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Official: Loneliness is a health risk akin to smoking

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

By Amanda Seitz | Associated PressWASHINGTON — Widespread loneliness in the U.S. poses health risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily, costing the health industry billions of dollars annually, the U.S. surgeon general said Tuesday in declaring the latest public health epidemic.About half of U.S. adults say they’ve experienced loneliness, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in an 81-page report from his office.“We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not right. That’s why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing.”The declaration is intended to raise awareness around loneliness but won’t unlock federal f...

Santa Clara County using drones to control mosquitos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

After experiencing a particularly wet winter, Santa Clara County is rolling out drones to spray larvicide in non-residential areas to prevent what could be a booming year for mosquitos and vector-borne diseases like West Nile Virus.This is the first year the county’s Vector Control District will use drones to deploy larvicide — an insecticide that targets mosquito larvae. The drones will only be used in uninhabited and remote areas that can’t be accessed on foot, like some of the county’s marshlands at the Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto.The district previously used helicopters to reach those areas, but that posed several downsides.“Those areas are very sensitive and drones are going to have less of an impact on the environment,” Nayer Zahir, the vector control district manager, said.She said the drones will be flown by a licensed individual at about 200 feet above the ground.The drones will allow the larvicide to be applied more precisely a...

Due to Florida laws, she carried a baby to term knowing he would die

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

By Elizabeth Cohen, Carma Hassan and Amanda Musa | CNNA Florida woman, unable to get an abortion in her state, carried to term a baby who had no kidneys.Deborah Dorbert’s son Milo died in her arms on March 3, shortly after he was born, just as her doctors had predicted he would.“He gasped for air a couple of times when I held him,” said Dorbert, 33. “I watched my child take his first breath, and I held him as he took his last one.”She said her pregnancy was proceeding normally until November, when, at 24 weeks, an ultrasound showed that the fetus did not have kidneys and that she had hardly any amniotic fluid. Not only was the baby sure to die, her doctors told her, but the pregnancy put her at especially high risk of preeclampsia, a potentially deadly complication.Her doctors told her it was too late to terminate the pregnancy in Florida, which bans nearly all abortions after 15 weeks. The only options were to go out of state to get an abortion or to c...

SFPD arrests 5 alleged gang members in different Bay Area cities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

(KRON) -- The San Francisco Police Department arrested five alleged gang members after serving search warrants, it announced Tuesday. The suspects did not just live in San Francisco -- all five of the apparent gang members lived in different Bay Area cities.SFPD said all five arrestees were members of a San Francisco-based street gang, but it did not provide the gang's name. The gang, which has ties across the Bay Area, is "known to have committed multiple violent and property crimes," SFPD said. The suspects were identified as:Maurkece Johns, 29, of San FranciscoEric Jones, 29, of ConcordDajuan Menifee, 34, of HerculesJohnnie Leonard, 23, of AlamedaKameron Kaywood, 34, of San RamonThe first arrest was made on April 19 in the area of Harbor Road and Bertha Lane in the Hunters Point neighborhood. Johns was taken into custody after a brief foot chase, SFPD said. Officers found two guns, ammunition and other evidence. 7 bodies found in search for two missing Oklahoma teens: authorit...

Missing Florida man found dead in San Francisco Bay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A missing Florida man's body was found floating in the San Francisco Bay near a marina in Berkeley, police said. A kite surfer spotted 57-year-old Vittorio Marianecci's body in the water just before 5 p.m. Monday. The kite surfer called 911 and law enforcement responded to the scene. Marianecci's family reported him missing last week. He was last seen alive in Florida on April 26, and he was supposed to catch a flight to Seattle on April 27. The San Francisco Police Department said the man never arrived in Seattle, but his family tracked his phone to San Francisco and Marin County on April 28. SFPD opened a missing person investigation because Marianecci was considered "at-risk." The Alameda County Sheriff's Coroner's Office is investigating Marianecci's cause of death.

