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California cars are most fuel-efficient in US. Where are the gas guzzlers?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

Buzz: Californians own the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the nation.Source: My trusty spreadsheet analyzed estimates of average miles-per-gallon by state compiled by Iseecars. The study looked at vehicles in the used market and the manufacturer’s listed mpg for various models.ToplineCalifornia cars are getting an average 31 miles per gallon, easily the best in the nation.The rest of the top 10 for fuel use are No. 2 Hawaii at 28.4 mpg, then Washington state at 28.2, Oregon at 27.9, Nevada at 27.5, Arizona and Colorado at 27.2, Virginia and Maryland at 27.1, and Utah at 26.8.And the least efficient? North Dakota and Wyoming at 22.5 mpg, then Montana at 22.8, South Dakota at 23, Iowa at 23.7, West Virginia at 23.9, Nebraska at 24.1, and Michigan, Alaska, and Arkansas at 24.2.What’s driving this?I’ll use the extremes of these top and bottom states to suggest the forces behind these mpg gaps.Note that the high mpg states average 27.9 miles per gallon vs. 23.5 in low-efficiency states....

Salinas group will manage, operate historic East Bay theater

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

The city of Pittsburg has agreed to hire Entertainment Lane Inc. of Salinas to manage and operate the historic downtown California Theatre.Previously operated by the Pittsburg Arts and Community Foundation, the 500-seat beaux arts theater at 515 Railroad Ave. has offered a blend of films, theater, comedy, live music and other cultural programming over the years.The council approved the three-year agreement on a 3-to-1 vote with Mayor Shanelle Scales Preston and Councilwoman Dionne Adams absent. The council also allocated $350,000 for the entertainment company to provide services for the first year, 2023-24, with the city’s Pittsburg Power Company providing the funding.Kolette Simonton, director of recreation, said two groups, including Pittsburg Theatre Company, were interviewed as potential operators, with staff later recommending Entertainment Lane, which has 30 years of experience managing performing arts venues and booking entertainment. The company produced the Festa Italia in ...

After nearly 30 years, there’s movement in the case of Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing. Here’s what we know

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

By JONATHAN LANDRUM JR. | AP Entertainment WriterLOS ANGELES — An investigation into Tupac Shakur’s unsolved killing has been revived. It took nearly three decades, but a new twist came when authorities in Nevada served a search warrant this week in connection with the rap star’s shooting death, they confirmed Tuesday.Here’s what to know about one of the most infamous fatal shootings in hip-hop history:FILE – Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996. Authorities in Nevada confirmed Tuesday, July 18, 2023, that they served a search warrant this week in connection with the long-unsolved killing of the late rapper Shakur. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File) Las Vegas police served a search warrant in connection to the killing of Shakur, who was gunned down Sept. 7, 1996.The warrant was executed Monday in the nearby city of Henderson. It’s unclear what they were looking for or where they searched.Citing the ongoing investigation, a...

Stanford doctors to rally during contract negotiations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

(KRON) -- Stanford doctors, represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents, plan to hold a demonstration on Wednesday after seven months of contract negotiations. 3 dead in 2 separate early morning homicides in Oakland Residents and physicians are calling for a fair contract that prioritizes patient and physician well-being over profit. Some physicians say they are struggling to pay for everyday living costs in the Bay Area due to inadequate pay and lack of support.The demonstration will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. in front of the Stanford Hospital located at Pasteur Drive and Welch Road in Palo Alto. KRON On is streaming news live now.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }The doctors will also be joined by Stanford graduate student workers.

British political candidate uses artificial intelligence to draw up election manifesto

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British voters face a crowded field of 13 candidates in an upcoming special election for a Parliament seat. One, independent Andrew Gray, used artificial intelligence to come up with campaign promises that he says reflect what residents want. Gray, who says he has no policies of his own, crowdsourced constituents’ sentiments and used machine learning to come up with his political manifesto. He calls the technology a faster and fairer way for politicians to widely reflect views of the people they represent. “We can interact with our constituents in a whole new way,” Gray said. “It doesn’t change necessarily the role of the representative. It just means that we kind of know what’s going on much more quickly and we can represent them more fairly.” Conservative lawmaker Nigel Adams’ abrupt resignation triggered Thursday’s parliamentary by-election in Selby and Ainsty, a mixed urban-rural district in northern England. It’s expected to be a hotly cont...

