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Dozens of ghost guns seized in San Diego County over 3-month period

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A three-month campaign to reduce violent crime in San Diego County has led law enforcement to seize a plethora firearms. That's according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman's office Wednesday, which also states 33 people were prosecuted during the operation. Dubbed the "Privately Made Firearm Crime Reduction Project," officials say the campaign ran from February to May this year to address gun violence and the rapid production of ghost guns in the region. Body found floating near Shelter Island identified Law enforcement officials seized a total of 165 firearms during this effort, with 82 of them being privately-made weapons, according to the U.S. attorney's office.To determine areas where there was an increase in gun violence, officials explained that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives (ATF) and the San Diego Police Department used data analytics. This helped law enforcement determine where to place resources and intelligence-le...

The country's best doughnut shop is in California, according to Yelp's 2023 rankings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Do you “go nuts” for doughnuts? Sure you do. We all do. They’re made from fried dough and sugar. We’d be fools not to be interested.But, mind you, most of us don’t go gaga over just any doughnut. We all have our favorite shops and flavors, and we’re always on the lookout for newer, tastier varieties. And while there’s no shortage of shops providing exactly what we crave, there are also plenty of mediocre doughnut purveyors that, frankly, no one has ever gone nuts for.  To help us find the best of the best, Yelp’s team of analysts have compiled their second annual ranking of America's top 100 doughnut shops based on the ratings and reviews of Yelp’s online community. The 2023 list — released ahead of National Doughnut Day on June 2 — includes shops from 27 states and Washington, D.C., though some are more well-represented than others. California, for instance, is home to 10 of the top-rated doughnut shops on Yelp’s list, and virtually dominates the upper rankings wit...

County adopts 'promising actions' to help renters, home buyers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Last week, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors adopted a wave of "promising actions" designed to help renters and homebuyers.That's according to the county communications office, which explained in a news release that these changes are meant for those affected by the region's housing crisis. Woman hit, killed in City Heights From delivering different types of housing faster to reducing review times for housing permits and offering financial incentives, the county says the board committed $14.5 million to carry out such efforts. Here are the 22 "promising actions" adopted by the Board of Supervisors, according to the communications office.Actions achievable within 12 months:Guaranteed timelines for 100% affordable housing and shelters, VMT efficient and infill areas and workforce housing.Prioritization of contracts to support housing.Process improvements.Environmental health and quality temporary contracting authority.Over-the-counter reviews for previously...

GOP walkout in Oregon Senate now in 5th week; uncertain if boycotters will be sanctioned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The longest-ever walkout in the Oregon Legislature completed its fourth week on Wednesday as the enforceability of a ballot measure that would disqualify the boycotters from immediate reelection appeared in doubt.By all appearances, Oregon’s 2023 legislative session has crashed on the rocks amid the GOP boycott of the Senate over an abortion and transgender care bill. Senate President Rob Wagner once again tried on Wednesday to convene the chamber, which last met on May 2. “We’ll give this another shot,” the Democrat said. But a roll call again showed that nine Republicans and a member of the Independent Party of Oregon were absent without being excused, preventing a quorum and putting on ice votes on Democratic priority measures, including one on gun control.In what has become a Groundhog Day ritual in the past four weeks, Wagner then banged the gavel to close the aborted session. He said he’d try again the next day. But Sen. Tim Knopp, leader of the minori...

It’s time to prepare for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — It’s time for residents along the southeastern U.S. coastlines to make sure their storm plans are in place as the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season gets underway on Thursday.Forecasters are predicting a “near-normal” season, but Mike Brennan, the new director at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, stressed during a Wednesday news conference that there’s really nothing normal when it comes to hurricanes. “A normal season might sound good in comparison to some of the hurricane seasons in the past few years,” he said. “But there’s nothing good about a near-normal hurricane season in terms of activity.” WILL THE 2023 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON BE BUSY?Uncertainty is the key word, Brennan said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted in late May a 40% chance of 2023 being a near-normal hurricane season, a 30% chance of an above-average season, which has more storms than usual, and a 30% chance of a below-normal season, which has ...

