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Pleasanton, Fremont men sentenced to prison over insider trading of tech stocks among friends

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

Two Bay Area men are going to prison for an insider-trading scheme among friends who traded illegally on tips from the former information-security chief at San Jose technology firm Lumentum.Srinivasa Kakkera of Pleasanton, 48-year-old former Adobe head of engineering and artificial intelligence, was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a half in federal prison. Abbas Saeedi of Fremont, owner of a Newark tax preparation business, received a five-month sentence. The pair were among a group of friends who learned valuable, non-public information from former Lumentum chief information security officer Amit Bhardwaj of San Ramon, sentenced earlier to two months in prison for his role in the scheme.“Kakkera and Saeedi used their informational advantage to make millions in combined illegal gains in the stock market,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in announcing the men’s sentences, which were handed down in Southern District of New York federal court.According to the Ju...

Santa Clara: Legal attempt to change “biased” ballot measure on police chief job fails

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

A last ditch effort by a group of Santa Clara residents to change the language of a ballot measure that could get rid of California’s last elected police chief has failed.On Dec. 18, Satish Chandra, Joyce Davis and Carolyn McAllister filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court over Measure B, which will ask voters on March 5 whether the city should change the police chief role from an elected position to an appointed one.The three residents — two of whom were on the seven-member Charter Review Committee that examined the issue earlier this year — argued that the way the question was worded was “biased and unlawful” and left out crucial information: that the police chief is currently an elected position. They asked the court to step in ahead of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Dec. 29 printing deadline for ballots.Judge Thomas Kuhnle, however, disagreed with the residents’ argument in his Dec. 26 ruling, which denied their reques...

Mochi pizza? Sushirrito’s cofounders launch new Bay Area fusion concept in Burlingame

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

You’ve probably heard of the sushi burrito, made popular by Bay Area chain Sushirrito in 2011.  Now, Sushirrito cofounders Peter Yen and Ty Mahler are back with a new fusion concept: mochi pizza.“That’s something we enjoy doing: creating something new that makes sense that hasn’t been done before,” Yen says.The idea came to them as Yen and Mahler were talking about pizza one day and wondering why there weren’t any Asian pizza brands. Rather than add Asian flavors to traditional pizza, they took a suggestion from Mahler’s wife and began to experiment with the concept of a mochi pizza.“A lot of people love mochi, and everybody is familiar with pizza,” Yen says. “Combining the two? People really want to try it.”The curry chicken pizza from Mochiko is served on a mochi crust and topped with chicken karaage, mozzarella cheese, corn, jalapeño, Japanese curry and fresh cilantro. (Courtesy Mochiko) The mochi pizzas are a...

Protests continue after People's Park in Berkeley blocked with shipping containers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

BERKELEY, Calif. (KRON) -- University of California, Berkeley started to close off the People’s Park construction site overnight Thursday ahead of plans to build housing for students and low-income housing residents. In the midst of the closure, a protest broke out, and police showed up in riot gear to move them away from work now underway in the park.All four corners of People’s Park in Berkeley have been closed off by police from multiple agencies, including the California Highway Patrol. Authorities are monitoring the situation as cargo containers arrive and are being placed in a perimeter around the park.Police descend on People's Park as crews cut down trees and people are asked to leave in Berkeley, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. Police officers in riot gear removed activists and crews put in shipping containers to wall off the historic park overnight as the University of California, Berkeley waits for a court ruling it hopes will allow it to build much-needed student hous...

Browns sitting Joe Flacco, other top players vs. Bengals to be rested for playoffs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Two seasons ago, the playoff-bound Cincinnati Bengals rested most of their starters in a meaningless regular-season finale at Cleveland against the also-ran Browns, who were wrapping up a disappointing season.The scenario will be flipped on Sunday.Cleveland (11-5), looking ahead to a playoff game next weekend, will finish the regular season in Cincinnati against the Bengals (8-8), who’ve got no place to go but home.The Browns will hold out many of their core players against Cincinnati, including soon-to-be 39-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco, who came off his couch to win four games in December and push the Browns into the playoffs for just the third time since 1999.Flacco, who led the Baltimore Ravens to a Super Bowl title after the 2012 season, has normally fatalistic Cleveland fans believing this could be a special season after throwing for 1,616 yards in five starts since he was signed on Nov. 20.Flacco is playing only because the Browns lost $230 million ...

