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Addressing the loneliness 'epidemic' to ease children’s back-to-school transition

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

As summer ends, children are returning to school, readjusting to the more structured environment of the classroom, and facing the challenges of learning, exams, and interpersonal relations on their own, writes Alysha Tagert, a mental health expert.As if that transition were not hard enough to navigate, doctors are additionally sounding the alarm on the state of kids’ mental health, leading to a dramatic increase in the number of pediatric patients, some as young as five, seeking emergency care.Making matters worse, the sense of isolation and anxiety across age groups is at all-time high.To succeed in school and beyond, children should not be or feel alone. They need the adults in their lives to help them become resilient and resourceful, able to focus on immediate tasks and more distant goals.On the policy level, the ‘Legislation to Establish National Strategy to Combat Loneliness” introduced in the US Senate during the summer is a recent attempt to address the escalating loneliness...

Sale closed in Fremont: $1.8 million for a three-bedroom home

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

35821 Augustine Place – Google Street ViewThe property located in the 35800 block of Augustine Place in Fremont was sold on July 21, 2023. The $1,770,000 purchase price works out to $1,167 per square foot. The house, built in 1970, has an interior space of 1,517 square feet. The layout of this single-story home consists of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The home’s exterior showcases roofing materials crafted from wood shake roofing / shingles. In addition, the house comes with a garage.These nearby houses have also recently been purchased:A 1,688-square-foot home on the 35700 block of Gissing Place in Fremont sold in February 2023, for $1,625,000, a price per square foot of $963. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.On Mackenzie Place, Fremont, in July 2022, a 1,830-square-foot home was sold for $1,734,000, a price per square foot of $948. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.In September 2022, a 1,579-square-foot home on Dee Place in Fremont sold for $1,450,000, a price pe...

Repairs continue at Paul’s Slide on Big Sur Coast with updated repair design

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

MONTEREY – Paul’s Slide, the area on Highway 1 closed to through traffic, continues to live up to its name as movement of the hillside is ongoing but repair work continues.Highway 1 remains closed to vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic for two miles, between the town of Lucia to the north and Limekiln State Park to the south.In early August, repair efforts were suspended at the site on Highway 1, postmile marker 21.7, to give Geotech crews time to study measurements of recent slide activity and in coordination with Caltrans engineering teams, design repairs based on the assessment of the slide conditions.After a brief pause in repair work for the assessment and design, crews continue to work seven days a week during all daylight hours, but there have been two overriding safety priorities while working to fully reopen the highway, according to Caltrans.The first has been the safety of the crews who make these repairs while working at a site that is steep and where slide activity ...

4 years after approval for release, search to find Santa Cruz County housing for sexually violent predator continues

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

SANTA CRUZ — State contracted officials who have spent nearly four years unsuccessfully hunting for local housing opportunities for a convicted rapist most recently were limiting themselves to locations at least a mile from any school or beach, authorities revealed Tuesday.“That’s quite a set-off,” defense attorney Stephen Prekoski said of the geographically limiting factors.Prekoski’s client, 71-year-old Michael Cheek, was found eligible for monitored community release after serving more than four decades in prison and treatment. Cheek’s release falls under specific state mandates related to “sexually violent predators.”Unless the court makes a finding of extraordinary circumstances, a group of officials signed to Cheek’s personal housing committee are limited to home-hunting within Santa Cruz County, considered Cheek’s county of primary residence.Prekoski suggested that Cheek’s lengthy wait to be placed in housing since he was deemed eligible for release might be considered a suff...

Opinion: Writers deserve more for contribution to OpenAI’s success

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

Last month, it was reported that OpenAI — the company behind the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT — was on track to make $1 billion in revenue this year from user subscriptions and by licensing its technology to other companies. ChatGPT was introduced into the world only last November, and its explosive growth shows the demand for AI-powered chatbots and their potential to transform lives.But there are still pressing ethical issues that need to be addressed, such as, what do AI companies owe to the creators whose work informs their chatbots?Generative AI chatbots, which can conduct human-like conversations and generate unique written responses to prompts from users, are taught to communicate using writing samples from hundreds of thousands of writers whose work is available on the web. Even though the written work is publicly available, much of it is protected under copyright law.According to OpenAI, ChatGPT doesn’t produce plagiarized outputs — it only learns from the ideas of the boo...

