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Walnut Creek’s new nautical speakeasy has just opened

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

Walnut Creek has a new high-end nautical speakeasy bar, complete with an extravagant orca mural and tables lit by candlelight.Luna Sea Lounge, which opened this week at 121 Pringle Ave., is a collaboration between Luna Sea Vodka founder Deven Wek and Auburn’s Kyle Wells, an Air Force pararescueman, who met at cocktail bar in Guatemala six years ago. Wek had been traveling and looking for interesting ingredients for his distillery — he’d learned the craft from his Ukrainian-born father. The two Californians spent the evening drinking vodka, playing chess and dreaming of a bar of their own.Today, Wek runs an award-winning vodka distillery in Santa Cruz, whose offerings include a color-changing vodka made with butterfly pea flowers that shifts from blue to purple in the presence of citrus. And the new bar opened this week.Luna Sea Lounge, located in Walnut Creek, opened its doors this week with craft cocktails and seafood dishes. (Courtesy Deven Wek) Luna Sea Lou...

Hayward man charged after girl’s parents walk in on them sexting, police say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

OAKLAND — A Hayward man has been charged with planning to sexually abuse a teen girl whose parents allegedly walked in on her exposing her private parts to the defendant, court records show.Edgar Coc-Sacul, 22, was charged in late August with contacting a minor with intent to commit a sex crime and sending harmful material to a minor, both felonies. He was released from jail Aug. 30 over the objection of Alameda County prosecutors, and ordered not to contact the alleged victim, court records show.Coc-Sacul was arrested on Aug. 27, after the girl’s parents walked in on her engaging in a lewd video chat with him, authorities said. The parents called police that same day.Police reviewed his cellphone and found messages indicating he “told her that he would go to her home when everyone was asleep” and “coerce” her into removing her clothes, investigators said in court papers.There was also evidence he’d sent her lewd pictures of himself, police ...

Sam Bankman-Fried’s mom blasts ‘McCarthyite’ prosecutors, unfair media and ‘credulous public’

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

Ahead of Sam Bankman-Fried going on trial next week for allegedly perpetuating one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history, his long-esteemed Stanford law professor mother has lashed out at various entities she believes are to blame for her son’s legal troubles, as well as the destruction of her own reputation and that of her husband, Joseph Bankman.In a lengthy New Yorker profile of Bankman-Fried’s “family bubble,” the emerita professor descried the “McCarthyite” actions of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the bankruptcy estate of FTX, her son’s failed cryptocurrency empire. She wrote about a “relentless pursuit of total destruction” in an email to New Yorker writer Sheelah Kolhatkar.This pursuit, she said, has enabled “a credulous public” and the media to “unfairly” assume that her 31-year-old son is guilty because it has failed to examine weaknesses in the government’s case, the New Yorker reporte...

Alameda Sheriff's Office confirms report of kidnapping is unfounded

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

(KRON) -- The Alameda County Sheriff's Office confirmed that a kidnapping it reported on Tuesday was unfounded. ACSO first announced the kidnapping at 12:12 p.m. on social media, posting a screenshot from a doorbell camera and saying that the woman pictured was dragged into a minivan. The alleged incident happened in unincorporated San Leandro, the sheriff's office said. Man fatally struck by garbage truck in San Jose Just two minutes later, ACSO said that a "possible suspect with a similar vehicle" was detained, but the woman was not located. At 3:33 p.m., ACSO called the kidnapping claim unfounded. The woman in the photo (top of the story) was identified as Veronica Kersten. ACSO is attempting to contact her for a welfare check.

Patriots place defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale on injured reserve

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots placed defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale on injured reserve on Tuesday. The 29-year-old left in the first half of last week’s 15-10 win over the Jets with an elbow injury and did not return. Ekuale has played in each of New England’s three games this season, with three tackles and a forced fumble. He has appeared in 25 games over the past three seasons with the Patriots and been used primarily as a sub in select packages. New England visits Dallas on Sunday. ___AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflSource

Canadian fashion mogul lured women and girls to bedroom suite at his Toronto HQ, prosecution alleges

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard leveraged his wealth, assets and status over several years to lure young women and girls to a top-floor bedroom suite at his company’s Toronto headquarters where he forced himself on them, prosecutors alleged Tuesday as arguments at his sexual assault trial got underway.Nygard invited all five complainants in the case — whose identities are protected by a publication ban — to visit his custom-built office building under pretenses ranging from tours to job interviews, with all the encounters ending in the bedroom suite, the prosecution said. There, he sexually assaulted them at different times, sometimes trapping or intoxicating them, the prosecution alleged in opening arguments.“Five women, it took them years to come forward. 1 Niagara St., a custom-design office building with huge letters on the front: Nygard. The Toronto headquarters of a fashion empire,” assistant prosecution attorney Ana Serban said.“But within these wall...

Which state would be hurt most by government shutdown?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., questions the panel during a Senate Banking Committee annual Wall Street oversight hearing, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)(AP/Jacquelyn Martin) Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., questions the panel during a Senate Banking Committee annual Wall Street oversight hearing, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)(AP/Jacquelyn Martin) U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., like many in Congress, has growing concerns about the potential impact of a government shutdown on federal workers, military personnel and contractors, many of whom live in the D.C. area.He said he believes his constituents in Virginia will feel i...

Packers’ Rashan Gary seizing all the opportunities he gets as he works his way back from torn ACL

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Rashan Gary is making the most of his limited workload as he comes back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament.Gary has been on the field for only 26.3% of the Packers’ defensive snaps, yet his 3½ sacks put him in a tie for sixth place among all NFL players. He had a career-high three sacks while on the field for just 23 plays Sunday in an 18-17 victory over the New Orleans Saints.“Like I told the team in the locker room, the main thing is I’m just happy to go out there and go to war with you guys,” Gary said after the game. “That’s something that I truly missed over the 9 1/2 months or so that I was out.”Gary tore the ACL in his right knee last November in a 15-9 loss at Detroit. Although he returned for the start of this season, the Packers are remaining cautious in how they use him while gradually increasing his opportunities each week.He played 16.2% of the Packers’ defensive plays in a season-opening victory at Chicago...

Jury convicts man with ties to ‘boogaloo’ movement in 2020 killing of federal security officer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man with ties to the “boogaloo” extremist movement was convicted of murder and attempted murder by a federal jury Tuesday in the 2020 killing of a federal security officer in Northern California during protests against police brutality.Robert Alvin Justus Jr., 33, now faces life in prison for the murder of Federal Protective Service Officer David Patrick Underwood. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California confirmed the verdict.Underwood was shot on May 29, 2020, while he stood in a guard shack outside a federal building in Oakland as hundreds marched against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.Steven Carrillo, a former U.S. Air Force sergeant, pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to more than four decades in federal prison for his role as the gunman in the fatal attack. He fired 19 rounds from a homemade AR-15 rifle from the back of a white van driven by Justus, whom he had connected with o...

Catholic University adds a layer of security with new office

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:07:19 GMT

At a time of heightened concern over public safety in the nation’s capital, Catholic University of America has added a new layer of security for its students, teachers and staff.The university, located near the Brookland neighborhood of Northeast D.C., has created a new office of emergency management.The main objective is to increase training in the university community so that individuals can better respond in emergencies, including sheltering in place, evacuating buildings and improving emergency communications.“Training will be more consistent…more than just several times a year, we want this to be drilled in…as frequently as we possibly can… we all have a part to play to keep our campus community safe…we all have something to do,” said Kirk McLean, associate vice president for public safety and emergency management.McLean said all entities in major cities face public safety challenges and the new Office of Emergency Management will overs...