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Some of California’s ‘cheapest’ cities have seen biggest rent hikes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

Inland cities including Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia and Riverside — once cheaper options than pricey places such as the Bay Area — are no longer places of refuge from California’s housing affordability crisis.Since the beginning of the pandemic, the typical asking rent in these former bastions of relative affordability have exploded by as much as 40%, according to data from the real-estate listings company Zillow.SEE MORE: California renters in ugly mood: 71% say bad times aheadCalifornia’s inland rent spike is yet another lasting effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in 2020, California’s dense metropolitan coast saw an outflux of people, as educated white-collar workers, suddenly untethered from the office, packed their bags in search of cheaper and more socially distanced modes of living.For many smaller California towns, the surge of new residents competing for housing has placed new financial pressures on lower-income residents, upended local housing markets and, in some ...

A huge 50-acre California park remains nameless amid a tense naming debate

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

A massive park with a splash pad, tennis court, hiking trails and panoramic views is coming to the San Fernando Valley.And even though the park is expected to open in coming months, its name remains unknown. The park is still under construction and its sign, which sits at the park’s southern entrance, is tightly wrapped in a long plastic sheet.“I would like to come and open the sign,” said David Balen, a board member and former president of the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council. “Have they already decided how to name it? It’s a mystery.”There is no shortage of names suggested for the 50-acre park at 11900 North Mason Ave. About half a dozen options have been reviewed by residents and the city  since the park broke ground in 2018.The reason the park remains nameless, some Porter Ranch residents say, is partly due to the complexities of Los Angeles politics.The future site of a Porter Ranch park near Mason Ave. on Monday, May 10, 2021. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/S...

Selling puppies at the border is illegal, and Tijuana officials are trying to stop it

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

TIJUANA —  Inspectors overseeing the Mexican side of the San Ysidro Port of Entry have rescued at least 150 dogs in the last two years as part of an operation against illegal pet sales.Mexican authorities claim that although this is a long-standing problem, they have recently found support from concerned citizens serving as additional eyes on what is considered to be one of the busiest borders in the world.Last week, a citizen’s report allowed authorities to rescue a puppy that was for sale in the vehicle lanes.Iván Bringas, an inspector who was just starting his shift, took care of the puppy for a few hours while Tijuana Animal Control authorities were notified. That time was enough for him to want to keep the puppy.“The puppy was a little nervous and overheated,” Bringas recalled. “It seems outrageous to me how they keep them there at the border, they have them in bags and that’s how they carry them around when they are selling them.”It isn’t the first time Bringas has rescued dog...

California Republicans want the state to end tax on health savings plans

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

California Republican members of Congress want the state to kill its tax on health savings accounts.Led by Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, six Republican members of California’s congressional delegation, including Rep. Young Kim, this week sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, urging him to end the state tax on health savings accounts.Dubbed HSAs, these accounts allow someone to set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical expenses.California and New Jersey are the only two states in the U.S. to tax these plans. When Congress established HSAs as part of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, the majority of states automatically conformed to the federal tax code, which defines HSAs as tax-exempt accounts. Over the years, most states fell in line with exempting HSAs except for California and New Jersey.“These harmful taxes impact hardworking Americans the most who want to offset the costs of health care or plan for future medical expenses,” the letter reads.The gover...

How many nuclear weapons the U.S. has might surprise you

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

The film “Oppenheimer” is in theaters. It’s the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is credited as the father of the atomic bomb. Here’s a look at the history and current U.S. nuclear arsenal.The U.S. nuclear warhead arsenalEach point represents a nuclear weapon. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the U.S. nuclear arsenal includes over 3,800 weapons. About 1,740 deployed nuclear weapons are available for use.The circles below show the blast radius of the Hiroshima atomic bomb compared with a modern hydrogen bomb.The Hiroshima bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, was air burst 1,900 feet above the city to maximize destruction; it was later estimated to yield 15 kilotons. Two-thirds of the city area was destroyed. The population present at the time was estimated at 350,000, and 140,000 died by the explosion and its radiation.In the current U.S. nuclear arsenal, the W88 warheads deployed on Trident II submarine-launched missiles have an estimated yield of 475 kil...

