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Consumer group says records show California insurance commissioner drafted proposed market fix with industry lobbyists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

A consumer group says California’s Department of Insurance communications obtained through a records request show the commissioner’s proposed fixes to the state’s troubled home insurance market announced last month were drafted in private discussions with insurance lobbyists.Consumer Watchdog’s records request, aimed at pulling back the curtain on a failed closed-door legislative effort to address insurance market concerns, yielded only three emailed documents totaling 20 pages. Those late-August emails to and from Deputy Insurance Commissioner Michael Martinez, various insurance lobbyists and representatives of the governor and legislative leaders include draft language of a bill that never materialized, but is similar to a proposal Commissioner Ricardo Lara later announced Sept. 21.“These documents prove Commissioner Lara’s deal with the insurance industry is an outrageous fraud on the public that will make Californians pay vastly more for insur...

How a single year of Elon Musk turned Twitter into a husk of its former self

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

By Brian Fung and Clare Duffy | CNNNew York  — It’s been one year to the day since Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion and set the company, along with its employees and users, off on a whiplash-inducing series of twists and turns.Twelve months on, the company barely resembles its former self — and not only because Musk renamed it “X” and did away with its iconic blue bird branding. Through a dizzying and haphazard barrage of changes, Musk has transformed a profitable company once regarded as the world’s go-to source for breaking news and political commentary into a widely ridiculed platform that’s fighting just to break even and crippled by debt; that’s struggling to manage spam and disinformation; that’s alienated some of its biggest advertisers and users; and that’s casting about for purpose.Even as Musk — and new CEO Linda Yaccarino — push their vision for X as an “everything app,” the company has seemingly no clear path back to prominence or respectabilit...

‘It’s not a possum, it’s a person’: Man missing for a month is found dead in chimney

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

A month after a tenant reported frantic yelling in his Nebraska apartment building, a missing man was found dead in a chimney.1414 S. Third St., Norfolk, Nebraska. (Google Maps image) Police in Norfolk announced on Wednesday, Oct. 25, that the body recovered the previous week was that of Zachariah A. Andrews, 29. The Norfolk man had been officially reported missing on Oct. 3, and the last sighting of him was Sept. 15, the police said.On the afternoon of Sept. 16, a resident called police to report somebody yelling for help, apparently inside the two-story apartment building. “It was someone saying, ‘Dear Jesus, help me. Dear Jesus, help me,'” another tenant later told the Norfolk Daily News.By the time officers responded, the yelling had stopped, and three other residents said they hadn’t heard anything. The police suggested that the noise might have come from a loud television on the first floor.Within about a week of the incident, tenants reported a fo...

Suspect arrested for stolen car and credit cards by SSFPD

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

(KRON) – The South San Francisco Police Department arrested a man for stealing a vehicle and credit cards on Tuesday. According to South San Francisco police, officers initiated a traffic stop on a speeding vehicle in the area of Sister Cities Boulevard on Oct. 24.  Cruise to pull all of its driverless vehicles off streets nationwide The suspect of the stolen vehicle attempted to flee, entering a residential area where he attempted to flee on foot, police said. Police caught up to the driver and took him into custody. The driver also had several credit cards in his possession that did not belong to him.The suspect was booked at a nearby jail with several charges. 

Fatal crash blocking lanes on westbound 580 in Richmond

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

(BCN) -- A fatal collision is blocking lanes of westbound Interstate Highway 580 in Richmond on Friday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol. The crash was reported at about 6:45 a.m. on westbound Highway 580 just east of the Harbour Way off-ramp. Cruise to pull all of its driverless vehicles off streets nationwide The two right lanes and the highway off-ramp remained closed later Friday morning while officers investigated the crash, CHP officials said.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Jaguars rule out WR Zay Jones for Sunday’s game at Steelers because of lingering knee injury

