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Zeynep Tufekci: Avert your eyes, avoid responsibility and just blame TikTok

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

We’re in a season of hand-wringing and scapegoating over social media, especially TikTok, with many Americans and politicians missing that two things can be true at once: Social media can have an outsize and sometimes pernicious influence on society, and lawmakers can unfairly use it as an excuse to deflect legitimate criticisms.Young people are overwhelmingly unhappy about U.S. policy on the war in the Gaza Strip? Must be because they get their “perspective on the world on TikTok” — at least according to Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who holds a strong pro-Israel stance.This attitude is shared across the aisle. “It would not be surprising that the Chinese-owned TikTok is pushing pro-Hamas content,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn said. Another Republican senator, Josh Hawley, called TikTok a “purveyor of virulent antisemitic lies.”Consumers are unhappy with the economy? Surely, that’s TikTok again, with some experts arguing that dismal consumer sentiment is a mere “vibecession” — feelings ...

The first 10 years of legal marijuana in Colorado were a wild ride. What will happen in the next decade?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

The world’s first legal sale of recreational marijuana happened in Denver on Jan. 1, 2014. In fact, it happened twice.Mason Tvert was managing the onslaught of media that descended on the Mile High City to witness the historic moment, set in motion by the successful legalization campaign he’d led. So many camera crews and reporters showed up that morning that Tvert decided to rotate two groups through the dispensary’s sales floor — with each transaction billed as the first time anyone 21 or older could legally buy weed simply by walking into a store, showing ID and paying for it, no doctor’s note necessary.Cannabis enthusiasts also flocked to downtown Denver that day. Lines outside the new rec stores stretched down city blocks. Buyers exited with purchases in hand, holding them overhead like victory trophies. Rumors even swirled that some stores had sold out, only adding to the fervor.“It was wild,” Tvert recalls.Monday’s anniversary of the first sales ...

The Action Center delivers promise of immediate help and stability for people in need

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

When Rocio Rosales’ hours at work were cut last year, she didn’t know how she’d make rent.She had three boys to raise, and bills were piling up. She didn’t know where to turn but had heard about The Action Center. A year later, Rosales credits the help she received from the Lakewood nonprofit with helping her to build a foundation for her and her children’s future.The Denver Post Season To Share is the annual holiday fundraising campaign for The Denver Post and The Denver Post Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Grants are awarded to local nonprofit agencies that provide life-changing programs to help low-income children, families and individuals move out of poverty toward stabilization and self-sufficiency. Visit seasontoshare.com for more information.“I feel more stable, for sure,” she said. “Everything is better for me, for my family, after their help. I know if I ever need anything, I could reach back out to them and they’d help me with an...

A timeline of what’s happened since Colorado’s first legal recreational marijuana sales began

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

It’s been 10 years since Colorado launched the first legal recreational marijuana market in the world and became a pioneer in drug reform.But when it came to the nascent industry, the first sales on Jan. 1, 2014, were more a starting block than a finish line.In the decade since legalization, Colorado has refined laws, catalyzed new ones and served as a litmus test for the rest of the country as states followed its lead. Today, cannabis is recreationally available for sale in 24 states — where more than half of Americans live.Here are some of the notable local moments along the way.2014Jan. 1: Retail sales of marijuana begin across the state in cities, towns and counties that allow it, from Telluride to Denver. The newly legal industry opens after more than 55% of Colorado voters approved Amendment 64 on Nov. 6, 2012. The state already allowed medical marijuana.January: The Colorado Department of Transportation replaces mile marker 420 along Interstate 70 in eastern Colorado wi...

Will Delta-8 Ramp Up Your Heart Rate?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

View the original article about Delta-8’s Effects on Heart Rate at Real Tested CBD.There are many unanswered questions about medical marijuana and hemp, especially new compounds like delta-8 THC. However, scientists at many of the world’s top universities claim cannabis negatively affects many cardiovascular issues. If patients aren’t careful about their delta-8 dosing, they could experience severe side effects.Although we don’t have many studies examining delta-8’s effect on the heart, new customers should consider the latest findings on THC and cardiovascular health. Also, if people have pre-existing heart conditions, they should hold off trying products like delta-8 THC unless they have a doctor’s approval.Does Delta-8 Damage The Heart? — Emerging Details On Cannabis and the Cardiovascular SystemThe data doesn’t lie: There’s a strong correlation between cannabis use and a person’s risk for heart disease. Researchers at Stanford and ...

