Gillian Anderson will receive the Maverick Spirit Award at the film and creativity festival, which runs March 11-23 in downtown San Jose. LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 08: Gillian Anderson attends “The Crown” Season 5 World Premiere at Theatre Royal Drury Lane on November 08, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images) Hollywood has been cautiously getting its feet wet about the use of artificial intelligence in movies. But Cinequest, the 35-year-old Silicon Valley film and creativity festival, is jumping right into the AI pool. Cinequest co-founder Halfdan Hussey announced Thursday that the fest was collaborating with the MIT…
Author: MAK Gojar
Also: Reform Prop. 13 | Artificial turf | Save firehouse | Theocracy disaster. Mercury News reader letters to the editor for Jan. 31, 2025. Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Trump ushers in return of good-old-boy network If you’re curious what the country will look like after the dismantling of DEI, look no further than Donald Trump’s Cabinet. Of Trump’s 30 or so nominations only one is a Black American and he is tabbed to manage HUD, the one post that every Republican president cedes to a Black person. Trump has…
Also: Prop. 13 reform | U.S. standing | No friend | Benefitting Trump. East Bay Times reader letters to the editor for Jan. 31, 2025. Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. RFK Jr. nomination should raise alarms Re: “Caroline Kennedy warns senators that RFK Jr. is a ‘predator’” (Page A2, Jan. 29). Of all of the grossly unqualified Cabinet nominees of Donald Trump, the one that is the most dangerous is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who Trump wants to make the secretary of Health & Human Services, which includes the CDC…
Amir Shaw, a 20-year-old man known as “Gotti,” was arrested on murder charges just as his two co-defendants headed to trial. PLEASANT HILL — As two alleged gang members from Richmond are beginning to go before a jury on charges related to a double homicide, police here have arrested another suspected shooter. Amir Shaw, a 20-year-old man allegedly known as “Gotti,” was booked into the Contra Costa jail system on Tuesday. He has been charged with murder in connection with the March 19, 2024 robbery and shootout that left a cannabis packaging deliveryman and one of the suspected robbers dead.…
“Now this community is gentrified with condominiums that are coming up from all over…We’re the forgotten ones,” said Miguel Acevedo, the tenant association president at NYCHA’s Fulton Houses for the last 14 years. “When I took this role, I wanted to make sure that we’re part of any conversation that happens in Chelsea.” Adi Talwar NYCHA’s Fulton Houses Tenants Association President Miguel Acevedo. “Meet Your Tenant Leader” profiles the work of tenant leaders and housing organizers across New York City. If you’re a tenant leader interested in speaking with us about your role, or want to suggest someone we should…
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in San Jose on Thursday, comes days after a federal judge in Seattle issued a 14-day temporary restraining order to prevent Trump’s executive order from going into effect. U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/TNS) Santa Clara County has joined more than 20 states, including California, in suing President Donald Trump to block an executive order that would end birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are not citizens or…
When North Dakota’s petroleum association was going to hold a banquet honoring top fracking executives last year, it turned to Gov. Doug Burgum. The two-term Republican, now President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, co-hosted the event — at the governor’s mansion. And when energy industry lobbyists were looking for help taking on Biden administration greenhouse gas rules, they also turned to Burgum. In an email to Burgum’s office seeking the legal heft the state could provide, an industry lobbyist argued that “combating” such regulations required “a one-two punch” from industry and government. While it is not surprising…
There weren’t any survivors after a U.S. Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet preparing to land Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan National Airport. There were 67 people dead. Three were soldiers in the Black Hawk, and there were 60 passengers and four crew members in the jet that had departed from Kansas. A dozen of the 67 had been identified by relatives who talked to ABC News, Fox News, and CNN. AA CREW Samuel Lilley, 28, was the first officer on board the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet operating as American Airlines Flight 5342. Jonathan Campos,…
Donald Usher knows the race to rescue well. In January 1982, Usher was piloting a park police helicopter on a frigid day when Air Florida Flight 90, bound for Fort Lauderdale, crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and plunged into the frozen Potomac River. Leer en español “We spent probably a total of 10 minutes of rescue and the rest of the time searching for any other survivors,” Usher said. “The sorrow of all those lives – again – going into the Potomac.” Alongside his partner Gene Windsor, Usher was able to save lives that day. “The first several people…
Prosecutors added details to their indictment against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs on Thursday, saying the hip-hop star scheduled for a May trial is accused of sex trafficking at least three women and of once dangling someone off a hotel balcony during a two-decade racketeering conspiracy. The refreshed indictment was filed in Manhattan federal court. An attorney for Combs, Marc Agnifilo, noted that the superseding indictment contains no new charges. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges lodged against him after his September arrest. He remains incarcerated without bail, awaiting a May 5 trial. In the superseding indictment, prosecutors…