Oakland teachers continue talks with district as strike looms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

(KRON) -- Representatives with the Oakland Education Association representing Oakland teachers resumed talks with the Oakland Unified School District on Tuesday after announcing a strike if no deal is reached by Thursday. The teachers union voted last week to approve a strike, telling KRON4 that no progress had been made in negotiations with the union.The OEA, which represents some 3,000 teachers and other educators, said that the past six months of negotiations have been "marked by management's continual meeting cancelations, non-serious offers and the presence of district negotiators lacking authority to make decisions," it said in a news release. 2 San Francisco Nordstroms closing this summer "This should have been settled long ago," said special education teacher and OEA Interim President Ismael Armendariz. "Some people think the District saves money by stonewalling. Not only is this unfair labor practice and illegal, delaying bargaining is costly to the District and its stude...

Starbucks beats sales forecasts as China recovers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

Starbucks posted stronger-than-expected sales in its fiscal second quarter as demand in China began to recover, but the company said that sales growth could moderate as the year progresses.The Seattle coffee giant said Tuesday that its net revenue jumped 14% in the January-March period to $8.72 billion. That was better than the $8.41 billion Wall Street had forecast, according to analysts polled by FactSet.Same-store sales — or sales at stores open at least a year — rose 11% as traffic picked up in stores. That also beat analysts’ forecast of a 7.3% increase.Same-store sales in China were up 3%, reversing a 29% decline the company saw in its October-December period due to a spike in COVID infections. It was the first time Starbucks had seen positive same-store sales in China since 2021.Starbucks Chief Financial Officer Rachel Ruggeri said traffic is strong in the afternoons and on weekends at stores in China. But the company is still uncertain about post-pandemic customer patt...

Late winner by Alba moves Barcelona closer to league title

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona kept wasting its chances against 10-man Osasuna at Camp Nou.Its top attackers all squandered good opportunities to break the deadlock, with Ansu Fati, Pedri, Ousmane Dembélé and Robert Lewandowski failing to find the target despite clear chances.It took a veteran defender to come through and move the Catalan club a step closer to its first Spanish league title in four years.Jordi Alba scored an 85th-minute winner not long after coming off the bench to give Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 win against 10-man Osasuna on Tuesday.The victory gave Barcelona a 14-point lead over second-place Real Madrid, which later lost 2-0 at Real Sociedad. The combination of results means that the Catalan club can clinch the title as early as next weekend.“It was a very big step for us, but we suffered too much, wasted too many clear chances to score,” Barcelona coach Xavi said.Both Madrid and Osasuna are focused on Saturday’s Copa del Rey final between the clubs in Seville. Madrid i...

Escaped Mississippi prisoner found dead in New Orleans

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man who escaped from a Mississippi jail on April 22 has been found dead at a truck stop in New Orleans, authorities announced Tuesday.A security guard patrolling the truck stop Sunday morning found Casey Grayson, 34, unresponsive in a white pickup over one week after he and three other inmates escaped from the Raymond Detention Center near Jackson, Mississippi’s capital, Hinds County Sheriff Tyree Jones said.Grayson is the third escaped prisoner to be found in a multi-agency hunt. Dylan Arrington died after barricading himself in a central Mississippi home and setting it on fire during an armed standoff with deputies on April 26. He is suspected of killing 61-year-old Anthony Watts and stealing his truck after the escape. Jerry Raynes was arrested on April 27 after allegedly stealing a public works vehicle and fleeing to Texas. Investigators recovered drug paraphernalia in the truck where Grayson was found. But his cause of death will not be determined until ...

Family of dead bride urges drivers not to drive drunk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:15:23 GMT

The mother of the bride had just unwound with a change of clothes and a glass of wine on her short-term rental’s balcony when the sound of sirens gave the first impression that her daughter’s wedding night had gone awry.Within minutes, Lisa Miller was riding with her new in-laws to the South Carolina beach road where authorities say a woman driving under the influence at twice the speed limit slammed into the golf cart escorting a happy couple away from their sparkler-filled goodbye at a reception overlooking the Atlantic shoreline.A day that had begun blissfully with charcuterie and mimosas along the beach ended with hours spent in agony outside a hospital where she had wrongly been told her daughter had been taken. Then, Lisa Miller said she learned that the bride’s father had identified the body back at the crash site.Samantha Miller, 34, died Friday in Folly Beach, South Carolina, while still wearing her wedding dress. The groom, Aric Hutchinson, is recovering ...