Holiday Lights: Walnut Creek’s 2023 cactus-and-lights winter spectacle
This year, the Ruth Bancroft Garden’s “Garden of D’Lights” offers more artists, more cactus and more lasers. What could be better than wandering through a renowned Bay Area garden’s vast collection of cactus and succulents? What if the plants were accompanied by various pieces of art, light installations, and lasers? This holiday season, the Ruth…
Britney Spears’ ‘The Woman in Me’: 8 takeaways from a book full of fury
The singer’s new memoir goes on sale this week. Britney Spears is furious. I was furious. Of course, “The Woman in Me,” the singer’s new memoir, is about more than just venting. She provides detailed, cogent accounts of humiliations that would make anyone furious. But Spears has clearly accumulated a lot of resentment over the…
After the Maui fire, some Hawaiians rethink aloha spirit. Is it for tourists, family, everyone?
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Paele Kiakona is not prepared to return to work. He doesn’t want to serve tourists, pouring brut champagne or topping their mai tais with honey-liliko’i foam, because he’s still reeling from the August wildfires that ravaged his hometown of Lahaina. “I’ve seen dead people on the street,” Kiakona admitted. “My grandmother’s…
A wildfire shuttered this Calistoga winery for three years. It reopens Sunday.
Sterling Vineyards will debut new tasting rooms, plus a solar-powered gondola with panoramic views. Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga will reopen on Sunday after a three-year closure, with a brand-new gondola and tasting areas. When the Glass Fire struck on Sept. 27, 2020, scorching the earth and causing structural damage at 23 or more wineries, Sterling…
‘World’s safest asset’ proves anything but amid wild Treasuries
Market watchers say there’s a recipe for sustained volatility for months to come. A surprisingly strong economy in the United States, combined with mixed signals from the Federal Reserve, has fueled some of the wildest swings in Treasuries in recent memory. Add geopolitical uncertainty and a surge in debt supply, and market observers predict months…
San Jose man charged in PG&E transformer bombings now faces federal indictment
Peter Karasev was indicted by a federal criminal grand jury last week on allegations he planted explosives on electrical equipment in South San Jose SAN JOSE, Calif. — According to authorities and court records, a man who was already jailed and charged locally with planting bombs on PG&E electrical transformers in South San Jose now…
Big homebuilder lands deal to buy long-time hotel in Los Gatos
Developer aims to replace Depression-era hotel with housing LOS GATOS, CA — A major Bay Area homebuilder has agreed to purchase a Depression-era Los Gatos hotel as a possible precursor to a housing development in a prime location. SummerHill Homes has agreed to buy Los Gatos Lodge, a well-known hotel on a prime location in…
An Oakley man allegedly set up and killed romantic rival on Valentine’s Day. Now his high school friend and mistress will take the stand against him
Defense calls it a ‘house of cards,’ but admits robbery plot MARTINEZ — A 27-year-old Oakley man is on trial for the Valentine’s Day murder of a romantic rival after arranging for his mistress to set up the victim by messaging him on Instagram and arranging an evening rendezvous. According to prosecutors, Jose Quintanilla is…
How to plan for a potential inheritance
The amount of wealth that millennials and Gen Xers are expected to inherit from their parents and grandparents is almost incomprehensible: According to Cerulli Associates, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, $84.4 trillion in wealth will be transferred from baby boomer households to younger generations between 2021 and 2045. Inheritances are not only for the…
