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WATCH: Donald Trump focuses on immigration at Colorado rally, says Democrats “are ruining your state”

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Fri, 11 Oct 2024 16:39:43 +0000

Live updates from former President Donald Trump's rally in Aurora today. Speakers have included U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert and state Rep. Gabe Evans, a congressional candidate.


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In metro Denver county commission races, local concerns are still king. But can Republicans regain their footing?

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:00:11 +0000

Republicans are eyeing Colorado's plentiful pool of unaffiliated voters for that push to victory -- and in two counties, hoping to capitalize on local tax measures to make their case for more conservatism.


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Governor Gavin Newsom reacts to Trump win by calling special session

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:04:00 GMT

By Megan Myscofski

Governor Gavin Newsom called a special legislative session Thursday with the goal of protecting California’s progressive policies on climate change and reproductive rights from President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.  

He’s preemptively asking state lawmakers for funds to support future litigation against President-elect Trump’s next administration. 

The Governor’s Office said in a press release that the new resources will likely go towards defending civil and reproductive rights, climate action and the state’s immigrant population, depending on what actions the administration takes. 

The state sued the first Trump administration over 120 times after it threatened similar policies. The state won many of those lawsuits. 

Democratic Assembly member Jesse Gabriel represents the San Fernando Valley. Before taking office, he was a constitutional attorney and assisted with two of the lawsuits. 

“In these situations, speed matters,” he said. “Being prepared matters.”

He said that justifies lawmakers working on this ahead of January, when the regular legislative session starts. 

“We don't know for sure what's going to happen. I think it's important to recognize that,” Gabriel added . “But reading Project 2025, listening to some of the things that the president-elect has talked about on the campaign trail, understanding his record from his first term, we know that we might be engaged in some very significant and very serious litigation.”

Gabriel said, in particular, he’s concerned about threats from Trump on federal support, including funds for natural disaster relief.  

“To the extent that there's going to be any effort to unlawfully withhold federal funding from California, to walk back agreements that the federal government has with California, this effort will be essential to protecting California taxpayers,” he said. 

He stressed that California is one of a handful of states that pays more in taxes to the federal government than it receives in funds and services. 

Many Republican legislators say the move is a stunt by the Governor – including Senator Brian Dahle, who represents rural communities in far Northern California. 

“He's the happiest guy around that Kamala lost because this gives him an opportunity to run for president in four years,” he said. 

Dahle added that he wants the money Newsom is proposing for litigation to be directed toward other things. 

“We don't have these kinds of resources to be thrown out. We have crime, we have cost of living we need to deal with in California,” he said. 

The special session begins December 2nd. 


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TB reclaims title of deadliest infectious disease. That's an 'outrage' says WHO

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:19:00 GMT

By , NPR

The ancient scourge of tuberculosis for years was the deadliest infectious disease. Then SARS-CoV-2 came along and grabbed the notorious title of #1 killer: In 2020, COVID-19 was responsible for 3.5 million deaths worldwide vs 1.5 million for TB.The 2024 Global Tuberculosis Report, published last week by the World Health Organization, puts TB back in the top slot with 1.25 million deaths in 2023 compared to 320,000 COVID-19 deaths. There's also been an increase of hundreds of thousands of new TB cases in 2023 compared to the year prior.

The 1.25 million TB deaths in 2023 is down from 2022’s number of 1.32 million (which that year was second to the COVID toll). But it's still indefensibly high, say public health leaders.

“The fact that TB still kills and sickens so many people is an outrage, when we have the tools to prevent it, detect it and treat it,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, in a statement issued on October 29.

According to the report, approximately 8.2 million people were newly diagnosed with TB in 2023 — the highest number since WHO began global TB monitoring in 1995 and a “notable increase” from 7.5 million people newly diagnosed in 2022.

TB sleuths are trying to figure out the reasons behind the increase. Anand Date, global TB branch chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says population growth may account for the increase in cases last year -- and that it may take until the 2024 to find out if that is so or if the leap in 2023 reflects an undercount of annual TB totals during the pandemic.

“Disruptions to TB programs during the height of the pandemic led to more people going undiagnosed and untreated for TB. [And] guidance to shelter in place may have also limited the spread of TB, says Yogan Pillay, who heads efforts to improve TB program delivery at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which is a funder of NPR and this blog).

