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The Peninsula has a new micro-batch organic chocolate shop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

Four years ago, Menlo Park-based chef Michael Sigmon was visiting his local farmers market, where a vendor was selling custom chocolate, when inspiration struck. He decided he wanted to try making his own chocolate from scratch.Sigmon is no stranger to restaurant kitchens. He has worked at North Carolina’s fine-dining Fearrington House, as a private chef for Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings and at his own Windmill Cafe in Santa Cruz. But he was ready for a new chapter.“I’ve been in kitchens so long. My body’s done with that,” he says.Now his Minée Chocolate shop sells its wares — five types of bean-to-bar chocolates plus coffee beans — at Sigona’s Markets in Palo Alto and Redwood City and Willows Market in Menlo Park.Sigmon sources his cacao from an organic co-op in Ecuador, where the beans produce a deep chocolate with tropical fruit notes. The flavor is “the aromatic essence of what the jungle could be like on a warm day,&#...

Barnes & Noble to locate new store in Brentwood

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

Nearly two decades after opening East Contra Costa’s only large book store at Antioch’s Slatten Ranch, the retailer will be heading down the road to a similar-sized site in Brentwood.The new site is 1.5 miles away at the Streets of Brentwood shopping complex, filling a prime anchor spot vacated by REI in 2014 – only five years after the outdoor sporting goods giant opened shop there.“They (Barnes & Noble) are staying in the market, which is good for East County,” Jim Shepherd, a broker for Slatten Ranch shopping center, said. “You know, it provides something …there aren’t really any other bookstores out there.”Deborah Hanks, a spokesman for Barnes & Noble, confirmed the move and said the business is targeting an early fall opening.“Our lease ended in Antioch and we have found a new home at Brentwood, which will feature our new layout and design,” she said.The new nearly 21,000-square-foot store on Sand Creek Road will consist of book “rooms” created by a series of book...

California prisoner whose lawsuit exposed secret jail recordings pleads guilty to RICO murder

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

SACRAMENTO — For the second time in a month, a California prisoner has pleaded guilty to a federal murder charge as part of a massive investigation targeting the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.This time, Patrick “Big Pat” Brady, 53, pleaded guilty to the July 20, 2018 fatal stabbing of Donald “Joker” Pequeen at High Desert State Prison. Pequeen was targeted by the Aryan Brotherhood for fraudulently posing as a member of the all-white prison gang and for failing to pay for drugs he’d obtained from another person, both violations of an unofficial code of conduct at the prison, prosecutors say.Brady was among two dozen alleged Aryan Brotherhood members and associates charged in 2019 as part of a massive probe led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. While on pretrial detention in the Sacramento jail, Brady filed a federal lawsuit that publicly revealed Sheriff’s employees had been re...

Dublin woman arrested after repeatedly ramming ex with car in Mountain View, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

MOUNTAIN VIEW — An East Bay woman is in a South Bay jail after she ran her ex-boyfriend off the road then drove at him after he got out of his car, according to Mountain View police.The episode was reported around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 2 near Central Expressway and San Antonio Road, police said in a news release. According to an investigation, a 24-year-old Dublin woman hit a car driven by a man she once dated.This caused the man to crash, and once he got out of his car to assess the damage, the woman reportedly “accelerated toward him, hitting both him and his vehicle once again,” police said.The woman drove away from the crash site but soon after returned while police officers were investigating the scene. Police said officers stopped her car and detained her, then later booked her into the Elmwood women’s jail in Milpitas on suspicion of attempted murder, hit and run and domestic violence crimes. Records show she was being held without bail.Police said the vi...

Homicides in big US cities down more than 10 percent in 2023

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

By Eric Levenson and Mark Morales | CNNAfter three years of distressingly high levels, homicides in the US declined significantly across the board in 2023 – even as the public’s concerns about crime remained at its highest in over two decades.In particular, the five biggest cities in the US – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix – each saw homicides fall by over 10%, according to the latest data from those police departments.Further, national data from the FBI covering January to September 2023 showed an 8.2% drop in all violent crime, including a 15.6% drop in murders, compared to the same period in 2022. These declines were seen in cities over 1 million people and those under 10,000, and across all four regional quadrants of the US. The full year of data won’t be released until this fall, but the trend is clear.Taken together, the broad decline in crimes in 2023 suggests societal disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 police murder of George Floyd have ...

