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How waterwise, drought-tolerant garden landscapes are being developed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

Flowers, shrubs, and grass are pretty to look at, but they can also transform outdoor spaces into something that feels like home.That, however, takes water. With an eye toward changing environmental conditions of the future, researchers are testing plants and new-fangled tech that will help them stay lush, green and healthy while requiring less irrigation.We talked with researchers in Southern California and beyond to learn about the research they’re doing and how it might be reflected in the landscapes of tomorrow. Parched, but still pretty The University of California’s South Coast Research and Extension Center in Orange County is testing to see how long some plants can go between waterings; the answer for some is a long time – think months – without water and they still somehow look good. The South Coast REC is one of two California facilities — the other is at UC Davis  — conducting the University of California Landscape Plant Irrigation Trial; its goal is to determine the water...

Cal hires Mark Madsen: Will the former Stanford star revive a dreary program and spark and Bay Area basketball resurgence?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

In what can only be described as a startling upset, Cal made a shrewd hire to fill its basketball coaching vacancy. The Bears on Wednesday selected Mark Madsen to revive the program and, in the process, flipped the script on their Bay Area rival.Four months after Stanford hired a former Golden Bear, Troy Taylor, to resuscitate its football operation, Cal appointed a former Cardinal star, Madsen, to salvage a product that has sunk to unprecedented depths.In that regard, Cal basketball reflects the general state of affairs in Berkeley, where football is struggling for traction, women’s basketball is floundering and athletic director Jim Knowlton is under investigation for his handling of accusations of abuse levied against former swimming coach Teri McKeever.Otherwise, everything’s grand on Bancroft.Exactly what role Knowlton played in the basketball coaching search isn’t known. He was responsible for the misguided decision to hire Mark Fox four years ago and could b...

How can some states ‘afford’ to charge little or no income taxes?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

Californians might wonder how other states can “afford” to charge their residents little to no income tax.Let’s politely say “small government” sometimes gets a lot of help from the biggest government – Uncle Sam.Income-tax burdens on residents vary widely by state. The federal government’s financial input into local economies also fluctuates across the nation.My trusty spreadsheet, looking at rankings of state-by-state tax burdens and federal-dollar dependency from WalletHub and SmartAsset, found that low-tax states often get more generous financial inflows from the U.S. government than higher-tax states.Taxing mattersLet’s note that taxpayers in the 17 states with the lowest individual income-tax burdens pay only an average 0.7% of their incomes to the state. Compare that with the 17 states with the highest income-tax burdens where taxpayers are charged an average 3.1% of incomes.FYI: California’s 3.05% income tax burden was the seventh highest among the states.The spreadsheet fou...

FBI offering $40K reward for information on San Mateo woman kidnapped in Mexico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation is offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of a San Mateo woman who was kidnapped in Mexico last year. Monica de Leon Barba was walking home from work with her dog in Tepatitlan, Jalisco, Mexico on Nov. 29, 2022, when she was kidnapped. Executive Director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association charged with importing fentanyl The FBI's San Francisco Field Office is asking for the public's assistance in locating De Leon, a U.S. citizen who was born in Jalisco but lived in San Mateo. Her family reported her missing to the U.S. State Department at the time of her disappearance.De Leon is described as 29 years old, 5'7", 240 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. A Facebook group has been established by De Leon's friends and family to help locate her.Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is asked to call the FBI's Toll-Free tipline at 1-800-225-5324.

Nashville authorities release 911 recordings of callers pleading for help during Christian school shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nashville authorities release 911 recordings of callers pleading for help during Christian school shooting.Source

Maryland’s longtime elections administrator to retire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s longtime elections administrator is retiring.Linda Lamone, who is 80, announced her plans to retire during a Maryland State Elections Board meeting on Wednesday.Lamone has been the state’s elections administrator since 1997. She said she will step down around Sept. 1.The state administrator of elections is the chief election official in Maryland. The administrator oversees the functions of the state elections board and supervises the operations of local boards of elections. The administrator also receives and audits financial reports of candidates.During her long tenure, Lamone survived a push for her removal during former Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s administration. Leaders in the Democratic-controlled legislature blocked the move. A law was enacted at the time to require that four out of five state elections board members vote for the administrator’s removal.A measure to change that law is before lawmakers this session. ...

Aaron Judge homers in 1st AB as new Yankees captain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge rang in opening day the same way he marked many nights last season: with a home run.In his first game as New York Yankees captain, Judge hit a solo drive in the first inning off San Francisco’s Logan Webb on Thursday, a 422-foot shot into the netting above Monument Park in center field.Judge took a strike on the 39-degree day at Yankee Stadium, then hit a thigh-high cutter on the outside part of the plate for a 109 mph drive and his first opening day home run.Judge hit an American League record 62 home runs last year, one more than Roger Maris’ total with the 1961 Yankees.He became a free agent and considered signing with his home-area Giants, then struck a $360 million, nine-year deal to remain with the Yankees.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Gunshot injuries surged in US during pandemic, CDC says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — For every American killed by gunfire, an estimated two or more more survive, often with terrible injuries — a fact that public health experts say is crucial to understanding the full impact of guns on society.A new government study highlights just how violent the recent past has been in America by showing a surge in people wounded by gunshots during the pandemic, when the number of people fatally shooting each other – and themselves — also increased.During the first two years of the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of people injured by gunfire rose 40%, compared with 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a study published Thursday. In 2022, gun injuries tapered off, but were still 20% higher than before the pandemic.Gun injuries rose similarly for men and women over the past three years, while the largest proportional increase occurred among children younger than 15, a subset that remains a small fraction of the overall problem.Experts say t...

New NHLPA head Walsh quickly figuring out player priorities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

Marty Walsh is still fresh in his new job as head of the NHL Players’ Association and trying to learn what members of the union want.It didn’t take long to figure out a couple of priorities.The former U.S. Secretary of Labor and Mayor of Boston knows players want to get back on the ice for a major international tournament and that they do not want to pay any more money into escrow. With talks ongoing to hold another World Cup of Hockey and a discussion on significantly raising the salary cap upcoming, Walsh has a clear starting point long before collective bargaining talks resume in a couple of years.“When I get asked the question about whether I’d be interested in seeing the cap go up, my answer is yes, and my follow-up to that was that the players are not interested in raising the escrow right now,” Walsh said at his introductory news conference Thursday, in which topics ranged from finances and relationships to player participation in Pride night warmups and internati...

1 year ago, scenes of horror emerged from Ukraine’s Bucha

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:52:17 GMT

BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — The cratered roads have been repaved and the damaged houses are gradually being repaired. But the scenes that emerged from this town near Kyiv a year ago, after it was retaken from Russian forces, have indelibly linked its name to the savagery of war. On the northwestern fringes of the Ukrainian capital, Bucha had been occupied by Russian troops for about a month, taken as they swept toward Kyiv at the start of the invasion of Ukraine that began in late February 2022. When they withdrew, they left behind scenes of horror.Bodies of civilians lay where they had fallen, beside their bicycles, in their cars, on the sides of roads, in yards, buildings and homes.“They were bodies of people in civilian clothing — women, old men, younger men” scattered in the streets, said Associated Press photographer Vadim Ghirda, one of the first journalists to enter Bucha right after the Russian withdrawal.Many appeared to not have been dead for very long, looking almost as if they...