COVID-19 did trigger a new setback in the effort to control TB. But most of the reasons the infection persists are frustratingly well-known, says Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership. There's too little money for research, treatment. and patient care needs. And there's stigma that can keep the most common victims of TB, impoverished people including migrants and sex workers, from seeking help or being offered treatment.

In addition, health conditions like malnutrition, diabetes and smoking that can exacerbate TB and keep medications from being fully effective, says Luke Davis, a TB and HIV specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. “TB is unusual,” says Davis, in that most people who are exposed to the bacteria won’t progress to infectious TB. Only about 10% do, and they are usually among the world’s poorest people often with poor health to begin with, which exacerbates their condition.”

So what's the solution?

And that brings us to the Tedros point. The world knows how to vanquish TB — but is not doing a good job.

Money reigns as perhaps the biggest obstacle to conquering tuberculosis. A spokesperson for WHO tells NPR: “Compared with global funding targets for TB set at the 2023 U.N. high-level meeting on TB, there are large funding shortfalls for TB research as well as prevention, detection and treatment services. To close these gaps, more funding is needed from both domestic sources in the countries most impacted by TB and from international donors.”

Global funding for TB prevention and care decreased in 2023 from $6 billion in the three previous years to $5.7 billion and remains far below the yearly target of $22 billion, according to WHO.

What would more money bring? WHO cites expanded rapid diagnostic testing as critical. Then treatment can start sooner. And people wouldn’t have to travel long distances to a clinic then wait for days for the results.

Increased funding would also help reimburse families for lost wages and food and travel expenses incurred as they go for treatment. Those costs keep some patients and their families from seeking care.

The WHO report and other investigations also say that countries burdened by TB also have to step up and spend more money on prevention, diagnosis and treatment. A report by MSF/Doctors Without Borders published last month, for example, found that, only 5 out of 14 countries have adapted their guidelines — based on WHO recommendations -- to initiate TB treatment in children when symptoms strongly indicate TB disease, even if bacteriological tests are negative.

And increased funding would speed up the pace of research says the CDC’s Date. Funding for TB research has stagnated at around $1 billion per year, constraining progress, according to WHO. The target at the U.N. meeting: $5 billion per year by 2027. “The world also has the most promising R&D pipeline of new TB tools in decades,” says Pillay. “What’s needed now is greater investment to deliver on the promise of that pipeline and ensure patients and those at risk of TB have affordable and equitable access to these tools when they are available.”

Vaccines in the works

Pillay says there are more than a dozen TB vaccine candidates in clinical trials, including one whose late stage (stage 3) clinical trial is sponsored by the Gates Medical Research Institute. The trial began recruiting patients last March. That vaccine candidate is called M72/AS01E and if proven effective would be the first new TB vaccine in 100 years. The lone TB vaccine available now is not predictably effective in adults, and can cause a false positive result on TB skin tests.

But even an effective vaccine won’t do that much good if there aren’t funds to purchase it for countries impacted by TB. Janeen Madan Keller, deputy director of the Global Health Policy Program at the Center for Global Development, based in Washington, D.C., says that while Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, pays for [a variety of] vaccines in some of the poorest countries such as Afghanistan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some countries with high rates of TB are middle income countries, like Indonesia, and no longer eligible for support. Ahead of a TB vaccine’s approval, says Keller, there needs to be a better match of policy and funding.

“Often it seems that when we find a way to help vanquish TB,” says Lucica Ditiu, “we also find another barrier.”

Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C., and a regular contributor to NPR. She also reports for the Washington Post and Verywell Health. Find her on X: @fkritz


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California voters reject 2 housing-affordability measures

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 20:03:00 GMT

By Megan Myscofski

Californians voted on two housing-related measures Tuesday — Propositions 5 and 33 — and rejected both, according to respective Associated Press race calls. Still, many voters cited affordability as a major issue in the state. 

Proposition 33 would’ve rolled back state-wide restrictions on rent control. Proposition 5 would’ve made it easier for local governments to approve bonds for affordable housing, among other projects. 

Mary-Beth Moylan is a law professor at the University of the Pacific. She said the rejection is a sign voters think lawmakers should solve the problem. 

“Maybe the messaging is — we want there to be changes, we want there to be more affordable housing,” she said. “But we want the Legislature to figure out how to do it on its own and not involve the voters.”

But she added that could be bad news for local officials tasked with addressing affordability in their communities. 

