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Walters: How California social media regulation compares to red states

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

The dichotomy between blue and red states — in essence California vs. Florida and Texas — has played out in many arenas on many specific issues, including immigration and abortion.The whole nation will get a full dose of the running conflict next month when California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who’s obsessed with building a national image, debates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a declared 2024 Republican candidate for president, on national television.Meanwhile, an ironic twist to the rivalry has developed over how the competing states seek to force social media companies, such as X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, to toe the official line on content that runs afoul of their very different ideological outlooks.When it reconvened this month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to examine laws in Florida and Texas that would prohibit social media outlets from barring controversial political speech. The laws were enacted after both Facebook and Twitter suspended former President ...

Huge housing project near San Jose BART site awaits crucial approval

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

SAN JOSE — A huge housing development with more than 900 residences now being eyed on a site near a San Jose BART station is nearing a crucial approval that’s needed before the project can begin construction.The proposed project is slated to be built near the corner of East Julian Street and North 28th Street, a few blocks from the site of the future 28th Street/Little Portugal BART station in San Jose, city documents show.Casa Inclusiva, a 45-unit housing development at 1347 East Julian Street in San Jose, concept. (Anderson Architects)The housing development is expected to add 913 residences if it is built and completed, according to environmental impact materials that are being circulated for public review. The site is east of the downtown and is near the U.S. Highway 101 and McKee Road interchange.An affiliate headed up by Loida Kirkley, a developer who focuses primarily on South Bay real estate projects, has proposed the housing development.The proposed residen...

East Bay man killed in single-vehicle collision in Fairfield

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

Fairfield police continue to investigate a fatal single-vehicle collision that occurred Friday morrning in the eastern sector of the city.According to information from a department social media page, officers discovered a pickup truck off the road near Cement Hill Road and west of Peabody Road.The truck’s driver, a 44-year-old man from Oakland, appeared to have been ejected from the vehicle and was killed.A Reporter request on Saturday for the identity of the victim, if next of kin had been notified, went unanswered by the Fairfield Police Department’s public information officer.No other vehicle or driver was involved in the collision, and initial evidence suggested the collision occurred a night. The truck, however, wasn’t discovered until daylight “due to its hidden location off the road,” according to the post’s wording.

100th Anniversary: The founding of Disney Brothers Studio

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

We look at the first few years of the Disney Brothers Studio, which later became the Walt Disney Co., plus a few things you may not know about some of the greatest filmmakers in history.The company that now owns Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel and massive theme parks almost failed from the start.On Oct. 16, 1923, Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood when Walt Disney was 21. The Disney brothers were born in Chicago and then moved to Kansas City at a young age. Walt Disney drew cartoons for various publications and became interested in cel animation while working for the Kansas City Film Ad Company.Starting with bankruptcyWalt Disney’s first business venture with animation was called Laugh-O-Gram Studio, where some of the greats in the field worked. After a series of shaky deals with distributors, the business went bankrupt in 1923. Walt Disney sued and won, but the compensation was too little to save the company.Moving westWalt Disne...

California mother sentenced to 8 years after baby found slain in trash bin

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

The 33-year-old woman accused of killing her baby and dumping the infant in a trash container in Perris in 2021 has been sentenced to eight years in state prison after a murder charge was dropped and she pleaded guilty to willful child cruelty, Superior Court records show.Brittany Suzanna Peevyhouse was given six years for the felony count, and six years for a sentencing enhancement of the victim being vulnerable, on Oct. 6 at the Hall of Justice in Riverside. She was then credited with about four years for time served — a total of 708 days that was automatically doubled under state law.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Daycare owners arrested in San Jose child drownings Crime and Public Safety | California youth gymnastics coach under investigation for 2nd time in 5 years Crime and Public Safety | Jury awards $135 million to 2 men molested by California teacher 27 years ago Crime and Public Safety | California woman...

