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Kurtenbach: The Warriors prioritized basketball smarts this offseason. It’s looking like a sharp decision

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors returned to their roots this past offseason.Heading into the 2023-24 campaign, there is a strict “no idiots” policy back in place.Alright, that might be a bit harsh. The more couth way to phrase it is that the Warriors made basketball IQ and innate feel for the game — a priority this summer.We’ll see if it works, but the early returns have been, unsurprisingly, positive.“This feels like a really high-IQ team, and they’re showing that, I think, early on,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.And regardless of the final result in April, May, or June, this was the right move for everyone’s sanity.I think you’ll agree that after a half-decade plus of the most beautiful, cerebral basketball you could imagine, things were trending in the wrong direction in San Francisco. Watching players not rotate on defense and abandon the offense on a whim was becoming unbearable.This Warriors’ core doesn’t have time to ...

Despite new pension law, thousands of retired California teachers are still paying for others’ mistakes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

For years, the state agency that oversees California’s teacher pensions has clawed money back from nearly 10,000 retirees after discovering school districts — or the agency itself — had been miscalculating their pension packages.A new law signed on Sept. 25 by Gov. Gavin Newsom expands protections for retired teachers, and further shields them from having to repay for those mistakes in the future. But it does nothing for former educators who don’t qualify for relief because the errors in their pensions were discovered before the cut-off point of the bill: January 2023.“We still don’t know what a solution looks like, but we’re very concerned about the issue,” said Jennifer Baker, a legislative advocate for the California Retired Teachers’ Association (CalRTA). “That’s a much more complicated conversation. And though we’re exploring it, there are a lot of legal roadblocks.”Outrage over retired teachers’ overpayment debt was first reported in April, ...

Powerball jackpot leaps to $1.73 billion, second largest prize in the lottery’s history

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

By Elizabeth Wolfe | CNNThe Powerball jackpot has soared to a whopping estimated $1.73 billion after no big winner was drawn Monday night, marking the second largest prize in the lottery&#’;s history.It is also the first time in Powerball&#’;s history that consecutive jackpot cycles have reached billion-dollar prizes, Powerball announced.If a lucky ticket holder scores the jackpot, they will have the choice between an annuitized prize worth an estimated $1.73 billion or a lump sum payment estimated at $756.6 million – both before taxes, Powerball said.Related ArticlesCalifornia News | Powerball ticket worth $1.3 million sold in San Francisco California News | Powerball jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.2 billion for Wednesday’s drawing California News | San Jose Powerball player so close to $800 million, will have to settle for $800K California News | Powerball jackpot swells to $925 million after no winner snagged t...

Why Shanahan ‘keeping it real’ is important to 49ers’ season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Kyle Shanahan did an unusual thing during final preparations for what would be a 42-10 annihilation of the Dallas Cowboys.The 49ers’ head coach addressed the possibility of losing.It’s not the usual modus operandi of a football coach, but Shanahan has his own way of doing things and being frank is included in a style developed over 13 years as an NFL assistant and seven years in charge of the 49ers.So rather than go on a testosterone-fueled Saturday night rage about leaving it all on the field and no one coming back alive in a heated battle with the hated Cowboys, Shanahan accurately addressed the challenge in front of his players against a quality opponent with a 3-1 record.It’s the NFL, so the likelihood is the 49ers are going to lose a time or three this season, regardless of how good they are. And five games into the season was no time to attach everything to a game that would have made the difference between being 5-0 and 4-1.Shanahan is on...

Gov. Newsom signs legislation to improve broadband connectivity across California

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation from California Senator Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that aims to improve broadband and internet connectivity across California by allowing the state to lease its property to providers for deployment of new infrastructure.Senate Bill 387 aims to give General Services more flexibility in setting lease terms, creating incentives for broadband providers to invest in much-needed infrastructure improvements. Also, it is scheduled to allow the department to execute leases on behalf of other state departments such as Caltrans, Parks and Recreation and Fish and Wildlife, with their consent.“With approval of this new law, the state can use its property to generate revenue while enticing providers to expand their offerings,” Sen. Dodd said in a news release. “It will fill in unserved zones and help get high-speed data to those who need it for work, school and home life. I thank the governor for signing it into law. ”Under existing law, the state Department of Ge...

