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Katy Perry refuses to back down in fight over $15 million California mansion

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

By Madlin Mekelburg | BloombergThe $15 million house in Montecito – owned by the founder of 1-800-Flowers in the California slice of heaven that’s home to Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt — seemed perfect for Katy Perry.But the eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom estate that sprawls over nearly nine verdant acres in the sun-kissed Santa Ynez foothills have landed Perry and her partner, Orlando Bloom, in a real estate dispute.The case goes to trial starting Wednesday at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in Los Angeles. At stake is who will get the estate, Perry or the seller, Carl Westcott, the former private equity manager and serial entrepreneur who founded 1-800-Flowers. Westcott says he did not want to sell his home and was not of sound mind when he inked the deal. Perry would not walk away from the purchase and is expected to take the stand as soon as Friday.The dispute is a window into a real-estate deal gone wrong in Montecito, a chic enclave of roughly 10 square miles on the edge of Santa Barbar...

Bay Area News Group high school football predictions: Week 6, 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

We’re on to Week 6 in our all-in-fun Bay Area News Group high school football picks competition.Are we having fun?Not to pat myself on the back (wink-wink), but my advantage over fellow prognosticators Mike Lefkow and Joseph Dycus widened again after I correctly picked 13 of the 16 games on last week’s list.Lefkow now trails by six games in the season standings. Dycus is 11 games back.But, hey, there are always more games at this stage in a season, and they have given themselves a chance to climb back into contention in Week 6.If all goes his way, Dycus could make up six games this weekend. Lefkow could slice four games off his deficit.Among Dycus’ big swings, he took Mountain View over Wilcox, Gunn over South San Francisco and Oakland over Atascadero.He and Lefkow picked Milpitas over Sequoia and Clayton Valley over Jesuit-Carmichael.The toughest calls this week were Pittsburg at Los Gatos and Valley Christian at Archbishop Riordan.Lefkow and I took Pittsburg. Dyc...

Non-fatal stabbing reported at Saratoga gas station

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

Sept. 6Theft by false pretenses: A Saratoga resident reported that someone telephoned them acting as an FBI agent, claimed the victim was being investigated, and instructed them to provide digital currency to clear the matter. The victim complied for a loss of about $6,000.Possession of a stolen vehicle: At 5:21 p.m., deputies responded to a suspicious person call at the Saratoga French Cultural Preschool on Saratoga Avenue. That person left by vehicle before deputies arrived but was located a short time later. An investigation revealed the suspect was driving a vehicle previously stolen from Campbell. The suspect, who also had an outstanding warrant, was arrested.Assault with a deadly weapon: At 6:22 p.m., unknown suspects approached the victim at the 76 gas station on Big Basin Way, questioned the victim about being in a gang, and then punched them in the face and stabbed them twice in the leg before fleeing the scene by vehicle.Sept. 7Check fraud: A Saratoga business reported tha...

Video: See TNT explosions at Anderson Dam project near Morgan Hill

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

Construction crews are halfway finished on a project to dig a 1,740-foot outlet tunnel — roughly as long as five football fields — through bedrock near Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill.The new tunnel, 24 feet high, will allow water to be released from the reservoir faster in the event of an earthquake, massive winter storms or other emergency. It is part of a $1.4 billion project ordered by the federal government to tear down the 240-foot earthen dam, originally built in 1950, and rebuild it to modern seismic standards to reduce the risk of it failing in an earthquake.As of Tuesday, workers had finished digging 830 feet of the new tunnel. When the work began last November, they used excavators and rock-cutting machines called road headers to carve away at a hillside on the left side of the dam. This month they have used TNT to blast through some of the hardest bedrock.“We have made a lot of progress this year,” said Ryan McCarter, a civil engineer with the Santa C...

Lazy Dog’s bid to locate in East Bay city approved

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

Who let the dogs out? Not Brentwood council members, who on Tuesday, pulled back the reins to allow Lazy Dog Restaurant and Bar to build as planned in the city’s Sand Creek Crossing shopping center.The restaurant’s design plans, which include an outdoor patio for diners and dogs, had earned the Planning Commission’s unanimous approval in mid-August but only with some expensive conditions that the developer, LRG Investors, would not agree to. Developer representatives made it clear they would walk away and look at other Bay Area locations.In an attempt to work out an agreement, Councilmember Jovita Mendoza asked the Brentwood City Council to reevaluate the commission’s decision and consider the restaurant’s new proposals to fix any problems.“It’s been a long path for the Lazy Dog Restaurant to come to the city of Brentwood,” Jared Taylor, a representative for Lazy Dog, told the council. “That’s actually a goal we’ve been working on, to bring a Lazy Dog restaurant to...

