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If the American Dream is defined as upward mobility, than Contra Costa County is one of the few places in California where it is alive and well. But if you were born in a low-income family in San Francisco, your chances of being better off when you grow up is much less. If you were born poor in Los Angeles, the chances of living the American Dream is slim to none. Researchers for The Equality of Opportunity Project asked ‘Is America the Land of Opportunity?’ In a series of studies they examined America’s largest counties and metropolitan areas to determine...

A Redwood City car wash is taking water conservation during California’s drought, cleaning cars with just one cup of water. “We do use a cup of water. When you say waterless, people start thinking ‘hey, where’s the lubrication?’ So, there is water, but only a cup,” Eco Green Auto Clean owner Anton VanHappen said. The car wash is located in the high tech haven of Silicon Valley, but uses low tech solutions to savewater, like spray bottles instead of hoses, and customers appreciate it. “With our drought going on, this is gonna be the best thing since sliced bread,” Tesla...

An Apache Cobra Marine helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in the Los Angeles River bed Monday after experiencing electrical problems, police said. No one was hurt. The attack helicopter out of Camp Pendleton made a soft landing about 1:15 p.m. on the east bank of the river in South Gate, between Imperial Highway and the 105 Freeway, the South Gate Police Department said. Aerial footage showed several personnel working on the helicopter as curious onlookers stood by.

A woman who went missing during a half-marathon claims to have survived by covering herself in dirt and drinking her own breast milk after being lost for 24 hours. Susan O’Brien, 29, took a wrong turn during a 12.5 mile fun-run through Rimutaka Forest Park in Wellington, New Zealand, and found herself alone as a night of high winds and rain closed in. Dressed only in lightweight running gear, O’Brien told media Down Under that she scooped out a hole in the earth to keep warm and fed herself with breast milk to keep her strength up in the cold...

As a commentary guy, I'm rarely in the business of breaking news. But seeing as my show is out of Detroit, and I've done a lot of work in Dearborn... I managed to catch something that everyone else has missed. Please watch the video and support the site, but I've included a block-quote below. “She is a hatemonger. She is drawing incitement and violence.” … “Let me talk a little bit about ISIS. ISIS is a hate group exactly like Pamela Geller. She is drawing killers, she makes killers, she is inviting killers to come in.” … “She is worse...

Lorri Cramer’s Upper West Side bathroom is “shell” on earth. “I have no idea what I’m going to do with them,” Cramer said Saturday as 620 red-eared slider turtle hatchlings bobbed around in five big blue basins of water. Every one of the golf-ball-sized baby turtles is a skittering speck of contraband — members of a non-native species that’s illegal to sell or release in New York state.

A Sharon man was arrested Thursday night after York police say he exposed himself in the police station lobby. The officer on duty at the York police station on North Roosevelt Street looked into the public lobby at 10:30 p.m. and noticed a 57-year-old man asleep in a chair with his belt undone and pants unbuttoned. Upon closer examination, the officer noticed the man had his genitals exposed. Two officers woke the man up and asked him why he was exposing himself in a public place. The man replied that “he was sleepy and trying to get comfortable,” according to...

A Colorado woman was sentenced Friday to 38 years in prison for beating a man to death with a baseball bat because she wrongly suspected him of molesting a child, The Denver Post reported. Forsythia Owen, 32, of Englewood, was convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree assault and tampering with evidence in the September 2013 death of Denzel Rainey, 42. Owen told authorities she repeatedly struck Rainey with a Louisville Slugger bat as he was sleeping in an alley because her 4-year-old daughter claimed he had touched and sexually abused her.Rainey was found with a skull fracture, cuts to his head,...

PARKER, Ariz. (AP) — A Phoenix couple has claimed responsibility for putting two fake skeletons sitting in lawn chairs in the Colorado River in far west Arizona, authorities said Friday. The husband and wife approached the La Paz County Sheriff's Office earlier this week and revealed how the skeletons in their closet ended up at the bottom of the river in Parker

FULL TITLE: 'It's fear of autism': Fellow passenger says she SUPPORTS plane decision to kick off little girl and family as United refuse to apologize and mother calls for action A controversial decision by a United Airlines pilot to make an emergency landing to remove a family because their autistic daughter was being 'disruptive' has received support from at least one passenger onboard. The airline has so far refused to apologise over the May 5 incident which saw Dr Donna Beegle, her husband, son and their 15-year-old daughter Juliette removed during an emergency stop in Salt Lake City as they...

