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New express lanes open on 405 Freeway in Orange County

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

It's finally here, Orange County. On Friday, new express lanes on the 405 Freeway opened, providing what officials say is a faster option for those willing to pay and less congestion for those who aren't. "Everyone is going to benefit from this program," Darrell Johnson, CEO of the Orange County Transportation Authority, told KTLA's Ginger Chan. "We’re very proud of the work that we've done with our partners at Caltrans and all of the cities along the corridor."The lanes, which span 16 miles from the 605 Freeway at the Los Angeles County line to State Road 73 in Costa Mesa, use electronic tolling, requiring drivers to have a FasTrak transponder. The actual cost to drivers will fluctuate based on the time of day, the day of the week and the direction of travel - something officials call "congestion management pricing." Sky5 aerial view of the new toll lanes on the 405 Freeway in Orange County. Dec. 1, 2023. "Tolls are increased when traffic volumes consistently reach a trigger point ...

Winning $1.6 million Mega Millions ticket sold in Southern California

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

One California Lottery player is a millionaire after winning $1.7 million from a Mega Millions ticket purchased at a Ventura County-based doughnut shop in July, California Lottery officials announced. Alfredo Espinoza Soto won $1,698,158 from a Mega Millions ticket purchased at Master’s Donuts in Oxnard. The ticket was one number short of the jackpot before it reached the $1 billion mark in August. Soto recently came forward to claim the prize, according to lottery officials. The donut shop has sold winning lottery tickets and games, including a scratcher worth $1 million. Seven California Lottery players become instant millionaires from scratcher games “We sell a lot of tickets. We have a pretty long line when the jackpots are high,” Michelle Senna, owner of Master’s Donuts, told the California Lottery. “We sold a $1 million Scratchers ticket about ten years ago.”The store got a $8,000 bonus for selling the winning Mega Millions ticket, a news release said.The next Mega Millions...

Where To Get Into The Full Swing Of The Holidays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

Mytheresa and Flamingo Estate have teamed up to open Holiday House, the brands’ new 1,500-square-foot candy-adorned house in Highland Park. The luxurious, immersive and interactive space recreates the Flamingo Estate’s interiors room by room, featuring products available on Mytheresa made entirely out of gingerbread. The space also features a dream fashion closet with a thoughtfully curated selection of fashion and home accessories, shoppable with a QR code, as well as a European-style corner bakery whipping up custom cookies. All net proceeds from the cookies will go to charity and it’s the closest you may ever get to the mysterious Los Angeles landmark.Holiday cookies at Mytheresa and Flamingo Estate Holiday House ( BFA.com/Jojo Korsh)LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE takes the stage through Dec. 30 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in celebration of the holiday film’s 20th anniversary. The Wallis bartenders are serving up two Love Actually-inspired cocktails bef...

Poker Strategy Guide – Top Tips & Tactics To Take Your Poker Game to the Next Level

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

 Sponsored ContentNo other game mixes skill and luck as beautifully as poker, making it one of the most exciting options in any casino.You know what makes an amazing poker player, though? Using an effective poker strategy to make those chips slide your way as often as possible.In this guide, we’ll walk you through some of the best tips for becoming a great player in any poker game – whether it’s tournaments you’re looking to play at sites like Ignition or a three-card poker against the dealer.If you’re ready to transform from a fish into a shark, read on.Best Live Poker StrategiesWhile poker is a game that takes a lifetime to master, there are a few basic tips you can implement immediately that will give you a huge edge over most of the people you face at the tables.Below, we’ll talk about five of the biggest changes you can make to your game that should increase your winning chances right away. You won’t turn into Phil Ivey overnight, but at the very least, these should help y...

Pashelka on the Sharks: Why giving Meier $70 million would have been a disaster for San Jose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

Everything has worked out well for New Jersey Devils forward Timo Meier, just like San Jose Sharks coach David Quinn knew it would.Four months after Meier was traded by the Sharks to the Devils, the Swiss-born winger signed an eight-year, $70.4 million contract with New Jersey, making him the team’s highest-paid forward after he registered a 40-goal season.“It’s a hard situation for people,” Quinn said Friday of players like Meier, who constantly hear their names in trade rumors. “But as I used to joke, ‘I don’t feel too sorry for you. You’re going to make about $90 million, so I’ll save the hankies for later.’”Looking back, if the Sharks had given Meier that same contract, it would have been a disaster.The Sharks spun their wheels and missed the playoffs for three straight seasons from 2019 to 2022 even with Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Meier on the roster. Keeping the band together probably would have meant more of the same, with no...

