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Pac-12 business affairs: Spring meetings feature loaded agenda, but no decision expected on you-know-what

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

A slew of critical issues are on the agenda this week as Pac-12 executives and campus administrators gather in Scottsdale for the annual spring meets.Well, not all the campus administrators.The university presidents won’t be there — they never attend the Scottsdale meeting — so the conference won’t resolve the two issues that matter most: The Pac-12’s media rights negotiations and a decision on expansion.Those interconnected topics remain weeks from the finish line, if not months.And without knowing the conference’s fundamental structure, other strategic details cannot be finalized.For example, the Pac-12 has been examining options to maximize opportunities for College Football Playoff bids once the event expands to 12 teams in the 2024 season:— Should it return to the division format or play as a single entity, with the first- and second-place teams meeting for the championship?— Should it move to an eight-game conference schedule, or stick with nine?— Shoul...

Rep. Zooey Zephyr sues to return to Montana House floor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

By Amy Beth Hanson and Matthew Brown | Associated PressHELENA, Mont. — Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr asked a court Monday to allow for her return to the House floor after she was silenced and barred for chiding her Republican colleagues over legislation to restrict gender-affirming health care and for encouraging protesters.Attorneys for the first-term lawmaker sued in state district court in Helena on behalf of Zephyr, a transgender Democrat who represents a liberal district in the college town of Missoula, and several constituents who the attorneys said were being denied their right to adequate representation.Zephyr, whose comments in the Montana Legislature have made her a prominent figure in transgender rights and in conversations about the muffling of dissent in statehouses, said in a statement Monday that she and her constituents were targeted “because I dared to give voice to the values and needs of transgender people like myself.”The legal challenge against Hou...

Feds: Hospitals that denied emergency abortion broke law

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

By Amanda Seitz | Associated PressWASHINGTON — Two hospitals that refused to provide an emergency abortion to a pregnant woman who was experiencing premature labor put her life in jeopardy and violated federal law, a first-of-its-kind investigation by the federal government has found.The findings, revealed in documents obtained by The Associated Press, are a warning to hospitals around the country as they struggle to reconcile dozens of new state laws that ban or severely restrict abortion with a federal mandate for doctors to provide abortions when a woman’s health is at risk. The competing edicts have been rolled out since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last year.But federal law, which requires doctors to treat patients in emergency situations, trumps those state laws, the nation’s top health official said in a statement.“Fortunately, this patient survived. But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she expe...

Woman walking outside crosswalk hit, killed in San Jose

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

(KRON) -- The San Jose Police Department is investigating a pedestrian vs. vehicle crash near Tully Road and Lanai Avenue early Monday morning, the department tweeted. The victim, a female pedestrian, was transported to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries but was later pronounced dead, according to officials.Officials said a man in a blue Honda coupe was driving west on Tully Road around 4:32 a.m. when he hit the woman, who was crossing the street outside of any crosswalks. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with police, police said. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.The victim's identity has not been released.Westbound Tully Road was closed from Seacliff Way to Highway 101 Monday morning. Traffic was not able to enter Highway 101 from Westbound Tully Road. Officials said to expect delays and avoid the area if possible. Regulators seize First Republic Bank, third bank to fail in two months This is San Jose's 12th fatal collision, 13th tra...

Clouds cover Bay Area ahead of showers and thunderstorms forecast for Tuesday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Following several days of nearly summer-like weather, the Bay Area awoke to a cloudy Monday with showers and possible thunderstorms looming for Tuesday. A center of low pressure that's currently spinning over Colusa County in Northern California is expected to drift over the ocean and move south, bringing wet weather conditions, according to the National Weather Service. Warriors-Lakers playoff series: Start times, TV schedule Monday will stay breezy and cool, but mostly dry, despite some drizzle. Tuesday is when the brunt of the wet weather is expected to hit.Graphic: Kyla Grogan"May is starting cool, drizzly and breezy around the Bay Area with more widespread but intermittent showers expected to roll overnight tonight through our Tuesday," said KRON4 Meteorologist Kyla Grogan. "There is even a slight chance of thunderstorms with this system on Tuesday as a front tracks through opening the door to a very cold air mass entering behind it."Following last wee...

