Just eight months after being attacked in state prison, the man convicted of killing Kristin Smart was stabbed by another inmate and hospitalized again. The incident is being investigated as an attempted homicide.
Paul Flores, 47, was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student last seen on campus with Flores more than 25 years ago and was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for first-degree murder.
On Wednesday at 3:27 p.m., staff at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, Calif., witnessed Flores being stabbed by another inmate on the recreation yard, a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
Responding officers quickly put an end to the incident without using force, according to the CDCR. Two inmate-manufactured weapons were recovered from the scene.
An injured Flores was transported to an outside medical facility for a higher level of care. He has since returned to the prison and is in fair condition.
No other staff or incarcerated people were injured.
The person who attacked Flores, whose name was not disclosed, has been placed in restricted housing as the investigation continues, the CDCR said.
The prison’s investigative services unit is looking into the incident, and the Office of the Inspector General has been notified.
CDCR has not released any other details.
The facility did not clarify whether this was the same person who stabbed Flores last August.
In the first attack, Jason Budrow, 43, stabbed Flores in the neck, causing Flores to be hospitalized for two days, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported.
Budrow is serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole for two separate murders, one being the murder of Roger Reece Kibbe, the serial rapist and killer known as the “I-5 Strangler.”
Flores was arrested in connection to Smart’s disappearance in 2021 after San Luis Obispo County resident Chris Lambert released the “Your Own Backyard” podcast series, which unearthed information previously unseen by the local sheriff’s office.
Smart’s body has never been found. Flores was convicted in October 2022 of murder for killing Smart, his classmate, during an attempted rape in his dorm room in May 1996.
Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, could not be reached for comment. KSBY reported that Mesick said he plans to request that Flores be moved to another facility.
But many of its most famous qualities — from the cuisine to the country’s nationwide culture of civility — can initially be befuddling for outsiders too.
To help travelers bridge the cultural gap, CNBC Travel asked frequent visitors for their single best piece of advice when visiting Japan.
“Japanese culture is about respecting your environment and the people around you. Don’t talk on your phone on public transit and in confined areas around other people.
Also, savoring your food is an important show of respect, so don’t eat while walking. Instead, sit down and enjoy each bite.
And be prepared to hold onto your trash around the city while traveling and sightseeing — chances of finding a trash can are slim to none! Locals generally bring a small bag to carry the day’s trash until they get home. Japan is very clean, and you’ll find public bathrooms to be spotless compared to other countries. Basically, try to leave no trace.”
— Tyler Monahan, New Jersey-based assistant golf caddie manager married to a Japanese citizen. He has made three trips to Japan totaling 155 days.
“Trains are exceedingly punctual, so two minutes is a big deal — if it’s not arriving at the exact time, it’s a different train! If you miss a train in a big city like Osaka or Tokyo, another will be there in minutes, so don’t sweat it. In the countryside though, it could be hours, or tomorrow!
Unlike trains in many cities that pull up and allow plenty of time for boarding, trains in Japan arrive and depart quickly. “Two minutes is a big deal,” said architect Henry Rose.
Source: Oliver Horovitz
Also, know the concept of “last train.” The wholetrain scene, both public and private, shuts down roughly between midnight and 5 a.m., which can seem a little early in big cities, so be warned. In rural areas, it can be much earlier. Be prepared to take a cab, or if you’re into it, explore this nocturnal world — perhaps at a jazz club that stays open until the first train starts — which in big cities is an entire economy unto itself.”
— Henry Rose, Seattle-based architect, who has made more than 10 trips to Japan.
“Exchanging ‘meishi’is a glorious, and serious, tradition in Japan. Cards are presented with both hands and a deep bow. It is also one of the most unexpected and fun icebreakers you can use to meet new people.
The author, Oliver Horovitz (right), standing next to a man inspecting Horovitz’s meishi, or business card.
Source: Oliver Horovitz
Get cards printed entirely in Japanese — you can use Google Translate for the translation. The staff at Kinkos — located in all major cities in Japan — will walk you through the whole process. After this, locals will be shocked, and absolutely delighted, that you have meishi for them. During my last trip to Japan, I had 100 cards printed in Kyoto. I handed them out during the rest of the trip, always to smiles.”
— Oliver Horovitz, New York City-based travel writer who has visited Japan three times.
“Bare feet in Japan is a big no-no. Travelers should expect to remove their shoes often in Japan and should always have socks on when they do so. The removal of shoes might even happen in places that are unexpected, like a restaurant.
Travelers can consider tabi socks, a split-toe Japanese sock dating to the 1400s, that are worn with thonged shoes.
Tina Horne | Istock | Getty Images
Also, it is common to have slippers at the entrance to public bathrooms, with the expectation that restroom visitors use these slippers and return them promptly. Be sure to only pack and wear your best (clean and hole-free) socks while in Japan. If you have a collection of fun or interesting socks, wear them in Japan where they can actually be seen and admired!”
— Jolaine Pfeifer, Aspen, Colorado-based school administrator. She has made nine trips to Japan, on top of spending her middle and high school years in Yokosuka.
“Rest assured, the only resemblance these little oases have to their U.S. counterparts is in the name! Stores like 7-Eleven and Lawson are immaculately clean and have just about anything you might need, including a few go-to items that I seek out each time:
A great selection of onigiri, which are sandwich-sized rice triangles wrapped in seaweed and filled with things like salmon, tuna, eggs and pickled plum.
Participants taste onigiri at a product meeting for 7-Eleven Japan in Tokyo on Jan. 23, 2024. Staff and suppliers gathered to discuss flavors, textures and fillings for the Japanese riceballs, one of 7-Eleven’s most important products, with more than 2 billion sold each year.
Noriko Hayashi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The coffee — especially at 7-Eleven. The automated state-of-the-art machines grind the beans and brew some of the best coffee I’ve had, with lots of preference options like temperature, brew strength, milk, sweeteners and flavors.
These little bottles of flavored vitamin C shots called You-C1000, which I greatly appreciated in the winter on Hokkaido backcountry ski adventures. They come in tasty flavors like apple, orange or lemon and are a handy way to get vitamin C daily.”
— Jeffrey Cole, Colorado-based leadership coach, who has made four trips to Japan, spanning the northern island of Hokkaido to the southern island of Miyakojima.
“The language and culture barrier is real, and a local will show you things in places you’d never get to see on your own.
I did this at Tsukiji Fish Market. I’d been there maybe five times before, but finally took a guide with my grandfather, and it was a whole new world. I’ve also done this at Akihabara Electric Town and for lots of culinary tours.”
— Miles Ashton, a Chicago-basedentrepreneur who has made more than 10 trips to Japan, including a nine-month stint living in Tokyo.
“Not only is the layout a blast, with a different department on every level — but the merchandise is extensive and unique. There are 60 stores around the country, and they focus on hobby, home improvement and lifestyle products.
