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These Bay Area residents live in affordable housing. Why did their rent skyrocket?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

BY JEANNE KUANG | CalMattersWhen California lawmakers passed a rent cap four years ago to protect tenants from large and frequent rent hikes, they exempted hundreds of thousands of units reserved for some of the state’s poorest renters.Low-income housing, after all, is usually built with public subsidies that already impose rent ceilings on developers and property owners. Some are already managed or overseen by local public housing agencies.But California also has more than 350,000 privately owned low-income housing units — built with the help of federal tax credits — exempted from the state’s rent cap. Residents of some of those units have seen their rents soar despite being the exact demographic the law sought to protect.The 2019 law, known as the Tenant Protection Act, prohibits landlords from increasing rents more than a certain amount — 10% this year, though usually it’s less — and more than once a year.It’s meant to guarantee some level of stability for tenants, proponents say...

Israeli forces battle militants in Gaza’s main cities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

By Wafaa Shurafa and Jack Jeffery | Associated PressDEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians dug under crushed buildings Monday to recover the bodies of families killed in strikes around Gaza as Israeli forces battled militants in the territory’s two largest cities, where many thousands of civilians are still trapped by the fighting.Residents said battles went on in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli ground forces opened a new line of attack last week. Battles were also still underway in parts of Gaza City and the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, where large areas have been reduced to rubble.Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles its military capabilities and gets back all of the hostages taken by militants during Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel that ignited the war. The Israeli campaign has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and driven nearly 85% of the territory’...

Harry and Meghan among Hollywood’s ‘biggest losers’ in 2023, but Harry still ‘intriguing’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the town’s “biggest winners and losers” in 2023 could make Meghan Markle’s powerhouse agents worry about their efforts to relaunch her U.S. career — if they haven’t already begun to rethink their association, as surmised by PR and branding experts since she and Prince Harry were caught up in furor surrounding Omid Scobie’s controversial book “Endgame.”THR, one of Hollywood’s leading trade publications, placed Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, among its list of “losers” for the year — along with Disney, Marvel and DC superhero movies, embattled actors Ezra Miller and Jonathan Majors and Elon Musk and X. The winners, on the other hand, include Taylor Swift, Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Christopher Nolan, Netflix, horror movies and “silver fox” actors like Patrick Dempsey.But it’s not all bad news for Meghan and Harry at the end of what turned out t...

UK leader faces a Parliament in revolt over Rwanda plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

By Jill Lawless | Associated PressLONDON — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced a rebellion from restive lawmakers over his signature immigration policy, while fending off tough questions Monday about his judgment during the COVID-19 pandemic.The twin pressures add up to one of the toughest weeks of Sunak’s 13 months in office, with both his present authority and past record at stake.Legislation intended to salvage Sunak’s blocked plan to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda faces a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday. While disparate groups of Conservative lawmakers met in Parliament to pick holes in the bill, Sunak was undergoing a six-hour grilling at the U.K.’s pandemic inquiry, where he denied taking risks with public health.Sunak was Treasury chief to Prime Minister Boris Johnson when the pandemic hit, and backed a discount initiative that encouraged people to go back to restaurants in August 2020 after months of lockdown.The government’s scientific advis...

Sale closed in San Ramon: $2.3 million for a four-bedroom home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

6045 Alpine Blue Drive – Google Street ViewA spacious, recently built house located in the 6000 block of Alpine Blue Drive in San Ramon has new owners. The 2,967-square-foot property, built in 2016, was sold on Nov. 15, 2023. The $2,310,000 purchase price works out to $779 per square foot. This two-story house offers a roomy layout with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. In addition, the home comes with an attached two-car garage, allowing for convenient vehicle storage and additional storage space.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:On Hyacinthus Lane, San Ramon, in March 2023, a 2,967-square-foot home was sold for $2,144,000, a price per square foot of $723. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.A 2,967-square-foot home on the 6000 block of Alpine Blue Drive in San Ramon sold in September 2022, for $2,225,000, a price per square foot of $750. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.In January 2023, a 2,085-square-foot home on Rowan Drive in San Ramon sold for $1,...

