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Those promotions promising a “free” iPhone? It isn’t free.

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

There’s no such thing as a free iPhone.But phone carriers would like you to believe otherwise. Over the last few weeks, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have blitzed their websites, billboards and stores with ads proclaiming that you can “get the iPhone 15 Pro, on us.”To get this $1,000 iPhone for $0, the carriers say, all you have to do is trade in an older phone and sign up for a wireless plan. In reality, the phone freebie promotions can lure smartphone owners into spending more in the long run by requiring them to subscribe to more exorbitant service plans bundled with superfluous features, such as big high-speed data packages and subscriptions to streaming services.I spent several days plugging numbers into the carriers’ websites and chatting with store representatives to get some realistic out-the-door numbers. To test the promotions, I submitted a 3-year-old iPhone 12 as a hypothetical trade-in. (On average, people upgrade to a new phone every three years.)Here were the costs o...

More than 650,000 Coloradans have cast ballots as election approaches — a fraction of possible voters

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

Fewer than 17% of active Colorado voters have cast their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s election as Coloradans weigh preschool funding and Gov. Jared Polis’ plan to blunt property tax increases.Five days before Election Day, 654,449 ballots had been returned as of Friday, according to data from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. Unaffiliated voters make up 247,453 of that total, the most of any group. Registered Republicans are second with 209,660, followed by Democrats with 190,639.Nearly all of the votes cast thus far have been through mail ballots, whether returned through the mail or at drop-off sites.The vote total thus far is low. There are 4.4 million registered voters in Colorado, with more than 3.92 million of them considered active, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Off-year elections — when there are no presidential, congressional, gubernatorial or state legislative seats up for grabs — typically have far lower turnout nu...

California voted in 2018 to stop changing the clock. So why are we still doing it?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

Early Sunday morning, Californians and most everyone else in the U.S. will see their clocks “fall back” an hour as part of a seasonal ritual to make the most of dwindling winter daylight.It has spawned endless grievance over the years, with people showing up too early Sunday morning for church and then cussing up a storm trying to remember how to reset the time in their car. And you’re probably thinking, wait, didn’t we vote to stop doing this?Well, yes, we did. So why are we still doing it?Q How did we get into this Daylight Saving Time clock-resetting thing?A Though clocks date back hundreds of years, there wasn’t much time standardization from place to place. People couldn’t travel quickly, so it didn’t matter, and up through the horse-and-buggy days of the 19th century, there were as many as 144 local times in North America, according to the Department of Transportation.Railroads changed that. To avoid collisions and missed connections, ...

Leigh rallies to beat Westmont, capture BVAL Santa Teresa-Valley title

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

CAMPBELL — The Leigh sideline remained calm, cool and collected.Down seven points with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, there were no signs of panic from the Longhorns, whose playoff aspirations were on the line.Undermanned and playing a physical Westmont team that had all the momentum on its home field, Leigh strung together its two most important offensive drives of the season to win 34-27.Blake Zanger capped both of Leigh’s late possessions with rushing touchdowns as the Longhorns secured a spot in the Central Coast Section playoffs and the Blossom Valley Atheltic League Santa Teresa-Valley Division title.CAMPBELL, CA – NOVEMBER 03: Blake Zanger (5) of Leigh runs for a touchdown in the fourth quater against Westmont in a Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa-Valley Division regular-season game at Westmont High School in Campbell, Calif. on Nov. 3, 2023. (Douglas Zimmerman/Special to the Bay Area News Group) “I’m a little shocked,” Leigh coach Kyle Padia sai...

