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Mathews: The life of a California aunt whose existence was a family secret

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

Is there a family trait more common than keeping secrets?Family secrets have hidden costs. When we leave a place or person behind, we don’t know what becomes of them. We can even miss the entire life of a loved one.That’s one lesson of a compelling California story told by David Mas Masumoto, the Central Valley writer and farmer, in his recent memoir Secret Harvest.At the book’s center is Shizuko Sugimoto, aunt of Masumoto’s mother.But he didn’t know she even existed until about a decade ago, when a Fresno funeral home called to ask if Sugimoto, who appeared near death, was related. Eventually though, he pieced together some elements of the life of a Californian whose very existence had been a family secret.Sugimoto was born in Fowler in 1919, daughter of a family of farmworkers of Japanese heritage. At age 5, she contracted meningitis, which attacked her brain and left her with an intellectual disability. She would never again complete a full sentence or thought.She was 23 in 1942,...

Opinion: Why are so many college presidents resigning? Follow the money

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

It’s hardly news by now that college presidencies are not what they used to be. The change is the result of factors as diverse as the institutions they lead. Yet despite the differences, certain similarities emerge among all college presidents.First and foremost is their need to keep money flowing into their institutions’ coffers. As long as they do, they’ll hold onto their jobs. A series of recent resignations confirms that the truth is almost always found by following the money trail.When an independent review of his research found that it fell below the standards of scientific rigor, Marc Tessier-Lavigne promptly announced that he would resign as president of Stanford University, a post he has held since 2016.Even his defenders mostly don’t question the work done by a panel that reviewed more than 50,000 documents, leading to an 89-page report. It was thorough and unbiased. But what is hard to swallow is the reason that Tessier-Lavigne gave for his decision.He said the report cal...

Opinion: Republican racism has finally weaponized Kamala Harris

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

Republicans are doing their damnedest to make Vice President Kamala Harris a liability for President Joe Biden’s reelection, not without plenty of help from her over time.But as they keep doing stupid stuff underscoring their racial insensitivity — the latest being Florida’s and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ claim of a silver lining to slavery — Republicans have handed Harris an apt role: The Democrats’ weapon for calling them on their callousness, and for shoring up the Democratic base while she’s at it.Harris — the first woman, Black American and person of South Asian descent to be vice president — has had a pretty good week, turning the Republicans’ charge that Democrats are trying to politically indoctrinate America’s youth back onto the Republican Party itself. And she’s put the lie to the claim that the left is forcing a guilt trip on white children simply by fully teaching them about the nation’s sins as well as its triumphs.It helps...

Ilestedt scores twice as Sweden beats Italy 5-0 to reach knockout rounds at Women’s World Cup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — After leaving it to the last minute against South Africa, Sweden left nothing to chance Saturday in a 5-0 win over Italy which sealed its place in the knockout rounds of the Women’s World Cup.Sweden relied on Amanda Ilestedt’s 90th-minute winner to salvage a 2-1 win from a sub-par performance in its opener against South Africa.Ilestedt was Sweden’s first scorer Saturday, this time in the 39th, and her glancing header from a corner sparked a flood of four Swedish goals in 11 minutes on either side of halftime. Her second goal came in the 50th and was a mirror image of the first.Rebecka Blomqvist finished it off in stoppage time with Sweden’s fifth goal.“We are good at set pieces,” said Ilestedt, who is now the tournament’s leading scorer with three goals. “We have good shooters and we know we are good headers so it feels good the balls are coming where they should.”The Swedish attack again looked hesitant in the first 20 mi...

DC’s 911 call center reports ‘call handled properly’ to find crashed car in Anacostia River

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

D.C. rescue officials pull out a car out of the Anacostia River after it plunged off the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. (WTOP/Kyle Cooper) D.C. rescue officials pull out a car out of the Anacostia River after it plunged off the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. (WTOP/Kyle Cooper) The D.C. Office of Unified Communications said that a 911 call to report a car that had driven into the Anacostia River was “coded properly,” despite D.C. emergency services not finding the drowned car until more than an hour after the incident was reported.Metropolitan Police responded to a car plunging into the Anacostia River below the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Southeast D.C. on the evening of April 20, 2...

