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NFL Picks: Playoff spots and seeding on the line and appreciation for Mike Tomlin’s greatness

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

Around the AFCChiefs reign. Another Week 18, another week of Patrick Mahomes donning shades instead of a helmet and watching his team. Kansas City is locked into the AFC’s No. 3 seed and, thus, isn’t playing Mahomes and likely a few others. It’s an opportunity wasted for the other teams in the division. This was the most vulnerable Kansas City team maybe of Mahomes’ career. They went 5-4 at home and are 3-2 in the division entering the final week. And yet, no sweat toward another division title. If nobody got them this year, when’s it going to happen?15.5. A year ago, the Broncos averaged 15.5 points per game in the 15 games coached by Nathaniel Hackett. That number jumped all the way to 16.9 for the season when Denver scored 55 over the final two games of the year. The 2023 New York Jets, with Hackett as the offensive coordinator, enter the final week of the season averaging… 15.7 points per game. If they score 12 points against New England on Sunday, they’ll finish at 15.5 per gam...

Jarvis: Pioneering Oregon project targets youth mental health crisis

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

Last year saw a stream of dismal headlines about kids’ mental health. Children and teens in the United States are struggling with higher levels of depression and anxiety. Rates of suicides and eating disorders are on the rise. But now there’s reason to be hopeful: An ambitious experiment in Oregon could point the way to a novel solution.Much of the last two years has been spent trying to parse the root cause of the alarming statistics rather than discussing what to do about them, though there has been some positive change. New guidelines recommending widespread screening for childhood anxiety and depression were a good start. So was the Biden administration’s investment in helping better connect families to behavioral and health services. And several states have expanded training for educators and improved access to telehealth.But none of those can fully address a fundamental problem: The number of kids who need help exceeds the number of available mental health providers. The pedia...

Single-family residence in Los Gatos sells for $2.1 million

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

137 Central Avenue – Google Street ViewThe property located in the 100 block of Central Avenue in Los Gatos was sold on Dec. 13, 2023. The $2,100,000 purchase price works out to $1,733 per square foot. The house built in 1965 has an interior space of 1,212 square feet. The property features two bedrooms, two baths, and a none. It sits on a 7,500-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently changed hands close by:A 1,940-square-foot home on the first block of Orchard Street in Los Gatos sold in December 2023 for $3,089,000, a price per square foot of $1,592. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In June 2023, a 4,273-square-foot home on Kimble Avenue in Los Gatos sold for $4,320,000, a price per square foot of $1,011. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On Prospect Avenue, Los Gatos, in November 2023, a 3,514-square-foot home was sold for $5,563,500, a price per square foot of $1,583. The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. 

Guerrero: How to have a meaningful conversation with your MAGA dad

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

Lately, I avoid conversations with my father because of his passion for lecturing me about politics from a hard-right perspective. It began during COVID lockdowns. Not long ago, he told me he sees Tucker Carlson as a hero. Exasperated, I told him he was idolizing a guy who had mocked his daughter’s reporting on national TV.He shook his head as if I were lying or whining, then soliloquized about Carlson’s defense of traditional masculinity. “Tucker has balls down to the floor,” he said.It’s not unusual to become estranged from family members who’ve embraced ideas we view as dead wrong and dangerous. We’ve grown accustomed to our divides, which many of us see as unbridgeable. But as we enter 2024, I wonder: If we can’t have tough political conversations with some of the people we love most, how are we going to overcome our differences as a nation?This election year could determine whether our democracy lives or dies. What better New Year...

Driftwood destiny: Where all those beached logs come from and where they’re going

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

APTOS — All week long, the scene at local beaches has caused visitors to pause for a moment and stand in awe of what sits before them while their furry companions are sent into an insuppressible fit of joy.That’s right, there’s still plenty of driftwood piled up on Santa Cruz County shores – parked there last week by heavy rainfall and a massive tidal swell.The images aren’t so different from last January, when a powerful string of atmospheric river storms swept mountains of ocean debris and tree trunks the size of SUVs onto local shores that took officials weeks to clean up and disperse.But as crews rung in the new year with another robust mop up effort to the dismay of countless local pups, some may wonder: where does it all come from and where does it end up?Another pileupGabe McKenna, spokesperson for California State Parks which manages nine beaches across the county and several more subunit regions, said the cleanup effort in some of the hardest-hit, low-lying areas such as Se...

