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Still undecided on Colorado’s Proposition HH? Here’s a last-minute voter’s guide.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

Millions of Coloradans have not yet voted on Proposition HH, the far-reaching ballot measure aimed at the immediate property tax spikes facing the state while lifting the Colorado’s revenue cap for the foreseeable future.The complexity of the ask is indisputable, subject to a flurry of ads and contradicting messages.RELATED: Colorado voter guide: Stories, explainers and endorsements for the 2023 electionHere’s an at-a-glance look for those still making up their minds.What does it do?Proposition HH, if it passes, would affect the formula used to calculate property taxes. It also proposes changes to the senior property tax exemption, state tax refunds, education funding and local government funding. It also would generate money for rental assistance.In a nutshell, the proposition would tamp down the increase in property taxes owed without hamstringing local governments that rely on property tax revenue for their budgets. To pay for state aid to those local governments, proponent...

Person hit by train in Douglas County dies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

One person was killed after being struck by a train in Sedalia on Thursday afternoon, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Douglas County deputies shoot man after pursuit that began in Thornton ended with vehicle crashing into gas station West Douglas County Fire Protection District and sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of Platte Avenue and Karcher Street in Sedalia at 3:24 p.m., Deputy Cocha Heyden said.Happening Now: #DCSO and West Douglas Fire are on the scene of a train versus pedestrian accident in the area of Platte Ave and Karcher St in Sedalia. This is an active death investigation; more information will be released when available. pic.twitter.com/XGSmjW96P3— DC Sheriff (@dcsheriff) November 2, 2023The person was on the northbound tracks less than a mile south of Platte Avenue and Karcher Street when they were struck, Heyden said.The person’s name will be released after the Douglas County Co...

'Creeper' allegedly recording kids outside elementary school in L.A.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

Parents of students at an elementary school in Norwalk are upset over the presence of a man who has repeatedly been spotted in his parked SUV allegedly recording children as they leave the school’s campus.  The unsettling situation outside New River Elementary School has been going on for some time and concerned parents have taken matters into their own hands, confronting the individual they refer to as a "creeper" themselves. KTLA has blurred the man’s face because law enforcement officials say they can’t prove that he’s done anything wrong.Parents say that’s part of the problem.  An unidentified man repeatedly seen parked outside New River Elementary School in Norwalk allegedly filming children. “I take my kids here after school and he pulls up to the door and he goes in his passenger [seat] and he puts up a little mirror, or he records them flat out,” Cynthia Valdez told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo.  Valdez added that she sees the man parked outside the elementary school daily whe...

No easy solutions for removing San Onofre's spent nuclear fuel

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

The San Onofre nuclear power plant hasn't generated any electricity in more than ten years.  But even as the iconic plant is being dismantled, it is still generating controversy over what to do with some of the radioactive material on the site.  San Onofre, wedged between the 5 Freeway and the Pacific Ocean along Interstate 5 near San Clemente, first went online in 1968. Like many nuclear power plants, it was not universally embraced. For decades, activists fought to get it shut down and, in 2013, they got their wish.Ten years later, however, some of those same activists are raising other concerns: this time about the 16,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel still being stored on the site.The famous domes of the San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Clemente, California. October 2023.KTLA was recently granted an exclusive tour of the current state of operations.40 of San Onofre's 62 structures have already been dismantled. The famous domes will be the last to go, manager...

Southern California mother hospitalized after violent hit-and-run

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

A violent hit-and-run crash has left a mother of four hospitalized in Whittier as the suspect remains at large.Surveillance video captured the terrifying moment the victim, Lisa Park-Ortiz, was struck and nearly killed on Monday afternoon.She was taking her son to the barber shop around 2:30 p.m. when she was struck while exiting her parked car on Whittier Boulevard.“All I remember is just hearing a noise, almost like a car crash, but it was my body hitting the car and that was the last thing I remember,” said Park-Ortiz.Video captures Park-Ortiz getting violently sideswiped just moments after stepping out of her SUV parked along a busy street. Lisa Park-Ortiz and her children in a family photo.Lisa Park-Ortiz and her children in a family photo.The suspect’s black Hyundai SUV responsible for violenty hitting a mother of four in Whittier on Oct. 30, 2023. (Lisa Park-Ortiz)Surveillance video captured the terrifying moment a mother of four was struck and nearly killed by a hit-and...

