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East Palo Alto man convicted on felony sex trafficking, pimping charges

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

REDWOOD CITY — A jury found an East Palo Alto man guilty of felony sex trafficking and pimping charges late last week, six months after he was arrested in a sting operation conducted by Redwood City police, according to prosecutors.Dwayne Robinson, 48, drove a 22-year-old female victim to a Redwood City motel on May 25 after police responded to a social media ad. The pair was greeted by police upon arrival and their cell phones were seized. Downloads of previous text messages showed evidence that the man had been trafficking the woman for at least one month, according to prosecutors.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Jury signs off on aggravating factors for San Carlos beheading killer Crime and Public Safety | Daly City man sentenced to 9 years in prison after assaulting police officer Crime and Public Safety | Former San Mateo resident pleads guilty to embezzling $1.19 million from law firm Crime and Public Safety | ...

Where to find Miracle and Sippin’ Santa pop-up bars for kitschy Christmas fun

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

Things are staring to look mighty festive inside California bars and restaurants as the holiday season approaches. That’s especially the case at establishments hosting the Miracle and Sippin’ Santa pop-up experiences, which include over-the-top Christmas décor, specialty cocktails and some seriously adorable, kitschy barware.The Miracle concept was created in 2014 by Greg Boehm, a New York-based bar owner who, on the advice of his mom, decided to halt construction on his new East Village cocktail bar, Mace, and transform the space instead into a pop-up bar serving holiday-themed drinks. Now bars and restaurants around the world — from Livermore to Long Beach to London — have joined the festive fun.Miracle launched in San Francisco in 2017, when Pacific Cocktail Haven opened a Miracle at PCH in Union Square. From there, the concept spread to San Jose’s Paper Plane, where it’s dubbed Miracle on First, and MiniBoss, Oakland’s The Double Standard (Mir...

South San Francisco’s hillside sign celebrates its 100th birthday

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

The Industrial City sign in South San Francisco turns 100 years old today.The 65-foot-tall cement letters on the southern flank of San Bruno Mountain are one of California’s largest examples of civic boosterism, an early 20th-century tradition of carving town’s initials into hillsides or building lighted roadway entry arches, like Redwood City’s “Climate Best by Government Test” sign.Last month, crews from South City’s Parks and Recreation Department, apparently part mountain goat, braved the slopes of Sign Hill to coat the 34 letters with thick coats of chalk-white paint. According to Parks Manager Joshua Richardson, “it took eleven 5 gallon buckets to just paint the word SOUTH,” joking “it could be argued that a considerable amount ends up on my staff as they traverse the letters.”Working on the steep slopes of the San Bruno Mountain foothills, workers apply paint to 60-foot tall letters of the “South San Francisco The Industrial City”. The iconic sign, visible for miles on the up...

Pac-12 power ratings: Arizona on top, UCLA climbs after narrow loss to Marquette, UW rises

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

The Pac-12’s non-conference record is steadily deteriorating, which isn’t a surprise given the uptick in competition but constitutes a mounting challenge nonetheless.To date, the conference is 39-14 — a winning percentage of 73.5. That’s above the 70 percent mark that historically has translated to success with NCAA Tournament bids and seeds.But with a slew of premium opponents looming, the 12 teams will be hard pressed to keep their win rate on the high side of the threshold.Results over the Thanksgiving holiday in several high-profile showdowns will be critical.To the power ratings …1. Arizona (5-0)Last week: 1Results: beat Belmont 100-68, beat UT Arlington 101-56Next up: vs. Michigan State (Thursday)Comment: The Wildcats have hit the 100-point mark three times and are averaging 99.6 points per game, third nationally behind Eastern Kentucky and Alabama. No other Pac-12 team is in the 90s.2. UCLA (4-1)Last week: 3Results: lost to Marquette 71-69, beat ...

Heckling to be heard: Why Bay Area protesters have increasingly become government disruptors

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

Mention government shutdowns and most people think about standoffs in Congress. But in the Bay Area, which has long been synonymous with protest, a different kind of government shutdown has become increasingly common — from the streets to school board meetings, protesters are becoming civic disruptors.Perhaps the most high-profile example came last Monday when 700 people at a mostly Jewish-led sit-in took over Oakland’s Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building, calling for a ceasefire of violence in Gaza. Days earlier, Pro-Palestinian protesters had delayed a ship, believed to be carrying military supplies, for nine hours at the Port of Oakland.Last Thursday, roughly 200 demonstrators demanding a Gaza ceasefire shut down rush hour traffic on the Bay Bridge, some of them throwing the keys to their cars into the water below.That same week, during a global trade summit in San Francisco, protesters tried to shut down meetings and stop delegates at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation c...