It’s a great place to find affordable, non-touristy gifts. They have the best pens, papers, and organizers, as well as camping supplies — if it’s small, efficient, and practical, they have it!
Tokyu Hands, which has been rebranded to Hands, is famous for selling themed household and beauty novelty items.
Source: Oliver Horovitz
Two of the coolest things I’ve purchased are a collapsible Shoji lamp, and a circular cooler carry case that holds a flower-shaped ice pack for under your hat plus a freezable U-shaped neck ring.”
— Kris Beyer, New York-based owner of Destroyer Park Golf Course. She has made over 20 trips to Japan andlived there as a child and teenager. Kris’ father, Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer, was a famous wrestler in Japan.
Editor’s note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
During my five years as a doctor in Los Angeles County’s jail system, I personally saw hundreds of patients with hepatitis C who were not being treated for the potentially deadly but curable disease. While hepatitis C treatment improved incrementally during my tenure, the system continues to fall woefully short of the sort of concerted effort that could dramatically reduce the toll of the infection within and beyond the jails.
Hepatitis C, a viral, blood-borne liver disease, is very common in the jails. More than a third of inmates tested are positive. That suggests the number of people living with the virus in the nation’s largest jail system is likely in the thousands.
Hepatitis C is new enough to medical science that until the 1980s, it had yet to be formally identified and was known only as “non-A, non-B hepatitis.” Thanks to the marvels of modern molecular biology, it’s now well described, and the available medicines cure almost every patient who takes them.
Untreated hepatitis C nevertheless continues to claim the lives of about 14,000 Americans every year, a higher toll than that of HIV. Because these deaths are preventable, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends universal screening of adults for the infection.
In this context, one might expect medical providers in jail to test for the disease broadly and treat it promptly. Monitoring and managing contagion is important in any correctional medical system, and it’s routine in ours for other diseases, such as tuberculosis and COVID-19.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t what I encountered in practice. All those taken into custody at the jail undergo a medical screening. But it’s usually cursory and doesn’t include an offer to screen for hepatitis C.
When I started treating inmates in 2018, doctors rarely screened for the disease partly because known cases were almost never treated. The protocol was to consider treating patients only if their disease had progressed to a state of advanced liver fibrosis.
What’s more, getting medication for a patient meant arranging a special police escort for an appointment at the county hospital and then waiting several more weeks for the antiviral pills to be delivered. The entire process took many months and generally discouraged treatment.
I believe the deeper reason for the reluctance to treat hepatitis C in the jails has to do with inertia and finances. The medicines are under patent and expensive.
Nonetheless, the cost has come down rapidly, and poorer states and countries such as Louisiana and Egypt have found it in their budgets to procure the drugs and use them widely. What’s more, treating the disease is cost-effective given the resulting reduction in cirrhosis, liver cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, arthritis and diabetes. In the long run, decreasing the spread of infection will save both dollars and lives.
The county jail system has made some significant strides in recent years. Patients now can qualify for hepatitis C treatment without liver fibrosis. One of the two medications needed to treat the disease has been added to the system’s list of approved drugs, eliminating the need for an outside medical appointment.
Even with these improvements, however, I saw the number of patients being treated increase from close to none to dozens as of last year in a system where hepatitis C cases probably number in the thousands. Screening remains haphazard, and most of the clinicians on staff still are not allowed to initiate treatment even though the drugs are easy to use.
Meanwhile, illicit intravenous drug use and unsterile tattooing remain ubiquitous among inmates, helping the virus readily find new hosts. These conditions mean that the hepatitis C virus continues to thrive behind bars, more likely to spread in L.A.’s jails than be cured there — a shameful state of affairs in 2024.
Once in a generation, a major pathogen finds itself on history’s chopping block. My parents remember the polio scares of the 1940s and ’50s. Smallpox plagued humankind for millennia before it was eradicated in the 1970s. Now it should be hepatitis C’s turn.
Any campaign to eliminate hepatitis C from Los Angeles would be wise to concentrate on our jails. A strategic, coordinated plan of testing and treatment would lower infection levels rapidly in months, reducing disease inside and outside the jails. The continuing failure to undertake such an effort is deadly and unconscionable.
Mark Bunin Benor is a family physician who worked in the Los Angeles County jail system from 2018 to 2023.
Entrepreneur and model Karlie Koss, together with her husband, billionaire investor Joshua Kushner, is bringing LIFE back to life, more than two decades after the more than century-old iconic photo magazine ceased regular publication.
Kloss and Kushner’s Bedford Media on Thursday announced a deal to bring LIFE Magazine back to print and digital distribution, as part of an agreement with Dotdash Meredith to relaunch LIFE as a publication on a regular cadence and vibrant media property. IAC formed Dotdash Meredith after the it bought Meredith was acquired by for $2.7 billion coming after Meredith had acquired Time Inc. (the previous owner of LIFE).
The deal for LIFE comes after Bedford Media acquired fashion publication i-D Magazine from the ailing Vice Media Group. Kushner is the founder of venture-capital firm Thrive Capital and younger brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser.
Terms of the deal between Bedford Media and Dotdash Meredith were not disclosed. Bedford will manage the full operations for the new LIFE Magazine, including editorial strategy, revenue and media initiatives. Dotdash Meredith will continue to own the full rights to the LIFE photography and content archives dating back to the 1930s and will also continue to publish its single-topic special interest magazines for the LIFE brand available on newsstands.
“We see LIFE as an uplifting and unifying voice in a chaotic media landscape,” Kloss, CEO of Bedford Media, said in a statement. “While Bedford is a new media company, we are deeply inspired by LIFE’s iconic legacy and ability to connect diverse audiences with universal narratives of humanity.”
Kushner, who is taking the role of publisher of LIFE Magazine, commented: “LIFE’s legacy lies in its ability to blend culture, current events, and everyday life — highlighting the triumphs, challenges, and unique perspectives that define us.”
LIFE launched in 1883 and published a popular weekly magazine until previous owner Time Inc. shut it down in 1972. LIFE was resurrected in 1978 before Tim Inc. suspended regular publication in 2000.
Bedford Media describes itself as “a media holding company focused on artisanal storytelling, authenticity and shared cultural resonance. Blending iconic brands with new ways of doing business and reaching audiences, the company’s strategy banks away from ubiquity and reach toward quality and depth.”
A man trying to rescue a neighbor from a violent assault in a Westminster apartment complex was stabbed to death early Saturday morning, authorities said.
Alvaro Martin-Perez, 48, was trying to intervene in a dispute between roommates when he was fatally stabbed, according to Westminster Police Sgt. Jerad Kent.
“Mr. Perez’s actions were nothing less than heroic,” Westminster Police Chief Darin Lenyi said in a statement. “Tragically, his efforts to protect his neighbor cost him his life.”