“The fact that these two measures didn't pass means that those people will not have, really, the tools that they need to get anything done,” she said. 

Moylan said attack ads probably played a large part in the no votes, too. 

“There were effective campaigns that had people not really understanding what both of them would do and what the consequences of them would be,” she said. 

She also said that when voters don’t understand a measure, they tend to vote it down. 

“Which I'm not saying is a bad thing,” she added. “Because we probably shouldn't be voting for things that we don't understand.” 

Either way, Moylan said that voters didn’t see these as viable solutions to California’s housing affordability problem.


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California voters pass $10B bond measure funding environmental projects

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 23:55:00 GMT

By Manola Secaira

California voters passed Proposition 4, according to a race call by the Associated Press. About 58% of voters statewide supported the measure that will issue $10 billion in bonds for climate-related projects. 

The money will fund a variety of projects, including those that boost access to safe drinking water, wildfire prevention and the protection of lands and communities in California. 

“The way that Prop 4 was designed to focus on prevention and preparedness really represents  a pivotal shift away from just reacting to climate change,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, the California state director for the conservation nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

Rodriguez said he sees Proposition 4’s passage as evidence of increased voter interest in projects that tackle climate change impacts. 

“The voters of California are willing to make these kinds of significant investments in the future because I think we're all being impacted by climate change,” he said. 

He says the measure will help his nonprofit’s efforts to make public lands more accessible. The measure promises $700 million toward expanding and renovating local and state parks. 

Ariana Rickard, the public policy and funding program manager for the conservation nonprofit Sonoma Land Trust, said she’s expecting 2025 to be another deficit year for California’s budget. This has previously meant slashed funding for environmental projects. 

But she said this money ensures nonprofits who rely on state funding from agencies like the Wildlife Conservation Board — which will receive funding from the measure — can continue their work regardless of budget cuts.  

“We're really thrilled because it means that our projects can go forward,” Rickard said. “There's not going to be added delays to the timeline because we have that reassurance that that funding will be there.”


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Here’s what we know about Sacramento County 2024 General Election results

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sat, 09 Nov 2024 00:15:00 GMT

By Claire Morgan

Updated Nov. 8, 4:15 p.m.

Sacramento County results arrived in three separate waves on election night, with the first released shortly after the polls closed at 8 p.m., another around 10:15 p.m. then finally again around midnight. 

The county will release another batch of results later this week and will continue to issue reports every Friday and Tuesday until all the ballots are counted.

As of Friday at 4:10 p.m., county data estimated roughly 411,809 ballots had been counted.

See full California primary election results here.

Sacramento mayor

Early results show Assembly member Kevin McCarty holds a lead with 54% of the 113,724 ballots counted so far. Epidemiologist Dr. Flojaune Cofer follows with 45%.

McCarty told supporters he was feeling grateful during an Election Night watch party in a restaurant Downtown.

"[I'm] just completely appreciative of where we're at, the campaign we ran, talking to a lot of people, laying out our vision for Sacramento," he said. "Thanking everybody that helped us on this campaign: our volunteers, our endorsers, our supporters, our contributors."

Cofer also expressed gratitude during her own Election Night watch party at pub Downtown. She says homelessness was a top issue among voters she spoke to throughout her campaign.

"They were excited that we had a plan, that we were talking about not needing more money but needing to use the money that we had and make sure that we are coordinating services across our different agencies, that we have clear goals and outcomes," she said.

Sacramento City Council District 2

Early results show Former state Assembly member Roger Dickinson is in the lead with 61% of the 7,739 ballots counted so far. Del Paso Heights native Stephen Walton follows with 38% of the vote.

District 2 includes Del Paso Heights, Hagginwood and Woodlake. 

Council member Shoun Thao has represented District 2 since April, after he was appointed to temporarily fill the seat until the winner of this election takes office. Thao is serving the remainder of former Council member Sean Loloee’s term. Loloee resigned in January after pleading not guilty to a 25-count federal indictment related to his Viva Supermarket grocery store businesses. 

Local ballot measures

Measure D: 

Early results show out of 80,168 ballots counted, 71% were for and 28% were against Sacramento City Unified School District’s request to issue $543 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure D would be used to upgrade facilities at Earl Warren Elementary School, Elder Creek Elementary School and Hiram Johnson High School, among other projects. 

