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Ask Amy: Aunt wants to step in where Dad won’t tread

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

Dear Amy: My brother has been married twice.He and his first wife had two children. During the divorce, he tried to gain custody of the children, but she was awarded custody, and he stayed in contact with his two children for a while. But then things turned for the worst when she accused my brother of child abuse. She also physically threatened him.He decided not to have any contact with her or his children. He told the family that we shouldn’t contact them or their mother.He had another child in his second marriage, which ended when their child was in elementary school. He hasn’t seen that child in years.In typical fashion, nobody in our family wanted to talk about it.When one of my nephews was graduating from high school, he contacted me to ask me why their father wasn’t coming to graduation.It was heartbreaking to hear the sadness in his voice, but I abided by my brother’s wishes not to connect them.We are now older, and his children are young adults.I don’t see...

Dozens arrested in Germany in European probe of Italian organized crime

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

German police arrested dozens of people across the country on Wednesday (3 May) in an investigation of the Italian Ndrangheta organized crime group, German public prosecutors and state police said.The crackdown was part of a co-ordinated probe by investigators in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain as well as Europol and Eurojust, they said.Among those arrested were four people in Bavaria, 15 in North Rhine-Westphalia, and 10 in the southwestern German state of Rhineland Palatinate, and police seized potential evidence at dozens of locations including homes and offices.The suspects are accused of money laundering, criminal tax evasion, fraud and smuggling of drugs, the prosecutor's offices of Duesseldorf, Koblenz, Saarbruecken and Munich said in a joint statement with state police in Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate and Saarland.

After 42 years, Marin private high school slated to close

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

The Marin School, a private high school in San Rafael, is set to close at the end of the school year, officials said.The news, which surprised parents and staff, came last week after what was described by school leaders as a “hail Mary pass” to a major donor that failed to rescue the college prep school out of an unanticipated financial pit.The crisis started in early April, at the end of the enrollment period for 2023-24, when, despite a healthy number of applicants, the number of students who enrolled dipped to 63. That was down from 85 students in 2021-22 and 77 this school year.“We have had a really precipitous drop in enrollment over the last two years,” Amy Jonak, chair of the school’s board of trustees, said Monday. “It dropped 25% over the last two years.”Jonak said the school had expected to have adequate enrollment for next year based on the “really robust group of applicants” earlier in the year.“But you don’t know what you’re going to get until you get it,” she said.Pare...

Sausalito floating homes and other landmarks serve as setting for new Apple TV+ show

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

Sausalito is the backdrop of a new Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Garner.The show, based the bestselling novel “The Last Thing He Told Me” by Laura Dave, started on April 14 and features iconic locations such as Liberty Dock and the Marin Headlands.“I’m always interested in highlighting a community that’s on the edge of the world in some way,” said Dave, who lives in Los Angeles. “I sort of fell in love with it. It was such a beautiful community and the people had such a sense of community there.”The story centers on Hannah, a newly married woman played by Garner, who lives on a floating home in Sausalito with her husband Owen and his 16-year-old daughter Bailey. When Owen disappears, the pair have to bridge their tenuous relationship to solve the mystery of his disappearance.Sausalito’s characteristics as an insulated coastal community buttressed its choice as a location in the story. Dave said the floating home neighborhood appeared to require “something different of its inhab...

A sausage roll that’s anything but ordinary

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

Don’t let the name of this recipe fool you. This is no ordinary sausage roll.If you have ever had shakshuka, a North African dish, you might recognize the smoky taste of harissa, which is made from roasted bell and chili peppers that are pounded into a paste with various other spices. Harissa can really vary depending on which brand you use — I use a heaping tablespoon of Belazu’s Rose Harissa, which is wonderfully spiced but has medium heat — so taste yours first and adjust.The currants in Lamb Sausage Rolls are so small they lend just the right amount of sweetness. This recipe for Lamb Sausage Rolls is genius on a couple of levels. First, the juices from the lamb mixture are lapped up by the couscous as it steams to perfection inside the puff pastry, keeping it crisp. And second, the currants are so small they lend just the right amount of sweetness.I like to serve these rolls with spiced yogurt — plain yogurt mixed with equal parts of paprika, cumin and turmeric — for dippin...