What are the best seeds to save to grow my own fruits and vegetables

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

Q. Has anyone ever developed a list of vegetables and fruits that can or can’t be grown from seeds from the seeds of what you buy from the stores to eat? If so, what kinds of things do you have to do to have a better chance of getting them to grow? What about seeds and pits from store-bought fruit? Many gardeners like to save seeds for several reasons. As the quality and availability of commercially available seeds continue to decline while prices steadily increase, seed saving can be a worthwhile activity.With a bit of effort and a sense of adventure (a little more about that later), one can certainly save seeds for next year’s garden. As you’ve noticed, you can harvest viable seeds from store-bought sweet peppers and get quite a lot of them from a single pepper. Tomatoes, too, can yield plenty of viable seeds. We did this with a variety pack of “heirloom” tomatoes and the resulting plants produced fruit that was similar to the source fruit.Some fruits and vegetables are usually ha...

AI can help fight climate change and injustice — if it doesn’t make them worse, first

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

There’s hope for even the most ardent of climate change observers in the notion that if human innovation and technology got us into this mess, they can get us out of it. And few potential tools on the table are triggering quite the same blend of optimism and concern, promise and confusion, as artificial intelligence.AI, which involves sophisticated computer systems that can mimic some aspects of human cognition, has vast potential to help humans combat climate change and be better prepared to deal with its effects. Experts are working on ways to use machine learning to help us use resources more efficiently, for example, and to more accurately predict increasingly common extreme weather events.But before AI can be put to use in those ways, technology companies need to put the programs through intense training sessions and build or expand warehouse-scale data centers to support these systems. It takes lots of water and energy to keep densely packed computer servers for these systems ...

Popp’s first-half double powers Germany to a 6-0 rout of Morocco at the Women’s World Cup

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

Melbourne, Australia (AP) — Alexandra Popp scored twice in the first half and Germany added four more in the second in a 6-0 rout of a Morocco team on its debut at the Women’s World Cup on Monday.The margin of victory is the largest of the tournament so far as the two-time champions dominated throughout against Morocco, the first Arab and North African country to qualify for the tournamentPopp scored her 63rd and 64th international goals, moving to third on Germany’s all-time list. The Wolfsburg forward quickly made her mark on the tournament after missing out on the final of the 2022 European Championship against England because of injury. The second half featured two Morocco own-goals sandwiched between goals from Klara Bühl and Lea Schüller. KEY MOMENTSIn the 11th minute, Popp scored with a header off a cross from Kathrin Hendrich. She doubled her tally with another header in the 39th off Klara Bühl’s corner kick.Bühl scored the third goal with a right-foot strike just 23 s...

How to avoid online scams at career and dating sites

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

Far from the (relatively) innocent times of “Nigerian Prince” emails in the 1990s, online scams have grown both in volume and in prowess with technology. Do you know what to look out for?With the rise of artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and the use of social media for virtually every part of our life, law enforcement is overwhelmed with tracking the latest scams and warning the public on what to look out for.Historically, one of the biggest scams is the old get-rich-quick scheme, which begins with a promise of making a lot of money quickly, with little or no risk. While many people have grown savvy to offers like this showing up in their email spam box, many of the new schemes have been targeting people through social media and dating sites.To steal your loveChristine Todaro, an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, said more people have been dropping their guard when encountering these threats in places like online dating sites where they may be more vulnera...

El Mando de las Naciones Unidas afirma que “se inició la conversación” con Corea del Norte sobre el soldado estadounidense

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 18:45:09 GMT

Seúl, Corea del Sur (CNN) — El subcomandante del Mando de las Naciones Unidas (UNC, por sus siglas en inglés) afirmó este lunes que se ha “iniciado una conversación” con Corea del Norte sobre el soldado del ejército estadounidense Travis King, que cruzó la frontera entre Corea del Norte y Corea del Sur la semana pasada en la zona desmilitarizada que separa ambas naciones.King, que se cree que es el primer soldado estadounidense que cruza a Corea del Norte desde 1982, tenía antecedentes por agresión, se enfrentaba a medidas disciplinarias por su conducta y tenía previsto regresar a EE.UU. el día antes del incidente.El general Andrew Harrison dijo que el caso de King sigue bajo investigación y no pudo dar más detalles sobre el soldado, que según el ejército estadounidense cruzó “voluntariamente y sin autorización” a Corea del Norte mientras realizaba una visita civil a la Zona de Seguridad Conjunta, un pequeño conjunto de edificios dentro de la zona desmi...