At Farm Discovery at Live Earth, kids get up close with farm animals and see how their food is grown

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

Juana Lona cradled a black hen in the chicken run at Live Earth Farm in Watsonville, as kindergarteners from a Pajaro Valley charter school milled around trying to approach the skittish, scattering fowl.“You have to hold the wings together, and put them close to your body,” said Lona, an education intern with Farm Discovery at Live Earth, as she demonstrated for the tots. “So like this, they feel safe like this. If we put them up in the air, they’re going to try to fly away. You see how she’s calm? You have to give her like a big hug.”She gently handed the hen to 5-year-old Jaelene Serrano, as a couple of Jaelene’s classmates gathered around to pet the hen in her arms. “So fluffy!” the kids said as they gently stroked the hen’s feathers and a rooster crowed nearby before Jaelene handed her to classmate Michelle Rodriguez Meza.“It’s so soft,” Michelle, 5, said.The hands-on experience is one of the programs ...

Fatal shooting of Oakland police officer renews fears of crimes around Bay Area cannabis shops

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

The fatal shooting of an Oakland police officer responding to a burglary at a cannabis shop brought renewed calls Saturday for the city to confront a plague of violent robberies and other crimes that law enforcement officials and business owners say has spiraled out of control.In recent years, groups of armed burglars have targeted numerous cannabis dispensaries, grow operations and manufacturing plants in the city and across the Bay Area, leading to shootouts in Oakland, Martinez, San Leandro and Union City. Multiple people have been killed or wounded.Now, the slaying of undercover Officer Tuan Le — the first officer killed in the line of duty in Oakland in 14 years — is putting even more pressure on city officials to stem the break-ins.Yen Nguyen and Phuc Nguyen pay their respects for fallen Oakland police officer Tuan Le, leaving flowers on the Embarcadero in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, Dec. 29, 2023. Le was shot and killed while responding as an undercover officer to ...

Here are the Bay Area mega housing projects to watch in 2024

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

The Bay Area’s largest planned housing projects — slated to add tens of thousands of new homes — are clouded with uncertainty heading into next year. Some face delays amid an uneasy post-pandemic economy, while others have been mired in litigation or held up by bureaucracy.How developers and local officials confront those challenges could be crucial to alleviating the region’s deepening housing shortage. Here are five of the major Bay Area developments with the most at stake in 2024.An “aggressive” new timeline for the Concord Naval Weapons Station projectAfter cycling through three different developers over the past two decades, Concord hopes the latest multibillion-dollar plan to transform the former Concord Naval Weapons Station into a new master-planned community with more than 10,000 homes signals the project is finally on the road to completion.Until recently, the push to develop one of the Bay Area’s most ambitious projects in one of its most sou...

A former Pittsburg mayor suffered in silence after his son was mortally wounded in a stabbing. His long journey ended with forgiveness, compassion

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

As mayor of Pittsburg, Dwaine “Pete” Longmire’s public persona was the easygoing, even-keeled city leader who smiled at ribbon cuttings and warmly greeted constituents who spoke up at public meetings, even if they came there to yell at him.But Longmire was keeping a secret that almost no one knew: Privately, he was consumed by grief. In 2012, just two years into Longmire’s tenure on the City Council, his son, Christopher Longmire, was stabbed in the neck, leaving him paralyzed, and expected to live just another six to eight years.Powerless to change his son’s fate, Pete Longmire watched him inch toward his eventual death, all the while overwhelmed by his sadness — and anger at the person who caused it all. But a journey that began with such tragedy came to a place that no one involved could have predicted: Longmire taught himself to forgive, culminating in a face-to-face meeting with the man who stabbed his son.A former police officer, Longmire has now ...

Golden State Warriors have on-court chemistry issues that may be too late to fix

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:45:50 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr had to try something new again.Saturday, that meant drawing up his 11th different starting lineup of the season. Chris Paul was back in for rookie Brandin Podziemski to get Steph Curry going early and Trayce Jackson-Davis got his first NBA start at center for Kevon Looney to add some size and athleticism defensively.The change hardly paid off. MVP hopeful Luka Doncic made a mockery of the Warriors’ defense, putting up 39 points and exploiting the many rotation miscommunications in a 132-122 Warriors loss on Saturday night. Chris Pauls 24-point night was short of filling the void left of Curry’s cold first half and Klay Thompson’s ice-cold game in which he went 1-of-11 from the field.The Warriors have enviable depth to try a new look every minute, but no group of five in the mosaic of lineups that hit the floor has any flow. Of the dozens of lineups Kerr has thrown out there, only one lineup — Curry, Thompson, Green, Andrew Wig...