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Zay Jones won’t play at Pittsburgh on Sunday because of a lingering right knee injury.Coach Doug Pederson ruled Jones out Friday, saying he will miss his fifth game in six weeks. Since the Jaguars (5-2) have a bye after facing the Steelers, Jones will have extra time to get healthy before the team’s Nov. 12 game against the 49ers.“We’ll see where he’s at after (the bye),” Pederson said.Jones has eight catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns this season. He injured his knee against Kansas City in Week 2 and missed the next two games. He returned against Buffalo in London and caught three passes for 23 yards and a score before re-injuring his knee. He hasn’t played since.Without Jones on the field as Jacksonville’s No. 3 receiver, defenses have been able to pay more attention to Calvin Ridley. Ridley has been held to 40 yards receiving or less in the five games Jones has been out or injured.___AP NFL...

Boston TPC will be the site of a new $3.5 million event on the LPGA Tour in 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Women’s professional golf has picked up another big money event.The LPGA Tour and FM Global announced Friday they will be stage a new tournament at TPC Boston that will feature a $3.5 million purse, the largest on the LPGA Tour outside of the majors and the tour championship.The 72-hole event will be called the 2024 FM Global Championship, and it will be held at the Norton, Massachusetts, club from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1 with a field of 144 players.“Boston is quickly becoming a dynamic home for women’s sports,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement. “We are thrilled to join this incredible movement, as the famed TPC Boston prepares to host the 2024 FM Global Championship, marking a historic return of the LPGA Tour to New England.”Boston will also be the home of a new Professional Women’s Hockey League team in 2024 and a new National Women’s Soccer League team in 2026.“We can’t wait to team up with our newest partner, FM Global, to bring th...

AP PHOTOS: Devastation followed by desperation in Acapulco after Hurricane Otis rips through

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — First came the devastation, then people’s desperation.Hurricane Otis blasted the Mexican tourist port of Acapulco like no other storm before in the Eastern Pacific. As a monstrous Category 5 meteor, with its 165 mph (266 kph) winds, it destroyed what if found on its path: large residential buildings, houses, hotels, roads and stores.Fallen trees and power line poles covered practically all the streets in this city of more than 1 million people. The walls and the roofs of buildings and houses were left partially or totally ripped off, while some cars were buried under debris.Otis made landfall in the middle of the night, and within hours people who survived the hurricane started looking for basic items and necessities. People took what they needed: diapers, food, water and toilet paper.Acapulco sits at the foot of steep mountains, and decades ago was where Hollywood stars traveled to enjoy its nightlife, sport fishing and cliff diving shows. But in recen...

Alliance of 3 ethnic rebel groups carries out coordinated attacks in northeastern Myanmar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — An alliance of ethnic rebel groups on Friday launched a coordinated offensive in northeastern Myanmar to seize military targets in areas near the Chinese border, the groups and residents of the area said.The Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, said in a joint statement that they have begun “Operation 1027” in Myanmar’s Shan state. The offensive could become a new major front in the strife-torn Southeast Asian nation.Major coordinated attacks initiated by opponents of Myanmar’s military government are relatively rare, partly because the army has a great advantage in weaponry and trained manpower.“Our primary objectives in launching this operation are multi-faceted and driven by the collective desire to safeguard the lives of civilians, assert our right to self-defense, maintain control over our territory and respond resolutely to ongoing artillery at...

6 of 9 deputies charged in death of man beaten in Memphis jail plead not guilty

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:00 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Six corrections deputies pleaded not guilty Friday to charges ranging from murder to aggravated assault in the beating and death of a Black man who was having a psychotic episode in a Memphis jail last year.In all, nine Shelby County deputies were charged in September in the October 2022 death of Gershun Freeman, 33, who was an inmate at the county jail. Authorities said the jailers punched, kicked and kneeled on Freeman’s back during a confrontation after he ran from his jail cell. The beating was caught on jail video that was released to the public.Indictments show that Stevon Jones and Courtney Parham have been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault. Jones also has been charged with an additional count of assault. Seven other deputies have been charged with aggravated assault resulting in the death of another person. Those officers are Jeffrey Gibson, Anthony Howell, Damian Cooper, Ebonee Davis, Lareko Donwel Elliot and Chelsey Ducket...