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Dances With Films is Underway, and More Than Ever, it has Something to Say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

The Summer Film festival known as Dances With Films is once again underway showcasing unique independent cinema with something to say about society. Now in its 26th year, the fest features narrative, documentary, TV, midnight movies and kids films from around the world. Cultural relevance and diversity are big themes this year with an added focus on gender and racial issues. Hoping to showcase new talent and cinematic underdogs, DWF has long had a  “no stars” policy, but they’ve relaxed this in recent years due to the relationships they’ve built and the array of talent that has sought to be a part of it as it’s grown.Despite the writers’ strike and uncertainty in other parts of industry, festivals like DWF solider on, putting the spotlight on the side projects of up and comers working in entertainment and unknowns hoping to break in. As DWF continues today thru this weekend, here’s our picks for standouts on the schedule:Thursday, June 29:Christopher Beatty’s horror-tinged psy...

Deputy acquitted of failing to act during Florida school shooting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

By Terry Spencer | Associated PressFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Florida sheriff’s deputy was acquitted Thursday of felony child neglect and other charges for failing to act during the 2018 Parkland school massacre, concluding the first trial in U.S. history of a law enforcement officer for conduct during an on-campus shooting.Former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson wept as the verdicts were read. The jury had deliberated for 19 hours over four days.After court adjourned, Peterson, his family and friends rushed into a group hug as they whooped, hollered and cried. One of his supporters chased after lead prosecutor Chris Killoran and said something. Killoran turned and snapped at him, “Way to be a good winner” and slapped him on the shoulder. Members of the prosecution team then nudged Killoran out of the courtroom.The campus deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Peterson had been charged with failing to confront shooter Nikolas Cruz during his six-minute a...

San Mateo: Boys and Girls Club supervisor arrested in child sex abuse investigation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

SAN MATEO — A supervisor at a Boys and Girls Club summer program has been arrested on suspicion of having sexual contact with a child as well as possessing child pornography, police announced Thursday.Kevin Granados-Elizalde, 25, of Redwood City, seen without and with glasses, has been arrested by San Mateo police on suspicion of multiple crimes, including contacting a minor to commit a felony, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under fourteen years old, use of an underage person for obscene matter, and possession of child pornography. (Courtesy of San Mateo Police Department) San Mateo police said in a news release that officers were called Wednesday to Fiesta Gardens International School on Bermuda Drive after a parent reported “inappropriate interactions” between her child and a staff member at a Boys and Girls Club program hosted on the school grounds.Police said an ensuing investigation identified 25-year-old Redwood City resident Kevin Granados-Elizald...

'Influencer mom' Katie Sorensen sentenced to Sonoma County jail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

(KRON) -- An Instagram "influencer mom" was sentenced to jail on Thursday for making viral videos about a fake attempted kidnapping.Kathleen "Katie" Sorensen, 30, formerly of Sonoma, falsely claimed a Petaluma couple tried to kidnap her young children while she was shopping in an arts and crafts store. Her Instagram videos went viral in December 2020.Sorensen was previously convicted by a jury of knowingly making a false report of a crime to police.Sonoma County Judge Laura Passaglia presided over Thursday's sentencing hearing. The judge ordered Sorensen to serve 90 days in jail, 60 of which could be served on a work release program.Sorensen was immediately remanded into custody to begin serving her sentence.The judge also placed Sorensen on 12 months of probation, during which time she was ordered to have no social media presence, pay fines, submit to warrantless search and seizure of electronic devices, and complete an implicit bias training class.The couple accused by Sorensen wa...

Pam Moore celebrated as KRON4 names SF studio in her honor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Veteran journalist and evening anchor, Pam Moore, announced her plans to retire earlier this month from KRON4, Nexstar Media Group, Inc.’s broadcast and digital operation in San Francisco (DMA #10).Moore has been anchoring the KRON4 News since March 1991. Her last evening newscast is scheduled for tonight June 29 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. followed by a special focusing on Pam’s legacy in the Bay Area. During her last days in the anchor chair, Moore received heartfelt messages from Bay Area luminaries and national leaders including the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. San Francisco Mayor London Breed proclaimed June 29, 2023, Pam Moore Day in San Francisco and Moore also received a proclamation honoring her service from Oakland City Mayor, Sheng Thao. Tonight, during her final newscast, Moore will be honored by several Bay Area leaders and organizations.“We want all who enter the KRON4 studio to be reminded of the journalistic principles t...

