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Editorial: Give veterans an escape hatch to flee Colorado’s VA scandal

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

America’s veterans deserve the best medical care money can buy.But despite a $2 billion new facility, increased funding, and years of promises, the Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t even offering competent and consistent care in the Eastern Colorado Health Care System at this point.The Denver Post’s Sam Tabachnik reported Sunday on a vast scandal of incompetence, cover-ups and misconduct at the VA system headquartered out of Aurora’s new hospital.The allegations lodged by a dozen current and former employees are alarming and depressing.And the real victims in this story are the estimated hundred thousand veterans relying on this system for their health care – veterans who were put on waiting lists by doctors for necessary medical equipment only to have the head of the department order employees to erase the orders to lessen the backlog.The problems in the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service could be just the tip of the iceberg of dysfunction, given the level of complaints Tabachn...

Holes-in-one: Aces carded from around Bay Area golf courses in November

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

Congratulations to the following golfers who made the most perfect shot in the game recently:Chris Allen: San Jose CC, No. 14, 170 yards, 6-hybridMatt Arba: Deep Cliff GC, No. 3, 114 yards, 8-ironBill Ayres: San Jose CC, No. 7, 116 yards, sand wedgeTami DeFiore: Deep Cliff GC, No. 8, 79 yards, 9-ironPeggy Heath: Deep Cliff GC, No. 8, 79 yards, pitching wedgeGary Hubbard: Spring Valley GC, No. 7, 160 yards, (club not reported)Donna Lee: Deep Cliff GC, No. 8, 79 yards, 9-ironKohl G. Phillip: Deep Cliff GC, No. 10, 131 yards, 8-ironJustin Polk: San Jose CC, No. 7, 156 yards, 9-ironErnesto Vallin: Deep Cliff GC, No. 10, 140 yards, 8-ironRelated ArticlesGolf | Huge housing project may sprout in San Jose near Google site Golf | From the Bay Area to Australia, abandoned golf courses are being reclaimed by nature Golf | Steph Curry to receive Charlie Sifford Award for advancing diversity in golf

Look inside Frozen land pitched for Disneyland expansion

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

The world’s first Frozen-themed land set to debut at Hong Kong Disneyland offers a glimpse of what the future could hold for the Disneyland resort over the next couple decades under a reimagined long-term vision for the Anaheim theme park resort district.A Frozen land was pitched in 2021 as a possible project for a proposed theme park expansion in the DisneylandForward plan presented to the city of Anaheim.Arendelle village will serve as the centerpiece of the World of Frozen themed land opening Monday, Nov. 20 at Hong Kong Disneyland.Sign up for our Park Life newsletter and find out what’s new and interesting every week at Southern California’s theme parks. Subscribe here.The backstory for the new World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland brings to life the Kingdom of Arendelle for a “summer snow day” celebration in a themed land featuring two rides, a show, a restaurant and two shops amid Nordic-inspired architecture.The Frozen Ever After water ride at Hong Kong Disneyland updates a...

5 convicted of murder, attempted murder in California Halloween party shooting

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

Five gang members were convicted by a jury Wednesday, Nov. 15, of killing three men and injuring nine other people in a shooting at a Halloween-themed house party in Long Beach four years ago where they mistakenly believed rival gang members would be in attendance.Jeremy Penh, 29, David Long, 23, Kaylin Thik, 24, Ryan Sim, 22 and Grant Johnson, 39 kept their heads straight ahead as guilty verdicts were read for three counts of first-degree murder and nine counts of attempted murder in Long Beach Superior Court.The jury needed about five hours to reach a verdict after a trial that lasted over a month. The panel also found true special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and that the defendants were active participants in a criminal street gang and gun allegations against Long, Thik and Sim, who were identified by prosecutors as the shooters in the shooting on Oct. 29, 2019.The next court date for the five men is Jan. 29, when they may be sentenced.The verdicts were read in f...

