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Denver isn’t tracking how much it spends responding to homeless encampments, city auditor finds

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

Denver does such an insufficient job of tracking how much money it spends on enforcing its camping ban, cleaning up homeless encampments and conducting street outreach to unhoused people that the city auditor’s office says it had to do its own math.Using numbers provided by 10 city agencies, Denver Auditor Tim O’Brien and his staff found that from the beginning of 2019 through June 2022, the city spent an estimated $13.65 million responding to encampments, including $8.18 million on outreach and $2.49 million to regularly clean up, or sweep, those settlements and move residents on to other places.But O’Brien emphasized, as part of a report released Thursday by the Denver Auditor’s Office, that the estimate is likely well below actual spending because it doesn’t include figures from the Denver Police Department and most agencies did not provide a full 3½ years of expenses.“Members of the community on every side of this issue have been asking for tr...

Denver attorney Michael Sawaya publicly censured after romantic, business relationship with client

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

Longtime Denver personal injury attorney Michael Sawaya was publicly censured this week over professional misconduct connected to a business deal he made with a client with whom he had a romantic relationship, according to state disciplinary records.Sawaya was publicly disciplined for failing to give his client a written cost estimate and for entering into a business deal with the client while representing him in the same matter, according to a summary of the case published by the Office of Presiding Disciplinary Judge, which handles professional discipline for attorneys in Colorado.“From time to time lawyers just don’t quite realize what would be considered an unethical activity,” Sawaya said Thursday. “I’d been practicing for 45 years. I just didn’t realize how this would appear to someone. It’s a very technical ethical issue about when, if there is an arguable interest that you’ve taken in someone’s case, that you have to specifically have them sign off on that....

2 men wrongly convicted in 2004 Lancaster shooting declared innocent

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

Two men who served nearly 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of attempted murder were declared innocent Thursday by a California judge. Under a new law, the state is required to pay them each $140 for every day they spent behind bars, or about $900,000.The verdicts for Dupree Glass and Juan Rayford concluded a new trial that began in October after a state appeals court panel vacated their convictions and they were freed in 2020. The trial included a dramatic confession by the actual shooter, Chad Brandon McZeal, a gang member who’s serving a life sentence for murder in an unrelated case, the defense team said.After the judge ruled, the men hugged each other and their attorneys. Outside the courthouse, the men were cheered by family members and supporters. Rayford, clutching his baby daughter, called it an “amazing” feeling to have their records finally wiped clean and their reputations restored.“I thought about this day for so long. I thought about it when I was locked...

Your savings account should be earning 5%. It isn't

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

After nine rate hikes over the last year, interest rates for savings accounts should be at the highest level in 15 years -- close to 5%.Chances are, you aren't earning anywhere close to that.More likely you're earning closer to the average 0.39% being offered by many big banks.Less than half of 1%.What's up with that?To put it bluntly, big banks don't need your money -- they're flush with cash. So they have no incentive to raise savings rates in tandem with the Federal Reserve's rate increases.Oh, they'll charge top dollar for loans. The average interest rate for credit card balances is now about 24%.But savings? Bupkis.If you want the best rate for savings, you'll probably have to look past big banks.Check out savings accounts offered by American Express or newfangled offerings from tech companies such as Apple, which is offering a 4.15% rate.For the best deal for savings, you may want to look to money market accounts. They offer many of the features of savings accounts with the fl...

Hemet Police Department begins using drones in trial program

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

The Hemet Police Department announced Wednesday that it launched the new Drone as a First Responder program which aims to provide law enforcement with essential information when responding to emergencies.The drone will be equipped with video cameras to provide aerial coverage of an incident for officers on the ground. The drone will also “provide detailed documentation of crime and accident scenes and search for lost or missing persons,” a news release said.  “The concept is to utilize a UAS to fly to any reported emergency and arrive before police officers on the ground. An Air Support Officer will operate the UAS remotely and immediately communicate with field personnel via radio,” Alan Reyes, a department spokesperson, said in a statement. LAPD may no longer send armed officers to these police calls “The video feed is also immediately available to every officer in the field via vehicle computer or smartphone application, so officers can see for themselves what they are res...

