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Bay Area study helps confirm age of ghostly human footprints

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 GMT

Tree pollen trapped in ancient sand and analyzed by Bay Area scientists reaffirms that humans thrived in North America as long as 23,000 years ago, much earlier than once thought.The pollen, found alongside ghostly human footprints in White Sands National Park in New Mexico, adds to evidence that people arrived long before the Ice Age’s glaciers melted. And they behaved a lot like us — carrying children, slipping in mud and hunting wild animals for food.The proposed age of these remarkable footprints was announced in 2021 by U.S. Geological Survey research geologists, but the finding was so extraordinary that it demanded additional testing. Scholars called it into question, saying that the research technique was prone to unreliable results.The claim was controversial because it upset the previous assumption that the tracks belonged to people who had migrated from Asia across a land bridge into Alaska some 14,000 years ago after the melting of Ice Age glaciers opened up new cor...

49ers mailbag: Who would start for McCaffrey? Was Week 6 a good time for a first loss?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 GMT

CLEVELAND – The 49ers’ first loss of the season – and first in regular-season action since last Oct. 30 – sparked a flurry of questions, not just from reporters but from fans on social media for this Week 7 mailbag:Jordan Mason looked faster than Elijah (Mitchell). Who is the starting running back if McCaffrey is out? (@jsjagga)Gosh, isn’t it alarming to envision the 49ers without McCaffrey, after he’s scored in 15 straight games? Mason has found the end zone in back-to-back games and indeed shows more burst than in his rookie season. Mitchell got just two carries (minus-3 yards) and that’s too small a sample size to disregard his previous starting experience. The 49ers could start Mitchell (if he’s fully past his Sept. 28 knee injury) but rotate in Mason, who could stay in if he proves hot.“Elijah has earned a ton with us over the years. When healthy, he’s as good of a back as there is,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday. “I can’t take anything away from J.P. ...

Kurtenbach: What we’ve learned about the Warriors so far this preseason

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 GMT

Unlike the NFL preseason or baseball’s spring training, the NBA preseason is informative.The top players might not be on the court for an entire regular-season shift, but we see enough to know what is and is not working.That’s because the top players are actually trying in the preseason. They sweat and everything.It’s a beautiful thing. And while the Warriors’ preseason has been up and down, there has been more good than bad.With three preseason games in the books, two yet to come, and a season-opening date with the Suns on Oct. 24 looming, here’s what we’ve learned about the Warriors so far this preseason:Chris Paul had no problem adjusting to the Warriors’ systemYou only needed to see one play this preseason to know that any worry about Paul adapting to the Warriors’ way of playing basketball was foolhardy.It came on Friday in the first quarter of the Warriors’ game with the Lakers in Los Angeles.Paul took the ball at the top o...

Walters: How California social media regulation compares to red states

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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 Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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 Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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 Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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 Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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 Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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 Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:05 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...