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure E: 

Early results show out of 112,104 ballots counted, 72% were for and 27% were against renewing and combining two existing library parcel taxes into a single tax with no expiration date. If passed, Measure E would generate approximately $9.6 million yearly for Sacramento County library services.

The measure requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

Measure G: 

Early results show out of 27,897 ballots counted, 61% were against and 38% were for imposing an additional 1-cent sales tax on items sold in Folsom. Funds raised through Measure G would be spent on first responder services, public infrastructure and economic development.

The measure requires a simple majority to pass. 

Measure H: 

Early results show out of 7,483 ballots counted, 54% were for and 45% were against Galt Joint Union Elementary School District’s request to issue $27 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure H would go towards upgrading infrastructure at Marengo Ranch Elementary School, Lake Canyon Elementary School and River Oaks Elementary School, among others.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure J: 

Early results show out of 714 ballots counted, 51% were for and 48% were against Elverta Joint Elementary School District’s request to issue $4.3 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure J would be used to upgrade infrastructure across its three schools.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure K:

Early results show out of 9,520 ballots counted, 56% were against and 43% were for San Joaquin Delta Community College District’s request to issue $598 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure K would go towards facilities improvements like lab upgrades, asbestos removal and new classroom construction.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure L: 

Early results show out of 11,270 ballots counted, 61% were for and 38% were against Orangevale Recreation and Park District’s request to issue $24 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure L would go towards making security improvements, upgrading playgrounds and renovating the district’s 60-year-old Youth Center, among other projects.

The measure requires two-thirds approval to pass.

Measure M: 

Early results show out of 1,588 ballots counted, 50% were against and 49% were for Arcohe Union School District’s request to issue $5.8 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure M would be used to upgrade school safety, repair aging facilities, expand classrooms and build a joint-use community center.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure N: 

Early results show out of 84,125 ballots counted, 58% were for and 41% were against Elk Grove Unified School District’s request to issue $542 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure N would go toward renovating, upgrading and rehabilitating school facilities, among other projects. 

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure O: 

Early results show out of 177,787 ballots counted, 68% were for and 31% were against Sacramento Metropolitan Fire Department’s request to issue $415 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure O would go toward upgrading facilities and vehicles and completing a new training facility.

The measure needs two-thirds of the vote to pass, unless Proposition 5 is approved, which would lower the threshold to 55%.

Measure P: 

Early results show out of 101,115 ballots counted, 59% were for and 40% were against San Juan Unified School District’s request to issue $950 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure P would go towards building new school facilities, upgrading classrooms and improve the safety of drinking water on campuses.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure Q: 

Early results show out of 6,248 ballots counted, 72% were for and 27% were against Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Parks District’s request to issue $24 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure Q would go toward upgrading restrooms, adding lighting and improving accessibility at parks, among other projects.

Measure R: 

Early results show out of 11,809 ballots counted, 65% were for and 34% were against Folsom-Cordova Unified School District’s request to issue $144 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure R would go towards improvements at elementary schools across the district.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.

Measure S:

Early results show out of 11,733 ballots counted, 64% were for and 35% were against Folsom-Cordova Unified District’s request to issue $144 million in bonds. Funds raised through Measure R would go towards improvements at middle and high schools across the district.

The measure requires 55% approval to pass.


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Safe street advocates don’t feel safe amid many car-related pedestrian deaths

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:00:00 GMT

By Keyshawn Davis

One October morning in 2019, 12-year-old Alena Wong got on her bike and headed to class at California Middle School. 

She followed her usual route. But as she crossed Sutterville and Mead Avenue, a high school senior driving a car struck her. The vehicle hit the back of her bike, she slid up the hood of the car and flew 10 feet in the air.

Wong sustained numerous injuries from the accident, including a broken femur, humerus, tibia, mandible, three of her teeth were broken into her jawline and she got a traumatic brain injury. 

Her father, Kevin Wong, said he found out Alena was involved in a collision and rushed to her location, at which point the police and paramedics had also arrived and were attending to her. He said Alena was taken to UC Davis Medical Center after the accident. 

“The driver was a senior at McClatchy,” Kevin Wong said. “He was actually on his way to school. He wasn’t breaking the law, he wasn't speeding. He was just driving in traffic and didn't see her. The sun was in his eyes.”

