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Vanity Mirror Reflects on the White Stripes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

Vanity Mirror Reflects on the White Stripes: Johnny Toomey of power-pop project Vanity Mirror told us about his White Stripes experience.Johnny Toomey: I would have to say the White Stripes first L.A. show at Al’s Bar in 2000.If anyone remembers Al’s Bar, it was a total hole of a venue. Small, smelled horrible, and you had to kiss anything in your parked car goodbye. This was downtown L.A. before the yuppie lofts. This was still the Skid Row area back then.There were about 15 people in attendance including myself. The first LP had just come out and I only heard it once at a friend’s house. I was super into the Go and knew that Jack White played with them for a short time. That was the extent of my knowledge on the White Stripes prior to seeing this show.Everyone there could tell that they were witnessing something that was going to be huge. It was raw and stripped down to the basics of rock music. Something that had been missing for a long while. They looked like t...

Spring Wine Trolley Tour tickets still available

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

Shuttles will take visitors to Brentwood’s wineries on Sunday spotlighting eight wineries in this growing viticulture region.Hosted by the Contra Costa Winegrowers Association, the Spring Wine Tasting Trolley Tour will allow visitors to meet the winemakers and vintners and sample wines from both bottles and barrels. The shuttles begin picking up participants at noon, making stops every 30 minutes with the last stop at 3:45 p.m.Tickets can be purchased online at Eventbrite.com for $105 and include the shuttle ride to the participating wineries, souvenir glass, wine tote, live music, and small bite appetizers, with additional food available for purchase. Visitors can start at any winery and will be returned back to that location.There’s also a $75 option for those who have designated drivers and don’t need the trolleys, which also can be purchased online at Eventbrite.com.East County wineries participating this year include Bloomfield Vineyards, Campos Family Vineyards, Fa...

Boichik’s massive Berkeley bagel plant, cafe and retail store opens today

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

A year and a half in the making, Emily Winston’s mega bagel facility with the custom bagel-slinging robot arm is opening at 7:30 a.m. today, March 24, in Berkeley, where Boichik Bagels fans will no doubt wait in long lines to catch a glimpse of BakerBot and nibble on Pumperthingles. The new Boichik Bagels will be open until 1 p.m. daily, or until sold out.As we’ve been reporting since 2021, the 18,000-square-foot warehouse and mechanical dough line was designed by Winston, a mechanical engineer by training, to fuel Boichik’s growing mini-empire. The plant will serve as the production facility for Boichik’s wholesale accounts, the tiny College Avenue and Palo Alto shops and forthcoming bagel outposts, including Santa Clara. The new Boichik offers a similar menu to the other locations — bagels sandwiches, house-mixed schmears, lox, whitefish salad and coffee — in addition to some new baked goods.The retail kitchen area of the new Boichik Bagels prod...

Record snowpack, nearly full reservoirs: Here’s the state of California’s drought after an epic winter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

By Rachel Ramirez and Brandon Miller | CNNCalifornia has faced an onslaught of powerful, atmospheric river storms this winter, which has led to record-breaking snowpack, nearly full reservoirs and overflowing watersheds.At this time last year, all of California was caught in a drought. But according to the latest US Drought Monitor released Thursday morning, just over a third of California remains in some level of drought — the lowest amount since the drought began — with severe drought only covering 8% of the state.For the last three years, the state has been in desperate need of some rain and snow. Just a month ago, more than 33 million people in California, including in the major metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, were facing an unrelenting drought. Years of unfavorable precipitation trends and more intense heat waves have fed directly to the state’s prolonged, historic megadrought that has triggered dire water shortages.Now, that nu...

California bill aims to ban sale of popular candies containing these ingredients

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

By Andi Babineau and Kristen Rogers | CNNSome chemicals linked to health issues have been banned in food products in the European Union, while the United States has allowed use at levels determined safe. A bill recently introduced in the California State Assembly could start to change that.Assembly Bill 418, or AB 418, seeks to prohibit the manufacture, sale or distribution of food products in California containing red dye No. 3, titanium dioxide, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil or propylparaben, according to a news release from the Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel’s office, who introduced the bill with fellow Democratic East Bay lawmaker Buffy Wicks. If passed, the bill would go into effect January 1, 2025.Titanium dioxide is a powder used as a white colorant or to give a smooth texture in candies and other processed foods. Potassium bromate is added to baked goods to help dough strengthen and rise higher. In some beverages, brominated vegetable oil keeps citrus flavo...

