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The March of the Bit Brigade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

The March of the Bit Brigade: After doing this job for so long, it’s good to know that it’s still possible to be surprised, to see something that feels completely different. With that in mind, Athens, Georgia band Bit Brigade perform live and full rock reinterpretations of old Nintendo (NES) soundtracks.One of the actual members of the band is a master gamer called Noah McCarthy, who plays speed-trial runs of NES games, viewable to the crowd on a giant screen, while the  band plays the soundtrack. It sounds super fucking nerdy, and it kinda is, but my god it’s a lot of fun.First of all, there’s a mild feeling of jeopardy — you get wrapped up in watching McCarthy play and root for him. There’s a temptation to feel like the band needs to be very reactive, that they need to be able to respond to whatever McCarthy does, and maybe there is a mild element of that. But McCarthy clearly knows the games so well that there are going to be few diversions nig...

Australian tourist charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter following San Mateo County crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

SAN MATEO COUNTY — Prosecutors have charged an Australian man with two counts of vehicular manslaughter after a deadly crash in which he was allegedly driving on the wrong side of the road on Highway 84 near La Honda.Luke Nardini, a tourist and Formula 500 race-car driver according to Australian media, was headed eastbound in the westbound lane on Highway 84 around 5 p.m. Friday evening when he collided with a Ford Taurus carrying four passengers. A male backseat passenger was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other backseat passenger, a woman, died later at a hospital.Nardini, who was driving a BMW M4, crossed into the westbound lane at about 55-60 miles per hour because of a road closure of the eastbound lane, according to prosecutors. When the closure ended, he forgot to cross back over to the right-hand side of the road.Prosecutors noted that in Australia, like the United Kingdom and many former British colonies, motorists drive on the left-hand side of the road. The Calif...

Lee could hit Caribbean as a near-Category 5 storm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

By Mary Gilbert | CNNLee rapidly intensified into a strong tropical storm Wednesday as it tracks over record-warm ocean waters and an environment favorable for strengthening, which will fuel the storm to near Category-5 strength as it approaches the eastern Caribbean.Lee was a strong tropical storm late Wednesday morning with sustained winds of 70 mph and higher gusts, the National Hurricane Center reported, located 1,200 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. Lee’s sustained winds strengthened by 35 mph in the 24 hours after it formed as a tropical depression Tuesday morning.Even more rapid intensification – defined as an increase in wind speeds of at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less – is expected in the coming days. The forecast track takes the hurricane across some of the warmest waters in the Atlantic Ocean and through relatively calm upper-level winds, which will allow Lee to explode in strength.“All the ingredients are in place for the storm to really intensify,” Jason Du...

49ers, Nick Bosa agree to record extension, bolstering Super Bowl contention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

SANTA CLARA – Defensive end Nick Bosa has agreed to the richest contract in 49ers history, ending a 43-day holdout in what truly was a fait accompli, for a franchise that’s investing so much toward its first Super Bowl title since the 1994 season.The mega-deal comes just ahead of the regular-season opener, Sunday at the Pittsburgh Steelers.Bosa’s five-year, $170 million extension includes $122.5 million guaranteed, ESPN first reported just before coach Kyle Shanahan was to meet with the media and an hour before Wednesday’s practice.Bosa, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, waited out training camp before taking his rightful place among other 49ers earning top-of-the-market rates. At $34 million annually, Bosa is the highest-paid defensive player and non-quarterback in NFL history.The 49ers, unlike many of Silicon Valley’s other venture capitalists, are funding a project that’s approaching its third decade without the ultimate return: a Super Bowl t...

Judge temporarily blocks Chino Valley school board’s transgender notification policy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

A San Bernardino Superior Court judge on Wednesday, Sept. 6, temporarily blocked a Chino Valley Unified policy that would require schools to out transgender students to their parents.Judge Thomas Garza granted the state’s request for a temporary restraining order against the parental notification policy that requires schools to inform parents if their child identifies as something other than the gender they were assigned at birth.After nearly an hour of discussion in court, Garza said he granted the injunction against the notification policy in an “abundance of caution,” noting that while most parents are not a danger to their children there are exceptions. The purpose of the notification policy is unclear, Garza said, and too broad.The Chino Valley Unified school board adopted the policy — the rule echoes a bill that stalled in the state Assembly earlier this year after it was introduced by Riverside County lawmaker Bill Essayli — in a 4-1 vote July 20 after a contentious, four-hou...