Rotting fruit prompts Marin bomb squad operation

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

Authorities evacuated a building along Smith Ranch Road in San Rafael on Tuesday to investigate a suspicious package that turned out to be 20 pounds of rotting fruit, police said.The package was delivered at 10 a.m. A malodor akin to methane or rotten eggs aroused suspicions of hazardous contents, the San Rafael Police Department said. The city summoned the police bomb squad from the University of California at Berkeley.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Out on $500,000 bail in 2020 rape case, East Bay man arrested for allegedly choking 80-year-old woman Crime and Public Safety | Antioch officer fired, under criminal investigation over 2022 in-custody beating Crime and Public Safety | DA: Oakland homicide suspect was mad about speeding cars in his neighborhood Crime and Public Safety | Remains of missing Oakland man found in barrel in Castro Valley Crime and Public Safety | Man wounded in gunfire excha...

State Parks orders Seacliff State Beach vulnerability, adaptation study

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

APTOS — Following a carefully planned and multifaceted demolition process, the pier at Seacliff State Beach is no more and the iconic Cement Ship just off shore sits all alone for the first time in more than 90 years.But the process for determining the future of the well-trodden state park has only just begun.California State Parks officials tell the Sentinel that the agency has awarded a contract to an infrastructure advisory firm that will begin developing a Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment and Shoreline Adaptational Alternative study. According to State Parks Public Safety Superintendent for the Santa Cruz District Gabe McKenna, the project is estimated to cost $290,000 and is spearheaded by Moffatt & Nichol consulting.“That will guide much of the future work and it will inform next steps on the outreach component with the public,” said McKenna, adding that the effort will inventory facilities, resources and parklands at Seacliff and New Brighton and will be “science d...

UC Santa Cruz condemns students’ ‘celebration’ of Hitler’s birthday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — A group of UC Santa Cruz students are alleged to have “celebrated” Adolf Hitler’s birthday last month, singing “Happy Birthday” and eating cakes decorated with “hateful and horrific” symbols.In a letter emailed campuswide Friday, UCSC officials said the antisemitic celebration “had been referred to student conduct for follow-up and adjudication.”The April 20 “celebration” came shortly before a student parked off campus, in downtown Santa Cruz, discovered an antisemitic and anti-LGBTQIA+ flyer on their windshield, according to the campus message. The flyer included “despicable and degrading claims about Jewish people and LGBTQIA+ people,” according to the message.In response, campus authorities were said to be reaching out to Santa Cruz city officials to “ask for their support and collaboration to address the concerning flyers reported downtown.”“We unequivocally condemn these — and all — antisemitic and anti-LGBTQIA+ actions,” the message, signed by Vice Chancellor for ...

Sale closed in Palo Alto: $4.4 million for a three-bedroom home

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

463 North California Avenue – Google Street ViewA 1,771-square-foot house built in 1950 has changed hands. The property located in the 400 block of North California Avenue in Palo Alto was sold on April 11, 2023. The $4,415,000 purchase price works out to $2,493 per square foot. The property features three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a garage, and one parking space, as well as a pool in the backyard. The unit sits on a 7,440-square-foot lot.Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:In June 2022, a 2,998-square-foot home on Washington Avenue in Palo Alto sold for $7,900,000, a price per square foot of $2,635. The home has 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.On South Court, Palo Alto, in February 2023, a 1,740-square-foot home was sold for $3,715,000, a price per square foot of $2,135. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 2,016-square-foot home on the 2300 block of South Court in Palo Alto sold in November 2022, for $3,750,000, a price per square foot of $1,860. The home has 3 bed...

Arconic: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:54:41 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — PITTSBURGH (AP) — Arconic Corporation (ARNC) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $25 million.The Pittsburgh-based company said it had net income of 24 cents per share.The company posted revenue of $1.93 billion in the period.Arconic shares have climbed nearly 7% since the beginning of the year. The stock has fallen 16% in the last 12 months._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ARNC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ARNCSource