Home

From the Roadshow archives: Crazed by your commute? There’s always Bismarck

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

Editor’s note: Mr. Roadshow wanted to share some of his favorite columns and stories from more than 30 years of informing, entertaining and getting things changed for Bay Area (and beyond) drivers. He’ll be back on the road with new material soon. In the meantime, please keep sending Mr. Roadshow your comments or questions to [email protected] story originally was published on Feb. 2, 1997. This is it. Commuter heaven.The fewest traffic problems of any significant city in the entire U.S. of A. No traffic reports every 10 minutes. No carpool lanes. Metering lights? Bah, humbug. Triple left-turn lanes? Not here. Driver rage? You gotta be kidding.Places Rated Almanac ranks the capital of North Dakota No. 1 in the country when it comes to the shortest and least stressful commute. People here actually live five blocks from work. Compared to us, they gain an extra three weeks of vacation a year in time they save motoring to their job.“Driving in N...

570 California schools targeted for low vaccination rates

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

By Diana Lambert, Daniel J. Willis and Yuxuan Xie | EdSourceMore than 500 California public schools are being audited by the state because they reported that more than 10% of their kindergarten or seventh-grade students were not fully vaccinated last school year. Schools that allow students to attend school without all their vaccinations are in jeopardy of losing funding.The audit list, released by the California Department of Public Health, includes 450 schools serving kindergarten students and 176 schools serving seventh graders with low vaccination rates. Fifty-six of the schools serve both grade levels. Another 39 schools failed to file a vaccination report with the state.“Schools found to have improperly admitted students who have (not) met immunization requirements may be subject to loss of average daily attendance payments for those children,” the California Department of Public Health said in an email.Students who are overdue for their vaccinations or who have been admitted ...

$7 million project begins to rebuild historic Northern California wharf wrecked in huge winter storms

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

It was arguably the most dramatic image from the powerful storms that battered Northern California’s coastline in January: The Capitola Wharf, an 855-foot-long landmark that dates back to 1857, torn in half by pounding waves.Photos of the damage to the popular Santa Cruz County waterfront attraction went around the world.The heavily damaged Capitola Wharf juts into Monterey Bay on Thursday Sept. 7, 2023. The damage sustained in huge storms on Jan. 5, 2023 will be repaired as part of a $7.7 million project that begins this month. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel) “People here were just bawling that day, watching it happen,” said Capitola resident Gerry Jensen. “They were brokenhearted. I heard things like ‘I used to go fishing with my grandfather out there.'”Now the seas are calm. And in a major rebirth for the seaside town whose economy depends on tourism and the beach, construction crews are set to begin work next week on a $7.7 mi...

‘Not a lot of silver linings’ after Cal Golden Bears let another one get away in 14-10 loss to Auburn

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

BERKELEY — The road ahead got tougher for Cal after it reverted to a chronic problem of recent years in a 14-10 defeat to Auburn before 44,141 fans at Memorial Stadium and an ESPN national audience on Saturday night.The Bears cannot win the close ones.They have lost 19 games since the start of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and 13 of those defeats have come by margins of seven points or fewer.“There’s not a lot of silver linings,” coach Justin Wilcox said after this one. “We had plenty of chances and we didn’t get it done.”The Bears head into this week unsure of the status of star running back Jaydn Ott, who tried leaping over a defender and hit the ground hard late in the third quarter, staying there for at least two minutes before walking off. He did not return.“He was talking to us, trying to get us riled up,” quarterback Sam Jackson V said. “But you could kind of feel the shift in the game and the momentum and it just kind of went downhill from there.”Cal closes its no...

Lopsided loss to No. 6 USC gives young Stanford Cardinal something to shoot for

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

While Stanford’s season-opening win at Hawai’i showed what the Cardinal could become under new coach Troy Taylor, a 56-10 loss at No. 6 USC on Saturday night showed how far it still has to go, at least if it wants to compete with the top teams in the country.The Trojans (3-0) led 49-3 at halftime and rolled to the third biggest blowout in the 118-year history of the series, which has been played 102 times. USC beat Stanford 49-0 in 1977 and 54-7 in 1952.“We’re still learning about our team,” Taylor said. “What I do know, though, is they’re going to compete, they’re not going to stop and they’re going to continue to get better. And we’ll do the same as the coaching staff. Who we are — the season is early on — hasn’t been defined. It’s one day. Obviously, we’re not at their level right now. But we will shoot to be there and we will continue to work at it.”The Cardinal (1-1) will have a chance to rebound quickly. Next up is the home...

