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In Silicon Valley, nearly a dozen renters compete for every available apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

The Bay Area rental market may be steadying after three years of pandemic fluctuations, but competition is heating up for Silicon Valley apartments as would-be homebuyers are squeezed by astronomical real estate prices and high interest rates on home loans.Rental listing site RentCafe, in a new report, found that 11 renters are vying for every available South Bay apartment. That compares to a nationwide average of eight applications for each advertised rental unit.A severe lack of housing has long pushed Silicon Valley residents into fierce competition for apartments. But now, high mortgage rates topping 6% are making it even harder to afford local home prices that regularly top $1.5 million, meaning more people are on the hunt for rentals, said Doug Ressler, a housing market expert with RentCafe.Another reason: Excitement over artificial intelligence and other innovations by the South Bay’s leading industry is luring back tech workers who emptied out of the region during the ...

Would you buy a dog toy from these guys? Bay Area pet owners and companies say yes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

Axl the goldendoodle didn’t even need to see the prototype dog toy developed by three South Bay students — he could smell it in the backpack one of the teens brought home.“Axl literally opened his bag and just stole it,” said Arin Jain, 18, who invented TuffToy dog toys with his 17-year-old high school classmates and longtime friends Rohan Gorti and Zubin Khera.The goldendoodle’s high interest in the toy — a brightly colored fabric “skin” over a scented rubber ball — has now been matched by dog owners: The Harker School seniors have sold more than 2,000 units since June, and this month got their products into Bay Area pet boutiques. On Monday, they secured a $17,000 deal with a Silicon Valley software company for TuffToys embroidered with the firm’s logo.TuffToy started in 2021 in an entrepreneurship class at Harker, a private K-12 institution in San Jose, when Jain, of Saratoga, Gorti of the Silver Creek neighborhood of Sa...

Water windfall: Key California reservoir fills for just third time in 12 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

Five months ago, San Luis Reservoir — the massive lake along Highway 152 between Gilroy and Los Banos — was just 24% full, an arid landscape of cracked mud and lonely boat ramps painfully far away from the dwindling water’s edge.But today in one of the most visible signs that Northern California’s drought is over, San Luis is full. Since Nov. 8, the water level has risen 144 feet — roughly the equivalent of submerging a 10-story building.The state’s fifth-largest reservoir, a key water supply for millions of people from Silicon Valley to San Diego that also irrigates hundreds of thousands of acres of Central Valley farmland, is at 98% capacity and expected to reach 100% in a few days.“A lot of people are coming out to take photos of it,” said Arzan Kermani, a state park aide working at the lake’s south shore this week. “They’re really surprised. The happiest people are the boaters. Hopefully, it stays this way for a long time.”Hi...

Man shot, killed in parking lot of Pleasant Hill bar

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

(KRON) -- Police are investigating a homicide in a Pleasant Hill strip mall parking lot that left one dead. This is the first homicide since 2021, according to Pleasant Hill's crime statistics.Police responded to reports of a shooting just before 1:15 a.m. Monday in the parking lot of Farrington's Bar. Police said they found a 37-year-old man from Concord dead at the scene. Pleasant Hill police have not confirmed what caused the incident, but they did have to call in Concord police to help with crowd control.Video shows a chaotic scene at Pleasant Hill Plaza. It sits off Contra Costa Boulevard and Gregort Lane just west of I-680. Video shows multiple people in distress. Police have also taped off a large part of the strip mall and placed evidence markers near a sedan and the body that laid not far from it.Fire and medical services were called to the scene. Police have not confirmed where the incident originated from, but the plaza does have more than a dozen businesses, including a ...

Southbound 680 closures start Monday night

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

(KRON) -- One lane of southbound 680 will be closed from Monday through Friday near the Gold Hill Road exit in Fairfield. The closure will run from 5 p.m. through 5 a.m. daily.Crews are working to repair a mudslide that took place in the area last week.Caltrans hopes to have everything back to normal by 5 a.m. Saturday.

