Job candidates required to describe how they would advance “decolonization.” A video that suggests starting meetings by identifying oneself as a “settler” on unceded native lands. A political scientist who says he was instructed to teach game theory “from an Indigenous perspective.” Each, a practice at the University of British...
IMF Says Venezuela’s Economic, Humanitarian Situation Is ‘Quite Fragile’
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 - Venezuela's economic and humanitarian situation is "quite fragile," the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, adding that it was seeing inflation estimated to be in the triple digits and a rapid depreciation of the currency. IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack told reporters that the global lender was...
Chris Lake, The Backseat Lovers to Headline San Luis Obispo’s Shabang Music Festival
Organizers of the Shabang Music Festival unveiled the lineup Thursday for the 2026 event, scheduled for May 2–3 at the Dairy Creek Golf Course. Headliners for the festival include Chris Lake, The Backseat Lovers, and Magdalena Bay, with a surprise act yet to be announced. Other performers include Fcukers, Inji,...
Blackstone Avenue Shelters Crush Fresno Dreams and Businesses
A significant number of vacant buildings along Blackstone Avenue in Fresno have been destroyed by fires, ignited by unhoused individuals seeking warmth. The recent fires that consumed the vacant Carl’s Jr. building at McKinley and Blackstone (owned by the city of Fresno) and the vacant restaurant at Blackstone and Saginaw,...
How Mamdani’s Income and Property Tax Proposals Could Affect New Yorkers
NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani, the 34-year-old mayor of New York City, fueled his rise with a simple message about affordability and the moral imperative of properly taxing the rich. But Tuesday, Mamdani sent out a conflicting message, floating a property tax increase that would affect middle-class New Yorkers and...
A College President With Ties to Epstein Is Also Seen as a Campus Savior
In 1975, Bard College, a quirky liberal arts school awash in debt and with an endowment of about $100,000, faced extinction. Trustees, seeking an energetic new leader, turned to an odd choice to helm a struggling college: Leon Botstein, a 28-year-old musician and academic. They told him to “build something...
Tulare County Man Gets Life for Child Molestation
A 70-year-old Orosi man was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for molesting eight girls under the age of 14 over a three-year period, the Tulare County District Attorney's Office said on Thursday. Manuel Huitron was sentenced in Department 4 of the Tulare County Superior Court, Visalia Division, following his...
Trump Says US Will Give UN Money to Make It Stronger, More Viable
WASHINGTON, Feb 19 - The United States will give the United Nations money to strengthen it and help make it viable, President Donald Trump told the opening meeting of his Board of Peace on Thursday. The U.S. is the biggest contributor to the U.N. budget, but under the Trump administration...
CHP Warns of Hazardous Driving on Highway 168 Near Shaver Lake
The California Highway Patrol is warning drivers of hazardous conditions on a stretch of Highway 168 near Shaver Lake. CHP officials said that the six-mile segment between the top of the four-lane and Shaver Lake is experiencing heavy snow and gusty winds, which can reduce visibility to near-whiteout levels. Drivers...
With Witkoff and Kushner, Trump Bets on Diplomacy Without Diplomats
BERLIN — Over the past year, the Trump administration has engaged in unconventional diplomacy, gunboat diplomacy and, in the most sensitive crises, diplomacy without diplomats. On Tuesday, the administration tried all three tactics at once. In Geneva, President Donald Trump’s most trusted envoys — his real estate friend Steve Witkoff...