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Movie Review: ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

It opens with a clock counting down until show time — the dropped stomach, rollercoaster slowly encroaching its apex sensation — and then, a gentle fake out. Taylor Swift is heard before she is seen. “It's been a long time...” her voice carries. Then the drop hits: an abridged performance of “Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince” into “Cruel Summer,” a track that TikTok breathed new life into four years after its initial release on her 2019 album “Lover.”This is the moment it should become clear: “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” film is a near exact replica of her blockbuster concert performance, which recaps all 10 of her studio albums across 17 years of recorded work. There will be no narrative breaks, no behind-the-scenes footage, no additional ornamentation of the monolithic set (with the exception of a few CGI effects and album title cards to introduce each epoch.) The film delivers on the promise of its title: this is the Eras Tour in full — conveni...

Mary Lou Retton’s biggest donor is famed mattress store owner who’s helped hurricane victims and Trump

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

Donations continue to pour in to help the family of uninsured Mary Lou Retton pay for what’s expected to be a staggering medical bill as the Olympic gymnastics legend battles a rare form of pneumonia in a Houston hospital.That’s just as it should be, according to fellow Houstonian Jim McIngvale, the biggest donor to the Spotfund crowdsourcing campaign set up Tuesday by Retton’s daughters. McIngvale is better known in Texas as “Mattress Mack,” for his ownership of the Gallery Furniture retail chain. A major philanthropist, McInvale revealed to TMZ that he and his wife, Linda, donated $50,000 to the Retton fund, hoping to encourage other people to offer what they can to assist with the 1984 gold medalist’s medical expenses.HOUSTON, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 05: Jim McIngvale reacts after throwing out the first pitch prior to Game Six of the 2022 World Series at Minute Maid Park on November 05, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)&n...

Letters: BART alternative | Ignoring Palestinians | Rejecting peace

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.Alternative to BARToffers more than rideEven though I get a great senior discount on BART, I haven’t ridden for years for fear of crime, the smells, the dirt, ad nauseam.I still enjoy going to San Francisco for musical theater, the Academy of Science, Cirque du Soleil, etc. If you are over 50, think about joining your local senior club and going on day trips. Cost includes bus, usually lunch and the event. Let the bus driver fight the traffic and parking, and sit back and enjoy making new friends.Carol HeathPleasant HillWorld has turned itsback on PalestiniansRe: “Airstrikes, threats increase as death toll soars to 1,600” (Page A1, Oct. 10).The recent front-page piece on Israel and Palestine portraying the conflict as an equal, two-sided war without the context of Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza over the last 70 years is disingenuous.Gaza is the world’s largest open-air ...

Hayward police release body camera video of deadly shooting

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

HAYWARD — Hayward police have released body-worn camera footage showing officers fatally shooting a man last month.The release of the video Thursday is the first footage released by the Hayward Police Department that shows two officers shooting to death 37-year-old Antonio Lacunas-Escobar of Hayward. The shooting officers have previously been identified as Alexander Robinson and Dominic Espino.The edited video shows the officers carrying rifles with lights attached to them before shooting Lacunas-Escobar from a distance. Two of the three officers were positioned behind a barrier and above the parking lot where Lacunas-Escobar was walking.Police have said officers responded about 9:40 p.m. Sept. 6 to reports of a man who pointed a gun at two women in a vehicle near the 22000 block of City Center Drive. The shooting happened about 20 minutes later after officers found a man matching the witness description, police said. The man was described by police as being “uncooperati...

Tom Brady enjoying the ‘fun story’ of Purdy’s rise with 49ers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Fear not whether Brock Purdy gets enough credit for the 49ers’ 5-0 start and his comeback from elbow surgery.Just enjoy the show. That’s what Tom Brady is doing in retirement when watching his childhood team.“It’s kind of a fun story, and I hope it continues for him because he seems like he’s a really humble young man and he wants to go out there and do great things,” Brady said Monday on his SiriusXM “Let’s Go!” podcast with Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.“The more you kind of have that chip on your shoulder like he does,” Brady continued, “and there were not quite the expectations, it’s nice to go out there and continue to prove people wrong.”Brady is the NFL’s authority figure on that. The San Mateo native was drafted No. 199 overall (sixth round) in 2000, then won seven Super Bowl titles before walking away, apparently for good, after last season with the Tampa Bay Buccan...

