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World Series storylines give fans something to root far

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

ST. LOUIS – This year’s Fall Classic is full of storylines."I think it's pretty exciting,” baseball fan Kirk Iversen said.From the National League, it’s the underdog Arizona Diamondbacks."The Diamondbacks are just the biggest surprise Cinderella team to be in there,” Cubs fan Ty Knox told FOX 2.From the American League, it’s the titleless Texas Rangers."It's nice to see two new teams in it," Knox said.St. Louis baseball fans are still finding a team to root for."I picked the Diamondbacks only because I have family on my wife’s side that live in Arizona," baseball fan A.J. said Wednesday. What is No-Shave November, and where did it come from? Knox said he’d be rooting for the Diamondbacks because “they are the National League team.”While the Diamondbacks are the underdogs, they already won the World Series back in 2001. The Rangers are one of six teams, along with the Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays, to never raise the Com...

St. Louis real estate agency hosts event examining housing inequity

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Last September, Katie Berry, then president of St. Louis Realtors, delivered a powerful apology during an event detailing St. Louis’ history of residential racial segregation. The group’s apology came with a course of action.The Reimagining St. Louis plan includes 22 different initiatives the association says it’s using to educate, promote, and support African Americans and other minorities interested in all aspects of the real estate industry.A year after the Reimagining St. Louis announcement, one real estate agency is doing its part to shine a light on local housing inequity.“I’m so proud of RedKey Realty Leaders. Jill Butler’s an amazing leader, and she’s really worked to make diversity, equity and inclusion a priority within the company,” Nate Johnson, a broker associated with RedKey Realty. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News ...

EU sees increase of tourist bed places in 2022

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

In 2022, the EU had an estimated total of 28.9 million bed places available across more than 620,000 tourist accommodation establishments. Data showed a complete recovery in terms of tourism accommodation offers in 2022. Compared with 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic started, the number of bed places increased by 3% (+765,900) and the establishments by 4% (+24,400) and compared with 2019 both the number of bed places (+1%; +150,400) and establishments (+1%; +3,600) increased.Italy and France accounted for slightly more than one-third of the total available capacity, with 5.2 and almost 5.1 million bed places, respectively. Spain and Germany followed, with 3.8 million (13% of the total) and 3.6 million (12%) bed places. This information comes from data on tourist accommodation published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on tourism statistics - annual results for the accommodation sector. Source d...

Philp: California fire victims may be taxed for their suffering

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

Warren Thompson was having his first cup of coffee on a November morning nearly five years ago in his home in Paradise, when his sister-in-law called to warn him of an approaching fire. He looked out the front window.“It was completely dark like it was in the middle of the night,” Thompson said.He immediately left to drive toward Chico in his 2004 Honda Accord, leaving all of his belongings — save for his Tabby cat, Cinder. What was normally a 20-minute drive took a harrowing four hours. But he was among the survivors of the second deadliest fire in modern American history, which claimed 85 lives.“And then,” Thompson said, “the fun began.”The 72-year-old’s idea of fun is putting his financial life back together. The final insult to his financial injury is that his total payout from Pacific Gas & Electric, which caused the Camp Fire, is subject to federal income tax. Relief can only happen if Congress does something helpful.The day that relief legislation was to be heard earlier ...

Walters: Why two Bay Area cities are falling behind in housing

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

Why can’t California build enough housing to meet its demand, even though the state’s population is declining?The state Department of Housing and Community Development was recommending that the state build 180,000 units of housing each year and has been leaning on local governments to zone enough land and reform their approval processes to make that happen. More recently, the housing goal was reduced to 148,000 in light of population declines, but actual production runs, at best, about two-thirds of that level.Two recent reports on housing in two of the state’s larger cities provide some insight into the factors that must change if California wants to meet its housing needs.The first is a state review of housing policies in San Francisco, which is notorious for erecting multiple hurdles to approval of projects.“San Francisco has the longest timelines and some of the highest procedural hurdles in the state for advancing housing projects to construction,” the report declares. “These d...

