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Denver-area holiday shoppers expected to spend “like it’s 2019 again”

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

Even with inflation still hanging around, a survey of Denver-area holiday shoppers shows they “plan to spend like it’s 2019 again.”A survey by Deloitte found that Denver shoppers expect to spend an average of $1,902 this holiday season, which is up 15% from 2022 and 15% higher than this year’s national average.Rachel Smeak, the Denver-based managing director of Deloitte Consulting, said shoppers’ anticipated spending is returning to pre-pandemic levels.“What was a bit surprising is that consumers plan to spend like it’s 2019 again,” Smeak added.Nationwide, people reported planning to spend an average of $1,652 on gifts this year, surpassing pre-pandemic figures for the first time, according to Deloitte’s survey.The National Retail Federation is also predicting a robust holiday shopping season. The survey by the organization and Prosper Insights and Analytics estimates that 182 million people plan to shop in stores and online. The numbe...

Innocent driver T-boned, killed in South L.A. pursuit crash

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

A driver was killed in a crash involving a pursuit suspect in the Manchester-Broadway neighborhood of Los Angeles Wednesday morning.Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were in pursuit of burglary suspects around 2:30 a.m. when the driver crashed into two vehicles near West Imperial Highway and South Broadway. Authorities investigate a fatal crash in South Los Angeles on Nov. 22, 2023. (KTLA)The suspect's vehicle T-boned one car and then struck the second vehicle. The unidentified driver of the T-boned vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. Aerial video from Sky5 showed a white canopy over the victim's vehicle. The driver of the second victim suffered only minor injuries and spoke with KTLA after the crash.The driver was surprised to find authorities arriving at the crash just seconds after she was hit. “It’s too soon,” the driver thought. “Whoever it was had to be on a high-speed chase.” Video captures $100,000 dog heist at Gardena pet shop Two suspects were taken into custod...

Traffic calming around schools will not work because of non-calm parents, architect says: Roadshow

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

Q: Calming traffic on Leigh in front of Valley Christian Academy by taking out lanes? Has any city traffic planner spent any time near a school at pickup and dropoff times?Schools are the worst traffic nightmares imaginable. Harried parents display absolutely no concern for the safety of others or themselves in their frenzy to deliver or pick up their precious cargo.I’m an architect who has worked on a number of schools throughout the South Bay. Trying to accommodate pickup and drop-off circulation was often the most difficult design problem of all to solve. Frequently any design solution involved compromises.There’s never enough room to accommodate the traffic flow that happens within one very specific and short amount of time. Almost always, traffic overflow impacts surrounding neighborhoods, and parents get very creative, and unsafe, in their choices of waiting areas or pickup and drop-off spots.I used to commute daily on Leigh Avenue and am very familiar with the sit...

COVID, RSV and flu on the rise in Bay Area heading into holidays, health officials warn

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

Winter virus season is just getting underway as millions of travelers prepare to pack into jetliners and squeeze into SUVs for that Thanksgiving trip to Grandma’s, and Bay Area health officials are urging people to take precautions as they see RSV, influenza and COVID-19 cases rise.“The bottom line is we do have a lot of respiratory virus activity out there,” said Dr. Monika Roy, assistant health officer and communicable disease controller for the Santa Clara County Health Department.Santa Clara and San Francisco county health officials both report increased signs of Respiratory Syncytial Virus — or RSV — leading to this year’s triple threat of illnesses. The highly contagious respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms can require a week or two of recovery but may be serious for infants and older adults who are more likely to develop severe infections requiring hospitalization.“We are seeing a rise in our wastewater data,...

Shanahan’s secret weapon for 49ers’ quick turnaround vs. Seahawks is a snooze

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers let the early birds catch the worms this week while they concentrate on grounding the Seahawks.Whatever problems they have in attempting to take a commanding lead in the NFC West, being sleepless in Seattle won’t be one of them by edict of coach Kyle Shanahan.Safety Ji’Ayir Brown is a rookie making his first start and has already realized Shanahan is serious about his players getting their Z’s  — especially during a short week.“Kyle don’t play when it comes to sleep,” Brown said Tuesday.As much as it’s romantic in an NFL sense to be playing on a Thanksgiving, there are few if any coaches and players who relish the opportunity to play a game on Sunday, then streamline their entire operation to prepare for a game on Thursday.“We pretty much do everything today instead of four days spread out,” 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa said Tuesday. “Everything is packed into one.”The NFL began expa...

