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Douglas County school board revises much-debated equity policy

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

A divided Douglas County school board on Tuesday revised the district’s much-debated equity policy, which has been under review after a conservative majority took control of the board last year.The board split 4-2 on its vote to approve the revisions to the policy, which has been in place in Douglas County School District since 2021. A seventh member, Elizabeth Hanson, resigned during the meeting, ahead of the vote, citing the changes as one of the reasons she was stepping down.“I don’t feel I can look our students in the eyes and assure them that this board is doing everything in our power to meet our moral and or legal obligations to make sure that our students have an inclusive and safe learning environment,” Hanson told The Denver Post.During the meeting, board directors made further changes to their proposed revisions. For example, one change that would have removed words such as “unbiased” and “culturally responsive” from a phrase about learning environments was nixed and the ...

Disneyland and Imagineering working with James Cameron on new 'Avatar' experience

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

Walt Disney Imagineering is working with director James Cameron on a new Avatar experience expected to debut at the Disneyland Resort in the future.Disneyland Resort president Ken Potrock provided an update on the new experience during the OC forum event on May 18, the Orange County Register reported.The event, held at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, allowed Disneyland officials to share their plans for Disneyland Forward with Orange County business and city leaders. Disneyland pitches theme park expansion plans to Anaheim neighbors Disneyland Forward is a proposed plan detailing how officials want to update and renovate the Anaheim theme park. The project will include new attractions, shops and restaurants within its existing 490-acre footprint, the Los Angeles Times reported.News of the Avatar experience surprised Disney fans and company officials alike when Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement during a company earnings call in February.Iger made the announcement after th...

A's, Nevada leaders reach tentative ballpark agreement

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Wednesday a tentative agreement with the Oakland Athletics and legislative leaders for a stadium funding plan after weeks of negotiations over how much the state will contribute to a $1.5 billion Las Vegas ballpark, according to a joint statement.The tentative agreement indicates a funding bill will be introduced in the Nevada Legislature in the coming days, giving lawmakers less than two weeks to consider it before the session ends. The threat of a special legislative session looms if lawmakers can’t agree on the terms by June 5. The financing isn't a sure thing either. The announcement is on the heels of the Oakland Athletics’ agreement to use land on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip where the Tropicana Las Vegas casino resort sits — a pivot from an earlier agreement for a stadium nearby that came with a $500 million price tag that many lawmakers signaled was too high.The statement Wednesday didn't speci...

DeSantis-Musk alliance was a year in the making

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

By Steve Contorno | CNNWhen Tesla CEO Elon Musk first mused about buying Twitter in early 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was among the many Republicans publicly cheering on the tech billionaire’s pursuit of a social media platform long viewed by conservatives as hostile to them.But DeSantis pressed further than most GOP officials. Dangling the Florida pension fund’s investments in the company, the governor vowed to turn the country’s third largest state against Twitter’s board if they didn’t sell to Musk.“We’re going to be looking at ways that the state of Florida potentially can be holding these Twitter board of directors accountable for breaching their fiduciary duty,” he said in April 2022. “So stay tuned on that.”Now, a year after DeSantis came to Musk’s aide, the Silicon Valley mogul is returning the favor. DeSantis launched his presidential campaign Wednesday from Twitter with Musk joining the Florida governor for the announcement on the site he now owns after a $44 billion s...

Photos: San Jose State University’s joyous Class of 2023 graduation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

Cheers rang out Wednesday at One Washington Square as San Jose State University held the first of 10 commencements planned for the Class of 2023 this week.The university is conferring diplomas on 7,400 undergraduate and graduate students.Thousands reveled in the pomp and circumstance at the ceremonies that will run through Friday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center on campus. President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, attending her first commencement in that role, spoke and congratulated students.Wednesday’s honorees were graduates from Lucas College and the Graduate School of Business — the largest business school in Silicon Valley — and the College of Health and Human Sciences.Receiving diplomas on Thursday will be graduates of the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering, the College of Science and the Connie L. Lurie College of Education and College of Professional and Global Education. And on Friday, the grads of the College of Social Sciences and College of ...