San Jose man sentenced to 15 years in prison for sending meth to Minnesota

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

(BCN) -- A San Jose man was given 15 years in prison time for trafficking meth from California to the city of Austin in Minnesota, federal prosecutors said.Michael Anthony Ortiz, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He was sentenced on Oct. 18, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota said in a statement Monday.Between the fall of 2021 and the summer of 2022, Ortiz sent packages of high purity meth from California to his contacts in Austin who would distribute the illegal drugs in the city, prosecutors said.After his prison time, Ortiz is required to undergo five years of supervised release, the District Attorney's Office said.Four of his contacts, who also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, have also been sentenced to prison, prosecutors said.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Stock market today: Wall Street opens higher, led by travel-related companies

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, led by big gains in travel-related companies as energy prices drop. Cruise companies and airlines were among the biggest gainers in the early going Wednesday. The market is on track to post a modest gain in this holiday-shortened week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. Thursday. The S&P 500 was up 0.6%, the Dow was up 143 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.1%. Crude oil prices sank more than 4% after OPEC said it would postpone its latest conference to next week. Treasury prices were relatively steady. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mixed on Wednesday in cautious trading after Wall Street’s rally ran out of momentum.Benchmarks rose in Paris, Frankfurt and Tokyo but fell in London and Shanghai. U.S. futures were little changed and oil prices edged lower.Trading was tapering off ahead of holidays in the U.S. and Japan on Thursday, with ...

Major Iranian-backed militant group vows to expand conflict if U.S. airstrikes continue

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A major Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq warned Wednesday it may strike additional U.S. targets after U.S. warplanes killed multiple militants in response to the first use of short-range ballistic missiles against U.S. forces at Al-Asad Air Base earlier this week. U.S. fighter jets struck a Kataib Hezbollah operations center and a Kataib Hezbollah command and control node near Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, two defense officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide additional sensitive details of the attacks. There were Kataib Hezbollah personnel at both sites at the time of the strikes, but the officials said they could not yet confirm whether anyone there was killed.Militia officials in Iraq said the attack had killed eight Kataib Hezbollah members.The U.S. airstrikes followed an initial retaliatory strike by an AC-130 gunship that was in the air when the Iranian-backed militants fired two short-range ballistic missil...

Portuguese hacker in Football Leaks scandal handed 6-month suspended sentence by French court

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A Portuguese hacker whose bombshell revelations on the “FootballLeaks” website rocked European soccer was convicted Wednesday by a Paris court and given a suspended prison sentence of six months.Rui Pinto accepted the sentence proposed by the public prosecutor for hacking into Paris Saint-Germain executives, French media reported. He was also ordered to pay one euro in damages to PSG, which had sued as a civil party, as well as 4,000 euros ($4,360) in legal costs.The 35-year-old Pinto reportedly expressed his desire to cooperate with justice authorities in Europe and France’s financial prosecutor.The Paris court ruling followed Pinto’s conviction in September by a Lisbon court of nine crimes. In that case, he was given a suspended prison sentence of four years.Pinto’s disclosures embarrassed star players, top clubs and influential agents between 2015-18 and helped drive official investigations across Europe.The website published information about the transfe...

Britain’s Conservative government pushes tax cuts in hopes of bolstering electoral chances

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:14 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government sought to regain the political initiative Wednesday with a series of tax cuts for businesses and individuals that it hopes will bolster its chances in a national election next year that opinion polls suggest it will lose.Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said the British economy “had turned a corner,” allowing him to offer what he termed the biggest set of tax cuts since the 1980s.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is desperately searching for an economic feelgood factor to boost Conservative election fortunes. But with public finances still stretched by historical standards, economic growth muted at best and inflation still more than double the Bank of England’s target rate of 2%, experts have warned that the government hasn’t got much room for further big giveaways in the run-up to the next election.The most high-profile measure in Hunt’s autumn budget statement was a cut to national insurance — a tax that employees p...