Editorial: Effort to remove DA Price prompts smart recall rule changes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

Sometimes it takes a highly charged political event to prompt elected officials to do the right thing.Such is the case in Alameda County, where the Board of Supervisors is considering placing on the March ballot a charter change that would revamp the process for recalling elected officials.The move has prompted accusations that it’s driven by an attempt to undermine the recall of the county’s controversial new district attorney, Pamela Price. Whatever the motivation, the recall has highlighted that the recall process under the county charter for petition signature-gathering and subsequent countywide balloting is a mess.It’s unfortunate that the proposed change comes in the middle of the signature-gathering effort for the recall. But, given the timing, it’s uncertain whether the new rules would apply to the current recall effort.That said, the proposed charter change, with a key clarification, deserves support of the Board of Supervisors and voters countywide.To their credit, rather ...

Opinion: Gas stoves are poisoning us; how the industry hid the danger

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

In discussions with medical patients about the well-documented air pollution risks from gas stoves, I am sometimes met with a degree of skepticism. People will ask: If gas stoves are this dangerous, how come I haven’t heard about it?It’s a reasonable question. We have an expectation that our government will shield us from serious health risks. But despite research showing that roughly 20% of childhood asthma cases in California can be attributed to gas stove use, public awareness of the polluter in their kitchens remains alarmingly low.A new report out last month from Climate Investigations Center makes clear why so many Americans are surprised to learn that gas stoves generate many of the same pollutants found in car exhaust. The culprit, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the gas industry.Beginning in the 1970s, the American Gas Association responded to increased scrutiny from regulators into the air quality impacts from gas stoves by developing a campaign to manufacture controversy over ...

Live updates | Palestinians report Israeli airstrikes including in southern Gaza

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

Palestinians in Gaza reported Israeli airstrikes overnight into Saturday across the besieged enclave, including explosions in the south where Israel had told civilians to seek refuge as its ground operation intensifies in northern Gaza.Calls for a humanitarian pause increased with the UNRWA, the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, reporting the average Palestinian in Gaza is surviving on two pieces of bread a day, and only one of three water supply lines from Israel is operational. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, “We are going full steam ahead” unless the hostages held by Hamas are released. The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 9,448, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 140 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids. The UNRWA says 72 of its staff members have been killed.More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. ...

Berlin in the mix to host NFL game as league eyes future in Germany

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says Berlin has shown “a lot of interest” in hosting a game as the league plans to extend its agreement to play in Germany beyond 2025,“Düsseldorf, Berlin — there’s been a lot of interest there — so I think they’re all possibilities, yes,” Goodell said Saturday.Frankfurt is hosting two games starting Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs play the Miami Dolphins at Deutsche Bank Park. The first regular-season game was played last year in Munich.The NFL’s current deal calls for one game next season — it’s scheduled for Munich — and another in 2025, likely in Frankfurt.Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich were all finalists before the NFL selected its host cities. Berlin didn’t apply.Goodell, who took questions from the audience but not from media, didn’t reveal if the league has extended its deal but confirmed the NFL is committed to the country long-term.“We have every intention to continue to play here,” Goodell told the ...

Israeli strikes kill multiple civilians at shelters in Gaza combat zone, as Blinken seeks more aid

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli military strikes killed multiple civilians Saturday at a U.N. shelter and hospital in the main combat zone in the Gaza Strip as the assault intensified on the besieged enclave’s Hamas rulers amid growing international uproar over the soaring death toll and deepening humanitarian crisis.Israel’s military has said it has encircled Gaza City, the target of its offensive to crush Hamas, but on Saturday offered a three-hour window for residents trapped by the fighting to flee south.The new attacks came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the region trying to find ways to ease the plight of the civilians caught in the fighting. He met with Arab foreign ministers on Saturday in Jordan, the day after talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insisted there can be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released. The Israeli military has repeatedly demanded that northern Gaza’s 1.1 million residents flee sou...

Analysis: New House Speaker Johnson caught up in ‘whirlwind’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:58:46 GMT

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with reporters ahead of the debate and vote on supplemental aid to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)(AP/J. Scott Applewhite) Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks with reporters ahead of the debate and vote on supplemental aid to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)(AP/J. Scott Applewhite) For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.House Speaker Mike Johnson hasn’t had much time to adjust to the demands of his new leadership post, amid war in the Middle East, a ...