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‘Dangerous and reckless’: Prosecutors charge San Jose women with illegally importing fly-infested fruit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

SAN JOSE — Two women are facing felony charges of illegally importing fruit from Vietnam that was partially infested with the larvae of destructive fruit flies, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.The women, ages 42 and 36, face the charge of conspiracy to import and sell fruit in violation of federal and state agricultural laws. Prosecutors said in a news release Friday that in 2022, the women coordinated the importation of the tropical fruit langsat, which was mislabeled as dried fish, coffee and tea during the shipping process in order to avoid inspection.Prosecutors said that one of the women was warned by officials to stop selling the fruit in May 2022, but she continued to advertise it on her social media pages. The langsat was later seized and was found to be infested with the larvae of an invasive species of fruit fly native to South Asia.“This is serious and reckless behavior,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in the news release. ...

Biden approves Medal of Honor for pilot’s Vietnam heroism

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

By Darlene Superville | Associated PressWASHINGTON — As an Army first lieutenant and Cobra helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, Larry Taylor flew hundreds of missions and saved countless lives. But no rescue flight was as daring, or as meaningful to Taylor, as the one for which he will receive the Medal of Honor from President Joe Biden.Biden will recognize Taylor at a ceremony next week, the White House announced Friday.On the night of June 18, 1968, Taylor took off in his attack helicopter to rescue four men on a long-range reconnaissance team that had become surrounded and was in danger of being overrun by enemy troops. He had to figure out a way to get them out, otherwise “they wouldn’t make it.”David Hill, one of the men Taylor saved that night, said Taylor’s actions were what “we now call thinking outside the box.”Hill and the three others were on a night mission to track the movement of enemy troops in a village near the Saigon River wh...

Traffickers plead guilty to smuggling endangered sea cucumbers into California

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

By AMANCAI BIRABEN | Associated PressLOS ANGELES  — Wildlife traffickers pleaded guilty this week in federal court in California to illegally importing endangered sea cucumbers — which are prized in China for food and medicine and as a reputed aphrodisiac — from Mexico.Zunyu Zhao and Xionwei Xiao were charged with conspiracy and illegal importation of brown sea cucumbers worth over $10,000 from 2017 to 2019 and are scheduled to be sentenced in September and November, respectively.Prosecutors haven’t said where in the ocean the sea cucumbers were obtained. But the defendants were allegedly found with the smuggled bottom-feeders as they crossed from Mexico into the U.S. at Calexico. Zhao and Xiao agreed to pay restitution to the Mexican government’s environmental protection agency. They could get up to 25 years in prison.Attorneys for Zhao and Xiao did not respond to requests for comment.After seizing the sea cucumbers at the border, investigators found text messages and images sent b...

His lifelong obsession with the holidays turns into a Disneyland dream job

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

Tristen Tierney turned his love of Halloween, Christmas and all holidays from an obsessive hobby as a kid into a full-time career as a Disneyland resort enhancement team leader that allows him to pursue his passion 24/7/365.“I still can’t believe it’s real,” said Tierney, a Disneyland Resort Enhancement Holiday Services Lead. “This is what I’ve been dreaming about.”The Disneyland Resort Enhancement team has spent the past month adding pumpkins, bunting and fall colors to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in preparation for the kick off of Halloween Time on Friday, Sept. 1.SEE ALSO: Halloween and Christmas are the new summer at theme parksOvernight worker decorate Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland during Halloweentime in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, August 31, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)An overnight worker places hand-carved pumpkins along the buildings on Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland during Halloweentime in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Augus...

Cal joins the ACC at discounted revenue shares: Will the deal pinch a budget that has always been tight?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

Cal chancellor Carol Christ heard a loud knock on her hotel door before dawn Friday morning in San Diego, where she was scheduled to meet with donors.“There’s someone from the hotel saying there was an urgent call, and I was thinking, ‘What catastrophe has happened?’ But it turned out to be this very good news.”Cal was headed to the ACC.University presidents of the Charlotte-based conference approved membership offers to Cal and Stanford, ending a lengthy reverse courtship in which the Bay Area schools sought salvation following the demise of the Pac-12. (SMU is joining the Bears and Cardinal to give the ACC 18 members.)“It’s been a month of frenzied activity,” Christ said Friday morning during a Zoom interview. “I’ve been joking that Kumbaya has turned into ‘Lord of the Flies’ rather quickly as everybody tried to find a landing place with the increasing instability of the Pac-12.“It’s been probably as intense a perio...

