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Editorial: Proposed MMA pension plan should be knocked out in Round 1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

One key to good legislating is knowing when not to act.Unfortunately, Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, didn’t get the memo before he introduced a bill last month to create a state-administered pension plan for mixed martial arts fighters.We get it. His intentions were good. He says he wants to make sure the fighters “are protected and taken care of.”The language of his legislation, Assembly Bill 1136, accurately describes the fighters’ risk of “extraordinary disability in the normal course of their trade,” such as traumatic brain injuries, multiple concussions, eye injuries and other neurological impairments. Haney wants MMA fighters to have “support and protection when they retire.”But his bill will do little to achieve that.Fashioned after a four-decade-old program for boxers, Haney’s proposal would allow the California State Athletic Commission to require a fee on tickets or contributions by the fighters, their managers and the promoters of MMA events to fund the plan....

Opinion: Stanford needs more than words to protect free speech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

In response to the shout down of Judge Kyle Duncan at Stanford Law School on March 9, the university must act decisively to restore a culture of free expression on its campus.Duncan, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit covering Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, was invited by the law school’s Federalist Society chapter for a discussion on “Guns, Covid and Twitter.” His lecture ended early because several dozen law students continually interrupted him. The  protesters objected to his position on laws involving women, immigrants and LGBTQ people.Stanford Law School Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach did not stop the heckling but rather questioned the worth of hearing different viewpoints and upbraided Judge Duncan for “tearing the fabric of this community.”So far, Stanford’s response has included an email from Law School Dean Jenny Martinez and an apology from Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Dean M...

Michigan couple accused of starving 2-year-old son to death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

Sierra Zaitona (PHOTO — MACOMB COUNTY JAIL) The Michigan parents of a 2-year-old son are being held in the Macomb County Jail on a $1 million bond each after they were were charged Monday afternoon with the boy’s starvation death.Sierra Pearl Zaitona, 27, and Jonathan Matthew Cheek, 25, of Clinton Township were arraigned in 41B District Court on felony murder charges.Investigators said the death certificate listed the cause as starvation.“For the record, the child was healthy in foster care, and once it got into the care of these two individuals, it met its demise,” said Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Molly Zappitell.Jonathan Cheek (PHOTO — MACOMB COUNTY JAIL) Zappitell asked Magistrate Ryan Zemke to set a high bond, arguing the couple posed a flight risk.“There is no reason for her to stay,” Zappitell said. “In fact, she had the baby in Ohio to avoid alerting CPS (Child Protective Services).”Zaitona responded: “That is not true” before she was advised by her defense l...

Barabak: What political shift in Colorado and West means for U.S.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

Kevin Priola was a Republican before he could even vote.Inspired by Ronald Reagan, he preregistered with the GOP at age 17. He joined the College Republicans at the University of Colorado in Boulder — a true act of faith in that liberal stronghold — and was elected to the Legislature in 2008, where he’s served ever since.But Priola slowly grew estranged from the GOP, seeing it as more authoritarian than conservative, and last August he became a Democrat.“I couldn’t stomach it,” Priola said of his old party, “and associate with that style and brand of politics.”He’s hardly alone.For much of its history, the West was Republican ground. Today, it’s a bastion of Democratic support, a shift that has transformed presidential politics nationwide.In the last two decades, the Republican ranks in Colorado have shrunk drastically, to just a quarter of registered voters, as the once reliably red state has turned a distinct shade of blue.The transformation is part of a larger political shift acr...

SVB’s Greg Becker was Silicon Valley’s money man for 30 years, until suddenly he wasn’t

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

By Lizette Chapman and Jennifer Surane | BloombergEarly on March 9, as SVB Financial Group’s stock began its death spiral, Chief Executive Officer Greg Becker picked up the phone.Becker started contacting friends, hoping that some of the goodwill he’d spent decades accruing as head of the startup community’s go-to bank could be repaid. Among the venture investors he spoke with was Alex Rampell, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Becker wanted Rampell’s firm to help shore up SVB, the company’s commercial bank, as depositors fled, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation.Foremr Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group/File) Over the next 24 hours or so, A16Z and many other firms realized the bank’s precarious position, with some advising founders to pull money out. By the following afternoon, SVB was in the hands of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.SVB’s failure put an end to Becker’s 30-year career at the bank. Just over a week ...

