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Wisconsin residents spent millions on legal pot – in Illinois

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

By Caroline Reinwald | WISN via CNNILLINOIS (WISN) — Wisconsin residents are choosing to spend their hard-earned cash in Illinois, specifically on weed.The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation estimates the state made $36.1 million in tax revenue last year from Wisconsinites traveling across state lines to buy marijuana.The same report said more than half the cannabis sales made in counties bordering Wisconsin were made by out-of-state residents.“It’s the power of the purse. We know people spend their money to match their values and it’s clear the legislature here in Wisconsin is out of touch with what the majority of people want,” said Wisconsin state Sen. Melissa Agard. “I think we need to continue to lift up the voices and values of the people who send us here to the building and do the real work that they’re asking.”Wisconsin is currently an island for marijuana legalization in the Midwest, with each surroun...

McDonald: Jimmy Garoppolo will truly prove his winning bonafides if he can turn Raiders around

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

For a long time, Jimmy Garoppolo and Derek Carr lived a parallel tortured existence with the bottom line.Was Garoppolo responsible for the 49ers winning so many games during his tenure as a starter, or did his teammates and coaching staff carry him there?Was Carr responsible for the Raiders losing so many games during his tenure as a starter or did his teammates and coaching staff drag him there?Now that Garoppolo has officially signed with the Raiders, we’ll begin to find out. One thing’s for sure: If Garoppolo can deliver 10-plus wins, we have our answer. The Raiders love to talk nostalgia and mystique, but the only mystery with the franchise over the last 28 years is how many losses were on the horizon, as the Raiders have finished over .500 just five times in that span.Garoppolo gave the 49ers their due right out of the box, then looked to the future.“I just want to thank the Yorks, thank the 49ers for everything that they’ve done,” Garoppolo said a...

March Madness: Saint Mary’s advances, calmly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. — Mitchell Saxen had 17 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, and Saint Mary’s beat ailing VCU 63-51 in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.Alex Ducas also scored 17 points as the fifth-seeded Gaels (27-7) advanced to the second round for the second straight year. Logan Johnson had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and reserve Augustas Marciulionis scored 13 points.Freshman sensation Aidan Mahaney was plagued by foul trouble and didn’t score.Ace Baldwin led VCU (27-8) with 13 points, but he appeared to sprain his right ankle on his landing after taking a jumper with just over 14 minutes left in regulation. The Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year lay on the court for a couple of minutes before receiving treatment on the bench and back in the locker room.VCU was down 38-34 when Baldwin left and 48-39 when he came back with 9:03 left after the Gaels of the West Coast Conference went on a 10-5 spurt sparked by a three-point play by Kyle Bow...

Yosemite Park set to reopen Saturday to visitors

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

By Cheri Mossburg | CNNYosemite National Park will begin to reopen Saturday with limited access and hours, the US National Park Service has announced. The park remains closed today.The popular park, nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains, was closed because of a series of damaging storms that have swept across the region in recent weeks.Since February 21, the park has seen more than 15 feet (4.6 meters) of snow at Tuolumne Meadows, higher than the average single story house. Warmer storms left behind 21 inches (53 centimeters) of rain.The winter storms damaged roads and facilities throughout much of the park, with almost two dozen documented rockslides and debris flows affecting roadways. Most of these have been cleaned up, the park said.The main roads are cleared, and snow has been plowed in the upper elevations. The park’s smaller roads will remain closed, along with the areas of the park they serve.Yosemite will be open from sunrise to sunset this weekend. The park plans to...

Santa Rita Jail had eight fentanyl overdoses over two-week period

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

DUBLIN — Within a two-week period in early February, Santa Rita Jail saw a reported eight fentanyl overdoses — more than one every two days on average — including at least one fatality, authorities say.The staggering tally doesn’t include the suspected fatal drug overdose that killed 33-year-old Candice “Cody” Vanburen on Feb. 28. Vanburen was the fourth person to die in the jail within a month, include two suspected fentanyl overdoses, one suicide and one that remains under investigation but was initially classified as a medical emergency.All of those who died were in the intake area of the jail run by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.The four deaths led to a joint statement by six local civil rights organizations calling on Alameda County to “significantly decrease the jail population, divest from the ACSO and SRJ, and put those resources back into the community.” Santa Rita Jail is the only adult jail in Alameda County sinc...