Ticketmaster said to face possible new legal threat in US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

The Justice Department could file an antitrust lawsuit against concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary Ticketmaster by the end of the year, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.The DOJ is aiming to file a lawsuit as soon as this fall that claims the entertainment giant is abusing its power over the live music industry, the people said. A case would add to the embattled company’s myriad policy and legal battles, and if successful, could potentially lead to a breakup of the company, POLITICO previously reported.The timing of any lawsuit is fluid, and no final decision has been made, meaning the department could ultimately decide not to bring a case, cautioned the people who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential matter. But a potential case against Ticketmaster has been part of recent discussions about upcoming litigation plans in the department’s antitrust division, two of the people said.The decision on whether to sue Ticketmast...

EU suspends Niger financial support, security cooperation after coup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

The EU suspended security cooperation and financial support for Niger and declared that it will not recognize the leaders of a “putsch” that ousted the democratically elected president.Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, called for President Mohamed Bazoum’s “unconditional” release from detention.“This unacceptable attack on the integrity of Niger’s republican institutions will not remain without consequences for the partnership and cooperation,” Borrell said, confirming an “immediate cessation of budget support” and the suspension of “cooperation actions in the security field.”The EU “does not recognize and will not recognize the authorities resulting from the putsch in Niger,” Borrell said. Borrell’s statement came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “unflagging support” for Bazoum and warned that “hundreds of millions of dollars” of U.S. security and economic assistance to Niger was at risk if “democratic governance” was not restor...

Spain election repeat more likely after expat vote count

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

Spain’s already complicated electoral landscape just got a lot more complex.On Saturday, the count of the 233,688 ballots deposited by Spaniards living abroad — which are tallied five days after the in-person vote is held — led to the redistribution of seats in the Spanish parliament. As a result, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party lost one of the spots it was allocated in Madrid, which will now go to the center-right Popular Party.The Popular Party is now set to have 137 MPs in the next legislature; together with the far-right Vox party’s 33 MPs and the single MP belonging to the affiliated Navarrese People’s Union (UPN), the right-wing bloc is set to control at least 171 seats — the same number as Sánchez and his preferred partners. Should the Canarian Coalition revise its stated position, which is against backing any government that includes Vox, the conservative bloc could add another seat to its tally.Those numbers do not ...

Police searching for man after series of smashed car windows in Newmarket, NH

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

Police in Newmarket, New Hampshire have identified the man they say smashed and shattered the back windows of several cars this week.23-year-old Travis Moseley allegedly smashed the windows of four cars on Sunday afternoon. Police received the four calls reporting the property damage within ten minutes, and all victims gave similar accounts of the vehicle involved.Police are also investigating a similar incident overnight on Tuesday.Police said Moseley drives a silver 2018 Ford Escape and are asking anyone with information to call police at (603)659-6636.

A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in Thailand kills at least 9 people and wounds scores

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:15:44 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A large explosion at a fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand on Saturday killed at least nine people and wounded scores, officials said.The governor of the province of Narathiwas, Sanan Pongaksorn, told public broadcaster Thai PBS that also at least 115 people were hurt, and that many were in serious condition. He said about 500 to 800 people who live nearby may have to be moved to a temporary shelter. He did not elaborate.Videos posted on social media from the site show a huge plume of smoke over the area and many damaged structures, cars and motorbikes, as well as streets covered with debris. Many of the houses and other buildings have collapsed roofs and walls. About 100 residences in the area were also damaged, according to the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.Sanan, the local governor, said the blast was likely ignited by construction work that was taking place in the warehouse, with flares from metal welding causing the fireworks stored inside...