Broadway show’s creator visits San Jose theater production

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

If you’ve been involved in youth theater in Silicon Valley at all during the past couple of decades, you’re probably familiar with “Starmites” — a sci-fi fantasy musical with a short Broadway run in the late 1980s and now a cult classic around here.Barry Keating, who wrote the show’s music and lyrics and co-wrote its book, has been pleasantly surprised by how much it’s been embraced in the Bay Area. He saw that first-hand last weekend, when he watched two Playful People Productions performances of the show at the Historic Hoover Theatre in San Jose.“I heard about it for a long time because San Jose’s done so many productions of my show,” said Keating, 76. He flew in from Manhattan and took part in two “talk back” sessions before shows featuring older teens and their adult family members as well as chatted with audience members, cast and crew. Indeed, its been a staple for CMT San Jose, Starting Arts, Playful Peo...

Biden trolls DeSantis over glitchy 2024 launch on Twitter Spaces

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

President Biden on Wednesday mocked the issue-laden presidential campaign launch of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), whose attempt to talk about his candidacy on Twitter Spaces was marred by tech problems."This link works," Biden posted on his personal Twitter account, linking to a donation page for his campaign.The tweet came as the conversation that was set to feature DeSantis discussing his brand new campaign with Twitter CEO Elon Musk was beset by audio issues. DeSantis and Musk were supposed to speak on a Twitter Spaces, and hundreds of thousands of people had tuned in to listen.But the audio repeatedly cut out and nobody could be heard for more than a few seconds at a time.David Sacks, who was moderating the conversation, could be heard saying at one point that the number of listeners was "melting the servers."DeSantis's rivals had already questioned why the governor was making his announcement on Twitter Spaces, and they quickly and widely mocked the issues surrounding the laun...

Tech issues plague Musk, DeSantis Twitter Spaces

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) encountered technology problems on Wednesday, as he attempted to announce his 2024 presidential campaign on Twitter Spaces with CEO Elon Musk.Tech entrepreneur David Sacks, who was set to moderate the discussion, said on the call that the vast number of people attempting to join were “melting the servers.” At one point, the Twitter Space showed that there were more than 500,000 users listening in.The call went in and out for more than 20 minutes, before Musk ended the original Twitter Spaces and attempted to begin a new one. DeSantis, who has teased a White House run for months, launched an official campaign video on Twitter shortly before the discussion with Musk was set to begin. The Florida governor filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring his candidacy earlier on Wednesday.

Republican-controlled committee rejects Louisiana bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Bucking the trend of other reliably red states adopting restrictions on young transgender people, a Republican-controlled Louisiana legislative committee voted Wednesday to a kill a bill that would have banned gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Proponents of Louisiana’s failed bill, which would have prohibited hormone treatments, gender-affirming surgery or puberty-blocking drugs for any transgender minor, say they fear that the state could draw minors from surrounding states — where there are bans — seeking gender-affirming health care. Those in Louisiana’s LGBTQ+ community say gender-affirming care in the state is not as easily accessible as conservatives make it seem.The tie-breaking 5-4 vote to kill the bill Wednesday came down to Republican state Sen. Fred Mills, the chairman of the Senate’s Health and Welfare Committee. After nearly three hours of public testimony and debate, Mills joined Democrats in opposition to the legislation.“Al...

NASCAR opens investigation into Wallace’s hacked radio channel at All-Star race

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:50:10 GMT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR has opened an investigation into how a derogatory message was broadcast on the radio channel of Bubba Wallace’s race team during last weekend’s All-Star race.Wallace, NASCAR’s only Black driver in the Cup series, had just finished Sunday’s race at North Wilkesboro Speedway when a person not on the 23XI Racing team said over the radio, “Go back to where you came from” and then added another non-racial expletive.NASCAR spokesman Mike Forde said Wednesday the series immediately had its security and racing electronic teams look into the hack. He said Wallace did not hear the remark.Forde said NASCAR is trying to determine who cracked Wallace’s radio communications and how it was done, as well the best method toward preventing it from happening in the future.Forde said the investigation was ongoing and would have happened no matter the nature of the comment.“We certainly take that seriously, no doubt about that,” he said. “But we can&...