Site of huge Bay Area housing project is seized in loan foreclosure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

OAKLAND — The future for a huge housing development in Oakland has turned murky now that a lender has seized the project site through its foreclosure of a delinquent real estate loan.The foreclosure casts doubt and uncertainty over the fate of a project that could have produced well over 1,000 homes in West Oakland.Housing tower within the CitySpaces mixed-use development that features 1,032 residences, retail, restaurant and grocery spaces at 500 Kirkham Street in West Oakland, concept. (SiteLab Urban Studio, BDE Architecture)San Francisco-based Panoramic Development had proposed the housing project on a site that’s bounded by Kirkham Street, 7th Street, Union Street and 5th Street, Oakland planning files show.Panoramic bought the site, whose official address is 500 Kirkham Street, for $7.1 million in 2017.Street-level view of the CitySpaces mixed-use development that features 1,032 residences, retail, restaurant and grocery spaces at 500 Kirkham Street in West Oak...

Chick-fil-A buys San Jose site near busy intersection and large retailer

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

SAN JOSE — Chick-fil-A has bought a parcel near a choice San Jose intersection in a real estate deal that could mark an expansion for the restaurant chain, public records show.The fast-food restaurant company paid $4.5 million for a parcel near the corner of Silver Creek Road and East Capital Expressway, according to documents filed on Oct. 6 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.Chick-fil-A bought the parcel through an all-cash deal, the county real estate files show.At present, the just-bought parcel is a surface parking lot with frontage on Silver Creek Road.Target sold the parcel to Chick-fil-A, according to the property documents. Target operates one of its big-box stores in the same retail complex.In the wake of the property transaction, Target retained the ownership of its store site and an adjacent surface parking lot, the grant deed and other documents on file with the cunty show.Sometime around 2010, Chick-fil-A became a lightning rod for controversy af...

Walters: California economic uncertainty drives Newsom’s high veto rate

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

This is a week of waiting and watching for legislators, lobbyists, journalists, bureaucrats and other denizens in and around the state Capitol.Mostly, they are waiting to see how Gov. Gavin Newsom handles hundreds of bills still awaiting his signature or rejection in the few remaining days he has to act.Newsom appears to be rejecting an unusually large percentage of the bills passed by the Legislature this year — nearly 20% according to lobbyist Chris Micheli, who tracks legislative data as a sideline.Many of Newsom’s veto messages contain the same language, lamenting that after the state dealt with a $30 billion budget deficit, the Legislature sent him measures that “would add nearly $19 billion of unaccounted costs in the budget.”“With our state facing continuing economic risk and revenue uncertainty, it is important to remain disciplined in considering bills with significant fiscal implications, such as this measure,” his boilerplate veto message concludes.That cautionary m...

Judge: Driving car into Bay Area cop wasn’t attempted murder

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

A defendant wasn’t trying to murder a Vallejo police officer when he drove a car into the officer during a burglary this summer, a judge said Tuesday.Following two days of preliminary examination, Judge Robert Bowers found probable cause that 30-year-old Jamazea Kittell committed assault or assault on a police officer June 27 when he hit Officer Brad Kim with a Dodge Charger. But he found no merit to the prosecution’s claim that Kittell – who, according to expert testimony, couldn’t see Kim until it was too late to stop – was trying to kill the other man.“I don’t think there is sufficient cause to hold him to answer for an attempted murder. I don’t see it,” Bowers said in Solano County Superior Court.Ultimately, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office is still in charge of deciding what charges Kittell will face at trial. Deputy District Attorney Kevin Tali said in an interview that he’ll need to speak to “higher-ups” before making that decision. Assaulting a police officer wit...

East Bay attorney indicted in infamous billion-dollar Ponzi scheme

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:30 GMT

A lawyer for the shuttered DC Solar company at the heart of a nearly $1 billion fraud case has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Sacramento.Jurors on Oct. 5 returned a 23‑count indictment against Ari J. Lauer, 59, of Lafayette, agreeing there was enough evidence to charge him with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud affecting a financial institution. The allegations were brought for his role in the biggest criminal fraud scheme in the history of the Eastern District of California, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a press release issued Monday.A licensed attorney in California, Lauer, from approximately 2009 to January 2019, was outside counsel to DC Solar, which had offices in Solano and Yolo counties and elsewhere in Northern California. He provided legal and business advice concerning DC Solar’s operations.The indictment was unsealed Monday after Lauer’s arrest. He was booked into Sacramento County Jail on Monday but was released, ja...