Missing 91-year-old from Santa Clara found

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

Update: Lawrence Lara has been found safe and returned home, according to the city of Santa Clara.(BCN) -- Santa Clara police said at 11:55 p.m. Sunday they're looking for a 91-year-old missing man. Lawrence Lara left his home near Santa Cruz and Cabrillo avenues around noon. He was driving a silver four-door Saturn, license plate number 6AOZ004, and may have been headed to Campbell. He is 5-feet-7-inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. It wasn't known what clothes he was wearing. Police ask anyone who sees Lara to call 911 immediately. Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Jailed US reporter’s defense appeals his arrest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Lawyers for an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal arrested in Russia on espionage charges have appealed his arrest, a court in Moscow announced Monday.Evan Gershkovich, 31, was detained last week in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city. It was the first time a U.S. correspondent had been detained on spying accusations since the Cold War. The Journal has said it “vehemently denies” the charges and demanded his release.At a hearing Thursday, Moscow’s Lefortovsky District court quickly ruled that Gershkovich would be kept behind bars for two months pending the investigation. On Monday, the court reported that it has received an appeal against Gershkovich’s arrest filed by his defense, according to Russian news agencies. No date for the appeals hearing has been set yet.Gershkovich was put in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which dates from the czarist era and has been a terrifying symbol of repression since Soviet times.Russia’s Federal Security Se...

‘Indiana Jones’ to premiere at Cannes with tribute to Ford

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

Indiana Jones is swinging into the French Riviera. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the fifth film in the Harrison Ford adventure series, will make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, festival organizers announced Monday. Cannes will also pay a tribute to Ford for his career. The premiere of “Dial of Destiny,” directed by James Mangold, comes 15 years after 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” premiered at the French festival. “Dial of Destiny,” billed as the final chapter in the franchise, will open in U.S. theaters June 28. “Dial of Destiny,” which had been rumored to be heading to Cannes, adds a second megawatt premiere to this year’s festival, which kicks off May 16. On Friday, Cannes announced the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s much-anticipated “Killers of the Flower Moon,” an adaptation for Apple TV+ of David Grann’s bestseller about a series of murders of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma...

Autopsies show 30 people died from gunfire in Peru protests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — In autopsy after autopsy, Peruvian anti-government protesters share the same cause of death: “firearm projectile.”Crhistian Armando Mamani, a 22-year-old musician, was walking by the protest in a southern city when a bullet entered the left side of his torso and pierced both of his lungs. The same January day, Roger Rolando Cayo, a 25-year-old protester, died when a shot ripped through his eye and destroyed his brain.Human rights groups — including the United Nations — have called on the Peruvian government to investigate claims of excessive force used by police and soldiers during recent protests that have left 49 civilians dead, and the autopsies provide some evidence of the alleged use of lethal ammunition.Thirty of the 32 forensic reports obtained by The Associated Press list gunfire as the cause of death. Some of the reports detail bullet calibers similar to those used by security forces in Peru, which experts believe indicates that police and soldiers violate...

Nationals Notebook: First series vs. Braves shows plenty of possibilities and problems

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:53:25 GMT

Groundskeepers prepare the field before an opening day baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)When you’re coming off of a 107-loss season, one doesn’t necessarily expect miracles. One also recognizes that the things that got you out of perpetual playoff contention will continue to show up and not just from time to time.Thursday’s opener saw the team leave nine players on base, their starting pitcher struggle to get through three innings and their shortstop make mistakes in the field multiple times.More Washington Nationals NewsMore MLB NewsMore Sports NewsBut at least the Nationals aren’t in last place: Sunday’s 4-1 win over Atlanta allowed Washington to climb out of fifth place in the NL East for the first time since April 21 of last year.So let’s get our weekly recaps underway with a positive vibe, with the knowledge that in April yo...