A suspect was arrested after he was detained by other neighbors.
“I’m sure there are a lot of grieving families in those apartments today,” Kent said.
About 1 a.m, Westminster police officers responded to reports of a stabbing in the small 1980s-era apartment complex in the 7300 block of 21st Street. Upon their arrival, they found several apartment residents holding down the suspect, whom police identified as Isaias Saquic-Saquic, 35, of Westminster.
“The investigation revealed that there had been an argument between Saquic-Saquic and one of his roommates, which escalated into a physical altercation,” Kent said. Saquic-Saquic is suspected of stabbing his roommate multiple times with a knife, Kent said.
During the altercation Kent said that Martin-Perez “attempted to help the victim outside of the apartment and was stabbed repeatedly.”
Other neighbors were able to disarm the suspect and hold him down until officers arrived, Kent said.
The injured roommate, who was not identified, was transferred to a hospital, where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Saquic-Saquic was being held in Orange County Jail on suspicion of one count of murder and one count of attempted murder, Kent said.
“I have no doubt his bravery saved the life of others in the area,” Lenyi said of Martin-Perez. “On behalf of the members of the Westminster Police Department, we extend our deepest condolences to the victim’s family.”
SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.
The network is being built by SpaceX’s Starshield business unit under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, the sources said.
The plans show the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in U.S. intelligence and military projects and illustrate a deeper Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.
If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.
The contract signals growing trust by the intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February the existence of a $1.8 billion classified Starshield contract with an unknown intelligence agency without detailing the purposes of the program.
Reuters reporting discloses for the first time that the SpaceX contract is for a powerful new spy system with hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits, and that the spy agency that Musk’s company is working with is the NRO.
Reuters was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online and could not establish what other companies are part of the program with their own contracts.
SpaceX, the world’s largest satellite operator, did not respond to several requests for comment about the contract, its role in it and details on satellite launches. The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the NRO and SpaceX.
In a statement, the NRO acknowledged its mission to develop a sophisticated satellite system and its partnerships with other government agencies, companies, research institutions and nations, but declined to comment on Reuters’ findings about the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in the effort.
“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” a spokesperson said.
The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with U.S. intelligence and military officials, the sources said. In principle, that would enable the U.S. government to quickly capture continuous imagery of activities on the ground nearly anywhere on the globe, aiding intelligence and military operations, they added.
Roughly a dozen prototypes have been launched since 2020, among other satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, three of the sources said.
A U.S. government database of objects in orbit shows several SpaceX missions having deployed satellites that neither the company nor the government have ever acknowledged. Two sources confirmed those to be prototypes for the Starshield network.
All the sources asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss the U.S. government program.
The Pentagon is already a big SpaceX customer, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads into space. Starshield’s first prototype satellite, launched in 2020, was part of a separate, roughly $200 million contract that helped position SpaceX for the subsequent $1.8 billion award, one of the sources said.
The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide near-global internet to consumers, companies and government agencies.
The classified constellation of spy satellites represents one of the U.S. government’s most sought-after capabilities in space because it is designed to offer the most persistent, pervasive and rapid coverage of activities on Earth.
“No one can hide,” one of the sources said of the system’s potential capability, when describing the network’s reach.
Musk, also the founder and CEO of Tesla and owner of social media company X (formerly Twitter), has driven innovation in space but has caused frustration among some officials in the Biden administration because of his past control of Starlink in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s military uses it for secure communications in the conflict with Russia. That authority over Starlink in a war zone by Musk, and not the U.S. military, created tension between him and the U.S. government.
A series of Reuters’ stories has detailed how Musk’s manufacturing operations, including at SpaceX, have harmed consumers and workers.
The Starshield network is part of intensifying competition between the U.S. and its rivals to become the dominant military power in space, in part by expanding spy satellite systems away from bulky, expensive spacecraft at higher orbits. Instead a vast, low-orbiting network can provide quicker and near-constant imaging of the Earth.
China also plans to start building its own satellite constellations, and the Pentagon has warned of space weapon threats from Russia, which could be capable of disabling entire satellite networks.
Starshield aims to be more resilient to attacks from sophisticated space powers.
The network is also intended to greatly expand the U.S. government’s remote-sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with imaging sensors, as well as a greater number of relay satellites that pass the imaging data and other communications across the network using inter-satellite lasers, two of the sources said.
The NRO includes personnel from the U.S. Space Force and CIA and provides classified satellite imagery for the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies.
The spy satellites will house sensors provided by another company, three of the sources said.
Former President Donald Trump, perhaps threatened by President Joe Biden’s well-received State of the Union address, mocked his opponent’s lifelong stutter at a rally in Georgia yesterday. “Wasn’t it—didn’t it bring us together?” Trump asked sarcastically. He kept the bit going, slipping into a Biden caricature. “‘I’m gonna bring the country tuh-tuh-tuh-together,’” Trump said, straining and narrowing his mouth for comedic effect.
Trump has made a new habit of this. “‘He’s a threat to d-d-democracy,’” Trump said in his vaudeville Biden character at a January rally in Iowa. That jibe was also a response to a big Biden speech—one tied to the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. (Guess who the he was in that sentence.)
More than Trump’s ugly taunt, one thing stands out to me about these moments: the sound of Trump’s supporters laughing right along with him. This is a building block of Trumpism. The man at the top gives his followers permission to be the worst version of themselves.
I was on my way to meet friends last night when someone texted me a link to Trump’s latest fake-stuttering clip. I am a lifelong stutterer, and as I rode the subway, holding my phone up to my ear, out came that old familiar mockery—like Adam Sandler in Billy Madison saying, “Tuh-tuh-tuh-today, junior!” Only this time the taunt was coming from a 77-year-old man.
Stuttering is one of many disabilities to have entered Trump’s crosshairs. In 2015, he infamously made fun of a New York Times reporter’s disabled upper-body movements. Three years later, as president, when planning a White House event for military veterans, he asked his staff not to include amputees wounded in combat, saying, “Nobody wants to see that.” Stuttering is a neurological disorder that affects roughly 3 million Americans. Biden has stuttered since childhood. He has worked to manage his disfluent speech for decades, but, contrary to the story he tells about his life, he has never fully “beat” it.
As I noted in 2019 when I first wrote about Biden’s relationship to his stutter, living with this disorder is by no means a quest for pity. And having a stutter is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for any verbal flub. Sometimes, when Biden mixes up a name, date, or fact, he is doing just that: making a mistake, and his stutter is not the reason. I am among those who believe the balance of Biden’s stuttering to non-stuttering-related verbal issues has shifted since I interviewed him five years ago.