Mountain View art teacher arrested for inappropriately touching teen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

(KRON) -- An art teacher in Mountain View was arrested on Thursday after one of his students came forward to say he touched her inappropriately, police said. The art teacher was identified by the Mountain View Police Department as 55-year-old Oleg Tumasov, who operated a studio, Tumasov Fine Art Studio and Gallery, on the 800 block of West El Camino Real. Gun discharged in fight aboard BART train Police say the victim, a teenage girl, came forward on Wednesday to say Tumasov touched her inappropriately on at least one occasion. The girl was a student at Tumasov's studio.Tumasov, who also teaches private tennis lessons in the area, was located and arrested without incident just after noon on Thursday in Mountain View, police said. Police say that based on their ongoing investigation, they are concerned there may be additional victims.

BART needs to change from 'top down,' says outgoing inspector general

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

ORINDA, Calif. (KRON) -- In Orinda on Friday, BART's outgoing inspector general said that the transit agency needs to make some changes. The BART inspector general position was created in 2019 with the mandate of conducting oversight at BART.  Four years later, the first person to hold the role, Harriet Richardson, says she is leaving the job early, four months before her term was set to end.  She says that during her time as IG, BART management and BART employee unions made it difficult for her to do her job. These are the top 10 vehicles targeted for catalytic converter theft, according to Carfax She says she had trouble accessing records, talking to employees, and securing funding for the IG office, all of which led her to conclude she couldn't continue in the role."You reach a point where you say enough is enough," Richardson said.BART, meanwhile, is facing potential budget deficit of up to $300 million per year due in large part to a decrease in ridership following the coron...

March Madness without Self: Roberts has KU running smoothly

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Norm Roberts appears to have transitioned smoothly into his acting head coach role for top-seeded Kansas despite all the day-to-day uncertainty and chatter about Bill Self’s status in the NCAA Tournament.Roberts said Friday that Self was doing well in his recovery from the heart procedure he had less than two weeks ago but that it was unknown if Self would be on the bench for Saturday’s second-round West Region game against Arkansas.The 57-year-old Roberts is Self’s right-hand man, having been on Self’s staff at four coaching stops. Backup guard Joseph Yesufu described Roberts as a “mirror image” of Self.“We have been together for almost 25 years, so we probably do finish each other’s sentences in basketball terms,” Roberts said.The Jayhawks beat Howard 96-68 in the first round on Thursday. Other than Self not being with the team on the bench, the Jayhawks’ routine is mostly unchanged. The staff meets with Self twice a day ...

Spring training’s loss is WBC’s gain as viewership jumps

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Many of Major League Baseball’s biggest stars, like Mike Trout, Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani, aren’t playing in spring training. They’re in the World Baseball Classic.Some baseball fans, particularly New York Mets fans, aren’t sure that’s a good thing.But one thing appears certain: People are watching.The fifth WBC tournament drew just over one million fans in the first round, according to numbers released Friday from MLB. That was up from about 500,000 in 2017. Part of the reason is there are more games since the tournament was expanded to 20 teams from 16.But this year’s average attendance of 25,275 is considerably higher than the 20,402 average in 2017.Several individual games were among the highlights. Mexico beat the United States 11-5 in front of 47,534 fans at Chase Field in Phoenix, which set the WBC attendance record for a first-round game. The games at the Tokyo Dome in Japan drew an average of 36,198 per game ...

South Carolina women roll in March Madness opener

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:26:58 GMT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Zia Cooke scored 11 points as No. 1 South Carolina moved five wins away from a perfect season after opening the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 72-40 victory over No. 16 seed Norfolk State on Friday.Aliyah Boston had seven points, nine rebounds and two blocks for the Gamecocks (33-0), who won their 39th straight game dating back to last year’s NCAA title run and moved to 11-0 in first-round games under coach Dawn Staley. They’ll face No. 8 seed South Florida on Sunday for a spot in the Sweet 16 in the Greenville, South Carolina Regional.This was a colossal mismatch from the tip like so many other games South Carolina’s been a part of this season.Norfolk State’s tallest player is freshman forward Skye Robinson at 6-foot-2. South Carolina has seven players that tall or taller. The Spartans’ tallest player on the bench? Larry Vickers, the team’s 6-9 head coach, who walked onto the Spartans’ men’s team and eventually became a team captain.Kierra Wheeler led Norfolk ...