Russian students return to new lessons boosting patriotism

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

By Dasha Litvinova | Associated PressTALLINN, Estonia — Clad in white shirts and carrying bouquets, children across Russia flocked back to school Friday, where the Kremlin’s narratives about the war in Ukraine and its confrontation with the West were taking an even more prominent spot than before.Students are expected each week to listen to Russia’s national anthem and watch the country’s tricolor flag being raised. There’s a weekly subject loosely translated as “Conversations about Important Things,” which was introduced last year with the goal of boosting patriotism.A new high school history textbook has a chapter on the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and the “special military operation” — the Kremlin’s euphemism for the war, and some basic military training is included in a course on self-defense and first aid.President Vladimir Putin even got involved, personally meeting Friday with 30 school students from different regi...

Shooting victim in critical but stable condition following gunfire in downtown Oakland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

OAKLAND — A man was in critical but stable condition at a hospital early Friday after being shot in downtown Oakland, police said.The shooting happened about 5:25 a.m. in the 1400 block of Webster Street. Police did not say how old the man is.Authorities said they were working to determine the motive and identify any suspects. Officers found more than one shell casing at the scene of the shooting, police said.Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $5,000 in reward money for information leading to an arrest. To contact police, call 510-238-3426 or 510-238-7950. To contact Crime Stoppers, call 510-777-8572.Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this developing report. Check back for updatesRelated ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Oakland police have a year to speed up 911 response times — and a lot to lose if they don’t Crime and Public Safety | One dead following shooting in Union City Crime and Public Safety | ...

Hundreds of drug users arrested in San Francisco

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The San Francisco Mayor's Office said law enforcement agencies made "significant" progress during the first three months of the city’s crackdown aimed at shutting down open-air drug markets.San Francisco Police Department officers arrested 450 alleged drug users under public intoxication laws for openly consuming drugs and being under the influence in public. In an operation aimed at dismantling drug trafficking networks, police officers, sheriff's deputies, California Highway Patrol officers, and California National Guard members arrested 300 suspected narcotics dealers and 123 wanted fugitives. Officers also seized 103 kilos of narcotics, including 56 kilos of fentanyl.Most of the arrests and seizures happened in the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.Citywide in 2023, police seized over 135 kilos of narcotics, including over 89 kilos of fentanyl – more than all of 2022's drug seizures combined, according to city data. As a result of the crackdown...

Deadline day: Chelsea and Man City make moves as EPL spending hurtles toward $3 billion in window

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

English Premier League spending was hurtling toward a staggering $3 billion in a record outlay during European soccer’s summer transfer window on Friday.Manchester City and — of course — Chelsea were among those making moves on a typically frantic deadline day.Chelsea was leading the unprecedented splurge, with the arrival of 21-year-old winger Cole Palmer from City for 40 million pounds ($50.7 million) taking the west London club’s spending in this window to around $500 million.In the three transfer windows under its new American ownership fronted by Todd Boehly, Chelsea has spent about $1.15 billion on players mostly signed up on long contracts in an innovative way to spread “amortization” costs of transfer fees.By comparison, the $260 million outlay by City, the English and European champion, looks modest. The fourth and final arrival in the window came on deadline day and was Portugal international Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton, a ball-carrier costing $67 million ...

Review: ‘The Hill’ is the definition of a feel-good baseball flick of faith

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:10 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley reviews 'The Hill' (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); He wrote two of the greatest sports movies of all time in “Hoosiers” (1986) and “Rudy” (1993) before receiving mixed reviews for less successful efforts like “The Game of Their Lives” (2005) and “My All American” (2015).Now, screenwriter Angelo Pizzo once again returns to his fav...