Strike kills 12, mostly children, in Gaza area declared safe zone

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

By Najib Jobain and Jack Jeffery | Associated PressRAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike flattened a home Thursday in an area of southern Gaza that the military had declared a safe zone, killing at least 12 people, almost all of them children, Palestinian hospital officials said as Israeli troops pressed their assault in the nearby city of Khan Younis.Israel’s offensive has focused on Khan Younis, where the military said it has uncovered tunnels used by Hamas and battled fighters from the militant group that attacked into southern Israel on Oct. 7.Israel has vowed to continue its campaign in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed. Now an apparent Israeli strike that killed a top Hamas leader in Beirut has stirred fresh fears that the conflict could expand into other parts of the Middle East. The concerns of a wider war are likely to be high on the agenda as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sets off late Thursday to visit Israel and other countries around the region.The killi...

Men charged in Oakland police officer’s killing make first court appearance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

OAKLAND — Two of the men arrested in the killing of Oakland police officer Tuan Le made their first appearance in court Thursday, marking a new phase in the sprawling investigation into the officer’s death.Mark Demetrious Sanders, 27, and Allen Starr Brown, 28, stood silently in red jail outfits while waiving a formal arraignment on murder charges in the Dec. 29 killing, which marked the first time in 14 years an Oakland police officer was killed in the line of duty. In the gallery, dozens of law enforcement officers looked on in silence in a show of support for their slain colleague and his family.Sanders kept his back turned to the courtroom throughout his brief hearing. Brown faced the courtroom but did not show any emotion, even as several members of his family looked on from the gallery.Both men are due back in court on Jan. 18 to enter pleas.A third man, 30-year-old Sebron Russell, was charged with multiple counts of burglary in connection with the break-ins that p...

Jealous Burt Reynolds refused to accompany Sally Field when she won 1st Oscar

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

Burt Reynolds may have claimed that Sally Field was the “the love of his life,” but she has described how he didn’t treat her in the most loving way when they were a Hollywood golden couple and she was nominated for her first Academy Award for her career-changing performance in the 1979 film “Norma Rae.”In a new book about Academy Awards history, Field said that Reynolds, her boyfriend at the time, “was not happy” with the buzz she was receiving for playing a union organizer in “Norma Rae” — a role that completed her transition from perky TV and film comedy star to a serious actor cast in and major movies.“He really was not a nice guy around me then,” said the two-time winner of the best actress trophy in the new book “50 Oscar Nights,” by Dave Karger, People reported.HOLLYWOOD, CA – FEBRUARY 24: Actress Sally Field arrives at the Oscars at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood,...

Draymond Green inching closer to Warriors return: source

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Since his indefinite suspension last month, Warriors forward Draymond Green is working his way back onto the court. Green should be back with the Warriors for team activities after this weekend, a source told KRON4's Jason Dumas. Green has not been at the Warriors facility in San Francisco since the indefinite suspension, Dumas said. The former NBA Defensive Player of the Year has spent his time away in the Bay Area and Southern California. Brock Purdy will not play in regular-season finale vs. Rams, Shanahan says Green has been working out and is in a great headspace, the source told KRON4. Once he returns with the team after the weekend, the Warriors and Green will collaborate on a plan for him to resume NBA game action.However, at the time of the suspension, the NBA said Green "will be required to meet certain league and team conditions before he returns to play." It is unknown at this time how soon the league will allow Green to return for regular-seas...

Sixth grader killed, 5 others shot at Perry High School in Iowa: authorities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:18:49 GMT

PERRY, Iowa (WHO) – Six people were shot, one fatally inside a small-town Iowa high school early Thursday as students prepared to start their first day of classes after their annual winter break, authorities said.Seventeen-year-old student Dylan Butler is believed to have shot and killed a sixth grader inside Perry High school, and wounded four high school students and an administrator, according to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Asst. Director Mitch Mortvedt.It's not yet clear why the sixth grader who attended classes in the adjoining middle school was in the building at the time of the shooting, but it may have been to attend a breakfast program for multiple grade levels, Mortvedt said.Law enforcement was notified about an active shooter at Perry High School at 7:37 a.m. CT. When Perry police offers arrived, they found multiple gunshot victims, along with the body of Butler, who police say died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.Officers searched the school and f...