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Lower gas prices predicted for 2024: Here's why

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

(WDAF) — Lower gas prices: That's the forecast for 2024, offering relief for drivers in the new year. GasBuddy is predicting U.S. drivers will spend, on average, $3.38 per gallon next year. That's 13 cents less than this year's national average. It's also a far cry from where we were two years ago when prices skyrocketed and drivers paid nearly $5 on average nationwide for gas. Rogue wave slams into Southern California beachgoers; 9 hospitalized But what's the reason behind the expected decrease? Experts say the United States is now a powerhouse in oil production, yielding more crude oil than any other country in the world. It gives the country a cushion should something happen — like a hurricane damaging refineries or OPEC cutting its supply — that disrupts oil production. "We continue to mend from things like the pandemic — which brought a lot of imbalances, a lot of very high inflation, which is now slowing down and in some cases going back," said Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy's h...

Single family residence sells in Palo Alto for $3.1 million

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

729 East Charleston Road – Google Street ViewA house located in the 700 block of East Charleston Road in Palo Alto has new owners. The 1,974-square-foot property, built in 1975, was sold on Dec. 7, 2023. The $3,100,000 purchase price works out to $1,570 per square foot. The layout of this single-story home includes three bedrooms and two baths. On the exterior, the home features wood shake roofing / shingles. Inside, there is a fireplace. Additionally, the house features a two-car garage.These nearby houses have also recently been sold:In August 2023, a 1,717-square-foot home on Bibbits Drive in Palo Alto sold for $3,000,000, a price per square foot of $1,747. The home has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.On Charleston Court, Palo Alto, in June 2023, a 3,073-square-foot home was sold for $4,000,000, a price per square foot of $1,302. The home has 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.A 1,482-square-foot home on the 4000 block of Sutherland Drive in Palo Alto sold in November 2023, for $2,750,000, a ...

Elias: California’s groundwater needs to become a priority in Sacramento

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

California has had drought years and wet years, several “years of the woman” and the last few years may well have been called “years of housing increases,” at least in terms of making new laws. Fully 56 such laws passed in 2023.Related ArticlesLocal News | Elias: California’s increased housing units haven’t meant lower rents Local News | Elias: Newsom got what he needed from Fox debate with DeSantis Local News | Elias: California utility bills to rise for decades after PUC’s solar move The state has never had a “groundwater year,” though. Yet few resources are as important or as diminished as the unseen aquifers that sustain everything from apricots to avocados, almonds and asparagus, just to name a few crops.This is not to mention what the aquifers do for millions of city dwellers, who also get substantial parts of their water from underground basins. Drive almost any major highway in the agricultural San Joaquin Val...

Opinion: California’s struggle with homelessness needs congressional help

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

The latest Annual Homelessness Assessment Report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that 653,100 people experienced homelessness on a single night in January, a 12% increase since last year. California counted 181,399 homeless people, the most of any state.These numbers are devastating but expected.Years of research, including efforts from UC San Francisco Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, show homelessness rates are tied to the disconnect between income and housing costs for the lowest-income households. California has only 24 units of housing available and affordable for every 100 extremely low-income households.At the pandemic’s outset in 2020, fears that homelessness would increase dramatically due to economic disruptions led to the federal government releasing unprecedented levels of emergency funding. These included rental assistance, stimulus payments, unemployment assistance and enhanced tax credits for families. Combined with eviction mo...

Ex-student found competent to stand trial for stabbing deaths near UC Davis

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

DAVIS — A former college student accused of stabbing two people to death and wounding a third in Northern California was found competent to stand trial, a prosecutor said Thursday.Carlos Reales Dominguez will return to court on Jan. 5 and criminal proceedings will be reinstated if there isn’t any challenge to his mental state, according to Yolo County assistant chief deputy district attorney Melinda Aiello, the Sacramento Bee reported.Dominguez had been a third-year student at the University of California, Davis majoring in biological sciences until April 25, when he was expelled for academic reasons.Stabbings near campus began shortly after. He is charged in the deaths of a 50-year-old homeless man and a 20-year-old UC Davis student. A homeless woman who was attacked in her tent survived.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Teen charged with involuntary manslaughter, not murder, in East Bay homicide Crime and Public Safety | A skull found near ...

