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Diversify or die: San Francisco's downtown is a wake-up call for other cities

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jack Mogannam, manager of Sam's Cable Car Lounge in downtown San Francisco, relishes the days when his bar stayed open past midnight every night, welcoming crowds that jostled on the streets, bar hopped, window browsed or just took in the night air. He's had to drastically curtail those hours because of diminished foot traffic, and business is down 30%. A sign outside the lounge pleads: "We need your support!""I'd stand outside my bar at 10 p.m. and look, it would be like a party on the street," Mogannam said. "Now you see, like, six people on the street up and down the block. It's a ghost town."After a three-year exile, the pandemic now fading from view, the expected crowds and electric ambience of downtown have not returned.A banner asking for support hangs outside the Sam's Cable Car Lounge near Union Square in San Francisco, on June 21, 2023. San Francisco's downtown has seen an exodus of retailers. While San Francisco faces some of its own unique issues the...

Base F-150 Lightning electric pickup will cost less than $50,000 as Ford slashes prices across line

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

The sticker prices for Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks are being lowered by thousands of dollars across the board, the company said Monday, due to increased plant capacity, falling costs for battery raw materials and internal efforts to scale production by the Detroit automaker. The price cuts across the Lightning line, some as deep as $10,000, appeared to be seen on Wall Street as more evidence of a coming price war among electrical vehicle makers, however, sending shares of Ford Motor Co. down 5% Monday.The lower prices were announced two days after Tesla said its first production Cybertruck electric pickup had rolled off the assembly line, though nearly two years behind the original schedule and with little information about how much they may cost. Rivian, another electric pickup maker, recently announced that its second quarter deliveries nearly tripled and its shares have been on a tear, rising more than 41% this month.“Ford hears footsteps of Cybertruck and...

Bowser nominates Pamela Smith as DC’s new chief of police

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

U.S. Park Police Chief Pamela Smith discusses preparations for the upcoming 2022 State of the Union Address during a news conference, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Washington.(AP/Alex Brandon) U.S. Park Police Chief Pamela Smith discusses preparations for the upcoming 2022 State of the Union Address during a news conference, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, in Washington.(AP/Alex Brandon) D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has nominated former U.S. Park Police chief Pamela Smith to lead the city’s police force.Smith boasts more than 25 years of experience in law enforcement across the country, much of it with the Park Police, where she started in 1998 as a patrol officer and rose through the ranks before being appointed as chief of...

3 employees injured after CAVA restaurant catches fire in Northwest DC

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

Three employees were injured when a CAVA restaurant in Northwest D.C. caught fire Sunday night, according to officials.The restaurant that caught fire is in the 4200 block of Wisconsin Avenue, D.C. Fire and EMS said in a tweet.Employees were “in the process of cooking,” when the kitchen caught fire around 8:45 p.m., Vito Maggiolo, a spokesperson for the department, told WTOP.The flames were quickly contained by the one-story restaurant’s extinguishing system, Maggiolo said.“It worked like it was supposed to and we are fortunate that more people were not seriously hurt,” Maggiolo said.Three employees were taken to the hospital with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening.No customers were hurt in the incident, Maggiolo said.Below is a map of where the restaurant is located: Source

‘It’s about all actors’: DC actor Ed Gero of ‘House of Cards,’ ‘Turn’ explains why Screen Actors Guild is on strike

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley covers the SAG strike with D.C. actor Ed Gero (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); He’s best known for local theater roles like Ebenezer Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s Theatre and Justice Antonin Scalia in “The Originalist” at Arena Stage. However, D.C. actor Ed Gero has also starred in popular TV shows from Netflix’s “House...