Christy and Haseeb Amireh and their baby Grayson were greeted by family and loved ones at San Francisco International when they arrived home to the Bay Area. This was the first time family got a chance to meet 3-week-old baby Grayson. He was immediately scooped into the loving arms of family members. “He was so good on the plane,” said his mom. “I’m just so happy to be on American soil. I love the Bay Area.” One day Grayson will learn about his parents quest to have a baby and their journey to bring him home — a journey that...

When I was a freshman at the University of Chicago in 1996, I heard the same thing again and again: Do not leave the boundaries of Hyde Park. Do not go north of 47th Street. Do not go south of 61st Street. Do not go west of Cottage Grove Avenue. These boundaries were fairly explicit, almost to the point of being an official university policy. The campus police department was not committed to protecting students beyond the area, and the campus safety brochure advised students not to use the “El” train stops just a couple of blocks beyond them unless...

GALVESTON, TX (KTRK) -- A Galveston stabbing suspect who left his alleged victim in critical condition is making headlines for what police say he did during his arrest. The search for 29-year-old Jonathon Glenn started when officers began investigating a Tuesday night stabbing in the 1300 block of 25th Street. By Wednesday morning, detectives had identified Glenn as a suspect and traced his whereabouts to a home in the 2600 block of Ave P and . When officers arrived at the home to search for him, Glenn ran out of the house and led officers on a brief foot chase....

Mount Everest record holder Apa Sherpa ran for his life when a huge earthquake hit Nepal, and now fears for the future after the disaster cut short the climbing season for the second year in a row. “Everyone here is scared and depressed, we have lost everything,” the climber told AFP by telephone from Thame, deep in the Everest region, one of the villages that is home to the Sherpa ethnic group. The tight-knit community of around 50 families has produced some of the world’s greatest mountaineers, including Sherpa, who is something of a celebrity having reached the top of...

PHUKET: If you wish to help an elephant in Phuket, jump onto its back. Ride it. Buy it some bananas or sugar cane. If this seems a little demeaning to the elephant, remember its meagre alternatives; begging or going hungry. In Phuket elephants are sometimes seen in the streets, performing tricks to entertain people, begging and even going to sleep hungry. The elephants that carry tourists on short treks through the forest - and get sufficient to eat each day - are the lucky ones. These are not just animals in humiliation, they are beasts in real danger. Some experts...

A bicyclist said he was just riding on the road in San Francisco when a driver tried to run him down--and more than once. Now, he wants the person behind the wheel to face justice. The bicyclist said it was a scary ordeal for him. He said a driver tried to knock him off his bike and seemed to keep coming for him Thursday night. According to the cyclist Anthony Ryan, a witness apparently was able to shoot some video. Ryan said he was on Phelan just North of Ocean Avenue making a left turn when a car came up...

UPDATE 5/9/15 10:30 P.M. HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) The Forrest County coroner confirms both Hattiesburg police officers have died from their injuries sustained in a shooting Saturday night.

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A van struck an alligator on I-10 East, police say, triggering an accident that left one man dead. The accident happened just after 4 a.m. Friday on I-10 East near Michoud Boulevard. Officers believe that a van was traveling eastbound in the center lane of the highway when the driver struck a 5-foot alligator on the road. The van came to a complete stop after hitting the alligator and was rear-ended by a second vehicle, New Orleans police say. The driver of the second vehicle, identified only as a Mississippi man, was killed in the accident....

FLINT, MI -- What started as a local attorney's way to draw attention to an unusual mayor's election has turned into an international phenomenon as Giggles the Pig makes headlines around the globe. News organizations from Russia and the Netherlands have picked up the story of the small porcine from Flint whose owner is attempting to enter into the mayor's race. Even CNN ran a story Friday, May 8, about Giggles' attempt to take on the Vehicle City's political establishment. Attorney Michael Ewing announced Giggles' campaign on Facebook on May 4 following news this week that no names would appear...

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