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Northern California power bills likely to increase for PG&E customers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Power bills for about 16 million people in Northern California will likely increase after state regulators released two rate proposals for one of the nation's largest utilities Wednesday.The California Public Utilities Commission is finishing up its once-every-four-years review of Pacific Gas & Electric, the Oakland-based utility that provides electric and gas service to a 70,000-square-mile (181,000-square-kilometer) area in northern and central parts of the state. The commission must approve how much PG&E can charge customers and how it will spend that money.The commission on Wednesday could not say what the increase would be for the average residential customer. But it is likely to be far less than what PG&E had initially requested — the company had asked for rate increases large enough to boost its revenue by 26%, but the two proposals the commission released would increase revenue by a maximum of 13%.PG&E had asked for more revenue in p...

Suspects flee after attacking, robbing couple in Piedmont

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

(KRON) -- A couple was attacked and robbed Wednesday night in the Community Center parking lot, according to the Piedmont Police Department.Around 7 p.m., the suspects approached a couple from behind and knocked them down. Before fleeing the scene, the suspects took the woman's purse and phone, police said. Man stabbed inside ATM vestibule at Chase Bank in Berkeley The robbery suspects are described as three men who wore face masks. They fled in a black Volkswagen Golf with a license plate that reads "6BFT777".Anyone with information is asked to contact PPD at 510-420-3000.

Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s next book is a collection of lyrics written for singer Stacey Kent

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s next book will be one for music lovers. Alfred A. Knopf announced Thursday that Ishiguro’s “The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain,” coming out March 5, is a collection of lyrics written for the million-selling jazz singer Stacey Kent. Ishiguro and Kent are longtime friends and collaborators; Ishiguro wrote lyrics for a handful of songs on Kent’s “Breakfast on the Morning Tram,” which in 2009 received a Grammy nomination for best jazz vocal album, and also contributed to such Kent albums as “Dreamer in Concert” and “I Know I Dream.” “I’ve built a reputation over the years as a writer of stories, but I started out writing songs,” Ishiguro, best known for such novels as “The Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go,” said in a statement Thursday. The book combines older compositions dating back to 2007 and four “cinema” works for an upcoming project with Kent. “The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain” also includes a...

New US sanctions target workarounds that let Russia get Western tech for war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

The United States said Thursday that it was sanctioning more than 150 businesses and people from Russia to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Georgia to try to crack down on evasion and deny the Kremlin access to technology, money and financial channels that fuel President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.The sanctions package is one of the biggest by the State and Treasury departments and is the latest to target people and companies in countries, notably NATO member Turkey, that sell Western technology to Russia that could be used to bolster its war effort. The package also aims to hobble the development of Russia’s energy sector and future sources of cash, including Arctic natural gas projects, as well as mining and factories producing and repairing Russian weapons.“The purpose of the action is to restrict Russia’s defense production capacity and to reduce the liquidity it has to pay for its war,” James O’Brien, head of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination, tol...

Alex Jones spent over $93,000 in July. Sandy Hook families who sued him have yet to see a dime

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Alex Jones’ personal spending is frustrating families who are trying to collect on the $1.5 billion in judgments against him for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting a hoax.The conspiracy theorist and Infowars host has been paying his own wife, Erika Wulff Jones, $15,000 a month, according to the most recent spending report he filed in his bankruptcy case — payouts called “fraudulent transfers” by lawyers for some of the shooting victims’ families. Jones says they’re required under a prenuptial agreement.In July, Jones spent $7,900 on housekeeping. He dished out more than $6,300 for meals and entertainment, not including groceries, which totaled nearly $3,400 — or roughly $850 per week.A second home, his Texas lake house, cost him nearly $6,700 that month, including maintenance and property taxes, while his vehicles and boats sapped another $5,600, including insurance, maintenance and fuel.His total personal expenses for Jul...

Person stabbed to death on RTD bus

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver Police are investigating a deadly stabbing on an RTD bus Thursday morning.According to the Denver Police Department, just after 5 a.m., officers responded to a stabbing at 32nd and Federal in between the West Highland and Highland neighborhoods. Officers said the stabbing took place on an RTD bus.The victim, who was not the driver of the bus, was taken to a local hospital where they were ultimately pronounced dead. Driver nearly hits 20 children while leaving Aurora park Police are now investigating the case as a homicide. At this time, investigators have not released any suspect information but will provide updates as they become available.Anyone with information is asked to contact the Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous while still being eligible for a cash reward.

Deputy involved in deadly pedestrian crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — An Adams County deputy was involved in a crash that killed a pedestrian on Federal Boulevard. On Wednesday just before 3 a.m., the Adams County Sheriff's Office said a deputy was driving northbound on Federal during a routine patrol. Driver nearly hits 20 children while leaving Aurora park In the 5800 block of Federal Boulevard in Berkley, an unincorporated part of Adams County, the deputy struck a person in the roadway, according to the sheriff's office. The deputy got out of the patrol car and rendered aid to the pedestrian while waiting for medical personnel to respond.The sheriff's office confirmed the pedestrian died at the scene.Colorado State Patrol was called to respond to the scene and assist with the investigation. The 17th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team will also be investigating.

Near-death experiences tied to brain activity after death, study says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

(CNN) — Surgeons were about to saw through 80-year-old Aubrey Osteen’s chest after a heart attack in December 2020 when he suddenly became conscious.“I said, ‘Wait a minute here before y’all go any further. Give me some more anesthesia, you know?’ Well, it took me a minute to realize I wasn’t in the same dimension they were in, so they couldn’t hear me anyway.”Osteen then watched his body “weave through the rib cage” and float above the operating table while the surgical team cracked his chest, removed the heart and began to repair the damage. Soon, he heard someone say “kidneys.”“Both kidneys shut down at the same time — I knew I was gone. And that’s when I went to the next level,” Osteen said. “When I got up there, I was in the presence of God — a powerful presence — with light shining from behind him. The light was brighter than anything I’ve experienced here on Earth, but it wasn’t blinding.“And there was the sweetest angel that comforted me and told me ‘Relax. Everything’s goin...

Far-right EU lawmakers nominate Elon Musk for human rights award

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

STRASBOURG — The far-right political group in the European Parliament nominated tech billionaire Elon Musk for the EU’s top human rights award. The Identity and Democracy (ID) grouping, which includes members of European Parliament tied to France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Matteo Salvini, put Musk’s name forward, according to a document sent to MEPs on September 14 and seen by POLITICO. An ID official confirmed to POLITICO its decision to nominate Musk. ID cited Musk’s decision to release the so-called Twitter Files, which consisted of selected internal documents over how the social media platform handled requests to remove political posts. This amounts to a defense of the principle of freedom of expression, ID argued.The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought includes a €50,000 prize. Last year, it was awarded to the Ukrainian people. Past laureates include Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai and Kofi Annan.Musk is highly unlikely to receive the...

Hungary taunts Sweden over stalled NATO bid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:53 GMT

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Thursday accused Stockholm of making “unfair and unjust” remarks on the state of democracy in Hungary, which he said were in “contradiction” to Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance, which Budapest hasn’t yet ratified.“You urge our parliamentarians to ratify your accession to NATO, while you continue to accuse them as if they had destructed [sic] democracy in Hungary,” Szijjártó wrote in a letter to his Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström posted on X (formerly Twitter).“This contradiction became now even stronger and definitely does not help your continuously raised demand to be fulfilled,” the minister warned about Stockholm’s NATO aspirations.Hungary, which was one of the last countries to sign off on Finland’s accession to NATO, has dragged its feet on approving Sweden’s candidacy to join the military bloc for months because it says Stockholm...