Image: San Mateo County Executive Office. Workers preparing the site of the future Middlefield Junction project; construction is expected to ramp up in the coming weeks.
After years of planning, the construction of the affordable housing project in North Fair Oaks known as Middlefield Junction has finally started, which seeks to help people in vulnerable situations to have a home.
Located at 2700 Middlefield Road on a vacant county-owned parcel behind the county’s Fair Oaks Health Center, the project consists of new one- to three-bedroom apartments, a child care center and community open space.
“This project addresses the most critical issue facing San Mateo County in providing quality new housing that is affordable,” said San Mateo County Supervisor Warren Slocum, whose District 4 includes North Fair Oaks.
"Here we have a new development that is creating jobs during construction and in the long term will create affordable housing that is close to many small family-owned shops and restaurants that will also benefit," he added.
All apartments will be reserved for households earning between 15 and 80 percent of the area median income.
Additionally, twenty apartments will be reserved for individuals experiencing homelessness and receiving support and care management services from the San Mateo County Health Department, while two units are for on-site managers.
Once complete, the Middlefield Junction project will transform a lot that was once home to a recycling facility and help fulfill a plan that has been years in the making.
The project is the result of a partnership between the County, nonprofit developer Mercy Housing California, the state and private investors.
“We have seen firsthand the inspiring results families can achieve when affordable housing and high-quality child care are located under the same roof,” said Doug Shoemaker, President of Mercy Housing California.
The total cost of the project is $155 million, of which $78 million is funded by the newly created California Housing Accelerator Fund, administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
This is the first project in the County funded by the Accelerator Fund.
The project is also funded by $30.5 million in loans from the County and the San Mateo County Housing Authority, nearly $13 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and $6.78 million from the Measure K half-cent sales tax, which provides local funding for needs.
Additional funding comes from state grants and private investments.
Police are searching for a suspect in an armed robbery in Redwood City. After a series of robberies in the city, authorities have asked the community for help in finding the person responsible.
According to the Redwood City Police Department ‒RCPD‒, the armed robberies occurred at two different small businesses in the area of El Camino Real and Chestnut Street, while the second was in the 900 block of Whipple Avenue.
Both robberies took place between October 6, 2022, and November 18 of that same year.
RCPD has obtained photos of the suspect from each incident, so they ask that all residents take a look to see if they recognize the suspect.
If you recognize the subject in the photographs, please contact Detective Trinh at 650-780-7620.
For anonymous tips on any Redwood City case, call the tip line at 650-780-7110
The San Mateo Police Department has asked the community for help in identifying suspects in organized retail theft, where thousands of dollars worth of merchandise have been illegally stolen.
On Friday, June 16th, at approximately 6:00 p.m., officers with the San Mateo Police Department were called to three different retail stores in San Mateo, resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars.
The locations involved include Old Navy, Victoria Secret, and Ulta. Local authorities continue to investigate this organized retail theft case and are attempting to identify the suspects in the photo, so anyone with information regarding this is urged to contact police immediately.
The first suspect is an African-American woman wearing a yellow/orange hat, a black jacket, a red shirt and a black sweatshirt, as well as carrying a striped bag, the department said in a statement.
Image: San Mateo Police DepartmentImage: San Mateo Police Department
The second suspect is an African-American woman wearing a black quilted jacket, a white shirt and grey jeans.
While the third suspect is a womanAfrican American female wearing a white/blue face mask, white button down shirt and black pants, holding a purple bag.
Anyone with information regarding the identity of the photographed suspects is asked to contact Sergeant Phoenix O'Rourke by email at porourke@cityofsanmateo.org. Additionally, anonymous tips may be submitted to http://tinyurl.com/SMPDTips or by calling (650) 522-7676.
The San Francisco Police Department está dedicado a hacer que la Semana del Orgullo Gay de este año sea segura y agradable, por la que ya se prepara para que cada persona que celebre esta semana pueda sentirse tranquila.
El Orgullo de San Francisco es una de las más grandes del mundo y uno de los eventos más populares y concurridos de San Francisco. Dado que se esperan grandes multitudes, incluidos invitados de todo el mundo, brindar seguridad con respeto para todos es la prioridad número uno de las autoridades locales.
