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Long Beach launches text alert system to help connect unhoused residents to resources

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

The City of Long Beach on Monday announced the launch of a new text message system aimed at helping people who are experiencing homelessness. The program, simply called the Long Beach Homelessness Text Alert program, will send messages to inform unhoused residents of resources including the location of shelters, mobile centers, "Safe Parking" locations, and inclement weather alerts.“People experiencing homelessness are often on the move and rely on their cell phones for information,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. “This text alert program will lower barriers to providing people with real-time information and access to resources.” Those interested in signing up for the text notifications can text “HOME” to 99411. Standard messaging rates may apply, the city said.People can opt in and opt out of the updates at any time.

Wisc. school bans Dolly, Miley duet from class concert

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

By Harm Venhuizen | Associated Press/Report for AmericaMADISON, Wis. — Administrators at a Wisconsin elementary school stopped a first-grade class from performing a Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton duet promoting LGBTQ acceptance because the song “could be perceived as controversial.”Students at Heyer Elementary School in Waukesha had prepared a rendition of “Rainbowland” for their spring concert, but school officials struck the song from the lineup last week. Parents in the district say the decision was made because the song encourages LGBTQ acceptance and references rainbows.Superintendent James Sebert, who did not immediately return a call on Monday, confirmed to Fox6 that administrators had removed “Rainbowland” from the first-grade concert because it might not be “appropriate for the age and maturity level of the students.” He also cited a school board policy against raising controversial issues in classrooms.Sebert has previously pro...

New Mexico approves school meals for all students

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

By Susan Montoya Bryan | Associated PressALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday signed legislation to provide free school meals to all students regardless of family income, as New Mexico and several other states look to fill the gap left by lapsed federal pandemic-era benefit programs and address the strain to family budgets caused by food prices.The bill cleared the Legislature during the recent 60-day session, with lawmakers setting aside more than $22 million in the state budget to help pay for the program. Additional money will be used to improve school kitchens so healthier meals can be prepared.“When we feed our children, we’re feeding our future – these investments today will yield benefits tomorrow through generations of healthier New Mexicans,” the Democratic governor said in a statement issued after she celebrated with dozens of elementary school students.She included the proposal in her State of the State address, saying that wherever ...

Valle replacement search sparks another controversy over residence for Alameda County supervisors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

For the second time in two years, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is considering appointing someone to lead a district that they have lived in for less than a month.On Tuesday, the board will interview candidates to serve as District 2’s newest supervisor, a position that has been vacant since Supervisor Richard Valle passed away in February. One of the leading contenders is Ariana Casanova, a political coordinator and field representative for the Service Employees International Union.Since Casanova threw her hat in the ring in March, questions have been raised about her eligibility for the position. On her application, she stated that she has only lived in District 2 for a month. Casanova moved to the district, which covers Fremont, Hayward and Union City, on February 19.Jason Bezis, an attorney for the Alameda County Taxpayers Association, filed a public comment on March 26 arguing that the board was violating its own rules, and that Casanova should not be considered. Alam...

From Columbine to Nashville: 175 shot dead in schools

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

Associated PressMass shooters have killed hundreds of people throughout U.S. history in realms like stores, theaters and workplaces, but it is in schools and colleges where the carnage reverberates perhaps most keenly — places filled with children of tender ages, older students aspiring to new heights and the teachers planting the seeds of knowledge, their journeys all cut short.If a mass shooting is defined as resulting in the death of four or more people, not including the perpetrator, 175 people have died in 15 such events connected to U.S. schools and colleges — from 1999’s Columbine High School massacre to Monday’s shooting in Nashville, Tennessee. That’s according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, in addition to other AP reporting:THE COVENANT SCHOOL, March 2023, 6 deadA 28-year-old female shooter wielding two “assault-style” rifles and a pistol killed three students and three adults at a privat...

