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Workers protest alleged use of migrants to replace them during strike

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

Hotel workers are continuing to publicly call for better pay and working conditions, and on Wednesday, they're taking to the streets of downtown Los Angeles to call out their employers.Unite Here Local 11, the workers' union, is assembling employees of 50 hotels at Hill and 6th streets Wednesday morning for a march."The march comes after a fruitless negotiation meeting last week in which a group of hotel employers presented hundreds of SoCal workers with a 'new' proposal to resolve the months-long labor dispute," the union said. "Enraging workers, the hotels did not meaningfully improve upon their prior position, offering no new money for wages, pension, or health insurance."In addition to demanding a living wage, workers are also hoping to raise awareness about how they claim their employers are filling in gaps created by striking workers: the "exploitation of migrant workers living in Skid Row," the union said in a news release.Some of those workers were among the migrants bused f...

Recipe: Fresh foraged seaweed chips with sesame oil and sea salt

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

Taku Kondo is a San Francisco sushi chef-turned expert forager from Northern California who runs the popular YouTube channel Outdoor Chef Life. (See our interview with him here.) This is Kondo’s recipe for seaweed chips (or seasoning) that you can make yourself using seaweed harvested right from the Pacific ocean.First, a couple of caveats. People who try this recipe “should definitely know what they’re eating,” Kondo says. “A couple easy-to-identify seaweeds would be sea lettuce and laver (nori). In California, there are two types of seaweed that are illegal to take: eel grass and sea palm. Although all seaweed is technically edible, they’re not all good to eat.”Also, you must have a fishing license to harvest seaweed legally. “The current seaweed limit is 10 pounds wet weight,” Kondo says, “You must avoid harvesting in Marine Protected Areas. All information is available on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife w...

Meet the Bay Area sushi chef who’s become a YouTube star

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

Some people look at the ocean and see a pretty view. Taku Kondo gazes over a beach and sees horseneck-clam sashimi, crunchy kelp pickles and sea-urchin pasta served in its own spiky shell.The Bay Area native is the creator of Outdoor Chef Life, a 700,000-subscriber YouTube channel devoted to foraging and cooking in nature. On any given day, you might find him and partner Jocelyn Gonzalez, the channel’s videographer, scraping herring eggs off seaweed, flipping rocks to find octopus for ceviche or anchoring a smoker in a river to make whiskey-maple-glazed steelhead trout.It’s quite fun, but cooking in the wild can court danger. In Alaska, they had a dicey encounter with a curious Alaskan grizzly (“Bear approached and I feared for her life”). And Kondo once got yanked off his kayak by a probable dogtooth tuna (“Big fish pulls me in! These fish are crazy”).Lots of people make content about wilderness cooking, but Kondo is set apart by his knife skills and culinary prow...

Bagged, precut onions from California company linked to salmonella outbreak that has sickened 73 people in 22 states

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

By JONEL ALECCIA | AP Health WriterAn outbreak of salmonella poisoning linked to bagged, precut onions has sickened at least 73 people in 22 states, including 15 who were hospitalized, U.S. health officials said Tuesday.Gills Onions of Oxnard, California, has recalled packages of diced yellow onions, red onions, onions and celery and a mix of onions, celery and carrots, known as mirepoix. The products recalled had use-by dates in August 2023. They are no longer for sale in stores, but consumers may have them — or foods made with them — in freezers. Consumers should not eat, sell or serve the onions for foods made with them, health officials said.The diced onion products were sold at food service and other institutions in the U.S. and Canada and at retailers in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Retail sites included Stater Bros., Bashas’ markets and Smart & Final stores in Arizona and California and Smart & Final and Chef’s Store in California, Orego...

Maxwell hits fastest Cricket World Cup hundred as Australia routs the Netherlands by 309 runs

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Glenn Maxwell smashed a 40-ball hundred — the fastest ever at the Cricket World Cup — to help Australia beat the Netherlands by 309 runs on Wednesday.Maxwell hit nine fours and eights towering sixes as he scored 106 runs off only 44 balls to propel Australia to 399-8 (50 overs).Coming in to bat in the 39th over, Maxwell’s feat overshadowed David Warner, who scored a second straight hundred and his 22nd overall in one-day internationals.Warner scored 104 off 93 balls following his hundred against Pakistan. It was his sixth World Cup century, the most for an Australian batsman.The Netherlands was bowled out for a paltry 90 runs in 21 overs.The Dutch team is 1-4, its only win coming in a huge upset victory over South Africa last week.Wrist spinner Adam Zampa picked four wickets for eight runs in three overs for Australia, as it cemented third place with six points from three wins in five games.The margin of victory was the largest (by runs) in World Cup history a...

