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Renovated San Jose park honors California’s ‘Prune King’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

It’s a real shame that Leonard McKay didn’t live to see Pellier Park finally reopen Wednesday. The longtime San Jose historian and member of the historical society E Clampus Vitus — along with Jim Arbuckle — was the driving force behind building a city park to honor Louis Pellier, who was the renowned “Prune King” of California back in the late 1800s.McKay and Arbuckle raised money for the park on a half-acre of land at Terraine and St. James streets downtown — once the site of the Pellier house and the City Gardens, a nursery managed by Pellier and his brothers, Pierre and Jean. The red-shirted members of E Clampus Vitus’ Mountain Charlie Chapter 1850 volunteered $70,000 in labor — that’s 1970s dollars — to build the park, which originally was dedicated for San Jose’s 200th birthday in 1977.A single French prune tree is one of the features of the rnovated Pellier Park, now open after a public ceremony, Wednesda...

Antioch police ID four cops who shot and wounded homicide suspect; one had spent just 4 days on the job

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

ANTIOCH — The four police officers who shot and wounded a homicide suspect earlier this month included a new officer who had been sworn in just four days earlier.Police said the Antioch police officers who shot guns in the Oct. 1 incident were Thomas Borg, Dustin Dibble, Shawn Marques, and Kyle Armstrong. In a statement, Antioch police also identified the suspect as 30-year-old Daniel Mackin, of Antioch.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | California DOJ claims Vallejo police violated U.S. Constitution Crime and Public Safety | California bans controversial ‘excited delirium’ diagnosis; is first state to do so Crime and Public Safety | Editorial: San Jose cops’ troubling use of force with mentally ill Crime and Public Safety | Body camera video shows East Bay cops shot, killed man with rifles from a long distance Crime and Public Safety | White House condemns crash into Chinese Consulate in S...

Home decor: Storage solutions for all those toys and baby equipment

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

If necessity is the mother of invention, motherhood is the inventor of organization. Anyone who’s become a parent knows that if you thought keeping your house and life pulled together before kids was tough, lookout Baby! Here comes chaos.Although nothing can prepare you for the upheaval, Ría Safford’s new book, “The Organized Home for New Parents: Create Routine-Ready Spaces for Your Baby’s First Years,” out this month from Blue Star Press, gives new parents a running start.The Dallas mother of three left a corporate job when her first child was born and started her organizing company that year. “This did not come easy,” she said. “I’m a naturally messy person, but I couldn’t keep flying by the seat of my pants.”Her experiences inspired this new, richly photographed book for parents with kids between newborn and two.“Everything else about babies is really out of our control, but this book is about what you can control,” she said. “It’s (a) girlfriend guide. I took my mis...

From Oval Office, Biden will seek money for Israel, Ukraine

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

By Chris Megerian and Seung Min Kim | Associated PressWASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will deliver a rare Oval Office address Thursday night as he prepares to ask for additional billions of dollars in military assistance for Israel and Ukraine, deepening American involvement in two very different, unpredictable and bloody foreign conflicts.The speech will be an opportunity for Biden to argue that the United States has an obligation — and a national security interest — in both places. And it’s a chance for him to publicly lobby lawmakers for the money.The funding request, expected to be formally unveiled on Friday, is likely to be around $100 billion over the next year, according to people directly familiar with the proposal who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The total figure includes some money for Taiwan’s defense and for managing the flow of migrants at the southern border with Mexico.Biden hopes that combining all of these issues into one pi...

Fairfield's Jelly Belly to be purchased by international candy conglomerate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

(FOX40.COM) — Fairfield candy maker the Jelly Belly Candy Company will be acquired by Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Company.The company says once the sale is finalized, Jelly Belly's 800 employees across facilities in California, Illinois, and Thailand will be a part of the Ferrara organization. Over $130K of property stolen from rental car parked in San Mateo “We are excited to bring Jelly Belly’s imaginative products and talented team into the Ferrara community,” said Marco Capurso, Chief Executive Officer of Ferrara. The Jelly Belly Factory and Visitor Center has been a popular attraction in Northern California for years. Ferrara is the distributor for a number of popular U.S. candies including SweeTARTS and Butterfinger.Jelly Belly said it expects the sale to close by the end of 2023.The company that would go on to become Jelly Belly was founded and headquartered in Illinois starting in 1869 before moving to California in the 20th century.Ferrara Candy Company is a subsidiary of...

