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Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District to pay nearly $100,000 settlement for wrongfully rescinding job offer over applicant’s criminal history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

The Moraga-Orinda Fire Protection District will pay nearly $100,000 to settle claims that it violated the state’s Fair Chance Act by wrongfully considering a person’s criminal history in rescinding a job offer, the California Civil Rights Department announced on Tuesday.The settlement is one of the largest of its kind in state history, according to the Civil Rights Department.The job candidate filed a complaint to the state department alleging that the Contra Costa-based fire district rescinded a job offer based on the applicant’s answers in a criminal history questionnaire. By then, the person had already left their previous fire gig. In doing so, the fire district failed to take into consideration “important mitigating factors,” including how long ago the crime had happened and whether the offenses related to the job that the person was seeking to fill, the department said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | ‘Outrageous and inex...

Furniture store Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams is shutting down

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

By Danielle Wiener-Bronner | CNNNew York  — Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, which grew from a small North Carolina-based upholstery maker to a national retail furniture chain, is shuttering operations, citing weak sales and trouble securing financing. It’s the latest retailer hurting from sluggish sales as consumers pull back on spending.About 500 employees in North Carolina are losing their jobs as a result of the closure, said interim CEO Chris Moye in a notice sent to the state’s Department of Commerce over the weekend. The separations are expected to happen in the two-week period that started August 26, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, notice.Mitchell Gold’s closure is yet another sign of consumers’ pause in discretionary spending. Sales at Home Depot and Target have dropped in their most recent quarters. Best Buy said on Tuesday that it is lowering the high-end of its forecast for fiscal year 2024 as it expects declining tech sales to hit a...

After court ruling, EPA weakens clean water protections

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

By Michael Phillis, Matthew Daly and John Flesher | Associated PressWASHINGTON — The Biden administration weakened regulations protecting millions of acres of wetlands Tuesday, saying it had no choice after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s jurisdiction over them.The rule would require that wetlands be more clearly connected to other waters like oceans and rivers, a policy shift that departs from a half-century of federal rules governing the nation’s waterways.Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said the agency had no alternative after the Supreme Court sharply limited the federal government’s power to regulate wetlands that do not have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water.Justices boosted property rights over concerns about clean water in a May ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near a lake. Chantell and Michael Sackett had objected when feder...

Chabot Elementary School bomb threat had 'racial undertones': OPD

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

(KRON) -- Chabot Elementary School in Oakland was on lockdown Tuesday morning due to a bomb threat, the Oakland Police Department confirmed. The school was cordoned off with yellow police tape and officers from several agencies and K-9 officers are deployed at the school. Burglars targeting boats on Oakland estuary The bomb threat was called in around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday before school started. Students that were on the campus were safely reunited with parents, according to Oakland PD Capt. Lisa Ausmus.OPD was working with Alameda County Sheriff's Office K-9 bomb dogs to investigate. No explosive device was located. There has been a social media backlash against Chabot Elementary School trending Tuesday morning in reaction to a "Playdate Social for Black, Brown and API families." A major conservative account tweeted about the event, describing it as a "race segregated 'playdate social' for all students except white kids."KRON4 reached out to the group behind the playdate e...

FBI Hoovering Up DNA at a Pace That Rivals China, Holds 21 Million Samples and Counting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

The FBI has amassed 21.7 million DNA profiles — equivalent to about 7 percent of the U.S. population — according to Bureau data reviewed by The Intercept.The FBI aims to nearly double its current $56.7 million budget for dealing with its DNA catalog with an additional $53.1 million, according to its budget request for fiscal year 2024. “The requested resources will allow the FBI to process the rapidly increasing number of DNA samples collected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” the appeal for an increase says.“When we’re talking about rapid expansion like this, it’s getting us ever closer to a universal DNA database.”In an April 2023 statement submitted to Congress to explain the budget request, FBI Director Christopher Wray cited several factors that had “significantly expanded the DNA processing requirements of the FBI.” He said the FBI collected around 90,000 samples a month — “over 10 times the historical sample volume” — and expected that number to swell to about 120...

