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Disneyland working with James Cameron on new 'Avatar' experience

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

Walt Disney Imagineering is working with director James Cameron on a new Avatar experience planned for Disneyland Resort.Disneyland Resort president Ken Potrock provided an update on the concept during an OC Forum event on May 18, the Orange County Register reported.The event, held at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, allowed Disneyland officials to share their plans for Disneyland Forward with Orange County business and city leaders. Disneyland pitches theme park expansion plans to Anaheim neighbors Disneyland Forward is a plan detailing how the resort intends to update and renovate the Anaheim theme park if zoning changes are approved. The project will include new attractions, shops and restaurants within its existing 490-acre footprint, the Los Angeles Times reported.News of the Avatar experience surprised Disney fans and company officials alike when CEO Bob Iger announced it during a company earnings call in February following the success of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” the lon...

The Cure Hold on to Our Hearts at Hollywood Bowl

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

Robert Smith became a sort of somber Santa Claus for ticket buyers back in March, first targeting scalpers and gougers by opting out of Ticketmaster’s upper tier options and transfers, and then by convincing the ticket agency to refund some of their tagged-on fees back to consumers. On Wednesday, the first date of The Cure’s three night run at the Hollywood Bowl, our Patron Saint of Loot-Saving and Lovesongs, didn’t exactly give fans all they wanted (a hit-after-hit packed show) but he did give us what we needed: a wistful, trenchant and pitch-perfect sounding performance that proved his skills as a singer and musician have not wavered nor withered.It’s almost unnerving how good Smith’s vocals still sound after all these years. His gorgeously emotive croon –which goes from aggressive squall to melancholy murmur– never ceases to be expressive or impressive. Naysayers might find him whiny, but fans have always appreciated the emotions conveyed by the singer’s voice, especially the way...

Will San Jose’s fraught budget feud over homelessness find a resolution?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

The clock is ticking on a contentious debate over how to spend tens of millions of dollars to combat San Jose’s homelessness crisis, pitting advocates for permanent affordable housing against a mayor who says interim solutions are the most effective way to get the city’s 5,000 unsheltered residents off the streets.But a compromise may be emerging in what could ultimately mark a major shift in how the city tackles homelessness. The solution: tax funds from Measure E, a voter-approved measure to fund housing for low-income and homeless residents.When the city initially didn’t allocate new Measure E funding for affordable developments, housing activists immediately protested, claiming the most impactful way of solving San Jose’s astronomical housing prices was being outright ignored.On Wednesday, however, Mayor Matt Mahan and Councilmember David Cohen each presented different alternatives on how to use those dollars to address the crisis. The council will be vot...

Wagner leader says he lost 20K troops in Bakhmut battle

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

By Susie Blann and Joanna Kozlowska | Associated PressKYIV, Ukraine — The head of the Russian private army Wagner has again broken with the Kremlin line on Ukraine, saying its goal of demilitarizing the country has backfired, acknowledging Russian troops have killed civilians and agreeing with Western estimates that he’s lost more than 20,000 men in the battle for Bakhmut.Yevgeny Prigozhin said about half of those who died in the eastern Ukrainian city were Russian convicts recruited for the 15-month-old war. His figures stood in stark contrast to Moscow’s widely disputed claims that just over 6,000 of its troops were killed throughout the war as of January. By comparison, official Soviet troop losses in the 1979-89 Afghanistan war were 15,000.Ukraine hasn’t said how many of its soldiers have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.White House officials said Wednesday that Prigozhin’s comments were in line with their own estimates...

Tina Turner admitted she put her life in danger by neglecting kidney disease, hypertension

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

Two months before she died, Tina Turner announced that she had joined an international campaign to support kidney health, revealing that she had put her own life “in danger” by long ignoring her need to treat her kidney disease and its underlying cause — hypertension — with daily therapy and conventional medication.“I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication,” the legendary singer wrote in on Instagram and in an accompanying story posted in early March  by the European Kidney Health Alliance. “For far too long I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion.”The singer with her powerful bluesy voice and energetic dancing style died Wednesday at the age of 83 at her home in Küsnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich. Her death came after what was described as a “long illness.” Turner had been open in recent years about her struggles with...

