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‘Barbie’ actress calls for improved Latino representation in film

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

In a room filled with several influential Hollywood figures, “Barbie” star America Ferrera used her platform to address an ongoing industry issue: Latino representation in film.“According to the numbers, the dominant narrative our industry puts into the world is that Latinos either don’t exist or they are poor, immigrant criminals,” the Emmy winner said before a gathered crowd Thursday at the Academy Women’s Luncheon.The actor said she was taken aback after she learned that Hispanics and Latinos remained underrepresented in film over the past 16 years, according to a recent report by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.Despite the growth the Hispanic population in the U.S., Ferrera pointed out the study found that similar growth hadn't happened in film. In last year's movies, the study found that more than half of Latinos appearing on screen were depicted as criminals.“I’m personally devastated yet again,” said Ferrera, who is of Honduran descent. ...

Pedestrian critically injured after being struck in Chinatown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

A pedestrian was critically injured after being struck by a driver in the Chinatown neighborhood of Los Angeles Friday morning.Sky5 was over the scene shortly before 6 a.m. at the Chevron gas station located on the corner of East Cesar E Chavez Avenue and North Alameda Street.A driver was headed to work when he hit a pedestrian who was in the street, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson told KTLA at the scene. A pedestrian was critically injured after being struck in Chinatown on Nov. 10, 2023. (KTLA)The unidentified pedestrian was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. The driver involved in the crash stayed at the scene and was cooperating with the investigation, police said. It was unclear if the pedestrian, who is believed to be homeless, was in a crosswalk at the time of the incident. Man who plowed into sheriff’s cadets in South Whittier charged The crash remains under investigation.

Local state of emergency declared after historic hangar goes up in flames in Orange County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

County and city officials have declared a local state of emergency on Thursday after poor air quality, asbestos and toxins were found after a fire destroyed a historic air base hangar in Tustin.On Wednesday, samples of debris and ash were collected in areas near the hangar and lab testing confirmed the presence of asbestos lead, arsenic and nickel, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.Residents are urged to "exercise caution to reduce exposure during the clean-up of structural fire debris," said the Orange County Health Care Agency.According to the emergency proclamation from the city of Tustin, health officials have “conducted air quality samples which showed elevated levels of chemicals of potential public health concerns.”Air samples collected from public areas near the hangar and in local communities are also being analyzed for “gaseous air toxics, such as benzene.” Long-term environmental testing is anticipated as results are being processed. Orange...

A Masters deegie from the Wiltern

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

A Masters deegie from the Wiltern: L.A. pop-punk artist deegie told us about her Wiltern experiences.deegie: I’ve seen some wild shows between living in New York and LA. I saw Billy Joel’s Madison Square Garden residency twice, I was there for The 1975’s infamous December 2014 show at Terminal 5, aka Kissgate (to be gaylor on main), and I caught Bruce Springsteen’s cameo in Bleachers’ Radio City set last summer.  I’ve seen the 1989 Tour at Staples Center, been backstage for Wyclef Jean, and geeked out at Ben Fold’s Grammy Museum performance. But my favorite shows ever have been at the Wiltern Theatre in L,.A.It’s a gorgeous art deco vaudeville era theater, and former Warner Brothers movie palace, so just being in the space feels monumental and magical.  Two bands, on separate occasions, made it transcendent for me:  The Mowglis, with their warm fuzzy indie rock and their pure joy onstage, enveloped me in their spirit of universal love. And Smallpools, a band I’ve seen many times, me...

4 amazing things to do at Safari West in Santa Rosa

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

Peter Lang first heard the call of the wild as a little boy, scampering around Hollywood backlots in the ‘60s as his filmmaker father, Otto, worked on TV shows such as “Flipper,” “Daktari” and “Sea Hunt.”Beguiled by the lions and chimps he befriended on the “Daktari” set, the young Lang felt a deep connection to nature. It sparked a passion for animal conservation that led him to raise African eland, large antelopes with oxlike bodies, and eventually inspired him to found Safari West, a 400-acre nature preserve tucked amid the rolling hills of Santa Rosa, in 1993.For Lang and his wife, Nancy, a zoologist, this is more than just a wildlife refuge. It’s their life’s work. During the devastating 2017 Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, Lang refused to abandon the preserve. As the flames approached, he made everyone else evacuate, grabbed a garden hose and a shovel and fought the fire. He stood guard all night, making sure that all 1,000 animals — from the giraffes and the cheetahs to rhinos and ...