Legoland California adding Dino Valley land and first parade in 2024

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

Legoland California plans to add a new dinosaur themed land and the first parade in park history as the Carlsbad theme park prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024.Legoland California will open the new Dino Valley themed land in the spring and the Lego World parade in the summer, according to Legoland officials.Concept art of the Lego World parade coming to Legoland California in 2024. (Legoland) The new Dino Valley themed land where the past roars to life in Lego form will feature two new rides alongside the park’s 2004 Coastersauraus roller coaster that zips around Lego versions of a Brachiosaurus and Parasaurolophus.Located near the park entrance, Dino Valley will include the Explorer River Quest and the Duplo Little Dino Trail rides, a dino-themed Lego brick build-and-play area, a reimagined Dino Dig fossil-finding sandbox and meet-and-greet opportunities with new prehistoric characters.Related ArticlesEntertainment | Disneyland tightens pin trading ru...

Los Angeles PD investigating why day laborers’ report of bags full of body parts ignored

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

The chief of the Los Angeles Police Department said he has ordered an internal review into reports that a desk officer at the Topanga Division station in Canoga Park turned away day laborers who were attempting to tell police about being handed trash bags filled with body parts outside a Tarzana home where police believe a woman and her parents were murdered by her husband.In an interview with NBC4, the laborers said the husband, Samuel Bond Haskell, 35, hired them on Tuesday, Nov. 7 to carry away garbage bags from his home that he told them were filled with rocks. But when the workers took the bags, they said they felt that there were body parts in them. When they looked inside, they saw a torso.In a Police Commission meeting this week, LAPD Chief Michel Moore told commissioners the laborers took the garbage bags back to Haskell’s home and left them in the driveway. They went to two police stations to report what they saw: First, they went to the California Highway Patrol station i...

Company leasing site of 10 Freeway fire hadn’t paid rent in more than a year, illegally subleased spaces

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

The company leasing the site where the fire started beneath the 10 Freeway hadn’t paid rent for a year, was illegally subletting the property to a dozen businesses and appears to have been in violation of safety standards designed to prevent such calamities.Apex Development of Calabasas last paid rent in September 2022 and owed more than $600,000 to Caltrans, according to court records.Apex and owner Ahmad Anthony Nowaid rented the property — and three others along the 10 — through California’s “airspace” leasing program, which rents out state land under and alongside freeways to fund mass transportation projects.The 10 Freeway fire and the long-standing conditions that fueled the inferno have now raised concerns about the Department of Transportation’s ability to oversee such leases statewide.“There needs to be an investigation,” Assemblymember Miguel Santiago said. “Caltrans should move at lightning speed to inspect all of these facilities and all our airspaces to ensure that they...

Lozada: A Trump-Biden rematch is the election we need

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

Joe Biden versus Donald Trump is not the choice America wants. But it is the choice we need to face.Yes, both men are unpopular, remarkably so. Only one-third of Americans view President Joe Biden favorably, and two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters want to nominate someone else for the presidency (no one in particular, just someone else, please). Trump is the overwhelming favorite to become the Republican nominee for the third consecutive time, but his overall approval rating is lower than Biden’s. And while 60% of voters don’t want to put Trump back in the White House, 65% don’t want to hand Biden a second term, either. The one thing on which Americans seem to agree is that we find a Biden-Trump 2024 rematch entirely disagreeable.This disdain may reflect the standard gripes about the candidates. (One is too old, the other too Trump.) But it also may signal an underlying reluctance to acknowledge the meaning of their standoff and the inescapability of our decision. ...

Alibaba: Fiscal Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — HONG KONG (AP) — Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $3.8 billion, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.On a per-share basis, the Hong Kong-based company said it had profit of $1.48. Earnings, adjusted for stock option expense and non-recurring costs, were $2.14 per share.The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.11 per share.The online retailer posted revenue of $30.81 billion in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $31.01 billion.Alibaba shares have dropped 1% since the beginning of the year. The stock has increased almost 10% in the last 12 months._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BABA at https://www.zacks.com...

Hearing will take place in religious leaders’ lawsuit challenging Missouri abortion ban

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:38:44 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge on Thursday will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s abortion ban on the grounds that lawmakers who passed the measure imposed their own religious beliefs on others who don’t share them.The lawsuit was filed in January on behalf of 13 Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights. It seeks a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing its abortion law, and a declaration that provisions of the law violate the Missouri Constitution.It is among 38 lawsuits filed in 23 states challenging restrictive abortion laws enacted by conservative states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The landmark ruling left abortion rights up to each state to decide.The lawsuit states the Missouri Constitution “does not tolerate this establishment into law of one particular religious view at the expense of others’ religious freedom a...