Going All-In for Israel May Make Biden Complicit in Genocide

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

The U.S. government may be complicit under international law in Israel’s unfolding genocide of the Palestinian people, a group of legal scholars warned the Biden administration and the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.Lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the dire warning to President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a 44-page emergency brief on Wednesday, on the heels of Biden’s trip to the Middle East. There, Biden reiterated his administration’s unwavering support for Israel — even as the Israeli government wages an unprecedented bombing campaign on the occupied Gaza Strip in retaliation for a horrific attack by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israeli citizens.“Israel’s mass bombings and denial of food, water, and electricity are calculated to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza,” Katherine Gallagher, senior attorney with CCR and a legal representative for victims in the pending IC...

Both Broncos and Packers are well rested as they search for an early season reset after recent flops

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

GREEN BAY (2-3) at DENVER (1-5)Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EDT, CBSOPENING LINE: Packers by 1½, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.AGAINST THE SPREAD: Packers 3-2; Broncos 0-5-1.SERIES RECORD: Tied 7-7-1.LAST MEETING: Packers beat Broncos 27-16 at Green Bay on Sept. 22, 2019.LAST WEEK: Packers were off after losing 17-13 at Las Vegas on Oct. 9; Broncos lost to Chiefs 19-8 on Oct. 12.PACKERS OFFENSE: OVERALL (28), RUSH (27), PASS (21), SCORING (13)PACKERS DEFENSE: OVERALL (17), RUSH (28), PASS (9), SCORING (22)BRONCOS OFFENSE: OVERALL (21), RUSH (19), PASS (20), SCORING (T17)BRONCOS DEFENSE: OVERALL (32), RUSH (32), PASS (30), SCORING (32)TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Packers minus-1; Broncos minus-5.PACKERS PLAYER TO WATCH: S Rudy Ford has intercepted a pass in each of his past two games. After winning an open preseason competition for the starting safety spot alongside Darnell Savage, Ford is producing a breakthrough season as he approaches his 29th birthday.BRONCOS PLAYER TO WATCH: S Justin Simmons&#...

Open up: Rangers’ retractable roof will be open for Game 4 of ALCS against Astros

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The roof will be open for Game 4 of the AL Championship Series on Thursday night, which will be the first home game for the Texas Rangers in nearly five months without it closed. That retractable roof at Globe Life Field was last opened for a game May 21. The Rangers started 11 games with the roof open during the regular season and were 7-4. That included opening day against the Philadelphia Phillies on March 30, the only time in the stadium’s four seasons that the roof was open before being closed during the middle of a game because of a threat of rain.Temperatures for Game 4 were forecast to be in the upper 70s with clear skies expected at first pitch. Games 1 and 2 of the ALCS were played with the roof closed at Minute Maid Park, the Houston Astros’ retractable-roof stadium. When neutral-site postseason games were played at Globe Life Field during the 2020 season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the roof was open for 13 of 16 of those games. ...

Gaza awaits aid from Egypt as Israel readies troops for ground assault

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel pounded the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Thursday, including in the south where Palestinians were told to take refuge, and the country’s defense minister told ground troops to “be ready” to invade, though he didn’t say when.Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals tried to stretch out ebbing medical supplies and fuel for generators, as authorities worked out logistics for a delivery of aid from Egypt. Doctors in darkened wards across Gaza stitched wounds by the light of mobile phones, and others used vinegar to treat infected wounds.Meanwhile an unclassified U.S. intelligence assessment delivered to Congress estimated casualties in an explosion at a Gaza City hospital on the “low end” of 100 to 300 deaths.The death toll “still reflects a staggering loss of life,” U.S. intelligence officials said in the findings, which were seen by The Associated Press.Officials in Hamas-ruled Gaza quickly said an Israeli airstrike had hit al-Ahli hospital hospital...

Gardner Minshew takes over as Colts QB while Browns face more uncertainty with Deshaun Watson

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 00:20:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns used the same strategy this week.Both continued collecting information about throwing shoulder injuries to their starting quarterbacks. Both went to backups in practice. And both debated the long-term health consequences of bringing back the respective faces of their franchises.Then they went different directions.While Indy opted to let rookie Anthony Richardson undergo season-ending surgery and handed the reins to Gardner Minshew, the Browns are still contemplating whether to start Deshaun Watson or PJ Walker on Sunday after Watson’s return to practice this week.“We’ll continue to be careful and safe and make sure that when he (Watson) is ready to do his job and he has all of his ability in terms of being able to throw the football when he’s ready for that, we’ll have him back out there at practice,” Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday.Watson returned Thursday, his first workout since Sept. 28. But jus...