Santa Cruz man assaults stranger believed to be ‘Charles Manson’

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — A man is facing felony assault and elder abuse charges this week after allegedly severely beating a man he thought was Charles Manson, police said.Santa Cruz Police Department officers arrested Charles Bonin, 35, on New Year’s Eve after responding to a report of a group fight shortly after 2 p.m. at the Town Clock.Police later determined that Bonin allegedly had injured a 66-year-old man, giving him significant facial and head injuries that required treatment at an out-of-county medical center, according to Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Jon Bush. Officers arrested Bonin on suspicion of attempted murder and related charges, but formal charges later filed by the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office did not pursue the attempted murder. Bonin, held at the Santa Cruz County Jail without bail Wednesday, was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning at the Santa Cruz County Superior Court on charges of assault with great bodily injury, elder abuse and battery with bo...

East Bay man arrested in connection with Aptos ‘road rage’ shooting

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

LIVE OAK — Authorities have arrested a Hayward man suspected of unloading a handgun into the vehicle of a family of five during an apparent “road rage” incident last year.Raphael Shakur Abduh-Salam Investigators believe 33-year-old Raphael Shakur Abduh-Salam, 33, fired off 15 rounds using an extended ammunition clip after the two vehicles were in a Friday-night Highway 1 fender-bender in May. The shooting and related shrapnel injured the father, who was driving, and his 3-year-old child in the backseat. Both were treated and released from the hospital within 24 hours.“Really, as it is in law enforcement, you find that some things are just miracles,” Santa Cruz County Undersheriff Chris Clark said during a press conference Thursday morning put on jointly by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and the Santa Cruz-area California Highway Patrol. “Miracles that people aren’t more seriously hurt.”The shooting occurred while the two cars were pulling off on a Freedom Boulevard offr...

See the new California laws looking to boost affordable home construction

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

State bills signed into law during the past year seek to boost construction of affordable housing by expanding the number and types of developments that bypass California’s environmental review process and curtail discretionary hearings by city councils and county boards of supervisors.Related ArticlesHousing | San Jose housing highrise may break ground in a “few months” Housing | Downtown San Jose store may become pet hotel, pet daycare, retail site Housing | Conversion of San Jose tower from offices to homes starts to emerge Housing | ‘The era of saying ‘no’ to housing is coming to an end’: New California building laws for 2024 Housing | Bay Area office vacancies balloon to all-time high as tech wobbles Here are some of the key measures adopted in 2023:SB 4: Requires cities and counties to approve “by-right,” or without a discretionary city council or board of supervisors review, affordable...

What’s new in fast food for January 2024

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

Fast food chains are giving their menus a refresh for the news year.Some, like Starbucks, Chipotle and El Pollo Loco, are packing up the holiday cheer and leaning into new year’s resolutions.Here is a sampling of what’s out there.Chick-fil-A: The chicken sandwich giant is going tropical in January with its seasonal drinks, according to a news release. Among them is the return of Mango Passion Sunjoy, a mixture of lemonade and iced ice, and three variations, Mango Passion Lemonade, Mango Passion Iced Tea and Mango Passion Frosted Lemonade. chick-fil-a.comChipotle Mexican Grill: The Newport Beach-based chain is leaning heavily into fitness with a 2024 lineup of seven Lifestyle Bowls that can be ordered online or through its app. They include bowls for Keto or Whole30 diets, vegetarian and vegan bowls, and a high-protein bowl. Chipotle is also partnering with a fitness social network called Strava on a series of challenges in January, including “Chipotle segments” in major cities that ...

California terrorist attacker’s relatives let government seize $275,000 life insurance payout

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:28:45 GMT

The mother and sister of San Bernardino terrorist attacker Syed Rizwan Farook have given up their legal fight with the federal government for the proceeds of two life insurance policies that Farook purchased shortly before he and his wife killed 14 people and wounded 22 others at the Inland Regional Center in 2015.Farook received a $25,000 policy in 2012 as a benefit from his job as an inspector for the San Bernardino County Division of Environmental Health, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office court filing that sought to seize the proceeds because the government considered the money a fruit of a crime. Then in 2013, Farook purchased a $250,000 policy from the Minnesota Life Insurance Co.A poster placed outside U.S. District Court in Riverside during a U.S. Attorney’s Office news conference in 2021 shows the 14 people slain in the attack on a San Bernardino County Division of Environmental Health event at the Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2, 2015. (The Press-Enterprise) By ...