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Apple is doing its part to end green bubble shaming. It’s our turn.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

For more than a decade, smartphone users everywhere have faced a major problem in how we communicate: the “green versus blue bubble” disparity.When iPhone users send texts to other iPhones, the messages appear blue and can tap into exclusive perks like fun emojis and animations. But if an iPhone user texts an Android user, the bubble turns green, many features break, and photos and videos deteriorate in quality.Over time, the annoyance and frustration that built up between blue and green bubbles evolved into more than a tech problem. It created a deeper sociological divide between people who judged one another by their phones. The color of a bubble became a symbol that some believe reflects status and wealth, given a perception that only wealthy people buy iPhones.Now part of this problem will soon be addressed.In November, Apple announced that it would improve the technology used to send texts between iPhone and Android users, starting next year, by adopting a standard that Google ...

Colorado Republicans line up for rare shot at an open congressional seat as Ken Buck exits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s decision last month not to seek reelection to Congress opened a tantalizingly rare window for Republicans in eastern Colorado: a red seat in one of the state’s few remaining conservative strongholds that, once won, would be tough to ever lose.“If somebody wants to be a congressman who lives in the 4th District, this opportunity rarely comes along — an open seat,” said Dick Wadhams, a Republican political operative and former chair of the Colorado Republican Party. “It basically forces the hand of people who have that ambition.”Colorado’s 4th Congressional District spans much of the eastern part of the state, from the Wyoming state line to the Oklahoma Panhandle, taking in farming communities as well as more urban enclaves, including Loveland and Douglas County, as it wraps around most of metro Denver. It’s the most reliably Republican district in a state that’s turned deeper shades of blue for nearly a ...

Credit For Cannabidiol — Is It Legal To Buy Hemp CBD With Credit Cards?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

View the original article about Using a Credit Card to Purchase Hemp at Real Tested CBD.Paying for cannabis products can be a pain nowadays. Since marijuana remains an illegal substance, the world’s largest card providers block most dispensaries in states with recreational or medical marijuana laws. Given weed’s controversial status in the payment processing space, it’s no wonder many hemp fans express concerns over paying for CBD with credit cards.After all, CBD hemp is a member of the cannabis family. Therefore, some people assume it’s illegal to buy CBD products with a Visa, Mastercard, or AMEX card. So, will buying CBD oils with a credit card get customers in trouble?Can Customers Use Major Credit Cards To Buy CBD Oil?Although hemp is a member of the cannabis family, it doesn’t have the same legal status as THC-containing marijuana. Under federal law, hemp products with ≤ 0.3 percent delta-9 THC are OK to sell in the USA. It’s only high-THC marijuana flowers that the US governme...

Paramedic shortages have some Bay Area residents waiting half an hour or more for an ambulance

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

One morning in September, a Morgan Hill daycare called 911 with a dire situation: A 2-year-old was having a seizure and turning blue. Within two minutes, first responders on the scene confirmed that the toddler needed emergency care. It took 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.While the child survived, the delayed response time highlighted a lag in care that could prove deadly for South County residents. A paramedic shortage has led to fewer fully staffed ambulances and longer wait times for ambulances throughout Santa Clara County. In more remote communities such as Morgan Hill and Gilroy, this has led to patients and emergency responders sometimes waiting half an hour or more for an ambulance, even in dire emergencies.The county isn’t alone. Emergency-response services throughout the U.S. are trying to cope with a deepening paramedic shortage. Nationwide, over a quarter of paramedics leave their jobs every year. Many paramedic training programs also shut down during the height o...

Commission hearing retail theft complaints questions link to Prop 47 criminal justice reforms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

A California commission charged with delivering recommendations to the governor and state lawmakers next year on how to curb rampant retail theft, questioned claims that state criminal justice reforms are to blame for the troubling trend.During its second hearing Thursday, the Little Hoover Commission, an independent state watchdog agency, heard testimony from retailers and law enforcement officials about the brazen store thefts and other crimes that have been regularly featured on newscasts and led to calls to reconsider criminal justice reforms.“It’s getting worse,” said Lynn Melillo, vice president for asset management at Bristol Farms, Lazy Acres Natural Market and New Leaf Community Markets. “There is organized retail crime, but it’s also more than that. It’s so-called consumers coming in and loading a grocery cart up and bypassing the register, avoiding the check stands, knowing there’s no consequences.”Republican lawmakers who h...

