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Editorial: VTA’s San Jose BART extension costs surging out of control

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

It’s time to apply the brakes before the San Jose BART extension careens off the track.Then hire independent experts to evaluate the benefits and costs — and decide whether Santa Clara County’s largest infrastructure project is worth the new $12.2 billion price tag.In just three years, the cost estimate for the six-mile, four-station, mostly underground extension has more than doubled, and the completion date has been kicked back a decade from 2026 to 2036.The price of the project — stretching from the Berryessa/North San Jose stop through downtown San Jose and up to Santa Clara — increased from $5.6 billion in 2020 to $6.9 billion later that year, $9.1 billion in 2021, $9.3 billion in 2022 and then the $12.2 billion this past week.It’s time for a fresh look at the project and alternatives that might provide mass transit or other environmentally friendly commuter options more cost-effectively. Perhaps the extension will still prove to be a wise investment. Or perha...

Roger Goodell says NFL may add new international host for game in 2024

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The NFL could stage a game in yet another international location “as early as next year,” commissioner, Roger Goodell said Saturday.Goodell spoke at a fans’ forum in London, which is hosting three games this season before the international slate switches to Germany for two games in November.The league recently confirmed that cities in Spain and Brazil are under review as potential hosts in the future.“We actually have three or four markets that are here this weekend and next weekend that are interested in hosting a game,” he said.The NFL declined to comment beyond Goodell’s answers at the fan event.The league has made an aggressive push internationally by adding a 17th game to the schedule to facilitate games abroad and give teams marketing rights in various countries.League officials have made site visits to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil and Madrid in Spain where they were “building relationships, looking at the stadia there, looking at the operat...

Hamas kills 40 in unprecedented, wide-ranging incursion into Israel. Netanyahu says ‘we are at war’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea, catching the country off guard on a major holiday. Several hours after the invasion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gunbattles inside several Israeli communities in a surprising show of strength that shook the country. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 40 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years.At least 561 wounded people were being treated in Israeli hospitals, including at least 77 who were in critical condition, according to an Associated Press count based on public statements and calls to hospitals.There was no official comment on casualties in Gaza, but AP reporters witnessed the funerals of 15 people who were killed and saw another ei...

US Senate leader raises trade and fentanyl at start of 1st congressional visit to China since 2019

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

SHANGHAI (AP) — A senior American lawmaker, leading the first congressional trip to China in four years, said Saturday that the U.S. does not want to cut economic ties with the world’s second-largest economy but seeks a level playing field so that American companies can compete freely.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and five other senators arrived in Shanghai earlier in the day on a three-country tour that will also take them to South Korea and Japan. The trip comes amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the U.S. and China and as officials try to lay the groundwork for a possible meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November. “We are prepared to compete but we do not seek to conflict,” Schumer told Shanghai’s Communist Party chief shortly after the delegation’s arrival. The party head, Chen Jining, avoided specific issues in his public remarks, saying that a healthy and stable China-U.S. relationship would benefit the entire world. H...

Israeli national rescue service says at least 40 killed in wide-ranging Hamas incursion

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli national rescue service says at least 40 killed in wide-ranging Hamas incursion.Source

Record-breaking turnout for AWS Girls’ Tech Day in Prince William County

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

This article was written by WTOP’s news partner, InsideNoVa.com, and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.More than 600 middle school girls from across the region gathered at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Prince William County Saturday for the fifth annual AWS Girls’ Tech Day.Amazon Web Services (AWS) Girls’ Tech Day was developed to promote and encourage girls and women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, a combination of fields commonly referred to as STEAM, according to a news release. The free, half-day educational event involved panel discussions and STEAM-related interactive activities.This year’s Girls’ Tech Day at the Hylton Performing Arts Center broke attendance records.Highlights included: Students learning to play tic-tac-toe using their drone piloting skills, learning how to code robots so they can pick up and deliver packages in a simulated disaster zone and learning about the l...

¿Quién es Juan Schiaretti, el peronista no kirchnerista candidato a presidente en las elecciones en Argentina?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

(CNN Español) — Juan Schiaretti es peronista y gobierna por tercer periodo Córdoba, la segunda provincia de Argentina en cantidad de electores, que en general tiene la particularidad de votar candidatos locales peronistas, pero a nivel nacional muestra una fuerte impronta antiperonista. ¿Cómo se explica? El peronismo cordobés que hoy lidera Schiaretti no es kirchnerista, suele marcar sus diferencias con el Gobierno nacional y en estas elecciones generales, compite con sus propios candidatos.Así, con su partido Hacemos por Nuestro País, y por fuera de la coalición oficialista Unión por la Patria, el “Gringo”, como se lo apoda, se lanzó por primera vez a las elecciones presidenciales para captar el voto peronista no kirchnerista acompañado de varios desencantados con el liderazgo de la vicepresidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.Ese desencanto con el kirchnerismo llevó a Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, uno de los precandidatos de Juntos por el Cambio, la principal coalición o...

¿Quién es Myriam Bregman, candidata del Frente de Izquierda a la presidencia de Argentina?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

(CNN Español) –– El Frente de Izquierda y los Trabajadores es una fuerza política joven en Argentina. Está conformado por partidos de larga trayectoria en el país, pero como tal solo tiene 12 años de existencia.Ese tiempo fue suficiente para que Myriam Bregman se convirtiera en una referente de la coalición. Su compromiso con la causa de los desaparecidos durante la última dictadura militar (1976-1983), su cercanía a los sectores obreros y su vocación feminista hoy le permiten ser la candidata a presidenta por el Frente en las elecciones que se celebrarán el 22 de octubre.Las propuestas en 5 temas clave de Myriam Bregman como candidata a la presidencia de ArgentinaConocida popularmente como “la rusa”, Bregman nació el 25 de febrero de 1972 en Timote, una pequeña localidad ubicada al oeste de la provincia de Buenos Aires, donde creció junto a sus padres y su hermano. Según cuenta, en la vida tranquila del campo pasaba su infancia leyendo sobre la cultura egipcia y rodeada de animales...

Israel’s Netanyahu vows to exact ‘huge price’ from Hamas

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Netanyahu vows to exact ‘huge price’ from Hamas.Source

Megan Rapinoe honored by team OL Reign in front of record NWSL crowd of 34,130

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:01:01 GMT

SEATTLE (AP) — It’s rare that Megan Rapinoe is at a loss for words. The retiring star was honored by club team OL Reign on Friday night in front of a National Women’s Soccer League record crowd of 34,130 fans, many of whom wore pink wigs in her honor.“I do know my impact but it’s one thing to know it, and another thing to really feel it and see it. To see some of the signs and the pink wigs and see what that means to people,” she said. “It’s hard to put just this deep sense of gratitude and joy and thankfulness for being able to have a moment like this into words.” With her family and fiancé Sue Bird looking on, Rapinoe started for the Reign in a scoreless draw against the Washington Spirit. Lumen Field’s public address system played “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone” when she took to the field with her teammates. Rapinoe had already played her final match with the U.S. national team last month in Chicago, but Friday marked her final regula...