Feds still trying to rescue families of Canadians who helped in Afghanistan: minister

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is working with some Canadians who helped the military in Afghanistan to develop programs that would bring their families to safety, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said Wednesday.Some of those Canadians, however, say the government has not heard them out or helped rescue their families from the Taliban.Two Canadians who served as language and cultural advisers in the country filed a Federal Court application last week alleging the government provided “superior immigration benefits” to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion.The court filing alleges the government has been discriminatory in its uneven response to the two crises.The Canadian government recruited some 45 Canadian citizens with Afghan heritage to serve as language and cultural advisers during its military mission in Afghanistan. It recently created a program to bring the Afghan families of those advisers to Canada, but the lawsuit says the criteria are so restrictive that it...

Sean “Diddy” Combs sues Diageo, saying it neglected his vodka and tequila brands

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

Rapper, producer and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs sued Diageo Wednesday, saying the spirits company didn’t make promised investments in his vodka and tequila brands and treated them as inferior “urban” products.The lawsuit, filed with the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, says Diageo North America starved Combs’ Ciroc vodka and DeLeon tequila brands of resources even as it showered attention on other celebrity brands. Diageo bought actor George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila brand for $1 billion in 2017, for example.Combs, who is Black, said Diageo leadership told him his race was one of the reasons it limited distribution to urban neighborhoods. He was also told that some Diageo leaders resented him for making too much money, according to the lawsuit.“Cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageo’s business, but it is a lie,” the lawsuit said. “While Diageo may conspicuously include images of its Black partners in advertising materials and press re...

Hundreds of Amazon workers protest company’s climate impact, return-to-office mandate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — Telling executives to “strive harder,” hundreds of corporate Amazon workers protested what they decried as the company’s lack of progress on climate goals and an inequitable return-to-office mandate during a lunchtime demonstration at its Seattle headquarters Wednesday.The protest came a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week. Previously, team leaders were allowed to determine how their charges worked.The employees chanted their disappointment with the pace of the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint — “Emissions climbing, time to act” — and urged Amazon to return authority to team leaders when it comes to work location. Wearing a black pirate hat and red coat, Church Hindley, a quality assurance engineer, said working from home allowed him to live a better, healthier life.“I’m not suited for in-office work,” Hindley said. “I...

Louisiana lawmakers reject resolution that opponents say target diversity, equity efforts in schools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Republicans in Louisiana rejected a resolution Wednesday that sought to request K-12 schools and institutions of higher education submit a report of all programs and activities related to critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion.Authored by Republican Rep. Valarie Hodges, the resolution came before the House Committee of Education for consideration and stemmed from “concerns” about how much money is being spent specifically on the programs and because “activities offered by the state’s education institutions merit further examination.”Proponents argued that the measure was simply being proposed to further look into the cost of the programs. Opponents of the resolution, which included Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said that the legislation was unnecessary and worried about how it defined DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion — and critical race theory.“At its core, this is a racist instrument,” Monty Sullivan, the pre...

Movie Review: The giddy splendor of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:25:32 GMT

Let’s get this upfront: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” was the best comic-book film of the last decade. With an animation blizzard blown straight in from the pages of comics, “Into the Spider-Verse” took a supercollider to all the conventions of the superhero movie. Solemnity was out. Gone, too, was the idea of a chosen one. Spider-Man could be anyone, including a graffiti-tagging kid from Brooklyn, including a pig named Spider-Ham. The possibilities of the comic book movie were suddenly limitless. With Post Malone and Swae Lee’s “Sunflower” thumping, the vibes were, as they say, immaculate. So a lot to live up to. Yet five years later, the Spider-verse is still expanding in thrilling ways. “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is the rare sequel that dazzles as much as the original did. It’s something to behold. Colors drip, invert and splatter in a shimmering pop-art swirl. If “Into the Spider-Verse” reveled in the head-spinning collision of universes,...