Map: The big Bay Area district that will get a new Congress member

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

Rep. Anna Eshoo’s announcement that she won’t run for reelection opens up California’s congressional District 16, which covers a large swath of the San Francisco Peninsula and the South Bay.The map above shows the borders of the district, and the numbers of adjacent districts. This online tool shows the district for any address in California, where boundaries were redrawn after the 2020 election.Eshoo, 80, has been in the House of Representatives since 1993.The adjacent districts are represented by:11 (San Francisco): Nancy Pelosi, 83, D; in the House since 1987.15 (bay side of Peninsula): Kevin Mullin, 53, D; since 2023.17 (South Bay): Ro Khanna, 47, D; since 2017.18 (San Jose and Salinas Valley): Zoe Lofgren, 75, D; since 1995.19 (Central Coast): Jimmy Panetta, 54, D; since 2017.Eshoo is one of six Congress members from California who, as of December, have announced they will not run for re-election to the House in 2024.Three are running for the Senate seat forme...

Silicon Valley billionaires behind ‘Forever California’ get heckled by locals at Solano County event

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

By Eliyahu Kamisher | BloombergA group of Silicon Valley billionaires led by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. trader Jan Sramek have quietly bought up over $800 million worth of Northern California farmland to create a new city from scratch. But their vision of a sustainable utopia is drawing persistent opposition from locals who are fighting to preserve a rural way of life.At the first of several town halls meant to win over the community, Sramek laid out his vision of turning the land into a dense, walkable city that would create high-paying jobs and boost economic growth. But many residents at an event late Wednesday were outraged by his proposal, shouting him down as a “shill” and “smooth talker” and leveling allegations that his company, Flannery Associates LLC, engineered a secretive land grab.The contentious meeting signaled the challenges ahead for Sramek, 36, as he navigates the politics of rural Solano County, an hour north of San Francisco. As part of an ambitious project ...

Review: Broadway blockbuster ‘Lion King’ prowls SF anew

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

By now Disney has adapted almost a dozen of its animated movies into stage musicals, but “The Lion King” is in a class by itself.Reconceived by visionary director Julie Taymor, who became the first woman ever to win a Tony Award for direction of a musical with this show, the 1997 musical is full of dazzling part-puppet animal costumes and a visual style heavily influenced by traditional African art. It’s a breathtaking spectacle that elevates the story into something much grander than the well-regarded 1994 film. You’ve still got “Hakuna Matata,” of course, but also so much more.Now playing San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre courtesy of BroadwaySF, the musical originally premiered in 1997 at another Orpheum Theatre, in Minneapolis, before heading to Broadway that same year. Running continuously on Broadway ever since, minus the obligatory pandemic pause, it’s the third longest-running show in Broadway history and the highest-grossing Broadway show ever.Its book is adapted by the movie’...

Suspect arrested in Oakley house party shooting that killed teen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

OAKLEY — An 18-year-old Oakley man has been arrested on suspicion of homicide, nearly six weeks after a shooting at a house party killed one teenager and wounded three others, authorities said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Man fatally stabbed in Oakland; suspect later arrested Crime and Public Safety | Man dies in Oakland hit-and-run traffic collision Crime and Public Safety | Second man charged in shooting death of East Bay barber Crime and Public Safety | Man gets 6 years, woman gets probation for Oakland shootout that killed bystander Crime and Public Safety | Alameda County to pay $7 million, reform jail training after settlement with family of Maurice Monk Oakley police detectives and agents with the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Sean Karp on Thursday in the 900 block of 2nd Street in Brentwood, according to a statement from Oakley Police Chief Paul Beard.Karp remained in custody ...

VP Harris heads to Dubai with challenging tasks ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:37 GMT

By Will Weissert and Chris Megerian | Associated PressWASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will tackle two delicate tasks this weekend in Dubai: She’ll try to demonstrate U.S. environmental leadership despite President Joe Biden ‘s notable absence from an annual summit on climate change and she’ll work to nudge forward fragile efforts to shape the next phase of the war between Israel and Hamas.A White House official, who insisted on anonymity to preview Harris’ meetings, said she would sit down with regional leaders and outline proposals to “put Palestinian voices at the center” of planning next steps for the Gaza Strip after the conflict.The goal, the official said, is to have “a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people” that will ultimately bring together Gaza and the West Bank under unified leadership. Hamas runs the Gaza Strip while the Palestinian Authority administers semi-autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied W...