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This Colorado farm has repeatedly violated federal labor laws. Why does the U.S. continue to grant it foreign workers?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

BRIGHTON — The seasonal workers from Mexico stoop in oppressive summer heat, bending low to cut cucumbers bound for farmers markets and produce aisles at Colorado’s big-box grocery chains.The laborers come to Star Farms every year on temporary visas, part of the federal government’s H-2A program that allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers for critical agricultural jobs.From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., they till the soil and tie the vines. Others thin, prune, seal, pack and load cabbage, peppers, onions and other vegetables.But despite federal regulations, workers and their lawyers say the farm’s owner does not provide them with clean water, forcing them to buy and bring their own. The bathrooms on-site, they say, sometimes go months without being cleaned. With little option, they allege, workers feel compelled to urinate and defecate in the fields.On top of that, they say the workers at Star Farms haven’t seen a paycheck in seven weeks.“Every year it...

GABF spotlights Black brewers in special section at this year’s beer festival

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

Despite being a longtime beer drinker and brewery owner, Celeste Beatty has only attended the Great American Beer Festival once in its 40-plus-year history.In 2001, she founded Harlem Brewing Co. and began contracting with other beer makers to bring her original recipes to market. Beer has been Beatty’s way of connecting with her heritage and community. As a Black woman, she looks to the Harlem Renaissance, the Sugar Hill district, and icons like baseball players Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson for inspiration in her craft.Beatty has always wanted to share her beers – and the unique stories they honor – with drinkers at GABF, but was unsure if she’d fit in with the “big guys” who typically serve there. This year, however, Beatty jumped at the opportunity to pour on the festival floor after learning there would be an area dedicated to brewers of color.Harlem Brewing Co. will be one of five booths in the first National Black Brewers Association Pavilion, which will inha...

My Brother’s Bar owner bringing coffee shop, food truck park to West Colfax

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

Danny Newman usually buys a property and leaves it be. This time around, he’s starting something new.The 42-year-old tech entrepreneur is known for preserving unique buildings and buying beloved Denver businesses, like 150-year-old My Brother’s Bar and the Mercury Cafe.But at 4200 W. Colfax Ave., in a former tire shop, he’s launching a new concept: Full Tank Food Park.Newman — who also owns the top of the downtown clocktower — said the business on Colfax, which will open next week, is a mashup of a traditional neighborhood coffee shop and a food truck park. The coffee shop will operate in the 1,200-square-feet building, while the food trucks will park outside the 0.22-acre lot.Newman bought the site in 2018 for $755,000, but it’s sat untouched since. He originally planned to open “Colfax Country Club” — not to be confused with the public golf course in Iowa — which would include table tennis, mini golf, a swimming pool and “Denver’s tiniest motel,” with just one room.Tha...

CHP opens fire on driver who allegedly tried to ram officers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

A driver is being sought after allegedly trying to ram officers who then opened fire in Compton late Monday night.The incident occurred shortly after 11:30 p.m. as California Highway Patrol officers were in the area of Alondra Boulevard and South Maple Avenue. A car abandoned by an assault with a deadly weapon suspect is seen in Compton on Sept. 18, 2023. (KeyNews.TV)The officers opened fire on a white Kia that apparently tried to run them down, a CHP spokesperson said. The driver left the scene but the vehicle was found abandoned a short distance later near Cypress Street and South Aprilia Avenue.Video showed several bullet holes in the Kia, along with damage from some type of collision. Authorities have not located the driver who remains outstanding. The area of Alondra and Maple remained closed during the investigation. No officers were injured in the incident.

From the Roadshow archives: The Prius Party of 2011, featuring Steve Wozniak and plenty of yellow stickers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

Editor’s note: Mr. Roadshow wanted to share some of his favorite columns and stories from more than 30 years of informing, entertaining and getting things changed for Bay Area (and beyond) drivers. He’ll be back on the road with new material soon. In the meantime, please keep sending Mr. Roadshow your comments or questions to [email protected] story originally was published on June 26, 2011There was no crying at Roadshow’s Prius Party on Sunday, where a couple of hundred people gathered in the Mercury News parking lot. From throughout the South Bay to as far away as Folsom, they came to peel off their yellow carpool stickers to mark the end of one of the freeway’s most divisive perks:This Friday, we’re getting booted for good out of California’s carpool lanes.Actually, a tear or two was shed. Mine was the first.“You ready?” said a gleeful Dennis Cole of Gilroy, who three years ago said he desperately wanted to remove the sticker...

