The year was 2006. Pluto had just been downgraded to a dwarf planet. I was obsessed with my Motorola Pebl flip phone and iPod. It was also the year I started paying down my student loan balance after completing my MBA. Loading audio narration… For 20 years, this student loan was a constant in my … Read more
A Californian drone manufacturer plans to pour billions of dollars into the defense technology industry, which is booming in the state. The San Mateo-based company, Skydio, will invest $3.5 billion in domestic manufacturing over the next five years, the company announced Friday. Defense technology operations, along with aerospace and artificial intelligence, have flocked to California, … Read more
HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS MONDAY’S RESULTSFirst Round DIVISION II#16 Triumph Charter 16, #17 Middle College 6#20 Cleveland 20, #13 Dorsey 2#10 North Hollywood 12, #14 USC-MAE 0#18 Taft 13, #15 Central City Value 0 DIVISION III#16 Van Nuys 19, #17 Alliance Bloomfield 2#20 East Valley 14, #13 Community Charter 3#14 VAAS 18, #19 … Read more
Ukrainian troops are finding advanced antennas with stronger anti-jamming features on Russian decoy drones, a sign that the Kremlin is overcoming a shortage of the key component. Loading audio narration… Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, a prominent Ukrainian drone analyst, posted photos to social media on Wednesday of a downed delta-wing Gerbera drone and a 12-element Controlled … Read more
Last year, studios and Hollywood labor unions lobbied hard to ensure animated movies and shows could compete for California’s expanded film and television tax credit program. The payoff came last week, when three animated movies were among the nearly 40 film projects that received a production incentive in the latest round of awards, the California … Read more
New York’s Long Island Rail Road plans to resume service at noon on Tuesday after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reached a deal with union leaders. Loading audio narration… “Tonight, the @MTA eached a fair deal with the five LIRR unions that delivers raises for workers while protecting riders and taxpayers,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul … Read more
Driverless cars haven’t always obeyed the rules of the road but, unlike vehicles with humans behind the wheel, they’ve gotten away with it. That’s about to change. A slew of statewide autonomous vehicle regulations based on Assembly Bill 1777 will go into effect July 1 — including a process for law enforcement to issue a … Read more
What does $400 million buy in Bel-Air? Thirty-nine bedrooms, 59 bathrooms, 70,000 square feet and a piece of history. The mega-mansion, which surfaced for sale this week, is seeking to be the most expensive home sale in U.S. history. The current record belongs to Ken Griffin, who paid $238 million for a New York City … Read more
Jeff Orlowski’s “The Social Dilemma” may be the most important documentary you see this year. An indictment of the tech industry, the film succinctly lays out the damage being done by companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter through their social media platforms and search engines, the how and why of what they are doing … Read more
He was never their best player. He was never their biggest star. He never won a batting title. He never scored a Gold Glove. He never signed a historic contract. It required a mass organized effort to vote him into his first All-Star Game. When his team recorded the final out of his only championship, … Read more
Across the country, the U.S. is experiencing a reading recession — a slide in the reading skills of students that predates pandemic school disruption, but there are several relative bright spots in California that include the Modesto, Compton and Los Angeles school districts, researchers say. Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth scholars analyzed state test scores from … Read more
Starbucks said Friday it’s laying off 300 corporate employees and closing some U.S. offices as part of its ongoing turnaround. No coffeehouse employees are affected, the company said. The cuts will affect employees in support functions like marketing, human resources and supply chain management. No international employees are affected for now, but Starbucks said it … Read more
CANNES, France — Cannes is technically half over and the hunt for a masterpiece continues. Critics on the Croisette are starting to resemble that classic comic-strip panel in which an explorer crawls desperately across the sand toward an oasis that’s only a mirage. This far into an underwhelming festival, good films have a way of looking like … Read more
Brandon Clarke, a former first-round draft pick who spent all seven of his NBA seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, has died. He was 29. His agency, Priority Sports, confirmed the news Tuesday on social media. “Everyone loved BC because he was always there as the most supportive friend you could ever imagine,” the agency wrote. … Read more
My family had just moved to Brazil, and I had to beg my parents to let me go to a music festival with all of my new high school friends. It was going to be the first time I’d be going to a show without them supervising me. Loading audio narration… They were reluctant, but … Read more