Montgomery Co. police say 12-year-old responsible for multiple school bomb threats — but cannot be charged

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

The person responsible for making repeated email bomb threats against two Montgomery County Public Schools this month is a 12-year-old who cannot be charged under Maryland law, according to a statement from police Chief Marcus Jones.The police chief said the child is responsible for three bomb threats sent on Oct. 13, Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 that targeted Richard Montgomery County High School in Rockville and another threat on Oct. 15 against Oak View Elementary School in Silver Spring.Detectives worked with the school system’s IT staff to track down the source of the email, and then spoke with the 12-year-old, “who admitted responsibility,” Jones said.However, under a state juvenile justice reform law, which took effect in July 2022, children under the age of 13 can only be charged with offenses that constitute a “crime of violence,” he said.“It is disheartening to accept that the individual responsible for disrupting the educational process and inst...

Albanese arrives at White House to start day of meetings and celebrations of alliance with US

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pressed forward with this week’s state visit from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, carving out time to nurture the relationship with a critical U.S. ally in the Pacific against the backdrop of escalating fighting between Israel and Hamas. The state visit, only the fourth since Biden took office, is a reminder of how he’s pursuing long-term plans to counter China’s influence even as bloody conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, where the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues after almost two years, remain the most immediate concerns.Albanese arrived at the White House on Wednesday morning as a military band played and 4,000 guests watched from the South Lawn. Biden said their alliance is characterized by “imagination, ingenuity and innovation,” and they will “race undaunted to a future we know is possible if we work together.”Albanese said the “soul of our partnership” is “not a pact against a common ene...

Sospechoso de asesinato de un juez de Maryland abusó de su familia, según testimonios

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

Pedro Argote estuvo notoriamente ausente el jueves pasado cuando un juez de Maryland concedió a su esposa el divorcio y la custodia exclusiva de sus cuatro hijos, citando testimonios “impactantes” sobre el abuso que supuestamente Argote les infligió durante años.Pero ese mismo día, dicen las autoridades, Argote supuestamente se presentó en la casa del juez Andrew Wilkinson y lo mató a tiros en la entrada de su casa. Argote sigue prófugo en medio de una búsqueda policial que abarca varios estados.Wilkinson emitió un fallo en contra de Argote luego de escuchar el testimonio de su esposa y una hija adulta, quienes alegaron que él controlaba todos los aspectos de sus vidas, manteniéndolas aisladas y sometiéndolas a diversos actos de violencia en los últimos años.La policía señaló la decisión del juez como motivo del tiroteo, que conmocionó a la comunidad jurídica de Maryland.Pedro Argote figura como sospechoso del asesinato del juez Andrew Wilkinson. Una grabación de audio de la audienc...

Caitlin Clark’s production and panache make her a women’s basketball ambassador, a role she embraces

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Her likeness was sculptured out of butter at the state fair and a tribute to her was a highlight for an Iowa marching band football halftime show.She was the main draw when she played golf in the pro-am event ahead of the PGA Tour’s nearby John Deere Classic and she greeted thousands of fans at both an IndyCar race and a minor-league baseball game, where a line began forming 10 hours ahead of time and wrapped around the stadium. She helped teammates build a Habitat For Humanity house, led a fund-raiser for a local food pantry and hosted a basketball camp for 600 kids that sold out in four hours. Oh, she also joined teammates on a 12-day tour of Italy and Croatia, made an ad for Nike and went to New York to pick up the Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.Down time, to be sure, has been scarce for Caitlin Clark in the months since she swept national player of the year awards and led the Iowa Hawkeyes to their first NCAA champions...

“Cruel y sádico”: cadena perpetua a expolicía británico que acosó sexualmente a 200 niñas en Snapchat

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:28 GMT

Un expolicía británico fue condenado el miércoles a cadena perpetua, con una pena mínima de 12 años, tras declararse culpable de más de 100 delitos de abusos sexuales a menores, que incluían amenazas y chantajes a más de 200 niñas para que le enviaran imágenes sexuales a través de Snapchat.Lewis Edwards, de 24 años, abordó a 210 niñas entre 10 y 16 años fingiendo ser un chico adolescente en la aplicación para celular, según la fiscalía. Las persuadió para que compartieran imágenes sexuales de sí mismas y después amenazó a muchas de sus víctimas cuando se negaron, amenazándolas para que accedieran por temor a que las dejara en evidencia.Edwards, que entró en la Policía de Gales del Sur de 2021, era un agente en servicio cuando cometió la mayoría de los delitos. Fue detenido en febrero y desde entonces se ha declarado culpable de unos 160 delitos de abusos sexuales a menores y chantaje.En uno de los casos, la fiscalía dijo que Edwards amenazó con detonar una bomba en la casa de una ví...