Big San Jose retail center revamp, including new homes, heads to hearing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

SAN JOSE — A huge mixed-use development with more than 1,000 homes and a Whole Foods that would revamp a high-profile San Jose retail center is headed for a key city hearing regarding an updated report on the project.The redevelopment of the El Paseo de Saratoga retail and restaurant complex in southwest San Jose has been in the works for years ever since busy Bay Area developer Peter Pau and his firm Sand Hill Property Co. paid $146.6 million for the property in 2019.At the time, a representative for Sand Hill Property described the purchase of El Paseo de Saratoga as a long-term investment.Over time, though, Sand Hill Property began to pitch a dramatic re-imagining of the center at the confluence of Saratoga Avenue, Lawrence Expressway and Quito Road as a village that would be a smaller version of the iconic Santana Row destination center in San Jose.At present, the redevelopment of the project would produce 1,100 residential units and 165,000 square feet of commercial space...

Opinion: The Palestinian and Jewish experiences are both valid

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

For Jews and Palestinians these are painful and difficult days.On Oct. 7, Hamas gunmen indiscriminately murdered about 1,200 Israelis. The victims were not settlers. They did not live in the West Bank or any disputed territories. In fact, many were peace activists. Their deaths break my heart.Israel’s military action in the weeks since have killed many thousands of Palestinians. Most of the casualties are civilians. Their deaths also break my heart.Many of the loudest voices in our community want to apportion blame to one side or the other, to deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state or deny the legitimacy of a Palestinian national identity. I want to suggest something else, something more difficult: If we truly want to find a just resolution to this conflict, we have to recognize that both sides are right — and both sides are wrong.We have to hold the pain and the suffering, as well as the national aspirations, of Palestinians and Israeli Jews. We have to acknowledge th...

Granderson: Climate change costs fall on states that can’t afford them

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

Between 2018 and 2022 many of the states with high rates of poverty — Oklahoma, New York — were also the states that suffered the most damage from extreme weather. A new climate study indicates things are going to get worse for those places and for poor people.The federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment was published last week and concludes that we are literally running out of places to hide.Right now, according to the report, more than half of all Americans live somewhere that’s projected to have more extreme weather more often. No matter how much humans might try to put a red-blue spin on climate issues, the weather doesn’t care: The climate damage price tags for Texas and California were roughly the same during the span the report assessed.In 2021, future presidential candidate Ron DeSantis referred to aggressive climate change policy as “left-wing stuff.” But wouldn’t you know it, Florida — the state where DeSa...

Lafayette police arrest 2 men who allegedly stole two vehicles

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

(BCN) -- Lafayette police this week arrested two men for allegedly stealing a motorcycle and another vehicle after a brief chase that led up the wrong way of a freeway ramp.Police received a report of a stolen vehicle at approximately 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the 3300 block of Mt. Diablo Boulevard from a license plate-reading camera.Officers found the vehicle leaving the 1000 block of Carol Lane. The stolen vehicle immediately accelerated away and police pursued it to Pleasant Hill Road, then terminated the pursuit for public safety reasons when the stolen vehicle drove the wrong way up the off-ramp to westbound state Highway 24. Wife and lover who allegedly conspired to kill her husband arrested for murder in Hayward Two suspects exited the vehicle and fled on foot. One was apprehended after a short pursuit.Shortly afterward, police received a report of a male acting suspiciously in a nearby neighborhood where it was believed the driver of the stolen vehicle fled. Officers arrived and...

Woman dies after suspected DUI crash in the North Bay

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 15:12:04 GMT

(BCN) -- A female individual died Tuesday afternoon after figuring in a multi-vehicle crash in Lakeville in Sonoma County, the California Highway Patrol said.Around 2:40 p.m. Tuesday, patrol officers learned of a traffic collision on Lakeville Highway near Stage Gulch Road. Three vehicles were involved in the crash, the CHP-Santa Rosa said.According to the CHP's investigation, a Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck was traveling southbound on Lakeville Highway when its driver veered left to cross into the opposing lane. It crashed into a Toyota Tundra pickup truck that was traveling northbound on the highway.The CHP said this caused the Toyota truck to turn left into the southbound lane, causing it to collide with a Kia Sorento SUV, that was traveling to the rear of the Chevy. SMART train service delayed after crash with bicycle in Rohnert Park The Kia SUV overturned, killing its female passenger seated in front. Its driver, who suffered major injuries, had to be airlifted from the wre...