A group of California children sue EPA in federal court, alleging it allows climate pollution to continue despite harms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

By Ella Nilsen | CNNA group of 18 California children – ranging in ages from 8 to 17 – has filed a new constitutional climate case in federal court against the US Environmental Protection Agency, alleging it has harmed children’s health and welfare over decades.The case, Genesis B. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, alleges the EPA “intentionally allows” planet warming pollution to come from the sources it regulates, such as vehicles and heavy-duty trucks, power plants, and oil and gas wells. It follows the first constitutional climate case in the US, which youth plaintiffs successfully tried in Montana earlier this year.The case further alleges the agency allows this pollution “despite knowing the harm it causes to children’s health and welfare.” The case was filed Sunday night in US District Court in the Central District of California.“There is one federal agency explicitly tasked with keeping the air clean and controlling pollution to protect the health of every ch...

Jury seated in Giuliani election workers’ defamation trial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

By Lindsay Whitehurst and Michelle L. Price | Associated PressWASHINGTON — A jury was sworn in Monday in the federal case that will determine how much Rudy Giuliani might have to pay two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of fraud while pushing Donald Trump’s baseless claims after the 2020 election.The former New York City mayor has already been found liable in the defamation lawsuit brought by Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who endured threats and harassment after they became the target of a conspiracy theory spread by Trump and his allies. The only issue to be determined at the trial is the amount of damages, if any, Giuliani must pay.Giuliani did not speak to reporters as he entered Washington’s federal courthouse — the same building where Trump is set to stand trial in March on criminal charges accusing the former president of scheming to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden.Opening arguments in the case were expected to...

Workers at Oakland coffee shop at center of antisemitic graffiti incident slam owners

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

(KRON) -- Former and present employees of an Oakland coffee shop at the center of an incident involving antisemitic graffiti have issued a statement slamming the business' owners. The owners of Farley's East knew about the graffiti in the bathroom, which equated Zionism with fascism, for two months, according to the statement from the group, Former Farley's East United.Farley's East has been at the center of a controversy that emerged after a viral video on social media surfaced showing employees of the business appearing to deny a customer access to the bathroom with the graffiti. In the video, three employees of Farley's are seen blocking the customer from going into the bathroom, before finally relenting.The woman then enters the bathroom and films the graffiti. SantaCon, Haney fight in SF draws nearly 100K BART riders "The narrative is that they denied her entry because she is a Jewish woman," said the statement from past and present employees. "That is a lie."According to sta...

Zelensky se enfrenta a una tarea imposible ante las reuniones en Washington esta semana

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

(CNN) —  El destino de miles de millones en ayuda para Ucrania sigue en el limbo este lunes por la mañana, incluso cuando se espera que el presidente Volodymyr Zelensky haga una propuesta crucial a los senadores y al presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson, el martes.Es poco probable que la visita de Zelensky a Washington, la tercera desde que Rusia invadió Ucrania en 2022, cambie una dinámica ya consolidada en Washington, según la cual los republicanos, incluso los que apoyan la financiación adicional para Ucrania, no están dispuestos a hacer más, a menos que los demócratas y la Casa Blanca cedan en cambios políticos importantes en la frontera sur de Estados Unidos.Joe Biden recibirá este martes en la Casa Blanca al presidente de Ucrania, Volodymyr ZelenskyEs un momento complicado para la Casa Blanca, que ha defendido una y otra vez que Zelensky y su país se encuentran en un punto de inflexión crítico en su lucha por la democracia. Y, sin embargo, es posible q...

Broncos defuse Chargers, 1 game behind Chiefs in AFC West

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:52:53 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) - A lot can change in an NFL season.Just ask the 2023 Denver Broncos.On Sept. 24, the Broncos gave up 70 points to the Miami Dolphins. 76 days later, Denver finds themselves in the middle of a playoff push.And it’s a crowded room trying to punch their ticket into the playoffs. How likely is it for the Denver Broncos to make the NFL playoffs? “This last quarter poll will define a lot for many teams,” said Broncos head coach Sean Payton on his weekly Monday morning Zoom audio call.The scenarios are wild and confusing: 11 teams with winning records and six with 7-6 records, including the Denver Broncos. Both are the most for a single conference through Week 14 since 1970.As for the Broncos, they are nipping at the heels of the first-place Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. “We’re a game out in the division and that is how we are looking at it,” Payton said.In the Wild Cars race, Denver is in the 9th position thanks to the head-to-head win over the Bills (11th) and the ...