Editorial: Union contract will damage San Jose’s ability to provide services

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

San Jose has been down this road before. It didn’t end well.Roughly two decades ago, the San Jose City Council agreed to union contracts with costly pension benefits that plague the city to this day. The labor-backed deal resulted in a devastating reduction of the city’s police force and severe cuts to library hours and parks maintenance work.The City Council is poised Tuesday to approve another labor-backed deal with city employees that could have equally devastating impacts on the city’s budget. Contract negotiations with firefighters will be held next year and police the following year. It’s hard to imagine firefighters and police, who put their lives on the line on the job every day, agreeing to a smaller raise than that given to San Jose’s administrative workforce.The end result? This year’s budget won’t be largely impacted. But a back-of-the-envelope projection would add $20 million in annual ongoing costs to the general fund in the th...

High school football roundup: Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo School among Saturday’s winners

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

SaturdaySacred Heart Prep made the short trip to Palo Alto on Saturday night and returned home with a 28-14 victory and a 2-1 record.The visitors never trailed after scoring 14 points in the first quarter. The Gators led 14-7 at halftime and stretched the advantage to 21-7 in the third quarter.Anthony Noto ran for two second-half touchdowns to help lead the way. Ravu Savali and Greg Gamitian also rushed for TDs for Sacred Heart Prep, ranked No. 19 by the Bay Area News Group.Declan Packer threw a short TD pass to bring No. 25 Palo Alto to within seven points in the second quarter and a 49-yard TD pass to Jason Auzenne late in the third quarter to cut the deficit to seven points again.Next Friday, Palo Alto (2-1) travels to Los Gatos and SHP visits undefeated Hillsdale.— Darren SabedraMenlo School 51, Watsonville 6Mikey McGrath ran for two touchdowns and passed for two as Menlo School, playing at home in Atherton on Saturday, cruised to a non-league victory over Watsonville. The...

Police announce another confirmed sighting of escaped murderer on the run in Pennsylvania

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (AP) — An escaped murderer on the run for more than a week in southeast Pennsylvania has been spotted with what police called “a changed appearance.”Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement on Sunday that Danelo Souza Cavalcante was seen overnight near Phoenixville in northern Chester County. Cavalcante is now clean-shaven and wearing a yellow or green hooded sweatshirt, black baseball cap, green prison pants and white shoes, the statement said. Cavalcante was operating a 2020 White Ford Transit van bearing Pennsylvania registration ZST-8818, police said on X (formerly known as Twitter). The van has a refrigeration unit on the top.Cavalcante, 34, escaped from the Chester County Prison while awaiting transfer to state prison on Aug. 31 after being sentenced to life for fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend in 2021. Prosecutors say he wanted to stop her from telling police that he’s wanted in a killing in his home country of Brazil.Phoenixville is about 13 miles (2...

Storms across DC area bring heavy rainfall throughout Sunday

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

Ominous storm clouds were captured overhead on Saturday afternoon Sept. 9, 2023.(Courtesy Carol Brown) Ominous storm clouds were captured overhead on Saturday afternoon Sept. 9, 2023.(Courtesy Carol Brown) Forecasters expect another round of wet weather on Sunday after severe storms brought flash flood warnings and widespread power outages to the D.C. area. Here’s what you need to know.7News First Alert Meteorologist Veronica Johnson said that residents across the region should “stay weather ready today and have that rain gear ready to go.”Heavy rainfall could bring about another wave of watches for the D.C. area, with a flood watch already set for the afternoon in the Potomac Highlands.“So...

Solo 2 minutos de caminata después de comer pueden ayudar a reducir el nivel de azúcar en la sangre, según un estudio

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:10:00 GMT

(CNN) — Durante siglos, la gente del soleado Mediterráneo se levantaba después de comidas largas y tranquilas y daba un paseo, a menudo hasta la plaza del pueblo para ver a los vecinos y socializar. Caminar es una parte tan importante de ese estilo de vida que está catalogado como la base de la dieta mediterránea súper saludable.Ésa puede ser una de las razones por las que los estudios han encontrado que la dieta mediterránea puede reducir el riesgo de diabetes, colesterol alto, enfermedades cardíacas, accidentes cerebrovasculares y algunos tipos de cáncer, al mismo tiempo que fortalece los huesos, mejora la salud del cerebro, previene la demencia y la depresión y ayuda con pérdida de peso saludable.Ahora puede agregar otra razón para dar un paseo después de las comidas: puede reducir el nivel de azúcar en la sangre.Esa excursión tampoco tiene por qué ocupar una gran cantidad de tiempo: caminar tan solo de dos a cinco minutos después de una comida puede ser suficiente, según u...