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Bay Area man gets 15 years to life for sex assault on a child

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

In a plea deal, a 38-year-old Rio Vista man received a 15-years-to-life sentence in state prison for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old.Dennis Vongsa (Solano County Sheriff’s Office) According to court records and information provided by the Solano County Sheriff’s Office,a 12-year-old victim and her mother were living with Dennis Vongsa in Rio Vista in October of 2021. After several years of sexual abuse by Vongsa, the girl left her home during the night and ran to a neighbor’s home for help.The neighbor then called the Rio Vista Police Department, a city contracted with the Sheriff’s Office. Officers responded and an investigation was launched with help from Sheriff investigators.After an interview with the victim, where several items of evidence were discovered to have been collected by the victim herself, detectives developed enough evidence to arrest Vongsa.The abuse began in 2017 and continued until October 2021, when the victim decided to seek help a...

49ers-Cowboys preview: What to expect in NFC rivalry’s latest chapter

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

SANTA CLARA – So much for savoring a victory.Questions about the Dallas Cowboys – their next opponent — bombarded 49ers players before they even got dressed after Sunday’s 35-16 home win over the Arizona Cardinals.Same thing happened to the Cowboys immediately after they beat the visiting New England Patriots 38-3, the most lopsided loss in Bill Belichick’s coaching career.See, there’s never a minute to waste when it comes to staging another 49ers-Cowboys showdown, the next of which goes down this Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium between the 49ers (4-0) and Cowboys (3-1).“We just know what they’re capable of, and a win in San Francisco would be magnificent,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told Dallas-area reporters. “A win against that team would feel like you’re playing for the marbles in the NFL. When you’re a guest of a team that’s undefeated …we’re going to come in there and try to stay on the field with them.”The 49ers’ field is where the Cowboys got elim...

Bay Area poll finds tepid support for public transit — a far cry from the days when voters eagerly threw money at it

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

In the Bay Area, where highway traffic often moves slower than cold molasses, voters have a long history of generously paying to support public transportation, even though most don’t use it much themselves.But as public officials once again weigh asking Bay Area voters to pay more and prop up the flagging finances of commuter rail systems, a new poll sponsored by the Bay Area News Group and Joint Venture Silicon Valley finds little enthusiasm for the subsidies, and much less for the usual means — tax, toll and fare hikes.“I view this as the region at a crossroads,” said Joint Venture President and CEO Russell Hancock. “I think voters may be telling us it’s time for fresh thinking.”The poll of 1,802 registered voters in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and San Mateo counties conducted Aug. 29-Sept. 6 by Embold Research found 56% say commuter rail — BART, Caltrain and light rail, like VTA and Muni Metro — is important for the Bay Ar...

Caltrans details $1.6 billion plan for elevated Highway 37 causeway between Marin and Solano Counties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

The first phase of a massive plan to elevate Highway 37 to prevent regular inundation from sea-level rise is set to begin with an estimated $1.6 billion project in Marin.Caltrans officials held a presentation recently on the agency’s plan to rebuild a 2.5-mile section of the 21-mile North Bay commuter route as an elevated causeway from the Highway 101 interchange in Novato to the Atherton Avenue exit.The project would be the first in the agency’s plan to elevate the entire highway onto a causeway before the road connecting Marin and Solano counties becomes regularly inundated by rising sea levels, which Caltrans projects will begin in 2040.At a public hearing on the proposal in Novato this month, Caltrans project manager Javier Mendivil said the project is needed “to incorporate resiliency on the corridor to the effect of sea level rise to 2130 and flooding from stormwater.”The state agency plans to conduct the project in two phases, beginning by rebuilding the Novato Creek Bridge o...

Photos: Golden State Warriors Media Day at the Chase Center in San Francisco

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

The Golden State Warriors hammed it up for the cameras during their annual Media day at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Monday.Related ArticlesGolden State Warriors | Kurtenbach: The Warriors veterans won control of the roster. But can they win another title? Golden State Warriors | Draymond Green is ready to join forces with his oldest enemy Golden State Warriors | Kurtenbach: Chris Paul in a Warriors uniform is a funny sight, but don’t joke about his ability to improve Golden State Golden State Warriors | Warriors star Steph Curry wants to play for Team USA at 2024 Olympics Golden State Warriors | Warriors’ Draymond Green to be out at least two weeks with ankle sprain In addition to veterans Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, newcomers Rudy Gay, Rodney McGruder, Kendric Davis, Usman Garuba and others also posed for the many photographers in attendance. Chris Paul donned a...