Alena Wong spent three and a half weeks in the hospital. She couldn’t remember much because of her traumatic brain injury, but as time went by she said her memory started to come back.

“My mom says I would ask, ‘Why am I here? What are we doing here?’ She'd answer me, 10 minutes later, I'd have to ask the same question because I just didn't remember,” Alena said. “She'd read the same chapter of a book to me every day until finally, I said, ‘we already read that. Why are you reading that?’”

Alena made a full recovery during her time at UC Davis Medical, her father said. During her time there, she underwent multiple surgeries plus physical and occupational therapy. By the time she left the hospital she was in a wheelchair and had to use crutches.

Although Wong survived her collision in the streets of Sacramento, that isn’t the case for many others. There have been 162 motor vehicle crash-related deaths this year, according to the Sacramento County coroner's office. Out of the 162 deaths, 16 were cyclists and 44 were pedestrians.

Sacramento Vice Mayor Caity Maple proposed a state of emergency at a City Council meeting in September as a result of the third fatal collision that occurred that month. 

“I’m devastated to see yet another person critically injured after being struck by a vehicle on Sacramento’s roads,” Maple said in September on social media. “Even beyond our City’s commitments to eliminate traffic deaths through Vision Zero, we need to take immediate and urgent action.”

Maple and her team have since been working on the proposal, which would require the city manager to identify funds for a public awareness campaign to educate drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians about traffic safety. It would also mobilize the Sacramento Police Department to ramp up enforcement of traffic laws on city streets. 

Ryan Brown, the chief of staff for Vice Mayor Maple, told CapRadio that the proposal is expected to be further discussed at the Nov. 12 Law and Legislation Committee meeting. 

“Our next steps include a series of meetings with key advocates and stakeholders (including experts in the field) who are helping make our proposal as strong as possible,” he added.

Advocates push for safety changes 

In 2021, Sacramento had the highest amount of total traffic fatalities and injuries compared to 15 other California cities with a similar population size, like San Francisco and Stockton, according to data from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The city was also in the top five California cities with the highest amount of pedestrian fatalities and injuries.

Sacramento Area Bike Advocates is a nonprofit that advocates for safe streets and bicycling infrastructure for the city. Executive Director Debra Banks said if the city had good bicycling infrastructure, it would help reduce collisions.

Banks said she’s “fearless” when she rides her bike and isn’t afraid of riding into traffic, but there are people she knows who avoid cycling altogether. 

“Those are the people that we'd love to make them feel safer, so that they would feel comfortable to ride their bike,” she said.

Banks said she was also once a victim of “vehicular violence.” Almost 10 years ago, she was hit by a 3,000-pound vehicle and was severely injured. But her experience spurred her toward activism.

“The person has paid the consequences [and] ended up going to jail. But that didn't make our streets safer,” Banks said. “It just took one person off our streets. The best way that we can make our streets safer is by changing the design of the street.”

She added she’d like to see road improvements like narrowing streets and increasing bike lanes, which makes cyclists feel safer and slow traffic.

In 2017, the city of Sacramento adopted a resolution called Vision Zero. This traffic safety policy doesn’t refer to car collisions as accidents; rather, it views them as preventable incidents that should be systematically addressed.

The Vision Zero Action Plan was adopted in 2018 with the goal to have zero traffic collision deaths in Sacramento by 2027. Banks said the city isn’t close to hitting that target. 

But Banks added she’s thrilled that there is momentum amongst the elected city council members to make changes with the state of emergency proposal. 

“That's great, but there has to be funding,” Banks said. “If there's no funding, then everything sounds great. We can draw up plans, we can sign a declaration, but without funding those streets aren't going to change because street design costs money, costs a lot of money, and Sacramento is low on funds for that.”

Slow Down Sacramento is a grassroots organization focused on increasing awareness of slowing vehicular traffic speeds. According to Executive Director Isaac Gonzalez, SDS advocates for changes to road infrastructure that make it less conducive for people to drive recklessly or at high speeds.

“The thing that we advocate for the most is changes to the built environment, because we know that through changes to the built environment, we get the results that we want,” Gonzalez said. “So narrowing lanes, decreasing the amount of opportunities for people to drive fast, making the lanes narrower, adding protected bike lanes, stop signs, that just make vehicles slow down.” 

Gonzalez said there have been “far too many people dying” on city streets, and said anyone who isn’t in a car is considered a vulnerable road user. 

