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At Home: When lightning strikes, will your house be ready?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

My next-door neighbor, Jo, was in her living room reading. Her husband was watching television nearby. My husband was home working on his computer, when suddenly: FLASH! CRACK! BOOM!“The loudest thunder I have ever heard and a big white flash struck all at once, jolting me out of my chair,” Jo said. The TV went black. At our place, the thunderstruck dogs dove under my husband’s desk and stayed there.Lightning had struck a cable line between our two houses, zapping both. Jo’s house got hit worse. The strike took down her home’s air conditioner, three Apple TV boxes, the internet, cable television, water heater and the smart system that controls the lighting and sound systems.“The lights that were on, I couldn’t turn off; the ones that were off, I couldn’t turn on,” she said.It would take weeks (including two weeks in Florida in August without air conditioning) to deal with insurance and repair which, at last tally, cost an electrifying $40,000.Meanwhile at our place, the same bolt fr...

‘We are at a tremendous loss’: As victims in fatal San Jose double stabbing are mourned, family speaks out

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

SAN JOSE — As family members mourn the deaths of a young boy and his great-grandmother in a grisly double stabbing earlier this month at their San Jose apartment, key questions remain, the biggest being: Who committed the killings?Jordan Cam Walker, 6, shown in an undated photo, was found dead alongside his great-grandmother in a double stabbing reported at their Parkmoor Avenue apartment in San Jose on Aug. 4, 2023, authorities said. (Photo courtesy of the Walker family) On the morning of Aug. 4, Jordan Cam Walker, 6, was found dead along with 71-year-old Delphina Turner at the Parkmoor Avenue apartment where they lived. San Jose police confirmed that both were stabbed.“We are at a tremendous loss,” Morian Walker Sr., Jordan’s paternal grandfather, said in a phone interview Thursday with Bay Area News Group. “We’re relying on the power of prayer, love and support to get us through this.”Turner’s memorial service was set to take p...

49ers training camp: Brock Purdy hits ‘huge’ milestone. Will he play Saturday vs. Denver?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Wide receiver Jauan Jennings knew exactly how to describe Brock Purdy after a milestone in the quarterback’s comeback from elbow surgery.“Brock-star. We love him out there,” Jennings said Thursday.Purdy was out there practicing three consecutive days this week for the first time since his March 10 surgery, keeping him firmly on track to start the 49ers’ regular-season opener Sept. 10 in Pittsburgh.“Being able to go three in a row and get all the volume in and then being able to have my velocity stay on point today, for me, that was huge,” Purdy said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “For my confidence, to make throws on a third day, with the strength and the intensity and all that with there my arm needs to be, it’s definitely getting there.”When it comes to preseason football, will the 49ers keep Purdy out of danger and not play him in Saturday’s game against the Denver Broncos at Levi’s Stadium? He and every othe...

Palo Alto license plate readers lead to arrests in Berkeley carjacking

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

(KRON) -- Five suspects were arrested in Palo Alto on Tuesday after a new automated license plate reader alerted police to a car that had been carjacked at gunpoint on Monday, the Palo Alto Police Department said. Officers also recovered a loaded firearm and turned three carjacking suspects over to the Berkeley Police Department.The vehicle, a black 2021 Toyota Corolla, was allegedly carjacked from its owner at gunpoint on Monday in Berkeley. The three suspects were armed with a black semi-automatic handgun, police said. Antioch police officers arrested by FBI, mayor says The following day, around 12:47 p.m., Palo Alto PD officers got a notification from the city's new automated license plate recognition camera system that the vehicle had entered Palo Alto.Patrol and undercover officers began searching for the vehicle and located it in a parking stall at Stanford Shopping Center. Undercover officers surveilled the vehicle, police said, noting that it was parked next to a white 201...

Buccaneers wide receiver Russell Gage out for the season with knee injury

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Russell Gage will miss the entire season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee during a joint practice session with the New York Jets on Wednesday.Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles confirmed Gage’s injury Thursday after the team practiced on its own at the Giants’ training facility. The news was expected after Gage went down early in 7-on-7 drills with a non-contact injury that Bowles said Wednesday appeared “pretty serious.” Gage appeared to be in tears as he was carted off and tests revealed what he and the Buccaneers feared.Gage, who had 51 catches for 426 yards and a career-high five touchdowns last season in his first year with Tampa Bay, was expected to be the Buccaneers’ No. 3 wide receiver behind Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Second-year receiver Deven Thompkins and sixth-rounder Trey Palmer are among those who could compete for Gage’s spot, along with veteran David Moore and undr...