And yet, Biden can still come off confident, conversational, and lucid. Although he’s not a naturally gifted orator like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, he can still be an effective public speaker—someone who, as my colleague Jennifer Senior noted, understands “the connect.” Notably, he can find a way to do all of the above while still periodically stuttering, as he proved during his State of the Union speech. Depending on the day, his voice might be booming or it might be shaky. He may go long stretches of time without interruption, or visibly and audibly repeat certain sounds in a classic stutter formation. Such moments are outside of Biden’s control, as they are for any stutterer, which makes them an appealing pressure point for Trump, the bully.
For a time, Trump exercised a modicum of restraint around this topic. As I once wrote, Trump was probably wise enough to realize that, to paraphrase Michael Jordan, Republicans stutter too. (Including Trump’s friend Herschel Walker, who has his place on the Stuttering Foundation’s website, along with Biden.) During the 2020 election, Trump wouldn’t go right for the jugular with the S-word. Instead, at his final campaign events, he would play a sizzle reel of Biden’s vocal stumbles, looking up at the screen and laughing at Biden along with the crowd. Back then, Trump left most of the direct stuttering vitriol to his allies and family. “Joe, can you get it out? Let’s get the words out, Joe,” his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, said at a Women for Trump event. She’s now RNC co-chair.
Watching this new clip brought me back to my conversation with Biden five years ago. At the time, I asked him whether he thought Trump would one day nickname him “St-St-St-Stuttering Joe.” If Trump were to go there, Biden told me, “it’ll just expose him for what he is.”
Trump has now definitively gone there. What has that exposed? Only what we already knew: Trump may be among the most famous and powerful people in modern history, but he remains a small-minded bully. He mocks Biden’s disability because he believes the voters will reward him for it—that there is more to be gained than lost by dehumanizing his rival and the millions of other Americans who stutter, or who go through life managing other disorders and disabilities. I would like to believe that more people are repulsed than entertained, and that Trump has made a grave miscalculation. We have eight more months of this until we find out.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Tuesday that a closed-door deal for Taylor Swift to perform in the city-state ensured she would not perform in other Southeast Asian countries during her Eras tour.
“(Our) agencies negotiated an arrangement with her to come to Singapore and perform and to make Singapore her only stop in Southeast Asia,” he said at a press conference at a regional summit in Melbourne, according to Reuters.
The statement is the first confirmation from the city-state that the agreement for Swift to perform in Singapore contained exclusivity terms preventing her from performing in other countries.
On Monday, Edwin Tong, Singapore’s minister for culture, community and youth, declined to answer this question twice during a parliamentary session.
He also did not reveal the size of the grant to Swift, but stated the amount is “not anywhere as high as speculated.”
“Due to business confidentiality reasons, we cannot reveal the specific size of the grant or the conditions of the grant,” he said.
The issue gained prominence on Feb. 16 when Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin alleged Singapore gave Swift’s team between $2 million and $3 million per show, in exchange for not performing in other regional cities, according to The Bangkok Post.
The payment of a grant to Swift’s promoters has become a diplomatic thorn for Singapore, prompting criticism from neighboring countries for brokering a deal that shut them out from the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Member of the Philippine House of Representatives Joey Salceda said this “isn’t what good neighbors do” and added that such agreements are contrary to ASEAN principles, according to local media.
Lee on Tuesday disputed this characterization, saying, “It has turned out to be a very successful arrangement. I don’t see that as being unfriendly.”
Taylor Swift performs at Singapore’s National Stadium on March 2, 2024. Singapore and Tokyo are the only stops Swift is making in Asia during her global Eras tour.
Ashok Kumar/tas24 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
During her first three concerts in Singapore, Swift asked her audience to applaud — first the locals, then those who had traveled from overseas to come to the show. In every instance, the applause of travelers was far louder.
Average daily rates at hotels in Singapore rose from $256 to $400 this week, with bookings up 92% from travelers coming from Malaysia, 111% from Thailand and 189% from Indonesia, according to the travel software company RateGain.
Swift’s tour prior to Eras, her Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, included only one stop in Asia — Tokyo.
But her previous tours — Speak Now, Red and 1989 tours — included stops in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia.
Singapore’s agreement has sparked a debate on whether this is just smart dealmaking or greed.
“It certainly was a bold, shrewd strategic move for Singapore,” said Selena Oh, a Singapore-based communications director.
But others say a winner-takes-all mentality harms regional tourism industries, which are still recovering from the pandemic, as well as fans who can’t afford the steep travel prices to see Swift in person.
“Slightly selfish with ONLY Singapore in mind and not the wider region. Clearly [Singapore authorities] aren’t very caring for anyone other [than] themselves,” said Christian de Boer, a Cambodia-based hotel managing director.
You have to make your calculations and work out what’s in Singapore and Singaporeans’ best interest.”
Edwin Tong
Singapore Minister for Culture, Community and Youth
Some liken the deal to how cities vie to host major sports events, such as the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the World Cup.
“Did anyone protest when F1 decided to come to Singapore? Is anyone pretending that there were no monetary or other material considerations?” said Irene Hoe, a Singapore-based editorial consultant.
Concerts — which see artists traveling from city to city to reach their fans — haven’t always been this competitive.
But that may be changing as experience-led tourism pushes concerts into money-making juggernauts, with fans willing to travel across continents to see their favorite artists.
During Monday’s Parliamentary session, Singaporean politician Gerald Giam asked Tong whether the Singapore government negotiated to make the island Taylor Swift’s only “blank space” in Southeast Asia, referencing her smash hit of the same name.
“And did it realize that this may be perceived by some of our neighbors as being mean?” he asked.
Tong replied, “You have to make your calculations and work out what’s in Singapore and Singaporeans‘ best interest.”
United Airlines planes at Denver International Airport.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC
United Airlines is raising the price to check bags, becoming the latest carrier this year to hike a fee that generated more than $5 billion for airlines in the first nine months of 2023 alone.
United economy passengers who book domestic tickets starting Feb. 24 will pay $40 for a first checked bag, or $35 if they prepay online at least 24 hours before their flight, an increase of $5. A second checked bag will cost $50 at the airport, or $45 in advance, up $5 for both options.
The changes apply to most flights throughout North America, a United spokeswoman said.
In 2020, United raised the price to check a bag at the airport by $5 to $35 but kept it steady at $30 if travelers paid for the service in advance.
Certain credit card holders, frequent flyers with elite status, active military and travelers in top-tier classes can still check a bag for free, United said.
Earlier this week, American Airlinesraised its fee to check a first bag on domestic flights to $35 if purchased in advance and $40 at the airport. Both options were previously $30. A second checked bag will go up from $40 to $45.
Airlines and other companies have been grappling with how to grow profits while reining in costs, such as new labor contracts, while pricing power has waned.
JetBlue and Alaska Airlines have also raised bag fees this year.
Broadbent never stopped speaking out about the virus and disease — and Johnson thanked her for her courage.
