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Colorado lawmakers consider plan that would provide state oversight of jails for first time

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office soon may have the ability to inspect and investigate complaints against county jails under pending legislation that would give a state agency oversight of local detention facilities here for the first time.In a bill set to be presented to legislators in coming weeks, the attorney general’s office would participate in regular jail audits alongside a separate group of inspectors working with the County Sheriffs of Colorado, a nonprofit organization. Officials from the office could also receive complaints, release their own reports about jails’ conditions and launch investigations into any concerning and consistent practices identified in the facilities.The plan strengthens a compromise considered by legislators as they prepare to approve statewide jail standards for the first time in the state’s history. As those standards have neared completion, the Jail Standards Commission found no state agency was willing to ensure the...

EPA is funding more community air-pollution monitoring in Colorado, but nonprofits struggle to roll it out

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

The Black Parents United Foundation learned in late 2022 that it would receive nearly $475,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency to set up air monitors in Aurora to determine how much pollution residents in low-income neighborhoods were breathing.Nearly a year later, there are no air monitors set up in the community to take samples of ground-level ozone pollution, fine particulate matter or methane. And the organization is nowhere close to getting started, said Nikie “NikieDay” Wells, director of Black Parents United’s environmental justice program.“Equipment costs a lot. Scientists cost a lot. Research costs a lot,” Wells said. “It’s a lot and the support is not there.”Last November, the EPA announced seven local governments and nonprofit agencies across Colorado would receive $2.9 million to conduct air pollution monitoring, including in metro Denver and the northern Front Range — areas that are in severe violation of national...

Colorado is short over 100,000 housing units despite help from construction surge, slow population growth

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

A surge in apartment and home construction in metro Denver combined with slower population growth to chip away at the state’s housing deficit during the pandemic, according to a report from Up for Growth, an advocacy group seeking to improve housing affordability through more residential construction.Up for Growth, in its first annual report on the nation’s housing shortfall, estimated that Colorado faced a deficit of 127,000 housing units back in 2019, which was the second most severe shortfall in percentage terms of any state after California.By the end of 2021, that underproduction had fallen to 101,141 units, which ranked eighth worst in terms of its severity. Nearly half of the state’s housing shortfall, or about 49,581 homes, was concentrated in metro Denver.“Colorado is an interesting place in that you haven’t seen the mass exodus seen in places like New York, Washington, D.C., or certainly California. You have also seen an increase in homebuildi...

Authorities investigating flag burning in West Hills as hate crime 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

A suspect was seen lighting a flag on fire in front of a West Hills home on Saturday night, and now police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. The flag was an American flag, but the home has visible Jewish symbols on it. The homeowner, who was on her way home at the time, said she got a notification from her Ring app and saw a fire in front of her home. A man was seen lighting an American flag on fire in front of a home in West Hills, Los Angeles, CA on Oct. 21. 2023.A man was seen lighting an American flag on fire in front of a home in West Hills, Los Angeles, CA on Oct. 21. 2023.A man was seen lighting an American flag on fire in front of a home in West Hills, Los Angeles, CA on Oct. 21. 2023.Upon reviewing the footage from her app, she noticed the individual had been pacing in front of her house for about half an hour before he walked up and set the flag ablaze.  8 suspects caught on camera stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise from shoe st...

Hundreds of healthcare workers set to strike in L.A. County  

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

A large group of employees at a Los Angeles County hospital are set to begin a five-day strike on Monday. Nearly 700 non-nursing staff at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank will walk off the job in protest of what they say are unfair labor practices. Hospital officials said that the strike will not impact patient care. The employees striking on Monday are laboratory technicians, EMTs and patient transporters.  Teens terrorizing Long Beach apartment complex, residents say Negotiators are in discussion with union leaders and say that they have offered “significant” wage increases. The local strike starts exactly two weeks after 1,500 nurses and healthcare workers at St. Francis Medical Center took to the picket lines to protest staffing shortages, and also follows a nationwide protest by 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers who claimed unfair labor practices and working conditions were affecting patient care.The Kaiser strike, thought to be the largest...

Marin Country median home price hits $1.65 million, down 7% over year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

The median price of a detached home in Marin has declined nearly 7% over the past year, even as overall values rose in the Bay Area real estate market.The median figure for last month was $1.65 million, down from $1.77 million in September 2022, according to new data released by the county assessor’s office. However, the price ticked up from the $1.51 million median for August.The Marin median remains well below the $2 million threshold it broke in April and May of last year. The median price is the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less.In sales volume, the county recorded 147 deals for detached homes last month, compared to 158 the prior September.In the Marin condominium and townhome market, the median price last month was $790,000, compared to $875,000 the previous September, according to the county data. Sales fell from 61 in September 2022 to 45 last month.In specific parts of Marin, median prices for detached homes last month included $3.55 million on s...

DNA evidence unveils Santa Cruz 1982 cold case homicide ID

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — With the help of gene sequencing advances, investigators have identified a man found dead of apparent foul play 41 years ago in Natural Bridges State Park.Distinctive tattoos found on the body of a man now identified as Rodney Alan Rumsey. (Santa Cruz Police Department — Contributed) According to a release posted to the website of DNASolves, an arm of Houston-based lab Othram Inc., the “John Doe” unsolved likely homicide victim was 28-year-old Rodney Alan Rumsey, of Woodland.In 2022, the California Department of Justice, in collaboration with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, submitted forensic evidence to Othram. The company’s scientists used the forensic evidence to develop a DNA extract and, later, a comprehensive DNA profile for the man. The lab’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team produced new investigative leads that were sent back to law enforcement, whose investigators determined that Rumsey was born May 25, 1954. Additional details of his life ...

McDonald’s releases 2023 Boo Buckets

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

Boo Buckets, a Halloween favorite, are back at McDonald’s for a limited time.There are four designs for 2023: an orange skeleton, a white mummy, a green monster and a purple vampire.The trick-or-treat containers come with a sheet of stickers for kids to create loony faces.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | There’s more to M&M’s than meets the mouth Restaurants, Food and Drink | Police Recognition Luncheon honors Los Gatos law enforcement Restaurants, Food and Drink | 20 scary books and horror novels to read this Halloween Restaurants, Food and Drink | Hosting a Halloween soiree? Try these 5 spooktacular cocktail recipes Restaurants, Food and Drink | 8 spooky Bay Area home displays to explore for Halloween — and revisit at Christmas They are offered with the purchase of a Happy Meal, which run in the $5-$7 range. They come with the choice of hamburger or Chicken McNuggets, a kid-sized...

Man gets 21 years in 2019 slaying of reggae artist outside California bar

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

A 47-year-old man was sentenced Friday, Oct. 20, to 21 years in prison for shooting to death a reggae singer and songwriter outside a Long Beach bar in 2019.Thomas Neri Arellaga of Long Beach pleaded no contest in September to voluntary manslaughter in the death of 45-year-old Tasi Malaki, also known as Toko Tasi.Arellaga’s co-defendant, Lorna Santos Clemena, 47, pleaded no contest to accessory after the fact in September and was given credit for time she already served under electronic monitoring, prosecutor Kenneth Chiu said.Family members and friends of Malaki submitted three victim impact statements to the court, which Judge Laura Laesecke read silently before imposing the sentences. They declined to offer further statements in court.“It’s certainly a devastating loss and people are still suffering four years later,” Laesecke said. “I could feel the pain expressed in those letters.”Malaki, known for his work with bands such as Sublime and Slightly Stoopid, was visiting the bar f...

California house payments jump 127% in pandemic era with rates at 23-year high

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:30:14 GMT

“Numerology” tries to find reality within various measurements of economic and real estate trends.Buzz: A typical California homebuyer’s mortgage payment is up 127% – yes, more than double – since the pandemic transformed the housing market.Source: My trusty spreadsheet looked at housing costs using Freddie Mac’s weekly tally of the average 30-year fixed loan combined with median selling prices for existing, single-family homes provided by the California Association of Realtors.Fuzzy math: California home sales are running 41% below the average buying pace since 1990.ToplineSo, how have mortgage rates at 23-year highs hit California house hunters?Well, the typical California buyer would get a $4,717 payment, assuming 20% down, on the median-priced $843,340 single-family home at this week’s 7.63% average rate for a 30-year loan.Back in February 2020, just before coronavirus struck, rates were 3.47%. So a house payment on that month’s $579,770 median price was $2,075.Yes, that 45% pri...