Man accused of shooting driver in the head on Bay Area freeway sentenced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

A Vallejo man accused of shooting another driver in the head while on a freeway in 2020 will spend less than two years in prison following a court ruling Tuesday.Davon Howes Judge Robert Bowers sentenced 30-year-old Davon Howes to eight years and four months in prison after Howes entered “no contest” pleas for charges related to the attack.Prior to his sentencing, however, Howes had already spent three and a half years in jail since his arrest on March 26, 2020. California law stipulates that double that amount of time be subtracted from his sentence. So, attorneys said in court, Howes will receive seven years’ credit and will only be in prison for a year and four months.The shooting victim told authorities in 2020 that he had prior conflicts with Howes when Howes spotted him leaving a fast food restaurant on Admiral Callaghan Lane. Howes’ vehicle reportedly followed the victim onto the freeway – where, police said, it reportedly pulled up alongside the other car and Howes poin...

Firefighters knock down blaze at Antioch grow house

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

(KRON) -- A fire that consumed a home in Antioch on Tuesday night was a grow house, Con Fire confirmed to KRON4.Con Fire crews responded to the blaze at a single-family Antioch residence on the 5300 block of Navajo Way at 9:50 p.m., officials said. Firefighters arriving on scene saw heavy smoke and flames emanating from the two-story residence.Fire officials said there were some issues getting into the house because it was barricaded. The fire set off ammunition that was inside the home, and firefighters remained outside the residence for safety, Con Fire said. Inside, officials later confirmed that the home was used as a grow house.The fire was knocked down in half an hour, and by 10:20 p.m., the house was secured, according to Con Fire. The roof of the house partially collapsed in the blaze.The residence was unoccupied at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported, fire officials said.

Authorities advise of police activity in West Novato Wednesday morning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

(BCN) -- Authorities are asking the public to avoid an area in West Novato due to police activity Wednesday morning.The Novato Police Department said officers converged in the area of Gustafson Court and Sutro Avenue due to "a mental health crisis." Police issued the advisory around 6:45 a.m.Those who live along Gustafson Court and need to leave are asked to call Novato police at (415) 897-4361.Officers did not immediately release further information about the police activity.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Travis Kelce talked Taylor Swift on his podcast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

Travis Kelce (left) talked Taylor Swift (right) on his podcast. Travis Kelce (left) talked Taylor Swift (right) on his podcast. (CNN) — Travis Kelce was already famous, but now he is learning what it means to be Taylor Swift-adjacent-famous.The new episode of his podcast, “New Heights,” which he hosts with his brother, fellow NFL football player Jason Kelce, dropped Wednesday.Jason Kelce introduced the TSwift of it all in the midst of some football talk by saying, “We’re here.”“We’ve been avoiding this subject out of respect for your personal life,” Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles said. “But now we gotta talk about it.”“My personal life that’s not so personal,” Travis Kelce quipped. “I did this ...

Canadian police won’t investigate doctor for sterilizing Indigenous woman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:10:51 GMT

The Canadian government says it is urgently trying to end the forced sterilization of Indigenous women, describing the practice as a human rights violation and a prosecutable offense. Yet police say they will not pursue a criminal investigation into a recent case in which a doctor apologized for his “unprofessional conduct” in sterilizing an Inuit woman.In July, The Associated Press reported on the case of an Inuit woman in Yellowknife who had surgery in 2019 aimed at relieving her abdominal pain. The obstetrician-gynecologist, Dr. Andrew Kotaska, did not have the woman’s consent to sterilize her, and he did so over the objections of other medical personnel in the operating room. She is now suing him.“This is a pivotal case for Canada because it shows that forced sterilization is still happening,” said Dr. Unjali Malhotra, of the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia. “It’s time that it be treated as a crime.”Kotaska declined to comment to the AP. Last month, he release...