NTSB criticizes ‘ineffective safety culture’ at Metro leading up to 2021 derailment

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

Metro workers work to repair the wheels on the 7000-series railcars. (Courtesy Metro) Metro workers work to repair the wheels on the 7000-series railcars. (Courtesy Metro) The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final report on the October 2021 Blue Line train derailment, which led to more than half of Metro’s fleet of trains being pulled off the tracks and drastically reduced rail service.The NTSB’s final report said Metro was aware of a problem that caused the wheelsets on its new 7000-series trains to drift too far apart but that officials in the transit agency didn’t properly address the hazard before a Blue Line train derailed near the Rosslyn Metro Station.The report has n...

Former journalist whose daughter was murdered to share grief tips from memoir at DC book talk

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

An author talk in D.C. this weekend will feature a former journalist sharing tips on how to navigate grief after she went through an unimaginable tragedy.“I did not write the book for myself. I wrote the book for other people,” said Michelle Hord, a former journalist who started her career as a reporter in D.C. with America’s Most Wanted.She said she suddenly found herself at the center of every parent’s nightmare when her seven-year-old daughter was killed.“Fast-forward some 30 years later almost, and I’m on the other side of that police tape, when my daughter was murdered by my then-husband while we were going through our divorce,” Hord said. “This is not just a personal journey, but also a way, based on my professional experience, to really look at grief.”Hord is giving a talk about her book, titled “The Other Side of Yet: Finding Light in the Midst of Darkness,” at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in D....

Aurora Fire gets help from robots, drones in construction site fire cleanup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- A massive, five-alarm fire broke out at a construction site near the intersection of Peoria Street and Colfax Avenue on Dec. 16. It took fire crews five days to fully extinguish the fire. Due to the risk of the building collapsing, construction and fire crews had to delay their work.  Denver deputy suspended for shooting into neighbor’s home “There was multiple collapse zones, and with the amount of water they put inside the building it wasn’t safe for any firefighters or any construction workers to be inside there to even begin tearing the building down,” said Andrew Logan, of Aurora Fire Rescue.On Jan. 2, Aurora Fire brought in an outside company, D.H. Griffin, to help demolish the building. The company uses autonomous robots to tear down parts of the building and enter areas that are too dangerous for people. At the same time, Aurora Fire investigators are using drones to take photos of the site and continue investigating what sparked the fire. “The investigato...

Man charged with murder for deadly shooting in Commerce City

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- On Thursday, the 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office announced it had formally filed charges against a man accused of shooting and killing a man inside a vehicle in Commerce City on Monday, Jan. 1.Angel Lozano, 19, faces one charge of first-degree murder. He is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 5. View the latest Weather Alerts in Denver and across Colorado on FOX31 The shooting occurred in the area east of Pelican Ponds Open Space near East 78th Avenue and Dahlia Street early on the morning of Jan. 1. Police said they believed the suspect and victim knew each other and was not a random incident, identifying Lozano as the suspect. Lozano turned himself in the evening of Jan. 1, according to police. The Commerce City Police Department also initially reported that Lozano might be having a mental health crisis and could be armed and dangerous. The victim of this shooting has not been identified.

Firefighters battle 2-alarm fire in Gloucester home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:25 GMT

Emergency crews responded in Gloucester Thursday after a fire broke out in a local home. The Gloucester Fire Department in a statement said authorities first responded around 1 p.m. after police reported smoke coming from a home on Holly Street. Once on scene, officials said, fire crews spotted heavy smoke and flames coming from the house. SKY7-HD similarly saw smoke rising from the house as crews used at least one ladder truck to battle the fire.Gloucester fire officials said the emergency response grew to two alarms as the fire spread within the home. The fire was ultimately knocked down near 1:50 p.m.Officials said one person got out of the home before firefighters arrived on scene. No one else was in the home at the time of the fire.Though there were no reported injuries, officials said the home was deemed uninhabitable. The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Thursday afternoon.