplinary incidents in Fairfax Co. schools have more than doubled, new report finds

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

The number of disciplinary incidents reported in Fairfax County, Virginia, public schools more than doubled in the first semester of the current school year, compared to the first semester of the 2021-22 academic year, according to preliminary county data.In a report by the Office of Intervention and Prevention Services, the county said the total number of discipline incidents in the first semester of the 2022-23 school year increased by 12,609. The exact number of cases was not part of the report.The report was compiled as part of a new school board directive that called for a detailed discipline report, disaggregated by school and subgroup, to be completed for infractions of the county’s Student Rights and Responsibilities Regulation, such as violations of dress code and rules for cellphones and other technology.More Education NewsMore Fairfax County NewsMore Local NewsVirginia’s largest school system reviews the regulation, which it calls SR&R, annually. It’...

Derailment near Potomac Yard Metro station causes minor delays on Blue, Blue Plus trains

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:03:08 GMT

A derailment on Metro tracks outside the Potomac Yard station in Alexandria, Virginia, caused delays Tuesday morning for riders on the Blue and Blue Plus line trains.In a statement, Metro said overnight crews were completing work near the Yellow Line bridge when flat bed equipment slipped off the track just before 5 a.m.The vehicle can drive on the highway and our railroad tracks. It’s used to move equipment to the Yellow Line bridge work site. Crews are working to get it back on the tracks now.We apologize for the inconvenience. #wmata pic.twitter.com/Qzhg5ah7v1— Metro Forward (@wmata) April 11, 2023The derailment did not involve a train but caused delays because of speed restrictions in the area, the transit agency said.Blue and Blue Plus line trains were single tracking in both directions between Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport for over three hours until around 8:20 a.m.The Potomac Yard Metro station, near the Amazon headquarters development, is currently under construc...