IOC leader Bach quizzed by Ukrainian Olympic athlete on Russia issue for 2024 Paris Games

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — IOC president Thomas Bach was quizzed by a Ukrainian Olympic athlete on Thursday about needing to keep Russians out of the 2024 Paris Games before he went to see the high jump event of another Ukrainian who had criticized him one day earlier.Ukrainian track and field teammates Viktoriia Tkachuk and Yaroslava Mahuchikh came to the International Olympic Committee’s home city of Lausanne in Switzerland for the annual meet in the global Diamond League series.Two-time Olympian Tkachuk was among about 15 athletes who took up the IOC’s invitation to visit its offices and meet Bach, who has this year urged sports bodies to let some Russians with neutral status compete in qualifying events for Paris. He has also criticized Ukraine’s government for trying to stop its athletes competing in the same events as Russians.Tkachuk used the time to give Bach a rare face-to-face meeting with a Ukrainian athlete and “insist on the need to isolate Russia from international competitio...

Tech group sues Arkansas over law requiring parental OK for minors creating social media accounts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A tech industry trade group sued Arkansas on Thursday challenging a new state law that requires parental permission for minors to create social media accounts.NetChoice, a group whose members include Facebook parent Meta, TikTok and Twitter, filed a federal lawsuit over the measure signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in April. The law requires social media companies to contract with third-party vendors to perform age verification checks on new users. The requirement is set to go into effect on Sept. 1.The lawsuit argues that the new requirement violates the constitutional rights of users and singles out types of speech that would be restricted.“S.B. 396 imposes onerous obligations on ‘social media companies’ that severely burden both minors’ and adults’ First Amendment rights to speak, listen, and associate without government interference on the widely used online services that it covers,” the lawsuit said.Arkansas’ law is simi...

6 riders from American contingent could help decide Tour de France

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

The goal for Neilson Powless at the Tour de France starting Saturday is simple: win a stage.He’s certainly capable. So are the other five Americans in the field, and collectively they represent perhaps the strongest contingent of U.S. riders in cycling’s most famous race since the drug-fueled days of Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer.There is Sepp Kuss, the climbing extraordinaire from the Jumbo-Visma squad, who ended a 10-year drought for Americans with a stage win last year and who will try to usher Jonas Vingegaard to back-to-back yellow jerseys; Matteo Jorgenson, who featured in several breakaways a year ago and nearly won a stage himself; new U.S. road race champ Quinn Simmons; Kevin Vermaerke, whose own debut last year was waylaid by a broken collarbone; and Lawson Craddock, back for the first time since 2018.Then there is Powless, the 26-year-old from Florida and the first rider of Native American ancestry to race in the Tour, and who already has won two lower l...

Drone deployed to fight mosquitoes in Southern California

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — A drone flies over a peaceful Southern California marsh and unleashes a rain of larvae-killing bacterial spore pellets. Its target: a surging population of mosquitoes that can spread diseases to humans.The drone is the latest technology deployed by the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District to attack mosquito development in marshes, large ponds and parks.Mosquitoes grow into larvae from eggs laid in water, making proliferation of the biting bugs a major concern after California’s extraordinarily rainy winter.“There’s quite a bit more mosquitoes due to the rain,” said John Savage, who recently operated the drone at San Joaquin Marsh Reserve near the University of California, Irvine. “You can see out here almost every single marsh pond is full of water.”The district sprawling over more than 800 square miles (2,070 square kilometers) south of Los Angeles is reporting that traps are capturing three times the 15-year average number of mosquit...

Grains mostly lower, Livestock higher

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 09:18:41 GMT

Wheat for Jul. was off 2.75 cents at $6.53 a bushel; Jul. corn fell 9 cents at $5.81 a bushel, Jul. oats lost 9.25 cents at 3.6775 a bushel; while Jul. soybeans advanced 32 cents at $14.83 a bushel.Beef and pork were higher on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Jun. live cattle was up .13 cent at $1.7975 a pound; Aug. feeder cattle gained 2.12 cents at $2.4237 a pound; while Jul. lean hogs rose 1.18 cents at $.9545 a pound.Source