You can now list your blood type on your Virginia driver’s license

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

A sample Virginia driver’s license, showing what the icon indicating blood type will look like. (Courtesy Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles)Virginians now have the option to list their blood types on their driver’s license as a way to help first responders in case of an emergency.Customers who want to renew, replace or apply for a new driver’s license or ID card will be asked whether they’d like to have their blood type appear on the document. The inclusion of blood type is optional and will not be required.“The law was intended to aid individuals and first responders when every second counts in an emergency,” said Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Gerald Lackey in a news release. “DMV is proud to provide Virginians with options. On your driver’s license or ID, you can indicate not only your blood type, but also your willingness to be an organ donor, your veteran status and can even list important medical indicators.”...

Judge upholds $5 million jury verdict against Trump, rejecting the ex-president’s vindication claim

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday upheld a $5 million jury verdict against Donald Trump, rejecting the former president’s claim that the award was excessive and that the jury vindicated him by failing to conclude in the civil case that he raped a columnist in a luxury department store dressing room in the 1990s.Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the jury’s May award of compensatory and punitive damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation was reasonable.Trump’s lawyers had asked Kaplan to reduce the jury award to less than $1 million or order a new trial on damages. In their arguments, the lawyers said the jury’s $2 million in compensatory damages granted for Carroll’s sexual assault claim was excessive because the jury concluded that Trump had not raped Carroll at Bergdorf Goodman’s Manhattan store in the spring of 1996.Kaplan wrote that the jury’s unanimous verdict was almost entirely in favor of Carroll, except that the jury conclud...

Wagner troops won’t go back to fight in Ukraine, Prigozhin says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

Troops from Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group, which are relocating to Belarus following last month’s aborted mutiny, will not go back to fight in Ukraine nd will stay in Belarus to train local troops, their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said Wednesday.“We did a lot for Russia. What is happening at the front now is a disgrace. We want no part of it,” Prigozhin said in his first appearance since his troops marched on Moscow in a failed uprising last month. In a shaky mobile phone video shot at dusk, Prigozhin can be seen in silhouette wearing a baseball cap. He speaks to a crowd of men who appear to be Wagner fighters and break repeatedly into applause and cheers.“Therefore we have taken the decision to be in Belarus for a while. In this time, we will turn the Belarusian army into the second most powerful in the world and, if needed, we will take its place,” Prigozhin pursued, in a jab at Russia, which currently has the second largest army in the world.He then hinted hi...

Why Britain’s most prestigious bank canceled Nigel Farage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

LONDON — He always said the U.K. establishment was out to get him. Now Nigel Farage has the receipts.Britain’s most prominent Brexiteer has produced a 12,000-word document from the bank Coutts which, according to Farage, reveals the truth behind the forced closure of his account there.The former Brexit Party leader has been embroiled in a row with the institution — so esteemed it has served successive generations of the royal family — after Coutts canceled his account earlier this month. Farage said at the time that no reason was given — but subsequent media reports, including on the BBC, cited a minimum wealth threshold Farage no longer met.Now an internal document from Coutts, obtained by Farage through a subject access request he made to the bank and published in full by the Daily Mail newspaper, shows it wanted to drop him as a client long before — and used his controversial public profile as justification. A briefing presented to the bank’s “reputational risk committee” s...

Commission to reopen chief economist vacancy after Scott Morton withdraws

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:53:42 GMT

It’s back to the drawing board for the European Commission after its proposed candidate for chief competition economist withdrew under withering criticism.Fiona Scott Morton, an American citizen who recently consulted for several Big Tech companies, wrote to Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager this morning she wouldn’t take up the position, “given the political controversy that has arisen because of the selection of a non-European to fill this position.” The Commission was under mounting pressure, including from French President Emmanuel Macron, to reverse its decision.With its preferred horse out of the race, the Commission has reopened the procedure. “Given the withdrawal of Dr. Morton, the Commission will, in due course, publish a new vacancy notice for the position of Chief Economist at DG Competition and conduct a new selection procedure,” spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said.It has little other choice: Commission spokesperson Arianna Pode...