Bay FC roster breakdown: Where things stand after NWSL expansion draft

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

After completing the National Women’s Soccer League expansion draft on Friday night, Bay FC general manager Lucy Rushton has now successfully participated in expansion drafts in both the men’s and women’s professional soccer leagues in America.Rushton left her job at Reading Football Club in England to help start Atlanta United FC as an expansion team in Major League Soccer in 2016. Atlanta won the MLS Cup the very next season.Friday night was the NWSL expansion draft and Bay FC had the first overall pick, selecting 24-year-old fullback Alyssa Malonson from OL Reign.“We were really delighted when we saw Alyssa’s name on that sheet,” Rushton said. “She’s a young player. She’s so exciting.  Her ability and her ceiling is so high. Most importantly she fits our style of play. She’s a fullback who wants the ball.”Bay FC made five selections in the expansion draft to bring its roster to 12 players. Clubs are allowed to take between 22 and 26 players into the regular season, which begins i...

Editorial: Gavin Newsom owns California’s $68 billion budget deficit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political future could be determined by how he responds to Assembly Republicans’ call for a special legislative session to address California’s staggering budget shortfall.Newsom owns this mess. At the start of last year, he was bragging about the state’s $98 billion budget surplus. Last week, Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek warned that the state now faces a $68 billion deficit.All Newsom’s galivanting around the country trying to burnish his national reputation, touting California for its progressive policies, serving as a campaign surrogate for President Joe Biden and debate-bashing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his state’s right-wing policies will be for naught if he fails to get a grip on the fiscal crisis at home.All anyone will remember about Newsom is the soaring state spending under his reign that led to massive red ink. If he has any doubts about that, he should just ask Gray Davis, the recalled governor who presided over the state’s budget crisis when...

Muere el emir de Kuwait, el jeque Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, a los 86 años

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

Kuwait (CNN) — El emir de Kuwait, el jeque Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, murió a los 86 años después de gobernar el Estado del Golfo durante tres años.Sheikh Nawaf había sido ingresado al hospital en noviembre tras un problema de salud de emergencia, según la agencia estatal de noticias KUNA. El estado del hombre de 86 años era estable en ese momento, informó KUNA.Sheikh Nawaf fue ministro de Defensa durante una de las mayores crisis en la historia de Kuwait, cuando Iraq invadió en 1990, lo que desencadenó lo que se conoció como la Guerra del Golfo.En su larga carrera también ocupó cargos gubernamentales, incluidos los de ministro del Interior y ministro de Asuntos Sociales.Fue nombrado Príncipe Heredero en 2006, cargo que ocupó 14 años, convirtiéndose en una figura influyente en el proceso de toma de decisiones del país.Prestó juramento como Emir en septiembre de 2020, tras la muerte de Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, quien falleció a la edad de 91 años después de gobernar el...

Latino Democrats shift from quiet concern to open opposition to Biden’s concessions in border talks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Prominent Latinos in Congress looked on quietly, at first, privately raising concerns with the Biden administration over the direction of border security talks.Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California was on the phone constantly with administration officials questioning why the Senate negotiations did not include any meaningful consideration of providing pathways to citizenship for longtime immigrants lacking the proper legal documents.New Mexico Democrat Sen. Ben Ray Luján made similar arguments as he tried to get meetings with top-level White House officials.But when the talks didn’t seem to make enough difference, the influential lawmakers started leading the open opposition.“A return to Trump-era policies is not the fix,” Padilla said. “In fact, it will make the problem worse.”Padilla even pulled President Joe Biden aside at a fundraiser last weekend in California to warn him “to be careful” of being dragged into “harmful policy.”The Latino senators hav...

Climate protester pleads guilty to vandalizing National Gallery of Art exhibit

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 13:11:34 GMT

A woman from New York has pleaded guilty to defacing an Edgar Degas sculpture at D.C.’s National Gallery of Art earlier this year.Joanna Smith, 54, of Brooklyn, New York, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of causing injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit in the April 27 defacement of Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen.”In a Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011 file photo, Edgar Degas “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” is displayed at Christie’s auction house, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)Smith, accompanied by co-conspirators, targeted the 1881 exhibit by smearing black and red paint on the sculpture’s case and base. Along with a co-conspirator, the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia said Smith had previously researched the piece and specifically targeted it, according to a news release.The paint was concealed by being contained in water bottles the pair carried into the museum. Smith and her co-conspirator had recorded...