“We know that crashes are going to happen. We know there's going to be collisions,” he said. “That's an eventuality with traffic, but the greatest thing that impacts whether or not that will be a fatal injury is speed.”

According to the Safe Transportation Research Center at UC Berkeley, speeding related fatalities increased in California by 16.5% between 2020 and 2021. Sacramento was in the top five counties in California for speed related fatalities and serious injuries in 2021. 

Gonzalez said as vehicle speeds go up, collisions are more likely to result in fatalities.

“If we could decrease those average vehicle speeds down to 25 miles per hour, or even 20, which would be better, we can really decrease the likelihood of a crash resulting in a fatality demonstratively,” Gonzalez said. 

City infrastructure is changing, but advocates say it could be done faster

The City of Sacramento has recently made a few changes to its streets, most notably with the Central City Mobility Project. The project includes protected bikeways and lane reductions. It has converted 5th Street from a one-way street to a two-way street as part of the project.

“That’s a new conversion. It's brand new, and it's fantastic,” Banks said. “Personally, as a cyclist and as an advocate, I would love to see every single road in the grid be turned back into a two way street.”

Banks added that SABA takes people on social rides around the city to teach cyclists about infrastructure. She said the process of learning how to navigate through the streets safely helps build confidence. 

She said many of these injuries happen at intersections: “People are doing right turns on red and if you're in a protected bike lane and it ends just as a car is coming up, they may not see you until the very last minute,” Banks said.

Gonzalez said SDS is advocating for the city to utilize quick-build tactical urbanism, which involves making rapid changes to a roadway immediately after a collision occurs. He added that these changes aren’t permanent — road workers can move pieces around to experiment with what works and what doesn't.

“When a crash happens in the city of Sacramento that results in a fatality, typically, nothing changes the next day,” he said. “Nothing may change for a very long time unless neighbors and advocates really press the city to do something.”

He said those changes could sometimes take a decade or more to happen. 

“We want the city to look at every instance of serious injury or death as it is an immediate, urgent remedy that must be required,” Gonzalez said. “We want the next day for cones and signage to go up, for temporary traffic calming measures to be implemented, and then, if successful, put in permanently. That's called tactical urbanism.”

The city of Hoboken, New Jersey has reached its own Vision Zero Action Plan goals after adopting this style of tactical urbanism. Starting in 2021, Hoboken immediately made changes to roads after serious crashes that resulted in injury or death. It hasn’t seen a traffic-related fatality on its roads since.

Over the last year, Hoboken has added multi-way stops at 14 intersections, six of which were identified as high-crash intersections. It’s also installed 418 delineators, which can help navigate drivers through hazardous conditions. An estimated 61 crosswalks were re-striped with high visibility markings, and 27 curb ramps were upgraded. 

In 2019, the New Jersey Department of Transportation awarded Hoboken over $730,000 for transportation funding, which the city used towards its Vision Zero infrastructure and safety upgrades. 

Gonzalez said he wants Sacramento to view this issue with the same urgency as Hoboken, and added it’s a solution the city can do for a lower price than permanent fixes. 

“I could go to a store today and buy the things needed to change traffic patterns on some of our hotspots and get the driver behavior that we want to see,” Gonzalez said. “But it takes policy, and it's not currently the policy in the city of Sacramento, so that's what we want to see.”

After Alena Wong’s accident in 2019, the city took some small measures to ensure that more people wouldn’t get hurt at the intersection. 

Kevin Wong, Alena’s father, said then-council member Steve Hansen’s office was working on installing a traffic light there, but it didn’t end up happening.

“They're telling us that maybe they can get something done, but ultimately, there wasn't any funding for that to get done. So nothing has been done since then,” he said.

Wong said he met with District 7 council member Rick Jennings earlier this year, who said it's his top priority to make the intersection where Alena was struck by a car safer. 

“They did say that they do want to put a mini roundabout, which is something that we have been advocating for,” Wong said.

Six months after Alena’s accident, she was able to start running and biking again. 

“She was eager to do so, in fact,” Kevin Wong said. “After leaving the hospital, physically she was able to make, I'll call it a 95% recovery. She has ongoing dental trauma.” 

Nearly five years later, Alena still rides her bike to and from school everyday.