Preview: ‘Redfall’ beautifully meshes Arkane’s hallmark gameplay with an open world

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

It’s been a minute since vampires were explosively popular. The heyday for bloodsuckers has come and gone when the likes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “True Blood” wrapped up and zombie epics such as “The Walking Dead” took off in the public’s imagination.That could all change, and one of the first projects that could make vampires popular again is “Redfall.” Arkane Austin’s latest game has been in the works for five years and takes the studio’s hallmark gameplay and adds a fresh twist to it.“All Arkane games, there’s two things we try to do,” co-director Ricardo Bare said. “One is to invest in the world building and build a sense of place and the second is to invest in gameplay mechanics that let you be creative.”That paid dividends in games such as “Prey,” “Dishonored” and most recently “Deathloop.” With “Redfall,” Bare said the ...

Where does the money from FasTrak deposits go?: Roadshow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

Q: FasTrak requires a $30 minimum transponder deposit and automatically refills this fund. What do they do with all the interest this money generates? Surely these millions of dollars generate a large amount of income.Daniel Martinez, San LeandroA: The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) uses the money to offset fees charged by banks for the credit card transactions used to replenish customers’ prepaid toll accounts. These fees run into the millions of dollars each year. As a result, the interest income from FasTrak totaled about $50,000 in 2022.Q: When the pandemic started, I bought an e-bike. It is, in most ways, a regular bike with a battery pack and larger back hub. I usually don’t use the electric assist part, unless I’m on a grade or biking into a stiff headwind.I’m 78 years old and don’t go fast. I usually bike on Bay Area trails and am now concerned because an article in your paper said some cities are banning e-bikes. What are the rules? If I turn off the...

Mother of twin 6-year-olds killed by suspect fleeing police in stolen car

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

(KRON) -- A mother of twin 6-year-old boys was killed Thursday evening by a suspect fleeing police in a stolen car, according to the Hercules Police Department. The suspect has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.Just before 7:30 p.m., officers with the Contra Costa Sheriff's Office told police with the Hercules Police Department that the suspect, 20-year-old Vallejo resident Ralph Ellsworth White, III, was allegedly driving a stolen Mazda SUV toward Hercules on eastbound I-80. A Hercules police officer spotted the car exiting I-80 onto Willow Avenue and began to pursue it, officials said. Body of radio host JV found in San Francisco Bay by Pier 39 White, III, allegedly began to speed up as the officer caught up to him, leading police on a short car chase north on Willow Avenue before crashing into a Nissan traveling south on Willow Avenue trying to make a turn onto 4th Avenue. White, III, immediately got out of the Mazda and began fleeing on foot but was found in a liquor st...

Oakland teachers to protest contract negotiations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

(KRON) -- Teachers in Oakland will hold a strike Friday over what they call bad faith bargaining by the Oakland School District. It's being called the "Wildcat Strike" by teachers and is not union approved. But teachers say it's happening because, for months, the Oakland Unified School District has been canceling contract negotiation meetings and holding up the conversation of better pay and learning conditions.Teachers in the strike plan to call out sick Friday and say it's because they're opposed to school mergers and workers that are being cut in other unions across the district. According to a news release, the school board eliminated essential positions including support for students, academic systems, special education, language programs and case management. Mother of twin 6-year-olds killed by suspect fleeing police in stolen car “Such a surgical attack on kids' education. You are taking out the professional in the room with the kids who need the most help," Oakland teacher...

Bay Area storm cleanup: Roads closed for storm cleanup

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:33:10 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The most recent in a seemingly never-ending series of atmospheric river storms tore through the Bay Area this week, leaving highway lane closures and power outages. High winds and heavy downpours uprooted trees, blew out windows in high-rises and took the lives of five people. Another storm coming to Bay Area to bring more rain Monday As the Bay Area braces for yet another storm next week, storm cleanup and repairs are underway across the region. Follow our blog for the latest.Bay Area storm cleanup updates:Friday, March 246 a.m. -- Crews close El Camino Real in Burlingame for storm cleanup Caltrains and San Mateo County crews are being proactive as opposed to reactive with cleanup efforts following Tuesday's storm. They are using this break in the weather to remove trees that could fall and clear out debris before the region gets hit again next week.For them to do that, they will be shutting down parts of El Camino Real in Burlingame in both di...