The BBC has apologized to staff members who felt unable to complain about the conduct of actor and comedian Russell Brand because of his status after an internal review found that concerns about his behavior weren’t handled appropriately. The investigation by Peter Johnston, the BBC’s director of editorial complaints, identified eight complaints about Brand, including allegations that he had sex on BBC premises and exposed himself in the studio. Only one of those complaints was formally made to management at the time, Johnston found. “I am grateful to those who have come forward to talk to me and my team…
To learn to fly a military helicopter is to take a master class in multitasking. You need both hands and both feet to control the aircraft while keeping a close eye on the horizon and your altitude. If it’s nighttime and you’re flying low, you may be scanning the ground for familiar landmarks using night-vision goggles while also checking GPS instruments. “You have six to seven radios to mess with,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darin Gaub, who flew Black Hawk helicopters for 22 years. “You’re using everything. And by the way, you’re also supposed to fly the aircraft,…
Conspiracy theories about vaccines. Secret meetings with dictators. An enemies list. President Donald Trump’ s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings that were like nothing the Senate has seen in modern memory. The onslaught of claims, promises and testy exchanges did not occur in a political vacuum. The whirlwind day — Day 10 of the new White House — all unfolded as Trump himself was ranting about how diversity hiring caused the tragic airplane-and-helicopter crash outside Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport. And it…
Italy’s data protection authority on Thursday blocked access to the Chinese AI application DeepSeek to protect users’ data and announced an investigation into the companies behind the chatbot. The authority, called Garante, expressed dissatisfaction with DeepSeek’s response to its initial query about what personal data is collected, where it is stored and how users are notified. “Contrary to the authority’s findings, the companies declared that they do not operate in Italy, and that European legislation does not apply to them,’’ the statement said, noting that the app had been downloaded by millions of people around the globe in just a…
Police have arrested a total of six people in connection with a deadly explosion of illegal fireworks in a Honolulu neighborhood on New Year’s Eve
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an investigation into media outlets PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) over member stations potentially airing “prohibited commercial advertisements,” according to a letter obtained by The New York Times. “I am concerned that NPR and PBS broadcasts could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” FCC chair Brendan Carr wrote, according to the Times. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.” The FCC allows businesses to support noncommercial radio and television stations — such as NPR, PBS or…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told the co-hosts of “The View” on Thursday that RFK Jr. would leave the U.S. and children with “no vaccines,” while talking about her exchange with the Health and Human Services nominee from Wednesday. “Robert Kennedy has made a lot of money promoting these anti-vaxx ideas,” Warren alleged. She continued, “He also now owns a piece of the action in lawsuits against the vaccine companies, so if somebody sues one of the vaccine companies, gets $10 million in the lawsuit, Robert Kennedy makes a cool one million.” “If he gets to be the head of HHS,…
It’s early yet. Dennis Allen barely has his new office settled at Halas Hall. So it’s difficult for the 52-year-old coach to deliver a concrete vision of what his Chicago Bears defense might look like in 2025. But Allen does know what he’s after and how he likes his units to operate. So it was little surprise Thursday when the new Bears defensive coordinator offered up two qualities he is certain will be part of the M.O. going forward. Attacking. Aggressive. No questions asked. “We want to take the fight to the offense and not let the offense dictate the…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico are coming on Saturday, but he’s still considering whether to include oil from those countries as part of his import taxes. “We may or may not,” Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office about tariffing oil from Canada and Mexico. “We’re going to make that determination probably tonight.” Trump said his decision will be based on whether the price of oil charged by the two trading partners is fair, although the basis of his threatened tariffs pertains to stopping illegal immigration and the smuggling of chemicals…
The fight over the future of hemp in Chicago moved to the City Council on Thursday, weeks after a push by Mayor Brandon Johnson helped block state legislation to strictly license, tax and regulate the often high-inducing products. As aldermen sparred in a council committee meeting alongside dueling hemp sellers and marijuana dispensary owners, the council appeared far from agreement on the safety and fairness of potential local regulations — despite all sides agreeing that the unregulated product that can get users high must face some restrictions. While no vote was taken Thursday, the possibility of an ordinance to allow…