California tops FEMA’s new list of areas vulnerable to weather disasters. What does it mean for the Bay Area?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

Despite the name, “Community Disaster Resilience Zones” are not local havens capable of withstanding storms and other extreme weather. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency, better known as FEMA, is spending billions in hopes that they can be.The agency has identified nearly 500 such “zones,” swaths of land generally covering several miles that are ill-prepared to tolerate flooding, earthquakes, heat waves, wildfires, landslides and other natural hazards. As extreme weather is expected to continue shattering expectations and local records — from downpours drenching Death Valley to hurricanes pummeling California’s coastline — these areas will be prioritized for additional funding for protective improvements.While the new zones aren’t promised any specific funding, projects in selected census tracts will be prioritized for annual resilience grant programs and an increased federal cost share from FEMA other federal agencies — tapping budgets t...

Despite environmental concerns, Port of Oakland to allow sand and gravel plant

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

OAKLAND — With the promise of millions of dollars in lease revenue, officials at the city’s port will allow the construction of a sand and gravel plant that environmentalists and even the state attorney general have warned would worsen air pollution in West Oakland.Eagle Rock Aggregates, a Vancouver, Canada-based company, will store large volumes of the building materials in the open air at an 18-acre marine bulk terminal at the harbor.The 12-year lease — approved last week by the port’s board of commissioners — is expected to generate between $1 million and $6 million annually for the city’s port, where officials have pushed to expand economic activity and often touted local job creation.Residents and environmental advocates in the nearby West Oakland neighborhoods have said for years that the area experiences disproportionately worse air pollution, and studies have shown twice the rate of asthma hospitalizations and emergency room visits as othe...

49ers Week 3 primer: What to know for home opener against Giants

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

LOS ANGELES – Opening with back-to-back road wins has the 49ers right where they want to be: Alone atop the NFC West at 2-0.Thursday night, they’ll be at Levi’s Stadium, to not only host the New York Giants but to try extending a 12-game regular-season win streak dating to their last SoFi Stadium visit last October.Beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-7 and then the Los Angeles Rams 30-23 does not mean the 49ers are flawless, even if their record is.“We know Kyle is going to come down hard on us,” wide receiver Deebo Samuel said of coach Kyle Shanahan’s endless pursuit of perfection.Those lessons will be taught more in the meeting rooms than on the practice field. Players had Monday off, and Tuesday marks their only official practice, which will be a lighter session to help recovery, especially for a 49ers defense that encountered 78 plays (including 55 passes by Matthew Stafford).THIS WEEK’S STORYLINES1. Nick Bosa’s bodyBosa played 63 of 80 snaps, his most since 2019, so itR...

Barabak: What voters in McCarthy’s district think about impeachment effort

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

VISALIA —  Julian Perea doesn’t hate Joe Biden. If anything, he feels bad for him, given his age and what Perea regards as the president’s severe mental and physical impairment.“The guy is out of it,” Perea said.Even so, the retired Fresno police officer is glad the House of Representatives — led by his congressman, Speaker Kevin McCarthy — has taken the first step toward impeaching the president.“We as conservatives need to fight back,” said Perea, who served more than three decades in the Army and sprinkled his views with several references to war and warfare. “You have to keep the enemy off balance at all times.”When McCarthy announced last week the start of a formal inquiry into Biden’s impeachment, the Bakersfield Republican was seeking to bolster his wobbly speakership and avoid a government shutdown by mollifying the restive torch-and-pitchfork wing of the House GOP.It hasn’t worked, as McCarthy continues to teeter and Republicans lurch toward a lights-out deadline at the end...

San Jose retail site may become big housing and ADU real estate project

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:01:24 GMT

SAN JOSE — A San Jose retail center with some high-profile merchants could be replaced by a big housing development, according to plans on file with city officials.The shopping center that’s being eyed as a redevelopment site is located at the corner of Blossom Hill Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard in San Jose.A group that’s managed by real estate executives Mike LaBarbera and Robert Facchino II owns the property at 865 Blossom Hill Road in San Jose that could be developed, according to Santa Clara County public documents.Site of a housing development that’s proposed for a 6.3-acre parcel at 865 Blossom Hill Road in south San Jose, shown within the outline. Boundaries are approximate. (Google Maps)The potential development site is located across the street from Westfield Oakridge near the eastern border of the big regional shopping mall in San Jose.An estimated 172 residential units could be developed on the property, city planning documents show.The 172 ...