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8 spooky Bay Area home displays to explore for Halloween — and revisit at Christmas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

In every neighborhood, there are the houses whose owners really have fun decorating for Halloween, erecting towering skeletons, giant faux spiderwebs or inflatable scary clowns.But here are eight Bay Area homeowners who go even more over the top in creating uniquely extravagant displays — and not just for Halloween. They also are known for extending their festive extravagance into the winter holidays, rating special mentions on the California Christmas Lights website, which provides a comprehensive list of holiday lights displays.In October, these holiday enthusiasts transform their yards into elaborate haunted mansions, graveyards and other spooky scenes. Then, starting Nov. 1, they break down the scary stuff and replace it with winter wonderlands of snow-people, Santas and lots and lots of lights. You could say these homes offer a one-stop-shop for holiday displays, doing a rapid Halloween-to-Christmas turn-around in order to keep up the holiday spirit all through the fall a...

This couple just opened a gourmet doughnut shop in their East Bay hometown

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

Lisa Ghilarducci grew up alongside the man who would one day become her fiancé: Alan Chow.RELATED: 12 fantastic Bay Area doughnut shops that will knock your socks offThe pair started dating in high school, and in the more than a decade since, she says, there has been one other constant in his life: doughnuts. Chow began running his family’s Berkeley doughnut shop, Rainbow Donuts, when he was just 18“I’ve always known him as the doughnut boy,” she laughs.Alan Chow and Lisa Ghilarducci, who both grew up in Hercules, just opened Dynamite Donuts, a doughnut shop, in their hometown. The couple plans to marry next year. (Courtesy Lisa Ghilarducci) So when they saw a storefront open up, the couple decided to embark on a journey that’s a whole different kind of sweet: a hometown doughnut shop.This summer, they opened the doors of Dynamite Donuts, offering coffee from Bay Area-based Zolo Coffee Roasters and specialty doughnuts that the couple workshops toge...

Bicyclists and drivers plead for caution on roadways: Roadshow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

Q: I truly appreciate that you have written about the critical issue of automobiles and bicycles respectfully sharing city streets. Recent harrowing experiences warrant raising this issue yet again. I am a 70-year-old retired social worker and avid cyclist. I ride often near my Berryessa home. I prefer the South Bay’s many bike trails, including the Guadalupe, Stevens Creek, and San Tomas trails, which are blissfully car-free. To get to them, I must negotiate surface streets and there, encounter automobiles. Many, if not most drivers respectfully share the road. Unlike many cyclists, I am a conscientious rider, following all the rules of the road on my road bike, equipped with front and back blinking lights, and a side view mirror.Twice one recent week while riding eastbound on Borregas Avenue in Sunnyvale, I encountered cars emerging from commercial parking lots. In both instances, they entered the street directly in my path. Collisions and, likely, significant bodily injurie...

Here’s what California schools must now do to prepare for a fentanyl overdose on campus

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

In a sign of deepening concern in Sacramento over the fentanyl crisis, Gov. Newsom signed a raft of bills into law this month aimed at curbing deaths caused by the powerful opioid that killed a record 6,095 Californians last year.The latest to be approved puts schools on notice. The bill authored by Democratic Sen. Dave Cortese of San Jose will require public and charter schools throughout the state to draft safety plans detailing how they will respond if one of their students suffers an opioid overdose on campus.“For the first time, school site councils and school safety committees are going to be required to take on the fentanyl issue,” Cortese said. “The impact of this bill ultimately will be that it saves lives.”Cindy Chavez, mayoral candidate and Santa Clara County Supervisor, and Geralyn Maul-Vasquez, whose son died from an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2020, stand behind Senator Dave Cortese as he talks about introducing legislation to prevent fentanyl youth poisoning death...

Five people charged for alleged retail theft at Walgreens last week

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

(BCN) -- Five people were charged for allegedly burglarizing a Walgreens pharmacy in San Francisco, prosecutors said Monday.Shalia Brown, 24, Joshua Davis, 34, Thomas Henry, 20, Ian Spencer, 54, and Khali Arsenauspencer, 18, pleaded not guilty to second-degree commercial burglary, attempted grand theft, attempted organized retail theft and conspiracy on Friday, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office said in a statement. Two arrested for series of armed robberies in Mission District Around 6:30 p.m. last Wednesday, officers saw a group of approximately eight people rush into a Walgreens store in the 900 block of Geneva Avenue, wearing masks and carrying bags while pulling a wagon-styled cart, San Francisco police said.According to police, these individuals began quickly filling their bags and the wagon with store merchandise. Officers approached the suspects who all fled from the store on foot, resulting in a pursuit.Officers were able to detain six of the people in the group...