«La ciudad y el condado de San Francisco han sido durante mucho tiempo y continúan siendo un refugio seguro y un faro de esperanza para los miembros de la comunidad LGBTQ», dijo el jefe de policía, William Scott.
«Durante el mes PRIDE, el Departamento de Policía de San Francisco está trabajando de cerca con los organizadores de eventos y nuestras agencias de aplicación de la ley asociadas para garantizar que la comunidad LGBTQ pueda celebrar un Orgullo seguro y alegre», agregó.
El Departamento señaló que contará con personal para manejar todas las llamadas de servicio en toda la ciudad y para proporcionar personal de seguridad pública adecuado en los eventos del Orgullo durante todo el Mes del Orgullo.
De igual manera destacó que los oficiales estarán atentos a actividades ilegales o inseguras y responderán según corresponda.
«Como con cualquier gran evento, siempre hay preocupaciones de seguridad. La seguridad es responsabilidad de todos, incluidos los participantes, los organizadores, el personal de seguridad y las fuerzas del orden», puntualizó el Departamento de Policía de San Francisco en un comunicado.
Si bien las autoridades pondrán todos sus recursos al alcance para que los visitantes y residentes pasen una maravillosa celebración, pidieron a los participantes del Orgullo ayudar a evitar convertirse en víctimas al seguir algunos consejos.
El Orgullo tiene que ver con la comunidad, por lo que las autoridades solicitan cuidarse unos a otros e informar de cualquier persona o actividad sospechosa al personal del evento o a un oficial de policía.
«Un buen adagio es: “Si ves algo, di algo”. En caso de emergencia, llame al 9-1-1. Para proporcionar un aviso anónimo, llame a la Línea de avisos anónimos del SFPD al (415) 575-4444».
De igual manera, llamaron a mantenerse informado sobre emergencias o eventos importantes registrándose para recibir alertas de mensajes de texto de emergencia enviando un mensaje de texto con la palabra PRIDESF al 888-777. AlertSF permite avisar de emergencias en San Francisco a la policía.
Mantener a los amigos cerca y tus bebidas más cerca. No aceptar bebidas de extraños y beber responsablemente. No beber mientras manejas y siempre usar un conductor designado. El Área de la Bahía de San Francisco tiene una gran cantidad de opciones de transporte público que te llevarán hacia, desde y alrededor de los eventos del Orgullo.
If you drive to the festivities, remember to take your valuables with you and not leave them inside your car.
Asimismo, mantén la posesión de su teléfono celular, billetera y otros objetos de valor.
Finalmente, piden quedarse con un grupo cuando estés en la calle o saliendo de bares y discotecas. Tener cuidado al dejar un bar o club con un extraño. Una regla general es que, si te sientes «inseguro» acerca de alguien, confía en ese instinto y no vayas con esa persona.
With just one day to go before the summer solstice, many people suffer from seasonal allergies, also known as "hay fever" and "allergic rhinitis", which can make you feel very ill. Carlos Andres Salgado, an expert in allergy and clinical immunology at Stanford, explains more about the condition that plagues 1 in 4 adults and nearly 1 in 5 children in the U.S.
According to the clinical assistant professor of pediatrics, seasonal allergies are steadily increasing in part due to rising temperatures and storms.
“This year, given the record rainfall in California that has led to super blooms, I have also seen an increase in symptoms. In my allergy clinic, I am seeing more and more children experiencing an increase in symptoms this year compared to previous years,” she said.
With COVID-19 already a part of our lives, it may be difficult to differentiate symptoms between allergies and those of a viral infection, so the expert suggests observing whether the individual has a history of similar symptoms at this time of year; if they have gastrointestinal illnesses such as diarrhea, vomiting, nausea or constipation, among others, since seasonal allergies do not usually present them.
In addition, it is necessary to check if there is a fever, since high temperature is very characteristic of viral infections.
“When in doubt, I encourage my patients to follow the precautions they would use if they suspect a viral infection, such as testing and masking,” she said.
What do I do about this seasonal allergy?
