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Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs project has everyone singing for joy

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

Just about every Monday afternoon at Freight & Salvage, Bobby McFerrin reenacts the creation of the universe.No stars or planets coalesce in the venerable Berkeley venue, but sitting on stage flanked by the four vocalists in his ensemble Motion, the NEA Jazz Master taps into a protean force conjured by spontaneously generated melodies and rhythms.Since November 2021, the vocal sorcerer has convened Circlesongs at the Freight, encounters that are both Motion performances and open mic sessions in which audience members can join McFerrin, Tammi Brown, Bryan Dyer, David Worm and Destani Wolf to start new rounds of improvisation. You never know who might drop by. Grammy Award-winning jazz violinist Mads Tolling has joined the fray and a few weeks ago Phish bassist Mike Gordon checked out the scene.In a departure from the Monday meetings, McFerrin is bringing Circlesongs to the weekend with evening Motion performances at the Freight June 1 and 2. The idea is to make the practice as ac...

Pac-12 football: Welcome to June, a vital month on the recruiting trail

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

The Hotline is delighted to provide Pac-12 fans with a weekly dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Seattle-based national recruiting editor for 247Sports.The following report was provided to the Hotline on May 31 …June gloom has been taken over by June boon — the boon to the recruiting calendar.Sure, December and February will always matter in college football recruiting with the early signing period and National Signing Day, respectively. But there isn’t a more crucial month than June.With the traditional recruiting camps on college campuses, the rising of so-called mega camps, plus official visits and the sped-up calendar for verbal commitments, June is now the most crucial month in recruiting.Mind you, it comes fresh off the six-week NCAA Spring Evaluation Period, which runs from the middle of April through the end of May. But with the added element of head coaches now able to watch recruits at the mega camps, which have sprung ...

Bay Area mother accused of causing her toddler’s fentanyl overdose

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

A Santa Rosa woman was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of causing a drug overdose in her one-year-old toddler, the police department said on Wednesday.At 5:17 a.m. on Tuesday, Santa Rosa Police officers were sent to a residence on Boyd Street for a toddler who was experiencing a medical emergency.When an officer arrived, he found a one-year-old lying on the ground, unconscious and not breathing, police said. The officer saw an individual attempting CPR on the child and took over the CPR himself, police said. After about 15-20 seconds, the toddler began to breathe on her own. By then, emergency medical services arrived and transported the child to a local hospital.According to police, based on interviews and evidence obtained during the investigation, detectives believe that the toddler overdosed from exposure to fentanyl. The child is expected to recover.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Man found guilty of selling fentanyl-laced pills that killed 15-year-old Cal...

Woman disappears from Sierra swimming hole God’s Bath

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

A woman went missing on Memorial Day from the Sierra Nevada swimming hole God’s Bath, Tuolumne County sheriff’s officials said.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Map: People drowned or swept away in California rivers, spring 2023 She is at least the ninth person known to have drowned or been swept away in a California river since April.The disappearance was reported at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The 22-year-old Galt resident had walked to the Clavey River with a male companion and had last been seen in the water at or near God’s Bath.The search continued Tuesday and Wednesday with ground volunteers and a California Highway Patrol helicopter. Because the river is running fast and cold during the snowpack melt, it was deemed too dangerous for rescue swimmers and divers.In the past two years, three Bay Area men died after being swept from the swimming hole in the Stanislaus National Forest: two in May 2021 and one last year.About a 40-minute drive east of ...

Larry Magid: AI makes mistakes but could it destroy us?

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

Before I get to the potentially deadly serious part of today’s column, I’d like to start on the lighter side. Lighter, that is, unless you happen to be attorney Steven A. Schwartz.Related ArticlesBusiness | Larry Magid: Pixel 7A gives you more than you pay for Business | Magid: AI has risks but can also make us safer Business | Larry Magid: Google unveils new devices while focusing on AI Business | Larry Magid: Voice cloning makes virtual kidnapping more convincing In representing a man named Roberto Mata who said he was injured aboard an Avianca flight, Schwartz reportedly filed a 10-page legal document, citing previous cases, including Martinez v. Delta Air Lines, Zicherman v. Korean Air Lines and Varghese v. China Southern Airlines.  Just to be sure, the lawyer asked ChatGPT to verify that the cases were real. It said that they were.Not surprisingly, Avianca’s lawyers, along with the judge, did their own research but...