A leading activist in HIV/AIDS awareness, Broadbent, who was born with HIV, died Wednesday at age 39, her father said in a Facebook post. The cause of death was not specified.
“With great sadness, I must inform you all that our beloved friend, mentor and daughter Hydeia, passed away today after living with AIDS since birth,” Loren Broadbent wrote. “Despite facing numerous challenges throughout her life, Hydeia remained determined to spread hope and positivity through education around HIV/AIDS.”
Johnson took to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday to pay tribute to his longtime friend. His post included a video clip of their interaction on “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” as well as photos of the two of them together in the years since then.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, left, Hydeia Broadbent and Magic Johnson attend the premiere of ESPN Films’ “The Announcement” on March 6, 2011, in Los Angeles.
(Joe Kohen / Associated Press Images For Aids Healthcare Foundation)
“I’m devastated to hear about the passing of an incredible young woman, activist and hero Hydeia Broadbent,” Johnson wrote. “In 1992, I did a Nickelodeon special called ‘A Conversation with Magic’, and 7-year-old Hydeia and I made an incredible impact. Hydeia changed the world with her bravery, speaking about how living with HIV affected her life since birth. She dedicated her life to activism and became a change agent in the HIV/AIDS fight.
“By speaking out at such a young age, she helped so many people, young and old, because she wasn’t afraid to share her story and allowed everyone to see that those living with HIV and AIDS were everyday people and should be treated with respect. Thanks to Hydeia, millions were educated, stigmas were broken, and attitudes about HIV/AIDs were changed. We will miss her powerful voice in this world. Cookie and I are praying for the Broadbent family and everyone that knew and loved Hydeia.”
Broadbent was abandoned as a newborn at a Las Vegas hospital and adopted by her parents, Loren and Patricia, as an infant. They didn’t know that Broadbent was born with HIV until she got seriously ill at 3. At that age, she was diagnosed as HIV-positive, and two years later, the virus developed into AIDS. Her biological mother was an intravenous drug addict.
Broadbent’s public speaking career began when she was 6. Soon after, in March 1992, Broadbent was one of 13 children who appeared with Johnson and Ellerbee on Nickelodeon after Johnson shocked the world with his HIV announcement in November 1991.
Broadbent was one of two children who raised their hands when Ellerbe asked if any of them were HIV-positive. Her “normal people” comment was the only sentence she uttered during the program.
Immediately after speaking, Broadbent started wiping away tears, then broke down sobbing. Johnson rubbed her back and spoke to her in a soothing tone.
“You don’t have to cry,” he said. “‘Cause we are normal people. OK? We are. You just wanna be treated like that, right? You just want your friends to play with you? And call you up and come by and still have sleepovers and things like that? Right? Yeah. And it’s OK to cry, it’s OK to cry. You know, I think that you — with this program I feel that we’ll be able to educate all your friends and everybody else.”
Broadbent would end up having plenty more to say over the next 32 years.
At age 11, she told Oprah Winfrey the worst part of having HIV/AIDS was “when your friends die.” Speaking at the 1996 Republican National Convention, a 12-year-old Broadbent said, “I am the future, and I have AIDS.”
AIDS activist Mary Fisher kisses 12-year-old Hydeia Broadbent as they address the evening session of the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego.
(Ron Edmonds / Associated Press)
Broadbent continued her advocacy as an adult — making appearances, doing interviews and giving lectures. She also worked with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation on several AIDS advocacy and awareness campaigns, riding on the foundation’s float in the 2013 Rose Parade and appearing in AHF’s “God Loves Me” billboard campaign.
“I try to tell it as real as I can, that this isn’t a disease they want,” Broadbent told CNN in 2012. “The current generation, they don’t know the reality of HIV/AIDS. They look at me and Magic Johnson and think you can pop a pill and be OK. They don’t know the seriousness of the disease. They don’t know the side effects of the medicine. They don’t know the financial realities of the situation.
Sea otters are terminally cute critters and a delight to view rolling and diving in the kelp canopy of Monterey Bay, where some 3,000 endangered southern otters play an essential role in maintaining the marine kelp forest. But to crabs, clams, abalone, urchins and some fishermen, sea otters are voracious marine weasels that can eat 25% of their body weight a day — a perceived threat to life and livelihood.
That’s why some lively debates were launched at 16 open houses put on by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year to get public input on, as the invitation put it, the “potential reintroduction of sea otters to their historic range,” including Oregon and Northern California, a decision that is expected to be made this year.
In 2020, the service was directed by Congress to study the feasibility and cost of otter repopulation in part because of fear that an oil spill or other incident could wipe out the group concentrated around Monterey Bay. In September 2023, U.S. Fish and Wildlife rejected a fishing industry petition to remove otters’ threatened status under the Endangered Species Act because the California population has failed to grow significantly in recent decades.
There was an added incentive to keep the protection in place: the ongoing marine havoc linked to climate change. An algal bloom off the Central California coast killed hundreds of sea lions and dolphins last summer, multiple “red tides” have invaded San Francisco Bay and nearly 95% of Northern California’s kelp forest has been decimated by small purple sea urchins whose primary predator (with the sea otter out of the picture) — the sunflower sea star, or starfish — has largely died off from a wasting disease caused or exacerbated by warming ocean temperatures.
Once upon a time, vast rafts of hundreds of thousands of sea otters filled the coastal waters of the north Pacific Rim, from Baja to Japan, until they were driven to near extinction by Captain Cook and other 18th and 19th century British, Russian and American fur-trade hunters, who killed “sea beavers” to supply the Chinese imperial court with luxurious otter fur. Remnant populations were protected starting in 1911. In California in the early 1960s, survivors from around Big Sur recolonized Monterey Bay, feasting on urchins that eat kelp and revitalizing the kelp forest. A small group has even migrated south close to Santa Barbara.
Now environmentalists in Oregon and California, and several Indigenous groups, including the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians in Sonoma County, are mobilizing in support of an attempt to restore otters where they’ve long been absent, including San Francisco Bay. Fishermen are not so sanguine.
At the Bodega Bay open house, an abalone diver, Doug Jung, summarized fishermen’s worries succinctly: Wouldn’t reintroduced otters “strip mine the ocean”?
Dick Ogg, a longtime fisherman, was more specific. “The potential for impact,” he said, “can’t be quantified. If they eat the juvenile crab, that could be a big deal. Dungeness crab is our No. 1 fishery.”
There was no California salmon season in 2023 because of the long drought that preceded last winter’s torrential rains, and the 2024 season is still in question. As for recreational abalone diving on the North Coast, it’s been shut down since the kelp forest collapsed (commercial abalone diving was banned long ago). Things are precarious all around for West Coast commercial fishermen, who worry about maintaining their working waterfronts.
“I still think nature will do its own work,” Ogg told the Fish and Wildlife representatives in Bodega Bay. “I wouldn’t be bothered if [otters] recolonized on their own.”