Opinion: Feinstein’s living legacy is the women she molded

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

I cut my teeth in politics as an aide for former U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. It was a master class in politics that serves me to this day.I had a front-row seat to history. The war in Iraq. Protecting the California desert. The March for Women’s Lives. Supreme Court nominations. The recall of California Gov. Gray Davis and the resulting election of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.The day began every morning with a call from the senator on her way to the office. “Hi, it’s Dianne,” she would say, and then it was straight to business. No niceties. No small talk.It was the time she used to get her house in order. We would go through the Senate floor agenda, her calendar and her call list.She would speak with her chief of staff. Many days she spoke to her “field marshal,” Roz Wyman, her eyes and ears in the state. When Feinstein walked through the office each morning, we’d hit the ground running. There was never a dull moment.Feinstein, who died last week at age 90, was a force to be reckoned...

Warriors guard Klay Thompson shares his feelings on entering season without a new contract

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The gang’s all here, for one more year at least.While Steph Curry and Draymond Green have multi-year deals to remain in a Warriors uniform, head coach Steve Kerr and shooting guard Klay Thompson are entering their final seasons under contract.Kerr said last week that he’s not worried about it and feels confident something will get done.Thompson didn’t sound quite as confident while speaking at the Warriors’ media day on Monday.Asked if he thinks it’s possible he’d sign a new deal before the season begins at home against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 24, Thompson said “I think it’s possible. If not, life is still great.”Thompson, who turns 34 in February, is nearing an end to the five-year, $190-million maximum contract he signed on July 10, 2019.“I’m playing basketball in my 13th year in the NBA, I have no complaints,” he said. “Whatever the future has in store, I’ve done so many great things in this uniform. There are many more memories to create. Whatever ha...

Woman suffers 'traumatic injuries' after possible hit-and-run in SF

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A woman was sent to a hospital Monday night after being struck by a possible hit-and-run driver followed by a Cruise autonomous car, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed to KRON4.Authorities said they found the victim trapped under the autonomous car after arriving on scene at about 9:30 p.m. on 5th Street, just south of Market Street. A human-driven vehicle "may have been initially involved in the collision" before the Cruise car struck the pedestrian, according to police.Firefighters were able to secure the Cruise car and free the woman who was suffering "traumatic injuries," the San Francisco Fire Department said. SFPD officers rendered aid before the woman was hospitalized. SF Fleet Week 2023: schedule, events, what you need to know The Cruise car was uninhabited at the time of the collision and remained at the scene. In a statement to KRON4, Cruise said its vehicle "braked aggressively to minimize the impact" and also suggested there was an in...

South Africa culls nearly 2.5M chickens in effort to contain bird flu outbreaks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South Africa has culled nearly 2.5 million chickens in an effort to contain dozens of outbreaks of two separate strains of avian influenza that have threatened to create a shortage of eggs for consumers and are hitting an industry already struggling due to an electricity crisis, the government said on Tuesday.Another 205,000 chickens have died from bird flu in at least 60 separate outbreaks across the country, with more than half of those outbreaks in Gauteng province, which includes the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.Some grocery stores in Johannesburg were limiting the number of eggs customers were allowed to buy this week — in some cases to one carton of six eggs — and the government acknowledged there were “supply constraints.”The government was moving to fast-track new import permits for companies to bring in eggs from other countries “to ensure sufficient supplies for consumers,” Agriculture Minister Thoko D...

Shooting at a major Bangkok shopping mall kills 3, and a suspect is in police custody

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:49:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — A shooter opened fire inside a major shopping mall in the center of Thailand’s capital Tuesday afternoon, killing three people before being apprehended, authorities said. Police said a suspect was apprehended less than an hour after the first reported gunshots at the Siam Paragon Mall, long been seen as one of Bangkok’s biggest and most upscale shopping destinations. Police spokesman Archayon Kraithong told reporters the situation was under control at the mall, which sells high-end fashions and luxury cars, and includes a cinema, an aquarium and the five-star Siam Kempinski hotel.Three people were killed and six were injured, according to Yutthana Sretthanan, director of Bangkok’s Emergency Medical Center. The incident happened days before Thais were planning to mark the anniversary of a grisly gun and knife attack at a rural day care center in a northeastern province that killed 36 people, most of them preschoolers, on Oct. 6, 2022. Tuesday’s shooting pro...