These five toys are regular finalists for Hall of Fame honors. Now fans can vote one in

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — They are playfully called the “forgotten five”: A handful of toys — the pogo stick, the Fisher-Price Corn Popper, My Little Pony, PEZ dispensers, and Transformers — that regularly approach toybox royalty as finalists for the National Toy Hall of Fame, only to be tossed back on the pile.For one of them, this is the year they finally make it in. The Hall of Fame is letting fans decide which one.Toys usually are chosen for the annual induction ceremony with input from a panel of historians, educators and other experts. The members vote for their top three out of a dozen finalists that have been selected by an internal committee from among thousands of nominations that come in each year. But this year, fan voters will pick one of the so-called forgotten five, to celebrate the National Toy Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary. That’s along with three toys to be chosen in the usual way.“They’re like Susan Lucci was to the Emmy Awards, or Steve Tasker to the P...

Israeli bombings kill dozens of people in the Gaza region where civilians were told to seek refuge

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza where it had told Palestinians to flee to ahead of an expected ground invasion, killing dozens of people on Tuesday in retaliatory attacks it says are targeted at Hamas militants that rule the besieged territory.With no water, fuel or food being delivered to Gaza since Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel last week, mediators struggled to break a deadlock over delivering supplies to increasingly desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals.U.S. President Joe Biden prepared to head to the region as he and other world leaders tried to prevent the war from sparking a broader regional conflict. Violence flared Tuesday along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants operate.In Gaza, dozens of injured were rushed to hospitals after heavy attacks outside the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, residents reported. Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official and former health minister, reported 27...

From streaming, to copyrights, to paparazzi: American Univ. students prepare for life in the music business

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

While D.C. isn’t typically thought of as a music and entertainment capital, Billboard magazine has released a list of what it considers the best schools for music business degrees, and it includes American University and Howard University.“I would say 50% of my students want to go into the music industry,” said professor John Simson, who launched the Business and Entertainment Program at American University’s Kogod School of Business in 2013.“Some want to go into live music, some want to work at record labels — some are interested in being agents or managers, and some want to go on to law school to be entertainment lawyers.”Simson, whose experience in the music industry includes years as a recording artist, manager and lawyer, said most music business programs come out of a university’s communications or music departments.“The students don’t get that business core of finance, accounting — all the kinds of things every business ha...

How to grow your cup of coffee (and enjoy a pretty houseplant)

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

About 20 years ago, while on vacation in Nashville, Tennessee, I saw my first coffee plant growing inside a greenhouse. I was fascinated to learn that its red “cherries” grew in bunches and that each cherry contained two seeds, which are what we call coffee beans.I was also surprised to learn that coffee can be grown indoors and, with proper care and some patience, will even produce beans that can be roasted (or toasted) for brewing, although likely just enough for a cup or two. Still, with its beautiful glossy green leaves, fragrant white flowers and shrubby habit, Coffea arabica makes a handsome and fun houseplant.You should have no trouble finding it at larger nurseries, and houseplant catalogs and websites.Coffea trees grow to roughly 25 feet tall in the wild on their home turf near the equator. As potted houseplants, they top out at about 6 feet, but are often trimmed to a more manageable size without ill effects.GROWING CONDITIONSTo grow one yourself, plant it in a well-draini...

American Cancer Society marks 30th anniversary of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:35:45 GMT

The American Cancer Society is celebrating a significant milestone during its 2023 campaign. During the Miami-Dade Commission meeting on Tuesday, the organization made a special presentation, marking the 30th anniversary of their “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” campaign.WSVN proudly sponsors this campaign, which hosts the “Making Strides Breast Cancer Walk” on Saturday, October 28, at LoanDepot Park in Miami and at its new venue, the Amarant Bank Arena, in Broward this Saturday. This enduring initiative underscores the collective commitment to fighting breast cancer and supporting those affected by it.