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Share the Spirit: Tri-Valley nonprofit helps pets change lives

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

When Deysi Gonzalez found a funny-looking German shepherd with short, stumpy legs in her neighborhood park in May, she didn’t expect he would help turn her life around.A mother of three, Gonzalez felt like her life had become a cycle of cleaning and cooking. She spent most of her time at her apartment in Pleasanton. The purpose she had felt in her youth seemed to have faded away, and she realized she was falling into a deep depression.“Sometimes I didn’t want to get up from bed in the morning,” Gonzalez said. “I felt so useless.”That day at the park in May, Gonzalez realized the friendly dog was alone. Eventually, the pup followed Gonzalez home, where she fed him a bowl of food — then two, then four. Gonzalez contacted Animal Control to see if the dog was microchipped and put up posters around town, searching for the dog’s owners. Eventually, it became clear that the dog, who the family began calling Max, didn’t have one.Deysi Gonzalez’s dogs Max and Millie, from right, wait f...

Mysterious virus wipes out rabbits at East Bay petting zoo

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

Last month, a Dutch rabbit at the Tilden Park Little Farm started acting strangely. It had lost its appetite, lying in its hutch, head hanging, refusing to move. When staff at the free education farm in Berkeley examined the animal, they saw one of its eyes had swollen immensely.Jenna Cassel, a naturalist at the park, was disturbed. Animals get sick, sure, but this was unusual. She took the rabbit to a veterinarian and was shocked by the diagnosis.The rabbit had contracted myxomatosis (mix-a-mitt-oh-sis), a viral illness endemic to a narrow strip of the U.S. ranging from Oregon down the California Coast to Baja. Although relatively harmless to wild brush rabbits, the illness is highly contagious and has a 99% mortality rate for domesticated species. Suddenly, it was threatening the beloved rabbits of the farm.“I asked a ton of questions because I had no idea what was happening,” Cassel said. “They said it’s very contagious. Very deadly.”Related ArticlesEnvironment | ...

Wish Book: Where does all the surplus stuff from tech companies go? To schools, thanks to RAFT

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

In classrooms around the Bay Area, old Adobe Acrobat DVDs, rubber bands and straws are leading rich second lives.The donated materials, delivered to schools by the nonprofit RAFT and assembled by small hands, become playful science projects: tiny race cars that start and stop, climb and crash — proof of the power of physics.“It’s a wonderful lab experience that comes to us, already put together,” said Gilbert Rodriquez, principal of Mt. Pleasant Elementary School in east San Jose, where giddy fifth-graders circled a table and then sprawled across a classroom floor to test their rolling creations.For nearly 30 years, the Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) has been helping teachers transform the classroom learning experience by offering interactive education, buttressing a traditional curriculum.“Hands on, minds on,” said Nimisha Khanduja, director of RAFT’s learning programs. “Lessons aren’t one-dimensional. They’re three-dimensional. That’s much more engaging.”But with pa...

Two dead and one injured in San Pablo head-on crash

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

(KRON) – A head on crash in San Pablo resulted in the deaths of two people and critically injured one person, the San Pablo Police Department announced Thursday. The Contra Costa Fire Department was dispatched to El Portal Drive near Glenlock Street for a head-on crash at 12:42 a.m. on Dec. 6. Sonoma County supervisors pass anti-sideshow ordinance A car traveling eastbound on El Portal Drive towards Glenlock Street veered into the westbound direction of El Portal and struck another motorist head on. According to police, the adult male passenger of the car that veered died on the scene. An adult female passenger was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced deceased, police say. The single male passenger of the car traveling westbound was taken to the hospital in critical condition, police said. According to police, drugs and alcohol were not immediately seen near the crash but are being looked at as possible factors.

Not just potato anymore: Frying wide variety of latkes for Hanukkah 2023

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

The smell of onion-laced potato latkes frying is unmistakable, and it’s about to permeate homes in the D.C. area.Thursday marks the first of eight nights of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights. Families and friends will gather for meals that include traditional food, like doughnuts. In Hebrew, it’s sufganiyot.Fried foods, including latkes and doughnuts, celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah. After the Maccabee tribe recaptured ancient Jerusalem, the lamp in the temple appeared to have only enough oil to burn for one night. Instead, it stayed alight for eight days.While the traditional potato latke has been a Jewish family staple, usually served with sour cream or applesauce, latkes have branched out, with dozens of internationally-flavored versions with recipes compiled in the online magazine, “Hey Alma.”Starting with close cousins, like sweet potato latkes, options include spinach latkes, broccoli stem latkes, cheese latkes, and those made of beets.Japanese-...

