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County Connection: MedAssist program helps cover cost of lifesaving medications

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

Lifesaving drugs shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. If you need an EpiPen, an asthma inhaler or diabetes medications, you already know that. You need the meds. They’re not nice to have; they’re must-haves. But they cost too much.To help combat high prescription drug costs, I proposed Santa Clara County’s new MedAssist effort, a program that helps cover the cost of lifesaving medications for qualifying residents who have been diagnosed with diabetes, asthma or severe allergies. In September 2022, the program was expanded to include an even fuller range of medications for diabetes care.MedAssist provides monthly grants to help cover the high out-of-pocket cost of prescription medications like anti-diabetics (including insulin), asthma inhalers and epinephrine auto-injectors. The program is designed so that the majority of adults and children in our county meet income eligibility requirements. If you meet the eligibility requirements, you’ll receive a grant payment to offset paid medical...

Sunnyvale nonprofit awards $3.2 million in clean energy grants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

Clean energy grantsSilicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) awarded $3.2 million in demonstration grants to six member cities and the Sunnyvale School District.The grants are designed to help local agencies install electric building technologies that the public can see and experience. Sunnyvale-based SVCE distributed $3.2 million between the city of Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale School District, as well as the cities of Campbell, Los Altos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill and Mountain View.Projects include an array of installations such as heat pump water heaters, heat pump space heaters and induction stoves. Community members will have access to these projects and will be provided with educational materials about how the technology works within the building.Sinks appointed to school boardFormer Cupertino Mayor Rod Sinks has been appointed as a Fremont Union High School District trustee to fill the vacancy created by the death of trustee Roy Rocklin. The district’s board of trustees approved Sink...

Latest line: A good week for Humane Society, a bad week for Oakland kids

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

Humane SocietyIn a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds Proposition 12, passed by California voters in 2018 to ban the sale of eggs or meat from hens, pigs or calves kept in confined cages and pens.    Oakland kidsA teachers’ strike in 2019 kept kids out of class. They endured more than a year of virtual instruction due to COVID. Now, with finals and graduations looming, another strike has upended their learning.   Linda YaccarinoNBCUniversal ad sales chief is named new CEO of Twitter, a high-profile tech job. But she’ll report to the mercurial Elon Musk, and the company has suffered mass layoffs and tech glitches. 

‘They’re showing us who they are’: Racist text messages expose deep divides, ethnic tension in Antioch

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

ANTIOCH — When Kathryn Wade moved to Antioch in 2007, she thought she’d finally get her little slice of the American dream.Better schools. Safer neighborhoods. Room to breathe. A town where Friday nights are for high school football, an appropriate suburban ending to weekdays spent on hours-long commutes under tunnels and across bridges.Just 45 miles from her native San Francisco, Wade saw it as the perfect place to build a life away from the poverty, crime and violence of the city, and keep her teenage sons out of trouble.“I was looking for calmness,” said Wade, who is Black. “I wanted a place where the neighbors greet you, they look out for you — like country people.”But Wade’s dreams quickly soured. She said her family endured years of trauma, including the beating of her son Malad Baldwin by Antioch police in 2014, and his premature death six years later.So when she saw the racist messages sent by Antioch officers — including texts mocking Baldwin and the injuries he suffered af...

They said it: DA prosecutor exodus

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

“That’s fine. Have a nice life.”— Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, on the two dozen prosecutors who have resigned since she took office after campaigning for criminal justice reform and sought to reduce prison sentences for accused murderers.

I-880 flooding, potholes repaired in San Jose’s decades-long trouble spot: Roadshow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

Q: On northbound Interstate 880 just before The Alameda offramp in San Jose, there is a water leak on the berm beside the roadway that is causing flooding on the two right lanes, and increasingly severe potholes, too. Drivers now swerve to avoid the water and potholes. This has been an issue since at least the start of the year. Are there plans to stop the leak and repair the road?Mike Schuster, San JoseA: I’ve received so many comments recently about this section of 880. Read on…Q: I drive 880 to my girlfriend’s house in Campbell every weekend and since March, have noticed that a flood fills lane 1 and part of lane 2 just before The Alameda exit. Do you know if that flood has been reported or how I can report it? The reason it concerns me is that I almost got into an accident several times there when the car in front of me drove through the water which sprayed on my windshield and blocked my view.Tom Rawson, NewarkA: And…Q: I was wondering if you could shed ...

