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Oh rats! How to get rid of them humanely

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

Last week, I discovered two rat traps in my backyard, close to my neighbor’s fence. They were a strange and disturbing find because I didn’t put them there so whomever did gained access without asking me and leaving rat traps outside makes no sense.The reason it makes no sense to leave rat traps outside is simple — it does nothing to deter more rats. If there are attractants — like gardens, woodpiles, pet food left outside, birdseed on the ground, etc. — they’ll keep coming.The best method of rodent control is prevention and exclusion. According to Alison Hermance, director of communications and marketing at WildCare, “Rodents tend to set up camp near our homes when food and space are made available to them. If we remove debris, ivy, construction waste, etc., there are fewer hiding places for rats. It’s also important to eliminate their food sources like unsealed garbage, fallen fruit and birdfeeders left outside at night.”Vegetable gardens are big attractants as well but you can ke...

Bay Area doctor helps San Quentin inmates tell their childhood stories

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

To many incarcerated people in San Quentin State Prison, Dr. Jenny Espinoza, who spent seven years as the prison’s primary care provider, is still known as “Doc.” When the Kentfield resident sees them nowadays, it’s not to soothe their aches, pains and illnesses, but to help them share their stories through her nonprofit Back to the Start, whose writing workshops lead them through detailing their lives from childhood to incarceration.Co-led by Espinoza, the former chief physician and surgeon of the California prison health care system, and incarcerated individuals, and with the help of volunteers, they hope these narratives underscore the need for investments in early childhood and family resources as well as address the United States’ systemic and racial inequities starting at birth.A writing workshop by Back to the Start at San Quentin State Prison. After navigating COVID outbreaks and quarantines inside the prison the past few years, the nonprofit’s first cohort graduated ea...

Skelton: California proves that stricter gun laws save lives

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

Fewer guns plus more gun control add up to less gun carnage. That’s logical. And it’s a fact.California is proof.So is Mississippi.We’re a state with arguably the nation’s strictest gun laws. And we’ve got one of the lowest rates of gun deaths.States with lax gun controls have some of the highest gun death rates. Many are Southern red states. Starting with Mississippi.“We must be doing something right,” says Garen Wintemute, director of the UC Firearms Violence Research Program.Wintemute is a career researcher, as well as an emergency room doctor who has treated countless gunshot wounds. He tends to be cautious with his rhetoric.But not so much the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which doesn’t mince words.It grades California with an “A” for gun control. “Overall, California has the strongest gun safety laws in the nation and has been a trailblazer,” it reports.Mississippi gets an “F” from Giffords: It “has the weakest gun laws in the country and the highest gun death r...

Opinion: 50 years after first ERA debate, women still don’t have equal rights

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

Betty Friedan was just a fiery radical with a bad temper. It’s convenient to believe this. But at a moment when many of the rights for women she gained are being overturned, it’s time to reconsider common wisdom about her character.Friedan, a towering figure in the women’s movement who died in 2006, wrote the 1963 groundbreaking book “The Feminine Mystique” and co-founded the National Organization for Women and the National Women’s Political Caucus.Fifty years ago, on May 1, 1973, Friedan participated in the first public airing of the pros and cons of the Equal Rights Amendment at Capen Auditorium in Normal, Illinois, with Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the STOP ERA movement. Schlafly wanted to destroy the amendment. Friedan worried that without it passing, women’s rights — and the movement itself — would wither.The stakes were high. In 1973, 30 states had already ratified the ERA; eight more were needed to enshrine it in the Constitution.As we all know, Schlafly would play on women’s...

Tech recruiting firm moving HQ to California from New York

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

After 10 years in the Big Apple, two Southern California natives have brought their tech hiring platform to home turf.SingleSprout earlier this year swapped New York’s concrete jungle for the coastline of Newport Beach.Formed in 2013, the recruiting firm named after “individualized growth” uses its own formula to match software engineers, data scientists, product managers and attorneys to a variety of clients, including Blue Apron, Instacart, Acorns, Peloton and Nike.SingleSprout cofounders and co-CEOs David Saad, left, and Natan Fisher, in their new Newport Beach office onTuesday, May 2, 2023. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)SingleSprout cofounders and co-CEOs Natan Fisher, left, and David Saad in their new Newport Beach office onTuesday, May 2, 2023. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)SingleSprout cofounders and co-CEOs Natan Fisher, left, and David Saad in their new Newport Beach office onTuesday, May 2, 2023. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange...

California man faces 21 years for trying to smuggle in frozen, roasted eels

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

A Pomona man with a wholesale food business in Industry faces a possible 21 years in federal prison for trying to sneak in frozen roasted eels adulterated with unsafe animal drugs that already had been rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Kevin Sheng Hsiang Fang, 41, and Yong Chang Trading Co., doing business as Heng Xing Foods, each pleaded guilty on May 31 to smuggling and introducing the food into interstate commerce, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.Fang is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 14 at a Los Angeles federal courthouse.“This individual showed complete disregard for the health and safety of the U.S. consumer by knowingly bringing tainted products into the market,” Eddy Wang, acting special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles, said in a statement.Frozen roasted eels adulterated with unsafe animal drugs that already had been rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Photo courtesy U.S. Food and ...

Bay Area ‘fan’ of Bellarmine Prep arrested on suspicion of threatening Southern California high school after football game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

A Northern California man accused of sending numerous threats to Laguna Hills High School, its staff members and its students following a championship football game narrowly won over a team the suspect apparently followed has been arrested, authorities said on Monday, June 5.Eugene Thomas Jenkins, 29, of San Rafael began sending the threats in December following the championship game, said Carrie Braun, spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.Laguna Hills’ varsity football team overcame a 20-point deficit to beat Bellarmine College Prepatory for the Class 3-A state championship, 28-27, on Dec. 10 at San Jose City College. The threats, some of which were directed to the staff and specific student athletes on the football team, began surfacing after that game, sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Woodroof said.Jenkins is “apparently a fanatic of (Bellarmine Prep’s) sports teams,” Woodroof said.How Jenkins was identified as the suspect was not disclosed.The threats included at least one ...

Chico’s: Fiscal Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

FT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — FT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Chico’s FAS Inc. (CHS) on Tuesday reported profit of $39.9 million in its fiscal first quarter.The Ft Myers, Florida-based company said it had profit of 32 cents per share.The clothing chain posted revenue of $534.7 million in the period.For the current quarter ending in July, Chico’s said it expects revenue in the range of $545 million to $565 million.The company expects full-year earnings to be 70 cents to 82 cents per share, with revenue ranging from $2.17 billion to $2.21 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CHS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CHSSource

G-III Apparel: Fiscal Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — NEW YORK (AP) — G-III Apparel Group Ltd. (GIII) on Tuesday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $3.2 million.On a per-share basis, the New York-based company said it had profit of 7 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 13 cents per share.The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 9 cents per share.The clothing and accessories maker posted revenue of $606.6 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $560.1 million.For the current quarter ending in July, G-III Apparel expects its results to range from a loss of 6 cents per share to earnings of 4 cents per share.The company said it expects revenue in the range of $595 million for the fiscal second quarter.G-III Apparel expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.80 to $2.90 per share, with revenue expected to be $3.29 billion._____This story ...

Magal: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:53:00 GMT

RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — RAMAT GAN, Israel (AP) — Senstar Technologies Ltd. (SNT) on Tuesday reported a loss of $1.9 million in its first quarter.The Ramat Gan, Israel-based company said it had a loss of 8 cents per share.The security and intelligence company posted revenue of $6.4 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SNT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SNTSource