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Map: Pika Fire closes Yosemite trails; smoke reaches hazardous level

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

A wildfire burning near Yosemite Valley has prompted closure of some trails and caused poor air quality, park officials said.The Pika Fire, started by lightning on June 29, had burned 50 acres near North Dome as of Thursday, July 13, the National Park Service said.The map above shows the trail and forest closures that were announced Tuesday, July 11, including parts of the Yosemite Falls, Snow Creek and North Dome trails.Yosemite National Park is warning of smoky conditions. Early Friday, July 14, the Air Quality Index at Yosemite Village exceeded 300, considered hazardous, because of high levels of particulate matter.Yosemite Valley and other low-elevation areas of the park are expected to reach temperatures of more than 100 degrees this weekend. The park is urging caution near rivers and creeks, which are running unusually high and cold during the melting of the winter’s deep snowpack.Tioga Road (Highway 120) remains closed, as snow is still being cleared. There is no estima...

Employee who set teen on fire at Michigan convenience store sentenced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

By Kara Berg | The Detroit NewsBefore the man who lit him on fire last year was sentenced, the now-18-year-old Riverview, Michigan man told the court he prayed no one, including his attacker, had to experience the pain he went through in the past 13 months.Mazin Shaya. (Riverview Police Department) Mazin Shaya, an employee at Victor’s Market in Riverview, lit the teen on fire when he came into the party store during his lunch break at Riverview Community High School in June 2022. Police said witnesses indicated the boy’s backpack was leaking and soaked in lighter fluid and Shaya wanted to see if the fluid was flammable. He held the lighter near the teen and lit it, igniting his shirt.“I remember few things of the incident,” the teen said Friday during Shaya’s sentencing hearing. “Mazin said the burn only looked like a sunburn. … It was as if I was in front of evil itself.”Shaya was sentenced to two years of probation, the first 63 days ...

All lanes back open after injury crash on 680 in Danville

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

(KRON) -- All lanes are back open on northbound Interstate 680 in Danville following an injury crash north of Sycamore Valley Road, according to the California Highway Patrol. Motorists were earlier advised to expect delays and use alternate routes. These Bay Area cities could hit 100 degrees this weekend An image from a Caltrans camera showed traffic backed up on the freeway as a result of the crash.Earlier, it had been reported that all lanes were blocked as a resulted of the crash. There is no estimated time for the roadway to reopen.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Price ramps up

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

(KRON) -- Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing a recall effort organized by critics who assert she's letting too many violent criminals off the hook. Price was elected on a platform pledging to reform the District Attorney's Office with progressive criminal justice reforms. A pillar of her restorative justice policies includes the theory that lengthy prison sentences do not create safer communities. "If putting people away for 75 years made our county more safe, then we’d be the safest county, and the safest country, in the world," Price previously told KRON4. This week a committee called "Save Alameda For Everyone (SAFE): Recall DA Price" filed campaign finance paperwork with the county elections office in an effort to launch a recall. "DA Price is the People’s DA. She remains undeterred by this undemocratic effort and will continue to focus on enacting the reforms county voters mandated. The people handily elected her to implement criminal justice reform and mak...

Spare the Air alert extended through Saturday due to excessive smog

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

(BCN) -- The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued the year's second Spare the Air alert for smog on Friday and it is now extended through Saturday. Hot inland temperatures and vehicle exhaust are expected to combine to create unhealthy air conditions, especially for older people, children and people with respiratory conditions. "We can help keep our air healthier by finding alternatives to driving alone, such as taking transit, biking or walking," said air district executive officer Philip Fine. More Bay Area tech layoffs on the way People are being advised to limit outdoor exercise to the early morning hours when ozone concentrations are lower. Spare the Air alerts are issued when ozone levels are forecast to reach levels that can cause throat irritation, congestion and chest pain, and often coincide with high temperatures. The National Weather Service forecast calls for rising temperatures Friday morning through Sunday evening and the agency has issued an ...

Jesse Jackson to step down as head of civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson plans to step down from leading the Chicago civil rights organization Rainbow PUSH Coalition he founded in 1971, his son’s congressional office said Friday. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson confirmed the long-time civil rights leader would be retiring from the organization.The elder Jackson, a civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, plans to announce his plan on Sunday during the organization’s annual convention, Rep. Jackson told the Chicago Sun-Times.Jonathan Jackson, an Illinois Democrat, said his father “has forever been on the scene of justice and has never stopped fighting for civil rights” and that will be “his mark upon history.”The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who will turn 82 in October, has remained active in civil rights in recent years despite health setbacks. He announced in 2017 that he had begun outpatient care for Parkinson’s disease two years earlier. In early 2021, he had gallbladder surgery and late...

Trial date set for father of suspect in mass shooting at July 4 parade in suburban Chicago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge on Friday set a Nov. 6 trial date for a father charged with helping his son obtain a gun license three years before the son allegedly shot dead seven people at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago last year. The father, Robert Crimo Jr., told Judge George Strickland at a hearing in Waukegan — north of Highland Park, where the shooting occurred — that he was waiving his right to a jury trial. That means Strickland will hear evidence and issue verdicts at the end of the bench trial. Earlier this year, Crimo Jr. pleaded not guilty to seven counts of reckless conduct — one count for each person killed. Each count carries a maximum 3-year prison term. The judge Friday also set an Aug. 7 hearing for arguments on a defense motion challenging the constitutionality of laws that underpin charges against the father. Judge Strickland will also consider a media request that the trial be streamed live at an Aug. 28 hearing. Prosecutors have said the father ...

Man who took photo from Pelosi’s office is sentenced to over 4 years for Capitol riot role

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

A Chicago man who stole a prized photograph from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to more than four years in prison for his role in the mob’s attack on the building.Kevin James Lyons, 40, took a wallet from a Pelosi staffer’s coat and a framed photograph of Pelosi with the late Congressman John Lewis, a civil rights movement icon who died in July 2020. Lyons also mockingly called out Pelosi’s name during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021.“In the context of the actions of the riotous mob, some of whom were baying for blood, Lyons’ invocation of the Speaker’s name could only be intended and understood as a threat of violence,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.Investigators haven’t recovered the photograph of Pelosi with Lewis, which was taken during a 2019 visit to Africa, her last trip abroad with the Georgia Democrat before his death. The framed photo, taken from a mantle in the California Democrat’...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is stepping down as head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the civil rights organization he founded

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson is stepping down as head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the civil rights organization he founded.Source

DC-area doctor gives tips on malaria prevention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:49:24 GMT

Cases of malaria have recently been discovered in Florida and Texas, and a local doctor said there are steps that people can take to prevent getting the disease.“If someone has a febrile illness of unknown origin, we should certainly think about malaria,” Dr. Melissa Holland, chief medical officer, UnitedHealthcare Medicare and Retirement for the Mid-Atlantic region, told WTOP. “This is confirmed on blood tests.”She said that malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite called plasmodium that’s primarily transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito.“Initially, individuals will have chills, fevers, headaches, muscle aches and fatigue and can also experience nausea, diarrhea and vomiting if left untreated,” Holland said. “It can progress to organ failure and death.”How do you prevent getting malaria?“Since malaria is a mosquito-borne illness, you certainly take steps to prevent those mosquito bit...