Acusan a Luis Rubiales de tocar inapropiadamente a jugadoras de Inglaterra en la final del Mundial

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

(CNN) — La presidenta de la Asociación Inglesa de Fútbol (FA), Debbie Hewitt, acusó a Luis Rubiales de tocar inapropiadamente a jugadores de Inglaterra en la final de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA en Australia.Las afirmaciones se hicieron públicas este miércoles después de que la FIFA publicara sus razones para vetar al expresidente de la Real Federación Española de Fútbol de “todas las actividades relacionadas con el fútbol” durante tres años, una decisión adoptada en octubre.Hewitt, quien estuvo junto a Rubiales en la ceremonia de entrega de medallas posterior al partido en agosto, hizo una serie de afirmaciones señalando que su tono había sido “desagradable e innecesariamente agresivo” cuando los funcionarios le dijeron que no se moviera a una posición más prominente.Según la FIFA, Hewitt dijo que Rubiales “agarró y acarició la cara de la jugadora inglesa Laura Coombs, lo que [la presidenta de la FA] pensó que era un poco extraño y luego aparentemente besó a ...

Russian girl shoots several classmates, leaving 1 dead, before killing herself

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian girl shot several classmates at school Thursday, killing one person and wounding five others before killing herself, state news agencies and authorities said.The shooting happened at a school in Bryansk, a city in a region of the same name that borders Ukraine, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. One of the people wounded was in serious condition, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said.A fellow student told RIA Novosti that the girl brought the gun to the school in a tube for carrying papers. She told the state news agency that when the shooting began, two girls, including the twin sister of the 14-year-old shooter, came running into their classroom.A preliminary investigation found that the armed girl fired a pump-action shotgun at her classmates, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. Video shared by RIA Novosti showed children cowered in a classroom behind a door barricaded with upended desks and chairs.The shooter’s father was taken for quest...

Facing a Conservative revolt, UK leader Sunak says judges won’t stop him sending migrants to Rwanda

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday he would “do what is necessary” to revive a blocked deal to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda, even if it means ignoring U.K. human rights laws. During a hastily scheduled news conference, Sunak vowed to press on with a plan that has roiled the governing Conservative Party and threatened his leadership.He said that a new bill designed to override a U.K. Supreme Court ruling will end “the merry-go-round of legal challenges” that have prevented the government acting on its agreement with Rwanda to put migrants who reach Britain across the English Channel on a one-way trip to the East African country.“We will get flights off the ground,” Sunak said.Refugee groups and legal experts have strongly criticized the plan as a breach of the U.K.’s human rights commitments. But Sunak’s main political threat comes from members of his party who think it is not harsh enough.The prime minister’s authority was challen...

This area will see the most snow on Friday

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Snow will make its way into Colorado Thursday night, and while it won't be a major storm, some areas could see up to 9 inches. Friday is a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day as conditions go from sunny and 60s on Thursday to 30s and snowy. Timing, totals, impact of Friday’s snowstorm in Denver metro The Pinpoint Weather team has been fine-tuning snow totals and has found that the high county could see up to 9 inches while an area south of the metro could see up to 6 inches.Heavy snow headed for Palmer DivideAlong the Interstate 25 corridor, the Palmer Divide is the area closest to the metro that is expected to see the most snow on Friday.According to the Pinpoint Weather team, as of Thursday morning, cities like Parker, Castle Rock and Monument Hill are forecast to see several inches of snow.South of Denver, Parker could see up to 5 inches of snow, Castle Rock 6 inches and Monument Hill 4 inches.Pinpoint Weather: Snow totals by 11 p.m. on Dec. 8 Mountains expected to rece...

I-25 North Express Lanes to open between Mead and Fort Collins

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:33 GMT

LOVELAND, Colo. (KDVR) — Communities along the Interstate 25 north corridor are growing quickly and contributing to major economic growth in northern Colorado. The Colorado Department of Transportation is expanding I-25 to keep up with traffic.This stretch is along I-25 between Mead and Fort Collins. CDOT said this project has economic and environmental benefits, especially to commuters in northern Colorado.   On RTD, high schooler used to dodging fentanyl, chaos The department said safety improvements will reduce the number of crashes and deaths, decrease travel time, and increase trip reliability. Additionally, it will improve congestion and improving freight efficiency, among others.   Facts about the I-25 North Express LanesConstruction Cost: $250 MillionContractor: Ralph L Wadsworth Construction/Sema ConstructionTimeline: 2019-2024Location: I-25Nearest Town/City: Mead to Fort CollinsMile Point(s): 243-255County: Weld and LarimerFOX31 will have a crew on scene to capture the...