Bay Area Pride Month events on Thursday

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

(KRON) – The first day of June marks the start of Pride Month and there are several events being held around the Bay Area to celebrate.Here are a list of events kicking off Pride Month on Thursday: 10 a.m.Belmont - A pride flag-raising event will be held at Belmont City Hall to kick off Pride Month.Redwood City - San Mateo Board President Dave Pine will lead a pride flag-raising event at 400 County Center.11 a.m.Santa Rosa - Sonoma County Pride will hold a flag-raising event at Fourth Street and Mendocino Avenue. The group will meet at Old Courthouse Square and the flag will be raised on top of the Rosenberg Building. This Bay Area city is the best place in the country to raise a family: study 12 p.m.Hayward - A pride flag-raising will be held at City Hall Plaza located at 777 B Street to kick off Pride Month for the City of Hayward.12:30 p.m.Oakland - The City of Oakland will hold a pride flag-raising event at City Hall located at 1 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. Visitors are asked to me...

California advances fentanyl bills focused on prevention, increased penalties

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers have advanced more than a dozen bills aiming to address the fentanyl crisis, including some that would impose harsher prison sentences for dealers, ahead of a critical deadline this week.Legislators in the Assembly and Senate debated measures on Wednesday as they tried to wrap up several hundred pieces of legislation before Friday — the last day a bill can pass out of its original chamber and get a chance to become law later this year. Ousted SF DA Boudin says he won’t run in 2024, takes new job Fentanyl overdoses are killing roughly 110 Californians each week, officials said, and lawmakers are divided on how best to stem the crisis.Some Democratic lawmakers support policies that focus on education, prevention and treatment, while Republicans and more moderate Democrats want more enforcement against fentanyl dealers.State lawmakers across the country, including in Democratic-controlled legislatures such as Oregon and Nevada,...

From Stonewall to today: 50+ years of modern LGBTQ+ history

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

In the early hours of June 28, 1969, the New York Police Department unwittingly helped start the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. At the time, clubs with gay or lesbian patrons weren't allowed to serve alcohol, but the Stonewall Inn still served booze to their customers, giving police cause to raid the bar. The clientele pushed back, and 13 people were arrested. LGBTQ+ people and their allies protested for days. Among the crowd was transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson, who later founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization that provided resources for LGBTQ+ youth and sex workers. Bay Area Pride Month events on Thursday After the events at Stonewall—which the NYPD eventually apologized for in 2019—more and more people pushed for LGBTQ+ equality. Activists organized the first LGBTQ+ marches in the United States and worldwide, giving rise to annual Pride parades. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association no longer considered being gay or lesbian a me...

FBI Reopens Case Against Julian Assange, Despite Australian Pressure to End Prosecution

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

The FBI has reopened an investigation into Australian journalist Julian Assange, according to front-page reporting from the Sydney Morning Herald. The news that the FBI is taking fresh investigative steps came as a surprise to Assange’s legal team, given that the U.S. filed charges against the WikiLeaks founder more than three years ago and is involved in an ongoing extradition process from a maximum security prison in the United Kingdom so that he can stand trial in the United States. Biden is now picking a fight with Australia (after offending them by cancelling a trip there over the debt ceiling) by re-opening a case against Australian journalist Julian Assange even as the country calls for his repatriation pic.twitter.com/P2tDMe7uRk— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) June 1, 2023Assange is charged under the Espionage Act with obtaining, possessing, and publishing classified information that exposed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, crimes that themselves have gone unp...

US sanctions Iranians over alleged assassination plots of former US officials, dissidents

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:19:36 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Thursday announced sanctions against a group of Iranian and Turkish people and firms accused of plotting to assassinate former U.S. government officials, dual U.S. and Iranian nationals, and dissidents. Three Iran- and Turkey-based people; a company affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, which is a branch of the country’s military; and two senior officials of Iran’s Intelligence Organization are accused of being involved in plotting to kill journalists and activists, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.The sanctions against them block all access to their U.S. money and property and prohibit Americans and American firms from working with them. The U.S. remains focused on disrupting plots by the Iranian military, which has “engaged in numerous assassination attempts and other acts of violence and intimidation against those they deem enemies of the Iranian regime,” Treasury’s under secretary fo...