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Staff scrambling after Children’s Hospital Colorado ends full tuition reimbursement for employees

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

Children’s Hospital Colorado is cutting off its program that offered employees full tuition for certain health care degrees, leaving some staffers scrambling to figure out their next move.A registered nurse at the hospital who is pursuing a master’s degree in a behavioral health field said she can’t apply for financial aid before the next semester starts in January. While Children’s will still pay employees up to $5,250 a year for tuition, that won’t cover the full cost of her program, which the hospital previously had paid in full, she said.“They gave us about a one-month notice,” said the nurse, who spoke to The Denver Post on the condition of anonymity over fears she could lose her job. “A lot of us don’t have five, six grand saved to pay for our next term.”Children’s contracted with a third party to fully pay for some degree programs and partially cover others. The programs the hospital chose weren’t necessa...

Pac-12 legal saga: OSU, WSU block mid-year revenue payments to 12 campuses as massive liabilities loom

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

The legal fight over control of the Pac-12 took another turn last week when Oregon State and Washington State blocked a traditional multi-million-dollar revenue distribution from the conference office to the campuses, the Hotline has learned.OSU and WSU called their decision “responsible” and suggested any other action would not be in the best interest of the future of the conference.In response, the 10 outgoing members accused OSU and WSU of “abusing their position” — as allowed by a court order — and were therefore causing harm to athletes at the outbound schools. The move “has nothing to do with the future of the Conference,” the 10 said in a joint statement.On Dec. 5, commissioner George Kliavkoff notified the 12 campuses that, in accordance with past practice, the conference was prepared to distribute 15 percent of its annual revenue to the schools.For the 2023-24 fiscal year, that split is approximately $61 million, or just over $5 million p...

Security guard slain at Oakland convenience store is remembered; suspect still sought

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

OAKLAND — A makeshift memorial of flowers and candles was growing Monday outside a convenience store near Lake Merritt, for a well-liked security guard who was fatally shot Friday night trying to stop a theft.James Johnson, 59, was shot about 10:08 p.m. Friday just inside the entrance to a 7-Eleven store at 2350 Harrison St. He had worked there for more than a year and was remembered as a “good man who was very friendly.”Johnson, who lived near the store, was attempting to stop a male who was trying to leave the store without paying for some snack-type items, police said. The two got into a confrontation and the thief pulled a gun and shot Johnson.The suspect then fled with the items in a waiting car, authorities said.Johnson died at the scene. Those who knew him said was a widower and the father of three adult children.Detailed descriptions of the shooter and the vehicle he fled in have not been released.Those who knew Johnson were still reeling Monday.A store emp...

Dead fin whale washes ashore in San Diego

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

Associated PressSAN DIEGO — A 52-foot-long (16-meter-long) dead fin whale washed up on a San Diego beach over the weekend and officials said there was no obvious sign of the cause of death.The young female whale was found Sunday in Mission Beach and was later towed out to sea, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.Fin whales are the second largest whales in the world after blue whales. They can grow to 70 to 80 feet (21 to 24 meters) long and weigh about 50 tons, or 100,000 pounds (45,000 kilograms). They are endangered and thought to number around 8,000 off the West Coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.“It’s probably in the first couple years of its life,” Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries West Coast region, told the newspaper. “It didn’t appear to have been dead very long because there wasn’t much evidence of scavenging or decomposition. But there was also no obvious sign of the cause of death....

Prosecutors say man who entered San Mateo County home of Steph Curry skipped out on initial court date

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

ATHERTON — A man missed a recent court date after he was arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespassing for allegedly entering the Atherton home of a Golden State Warriors superstar in October, according to prosecutors.The 18-year-old man accused of the crime is an exchange student from China who currently lives in Cupertino, San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said Monday. The man told prosecutors that he was interested in meeting a “famous basketball player” and heard that Golden State Warriors star point guard Stephen Curry lives in Atherton, which includes the most expensive ZIP code in the nation.On Oct. 15, the man took a bus from Cupertino to Atherton and asked a person walking their dog if they knew where the Curry house was located; the passerby pointed out the gated home. According to Wagstaffe, surveillance video showed the man tinkering with buttons on the gate, before the gate to the home opened.Wagstaffe said authorities did not know if th...

Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘shared family’ tragedy with Ryan O’Neal involved their sons

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

When Ryan O’Neal died Friday at the age of 83, the “Love Story” actor’s troubled personal life presented challenges to those who wanted to remember his positive qualities, which family and colleagues said included his “lethal combo” of charm, humor, good looks and talent.As it turns out, one of the more surprising but “gracious” tributes to this “complex” Hollywood star came from Francis Ford Coppola, who shared a particularly painful history with O’Neal. In 1986, Coppola’s 23-year-old son Gian-Carlo was killed in a boating accident involving O’Neal’s son Griffin.US film director Francis Ford Coppola attends the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 27, 2022. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) But on Instagram over the weekend, Coppola praised O’Neal’s performances in three of the 1970s most memorable films — ...

Kurtenbach: Why the SF Giants need to pass on Bellinger, Chapman in free agency

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

Shohei Ohtani was everything the Giants needed.He was a middle-of-the-lineup bat with the kind of pop that could tame the right-field winds of Oracle Park.He was a top-of-the-rotation arm (in 2024, at least) who could pair with Logan Webb to give San Francisco the best 1-2 punch in the National League.He would have brought MVP credentials to a roster seeking respect and legitimacy. And man, would he have brought people out to the corner of Third and King.But Ohtani is going to sign with the Dodgers, pending a physical (we know how those can go), and the Giants are still looking for all of those things.It’s just another offseason letdown for Giants fans. And worse yet, with this free agent of all free agents, the Giants didn’t seem to be serious contenders for his services.I hear the cries for “spread the $700 million around” from the true believers.That’s a good idea in theory, but a terrible idea in reality.This is how you end up with Michael Conforto,...

Jennifer Aniston said Matthew Perry was ‘happy’ on morning he died, dismisses idea of relapse

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

In a new interview published Monday, Jennifer Aniston dismissed speculation that Matthew Perry suffered a drug relapse that led to his Oct. 28 death, saying she had been texting with her good friend the morning he died and said he sounded happy, healthy and not “struggling.”Speaking to Variety, Aniston said about her “Friends” co-star: “He was happy. He was healthy. He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know. I was literally texting with him that morning, funny Matty. He was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.”Perry — who was long open about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, his multiple relapses, stints in rehab and dire health consequences — died unexpectedly at the age 54 of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles-area home. Los Angeles medical examiners have yet to determine what caused Perry’s death.The actor, who played the sardonic Chandler Bing on the beloved s...

Shelter-in-place issued in El Cerrito due to gas leak

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

(KRON) -- A shelter-in-place has been issued for an El Cerrito neighborhood Monday due to a gas leak, according to the El Cerrito Police Department. El Cerrito PD, fire department personnel and PG&E are currently actively working to correct the leak, police said. Workers at Oakland coffee shop at center of antisemitic graffiti incident slam owners Residents in the 600 block of Bonnie Drive are being asked to close doors and windows and shelter in place. All other are being asked to avoid the area.There is no current danger, according to police.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

This Is Not a War Against Hamas

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:11:45 GMT

Palestinians cry beside the bodies of their family members at Nasser Hospital after Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza on December 10, 2023.Photo: Belal Khaled/Anadolu via Getty ImagesThe events of the past week should obliterate any doubt that the war against the Palestinians of Gaza is a joint U.S.–Israeli operation. On Friday, as the Biden administration stood alone among the nations of the world in vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was busy circumventing congressional review to ram through approval of an “emergency” sale of 13,000 tank rounds to Israel. For weeks, Blinken has been zipping across the Middle East and appearing on scores of television networks in a PR tour aimed at selling the world the notion that the White House is deeply concerned about the fate of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents. “Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks, and...