Southern California school board OKs policy banning pride, other flags from schools

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

The Temecula school board approved a policy to limit which flags can be flown on school property, a rule that some called a way to ban pride flags, at its Tuesday night, Sept. 12, meeting.A similar policy was adopted by the Chino Valley Unified School District board in June.The Temecula Valley Unified School District board proposal passed 3-2, with the board’s conservative majority in favor and trustees Allison Barclay and Steven Schwartz voting no.The proposal, which was adopted before an overflow crowd with some small language changes, does not specify which flags are barred. It contains two alterations to the district’s flag protocols.RELATED: Fallout from Sunol school ban on Pride flag, as parents keep kids home and consider recallOne reads: “No flag other than the United States of America and State of California may be displayed on school grounds, including classrooms, unless it is a country, state, or United States military flag used solely for educational purposes within the ...

Teen arrested on suspicion of intentionally striking 3 bicyclists in Southern California, leaving 1 dead

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

A teenage driver was arrested on suspicion of intentionally striking three different bicyclists in Huntington Beach in less than an hour late Sunday night, Sept. 10, killing one.A possible motive was not disclosed by police. Nor was the minor’s name or age released.The first hit-and-run collision occurred around 10 p.m. that night when a bicyclist said he was riding near Edwards Street and Warner Avenue when a black Toyota sideswiped him, leaving the cyclist with minor injuries, said Jessica Cuchilla, a police spokeswoman.Around 30 minutes later, another bicyclist was struck a quarter of a mile north of the first, at Brad Drive and Edwards, police said. That cyclist described being aggressively sideswiped by a black Toyota — leading authorities to believe that the collisions were intentional.Another 15 minutes passed and, at Springdale Street and Heil Avenue, a black Toyota sedan then struck Steven Gonzales, a 70-year-old Huntington Beach resident, who was alive when paramedics show...

Robbers take vitamins and medications from California Rite Aid store

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

Three thieves threatened a Rite Aid worker in Brea with pepper spray Wednesday evening during a robbery in which they filled several trash bags with vitamins and over-the-counter medications, police said.The robbery occurred around 7:54 p.m. at 405 West Imperial Highway, near Brea Boulevard. Two men and one woman entered the store, filling multiple trash bags with vitamins and medicine, including GNC supplements, said Brea Police Sgt. Richard Wildman.Police said the thieves reportedly cleared an aisle full of merchandise.No injuries were reported. The robbers fled in a white Jeep Cherokee with a getaway driver, said Wildman.Details on the total value of the items stolen were not immediately available.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Sunnyvale shooting leaves man in critical condition Crime and Public Safety | East Bay woman shot and killed during domestic dispute Crime and Public Safety | Oakland rapper arrested after four months o...

Opinion: How California can give Latinos a bigger voice in government

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

One of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s primary responsibilities is appointing individuals to fill vacancies within state boards and commissions. However, his office lacks a public system to check whether these appointees reflect the communities they are meant to serve.Regrettably, these seats often fail to mirror the diversity inherent to California, particularly when it comes to the underrepresentation of Latinos. Despite making up 39% of the population, Latinos remain marginalized within these appointments, and lack of transparency around data on the governor’s appointments obscures the true extent of this underrepresentation.There is a promising solution before us. Senate Bill 702, authored by state Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, would require the office of the governor to create and publish an annual report on the demographic composition of all appointees made that year to state boards and commissions. This report would offer the transparency needed for targeted advocacy to diversify ...

Builders want to see buyers’ wish lists

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:40:37 GMT

Homebuyers may wonder how new-home builders determine which features and amenities are best to incorporate into upcoming home plans, master-planned communities and lifestyle amenities.Each new release seems to include exceptional elements. And buyers may not have even considered some of the items important. At least not until they see how the builder can incorporate them.Fortunately, new-home buyers are in luck, given the features of today’s new construction homes in California. And the future new-home buyer whose next home hasn’t even been built or even had its foundation poured may be in even greater luck.That’s because the further out construction is, the more choices on home specifications the buyer has. In some cases, builders may still welcome input about floor plans and design features. That’s especially true with coming-soon communities or master-planned communities that have yet to introduce their next phases.But perhaps there’s a construction or design feature you wish wou...