Crews demolish historic Monterey Bay pier, in danger of collapse after January storm damage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

In the final chapter for one of the most venerable landmarks along Monterey Bay, crews with excavators and other heavy equipment on Monday tore apart the 500-foot-long wooden pier at Seacliff State Beach in Aptos.Popular with generations of beachgoers and anglers, the pier, built in 1930, was best known as the connection between sweeping sandy beaches of Santa Cruz County and the SS Palo Alto, a Word War I-era steamship widely called the “cement ship.”The wooden pier was severely damaged by huge waves during storms on Jan. 5, and was in imminent danger of collapse, state parks officials said. President Biden visited it as part of his trip to California on Jan. 19 to survey the damage and issue disaster declarations.As excavators ripped apart the wooden decking Monday, crowds of tourists and locals gathered to take photographs and talk about the demolition.“This is a symbol of our community,” said Mando Morlos, a Corralitos wedding photographer who fished for ...

California flood victims, local officials plead with Gov. Newsom for help with FEMA aid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

PAJARO — Two weeks after a devastating flood ravaged this small Monterey County town, local elected officials and small business owners are banding together to put pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom to call on President Joe Biden to open up FEMA aid for families and businesses impacted by the disaster.After coming back to their mud-covered homes on Friday, Pajaro residents are coming face to face with the sometimes total loss they’d suffered from the flood and how to rebuild and move on.Nearly 3,000 people were forced to leave their homes in the middle of the night after a levee failed north of the small, Monterey County farmworker town March 10, sending families — many of them immigrants — into shelters, hotels and spare rooms in the area without knowing when they’d return.Finding their places of work flooded out on Friday, a coalition of 14 local businesses are imploring FEMA and Gov. Newsom “to provide direct financial assistance to our businesses b...

Paltrow accuser calls Utah ski crash ‘serious smack’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

By Sam Metz | Associated PressPARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The man suing Gwyneth Paltrow over a 2016 skiing collision told a jury on Monday he was rammed from behind by the actor and sent “absolutely flying” at a upscale Utah resort.“All I saw was a whole lot of snow. And I didn’t see the sky, but I was flying,” said Terry Sanderson, a 76-year-old retired optometrist, calling it “a serious smack.”That’s the opposite of what Paltrow testified last week, when she said Sanderson was uphill from her and hit her from behind. Sanderson is suing Paltrow for more than $300,000, claiming she skied recklessly and that he has permanent brain damage from the crash that altered his personality.On the stand, Paltrow had said Sanderson knocked into her gently from behind but the collision escalated as the two skidded down the beginner slope. She said his skis veered between her legs, causing her to briefly panic as she heard a man groaning behind her. Palt...

Suspects sought in Santa Rosa party homicide

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

(KRON) -- A homicide unfolded at a raucous party in Santa Rosa and sheriff's investigators are asking for help from the public to identify the shooters.Shortly after midnight on March 25, dispatch received multiple 911 calls that a shooting had just happened at a party on Hall Road. There were an estimated 100 people at the party. "Deputies arrived and found a large, chaotic party with a crowd of partygoers," Sonoma County Sheriff's Office community engagement liaison Misti Wood wrote. San Jose family held hostage during deadly standoff "One person died at the scene from gunshot wounds. Deputies performed life-saving measures on a second victim with gunshot wounds. CHP’s helicopter H-32 helped search for more party guests," Wood wrote. Detectives determined there was a fight before two people were shot. Suspects and numerous party guests left before deputies arrived, according to the Sheriff's Office.Detectives later identified one suspect as David Morales, 20, of Novato. Morales ...

University of Maryland police looking for suspect in exposure incidents

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:17:56 GMT

University police are looking for a man they said exposed himself to two women at the University of Maryland.The first incident happened Sunday around 7:30 p.m. A woman who was a student told police that she was walking in the area of the 3400 block of Tulane Drive when a man approached her and “touched her inappropriately.” As the woman continued to walk, she said the man grabbed her, and when she turned around, she saw that the man had exposed himself.On Monday, university police got a report of another exposure. This time, a woman said that she witnessed a man who exposed himself inside of a hallway. When the man was seen, he fled the area.The suspect is a man who appears to be in his 30s. He is between 5 feet, 8 inches to 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a skinny build. He was last seen wearing a dark grey or black jacket, black pants with a white stripe down the leg, and white shoes.Below is a photo of the man police are looking for.(Courtesy University of Maryland police...