Opinion: Newark should drop plan to develop shoreline in flood zone

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

Newark could address the housing and climate crises simultaneously by building resilient homes. But the city’s current plan continues to prioritize development of Newark’s shoreline, putting 469 single-family homes in a flood zone on a site scientists have urged be protected and restored to wetlands.This is not a regular shoreline housing proposal. Newark plans to pave over a 500-acre mosaic of undeveloped marshland and wildlife habitat along San Francisco Bay. The development, on a site known as “Sanctuary West” or Newark Area 4, would need over 100,000 truckloads to bring in 1.67 million cubic yards of fill. Area 4 is entirely within a FEMA flood zone that already is pumped annually to reduce flooding and is anticipated to be nearly completely inundated by sea-level rise in the near future.The project is contained in the city’s draft Housing Element, the guiding document for how to develop over the next decade. The city has missed the January deadline for state certification of th...

Warriors-Mavericks showdown has major Western Conference playoff implications

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

The Warriors’ game tonight against the Dallas Mavericks will have a direct impact on the Western Conference playoff seeding.Golden State sits in the No. 6 seed following a rare road win against the Houston Rockets on Monday. But the Warriors don’t hold that spot by much. Just a half-game separates the seventh-seeded Mavericks (36-36) and Warriors (37-36) and they’ll go head-to-head on Wednesday to determine the season tiebreaker.Ultimately, whichever team falls into the seventh seed will participate in the play-in tournament. The seventh seed plays one game against the eighth seed, the winner of that game moving on to the playoffs’ first round as the seventh seed. The loser of that game would play the winner of a game between the ninth and 10th seeds for the eighth seed.“As a competitor, you relish in the moments of the most important games,” Klay Thompson said after the Warriors’ Houston win. “We’re coming down to the home stretch and every game is so ...

Another storm hits Bay Area: 88K still without power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) -- Tuesday's storm unleashed fierce winds and pounding rain across the San Francisco Bay Area. Rain will continue throughout Wednesday morning making for another slippery commute but will dry up around noon before another storm hits the region next week. Video shows couch fly through the San Francisco sky during storm Follow along for the latest Bay Area storm updates:Wednesday, March 226 a.m. -- Number of PG&E customers without power risesAccording to PG&E's latest power outage report, the number of customers without power has risen to more than 88,000 since 5 a.m. Wednesday when numbers hovered around 86.5K. The outages are still mostly impacting the East Bay with a total of 50,981 outages.5:45 AMAffected Customers San Francisco8,204Peninsula21,697North Bay 2,724East Bay 50,981South Bay 4,674Bay Area Total88,2805 a.m. -- 86K still without power PG&E's latest update shows that the total number of outages in t...

GameStop leads meme stock rally

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

Meme stocks are rising before the opening bell Wednesday after GameStop, one of the most heavily traded off-brand stocks during the pandemic, posted a surprise profit for the fourth quarter. Rather than a per-share loss of 16 cents as Wall Street had expected, the video game retailer reported a profit of 16 cents per share, or $48.2 million in all. GameStop’s revenue fell and much of the profit gain came from aggressive cost cutting, including store closures and layoffs. However, as was the case during the pandemic, fundamentals that typically drive stock movement appear to be being pushed aside. Shares of GameStop Corp., Grapevine, Texas, surged 47% in premarket trading and it pulled other meme stocks along for the ride. During the pandemic, GameStop was a member of a group of beat-down stocks that drew smaller investors in huge numbers. The theory was that if enough small investors got in the game and drove the stock higher, it would force large hedge funds with short positi...

Prince William County’s crisis receiving center taking shape; Sen. Kaine pays a visit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:48 GMT

This article was written by WTOP’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.The former Gander Mountain store in Woodbridge didn’t look like much Monday morning, its shop floor empty, concrete flooring exposed and paint peeling in places.But in Prince William County Community Services Director Lisa Madron’s hands were plans of what the 79,000-square-feet space could soon be for those in desperate need of mental health services.Madron was leading Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and over a dozen other elected officials and local health care leaders on a tour Monday of what will soon be the county’s first crisis receiving center, a project that Kaine and his congressional colleagues helped fund through an appropriations request.Scheduled to open in 2024, the center will have 16 units for 23-hour observation of adults and 16 in-patient beds for those who require monitoring beyond 23 hours, typically t...