Colts players embrace reunion with Matt Eberflus during joint practice with Bears

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

WESTFIELD, Ind. (AP) — Indianapolis Colts cornerback Kenny Moore has been anticipating the final week of training camp ever since he knew it would end with two joint practices against the Chicago Bears.Sure, like many of his teammates Moore wants to return home after spending nearly three weeks at the Grand Park training complex in Westfield, Indiana.But he circled these practices for another reason; he was eager to spend some time with the coach who gave him his first big break five years ago, then-Colts defensive coordinator and current Bears coach Matt Eberflus.“I think about foundation, that’s where everything gelled not only with him, but everybody we had over that journey,” Moore said, following a pause and a smile to reflect on those early days. “Just to see him here in a place in the Midwest, to go out and compete and show him this is where it all started is pretty cool.”It’s also pretty a special moment for the two, who haven’t talked much since Eberflus t...

Auburn’s Freeze names Michigan State transfer Payton Thorne starting QB

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Transfer Payton Thorne has won Auburn’s starting quarterback job.Coach Hugh Freeze said Thursday that the Michigan State transfer is set to start for the Tigers in their opener Sept. 2 against Massachusetts. Thorne, who signed with Auburn in May, has been competing with returning starter Robby Ashford and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner.“The reason Payton is getting the nod is just the leadership ability and understanding of the offense,” Freeze said. “He’s been in some really good battles, and it just seems like he was more efficient in the decision-making to this point. Not that the others were terrible by any means. It was not just a slam-dunk.”Freeze and Thorne are trying to improve a passing game that ranked 119th in yards per game last season, averaging just 173. Ashford proved dangerous as a runner and completed only 49% of his passes while Tigers quarterbacks combined for just nine passing touchdowns.Inconsistent quarterback play has pl...

Second day of joint practice sessions lead to plenty of scuffling between Patriots and Packers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots apparently have seen a little too much of one another over the past couple of days.About five minutes into their second joint practice session Thursday, three skirmishes already had broken out between Green Bay’s offense and New England’s defense. The coaching staffs gathered the teams in separate circles at one point to try to calm things down.“We’re competitive,” Patriots defensive back Jalen Mills said. “They’re competitive. It’s going to get chippy. It’s a joint practice. Guys out here trying to win jobs and show what they’ve got to the coaching staff. You know that. Coaches know that. That’s why (Patriots coach) Bill (Belichick) is who he is. He brought us together, calmed us down and we got back to work.”First, a couple of more fights broke out.One scuffle caused Patriots linebacker Anfernee Jennings and Packers linebacker Keshawn Banks to get removed from practice. Another confrontation resulted in someone ...

Dillingham adds a dose of enthusiasm in first season as Arizona State’s coach

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Kenny Dillingham has made all the right moves since being hired as Arizona State’s coach, creating enthusiasm around the school and the community.Now the youngest coach in the FBS has to take it onto the field and try to turn around a program that needed a new direction. “We have to go out there and try to be the best version of us we can be,” he said. “That’s just trying to be successful. How we define success in our program is being the very best at whatever you’re doing all the time.”A Scottsdale native and Arizona State alum, Dillingham returned to his roots after the Sun Devils ended the Herm Edwards experiment after 4 1/2 seasons. Dillingham has gone through a rapid rise since being an offensive assistant at his alma mater from 2014-15, serving as the offensive coordinator at Memphis, Auburn, Florida State and last season at Oregon.The 32-year-old overhauled an Arizona State program that went 3-9 last season, bringing in more t...

Federal judge who ordered Southwest Airlines lawyers get religious-liberty training delays action

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:04:19 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has delayed his order that three Southwest Airlines lawyers attend “religious-liberty training” while the airline appeals the sanction to a higher court.U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr on Thursday issued a 30-day stay of penalties against Southwest for, he ruled, mostly disregarding a previous order in a case involving a flight attendant who says she was fired for expressing opposition to abortion.Southwest objected to the contempt sanctions, which include religious-liberty training conducted by a conservative Christian legal-advocacy group, Alliance Defending Freedom. The airline filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.Some legal experts have criticized Starr for ordering the Southwest lawyers to undergo training by a group that is aligned with a particular facet of one religion. The leader of Fix the Court, a small, nonpartisan group known mostly for monitoring the U.S. Supreme Court, filed a judicial-misconduct pe...