LONDON — Paul McCartney is a billionaire Beatle. According to figures released Friday, the former member of the Fab Four is the first British musician to be worth 1 billion pounds ($1.27 billion). The annual Sunday Times Rich List calculated that the wealth of the 81-year-old musician and his wife,...
California Cracked Down After a Crash Killed 13 Farmworkers. Why Are Workers Still Dying on the Road?
FIREBAUGH — Adorned with Mexican flags, a cluster of crosses in the dirt on the side of a two-lane highway is the only sign of lives lost. On any given day, passenger vans whiz by rows of almond trees, carrying farmworkers to the orchards and vineyards that stretch across Fresno...
These Rare Chainsaws Are Worth Big Bucks to Collectors
Collecting chainsaws has been popular for decades, but interest is only growing. Thanks in part to online communities of chainsaw enthusiasts, more people are becoming aware of the value and historical significance of these interesting tools. Valuable chainsaws fall into a range of categories. Some are sought-after because there are...
Jewish Lobby Presses California Lawmakers to Combat Antisemitism
Hundreds of members of a Jewish lobbying group met with more than 100 California legislators, with combatting antisemitism at the top of the list. At the annual Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California Capitol Summit in Sacramento, several state elected leaders — including 2026 hopefuls for governor — spoke to...
Opinion: How Urban Renewal Ruined Everything
“America can’t build anything,” my co-worker, a talented data scientist from China, remarked as we rode a BART train through a suburb of Oakland. She was humored by the contrast of ultra-modern subways and dense apartments in Chengdu with the 1960s stucco houses and the Apollo 11-era BART metro system of...
California Wine Squeezed Dry: What Does It Mean for Valley Grape Growers?
A problem has been fermenting in the wine industry and an industry insider says the cure is pulling out tens of thousands of acres of vineyards across the state. In the 1990s, when Baby Boomers were in their 30s and 40s, coming into their own, the "French Paradox" health fad...
Alabama Mercedes Employees Overwhelmingly Vote Against Joining Union, Slowing UAW Effort in South
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Workers at two Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, voted overwhelmingly against joining the United Auto Workers on Friday, a setback in the union’s drive to organize plants in the historically nonunion South. The workers voted 56% against the union, according to tallies released by the National Labor...
Stock Market Today: Dow Finishes Above 40,000 to Cap Wall Street’s Latest Winning Week
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished a day above the 40,000 level for the first time on Friday as U.S. stock indexes drifted around their records while closing out their latest winning week. The Dow rose 134.21 points, or 0.3%, to 40,003.59, a day after briefly topping...
Where Do State Lawmakers Stand on War in Gaza, Campus Protests?
With campus protests supporting Gaza, and Israel's war with Hamas continuing, a leading Jewish advocacy group met in Sacramento this week. The Jewish Political Affairs Committee of California held its annual Capitol Summit, lobbying for several bills mostly dealing with combatting antisemitism. All of the lawmakers in attendance condemned antisemitism....
High-Speed Rail Now Working to Extend Valley Line to 171 Miles
The California High-Speed Rail Authority says it's now working to extend the 119 miles under construction to 171 miles of future electrified high-speed rail from Merced to Bakersfield. In addition, there are more than 25 active construction sites in the Valley, and CHSRA says it has environmentally cleared 422 miles...