But natural repopulation from the Golden Gate north isn’t likely. With the decline of protective coastal kelp and a now-healthy population of white sharks in the region’s waters, migrating otters stand a good chance of becoming great white snack food. But with human assistance, the reintroduction of otters could bypass the gauntlet.
If the effort succeeded, the impact on fishing might not be what is feared.
A 2020 study in the journal Science found that Canada’s reintroduction of sea otters in British Columbia not only generated $42 million from otter-loving tourists but also added $9 million to the commercial fishery thanks to its restoration of kelp habitat for lingcod and other species. Alaska, where released sea otters helped repopulate the coastal waters in the 1960s, now has both the largest number of otters and the most productive commercial fishery in the U.S.
“The sea otter could very well be the salvation for … catching fish in the years ahead if we can rebuild and repair a healthy ecosystem,” suggests Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), whose congressional district includes the entire coast north of San Francisco.
In Oregon and Northern California, there is hope that the cascading imbalances human have caused — exterminated otters, sick sea stars, disappearing abalone — can begin to be set straight, and that the kelp forest habitat, rich in marine life and a buffer against torrential storms, can recover.
And yes, we need to restore many more creatures in many more habitats and ecosystems. Maybe an adorable marine weasel can motivate that, too.
David Helvarg is executive director of Blue Frontier, an ocean policy group, and co-host of “Rising Tide: The Ocean Podcast.”
After nearly four years, the Eastern & Oriental Express is back on the rails. Â Â Â
The train, which is operated by the luxury travel company Belmond, this week welcomed its first set of passengers since it stopped running as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Â Â
The luxury train has been operating in Southeast Asia since 1993, when it first began shuttling travelers between Singapore and Bangkok. Â
Several key elements about the train have changed, however, including its route.
Now Thailand is out, replaced with two new journeys, which start and end in Singapore and explore different sides of Malaysia.
Arnaud Champenois, Belmond’s senior vice president of marketing and brand, told CNBC this is because travelers have changed in the past four years, with more preferring to explore destinations on a deeper level.
“The idea was to focus on one country here and to offer two different routes. So on the West Coast, we go through Singapore to Penang, and then Langkawi. And then on the other one, we go on the national park of Malaysia to really kind of get the jungle and the natural feel.”
The new routes are seasonal, with the “Essence of Malaysia” running from November to February, and “Wild Malaysia” from March to October.
The E&O’s new routes
“Essence of Malaysia” â passes through Kuala Lumpur, before reaching the islands of Langkawi and Penang
As a result of the new route, the train has received a Malay-inspired revamp, from the cabin interiors to the food. Dinner and afternoon tea service were created by Andre Chiang, the celebrated Taiwanese chef behind Singapore’s two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Andre, which closed in 2018.
Rates for four-day, three-night journeys start from$3,410 per person, which includes meals, beverages and scheduled activities.
This is less expensive than other trains that use versions of the “Orient Express” name, including the Belmond’s Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, which has run routes through Europe since 1982. Prices start from £3,530 ($4,430) per person for a one-night trip in a historic cabin, according to its website. Â
Accor’s “Orient Express La Dolce Vita” trains, which are set to start operating in 2024, are priced at â¬2,500 euros ($2,686) per person per night for a deluxe cabin, according to a press release. Travelers can pre-register for trips that mostly operate in Italy, according to its website.
Rates for Accor’s La Dolce Vita trains have increased since pre-booking first opened in December 2022, with stated rates then priced at 2,000 euros ($2,153) per person per night.
Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney star in Sony’s “Anyone But You.”
Sony
Released just before the crowded Christmas movie season, Sony’s “Anyone But You” seemed destined to be anything but a box-office hit â especially after it tallied just $6 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend.
However, the film’s box-office success was as much of a slow burn as the romance between its main characters played by rising stars Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.
In the seven weeks since, the romantic comedy has tallied $170 million globally, including $80 million from domestic theaters, according to data from Comscore. The film had a reported budget of just $25 million.
A sleeper hit at the box office, the film is a “healthy sign” for the romantic comedy genre and other mid-budget Hollywood flicks, said Scott Meslow, author of “From Hollywood With Love: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Romantic Comedy.” But it remains to be seen if other rom-coms can repeat its success.
As studios chased big-budget superhero flicks after the success of Marvel’s interconnected cinematic universe, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy and DC Studios’ “Man of Steel,” the rom-com found itself on the cutting room floor â and then as padding for streaming services.
Between 2004 and 2010, Hollywood consistently released between 15 and 25 romantic comedy or romance films each year. But from 2011 through last year, there were less than 15 new rom-com or romance releases per year, with most years falling below 10.
Meslow said there was no rom-com “kill shot,” a film or series of films that sparked the decline in theatrical releases of the genre.
Instead, it came after media companies changed their priorities.
“Studios are, at the end of the day, businesses,” Will Gluck, the writer-director of “Anything But You” and the filmmaker behind “Easy A” and “Friends with Benefits,” told CNBC. “So, if they start to see a certain thing is successful, they’re going to try to replicate that success. So, I don’t think there’s an inherent bias against rom-coms and comedies.”
Studios saw action or superhero movies with $200 million budgets and billions in box-office returns as a priority over smaller-budget films, which may have been profitable, but less so in comparison. Now, as superheroes fall out of favor and Wall Street wants to see profitability from direct-to-consumer streaming platforms, the romantic comedy genre is poised for a comeback.
Gluck’s “Anyone But You” proves audiences will still turn up for romantic comedies in theaters.
The film’s performance builds on the success of two rom-coms from 2022. Paramount’s “The Lost City” generated nearly $200 million at the global box office on a budget of under $75 million. Universal’s “Ticket to Paradise” snared nearly $170 million globally on a budget of $60 million.
While “Anyone But You” had a slow start at the box office, ticket sales increased in both its second and third weekend in theaters. And when sales started to dip, they fell just 27% or less in each of the next five weeks. Typically, films will see sales drop around 50% to 70% in each week after their opening weekend.
Gluck attributes much of the film’s box-office popularity to word of mouth and the power of TikTok.
In the wake of its release, users on the social media platform began making short videos of themselves singing and dancing to Natasha Bedingfield’s 2004 single “Unwritten.” The song is featured in the film, and cast and crew are seen singing and dancing to it during the final credits.
“It would not surprise me at all if this became a textbook case of modern Hollywood marketing,” Meslow said. “It’s really harnessed TikTok and the stars’ presence on it better than probably any movie ever released.”
Hollywood will now find out if “Anyone But You” is a unicorn or a replicable theatrical strategy. The film benefited from several key factors, including a blockbuster-free January and limited direct competition.
But the industry is already leaning into a strategy that relies on potential sleeper hits like “Anyone But You.”
