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Travel Troubleshooter: I’ve been banned by Airbnb, but no one will tell me why

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I recently received an email from Airbnb that it had removed my account from the platform.Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter “Removal means that your account will no longer be accessible, and you won’t be able to create another one,” it said. “We want to assure you that we reviewed your case thoroughly before reaching this conclusion. As such, we won’t be able to offer you additional support on this matter at this time.”I don’t understand why I’m banned. I last booked with Airbnb in September for my husband and his friend in Las Vegas. Airbnb canceled the first booking for that trip because the host said she was no longer accepting guests.Airbnb found me another accommodation at a hotel, and after two days of staying there, they realized that the listing wasn’t legitimate (someone had booked the hotel rooms months before then and posted them on Airbnb as rentals). I don’t see why...

‘Underrated’: Why Stephen Curry finally agreed to star in a documentary

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

All those pitches Stephen Curry heard asking him to be the focal point of a documentary just rim-rolled but never went in.Then along came the “Stephen Curry: Underrated” team of Oakland director/co-producer Peter Nicks and others associated with Proximity Media, including Oakland native and “Black Panther” filmmaker Ryan Coogler. Their proposal arrived at the perfect time and proved to be just what Curry wanted.The phenomenal Golden State Warriors point guard and sensational golfer (check out his hole in one last weekend at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe) particularly liked the fact that Nicks sought to juxtapose his underdog 2006-2009 collegiate basketball career at Davidson College in North Carolina with the Warriors’ comeback chew-your-nails-to-itty-bits 2021-2022 season. Factor in the talent backing the documentary, recently released on Apple TV+, and one of the greatest basketball players of all time was all in.“This one made the most sense because from a top l...

Death Valley tourist dies after telling reporter he was determined to complete hike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

A man collapsed and died in Death Valley shortly after telling a newspaper reporter he was determined to finish his hike despite temperatures near 120 degrees.Steve Curry, 71, of the Sunland neighborhood of Los Angeles, did complete his round-trip hike Tuesday from Golden Canyon to Zabriskie Point — a loop of about 6 miles — but then collapsed outside a restroom at the trailhead, park officials said.Rangers alerted by a 911 call at 3:40 p.m. arrived at Golden Canyon within seven minutes and tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate Curry. A medical helicopter could not respond because of the high temperature, said a park news release on Thursday.A cause of death had not been determined by the Inyo County coroner, but heat is thought to have been a factor. The high on Tuesday, July 18, at Furnace Creek was 121 degrees, and rangers said heat reflecting off Golden Canyon’s walls made the temperature on that trail much higher.Around 10 a.m., Curry had spoken with the Los Ang...

Woman robbed, carjacked in Oakland hills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

OAKLAND — A 67-year-old woman was robbed and carjacked Sunday night by four masked men in the Oakland hills, authorities said.The woman was not physically injured, authorities said.Authorities said the woman was driving her 2014 BMW 3351 about 9:30 p.m. Sunday in the 12100 block of Skyline Boulevard, a residential area not far from Skyline High School, when it was rammed from behind by a white van.The van then drove in front of the BMW and blocked it.Four ski-masked men got out of the van and started approaching the BMW, police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Livermore police chief pushes Alameda County DA for tougher penalties Crime and Public Safety | Three people shot in Oakland Crime and Public Safety | Photos: Supporters show up for Oakland ice cream vendor seen being robbed on video Crime and Public Safety | Bay Area man — already in prison — sentenced to additional time for stealing COVID funds fo...

Defending Bodily Autonomy Is Real Child Protection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

A participant at the Reclaim Pride Coalition’s fifth annual queer liberation march in New York City on June 25, 2023.Photo: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty ImagesThis month, Ohio reproductive freedom advocates delivered 42 boxes of petitions — over 700,000 signatures — to state officials to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The proposed amendment guarantees every individual the right “to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion,” until fetal viability. It also prohibits the state from interfering with or penalizing “a person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right.” Both clauses contain exceptions for medical necessity. And neither limits these rights to adults.Protect Women Ohio, an anti-abortion coalition that includes Ohio Right to Life and the Center for Christian Virtue, calls the proposal an...

Maryland man charged with hate crimes in parking dispute killings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland prosecutors have filed hate crime charges against a man accused of killing three people and wounding three more in a dispute over parking. The three people shot to death were Latino; the man accused of shooting them is white. Their families have lived on the same street for years and have had a history of disputes, including allegations of racial slurs against one of the victims.Charles Robert Smith, 43, had been charged with second-degree murder. Now he faces first-degree murder and hate-crime charges in the killings of Mario Mireles, his father Nicholas Mireles, and Christian Segovia, under an indictment returned by an Anne Arundel County grand jury on Friday, according to online court records. The 42-count indictment also includes six charges of attempted first-degree murder. Smith’s initial court appearance was scheduled for next Monday. His initial lawyer is no longer representing him, and another attorney did not immediately respond Monday ...

Friendship between Marcus Stroman and former Duke teammate-turned-rapper mike. grows over the years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Way back in the beginning, when Mike Seander started making music, he used a closet in his apartment as a makeshift recording studio. There was a cheap microphone, and some towels were hung up for sound proofing.Seander had no idea where it might go, but he was backed by a supportive friend, a fellow pitcher on the Duke University baseball team named Marcus Stroman.“Really he was the first person who ever heard it and just was like ‘Dude, you’re pretty good at this,’” Seander said. “I remember him being a fan. … I think in hindsight he kind of instilled a confidence in me when I didn’t know what the hell I was doing at all.”That friendship grew over the years, as Stroman found success in the major leagues and Seander — stage name mike. — continued to evolve with his music, which he describes as a hybrid of hip-hop and country. Stroman, 32, made the All-Star Game for the second time this year, while Seander, 34, has been playing live shows and working...

How David Bowie, long thought ambivalent to country music, became a writer on a Chris Young song

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Country star Chris Young’s latest single, “Young Love & Saturday Nights,” is a vivid love letter to summertime weekends, old trucks, dive bar bands, and crushes. And it might sound immediately familiar: The guitar lick that opens the track is lifted directly from David Bowie’s 1974 hit “Rebel Rebel.” Bowie is credited posthumously as a songwriter on the track, making it one of the genre-melding icon’s few forays into country music — noteworthy, because Bowie himself was not quite a fan of the genre.“I think the only music I didn’t listen to was country and western, and that holds to this day,” Bowie told NPR’s Terry Gross in 2002. “It’s much easier for me to say that, the kind of music I didn’t listen to was pretty much that.”So how did Bowie, who died in 2016, end up on the track?Warner Chappell Music became the custodian of Bowie’s musical legacy — acquiring the worldwide rights to over 400 of his songs, including “Rebel Rebel” ...

South Korea says North Korea fired ballistic missile into sea

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says North Korea fired ballistic missile into sea.Source

Grains higher, Livstock lower.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:17:55 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Grain futures were higher Monday in early trading on the Chicago Board of Trade. Wheat for Sep. advanced 43.50 cents at $7.5250 a bushel; Sep. corn rose 19.75 cents at $5.5225 a bushel; Sep. oats gained 21 cents at $4.4950 a bushel; while Aug. soybeans was up 18.75 cents at $15.1825 a bushel.Beef and pork were lower on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.Aug. live cattle fell .48 cent at $1.7952 a pound; Aug. feeder cattle lost 1.50 cents at $2.4392 a pound; Aug. lean hogs was off .48 cent at $1.0037 a pound.Source