Dr. Salgado noted that there are currently several preventive therapeutic options for treating seasonal allergies. These include medications for symptomatic relief, such as over-the-counter antihistamines, nasal steroids, nasal antihistamines, and eye drops.
In addition, there are subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) anti-allergy injections, which are more successful in the long term.
SCIT involves routine injections, while SLIT involves tablets or drops administered sublingually.
During elevated pollen levels, for an individual's specific triggers, she also recommended limiting outdoor activities, keeping windows and doors closed at home, wearing N95 masks if outdoors, and for some patients, using saline rinses and showering as soon as they get home.
In a study by a group at Stanford, researchers found that temperature and drought were linked to increases in the average annual number of weeks with exposure to pollen and mold, resulting in eight to nine more weeks per year between 2002 and 2019.
However, changes in response to climate change vary markedly for different plant species and locations.
"Not all plants have had an increase in pollen count in response to climate change, so the impact of climate change may differ between people due to differences in triggering allergens," the specialist said.
Another study based on model projections, he said, reported that ragweed awareness will more than double in Europe, from 33 to 77 million people by 2041-2060, as a result of climate change.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), non-Hispanic white adults are more likely to have a seasonal allergy (28.4 percent) compared to non-Hispanic African Americans (24 percent), Hispanic Americans (18.8 percent), and non-Hispanic Asian Americans (17.0 percent).
They also noted that boys (20 percent) are more likely to have a seasonal allergy than girls (17.7 percent).
After the unfortunate and constant shootings in schools throughout the country, four students from schools in South Bahia created a device to prevent shootings called SIREN, which detects shots in the study center, sending a quick alert so that authorities respond more quickly in an emergency.
Much like a smoke detector, SIREN is a 3-by-6-inch device that sits on the ceiling, so for many it may be unnoticeable. When gunshots are detected, a text message is sent to students and staff with the location, depending on which sensor is activated on campus.
"Our goal was really to make it so that it wouldn't be noticeable and it wouldn't interfere with the normal school day. Smoke detectors are everywhere, but no one really notices them, and they don't interfere with anything," Swarnya Srivastava of Monta Vista High School in Cupertino told KTVU FOX 2.
Rebecca, Audrey, Swarnya and Caitlin, the young students who created SIREN, saw the need to create this device after it took the police about 4 hours to arrive at Uvalde Elementary School in Texas last year where 21 people lost their lives.
"We've all experienced school shooting scares in our high schools. So it was a no-brainer to address an issue like this," said Caitlin Ngyuen of Santa Clara High School.
Though they are from different schools in the Bay Area, the four students met at local tech competitions where they began to envision the project.
“This outer casing is 3D printed. It has a microphone here that captures the surrounding audio to determine if there was a gunshot or not. The data from the microphone goes inside our motherboard here, where it processes the data to determine if there has been a gunshot,” Nguyen told the outlet.
According to the K-12 Shooting Database, there have been 123 school shootings in 2023 alone, with 135 victims.
The student team said they spent about $90 on creating the prototype, but said they are seeking funding to help complete their gunshot detection prototype, as well as support from machine learning mentors who can help them refine the device.
“There were teachers, mentors, judges, and so many people. They were really supportive of our solution and really want SIREN to become a real thing,” Audrey Wang, from Mission San Jose High School, explained in an interview with the outlet.
It's Monday, the president Joseph Biden announced a $600 million investment for climate resilience projects across the country and an additional $67 million to help build power lines that support California's transition to 100 percent clean electricity by 2045.
During his visit to Baylands Nature Preserve, one of the largest expanses of pristine wetlands remaining in San Francisco Bay, the president stressed the need to accelerate projects to combat climate change.
"In our history, we are the only nation in the world that has emerged from a crisis stronger than we entered. We're doing it again here on the climate crisis. When I think about climate, I think about jobs. When I think about climate, I think about innovation. When I think about climate, I think about turning danger into progress," Biden said.
During his speech, the President recalled that last year alone, natural disasters in the United States caused 165 billion dollars in damages, but the worsening of the impacts is not inevitable.
He added that starting tomorrow, the Department of Commerce will launch the first and largest competitive Regional Climate Resilience Challenge to provide $600 million to coastal and Great Lakes communities that are building projects to protect against the climate change impacts of rising sea levels, flooding and storm surge.