“I remember while I was in the hospital, mainly my mindset was that I just needed to get back to where I was before, and having that one goal made it a lot easier to just push towards it,” she said. “Once it all slowed down and I looked back at it, I realized how hard it must have been.”

She said she’s realized recently that she’s glad it happened when she was 12 as opposed to the age of 40 because she can learn with her injuries, rather than have lived most of her life and then have to start a new one.

“I think that it's made a lot of who I am, like, how determined I was to get better again,” Wong said. “That's a lot of my personality now. I honestly don't know who I would be without having had that.”

Kevin said he and his wife were comforted by the fact that Alena wasn't afraid to face the fears that other people might have after her accident.

He added the family has made a habit of speaking at city council meetings, transportation-adjacent committee meetings, and various neighborhood association meetings to continue to advocate for traffic safety in Sacramento.  


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The Macbeth Connection

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sat, 26 Oct 2024 23:00:00 GMT

Shakespeare's Macbeth in works by Beethoven, Verdi, Strauss, Ibert, Walton, and more.


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What Trump’s second term means for Colorado immigrants, public lands, abortion access and Space Command

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Sun, 10 Nov 2024 13:00:42 +0000

Here's how the coming second term of President-elect Donald Trump could impact Colorado's immigrants, public lands, abortion access and hosting of the U.S. Space Command headquarters.


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Romer and Ritter: Keep Shoshone flowing by letting the Colorado River District purchase Xcel’s rights

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Sun, 03 Nov 2024 12:01:10 +0000

"As former governors, we support the Colorado River District’s purchase of Xcel's water rights for $99 million." -- former Govs. Roy Romer and Bill Ritter


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Opinion: The day the Animas River ran orange with pollution may have been the start of something beautiful

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:45:43 +0000

It was the summer of 2015 when the Animas River in southern Colorado turned such a garish orange-gold that it made national news.


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Opinion: Colorado’s schools fail students with disabilities using hidden suspensions to keep them home

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Tue, 05 Nov 2024 17:39:15 +0000

When paraprofessionals miss a day of work, the children they ordinarily support are sent home or kept out of school altogether. This is not just unacceptable -- it’s a crisis. And some of Colorado’s most vulnerable students are the victims.


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Letters: Denver has always invested in housing but we need more

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Tue, 22 Oct 2024 11:01:40 +0000

"The city has been investing in housing, albeit on a much more modest scale, for decades using limited local funds and a variety of federal funds it receives since the 1990s." -- Charles Kreiman, Denver


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Letters: Denver does not need Ball Arena development and Kroenke doesn’t need another billion dollars

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Wed, 23 Oct 2024 10:55:27 +0000

"Please, Mr. Kroenke. You have your 124,000 playground ranch and billions in cash. Can't we have some space? How much money do you need?"


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Letters: Readers’ takes on Proposition KK — The tax erodes gun rights. It’s essential for Colorado’s crime victims.

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Wed, 30 Oct 2024 11:01:29 +0000

"Instead of taxing law-abiding gun owners who purchase ammunition for recreational shooting and hunting, or defense, why don't we just reallocate part of the $40 billion Colorado annual budget?" -- Richard D VanOrsdale, Broomfield


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Letters: Will Boebert go from not serving District 3 to not serving District 4?

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Thu, 31 Oct 2024 14:38:59 +0000

"It will be so disappointing if the good people of District 4 can’t see through her and instead elect her to replace the honorable and decent Congressman Ken Buck. Talk about trading a diamond for a clod of dirt!" -- Kristina Woods, Durango


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“Most of us came from the inner city” — 75th Warren Miller film focuses on inclusivity in snow sports

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 13:00:13 +0000

One of the most beautiful and powerful segments in this year's Warren Miller film begins with family footage of a little boy of Dominican descent, born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey, learning how to snowboard with his dad.


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Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul: How to watch the fight, time, odds

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 19:30:15 +0000

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul had to wait an extra four months for his high-profile match with 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.


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PHOTOS: Major storm moves into metro Denver

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:27:16 +0000

Metro Denver’s first major snowstorm of the season dropped over a foot of heavy, wet snow in parts of the metro area between Friday, Nov. 8, through Saturday.


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Colorado’s first major winter storm of the season drops nearly 3 feet of snow, closes most major highways

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Sat, 09 Nov 2024 04:25:34 +0000

Snow is expected to taper off by noon Saturday, though Coloradans may see continued travel impacts through the weekend, state officials said.