Irish kickers using foot skills honed for generations to target football scholarships at US colleges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

DUBLIN (AP) — College football already has Aussie punters. Tadhg Leader hopes Irish kickers are next.The former rugby player from Galway saw enough potential that he quit his job at JP Morgan Chase to focus full-time on finding and developing Irish “leg talent” for American football.Leader, whose first name is pronounced “TIE-guh,” launched his program a year ago and some early returns are promising. He brought two Irishmen on a summer tour of kicking camps in the United States, and both came away with scholarships to Championship Subdivision schools.Then there’s prized pupil Andy Quinn, who dropped rugby to enter Leader’s kicking competition and ended up winning it in a finale held at halftime of the Nebraska-Northwestern game at Aviva Stadium in Dublin a year ago.The NFL Academy in Britain took note and signed the 18-year-old Quinn on scholarship as a kicker and punter. He repeated as Ireland’s “kicking king” last Friday by belting a 57-yard field goal at Donnybr...

NAACP says Arlington jail inmates are ‘dying at an alarming rate’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

Eight people have died in the Arlington County, Virginia, jail over the past eight years, leading to new concerns from community activists.The latest person to die while in custody was Abonesh Woldegeorges, 73, who was found unresponsive in her cell on Sunday morning.Woldegeorges was arrested and taken to jail earlier this month, accused of trespassing at Reagan National Airport.“Our primary concern is around Arlington County criminalizing homelessness and Arlington County’s inability to care for those that need help the most,” said Michael Hemminger, president of the Arlington branch of the NAACP.Woldegeorges, who was experiencing homelessness, had been warned repeatedly by police in recent years about hanging out in area airports and living there.“We have people that are unhoused living in Arlington, and they’re being arrested on trespassing charges,” said Hemminger. “They have nowhere to go, so almost anywhere that they go is going to be ...

Romelu Lukaku lands in Italy to sign loan deal with Roma and reunite with Jose Mourinho

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

Romelu Lukaku ended his standoff with Chelsea by arriving in the Italian capital on Tuesday with the aim of joining Italian club Roma on a season-long loan deal that would see the Belgium striker look to revive his career in a third spell under coach Jose Mourinho.Throngs of yellow-and-red clad Roma fans were awaiting Lukaku at the Ciampino airport as he descended from a plane flown by Roma’s American owner Dan Friedkin.Lukaku was undergoing a medical with Roma immediately after his arrival and then can sign with the Giallorossi.The cost of the loan for the 30-year-old Lukaku is reportedly 8 million pounds ($10 million), taking the cumulative transfer fees spent on the former Manchester United, Everton and Inter Milan center forward to nearly 300 million pounds (around $375 million) — second only to Neymar in soccer history.Chelsea certainly hasn’t got its money’s worth out of Lukaku since he joined from Inter Milan for a club-record fee of $135 million in August 2...

Chiefs get DT Neil Farrell Jr from division-rival Raiders for draft pick, AP source says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs acquired defensive tackle Neil Farrell Jr. from the Las Vegas Raiders for a sixth-round pick in a rare trade among division rivals, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Tuesday.The person, speaking just hours before the deadline for teams to reach the 53-man roster limit, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because Farrell still must pass a physical. That is not expected to be a problem after the Raiders’ fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft appeared in all of their preseason games.The trade for help along the defensive line could be a sign that the Chiefs do not expect All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones to report in the near future. Jones has been holding out in the hopes of earning a lucrative long-term contract, racking up millions in fines for missing the Chiefs’ mandatory minicamp, their entire training camp and three preseason games.In a back-and-forth with fans on social media, Jones ind...

‘No hazardous materials’ found after National Zoo evacuated over bomb threat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:17 GMT

Entrance to the National Zoo (WTOP/Dennis Foley) Entrance to the National Zoo (WTOP/Dennis Foley) After the National Zoo was evacuated Tuesday over a reported bomb threat, D.C. police said a “precautionary sweep” of the area turned up no “hazardous materials.”Police gave the all-clear shortly before 1:45 p.m. Tuesday, more than two hours after the zoo was evacuated.Police said the Smithsonian National Zoo in Northwest D.C. received the bomb threat at 10:42 a.m. Police got the call about the threat at 11:09 a.m., and visitors and staff were evacuated out of an abundance of caution.During the sweep, roads around the zoo were closed.A stretch of Connecticut Avenue Northwest directly in front o...