Major studios have pledged to bring more mid-budget films back to theaters. Those movies are able to fill the gaps between large tentpole features and provide consistent box-office dollars. More films also means more chances for studios to advertise future releases to the public.
While some films will still be released only on streaming platforms, Hollywood has rediscovered the importance of theatrical as part of overall downstream revenue. A film’s debut in theaters creates buzz and a sense of quality that follows it through on-demand sales and onto streaming platforms.
Notably, Sony’s “No Hard Feelings,” which tallied $83.8 million globally in 2023 on a budget of $45 million, became a top-streaming film on Netflix when it was released on the platform in October.
Gluck, who enjoys taking on a wide variety of projects, expects he will continue to write and direct films like “Anyone But You” going forward.
“I think I’d rather take a gamble on a mid- to low-budget movie than a $200 million movie,” Gluck said. “Because my whole career has been mid-level budget movies. But to me, the fun part is always outperforming. It is always great when the expectations are low … it’s just it’s really fun to be written off and outperform.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
PLAINFIELD, Ill. — A Plainfield man accused in a violent attack against his girlfriend is facing a handful of charges, according to Joliet police.
Officers say 52-year-old Jonah Madia has been charged with domestic battery, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, unlawful possession of ammunition, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated discharge of a firearm, endangering the life or health of a child, manufacture and delivery of cannabis, possession of cannabis, and possession of explosives.
Authorities say the charges were handed down after Madia allegedly beat his girlfriend and threatened to shoot her at a home in Plainfield on Friday night.
Joliet police say officers were first called to the home in the 6300 block of Clifton Court, just before 9 p.m., after reports of a loud disturbance.
Officers say when they arrived on the scene, they were let into the two-story home by a 6-year-old child and after entering the residence, officers immediately heard a disturbance on the second floor.
Officers say they went upstairs and found Madia in a bedroom of the home where he was detained. His 38-year-old girlfriend was then located in another bedroom.
According to police, an investigation then revealed that Madia had allegedly grown angry with his girlfriend, grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against a wall several times, causing her to fall to the floor.
Authorities say following the alleged attack, it is believed that Madia allegedly retrieved a gun from a bedroom and pointed it at the woman while threatening to shoot her. He then allegedly fired the gun two times into the bathroom floor and once into the bedroom floor.
Officers say the woman was not struck by gunfire.
Following an investigation, officers say they retrieved a loaded gun from the bedroom.
While taking Madia into custody, authorities say they spotted suspected cannabis and narcotics in the home.
After securing a search warrant, detectives searched the home early Saturday morning and allegedly recovered over 800 grams of suspected cannabis, suspected LSD, commercial-grade fireworks and ammunition.
Authorities have not provided details on how the child is related to the suspect or the victim.
The Pokémon Company’s life-size Psyduck is back. It’s up for preorder on The Pokémon Center United States-based store, just weeks after it was restocked on the Japanese site. The Pokémon Company originally released its 31-inch Psyduck plush back in 2020, a blessing to Pokémon fans during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. It’s been back in stock a few times before, and here it is again, with perfect timing with Netflix’s Pokémon Concierge, starring Psyduck.
Psyduck remains exactly the same as it was then, both stunning and perpetually stunned by its chronic headaches. (Psyduck is a migraine-haver’s icon.) Psyduck measures 31 inches in its Pokédex entry, making the big yellow duck true to life. The only problem is that it’s $324.99 — $45 more expensive than it was in 2020. That’s inflation for you.
The good news, though, is that you now can read user reviews to tell you how awesome owning a life-size Psyduck is:
Words cannot express how pleased I am with this massive Psyduck. Truly, massive. I’m thrilled that he finally came back in stock, and I had no qualms about purchasing him this time around. He shows up in random places around the house and it’s always a shock at first when I see him (most definitely he is using his confusion attack) but then a calmness quickly washes over me, and I feel comfort in knowing that he too, is confused all the time. Be aware that the shipping box is quite large, and says Psyduck on the outside, so don’t let him sit unattended for too long or someone else might try to capture him! He is way too rare and precious. Trust me – buy him and you will not regret it!! PS…he looks fantastic in hats.
There are actually two four star reviews out of the total 70 — the rest are top scores. The main gripe is that Psyduck is a little top heavy, so it falls over relatively easily. But for the most part, Psyduck has been worth the purchase for many Pokémon fans:
He is incredibly rotund and looks confused and distressed at all times, it’s like looking into a mirror! I couldn’t bring myself to place Psyduck on the floor so he takes up half my bed instead. A small price to pay for Psyduck to watch over me while I dream about an Appletun plush restock.
Also, Psyduck came in a box that was not discrete at all. Anyone will be able to read in big bold letters that a 31” Psyduck plush is inside so be ready to intercept the package once it is dropped off otherwise Team Rocket might steal him away.
The Pokémon Company expects to start shipping this new batch of yellow ducks in October. If you can’t wait until then but don’t care about what big Pokémon you have, a tall Lucario, big round Spheal, and massive Wailord are all in stock. In the past, The Pokémon Company’s sold big Mareeps, Slowpokes, and Gigantamax Pikachus among several other large dudes.
Pearl Berg, the ninth oldest person in the world and a source of love and wit to her family, has died in Los Angeles at 114.
Berg had many titles including the world’s oldest Jewish person, the third oldest American and the ninth oldest person in the world, according to the Gerontology Research Group.
But to Berg’s family she was everyone’s mother figure, full of wit and sincerity.
“She maybe had a sip of Sabbath wine but she didn’t drink, she didn’t smoke, she ate sensibly, she had good emotional balance and she clearly had remarkable genes,” said Berg’s youngest son, Robert Berg.
Berg died peacefully in her Los Feliz home on Thursday.
Born Oct. 1, 1909, Berg was raised in Pittsburgh, but the Depression decimated her father’s career in the automobile business, which prompted the family to search for a new beginning elsewhere. They moved to Los Angeles and about a week later, Berg met her future husband, Mark Berg.
The couple married in 1931 and later had two children, Dr. Alan Paul Berg and Robert Joel Berg.
Berg’s husband, Mark, was the general manager of his family business, Berg Metals, and later started other companies of which he was the minority shareholder.
National leaders of the industry would have dinner at the Berg residence, but it wasn’t just to talk shop, Robert recalls. It was also to speak with his mother.
“They came because of her scintillating personality, wonderful laughter, repartee, great cooking and particularly her coconut cream cake,” Robert said.
“I mean these are big-time people and she was the secret weapon, I think, to a lot of business success.”
Her husband died in 1989, in the 58th year of their marriage.
Berg’s philanthropic work centered on Nordea Chapter of Hadassah, where she was an active officer and served as president for a few years, and the Sisterhood of Temple Israel of Hollywood, where she was a member.
