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Why it’s important to make and maintain friendships as we age

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

Q. I have lost four of my good longtime male friends in the past two years. All were married. I am saddened and a bit dumbfounded that none of the wives have close girlfriends or a support network. In one case, a widow had no one to accompany her to pick up her late husband’s ashes and just a few people helped her spread his ashes off the pier. Can you write a column to encourage ladies not to drop their old girlfriends, a valuable support in time of need?  Best wishes, H.B.Thank you for caring about others’ needs and concerns.Let’s first try to understand why women may no longer have those special friendships they may have had in their younger years. We know friendships change over time because of circumstances. Close friends die. This particularly is the case if those close friends are of a similar age. That lends credence to the advice of having friends of different ages, stages and generations, not only for the pleasure of those friendships, but also for just being there for one...

San Francisco daycare worker sentenced for child pornography

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A man who used his job as a daycare worker in San Francisco and the East Bay to access vulnerable young children and create child pornography was sentenced by a federal judge this week.Jace Wong was sentenced to serve 300 months -- 25 years -- in prison for production, distribution, and possession of child pornography. The victims in the case were children between ages 3-6 who attended a daycare center in San Francisco, as well as a second daycare center in Livermore, investigators said. Wong shared pornography that he created onto child pornography sites using the dark web.U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey said, "This case is heartbreaking, to say the least. Jace Wong worked at daycare facilities and victimized at least six young children in his care, not to mention other minors whose images he possessed and distributed. It is not possible to measure the harm he caused. His decades-long prison sentence, however, makes crystal clear that the Department of J...

VIDEO: People with batons smash car windows of Oakland armed robbers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

(KRON) -- Newly obtained video shows two people with batons running toward an armed robbery in Oakland and helping the victim. The apparent vigilante justice incident happened last month.The victim was walking to their vehicle on the 4100 block of Piedmont Avenue in Oakland when they were robbed, Oakland PD said of the incident. The crime happened this summer on Aug. 14 just before 3 p.m.Two suspects are seen in surveillance video obtained from the scene demanding property from the victim, one armed with a firearm. The suspects were able to take some property from the victim, police said.Video then shows two unknown people armed with batons running toward the armed robbery in progress. The two people are seen hitting the suspect’s car and smashing windows before the suspects drive off in it. The rest of the video shows the people checking on the victim once the robbers' car leaves.Oakland PD said the armed robbery remains an active investigation. Anyone with information is asked to ...

San Mateo and Hayward PD team up to arrest Hayward man

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

(KRON) -- The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and the Hayward Police Department collaborated to arrest a suspect violating a restraining order while out on bail.San Mateo County Sheriff's Office deputies were alerted to an unincorporated Redwood City home regarding a restraining order violation on Sept. 22 at 5:16 p.m. The residence was on Nottingham Avenue. According to police, deputies uncovered that the suspect made several social media threats and shared private photos without permission prior to the incident. The suspect was also committing a felony while out on bail.  President Biden continues campaign events in the Bay Area Wednesday The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office contacted the Hayward Police Department for assistance in locating the suspect at his Hayward residence. Initially, the search did not have any results.The Hayward Police Department informed the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office that they found and detained the suspect, who was identified as Oli...

Tulare man dies in East Oakland shooting early Tuesday morning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

(BCN) -- A Tulare man died in a shooting in East Oakland early Tuesday morning, according to police.The shooting was reported shortly before 2:30 a.m. in the 2300 block of 23rd Avenue, where officers arrived and found the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not been released.No arrest has been announced and no suspect details were immediately available in connection with the shooting.Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Oakland police homicide section at (510) 238-3821 or a tip line at (510) 238-7950.Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

Take me out to the … opera? Nats Park hosts free ‘Opera in the Outfield’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio WTOP's Jason Fraley previews 'Opera in the Outfield' at Nats Park (Part 1) $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); The Washington Nationals’ season is sadly coming to a close with only two series left on the road in Baltimore and Atlanta, but even if there are no playoffs in the picture, the ballpark is still rocking with a fun musical tradition.The Washington National Opera presents the 18th annual “...

Montgomery Co. Council bans gas-powered leaf blowers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

The Montgomery County Council passed a bill that would ban the use and sale of gas-powered leaf blowers in the Maryland county Tuesday.It comes after the council were prepared to vote on the proposal in March, but it had been tabled after there were some lingering questions about the bill.The council said that the ban on selling gas-powered leaf blowers will go into effect on July 1, 2024, while the ban of using those leaf blowers will start on July 1, 2025.“Montgomery County is moving toward electric leaf blowers because it is an important step to address environmental, noise and health concerns in our community,” Council President Evan Glass said in a statement, adding that the legislation “is one example of the many steps we are taking to help combat climate change.”The bill will allow for the development of a grant program to negate the cost of replacing gas-powered leaf blowers with electric leaf blowers.“This legislation is a good step forward tow...

Ohio wants to resume enforcing its abortion law. Justices are weighing the legal arguments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Supreme Court justices vigorously questioned the state’s lawyer Wednesday about a legal strategy that Ohio is attempting in hopes of resuming enforcement of a ban on abortion except in the earliest weeks of pregnancy.Before Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers even finished the first sentence of his argument, justices began peppering him with technical questions that suggested they may be reticent to step in and lift a county judge’s order that has been blocking the law since last October. The state is also challenging whether Preterm Cleveland and other Ohio clinics have the necessary legal standing to sue.Flowers argued that the state has the right to appeal Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins’ order if it can show it’s suffering “irreparable harm” while the law is on hold. Flowers said each abortion that takes place that would have been prevented under Ohio’s 2019 ban constitutes such harm.The law, signed by R...

Rory McIlroy once called the Ryder Cup an exhibition. He knows better now

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Rory McIlroy was willing to read his words about the Ryder Cup before happily eating them.He qualified for his first team in 2010, when he was a 21-year-old known as “Boy Wonder” with curly locks that spilled out from under his cap and already painted as Europe’s rising star. He referred to the Ryder Cup as an exhibition, nothing for him to get excited about.McIlroy sat down to read comments from 2009 for a post on social media, and he couldn’t get through it without laughing, mainly at himself.“It’s not that important an event for me. It’s an exhibition at the end of the day,” McIlroy said, reading from the script. “Obviously, I’ll try my best for the team. But I’m not going to go running around and fist-pumping.”And then he added after he stopped laughing, “Who said that?”It didn’t take long for him to realize the Ryder Cup meant so much more — a pivotal halve he earned against Stewart Cink in Wales ...

Prosecutors say cheek swab from Gilgo Beach murder suspect adds to evidence of guilt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:59 GMT

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — DNA from Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect Rex Heuermann’s cheek swab matches the DNA that authorities had previously collected from a pizza crust and used to link Heuermann to one of the victims, prosecutors said in court Wednesday.Heurmann, 60, was arrested July 13 on murder charges in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, three of the women whose bodies were found along a remote beach highway on Long island, and has been named as the the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman.He pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail at Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead.At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said they had analyzed DNA from a pizza crust that Heuermann had discarded in a Manhattan trash can and matched it to DNA from hairs found on Waterman’s body. Prosecutors then got permission from the court to collect DNA from a cheek swab of Heuermann as further proof of his link to Waterman’s killing.“The bu...