Los Gatos Party Mom's Google searches revealed in court documents

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- Los Gatos "Party Mom" Shannon O'Connor's Google searches were detailed in new court documents, exposing a glimpse of her suspected motives before, during, and after she allegedly hosted alcohol-fueled sex parties for underage teenagers.O'Connor has pleaded not guilty to 39 charges filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office in connection to a string of disturbing parties between the summer of 2020 and February 2021. The alleged victims were male and female Los Gatos High School students, including O'Connor's teenaged sons, prosecutors said.The DA's Office is gearing up for O'Connor's preliminary hearing, set to begin on November 6. Ahead of the hearing, prosecutors filed a series of motions to the judge that contain new information about their case, O'Connor's anticipated defense, and evidence of intent -- including Internet searches.Shannon O'Connor listens in court. (Pool photo / Anda Chu / Bay Area News Group)When investigators seized O'...

These Bay Area cities were once the capitals of California -- some of them might surprise you

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

(KRON) -- Sacramento has been the capital city of California for nearly 200 years, but several other cities held the title before that -- including some in the Bay Area. According to the California State Library, California's first capital was Monterey. It served as the capital from 1774-1849, before California was a U.S. state. "Although Monterey was never a capital of the State of California, it served as the political and religious capital of Mexican California from 1781 to 1846, and remained the political center of California during the military occupation. In 1846, the first U.S. flag raised in California was in Monterey," the state library's website said. Oakland’s Grand Bakery selling for $1 California became a state in 1850, and its first capital was San Jose. According to the library, the Capitol was located near where the San Jose Fairmont Hotel once stood, at 170 South Market St. San Jose served as the capital from 1849-1851 before another Bay Area city took over -- Val...

New law limits how much landlords can charge for security deposits

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

(BCN) -- A bill that limits how much landlords can charge for security deposits was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday. Assembly Bill 12 by Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, limits the amount of security deposits to the equivalent of one month's rent."This new law is a simple common sense change that will have an enormous impact on housing affordability for families in California, while also balancing a landlord's need to protect themselves against potential liability," Haney said in a news release. Dior store in downtown SF broken into by thieves, closed for next few days The law goes into effect July 1, 2024, and exempts landlords with only two properties with a total of no more than four units. Landlords will still be able to seek damages from tenants who are responsible for harm to the property that exceeds the amount of the security deposit."By capping high security deposits, AB 12 advances a measure of equity and empowers immigrants and people of col...

Israel Warns Palestinians on Facebook — But Bombings Decimated Gaza Internet Access

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

Amid a heavy retaliatory air and artillery assault by Israel against the Gaza Strip on October 10, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee posted a message on Facebook to residents of the al-Daraj neighborhood, urging them to leave their homes in advance of impending airstrikes.It’s not clear how most people in al-Daraj were supposed to see the warning: Intense fighting and electrical shortages have strangled Palestinian access to the internet, putting besieged civilians at even greater risk.Following Hamas’s grisly surprise attack across the Gaza border on October 7, the Israeli counterattack — a widespread and indiscriminate bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip — left the two million Palestinians who call the area home struggling to connect to the internet at a time when access to current information is crucial and potentially lifesaving.“Shutting down the internet in armed conflict is putting civilians at risk.”“Shutting down the internet in armed conflict is putting ...

Alleged Iran Role in Israel Attack Echoes Bogus Iraq WMD Claims

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:40 GMT

One word was conspicuously absent from President Joe Biden’s speech on Tuesday about Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel: Iran.On Sunday, an explosive Wall Street Journal article accused Iran of having helped Hamas plot the deadliest attack on Israel in 50 years, a claim that seemed engineered to draw the U.S. into war with Iran. But the Biden administration and the Israel Defense Forces, as well as current and former U.S. national security officials interviewed by The Intercept, say there’s no evidence of direct Iranian involvement.“We have no evidence or proof” of Iranian direction, Maj. Nir Dinar, IDF spokesperson, told Politico on Monday — an assertion echoed by Biden’s national adviser, Jake Sullivan, on Tuesday. Though the Biden administration can be said to have a political stake in avoiding conflict with Iran ahead of an election year, two senior Pentagon officials also told The Intercept that efforts to determine Iranian direction are intensive and ongoing but that no pr...