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Colorado weather: Waning winter storm leaves more than 3 feet of snow as rescue ops continue

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Sat, 09 Nov 2024 17:35:54 +0000

Rescue operations were ongoing in Lincoln County as of 10 a.m., with abandoned cars blocking plows and at least two rescuers stranded.


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One man registered 15,000 businesses in 2022, putting Colorado’s economic growth into question

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Tue, 15 Oct 2024 12:00:06 +0000

Colorado residents have formed a record number of new businesses this decade, especially after the state reduced the filing fee for new limited liability companies or LLCs.


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They’re in custody and facing jail. Why isn’t Grand Junction’s municipal court providing them attorneys?

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:00:33 +0000

State Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican whose district covers Grand Junction, called the situation “appalling.”


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Landlords pile “junk fees” on Colorado renters, sometimes adding hundreds to advertised prices

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Sun, 27 Oct 2024 12:00:21 +0000

Junk fees “are in line with deceptive and unfair trade practices because landlords are advertising a fake price to get consumers interested, but it’s not what they’re actually going to pay at the end of the day,” said state Rep. Javier Mabrey.


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Last-minute Colorado voter guide for the 2024 election

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:00:29 +0000

It's too late to mail your ballot but it's not too late to vote. Coloradans can vote in person or use a ballot drop box until 7 p.m. on Nov. 5.


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Judge finds Pueblo illegally jailed 3 defendants for contempt of court, voids convictions and sentences

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Fri, 01 Nov 2024 22:02:02 +0000

The ruling comes just over three months after a Denver Post investigation found Pueblo municipal judges routinely used contempt of court charges to inflate jail sentences for defendants facing low-level charges that carried little to no jail time.


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5 takeaways from Colorado’s 2024 election — including reactions as a new Trump era looms

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Wed, 06 Nov 2024 13:00:03 +0000

Tuesday's election offered a wide range of results to digest, both in Colorado and nationally -- at times going in different directions. Here are major takeaways from voters' decisions.


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Herbert Blomstedt Conducts

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sun, 10 May 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Former SFS Music Director (1985-1995) Herbert Blomstedt conducts Beethoven and Mendelssohn.


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Mackey, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sun, 17 May 2020 23:00:00 GMT

MTT conducts Mackey and Tchaikovsky; Gil Shaham plays Prokofiev.


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Ravel, Mozart, Sibelius

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sun, 24 May 2020 23:00:00 GMT

MTT conducts Ravel and Sibelius; violinist Christian Tetzlaff plays Mozart.


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Beethoven, Mozart, Barber

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sun, 31 May 2020 23:00:00 GMT

James Gaffigan guest conducts Wagner, Mozart and Barber; pianist Hélène Grimaud plays Beethoven.


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MTT conducts Mahler

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sun, 14 Jun 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler's 7th Symphony.


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MTT conducts Stravinsky

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sun, 21 Jun 2020 23:00:00 GMT

Michael Tilson Thomas conducts and all-Stravinsky program featuring violinist Leonidas Kavakos.


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At The Opera, Guglielmo Tell (1979), July 8, 2023

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sat, 08 Jul 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Tune in at 8pm to hear the last opera of Gioachino Rossini, Guglielmo Tell ( William Tell). This 1979 recording stars Luciano Pavarotti, Mirela Freni and Sherrill Milnes.


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At The Opera, Esclarmonde (1974), July 22, 2023

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Tune in at 8pm to hear the French operatic masterpiece, Jules Massenet's Esclarmonde staring Joan Sutherland.


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At The Opera, Verdi's I Masnadieri or The Robbers (1983), August 5, 2023

By www.capradio.org
Published On :: Sat, 05 Aug 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Tune in at 8pm to hear the seldom performed opera by Giuseppe Verdi, I Masnadieri (The Robbers) staring Samuel Ramey, Franco Bonisolli, Joan Sutherland and Matteo Manuguerra recorded in 1983 on DECCA.


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Keeler: CSU Rams football did Joe Parker in. If Jay Norvell can’t beat Coach Prime, he’ll probably follow his old boss out the door.

By www.denverpost.com
Published On :: Wed, 21 Feb 2024 04:38:51 +0000

Beat Deion. Because if Jay Norvell can notch CSU's first Rocky Mountain Showdown win since 2014, the load of those first two seasons lightens considerably.


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