Photo: California Governor's Office
Biden also stressed that later this year, the first White House summit will be held that will bring together local, state, tribal and territorial leaders focused on climate change resilience.
This, he said, will include a roadmap for how the various climate actions being taken will build more climate-resilient communities across the United States, saving lives and homes and providing peace of mind.
In that regard, he noted, his administration is taking the most aggressive climate action in history, focusing on mitigation, which means investments in the development of clean energy by reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and on resilience, so that communities can better withstand the impacts of climate change and extreme weather conditions.
He explained that with a combination of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, more than $50 billion has been invested so far in climate resilience; nearly $9 billion to make transportation infrastructure more resilient by raising roads and bridges above projected flood zones; and $13 billion to reduce the risk of wildfires and improve the health of forests and pay firefighters who risk their lives every day.
He also explained that $15.4 billion has been invested in drought mitigation, $6.6 billion in restoring the coastal resilience of reefs and building other infrastructure to mitigate storm damage.
In addition to more than $17 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to strengthen the resilience of coastal water and waterway infrastructure, including funding to address food, flood, storm, and hurricane risks, and restore coastal ecosystems.
Nearly $20 billion in funding for precision irrigation and cover crop planting, plus $1 billion from the America the Beautiful Challenge to accelerate local conservation efforts.
While $3.5 billion has been directed to reduce or eliminate the risk of repeated flood damage to buildings, another $1 billion will fund mitigation measures that increase community resilience, such as supporting the adaptation of hazard-resistant building codes.
For his part, California Governor Gavin Newsom, who accompanied the president during his visit to the Bay Area, highlighted the importance of projects and investments that address the climate crisis.
Photo: California Governor's Office
“Wildfires, heat waves, and extreme shifts from drought to flooding in California show how climate change is impacting our communities. There is no better partner in the fight against climate change than President Biden, who is making unprecedented investments and addressing this crisis with urgency. This new federal funding will support our ongoing climate action to protect our coastal communities from rising oceans and generate the clean energy we need,” she stressed.
The upcoming elections in Guatemala are marked by many twists, among which the most notable is the exclusion from the presidential race of the Movement for the Liberation of Peoples, the largest organized force in the contemporary history of the country.
your candidate Thelma Cabrera, reached fourth place in the last elections and to eliminate her electorally and guarantee the continuity of the corrupt pact, the Supreme Electoral Court, without caring about what is established in the Constitution, approved the candidacy of Zury Rios Sosa, daughter of General Efraín Ríos Montt, sentenced in 2013 to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity.
She is the favorite of oligarchs, businessmen, military personnel, turncoat politicians, fundamentalist pastors and drug traffickers affiliated with the Foundation Against Terrorism - FUNDATERROR - which controls the Public Prosecutor's Office and claims credit for having expelled the Commission against Impunity and Corruption in Guatemala in 2019.
Thanks to FUNDATERROR and narcopolitics, dozens of judges, journalists, communicators, activists and human rights defenders have been imprisoned or forced into exile. They intend to re-elect 78 percent of the current deputies to Congress and to appoint the daughter of the genocidal general or, failing that, Edmund Mulet, accused of trafficking orphaned children during the armed conflict.
It is also said that President Alejandro Giammattei agreed with Ríos, Mulet and Sandra Torres on guarantees to avoid what happened to his Honduran counterpart Juan Orlando Hernández, who was extradited to the United States just two weeks before handing over the presidency.
The only hope is that the left wins mayoralties and seats in Congress, and can continue through legal means the fight against a system that has been worn down by long decades of abuse and atrocities.
Experts and analysts called the US Supreme Court ruling a triumph, ruling that Alabama's new congressional redistricting map violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and dilutes the votes of black residents of the state, making Alabama a benchmark in voting rights for all communities in the country.
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act prohibits voting practices that result in a denial or restriction of the right to vote on the basis of race.
During a press conference organized by Ethnic Media ServicesThe federal action was hailed as excellent news by voting rights advocates, as it was a major step forward for the electoral rights of the most vulnerable communities.