Hertha Berlin suspends goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck as police investigate fight

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Hertha Berlin suspended goalkeeper Marius Gersbeck while police investigate his alleged involvement in a fight with another man who later needed hospital treatment.Gersbeck was suspended “until further notice” according to a decision by Hertha managing director, Thomas E. Herrich, and sports director, Benjamin Weber, on Monday.“The reason for the suspension are the alleged circumstances around the training camp at Zell am See in Austria,” Hertha said.Herrich added that the 28-year-old goalie “left the team hotel without permission.”The club said earlier Monday that Gersbeck left their training camp the day before and that it did not wish to make further comment on the situation while police were investigating. It did not say whether Gersbeck, who returned to Hertha from Karlsruher SC only last month, will remain at the club after the alleged incident.Salzburg police said in a statement on Sunday that “a 28-year-old German man and a 22-year-old local man got into an arg...

BridgeBio, Sony rise; Rivian, Ford fall, Monday, 7/17/2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that are trading heavily or have substantial price changes on Monday.Tesla Inc. (TSLA), up $7.09 to $288.47.Elon Musk’s ballyhooed Cybertruck rolled off the assembly line nearly two years behind the original schedule.BridgeBio Pharma Inc. (BBIO), up $14.48 to $32.70.The drug developer gave investors an encouraging update on a potential heart disease treatment.Travere Therapeutics Inc. (TVTX), up 1 cent to $15.32.The biopharmaceutical company is selling several liver disease drugs to Mirium Pharmaceuticals.Sony Group Corp. (SONY), up $1.42 to $93.81.The PlayStation maker will still have the Call of Duty video game series on its console after rival Microsoft buys its publisher Activision Blizzard.Ford Motor Co. (F), down 75 cents to $14.23.The automaker lowered the sticker price on its F-150 Lightning electric pickup.Paramount Global (PARA), down 64 cents to $15.32.The media and entertainment company’s parent, National Amusements, is reportedly talking wit...

A second $1M Powerball ticket sold in Colorado this month

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — And the Powerball jackpot just keeps growing. While no ticket matched the six winning numbers on Saturday, a few lucky Colorado players walked away with an overall total of $1.25 million.The current jackpot has gone 37 consecutive weeks without a winner and is now at an estimated $900 million, with a cash value of $465.1 million. While the big jackpot is still up for grabs, a few tickets sold around Colorado made for a big payday. Bike shop out nearly $20,000 after overnight break-in According to the Colorado Lottery, four Coloradans won after Saturday's drawings. One person became an overnight millionaire after the ticket they purchased at Thunder River Market in Parachute won $1 million.That million-dollar ticket was just one of three that matched all five white balls in the whole country, according to Powerball. The other two tickets were sold in Texas. This is the second time this month, that a person in Colorado won $1 million. The ticketholder purchased that ...

Cost of living, housing still top concerns for Coloradans

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado's expense remains the most important factor weighing on residents' minds. The fourth annual Pulse Poll commissioned by the Colorado Health Foundation was released Monday. The survey includes responses from 2,639 Coloradans between April 8-May 3 regarding the issues they thought were the most pressing. HGTV host Ty Pennington hospitalized in Colorado The fear of economic instability is top of mind in more ways than one. Sixteen percent said the cost of living/inflation is their top concern, and another 15% said housing affordability is. The issue has grown in importance since the foundation started the survey."Since 2020, the cost of housing as an extreme or very serious problem has risen from 67% to 82%, with 51% of respondents citing it as an extremely serious problem in 2023 compared to just 37% in 2020," reads the report. "Related, the rising cost of living was rated an extremely serious or very serious problem by 85% of those surveyed."Cost-of-living ...

Ocean heat around Florida is ‘unprecedented,’ and scientists are warning of major impacts

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:59:08 GMT

(CNN) — A sudden marine heat wave off the coast of Florida has surprised scientists and sent water temperatures soaring to unprecedented highs, threatening one of the most severe coral bleaching events the state has ever seen.Sea surface temperatures around Florida have reached the highest levels on record since satellites began collecting ocean data. And the warming is happening much earlier than normal – yet another example of ocean heat being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis and the extreme weather it brings.“We didn’t expect this heating to happen so early in the year and to be so extreme,” Derek Manzello, a coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, told CNN. “This appears to be unprecedented in our records.”The exceptional temperatures – close to 97 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas – are more than just another alarming climate record; extreme ocean heat and its duration are critical in deciding the survival of coral ...