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Rampart fire west of Colorado Springs smoldering but mostly under control

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

A wildfire that broke out west of Colorado Springs within the burn scar from the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire has been mostly snuffed and firefighters who quickly surrounded it were working on Wednesday to contain it.“The only thing that’s burning now is heavy fuels that are well inside the perimeter,” U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Vidalia Vigil said. “Like dead and downed fuels, big branches, trees, stump holes. There’s expected to be some lingering smoke.”The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for the Colorado Front Range mountain foothills and the eastern plains due to record heat, dry grass, wind and low humidity — conditions that favor fire.About 50 firefighters were deployed on Tuesday to suppress this Rampart fire, which burned about 20 acres of grass and Ponderosa pines, 2.5 miles southeast of Woodland Park, on U.S. Forest Service land but moving toward houses in western El Paso County. The cause hasn’t been det...

By-the-wind sailors washing ashore in California could number in the billions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Blue, jellyfish-like blobs known as By-the-wind Sailors, or Velella velella, continue to wash ashore by the millions, or perhaps billions, along Southern California’s coast this week. While it might look like a massive die-off or another catastrophic event, experts say it is perfectly natural and normal.“We’ve seen (Velella velella) colonies wash up along our coastline over the years,” said Cassandra Davis, manager of volunteer programs at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. “In 2014 and 2015, trillions of them washed up along the eastern Pacific coast.”By-the-wind Sailors washed ashore by the thousands at Emmawood State Beach in Ventura County, California. April 11, 2023 (Parry Annis)By-the-wind Sailors washed ashore by the thousands at Emmawood State Beach in Ventura County, California. April 11, 2023 (Parry Annis)By-the-Wind sailors are known as colonial hydroid, meaning they’re comprised of a colony of tiny creatures similar to the Portuguese Man O'War. (Dana Wharf)By-the...

Coding scholarship transforms musician to engineer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Christina Wu didn’t take the traditional path to software engineer."I’m seeing that I don’t necessarily need all these degrees to do this sort of work," said Wu, who was previously on staff at a school and is a classically trained musician."I think engineering is about finding creative solutions to problems and that can be applied to very different fields," said Wu.She knew she wanted to make the transition to software but wasn’t sure how."I had been looking at different bootcamps online to do after work, but I found that a lot of them were extremely expensive," explained Wu.An Instagram post led her to a unique scholarship program for underrepresented individuals through a startup named Tech Elevator and Niantic, the company famous for Pokémon Go.Wu was one of twenty given a free, 14-week coding bootcamp and she’s now in the middle of a 6-month apprenticeship with Niantic."The goal for my apprenticeship is to eventually create my own game," said Wu."It’s really important for us at ...

What California's wildflower bloom looks like from space

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

The extremely wet winter Southern California endured this year has been extraordinarily beneficial for plants, especially wildflowers.A superbloom, which occurs when mass amounts of wildflowers grow in a barren landscape, can be found across the Golden State for the 2023 spring season. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released satellite images comparing an arid April 2022 desert in Carrizo Plain National Monument, located just west of Bakersfield, to a blooming one on April 6.The images were captured by NASA's Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9.Satellite image shows a desert blooming in Carrizo Plain National Monument in Central California on April 6, 2023. (NASA)Satellite image shows a desert blooming in Carrizo Plain National Monument in Central California on April 6, 2023. (NASA)Los Angeles-based nonprofit, The Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants, described the natural phenomenon at Carrizo Plain during California's last...

Here are the 7 biggest revelations from the U.S. leaks so far

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

The biggest leak of classified documents in a decade created a sprawling crisis in Washington this week as records detail alleged U.S. spying on allies, insights into American thinking on the war in Ukraine and at least two neutral countries mulling plans to support Russia.Pentagon officials are still reviewing the documents for validity and the Justice Department is overseeing a criminal investigation of the leak. At least one of the documents containing casualty estimates appears to have been altered, but it’s unclear how many of the roughly 100 leaked records were manipulated.The documents have circulated online since March and possibly as early as January before picking up attention last week after a New York Times report.There may be more documents to come, but the leak has already done a lot of damage, forcing crucial U.S. allies to respond in what has become an arguably embarrassing incident for Washington.Here are the seven biggest revelations in the documents so far.Uk...