California parks to increase penalty for camping no-shows, tighten reservation rules

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

Try to nab an online reservation at a popular State Park campsite and you might be discouraged to see all the spots are gobbled up.Or so it seems. Often, the reserved spots end up empty, with no-shows leaving the coveted sites unused. But starting next year, a slew of changes by State Parks could make nabbing a campsite easier.Campers Katie Harper, left, and Shannon Holman, both of Las Vegas, chat at their beachfront camping spot at Doheny State Beach Camp Ground in Dana Point on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. Gov. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 618 that will amend the state’s campsite reservation system to deter cancellations and no-shows. The new law starts Jan. 1, 2024. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)Campers enjoy their beachfront camping spot at Doheny State Beach Camp Ground in Dana Point on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. Gov. Newsom signed Assembly Bill 618 that will amend the state’s campsite reservation system to deter cancellations and no-shows. The new law s...

Knott’s Berry Farm owner and Six Flags exploring potential merger, reports say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

The parent companies of Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain are exploring a potential merger that would combine two of the largest regional theme park chains in North America, according to published reports.The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are reporting that Cedar Fair and Six Flags could unveil a merger deal as early as this week.Cedar Fair — the owner of Knott’s in Buena Park, California’s Great America in Santa Clara and other theme parks across the U.S. and Canada — could make an announcement on Thursday, Nov. 1 when the company reports quarterly results, Reuters reported.“An agreement could be finalized as soon as this week assuming there is no last-minute snag,” according to the Wall Street Journal.Cedar Fair owns 15 theme parks and water parks in the U.S. and Canada — including Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, Kings Dominion in Virginia and Carowinds in North Carolina.Six Flags owns 27 amusement parks and water parks across the U.S., Canada and Mexico — in...

Airbnb posts $4.4 billion profit with help from tax break, revenue surge

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

Airbnb said Wednesday it earned $4.37 billion in the third quarter as it booked a large tax benefit and posted higher-than-expected revenue during the summer travel season.However, the rental giant’s forecast of fourth-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations. Its shares fell more than 2% in after-hours trading.Airbnb said that excluding the tax benefit, net income would have been $1.6 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier.Related ArticlesBusiness | ‘Airbnb becomes machine gunBNB,’ cops say after 11 guns found at teen’s birthday party Business | Airbnb host’s ‘tenant from hell’ also lived rent-free in an Oakland house Business | An Airbnb, Vrbo or other rental host ghosted you. Now what? Business | Airbnb is fundamentally broken, its CEO says. He plans to fix it Revenue rose 18% to $3.4 billion as the company saw a 14% increase in bookings and slightly higher average prices for sho...

See Disneyland Jungle Cruise boat towed to safety — and the skipper never misses a joke

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

The jokes continued flying from the skipper of a stranded Jungle Cruise tramp steamer as a rescue boat arrived to tow the castaways to safety after the Disneyland attraction broke down and left riders stuck along the tropical rivers of the world.A video posted by the Disney Food Blog to social media on Tuesday, Oct. 31 shows a Disneyland cast member lashing a rope to the bow of the marooned Jungle Cruise boat and tugging it along the winding river course as the skipper continued with his comedic spiel.The shipwrecked skipper cracked jokes about checking the service engine light and saving on gasoline throughout the ordeal.Trouble over on the Jungle Cruise in Disneyland as one of the boats broke down and had to be towed through the rest of the attraction!Thanks to DFB reader Barb Close for sharing with us! pic.twitter.com/h4lD842UZc— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) October 31, 2023Related ArticlesEntertainment | Voices of Disneyland and Disney California Adventure...

Before Joining White House, Karine Jean-Pierre Slammed Netanyahu For Alleged War Crimes Against Gazans

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:32:52 GMT

During the 2020 presidential campaign, Karine Jean-Pierre applauded the decision by every Democratic candidate to skip the annual conference put on by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC. She slammed it for “racist, Islamophobic” rhetoric and for inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak. Netanyahu, Jean-Pierre correctly noted, was facing allegations of war crimes and a raft of corruption charges.Though Netanyahu still faces those allegations, and many more, Jean-Pierre has defended Netanyahu’s bombardment of Gaza in her current role as press secretary for President Joe Biden.“Netanyahu not only has personal charges levied against him—he’s been indicted on both bribery and fraud charges—but under his leadership of Israel, according to the United Nations, Israel may have committed war crimes in its attacks on Gazan protesters,” Jean-Pierre wrote in a March 2019 column in Newsweek.“It’s time to call a spade a spade,” she continued....