Oakland A's could move to Las Vegas before new ballpark is constructed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

The Oakland Athletics, soon to be the Las Vegas A's, could have a temporary home in southern Nevada ahead of the construction of a billion-dollar baseball stadium west of the Las Vegas Strip, Dave Kaval, president of the organization told 8newsnow.com Thursday."We have an agreement with the Aviators ... to play at their stadium temporarily," Kaval said, referring to the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators who play at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin. "We're really deferring to Major League Baseball to kind of help us make that decision."Kaval said the Aviators, an A's affiliate, will be staying in the area."It's going to be like the Golden Knights and the Silver Knights," said Kaval. "Having two teams in town at the same time. It's going to be great for player development."Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, Nevada (Las Vegas Aviators)The new ballparkKaval said the team finalized a deal last week to buy a 49-acre site across from T-Mobile Arena next to the Las Vegas Strip where the A’s plan to ...

Five-bedroom home sells in Pleasanton for $2.3 million

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

8354 Moller Ranch Drive – Google Street ViewA spacious house located in the 8300 block of Moller Ranch Drive in Pleasanton has new owners. The 3,339-square-foot property, built in 1998, was sold on March 15, 2023. The $2,275,000 purchase price works out to $681 per square foot. The property features five bedrooms, three baths, a garage, and three parking spaces. It sits on an 8,407-square-foot lot.These nearby houses have also recently changed hands:A 2,056-square-foot home on the 8100 block of Moller Ranch Drive in Pleasanton sold in January 2023, for $1,460,000, a price per square foot of $710. The home has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.On Knollbrook Drive, Pleasanton, in September 2022, a 2,003-square-foot home was sold for $1,550,000, a price per square foot of $774. The home has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.In July 2022, a 4,337-square-foot home on Laurel Creek Drive in Pleasanton sold for $3,100,000, a price per square foot of $715. The home has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. 

Renee Fleming, Rhiannon Giddens, Brad Mehldau headed to UC Berkeley

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

Appearances by opera stars Renee Fleming, Christine Goerke and Jakub Józef Orliński; the return of pianist Mitsuko Uchida; and dance works including Pina Bausch’s “The Rite of Spring” are among the highlights of arts presenter Cal Performances’ 2023-24 season, announced by company executive and artistic director Jeremy Geffen.The new season also includes a new work by Americana music icon Rhiannon Giddens and the Silkroad Ensemble exploring the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad; and a big anniversary celebration for the Kronos Quartet.The season, running Oct. 1 to May 4, 2024 on and around the UC Berkeley campus, includes attractions in recital, orchestral and chamber music, early music, new music, dance, theater, jazz, vocal, and family events.Fall 2023 highlights include soprano Goerke in “A Celebration of the American Diva” (Oct. 8); the Los Angeles Master Chorale brings “Music to Accompany a Departure,” a work on loss and grief directed by Peter Sellars, set to a score b...

Buckingham Palace’s Coronation Quiche recipe

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

News broke this week that Coronation Chicken has been dethroned, replaced by Coronation Quiche as King Charles’ entree of choice.The curry-tinged chicken salad was served at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation luncheon in 1953, and it’s still extremely popular. But the coronation recipe released by Buckingham Palace — complete with social media campaign, videos, Prue Leith sightings and much hashtagging — is a royal-approved, veg-forward tart filled with spinach, broad beans and fresh tarragon.Like all House of Windsor decisions, this one is already stirring controversy, which seems a bit much. But so far, the criticisms include: That’s too much tarragon. Broad beans are a pain to peel. Tarragon — seriously? The pastry has lard! No tarragon!! And this is not a quiche, it’s spinach pie.Here’s the recipe, courtesy of Buckingham Palace, which describes it as “a deep quiche with a crisp, light pastry case and delicate flavours of s...

At Home: 9 tips for staging a small condo to sell

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:31 GMT

My youngest daughter has called Nashville home for five years. When Marissa moved there for grad school, my husband and I helped by buying a small, one-bedroom condo near campus. Now she’s ready to move on. And you know what that means: Call the broker and spiff up the place.I called Suzanne McMillan, the Fridrich & Clark Realty broker who sold us the property in 2018. She revisited the 620-square-foot condo, which is on the ground floor of a 70-year-old building. We’d painted the dingy beige walls a cool white (Sherwin-Williams Alabaster), added recessed can lights and refreshed the window treatments.“Although the rules for staging a 600-square-foot condo to sell aren’t much different from those for a larger home, in some ways they matter more,” she said when we got on the phone to strategize. “A small place gives no grace. Every inch must pull its weight.”Although the condo was already in a desirable neighborhood close to campus, we still wanted to give the place its best shot...