25+ Bay Area beer and wine events to enjoy this winter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

Winter in the Bay can come with a chill, but booze can help ward off its frosty bite. From holiday celebrations to sip and shops, beer crawls, culinary delights and tons of tastings, here’s a sampling of local beer and wine events to check out this season.Holidays in Yountville: Nov. 19-Jan. 1, various Yountville locations. Enjoy six weeks of holiday-related events including wine tastings, holiday movies, music performances, cooking classes, grapevine wreath making, holiday trivia night, cookie decorating and holiday light tours via the Napa Valley Wine Trolley. Prices vary. yountville.com/events/holidays-in-yountville/Wreath Making and Wine Tasting: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Nov. 29, 14210 Bacchus Landing Way, Suite 100, Healdsburg. Craft your own beautiful holiday wreath full of fragrant Sonoma County evergreens. The class includes two glasses of wine from The Setting Wines and food from Appellation Hotels co-founder and chef Charlie Palmer. $125. https://bit.ly/WreathsandWineCheese O&...

Biden and Xi will meet Wednesday in San Francisco for talks on trade, Taiwan and managing fraught US-China relations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

By AAMER MADHANI and COLLEEN LONG | Associated PressWASHINGTON  — President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Wednesday in California for talks on trade, Taiwan and managing fraught U.S.-Chinese relations in the first engagement between the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies in nearly a year.The White House has said for weeks that it anticipated Biden and Xi would meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, but negotiations went down to the eve of the gathering, which kicks off Saturday.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement the leaders would discuss the “continued importance of maintaining open lines of communication” and how the they “can continue to responsibly manage competition and work together where our interests align, particularly on transnational challenges that affect the international community.”China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday that Xi would attend APEC...

Ex-Alamo attorney convicted of embezzling $400,000 from clients

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

MARTINEZ — An attorney and former Alamo resident was convicted this week of bilking his clients out of a $400,000 settlement Pacific Gas & Electric Co. agreed to pay following a 2006 wildfire near Woodland in Yolo County, according to prosecutors.On Tuesday, a Martinez jury found William James Reed, 80, guilty of grand theft by embezzlement and a white collar crime enhancement related to the settlement agreement, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Thursday.Two families, including elderly victims with ranch properties damaged by the wildfire, agreed to let Reed represent them in a lawsuit against PG&E after he assured them the utility would be responsible for his attorney’s fees, according to prosecutors.In 2013, Reed secured a $400,000 settlement — $200,000 for each family — but he did not inform his clients, the district attorney’s office said, adding that the money was paid to Reed at an unrelated court hearing.When the families asked Re...

Oakland’s leaders pressured to support ceasefire in Gaza as warfare continues

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

OAKLAND — City leaders are feeling pressure from residents to support a call for a ceasefire in Gaza as the death toll among Palestinians rises amid Israel’s continuing retaliation after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.On Wednesday, an Oakland school board meeting descended into chaos after its president, Mike Hutchinson, halted pro-Palestinian speakers, saying their comments were out of turn, before a ceasefire resolution could be introduced later that night.A day earlier, members of the City Council struggled to maintain decorum when an animated group of pro-Palestinian speakers urged the city’s leaders to join the call for a ceasefire.The statement would be a starkly more diplomatic resolution than the outright support for Palestinians shown by Richmond — the first city in the country to commit to such a declaration.Ceasefire resolutions have since been taken up by a few small cities nationwide, including Providence, Rhode Island, Easton, Pennsylvania, and the ...

Here’s where San Jose may lose thousands of homes because of ‘builder’s remedy’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:24 GMT

San Jose stands to lose more than 4,000 new housing units if developers in Northern California’s largest city move ahead with a legal mechanism allowing them to scale back their projects, a Mercury News review found — an outcome that policymakers and housing experts say they never expected.Angered by the move, city leaders are exploring their options for how to push back on developer proposals seeking to downsize a slew of residential projects under the “builder’s remedy” — a provision in state housing law meant to penalize cities that fail to meet state-mandated housing goals and allows property owners to push through projects of virtually any size.Developers argue that today’s high interest rates and exorbitant construction costs make high-density housing in San Jose financially unfeasible and are turning to townhome-style projects.Of the 19 builder’s-remedy applications submitted to San Jose’s planning department, eight seek to produce housing at a d...