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This is California's top 1% income threshold, according to income analysis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

As the saying goes, Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems.The Golden State, the most populous state in the country, has the third highest threshold for the top 1% of taxpayers, according to a new study from Smart Asset.Researchers analyzed 2020 IRS tax data for individual filers and adjusted those figures for May 2023 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index, according to the website. The report shared that households that earn at least $844,266 per year are considered to be among California’s top earners. However, households who make that amount or more pay 26.95% in taxes. Angelenos who make $70,000 a year are still considered ‘low-income’ Connecticut and Massachusetts were the only states with higher thresholds for their top 1% of taxpayers.In Connecticut, households who make at least $952,902 pay 28.40% in taxes, and in Massachusetts, households who make at least $903,401 pay 27.15%Connecticut had the highest thresholds for its 1% and Massachusetts was ranked seco...

Apple to start paying out claims in $500M iPhone slowdown lawsuit: Reports

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

iPhone users who have long complained their phones get slower after a software update may finally be getting paid for their troubles.Apple will soon start paying out between $310 million and $500 million it agreed to pay to settle claims the company intentionally slowed down old iPhones' performance with a new iOS update. How much the company ultimately pays out will depend on the number of approved claims.The good news is about 3 million people who filed claims in the class action lawsuit will soon see payments of about $65, Verge reports. The bad news is that if you didn't already file a claim before the deadline passed in October 2020, it's too late now. Time running out to file for $725M Facebook settlement: How to claim your payment Even though the settlement was reached years ago, people still haven't received their payment because of drawn out court procedures and appeals. But last week, the law firm representing Apple customers announced an appeal challenging the lawsuit ...

Out of Sight: Falling Down the Speakeasy Rabbit Hole 

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

When it comes to bars, dark and hidden away will never go out of style. Thrill of discovery and in-the-know exclusivity aside, drinking spaces that brand themselves as “speakeasies” tend to create a more let loose/feel good energy that’s noticeably shared by all who enter. Bad vibes are rare. Of course, the term “speakeasy” literally refers to the era during Prohibition, when imbibers had to hide to purchase and enjoy alcoholic beverages together. While everything that goes down in speakeasy style bars these days is legal, the atmosphere can conjure a subtle naughtiness nonetheless. It’s not enough to simply “look for the back room,” anymore, either. Modern speakeasies have a certain bygone elegance and an unmatched attention to detail, decor and the drink menu. We’d dare to declare that Los Angeles has some of the best in this regard. As the author of a book called Los Angeles’ Best Dive Bars, we love a hard-to-find mini-mall hole in the wall, but that’s not what we’re talking abou...

Michael Lewis’ ‘Blind Side’ refers to Michael Oher being ‘adopted’ by Tuohy family

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

Back in 2004, wealthy Memphis residents Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy formally welcomed homeless Black teenager Michael Oher into their home, creating an uplifting real-life plot development in the hit football movie, “The Blind Side,” for which Sandra Bullock won and Academy Award.But the exact legal arrangement that made this relationship official is at the center of an explosive court fight between the Tuohys and the former NFL star. The arrangement has long been depicted as an adoption, and that’s how Oher said he understood it. But he said he recently learned it was a conservatorship, which has a number of implications. With the conservatorship, Oher alleges, the Tuohys were in control of his financial affairs, unlike an adoption, and he says they cheated him out of millions of dollars they earned after his story was made into a movie that earned more than $300 million at the box office.FILE – In this Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, file photo, Tabitha Soren, left, and M...

Recall effort aimed at unseating Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price moves closer to gathering signatures

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

OAKLAND — A group calling itself “Save Alameda for Everyone: Recall Pamela Price” moved a step closer to beginning a county-wide, signature-gathering effort aimed at unseating the county’s top prosecutor.The committee, which goes by the acronym SAFE, filed a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition with the county’s registrar of voters on Tuesday, according to Carl Chan, a recall leader and president of the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.The procedural move — which included the filing of 127 signatures, more than the 100 that Chan said was required for this step of the process — signaled that the group could be just weeks away from kicking off its broader, county-wide signature gathering process. Chan said he hoped to begin collecting those signatures in early September.“Many people don’t feel safe,” said Chan, in a press conference outside of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in downtown Oakland. “We are not doing it just for vict...

