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After success at Camp Hale, Colorado lawmakers push for more federal land designations

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

When President Joe Biden arrived in Colorado last fall to designate Camp Hale a national monument, it marked a peak for a decade-long effort to expand Colorado’s public lands.Seven months later and some of Colorado’s top Democrats are hoping it was more like a false summit.Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and Rep. Joe Neguse, all Democrats, are set to re-introduce the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy, or CORE, Act this Congressional session. The bill has passed the House of Representatives multiple times, but always stalled in the Senate. The lawmakers announced the renewed effort Wednesday.Previous versions included the Camp Hale-Continental Divide protections. Even with the national monument designation, which protects about 54,000 acres of high country, the CORE Act seeks to add about 400,000 acres of protected lands.“President Biden’s actions on Camp Hale and the Thompson Divide are a victory for Colorado’s environment, for our $10 ...

Why Crystal Dam in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison is releasing billions of gallons of water

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

Billions of gallons of water are rushing this week out of the Blue Mesa Reservoir on Colorado’s Western Slope, through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and ultimately into the Colorado River.For the first time in a few years, Colorado has had enough water to spare. Officials at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have turned up the faucet at Blue Mesa for an eight-day release that began last week and will gradually increase in volume until Thursday when it ends.At any given moment, thousands of cubic feet are flowing through the series of three dams that make up the Blue Mesa Reservoir system. At the release’s peak, the dams will release about 7,200 cubic feet of water – nearly 54,000 gallons – per second.“That’s what’s going by every single second,” Grant Watson, plant supervisor at the Crystal Dam and Power Plant, said. “Not a day, not an hour, but every second.”That much water could fill nearly five Olympic swimming pools within a minute.Colorado received so much snow this winter that...

Fashion illustrator and artist James “Jim” Howard dies at 92

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

James B. “Jim” Howard, a fashion illustrator for more than four decades whose work was showcased in a Denver Art Museum exhibit, died April 21 in Lakewood. He was 92.“Drawn to Glamour: Fashion Illustrations by Jim Howard,” was displayed at the art museum’s Hamilton Building from March 25 through July 22, 2018.“Jim was in the gallery (of his DAM show) regularly, always impeccably dressed in bow and bowler hat, engaging with visitors and enthusiastically sharing the stories behind his masterful illustrations, which were iconic to the fashion world and department store industry throughout the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s,” said Christoph Heinrich, director DAM, in a written statement. “His show was a fresh and innovative approach to a genre that disappeared when photography was taking over in the magazines and newspapers. Jim’s skill for observation and attention to details and aesthetics was amazing; his show was a delightful walk down memory lane, which...

Kafer: Colorado’s education leaders take a wrong turn on capitalism and religion

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

Some public school leaders deserve detention.Earlier this month in the city of tolerance, the vice president of the Boulder Valley School District, Lisa Sweeney-Miran, lambasted a local business on social media for allowing the Well Church to meet at its food truck park –The Rayback Collective. She equated the church’s Biblically-based beliefs on sexuality with violence and condemned the business for allowing this “hate group” on the property.  Since early April, Sweeney-Miran has used the bully pulpit to promote her boycott of the food truck park until it severs ties with the church.“You’re a hateful (fill in the blank) ist” is the new “you’re a witch” in the crucible of public discourse. Targets can expect to have their reputation torched as accusers seek to drive away business. While the target burns other would-be heretics are dissuaded from saying anything contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy.We can expect this inquisitional behavior from the cynical and the demented but we sho...

Man wanted in connection with teen girl’s fentanyl death in Riverside County

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

Authorities are searching for a man wanted in connection to the fentanyl-related death of a teenage girl in Riverside County.On Aug. 21, 2022, Palm Desert deputies responded to reports of an unresponsive female in the 15000 block of Via Quedo in Desert Hot Springs.Despite lifesaving measures, the 17-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene, said the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.Investigators discovered the teen had overdosed on fentanyl. The case was taken over by the Riverside County Sheriff's Overdose Death Investigations and Narcotics Unit.Over the next few months, authorities identified the suspect as Michael Garcia, 22, a Desert Hot Springs resident.Authorities have not been able to locate Garcia and have issued a warrant for his arrest. Charges have also been filed in his case. Body discovered in San Bernardino County “Additional suspects have been identified and further arrests are anticipated,” officials said.Anyone who may have seen Garcia or knows of his where...