On June 8, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the case Allen v. Milligan, which is related to the redistricting under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), and in which the plaintiffs demanded the annulment of Alabama's redistricting maps for discriminating against African-American voters, asking that Section 2 be considered in favor of a new, more equitable distribution.
The plaintiffs said the state's new apportionment packed many African-American voters into a single district in a part of central Alabama known as the "Black Belt," while simultaneously dispersing other African-American voters throughout the rest of the area in separate districts. —Read more about the topic—
In response, Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, explained that Section 2 is the primary operational provision for enforcing voting rights in the country.
"Section 2 is the main section on voting rights, which is why it has historically been used to challenge redistribution, but also to challenge electoral systems in general," he said.
He explained that this section also serves to challenge some of the barriers to accessing the ballot, such as the requirement for voter identification or restrictions on the ability to vote.
«The decision was unexpected, it's a victory. The ability of African-Americans to challenge the district maps that have been used across the country is a tremendous unexpected victory, because the danger was that the conservative majority was going to change a law that has been in effect for a long time.", Saenz pointed out.
Without a doubt, obtaining this result is very favorable, but it also speaks of what should continue to be done, not only to celebrate this case won, but to continue working on the rights of voters that guarantee greater citizen representation.
For Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Allen v. Milligan case and executive director of Alabama Forward, making his case and winning this favorable outcome represents an achievement for his family, his community, and everyone fighting for greater representation in their country.
Although Evan Milligan was surprised by the Supreme Court's decision, he celebrated it enthusiastically, proving that change is possible and that fighting for these issues is necessary to benefit the entire African-descendant community. However, his fight does not stop.
«First, there is a long-term view about Alabama organizations and the voter rights building movement and how we can work in a more comprehensive way, continuing to advance the issue, but also with our national and international partners.", he explained.
In the case of Jacqueline de León, a lawyer for the Native American Rights Fund, the achievement for Alabama is also an achievement for Latinos, as it allows for progress in voting rights for all and equally.
«We are relieved after what has happened. There has been a lot of fighting to defend Section Two and of course as many have said, in Alabama this was a basic factual application of the law, and the law clearly stated a violation of the law. To find anything to the contrary would have been a radical move that I don't think anyone should be expecting.", he emphasized.
De León spoke of indigenous communities that do not have clear representation and explained that it has been possible to observe that the votes of indigenous communities also wish to be diluted. For example, in different instances of racial discrimination in native communities such as South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Mexico, among some cases that already exist.
Stuart Naifeh, director of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.'s Redistricting Project, also spoke on the topic, explaining the importance of Section 2 for the rights of voters in the country, by allowing districts to be divided in a representative manner when casting their vote.
«We are happy with the result, but I find it sad that we are so happy to want to preserve the status quo, this also includes the decision 10 years ago of other voting rights acts", he stressed.
Stuart Naifeh was excited about the outcome and said it was a victory to be able to preserve Section 2, a case that has an impact beyond Alabama and shows all communities that changes can be made so that their vote is truly valued.
Finally, the experts agreed that what happened in Alabama is a great victory, and that it is a great step towards continuing to defend voting rights. However, they pointed out that it is not entirely a joy, since it should be a right available to all communities.
Agents arrest a man in San Mateo County on June 16 after he attacked a person, hitting them over the head with a pickaxe.
And it is that, last Friday, June 16, 2023 at 10:59 pm, agents of the Office of the San Mateo County Sheriff They were dispatched to Holly Street at the Highway 101 overpass on a report of a victim who had been attacked and struck in the head with a pickaxe.
Upon arrival, officers made contact with the victim who had non-life-threatening injuries and was treated by firefighters and paramedics on scene.
The suspect, known to the victim, was identified as Matthew Garcia, a passerby in the area.
Garcia was reported to have fled the area on foot after the attack. Officers conducted an extensive search and located the attacker hiding in the 500 block of Skyway Road.
When located, Garcia was found to be in possession of narcotics and drug paraphernalia, authorities said in a statement.
Garcia was placed under arrest on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, probation violation, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of controlled substances, and booked into the San Mateo County Jail without incident.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information regarding this incident to call their offices at 1-800-547-2700.