Defendant in Oakland ‘murder poem’ case takes 9-year prison term in plea deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

OAKLAND — A man who was tied to a fatal shooting by a poem allegedly found inside his tent has accepted a plea deal that will result in a nine-year prison term, court records show.James Mallett, 44, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 40-year-old Antonio Diaz. He is scheduled to be formally sentenced on Sept. 25.Diaz was shot and killed April 21, 2020 on the 1300 block of 83rd Avenue in Oakland at a homeless encampment where Mallett lived, police said. Weeks earlier, Mallett was seen on surveillance video stabbing Diaz repeatedly in another part of the city, but at the hospital Diaz told police he wouldn’t cooperate with attempts to prosecute Mallett for attempted murder, according to court records.After the shooting, police searched Mallett’s tent and discovered a firearm, along with a poem that contained a line that Mallett would “literally die by the hands of police bcuz killin him only meant that I killed me,” accor...

Innocent bystander shot at Lake Merritt in Oakland identified

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- An innocent bystander who was shot at Lake Merritt in Oakland on Labor Day is recovering in a hospital. The young woman was identified by a GoFundMe page as Kylee Kienitz. The shooting broke out at 12:30 p.m. Monday while many people were enjoying the holiday outdoors around the lake. Oakland Police Officers Association president Barry Donelan said Kienitz was out walking her dog when she was shot.A stray bullet struck Kienitz in the hip, the GoFundMe page states. "The most loving creature on the planet was caught in the crossfire of violence on Monday," the woman's friend, Karly Pearson, wrote.Oakland police Lt. Hamann Nguyen said there were multiple gunmen, and the gunfight erupted between two Lexus vehicles. Shooters inside a white Lexus fired at people in the second Lexus. "Several witnesses flagged down officers and reported that there were two vehicles involved. One of the vehicles ... had pulled over and started shooting at a silver vehicle that was ...

Nick Bosa signs $170M contract extension with 49ers, ends holdout: reports

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

(KRON) -- Star defensive end Nick Bosa has ended his holdout and signed a contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers, according to multiple reports. The deal is reportedly for five years and $170 million, including $122.5 million guaranteed. Bosa, 25, is the reigning 2022 AP Defensive Player of the Year.ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport broke the news on their respective X, formerly known as Twitter, accounts. This story will be updated.

Most 'California Forever' land zoned for agriculture, county says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

(KRON) -- A planned idyllic community on the banks of the Sacramento River and bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaires will have to clear a major hurdle with voters to be developed, according to Sonoma County officials. The corporation, Flannery & Associates, has purchased over 50,000 acres of land surrounding Travis Air Force Base over the past few years.Last week, the company went public with its plans by launching the "California Forever" website featuring vaguely Mediterranean renderings for a proposed new community that have been called "cartoonish." But according to the county, building a new community on the land could be a nonstarter without voter approval.Rendering: California ForeverThe land in question is currently zoned for agriculture, the county said in a news release Wednesday. The county said it has been tracking Flannery's purchases in the area since 2018 and has been in regular communication with state and federal officials. However, the county said communica...

San Diego Supervisor Nora Vargas endorses Barbara Lee for US Senate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KSWB) -- San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas is endorsing congresswoman Barbara Lee to represent California in the U.S. Senate.The Lee campaign announced the endorsement in a press release on Wednesday, Aug. 30.“As a healthcare and education champion I am thrilled to support Congresswoman Barbara Lee for U.S. Senate,” Vargas stated. “She is exactly the type of advocate Californians need in the U.S. Senate. Her track record of always tackling the tough issues while lifting people up and making sure everyone’s voice is heard is what we need from our next senator. I am very excited to endorse Barbara Lee for US Senate and to work with her to advance our communities.”In a political parallel, just as Vargas broke the barrier as the first Latina to chair the San Diego Board of Supervisors, Lee would be the only black woman in the upper chamber if elected to the position. Since 1789, when the first Congress met, only two African American women have been in the U.S. S...