Google and Lendlease end development pacts, including downtown San Jose

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

SAN JOSE — Google and its real estate partner Lendlease have mutually agreed to terminate their partnership to develop four huge projects, including a vast transit-oriented neighborhood in downtown San Jose.Australia-based Lendlease disclosed the decision in a web filing on Friday, Australia time.“Lendlease and Google announced today they have mutually reached an agreement to end the development services agreements of four master-planned districts,” Lendlease stated in the web post.These are the four projects and their general locations:— Downtown West, a downtown San Jose mixed-use transit village near the Diridon train station and the SAP Center.— Sunnyvale, the Moffett Park area.— Mountain View, Middlefield Park.— Mountain View, North Bayshore.“The decision to end these agreements followed a comprehensive review by Google of its real estate investments, and a determination by both companies that the existing agreements are no longer...

Bay Area woman trapped in Gaza sues U.S. officials over failure to evacuate U.S. citizens

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

An 81-year-old Daly City grandmother is suing the U.S. secretaries of State and Defense, claiming they are violating the U.S. Constitution by not evacuating Palestinian Americans from besieged Gaza.A relative of the woman, Dina Bseiso, a Bay Area resident, said her family is disappointed that the U.S. government “has left one of our own family members stranded” despite her U.S. citizenship. “When we are lucky enough to get her on the phone, she tells us how scared she is that by the time she is evacuated, it’ll be too late for her.”The woman tried to cross into Egypt from Gaza in recent weeks, but Egyptian authorities turned her away, according to the lawsuit. This news organization is not naming the woman over concerns by her family and lawyers that she could be targeted by Israel’s military.According to the lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the woman “is currently trapped abroad in the Gaza Strip in an active war ...

Oakland police announce arrest in August killing, but prosecutors charged suspect with gun possession, not murder

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

OAKLAND — A 20-year-old man has been charged with possessing a gun during a fatal August shooting, though prosecutors have not charged him with killing the victim, court records show.Marco Leiva-Saucedo, of Oakland, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and an enhancement alleging he caused great bodily injury, according to court records. He remains in jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.Police announced Leiva-Saucedo’s Oct. 11 arrest in a Thursday news release. The release says he was arrested “in connection” with the Aug. 28 shooting and that prosecutors charged him, but fails to mention that he’s not facing murder charges. Leiva-Saucedo was charged with gun possession two days after his arrest.Leiva-Saucedo has also been charged with a probation violation for a 2022 conviction of receiving stolen property, in a case where he was originally charged with carjacking. It is because of that conviction that he is legally barred from possessing...

Parent company of Great America, Six Flags theme parks merge to create a playtime powerhouse in North America

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

(AP) -- Cedar Fair and Six Flags are merging to create an expansive amusement park operator with operations spread across 17 U.S. states and three countries. In the Bay Area, those parks include Cedar Fair-owned California's Great America in Santa Clara and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo. Great America theme park to close in ‘up to 11 years’ The combined company, worth more than $3.5 billion, will boast 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks and nine resort properties in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It will also have entertainment partnerships and a portfolio of intellectual property including Looney Tunes, DC Comics and Peanuts. Amusement parks have seen an uptick in revenue but have struggled to raise attendance since the pandemic, even as other entertainment sectors have bounced back. A tie-up between two huge players is expected to at least lower costs. Cedar Fair reported an attendance of 12.4 million guests in its third quarter, a 1% increase from a year earlier. Six Fl...

Las estrellas de mar son en realidad “cabezas que se arrastran por el fondo marino”, revela estudio

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 20:18:50 GMT

(CNN) — Las cabezas de la mayoría de los animales son fácilmente identificables, pero hasta ahora los científicos no podían decir lo mismo de las estrellas de mar.Una estrella de mar tiene cinco brazos idénticos con una capa de “pies tubulares” debajo que ayudan a la criatura marina a desplazarse por el fondo del mar. Esto ha llevado a los naturalistas a preguntarse si las estrellas de mar tienen extremos delanteros y traseros definidos… y si cuentan con una cabeza.Un grupo de científicos logra criar estrellas de mar para compensar su acelerada mortalidadPero una nueva investigación genética sugiere lo contrario: que las estrellas de mar son en gran medida cabezas que carecen de torsos o colas y que probablemente perdieron esas características evolutivamente con el tiempo. Los investigadores afirman que los extraños fósiles de los antepasados de las estrellas de mar, que parecían contar con una especie de torso, tienen mucho más sentido en términos evolutivos...