Presale Codes for Sting My Songs World Tour with Joe Sumner

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Every step you take, every move you make — can get you revved up for the new leg of the Sting tour. The English rocker is extending his tour, dubbed the “My Songs World Tour” and is featuring special guest, his son Joe Sumner, bassist for the band Fiction Plane. The new leg of the tour will launch September 5 in Toronto, ON and wrap October 12 in Rogers, AR, and feature two dates here in Southern California, on October 4 in San Diego and October 7 in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl — see below for all dates. Passwords and presale codes for the My Songs World Tour with Joe Sumner tickets are as follows:Presale codes for My Songs World Tour with Joe SumnerPresale tickets for My Songs World Tour with Joe Sumner go on sale today, April 12 and we’ve been told the following presale codes and passwords may work. Details are subject to change, and vary by event date:Fan club presale code or password: MYSONGSLive Nation website presale code or password: VINYLLive Nation m...

Power of Flowers: Arts Calendar April 13-19

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Contemporary dance meets the power of flowers, the morning greets the forest, a counterculture legend greets their admirers; great authors talk about their poetry, prose, satire, and zines; an international gallery moves to Los Angeles, a dance film gets intimate and dark, a group show of contemporary Asian artists gets big and bright; plus an arts-minded variety show, gallery exhibitions featuring textile art, paintings by legends of progressive L.A. history, and a group show about storytelling, place, and memory.Clint Smith at Live Talks L.A.Thursday, April 13Live Talks LA presents Clint Smith in conversation with Safia Elhillo at William Turner Gallery. Clint Smith is that rare writer who has mastered both poetry and prose. Tonight he speaks about two of his books: the instant best-seller, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, and his latest, Above Ground, in which he traverses the vast emotional terrain of new parenthood. Through his ref...

Howard Stern slams Kid Rock’s outrage over Dylan Mulvaney’s Bud Light ads: ‘Why is this hurtful?’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Howard Stern usually isn’t at the center of hot-topic conversations anymore, but the notorious shock jock has inserted himself into America’s culture war over LGBTQ visibility by challenging Kid Rock and other conservatives to explain why they are so incensed about transgender star Dylan Mulvaney’s partnership with Bud Light.During the Monday episode of SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show,” the radio host said he was “dumbfounded” over the strong backlash aimed at Anheuser-Busch, which produces Bud Light, over Mulvaney, a transgender activist and social media star who boasts more than 10.8 million TikTok followers, Variety reported. Stern wondered if he was “missing” something.“I wish I could call Kid Rock and have him come on the show and just tell me, ‘Why are you so upset about this? How is it hurtful?’” Stern said. He said that gay or transgender people “don’t impact my life.”“I love when people are in love,” Stern ...

US inflation falls to lowest level since May 2021

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Prices are moving in a more palatable direction for US consumers.Annual inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, dropped in March for the ninth consecutive month. And for the first time since September 2020, grocery prices fell on a monthly basis.Prices rose 5% for the 12 months ended in March, down from 6% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Annual CPI plunged to its lowest rate since May 2021, helped by year-over-year comparisons to a period when food and energy prices spiked amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Still, CPI showed some cooling on a monthly basis. The index, which measures price changes over time for a basket of goods, ticked up 0.1% from February, as compared to a previous 0.4% increase.Shelter costs, which tend to reflect lagging data, were the largest contributor of the monthly gain, offsetting sharp declines across energy categories, according to the BLS.The food at home index dropped 0.3% for the month, helped by lower ...

New “entertainment district” can help transform downtown San Jose economy: developer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:25:20 GMT

Downtown San Jose skyline, looking southwest, including (left to right) The Grad residential tower, 360 Residences, San Jose Marriott hotel, The 88 residential tower, Signia by Hilton San Jose hotel, 50 West office tower, Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph and the Bank of Italy historic tower. (George Avalos/Bay Area News Group)SAN JOSE — A vibrant “entertainment district” could help revitalize and transform San Jose’s urban core and help revive the area’s economy as it attempts to recover from its coronavirus-induced maladies, a busy developer says.An array of entertainment venues are already active and operating in downtown San Jose, said developer Gary Dillabough, who has ventured into the city’s urban core with an array of real estate projects.“Downtown San Jose has over 25 exceptional venues and some of the best weather in the United States,” said Dillabough, co-founder and chief executive officer with Urban Community, a real e...