3 arrested in string of armed robberies seemingly targeting AAPI community

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

(KRON) -- The San Jose Police Department arrested three suspects allegedly responsible for at least 13 armed or strong-armed robberies, five grand thefts and "countless" vehicle burglaries. Officers said the crimes were seemingly targeted toward the Asian American Pacific Islander community, SJPD officials said. Officials did not specify why the incidents seemed targeted.These crimes allegedly took place between December 2022 and February 2023, officials said. Police were able to obtain arrest warrants for suspects Joel Contreras Barron, 26, of Antioch, Francisco Rincon, 28, of Richmond, and Juan Rodriguez-Ramirez, 26, of Richmond, as well as search warrants for their respective homes. Caught on Video: French bulldog stolen during smash-and-grab in Oakland On Feb. 25, Rodriguez Ramirez was arrested by Stockton Police for robbery and remains in custody. On April 14, a string of armed vehicle robberies took place at the Grand Century Mall in San Jose. Police were able to arrest...

One killed in early morning SF shooting, police investigating

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- One person is dead as a result of a shooting that took place in the early hours of Sunday morning near 5th and Shipley streets, according to the San Francisco Police Department. Officers from the SFPD Southern Station responded shortly after 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning to a report of a shooting. Pedestrian killed in crash in San Jose When officers arrived on the scene they located a victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Lifesaving efforts were undertaken and medics were summoned to the scene. Despite these efforts, the victim succumbed to their injuries and was declared deceased at the scene, police said.An investigation into the incident is now being led by the SFPD Homicide Detail. A preliminary investigation determined the shooting occurred on the 900 block of Folsom Street. The victim fled the scene in a vehicle where it came to rest at 5th and Shipley, police said.No arrests have been made and the police have not released any information about ...

Plenty of attacks on the debt cap, but no signs of settling

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are finding it’s easy to publicly shame each other over the debt limit.Getting along well enough to resolve a paralyzing threat to the U.S. economy? That’s not happening yet.McCarthy, R-Calif., shepherded a proposal for $4.8 trillion worth of deficit reduction over a decade through the House last week — figuring it could pressure Biden into an Oval Office sit-down to work toward a deal. Even some Democratic lawmakers say negotiations should start.The president, for his part, is refusing to meet with McCarthy unless he also takes the risk of default off the table. Instead, Biden and his fellow Democrats are blasting Republicans over what could be deep cuts in aid for the middle class, vulnerable children, veterans and efforts to address climate change.On Monday, Biden and McCarthy each made a case to voters that is likely to reflect their talking points for the coming weeks as they try to leverage publ...

US says 20,000 Russians killed in Ukraine war since December

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday it now estimates that just since December Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, including 20,000 killed, as Ukraine has rebuffed a heavy-assault by Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.In what has become a grinding war of attrition, the fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. estimate is based on newly declassified American intelligence. He did not detail how the intelligence community derived the number.Troops from Russia’s Wagner mercenary group and other forces are fighting Ukrainian troops house-to-house to try to gain control of what has become known as the “road of life” — the last remaining road west still in Ukrainian hands, which makes it critical for supplies and fresh troops. Both sides have cited gains in recent days.Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syr...

Michigan clerk who doubts election results faces recall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:02 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — A small-town clerk accused of improperly handling voting equipment after casting doubt on President Joe Biden’s election victory faces a recall election Tuesday in one of Michigan’s most conservative counties. Stephanie Scott ran unopposed as a Republican first-time candidate when she was chosen in the same November 2020 election to handle the voting in Hillsdale County’s Adams Township, where about 2,200 people live along rural roads dotted with signs supporting Donald Trump. The ticket of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence received nearly 76% of the vote in the reliably Republican community, but Scott joined a crew of GOP elections officials around the nation who have questioned the accuracy of U.S. voting systems. Some of those now running afoul of state election laws and rules continue to make unsupported claims of voting machine tampering and voter fraud as the reason for Trump’s defeat.When it came time to prepare for her township’s Nove...