Teaching from 3,000 miles away: San Jose school’s response to the California teacher shortage

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

On a Wednesday morning in May, a dozen students streamed into their geometry class at the Cindy Avitia High School. But instead of looking toward the blackboard, the 10th-graders opened up their laptops — and got ready to connect with a teacher nearly 3,000 miles away.Their class is one of 11 taught by a virtual teacher at the charter school, which is pulling in educators from Alaska, Maryland and Texas to address California’s teacher shortage.“I know it’s not ideal for our students — we all know that,” said Shara Hedge, the CEO of Alpha Public Schools, a charter network with four schools in San Jose. “But until we really, radically change the education profession here in the United States, we’re going to be looking at solutions like this.”At Cindy Avitia High School, Rene Silva, center, a learning coach, helps students as math teacher, Sushma Vishnubhotla, teaches the class remotely from Maryland on May 3, 2023, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)Math teacher...

Shooting in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, leaves 1 dead, 4 wounded

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A shooting sparked by a dispute inside a business left one person dead and four wounded in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, authorities said Sunday.Officers were called to the shooting about 11 p.m. Saturday, Louisville Metro Police Department spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said in a news release.Two men and two women were found wounded in one location and taken to a hospital, Smiley said. One of the men was in critical condition and the other three were stable, she said. Another man was found shot a short distance away and was also taken to a hospital, where he died, Smiley said. He was identified by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office as Demontae Jakwan Tyreek Marshall, 22.No arrests were immediately reported. Homicide detectives were investigating.The shooting stemmed from a dispute inside a business that spilled out onto the street, Smiley said. She did not say what type of business it was. An address provided by the coroner’s office matches that of...

Bolivian EV startup hopes tiny car will make it big in lithium-rich country

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — On a recent, cold morning, Dr. Carlos Ortuño hopped into a tiny electric car to go check on a patient in the outskirts of Bolivia’s capital of La Paz, unsure if the vehicle would be able to handle the steep, winding streets of the high-altitude city.“I thought that because of the city’s topography it was going to struggle, but it’s a great climber,” said Ortuño about his experience driving a Quantum, the first EV to have ever been made in Bolivia. “The difference from a gasoline-powered vehicle is huge.”Ortuño’s home visit aboard a car the size of a golf cart was part of a government-sponsored program that brings doctors to patients living in neighborhoods far from the city center. The “Doctor in your house” program was launched last month by the municipality of La Paz using a fleet of six EV’s manufactured by Quantum Motors, the country’s sole producer of electric cars.“It is a pioneering idea. It helps protect the health o...

Swiatek sweeps aside Tsurenko to reach 4th round of Italian Open; Rune eliminates Fognini

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:25:01 GMT

ROME (AP) — Two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek swept aside Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0 to advance to the fourth round of the Italian Open on Sunday and extend her winning streak at the Foro Italico to 13 matches.Having routed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-0 in her opening match after a bye in the first round, Swiatek has now dropped just two games over four sets.Swiatek produced 22 winners to Tsurenko’s two.If she raises the trophy again, Swiatek will join Chris Evert and Conchita Martínez as the third woman to win three consecutive titles in Rome.The top-ranked Swiatek will next meet either 16th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova or 21st-seeded Donna Vekic, who were playing later.Also advancing on the red clay was 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova, who beat ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari 7-5, 6-3.Madison Keys advanced to the last 16 when Victoria Azarenka withdrew before their match due to a right leg injury.In men’s action, Holger Rune kept his composure amid a partisan crowd an...