Letters: New label | Campus care | Debt argument | Clean up court | Appropriate response | Timely treatment | Militia training

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.A new label couldsuit BerkeleyRe: “Berkeley is latest city to face scrutiny for moniker” (Page A1, May 10).The dilemma facing Berkeley citizens about the history of their namesake, Bishop George Berkeley, being a slave owner, can easily be solved by adding only 2 letters, “se,” to its name: “Beserkeley.”It’s familiar to just about everyone. Online, I found an e-plaque commemorating 1199 Spruce St., contributed by Bob Levin in 2012, describing the history of Beserkley Records between 1973 and 1982. As luck would have it the record company seems to be missing the “e” between “k” and “l,” so it might avoid any copyright protections for using the name “Beserkeley.”I think it is a fitting tribute.Kirk EsslerRichmondDebt argument deservesaccurate framingInaccurate and/or imprecise labeling of an issue is misleading and of...

The five most expensive homes that reported sold in Fremont the week of May 15

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

A house in Fremont that sold for $2.6 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Fremont in the past week.In total, five residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $1.7 million. The average price per square foot ended up at $962.The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of May 15 even if the property may have been sold earlier.5. $680,000, condominium in the 39100 block of Argonaut WayThe 1,215 square-foot condominium in the 39100 block of Argonaut Way in Fremont has been sold. The transfer of ownership was settled in April and the total purchase price was $680,000, $560 per square foot. The condominium was built in 1974. The condominium features two bedrooms and two bathrooms.4. $1.5 million, detached house in the 38400 block of Farwell DriveThe property in the 38400 block of Farwell Drive in Fremont has new owners. The price was $1...

Letters: BART ‘solutions’ | GOP cuts | Co-opting Christianity | Conservative control

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.BART ‘solutions’ areunrealistic, naiveRe: “BART needs driverless trains: VTA should halt S.J. extension” (Page A6, May 19).Marc Joffe offers some of the most naïve and unrealistic solutions for “fixing” BART’s operational and financial woes that I have seen yet.First, he makes a broad, and false, assumption that funding for capital projects (like Phase II of the BART extension) could easily be reappropriated to operational funding. That money is largely tied up and cannot be distributed through a system that goes through so many counties and cities.Second, automating BART would be a massive capital expenditure that is not worth undertaking for a temporary labor shortage. Retrofitting BART to be automated would cost billions, especially considering that BART is receiving new rolling stock, and robbing the region of many of good jobs for working-class Californians....

East Bay prison guard's abuse 'shocks the conscience,' U.S. attorney says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

(KRON) -- Six prison guards allegedly ran a "rape club" inside Federal Correctional Institute at Dublin where they sexually abused female inmates for years, investigators said. And Darrell Wayne Smith was the worst offender, according to charges filed by prosecutors.Smith, 53, is named in court documents by his legal name, as well as his nickname, "Dirty Dick Smith." The U.S. Department of Justice charged Smith with 12 counts, the most counts of any guard prosecuted in the scandal.Smith appeared in a Northern District of California courtroom on Tuesday to face accusations that he sexually abused three female inmates in his custody.(Photo by Sara D. Davis /Getty Images / File)Rampant sexual abuse was carried out by guards who worked for FCID, located across the street from Alameda County's Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, prosecutors said. Smith moved to Florida after FBI agents began investigating the guards' conduct.Smith was arrested at his home in Crawfordville, Fla., on May 11 and he ...

2 killed by wrong-way driver on Highway 1

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:37 GMT

(KRON) -- Two people were killed after a driver crossed into the wrong-way lanes on Highway 1 early Tuesday afternoon, California Highway Patrol said. The crash happened near Highway 183 in the area of Castroville.A GMC Sierra was going northbound on Highway 1 at about 12:40 p.m. when it crossed the double yellow lines into the southbound lanes "for reasons still under investigation," CHP said. It struck a Mazda going southbound. Suspect identified after fatal crash at Potrero Hill bus stop The driver of the GMC, identified as 69-year-old Santa Cruz resident David Randall Hart, suffered major injuries. The driver and one passenger of the Mazda were killed. A second passenger was hospitalized with major injuries. The driver was identified by CHP as a 79-year-old woman from Soquel. The passengers were a 75-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman from Tennessee. The man was killed. The crash affected traffic on Highway 1 Tuesday afternoon. Southbound traffic was diverted onto Molera R...