Scholastic Makes It Easy to Ban Black and LGBTQ+ Books

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

People rally to protest state education policies outside City Hall on April 21, 2023 in Orlando, Fla. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Photo: Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThe sweeping Republican effort to ban books from schools could not succeed solely on the backs of fervid state lawmakers and extremist school board members. Reactionary demands to censor books on topics ranging from Black history to LGBTQ+ existence have been abetted by the timid acquiescence of school districts, superintendents, and others in educational leadership. Now, Scholastic, the world’s largest children’s book publisher, has joined the constellation of parties tacitly aiding the GOP’s suppressive agenda.For its thousands of book fairs in elementary schools this year, the company has segregated books focusing on a huge array of topics and stories — fiction and nonfiction — that share little in common aside from not centering white, heterosexual experience. Books ...

Fijian leader hopes Australian submarines powered by US nuclear technology will enhance peace

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Fiji’s prime minister said Tuesday he hopes Australia’s acquisition of a fleet of submarines powered by U.S. nuclear technology will enhance peace in the Pacific region but stopped short of endorsing the increased military cooperation with the United States.Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said he will discuss with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday how a “zone of peace” could be established in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, including the two countries plus 16 other island nations that make up the Pacific Islands Forum bloc.Increased Chinese and U.S. military engagement is adding to tensions in the region.Questioned during an address to the Lowy Institute foreign policy think tank in Canberra, Rabuka said his government had not backed the signing of a three-way agreement involving the United States and Britain to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.Rabuka said Albanese gave him one day’s notice that the so-calle...

El Palacio de Versalles evacua a los visitantes por motivos de seguridad

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

(CNN) — Los visitantes están siendo evacuados del Palacio de Versalles, cerca de París, por motivos de seguridad, según informó este martes la Policía local a CNN.La Policía dijo en X, antes conocido como Twitter, que la evacuación se debía a un objeto sospechoso, sin dar más detalles.La cadena BFMTV, afiliada a CNN, informó este martes de que un escuadrón antibombas se dirigía al lugar.Las autoridades italianas detienen a dos hombres acusados de terrorismo y vinculados al ISISEl propio recinto dijo en X que cerrará sus puertas durante el resto del día.El sábado, los visitantes del Palacio de Versalles fueron evacuados de nuevo por una amenaza de bomba.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.Source

Upcoming ‘Sesame Street’ season stars Ariana DeBose, Brandi Carlile, ASL and an octopus chef

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The upcoming season of “Sesame Street” features an octopus as a chef, an exploration of American Sign Language and Quinta Brunson giving Cookie Monster a little bit of attitude.The 54th season of the iconic children’s show debuts Nov. 9 on MAX with a gentle satire of Brunson’s hit mockumentary “Abbott Elementary,” mimicking that show’s single-camera style and confessional cut-aways. “It was really fun to kind of zoom in on Cookie Monster making a joke about eating a cookie and Quinta Brunson giving him a little bit of side-eye,” says Executive Producer Sal Perez in an exclusive interview previewing the season.Brunson came in with an advantage most celebrity guests don’t have: In her early days in Los Angeles, she attended a puppet workshop created by Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. “When a celebrity or a guest comes on set with that sort of knowledge and understanding, it just takes the content that we’re doing that much further,” says Per...

Swedish security police arrests two suspected of unauthorized possession of secret information

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:05:13 GMT

HELSINKI (AP) — The Swedish security police arrested Tuesday two people suspected of gross unauthorized possession of secret information following an early morning police raid where several houses were searched in the greater Stockholm area.Sweden’s SAPO domestic security agency said in a statement the suspects are now being questioned. It declined to give details on the case or say whether they were Swedish citizens or foreign nationals. “It was an operation that was carried out calmly and in connection with these arrests. House searches were also carried out in a number of places where seizures have been made,” SAPO spokesman Fredrik Hultgren-Friberg told Swedish public broadcaster SVT.According to the security agency, Tuesday’s raid is not connected to previous cases but is tied to a separate preliminary investigation.The Swedish Prosecution Authority, in a separate statement, said the case is being handled by SAPO “under the direction of prosecutors from the National Secur...