Castle Rock State Park to expand in size due to rare state land purchase

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

Breaking a long-running trend where it has blocked the acquisition of new land for years, California’s state parks department announced Tuesday that it will spend $4.2 million to purchase 222 acres at Castle Rock State Park, a scenic location popular with rock climbers and hikers along the Santa Clara-Santa Cruz county line.The purchase is the first time that the department has expanded any state park in California since 2021, and the first time that it has expanded a park in its Santa Cruz District, which includes San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, since 2011.Under the deal, state parks will pay the Sempervirens Fund, a nonprofit group based in Los Altos, $4.2 million to acquire 222 acres in six parcels that are adjacent to Skyline Boulevard and Highway 9.The purchase includes a grand new entrance to Castle Rock with 90 parking spaces, restrooms and a 60-seat amphitheater that Sempervirens Fund built and opened to the public at its own expense four years ago. The organization...

49ers training camp: Talanoa Hufanga’s interception spoils Brock Purdy’s solid day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

SANTA CLARA — Yes, Brock Purdy had a pass intercepted Tuesday, a mistake that has occurred in most of his practices in an otherwise remarkable comeback from elbow surgery.Making this one different was who snagged it on the 49ers’ practice field.Talanoa Hufanga, flashing his All-Pro form from last season, correctly diagnosed where Purdy was aiming a short throw and picked it off in stride before the ball reached tight end Troy Fumagalli.Hufanga and Purdy have lockers near each other, and they often review plays together in their educational pursuits.“If he’s throwing us one, it’s helping us get better, and it’s helping him learn,” Hufanga said. “I’m first one to pick his brain: ‘Why did I do that? What could I have done better?’ For him to learn from it and me to learn from it, that’s what makes it so competitive.”Tuesday’s lesson: Hufanta was in man coverage and jumped the route, knowing that “the clock was going off”...

19-year-old woman arrested for possessing machine gun in Walnut Creek

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

(KRON) -- A 19-year-old woman is under arrest on multiple weapons violations -- including possession of a machine gun -- in relation to a reported retail robbery in Walnut Creek. The Walnut Creek Police Department was dispatched to a reported theft at a store in Broadway Plaza on July 27 at around 1:30 p.m. Officers arrived at the scene on the 1200 block of Broadway Plaza and detained three women. One of the women, 19-year-old Romajane Hill of Sacramento, was found to be in possession of a stolen handgun. Teen girls nabbed after San Francisco business ransacked The firearm, police said, was modified from a semiautomatic pistol to fully automatic. It was equipped with a 30-round magazine.Hill was arrested and booked into the Martinez Detention Facility. The Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office charged her with the following:Possession of a machine gunPossession of a large-capacity magazineCarrying a loaded firearm on one's personHaving a concealed firearm on one's personH...

Correction: Hawaii-Wildfires-Confusion story

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — In a story published August 12, 2023, about confusion and limited public communication during deadly wildfires in Maui, The Associated Press erroneously reported three of the state’s all-hazard emergency warning sirens malfunctioned in separate incidents during the most recent monthly test. Only Maui’s siren malfunction occurred during the monthly test on Aug. 1. The siren malfunctions in the other two counties happened a day earlier on July 31. Source

Mobile morgue arrives to assist in identification of 99 confirmed dead in Maui wildfires

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:50 GMT

Charred vehicles sit near a wildfire-destroyed home Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Kula, Hawaii. The same day a wildfire ripped through Lahaina, one tore through Kula, as well. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)(AP/Rick Bowmer) Charred vehicles sit near a wildfire-destroyed home Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Kula, Hawaii. The same day a wildfire ripped through Lahaina, one tore through Kula, as well. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)(AP/Rick Bowmer) LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to help Hawaii officials working painstakingly to identify the 99 people confirmed killed in wildfires that ravaged Maui, and officials expected to release the first list of names even as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighbo...