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Opinion: Pueblo train derailment is reminder of how dangerous a “bomb train” would be

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

The Oct. 15 derailment near Pueblo spilled mountains of coal over I-25, collapsed a bridge, and killed a truck driver. This was tragic, but it could have been much worse.  It could have been a two-mile-long train filled with crude oil–the kind that the Uinta Basin Railway would send through Colorado up to five times a day.The Pueblo tragedy confirms that hauling hazardous materials by the trainload always involves severe risk. The Pueblo tragedy warrants a second look at a guest commentary that appeared in the August 14 Denver Post. There, Julius T. Murray, speaking for his Ute Indian Tribe, urged federal taxpayers to finance the railway to make up for historical mistreatment of his tribe by the federal government.The railway would connect Uinta Basin oil fields to the Union Pacific’s main line in Utah. From there, trains would wind through Colorado’s treacherous mountain passes and follow the Colorado River for over 100 miles before heading to the Front Range and points east....

Turkish Wind Energy - the future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

On 26 October, the Chairman of the Turkish Wind Energy Association (TÜREB), Ibrahim Erden, addressed members of the European Parliament on the contribution of wind energy to Europe’s renewable energy and how Türkiye is a major player in the “friend-shoring” of critical components necessary for the EU’s wind energy infrastructure. EU Reporter caught up with him ahead of the meeting to learn more about the sector.We asked Erden how important wind was as a component of Türkiye’s renewable energy mix: “We produce approximately 106,000 megawatts in total. Of this around 50% is renewable produced and includes hydro, wind, solar and geothermal. Of this, wind accounts for around 12 gigawatts, that is around 11% of total annual energy production.”Chairman of the Turkish Wind Energy Association (TÜREB), Ibrahim Erden“We have interconnectors with Greece and Bulgaria and we exchange a lot of energy between say Greece, Romania and nearby countries.”Erden explains that Türkiye initially imported ...

Union takes Wednesday to study AMPTP proposal; talks to resume Thursday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

SAG-AFTRA and movie and television producers were expected to meet Wednesday, but the actors union pushed back talks to Thursday.The union instead spent Wednesday "reviewing the latest AMPTP counter offer.""We will be meeting across the table with the CEOs tomorrow," SAG-AFTRA said on X, formerly Twitter. The sides met on Tuesday, where the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers offered "an improved bonus for the most-watched streaming shows, as well as higher increases in minimum rates," Variety reports. "But the studios are still not offering a cut of total streaming revenue, which the actors union has made the centerpiece of its demands to end its 104-day strike," Variety added. "Though the two sides continue to negotiate, there remains frustration on both sides that more progress has not been made."In addition to revenue disagreements, the actors union is seeking protections against the reuse of actors' likenesses by artificial intelligence technology.

Shocking video shows driver robbed on L.A. freeway after intentional crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

In one of the more brazen robberies captured on video in Los Angeles in recent years, a driver was intentionally hit and then robbed by a group of thieves along the 10 Freeway.A video shared on Citizen shows the scene unfolding on the shoulder of eastbound I-10 just west of Arlington Avenue on Tuesday afternoon.Video shared on Citizen shows a group of thieves rob the driver of an Alfa Romeo after a collision on the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles. Oct. 24, 2023. (Citizen)According to the California Highway Patrol, a black Dodge Caravan deliberately crashed into a black Alfa Romeo sedan. A Ford Mustang was also hit.With the Alfa Romeo disabled on the side of the freeway, video recorded by a driver shows four men wearing dark clothing and masks jump out of the Caravan and swarm the sedan, grabbing items from inside.The victim was on his knees with his hands raised as steam billowed from the engine of his badly damaged luxury car.Video shared on Citizen shows a group of thieves rob the drive...

Glory Days: Former Nymph Inger Lorre is back with first album in 24 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

Glory Days: Inger Lorre has just released a new album appropriately titled Gloryland, and for a relatively small but not insignificant portion of the music-loving population, that represents a bona fide event.Her band, the still criminally under-heard Nymphs, released one self-titled, exceptional album in 1991 before calling it quits in ’92. Prior to this new record, her sole solo studio full-lengther was 1999’s frankly mind-blowing Transcendental Medication. So that’s just two albums, and Gloryland makes three. It’s reasonable to say that Lorre is not prolific.She’s had her reasons. Lorre is open about the fact that she’s suffered horribly with depression and crippling social anxiety, and those issues have led her to self-medicate for periods of her life. Speaking to Lorre on the phone shortly after the release of Gloryland, she tells us that her social anxiety in particular still plagues her, but her music helps and the new album has been an invaluable outlet.“Everything has gone ...

Why this Bay Area couple swapped California for Spain

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

By Tamara Hardingham-Gill | CNNAfter a number of failed IVF rounds, health issues and the death of their beloved dog, US couple Jason Luban and Selena Medlen were in need of a change of scenery.The couple, then based in Oakland, had penciled in a trip to Andalusia, Spain, months before, but were unsure whether to go ahead with it when the health of Luban, who has torsion dystonia, a rare movement disorder, began to deteriorate.“We were figuring out how to get him healthy again,” Medlen tells CNN Travel, before explaining that Luban was also grieving the loss of a friend and mentor. “So we had this vacation on the books, and we weren’t sure if he could travel.”According to Medlen, they ultimately decided to “go for it” after Luban, who suffers from insomnia, began sleeping better.Spanish adventureAfter visiting scenic town Ronda in Andalusia, Spain in 2016, US couple Jason Luban and Selena Medlen, who were based in Oakland, California, liked it so much they ended up moving there.&nbs...

Bay Area high school football 2023: Week 10 preview, schedule

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

Welcome to Week 10 of the high school football season.This week’s matchups include a big one in the South Bay as Los Gatos travels to rival Wilcox for a league championship and a huge one in Walnut Creek as undefeated Las Lomas plays host to red-hot Acalanes for first place in their league.There’s also a crucial one in Brentwood as Pittsburg will visit Liberty in a showdown between league leaders.The Bay Area News Group will have coverage of those games and more. If you have not already, please sign up for a digital subscription. Your contributions keep us going.Here are this week’s top matchups and schedule:ThursdayCapuchino (7-1, 3-1) at Aragon (7-1, 4-0), 7 p.m.: Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division finale for both teams. Capuchino fell a game behind Aragon in the standings after being upset by Sequoia 24-21 last week. Two Ocean teams automatically qualify for the CCS playoffs. Aragon has secured one spot. Cap will lock up the second spot and tie Aragon for first ...

7 incredible Bay Area things to do this weekend, Oct. 27-29

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

It’s shaping up as a another deliciously wonderful weekend, full of great concerts and plays, yummy cooking shows and spooky cocktails. So let’s get to it, shall we?Just be sure to double check event and venue websites for any last-minute changes in health guidelines. Meanwhile, if you’d like to have this Weekender lineup delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning for free, just sign up at www.mercurynews.com/newsletters or www.eastbaytimes.com/newsletters.1 SEE & HEAR: Great shows are breaking out all overFrom an otherworldly symphony to the return of sizzling soul singer SZA, there are a lot of great Bay Area shows to catch this week and beyond.2 MAKE & SIP: Spooky cocktailsHere’s a scary thought: If you are hosting a Halloween bash — are you serving the right cocktails? Here are five ghostly concoctions to add to your repertoire.Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey star in “Fellow Travelers.” (Showtime) 3 WATCH: Heartbreaking ‘Travelers...

‘Death spiral’: It’s getting obscenely expensive to build housing in San Jose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

It’s no surprise that building housing in San Jose isn’t cheap, but this year is shattering records for construction costs in the nation’s 12th-largest city.A new report commissioned by San Jose officials finds the residential development landscape for both market rate and affordable projects “bleak” as builders face “numerous challenges” due to enormous economic pressures, including historically high interest rates, soaring construction material and labor costs and other inflation-related issues.Buried in the study is an astounding figure: The cost of building a single unit of affordable housing in San Jose over the past year exploded by 24 percent, from $757,900 to $938,700 — a three-fold jump compared to relatively routine annual increases over the last decade and a half. Compared to other Bay Area counties such as San Francisco and Alameda, San Jose’s prices are 26 percent higher per unit, a figure attributed to a shortage in...

With a potential multi-billion-dollar Oakland Coliseum project at stake, legal fight could shake Black-led development group

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:00 GMT

OAKLAND — A group tapped by the city to help develop a $5 billion plan to transform the forsaken Coliseum complex into a hub of live sports and entertainment appears to be fracturing, with two of the founding members suing the others.The legal complaint filed this month ensnares one of the six partner organizations in the African-American Sports and Entertainment Group. Two of the eight members within the flagship entity are alleging their equity shares in the project were unfairly diluted.None of the parties involved in the complaint — filed in the Alameda County court — agreed to be interviewed on the record, but documents and video evidence obtained from the group paint a starkly different picture than the one presented in the complaint, calling its central claims into question.The group ultimately plans to acquire Oakland’s share of the Coliseum property for $115 million, and earlier this year it unsuccessfully tried to buy the site’s other half-own...