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Three years later, Bay Area home prices 28% higher than at start of pandemic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

The Bay Area’s population is shrinking and more housing is being built, but local home prices remain sky-high in the latest report — about 28% above where they were when the pandemic first upended the local real estate market.How can that be? The short answer: The Bay Area still lacks anywhere near enough homes to meet demand, even as high mortgage rates squeeze out would-be homebuyers. Until the region can add significantly more housing, prices will likely remain far out of reach for most residents.While interest rates, tech layoffs, stock market fluctuations and recession fears have brought down the Bay Area’s median home price from a record peak of more than $1.5 million last spring, prices haven’t dropped as much as would be expected in a “normally functioning housing market,” said Matt Regan, a housing policy expert with the Bay Area Council, a pro-business group.“But we haven’t had a normally functioning housing market for quite some t...

They said it: A limit to trolling rights on social media

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

“He’s an American, so he has a right to troll; that’s his First Amendment right. But we’re in an environment right now, and I was at the Capitol on January 6, that when people intimate violence, I take them at their word.”— Rep. Eric Swalwell, an East Bay Democrat, on a Twitter post traced last week to former San Francisco 49ers fullback Bruce Miller, calling the congressman “traitor” and asking if he’d rather go to a notorious offshore prison or “just execution,” with laughing emojis. Miller replied it was “in no way a threat.”

Most popular hiking trail in Yosemite to receive a $5 million upgrade

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

At Yosemite National Park, a landscape defined by breathtaking views and stunning scenery, the Mist Trail stands out.The seven-mile round trip, which begins near Happy Isles in the eastern edges of Yosemite Valley, takes hikers up the Merced River as its pristine waters roar out of the park’s high country, cascading through granite boulders over two spectacular waterfalls, the 319-foot-tall Vernal Fall and the 594-foot-tall Nevada Fall.The trail, which is used by up to 4,000 people a day during summer weekends, is also slippery and steep, drawing dozens of rescues every year, and occasional deaths when people fall into the river. But now a $5 million project planned for the popular trail aims to make it safer and more enjoyable.“We’re excited about this,” said Frank Dean, a former Yosemite ranger and president of the Yosemite Conservancy. “The Mist Trail is the most popular trail in Yosemite and one of the most popular trails in the whole national park system. And ...

Top 5 things to monitor as 49ers start organized team activities

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Let the games begin. Or, actually, the practices, and definitely the quarterback competition between Trey Lance and Sam Darnold.Organized team activities, better known as the 49ers’ most complete practices of the offseason, begin Monday.They remain part of the voluntary offseason program, so some All-Pros likely will skip them. Defensive end Nick Bosa has stayed back, thus far, to work out like every offseason in his native Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, doing so now as the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.Now is not the time for Bosa to report and sign a contract that could be the NFL’s largest ever for a non-quarterback, a deal that could land in the $30 million to $35 million annual range once training camp starts in about two months.Here is what’s worth watching, following and scrutinizing at the OTAs, which lead into the June 12-14 mandatory minicamp:5. SECOND-STRING STRENGTHThe 49ers’ reserves must maximize these reps, battle for jobs, and prove their wo...

AAPI Heritage Month: Vietnamese cuisines

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

(KRON) -- KRON4 is celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Owner of Bodega SF, Matt Ho, joins KRON4 Anchor Stephanie Lin to share Vietnamese cuisines.

Civil War reenactors bring history to life at elementary school

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — One student marveled at the size of the jawbreaker, a mainstay of candy stores and Civil War soldiers’ rations bags alike.“Can I eat it?” the student asked the man dressed as a Confederate soldier.“I’ve probably had that thing so long, I wouldn’t eat it!” Civil War reenactor Buddy Miller said. “I’ve probably had that thing longer than you’ve been alive.”Reenactors from across Maryland came to Bester Elementary School in Hagerstown recently to close out the fifth-grade class’ unit on the Civil War, priming them for a trip to one of the war’s bloodiest battlefields just a few miles south at Antietam.Throughout the day, around 60 students in four groups walked through stations in the school’s courtyard, greeted by Union and Confederate soldiers, grocers and volunteers, all to bring the textbooks to life.How do reenactors bring history to life?Miller, 67, showcased the standard Confederate soldier uniform, loading one student up with everything from the holster to...

Hidden vault inside coffee shop captivates the imagination — and the internet

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) — A coffee shop coming to Buckroe Beach became the focus of worldwide internet intrigue after business owners documenting the building’s rehab discovered a locked vault hidden within the shop’s walls.Chesapeake resident David Spring and Virginia Beach resident John Napier hope to open Buckroe Coffee Co. at 1936 E. Pembroke Ave. this summer. But their renovations took a detour when they discovered a mysterious vault as they tore down drywall inside the roughly 2,400-square-foot building.Napier said he knew the building had previously served as a bank through the 1990s but had no idea the vault was left behind. Excited by what they found, Spring started recording their discoveries and uploading the videos to Instagram and Facebook.“I just posted that video randomly because people like house flipping shows,” Spring said. “I’m like, ‘Well, how about, like, business flipping?’ Right? That might be a fun thing to share.”The April 19 Instagram video showing the discovery ...

Ground stop issued at Denver airport due to staffing: FAA

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A ground stop at Denver International Airport was issued Sunday morning by the Federal Aviation Administration due to staffing issues.The ground stop was issued at 7:45 a.m. and was expected to last until 9 a.m., with a 30% chance to extend. The stop was for departures from several regions surrounding Denver.

Pattern Turning Wetter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

A typical Summer-like pattern is underway for South Florida this Sunday with a couple passing showers on the breeze. By the afternoon, temperatures quickly warm up into the upper 80’s to low 90’s with the sea breeze developing isolated storms favoring inland areas. Some of the leftover activity could drift early evening into Metro portions of Miami-Dade county. Overnight, there is a slight chance of seeing a few showers around the Florida Keys. By Tuesday, deeper moisture moves into the state of Florida and gets trapped by a stalled front making conditions ripe for rain. The deeper moisture is located North of the Dominican Republic and Haiti and stretches into the Southern Bahamas including the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is associated with a disturbance high up in the sky. Therefore, look for it be wet at times from Tuesday through Friday. The National Hurricane Center started to keep a close eye on that area of disturbed weather producing scattered showers and storms...

Germany reportedly investigating alleged poisoning of Putin critics in Berlin

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:37 GMT

German police have launched an investigation into the alleged poisoning of Russian opposition figures in Berlin, according to media reports.Two activists who took part in a conference organized by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on April 29-30 subsequently reported poisoning symptoms, according to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.German police confirmed to Welt and AFP that a probe is under way but did not mention Russia’s alleged involvement in the two incidents.The head of the Free Russia Foundation, Natalia Arno, identified herself as one of the victims of the suspected poisoning. “There is a suspicion that during my recent trip to Europe I was poisoned, possibly by some nerve agent, one (or even more than one) Western intelligence service is investigating,” she wrote on Facebook.Arno said she started feeling “strange symptoms” after smelling an unusual scent in her hotel room in an unidentified European city where she had held...