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San Francisco clean-energy startup aims for hydrogen breakthrough for trucking

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

California has long been in the vanguard of pursuing renewable energy, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has budgeted billions of dollars for supporting and accelerating the state’s transition toward clean energy.San Francisco company Verne is looking to tap into that with technology that will help move heavy duty transportation away from polluting diesel and gasoline power. We spoke with co-founder Ted McKlveen about what they’re up to.Q: How did you and co-founders Bav Roy and David Jaramillo come together to found Verne?A: I met David in college and Bav in business school. We are all passionate about addressing climate change, and excited about the potential to reduce emissions in transportation with hydrogen. We make a great team, bringing complementary skills. David received his PhD from UC-Berkeley and leads our tech innovation, Bav has an engineering background and an MBA and leads operations, and I previously had a strategy role at a renewable energy start-up and lead our sa...

What 49ers QB Trey Lance has in common with Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Not only is this the first season Trey Lance feels fully healthy from a physical standpoint, but the 23-year-old has made significant strides with his mental health, too.Speaking at OTAs on Tuesday, the 49ers third-year quarterback revealed he’s been working with a mental health professional to keep his mind right. Asked if the person was a sports psychologist, Lance said, “Something like that. It wasn’t provided by the team, but someone that someone knew for the team. But it wasn’t unique to me, like, ‘You need to go meet with somebody, you’re sad.’ I’m pretty positive. But it’s helped me a lot and I’m thankful to be here.”Lance said meeting with a professional has kept him present, especially amidst an offseason in which he was recovering from ankle surgery and refining his throwing mechanics after a previous injury to his index finger created some bad habits. Now he faces an unknown role while the 49ers prepare to enter the season with three potent...

Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Jake Sangalang, Prospect baseball

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

NEW: PREP SPORTS MAILBAGThe Bay Area News Group is introducing a high school sports mailbag in May. Get your questions in as soon as possible. Our debut edition is an open forum. Got questions about spring sports playoffs, coaching changes, an early peek at football season, etc.? Send questions to [email protected]. Please include “mailbag” in the subject line.Prospect baseball player Jake Sangalang is the Bay Area News Group’s high school boys athlete of the week for May 15-20 after he received 40.62% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Carlmont volleyball player Sean Murphy (38.78%) placed second and Live Oak baseball player Ethan Lopez was third.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Sangalang, a junior, pitched a five-inning one-hitter with seven strikeouts as Prospect cruised into the semifinals of the CCS Division VI playoffs with a 10-0 rout of Greenfield.To nominate an athlete for next week’s poll, email highschools@ba...

Kurtenbach: The SF Giants are a .500 team again. But this year, that record feels different

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

Now 50 games into the season, the San Francisco Giants have the record we all expected: 25-25. Perfectly average, just like last year.But this .500 record feels nothing like last year’s 81-81 campaign.No, last year’s Giants were a team devoid of both identity and direction — a team of mercenaries that coasted through the season, not making a single wave.Or, to put it in blunt terms: they were boring.Perhaps it’s recency bias — the Giants have been playing good ball as of late to even their record at this juncture — but the 2023 edition of the black and orange is not boring.This squad’s record might be mediocre, but for the first time in a long time, it feels like the Giants are building toward something.An identity is starting to take form.So even if the Giants’ record never improves from the .500 mark, this season should provide hope that the best is yet to come for San Francisco. Hope is a powerful thing, and it’s been a while since we felt it a...

Collins: No time like the present to do the right thing, Sen. Feinstein

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

Dianne Feinstein is giving old age a bad name.Of course, it’s painful to see Feinstein, who’s served in the Senate for more than 30 years, suffering from what commentators delicately call diminished mental capacity. She’s 89, in poor health and having trouble getting to work even when she’s really needed.Feinstein has already announced she won’t run for reelection next year, but it’s time for her to set a good example and retire immediately. The country shouldn’t discriminate against older workers, and older workers shouldn’t insist on staying in jobs they can no longer really carry out.“I haven’t been gone. I’ve been here,” she crankily and inaccurately told a reporter who tried to question her when she returned to the Capitol in a wheelchair.The Judiciary Committee is at the core of this drama. The Democrats have a majority of exactly one. If Feinstein isn’t there, the Biden administration can’t get many judicial nominations through.Which is delighting the Republicans, who are mak...

Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Hailey King, California softball

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

NEW: PREP SPORTS MAILBAGThe Bay Area News Group is introducing a high school sports mailbag in May. Get your questions in as soon as possible. Our debut edition is an open forum. Got questions about spring sports playoffs, coaching changes, an early peek at football season, etc.? Send questions to [email protected]. Please include “mailbag” in the subject line.California softball player Hailey King is the Bay Area News Group’s high school girls athlete of the week for May 15-20 after she received 45.06% of the vote at the 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday.Archbishop Mitty softball player Mia Rodriguez (30.68%) placed second and St. Francis track and field athlete Sabrina Zanetto was third.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.King, a sophomore, walked California off against College Park with an inside-the-park home run in the NCS playoffs. “I could see by the trajectory that she had a shot of ending this game,” California coach Tony Bari told...

San Jose hotel site OK’d for 100-plus rooms flops into loan default

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

SAN JOSE — A San Jose site where a hotel with more than 100 rooms is proposed has tumbled into a loan default and faces foreclosure, a fresh indicator of post-coronavirus economic maladies for the Bay Area lodging sector.The hotel, which has yet to be built, would consist of 132 rooms at 1510 South De Anza Boulevard in west San Jose, very close to the Cupertino border, according to San Jose planning documents.North Star Hotel Development, which also operates as North Star Development, has proposed the development of the lodging complex.The four-story hotel would also have featured a ground-floor restaurant and a rooftop deck, the city documents show.A commercial building at present occupies the 0.9-acre property, which is at the corner of South De Anza and Sharon Drive, Google Maps shows.The loan that’s in default totals slightly less than $4.6 million, according to documents filed on May 24 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.The now-delinquent mortgage ...

Opinion: Antioch police abuses need swift and accountable justice

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

I’m angry about the institutional racism and homophobia in the Antioch Police Department. These reprehensible views don’t reflect the values I see every day from my Antioch neighbors — the people law enforcement is sworn to protect and serve.For each day those involved in sending racist, homophobic messages — such as calling Black people the N-word and Black women “water buffaloes” — remain employed, the anger felt by people of color continues to intensify. These actions have shattered the trust and progress Antioch has worked so hard to build.I am no stranger to the deep hurt caused by racism, which I have experienced in many ways. Much of my childhood was spent in a mostly white Marin County community where I was one of the few African American kids at my school — facing discrimination, ridicule and outright racism.My parents marched on Washington D.C. with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and later sent me to Howard University, a historically Black college. My m...

Opinion: California children deserve a better start in life

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

Silicon Valley is a place of immense wealth, yet almost half of the children here live in households that cannot afford to cover basic needs such as rent, food and health care, according to the 2023 Silicon Valley Index.These kids are our future. We must refuse to accept this status quo in which hundreds of thousands of children — disproportionately children of color — struggle while there are more than enough resources to help. California policymakers, advocates and philanthropists must dramatically increase investment in early childhood development to ensure that children are receiving the care they need to flourish. We need to do it now.Despite the proven impact of early childhood development programs, governments chronically fail to invest in them. The United States spends about $500 annually per child on early childhood care, compared to the $14,436 average spending of other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Philanthropi...

Fatal crash slows traffic on southbound Highway 17 in San Jose

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:25:42 GMT

(KRON) -- A fatal crash between a gray minivan and a gray Honda Civic snarled traffic on southbound Highway 17 Friday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol incident page. The accident was first reported around 4:12 a.m. near the Hamilton Avenue offramp in San Jose.The accident temporarily shut down all lanes but the fast lane has since reopened as of 4:52 a.m., officials said. The estimated time of reopening for the other lanes is around 6:30 a.m., officials said.Officials reported at least one fatality as a result of the crash. This story is developing and will be updated.