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Fall arts 2023: ‘Steve Jobs’ finally comes to Bay Area stage

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

Mark your calendars, classical music fans: There’s a lot to look forward to as the 2023/24 season begins.With events featuring opera, symphonies, recitals, new works and early music revivals, there’s a great lineup of events in store.San Francisco Opera’s season offerings begin with Verdi’s “Il Trovatore,” followed by the Bay Area premiere of Mason Bates’ “The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs” and the company’s first “Lohengrin” since 2012. Opera San Jose launches its 40th season with general director Shawna Lucey’s new production of Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet.”Looking for a rarity? Ars Minerva, acclaimed in recent seasons for its revivals of Domenico Freschi’s “Ermelinda” and “Astianatte,” returns with the composer’s 1682 “Olimpia Vendicata.”In the East Bay, Livermore Valley Opera is presenting Carlisle Floyd’s “Of Mice and Men,” and Solo Opera has a family-friendly production of Lori Laitman’s “The Three Feathers.”Music director Esa-Pekka Salonen has made the San Francisco Symphony’s op...

Recipe: The Palace Green Goddess Dressing

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

This Palace Hotel culinary creation — a century-old recipe — will be celebrated every Aug. 23, as per a new proclamation from the city of San Francisco. Executive chef Thomas Rhodes and his staff serve the hotel’s signature dressing daily in the Garden Court restaurant, so naturally they make it in large quantities. This recipe makes one gallon.The Palace Green Goddess DressingINGREDIENTS2 bunches of Italian flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)2 bunches fresh chervil (finely chopped)5 bunches tarragon (finely chopped)5 cups fresh spinach1/2 bottle chopped capers1/4 bottle Worcestershire sauce1/2 cup chopped garlic1/4 cup shopped shallots1 tablespoon sugar6 anchovies3 cups tarragon vinegar1/2 cup Dijon mustard3 egg yolks6 cups corn oilDIRECTIONSCombine all ingredients (except oil) in blender or in container using immersion blender. Blend on high until smooth. While blending, slowly drizzle oil into mixture. Keep drizzling until oil is gone, then season with salt and p...

Person standing outside van on I-580 shoulder fatally hit by SUV

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

DUBLIN — A two-car crash killed a person standing on the shoulder of Interstate 580 early Sunday, the California Highway Patrol said.The wreck happened about 2:35 a.m. on the right shoulder of westbound I-580, east of Eden Canyon Road.According to the CHP, the driver of a white 2021 Chevrolet Trailblazer veered onto the shoulder and hit a 2021 Ford E-Transit van. The CHP said the van’s driver was outside the vehicle and hit by the Trailblazer.The person died on the freeway. Authorities did not have the person’s identity available Tuesday.The CHP is trying to find out what happened in the moments leading up to the crash and is looking for people who witnessed it. Anyone with information is asked to contact the CHP’s Dublin station at 925-828-0466.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Elderly woman dies of injuries suffered in Aug. 21 South Bay crash Crime and Public Safety | Man dies after crashing stolen car into San Jose creek ...

The hits keep coming: Beyonce, Swift and Ed Sheeran shows raise big bucks in Bay Area

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

When Taylor Swift brought her massive, sold-out Eras Tour touched to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara in late July, she did more than break the venue’s curfew (twice) and propel some 100,000 Swifties into heights of sing-along ecstasy.She also ignited a spending spree worth tens of millions of dollars to the local economy.And more of the same is in store when Beyonce brings her Renaissance World Tour to the stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 30, and Ed Sheeran performs there Sept. 16 (the British pop star also plays at the Fox Theater the night before).Elite superstar acts are running the concert world like never before in 2023, taking their shows to the next level as they sell hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of tickets and fill huge stadiums around the globe. And they are sharing some of the enormous wealth-generating opportunities with the Bay Area.“Levi’s Stadium was built to attract major sporting and entertainment events to the region and be an economic engine for...

Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District to pay nearly $100,000 settlement for wrongfully rescinding job offer over applicant’s criminal history

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

The Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District will pay nearly $100,000 to settle claims that it violated the state’s Fair Chance Act by wrongfully considering a person’s criminal history in rescinding a job offer, the California Civil Rights Department announced on Tuesday.The settlement is one of the largest of its kind in state history, according to the Civil Rights Department.The job candidate filed a complaint to the state department alleging that the Contra Costa-based fire district rescinded a job offer based on the applicant’s answers in a criminal history questionnaire. By then, the person had already left their previous fire gig. In doing so, the fire district failed to take into consideration “important mitigating factors,” including how long ago the crime had happened and whether the offenses related to the job that the person was seeking to fill, the department said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | ‘Outrageous and inex...

Furniture store Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is shutting down

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner | CNNNew York  — Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, which grew from a small North Carolina-based upholstery maker to a national retail furniture chain, is shuttering operations, citing weak sales and trouble securing financing. It’s the latest retailer hurting from sluggish sales as consumers pull back on spending.About 500 employees in North Carolina are losing their jobs as a result of the closure, said interim CEO Chris Moye in a notice sent to the state’s Department of Commerce over the weekend. The separations are expected to happen in the two-week period that started August 26, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice.Mitchell Gold’s closure is yet another sign of consumers’ pause in discretionary spending. Sales at Home Depot and Target have dropped in their most recent quarters. Best Buy said on Tuesday that it is lowering the high-end of its forecast for fiscal year 2024 as it expects declining tech sales to hit a...

After court ruling, EPA weakens clean water protections

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

By Michael Phillis, Matthew Daly and John Flesher | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over them.The rule would require that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift that departs from a half-century of federal rules governing the nation’s waterways.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said the agency had no alternative after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s power to regulate wetlands that do not have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.Justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a May ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near a lake. Chantell and Michael Sackett had objected when feder...

Chabot Elementary School bomb threat had 'racial undertones': OPD

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

(KRON) -- Chabot Elementary School in Oakland was on lockdown Tuesday morning due to a bomb threat, the Oakland Police Department confirmed. The school was cordoned off with yellow police tape and officers from several agencies and K-9 officers are deployed at the school. Burglars targeting boats on Oakland estuary The bomb threat was called in around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday before school started. Students that were on the campus were safely reunited with parents, according to Oakland PD Capt. Lisa Ausmus.OPD was working with Alameda County Sheriff's Office K-9 bomb dogs to investigate. No explosive device was located. There has been a social media backlash against Chabot Elementary School trending Tuesday morning in reaction to a "Playdate Social for Black, Brown and API families." A major conservative account tweeted about the event, describing it as a "race segregated 'playdate social' for all students except white kids."KRON4 reached out to the group behind the playdate e...

FBI Hoovering Up DNA at a Pace That Rivals China, Holds 21 Million Samples and Counting

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

The FBI has amassed 21.7 million DNA profiles — equivalent to about 7 percent of the U.S. population — according to Bureau data reviewed by The Intercept.The FBI aims to nearly double its current $56.7 million budget for dealing with its DNA catalog with an additional $53.1 million, according to its budget request for fiscal year 2024. “The requested resources will allow the FBI to process the rapidly increasing number of DNA samples collected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” the appeal for an increase says.“When we’re talking about rapid expansion like this, it’s getting us ever closer to a universal DNA database.”In an April 2023 statement submitted to Congress to explain the budget request, FBI Director Christopher Wray cited several factors that had “significantly expanded the DNA processing requirements of the FBI.” He said the FBI collected around 90,000 samples a month — “over 10 times the historical sample volume” — and expected that number to swell to about 120...

Irish kickers using foot skills honed for generations to target football scholarships at US colleges

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:01:27 GMT

DUBLIN (AP) — College football already has Aussie punters. Tadhg Leader hopes Irish kickers are next.The former rugby player from Galway saw enough potential that he quit his job at JP Morgan Chase to focus full-time on finding and developing Irish “leg talent” for American football.Leader, whose first name is pronounced “TIE-guh,” launched his program a year ago and some early returns are promising. He brought two Irishmen on a summer tour of kicking camps in the United States, and both came away with scholarships to Championship Subdivision schools.Then there’s prized pupil Andy Quinn, who dropped rugby to enter Leader’s kicking competition and ended up winning it in a finale held at halftime of the Nebraska-Northwestern game at Aviva Stadium in Dublin a year ago.The NFL Academy in Britain took note and signed the 18-year-old Quinn on scholarship as a kicker and punter. He repeated as Ireland’s “kicking king” last Friday by belting a 57-yard field goal at Donnybr...