The Times interviewed Berg in her 110th year of life, during which she actively played bridge, read, ate chocolate and enjoyed the company of family, friends and her team of caregivers.
With every new person she met Berg brought them into the fold of her life. Her only grandchild, Belinda Berg, said her commitment to family was unwavering. When Belinda brought her wife, Kathryn Ramquist, to meet her grandmother, she welcomed the couple with open arms and shortly afterward Berg quietly added “gay and lesbian organizations to her philanthropic list because she wanted to support us in that kind of global way,” Belinda said.
“[Berg] would always say to me, ‘all good things for you’ and I knew deep down she wanted the very best for me, I felt it,” Ramquist said.
The year Berg’s husband died, Robert’s second wife, Vivian Lowery Derryck, said she remembered wanting to share cultural dishes with the family and Berg encouraged her to.
“It was just her natural way of integrating me into the family,” Derryck said.
During the last four years of her life, the family said her body was beginning to slow down but she maintained her wit and her ability to tell a tale.
Rent prices are coming down in some areas, but not at the pace needed to relieve tenants struggling to pay rent.
Half of renters in the U.S. spent more than 30% of their income in 2022 on rent and utilities, according to the new America’s Rental Housing report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
The report considers those who spend 30% or more of their income on housing “rent burdened” or “cost burdened,” which means those high costs may make it difficult for them to meet other essential expenses.
The share of cost-burdened renters increased by 3.2 percentage points from 2019 to 2022.
“Places in the market that need the most relief are at the very low end, and it’s hard to reach those people through market rate supply alone,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, lead author and senior research associate focused on affordable housing at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.
While cost burden has increased across income levels, the consequences are much higher for low-income households, said Airgood-Obrycki.
The average residual income, or the amount of money available after paying for rent and utilities to cover other needs, has significantly dropped for lower earners, the study found.
“It’s a really important part of the conversation because … it makes it more humanizing how big this problem is,” Airgood-Obrycki said.
Renter households with annual incomes below $30,000 had a record-low median residual income of $310 a month in 2022, the Harvard study found. For perspective, a single-person household in even the most affordable counties need about $2,000 a month for non-housing needs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
“The underlying problem is we have a very unaffordable country right now,” she said. “If you go through any sort of life crisis, you’re on the brink of homelessness.”
Most young adults have either stayed at home with their parents or are moving back in because of the cost of living.
Historically, what kept young adults living at home was the lack of a job; today, it’s the lack of affordable housing, according to Susan M. Wachter, a professor of real estate and finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
The share of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 who live at home with parents is almost at 50%, according to a study Wachter co-authored.
That is a result of young adults competing with potential homebuyers, who themselves are being priced out of the single-family housing market.
“They’re competing in a way that they haven’t before,” she said. “The home mortgage market is indirectly causing a huge spillover demand into the rental market, making the rental market not affordable.”
The family of a slain El Monte police officer blames two emergency dispatchers for failing to tell the officer and his partner that they were on their way to confront a possible armed suspect high on PCP before the gunman ambushed and killed them.
The officers were aware of the basics of the call: A woman may have been stabbed by her husband. What the officers were not verbally told was that the suspect had a history of violence with his wife, was armed with a gun and was high on PCP, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Daily News. The incident is still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office.
“Having that information could have allowed them to be aware of the threat that they were facing, potentially even sparing their lives,” Santana’s sister Bianca Santana said Monday outside the El Monte police station during a protest.
Friends and family wore black T-shirts emblazoned with Santana’s face, and his father, Joe Santana, held a sign that read, “My Son’s Life Mattered.” The protesters demanded the Police Department fire the two emergency dispatchers who took the 911 call and relayed the information to the officers in the field.
Paredes and Santana were fatally shot at the hotel in what police describe as an ambush. Flores ended up taking his own life during a shootout with officers in the motel parking lot.
The 911 call that set off the series of events was made by Maria Zepeda, Flores’ mother-in-law, according to an audio recording obtained by the Daily News. Zepeda told the dispatcher that Flores stabbed her daughter and he had recently abused her.
“He’s on PCP. He has a gun,” Zepeda told emergency dispatcher Ruth Bonneau, according to the news outlet.
When the officers got the call shortly before 5 p.m. dispatcher Kristen Juaregui did not relay information about the suspect possibly being armed. But she did enter that information into the call report, which the officers would have read from inside their police cruiser, the Daily News reported. Santana’s family were not aware of those details until the news story broke over the weekend, said Satana’s wife, Sasha Santana.
Santana’s twin 3-year-old boys, Jakob and Joshua, joined their family while carrying protest signs along with their stuffed animals.
“I don’t want anyone else to go through what we go through,” she said, renewing her call for the department to reprimand the dispatchers and terminate their employment. “I do not want them to set foot in another police department. I am angry. My husband would not have been knocking nonchalantly on that hotel door if he was aware of what was going to happen. If he was aware that there was a man in there armed and on PCP.”
Family members said they believe the officers are unfairly being partly blamed for their own deaths, because pertinent details about the 911 call were fed to the officers in a written update while they were racing to the motel. Sasha Santana said that the officers would have not had the time to read that update.
It has felt as though the department has ignored the family’s well-being, Joe Santana said.
“No one came to us and said, ‘We messed up, we’re sorry,’” Joe Santana said as he sobbed in front of the station. “I know my son was new, but he was proud to be part of the El Monte PD family.”
Paredes, 42, was sworn into the El Monte Police Department in 2000. Santana, 31, joined the department about a year before the shooting.
Santana’s family does not condemn all the officers with the Police Department, but believes leadership have concealed vital information that led to the two officers’ deaths.
“We might appear strong as we stand here seeking justice, but internally we are filled with anger and pain,” said Santana’s sister Jessica Santana as her voice broke. “And it’s that pain that fuels us to fight for the truth.”
The shooting and response to the incident is part of an ongoing investigation by the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office, according to a statement from El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher.
“Together we are moving forward as we collectively continue to grieve and recover from the horrific event,” the statement said.
After interviewing witnesses, reviewing police camera footage, reports and call logs, Fisher said, the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s investigators have found there was no “wrongdoing by our police officers or civilian personnel.” But the investigation has not concluded, and it’s unclear when the findings will be made public.
“We fully anticipate this finding to hold and that our D.A. will officially clear all involved officers and close the investigation,” the statement said.
Wyatt Reneer, president of the El Monte Police Officers Assn., attended the protest in support of the Santana family, but also in support of the officers and dispatchers with the department.
“Our dispatchers, our officers, everyone here is doing their job to the best of their ability, and they’re doing the right thing,” Reneer said.
Santana’s mother, Olga Garcia, said: “There has been no worse feeling in my life than losing my son. Learning a year later that there was information he did not have that could have saved his life, information he could have used to protect himself and his partner, it shatters my heart each day that goes by.”