Good Samaritan’s efforts lead to conviction of Northern California child predator

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

On Dec. 21, 2023, a Yolo County jury convicted Jayson Proctor, a 45-year-old Sacramento transient, of one count of communicating with a minor with the intent to commit an illegal sex act and one count of arranging a meeting with a minor to engage in lewd and lascivious behavior.According to a Yolo County District Attorney’s Office press release, Proctor’s behavior was exposed by a good Samaritan behind an online organization known as “People v. Preds.” This organization utilizes decoy profiles on online dating apps and artificial intelligence to pose as minors and engage with predators who are seeking sexual encounters with children.The individual behind the decoy profile documents these conversations and arranges meetings with these predators. That information is then reported to local law enforcement, who respond to the location of the meeting at the designated time to collect evidence and arrest those communicating with the decoy profile.While using a popular dating app, Proctor ...

Bay Area peace groups rally outside Travis assails base’s ‘complicity in genocide’ in Gaza

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

Religious literature tells us that there is a time for war, a time for peace, a time to sow, a time to reap, a time for all things.On Thursday morning it was time for several Bay Area peace groups to rally outside Travis Air Force Base gates to assail the U.S. government’s “complicity in genocide” as the ferocious Israeli siege of Gaza continues.The morning was also was a time for Fairfield police officers and Solano County Sheriff’s deputies to arrest more than a dozen of the estimated 150 protesters who, some time after they assembled at 6 a.m., blocked the north and south gates to the sprawling base just south of Vacaville.Jennifer Brantley, a spokeswoman for the Fairfield Police Department, confirmed in an email that the protest was prompted by the base sending “supplies” to the state of Israel and that protesters blocked off several gates with barricades.Fourteen people were arrested and booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of refusing to disperse during the protest, whi...

Photos: High surf pounds Monterey coast

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

The Carmel Lagoon is being watched as hazards are in the weather mix over the next day or two and rain is in the forecast through Sunday.The County of Monterey reported Thursday evening that the lagoon that had been backed up by high surf had stabilized at about 12 feet and flooding had been contained onto 16th Avenue. The County also reported that pumps would be operating through the night to keep the lagoon water out of the surrounding neighborhoods.County public information officer Maia Carroll said that county crews mobilized on Wednesday afternoon to manage the Carmel Lagoon sandbar by constructing a small pilot channel with hand tools. Another one was dug Thursday evening.Waves batter the coast near Yankee Point Thursday. (Austin Robertson — Special to the Herald)The scene at Carmel River lagoon Thursday. (Austin Robertson — Special to the Herald)The scene at Carmel River lagoon Thursday. (Austin Robertson — Special to the Herald)County of Monterey crews mobi...

Marin’s 10 most expensive home sales of 2023

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

With all the bustle of the holidays, many Marin residents risk being distracted from their normal focus — real estate. Fortunately, there’s help.Data on the top residential sales of the year in the county offer a stimulating reminder of the market’s possibilities.Marin’s 10 most expensive home sales of 2023 cost a collective $144.6 million, according to the county assessor’s office. Six of the homes are in Belvedere, two are in Stinson Beach, one is in Ross and one is in Mill Valley.Butch Haze, a real estate agent who specializes in Marin and San Francisco properties, said the “double-digit” sales this year — meaning $10 million and up — show the health of the market, even in a climate of elevated interest rates and low sales volume.“It’s an indication the market is starting to turn,” he said. “It looks like 2024 is off to a good start. We found a tremendous amount of buyers wanting to wait till next year. It was almost a buyer mantra: Look this year, buy next year.”According to dat...

Photos: Waves batter Santa Cruz County

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:27:58 GMT

 A spectator near Lighthouse Point takes a selfie as massive waves come crashing into the coast Thursday. (Aric Sleeper/Santa Cruz Sentinel) A wave set repeatedly pushes up against the bottom of the Capitola Wharf on Thursday morning. The damaged wharf remained closed and under repair from a series of damaging storms at the beginning of the year. (Jessica A. York — Santa Cruz Sentinel) A man carris a woman through storm debris in the Rio Del Mar neighborhood of Aptos, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023. Powerful surf is rolled onto beaches on the West Coast and Hawaii as a big swell generated by the stormy Pacific Ocean pushes toward shorelines. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)  Related ArticlesWeather | Big surf slams Southern California beaches for exciting end to 2023 Weather | Watch: Monster waves crash into streets, cars, pedestrians along Northern California coast Weather | ‘Smart to stay away:’ High surf slams coast, Ba...