Demand has surged for California’s free school meals. But with a drop in extra federal funding, can Bay Area kitchens keep up?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

When the flood of students rushing into the cafeteria eased to a trickle, Maria Darnell — the kitchen manager at Alameda’s Lincoln Middle School — texted her boss.“524 lunches today!” Darnell wrote, along with a smiling, but sweating, emoji.It had been nine months since California began providing free meals for its public school students, no matter families’ income level. Even so, Darnell was still shocked by how much the program had changed demand. That day, her staff had served 230% more meals than their average before the pandemic, on top of a 530% jump in the number of daily breakfasts.Alameda Unified School District Food and Nutrition Services kitchen manager, Maria Darnell, left, and cafeteria staff Maria Carter, right, work in the Lincoln Middle School kitchen to prepare lunch service on Monday, May 1 in Alameda. The staff has served 230% more meals than their average before the pandemic, on top of a 530% jump in the number of daily breakfasts. (Aric Crabb/Bay Are...

Can 49ers make historic breakthrough with multiple 1,000-yard receivers?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Has it really been 25 years since the 49ers produced a pair of 1,000-yard receivers? Yes.An even crazier question: Could they actually have a trio hit 1K this season, for the first time in 49ers’ history?It’s possible, even if it initially sounds preposterous for a run-driven offense, and even more so for a franchise unsure which quarterback will be throwing those yards.Could be Brock Purdy after his career-saving elbow repair, or the unamortized Trey Lance with 102 passes through two seasons, or third-team’s-a-charm Sam Darnold with a 78.2 career passer rating.San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy (13) and San Francisco 49ers’ Brandon Aiyuk (11) shake hands before a game against the Washington Commanders at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) Alas, consider the 49ers’ Fab Four targets, each with a 1,000-yard season already to their credit:* Brandon Aiyuk...

Santa Cruz’s population roller coaster: 2022 gains were second biggest of any large city in the country

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

Much ink has been spilled, and airtime filled, discussing the exodus of Californians from the Bay Area and the state altogether, but Santa Cruz managed to buck that trend in 2022 thanks to its large student population returning to campus.Between July 2021 and July 2022, the laid-back coastal town added about 7,000 people — a 12.5% increase — to bring its total population to 61,800 on July 1, 2022, according to newly released population estimate data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s second only to Georgetown, Texas, for the fastest growing city in the country, among those with at least 50,000 residents.“I don’t think it’s much of a mystery,” said Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, “the University of California at Santa Cruz is the single largest entity in our town.”On campus, the redwood-lined paths and bus stops are bustling. Margarida Costa is a fourth year student, majoring in feminism and sociology. She first came to Santa Cruz ...

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s return prompts renewed scrutiny over her fitness for office

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

By Kristin Wilson, Ted Barrett and Nicky Robertson | CNNJust a week after her return to the United States Senate after a roughly three month absence, questions continue to swirl around Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her mental capacity to serve in the world’s greatest deliberative body.The 89-year-old Democrat had been recovering from shingles at home in San Francisco, and had been absent from the Hill since February.Her long-awaited return on May 10 not only meant that the Senate Democratic Caucus would be at full attendance – since both Feinstein and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman had been absent for much of the spring – but that the one-seat margin Democrats held on the powerful Judiciary Committee would be reconstituted to help advance President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer greeted the frail Feinstein personally upon her return, when she was wheeled into the Capitol for a vote accompanied by staff on and off the floor. Schumer said Feinstein...

Big networking and tech firm signs downtown San Jose office lease

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 17:05:00 GMT

SAN JOSE — A big telecommunications networking and tech company has leased space in a prominent downtown San Jose office tower, according to public real estate records.Ciena Corp. has rented office space at 50 West, a highrise located at 50 West San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose, documents on file with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office show.The Ciena leasing agreement represents a welcome counterpoint to the dreary landscape of vacant storefronts, empty office sites and underutilized restaurant spaces in downtown San Jose.Companies are engaged in an uneven return to the office in the wake of government-mandated business lockdowns to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.Downtown San Jose’s office vacancy rate was 16.9% during the January-through-March first quarter of 2023, an improvement from the 17% office vacancy level in the October-through-December fourth quarter of 2022, Cresa, a commercial real estate firm, reported.During both of the surve...