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DEC intercepts seller with Asian water monitor lizard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

SULLIVAN COUNTY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- In May, Department of Environmental Conservation officers intercepted an individual trying to sell a five-and-a-half-foot Asian water monitor lizard online. The seller listed the animal for $1,400 but stated he would negotiate down to $1,000. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Investigator Bastedo posed as a buyer and made plans to meet with the seller in Sullivan County. DEC officers met with the seller and identified themselves after taking the animal into their possession. The seller was issued an appearance ticket for illegally selling a wild animal as a pet. The Asian water monitor was taken to a licensed reptile facility.A Dangerous Animal License is required in New York to keep Asian water monitors. The license is only issued for scientific, educational, zoological, or propagation purposes. To obtain a license, there are several additional requirements, including proper facilities and...

This easy lemon tart has a timesaving twist

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

By Melissa Clark, The New York TimesOne August, when I was 10 years old and vacationing with my family in a village in Provence, we decided to try lemon tarts from all the patisseries within a 20-minute drive. Every day, we’d pick up our sample to rigorously evaluate its merits and flaws. Was the pastry as crisp and crumbly as a cookie? Was the curd silky smooth, yet sharp enough to make you squint before the buttery sweetness hit?This recipe meets those criteria and more, and even features a timesaving tweak. Instead of a classic tart crust, which needs a rolling pin and all your patience, I use a foolproof, smoosh-it-into-the-pan dough made with melted butter. It’s a breeze to throw together and bakes up as crunchy as a shortbread cookie, but it’s thin enough that there’s plenty of room for the lemon curd filling.Besides being easy, the melted butter has a surprising advantage. Cook it until the foamy white milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan, and the fat turns amber and sme...

Bear hit, killed on 5 Freeway in Castaic; 2nd fatality this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

A large black bear was struck and killed on the 5 Freeway in Castaic late Thursday, marking the second time this week that a bear has been killed by cars in the area.California Highway Patrol responded to the northbound lanes of the 5 Freeway at Templin Highway around 10:30 p.m. where the bear had been struck by several vehicles, officials said.CHP blocked two lanes of travel until Caltrans crews arrived to remove the carcass from the roadway.One of the cars, a BMW SUV, was disabled and needed to be towed. No drivers were hurt.The large black bear was struck by vehicles on the 5 Freeway in Castaic on June 22, 2023. (TNLA)On Monday, a bear cub was hit and killed by two vehicles on the 14 Freeway in Santa Clarita.With the warmer weather, wildlife experts say bears are coming down from higher elevations to feed on fruit trees and easily accessible human food and trash. ‘There’s a bear in my kitchen’: Recent bear encounters have Burbank residents on edge California’s black bear popula...

Dr. Dre receives 1st ever ASCAP Hip-Hop Icon Award

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

The "Next Episode" for Dr. Dre is a big one. The Compton, California native received a high honor from ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The organization presented the music legend with the first-ever Hip-Hop Icon Award Thursday night. "I feel so fortunate to be involved in a movement where disenfranchised Black youth had a hand in revolutionizing our culture," the producer said accepting the honor. "Hip-hop gave an outlet to a creative young man like myself and allowed us to be seen and heard beyond the concrete walls of our neighborhood."The Compton, California native received a high honor from ASCAP, which is the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. This segment aired on the KTLA 5 Morning News on June 23, 2023.Snoop Dogg was also in attendance when Dre received the award. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, has a career that spans four decades. In 2016, the "Still D.R.E." rapper was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. ...

L.A. Metro board moves forward with plan to create in-house public safety agency

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

The Board of Directors for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency on Thursday voted to approve a plan that would get them closer to implementing and launching an in-house safety department.That means staffers would work on and later present a plan for the board to consider.If the plan is approved, the in-house safety department would replace contracts with the Los Angeles Police Department, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and the Long Beach Police Department which are currently in charge of patrolling Metro buses, trains and stations. Metro bus driver stabbed in Venice The plan would allow Metro to discipline officers and deploy them in areas where they are most needed.Chairman Ara Najarian called the plan “logical” and a “modest step forward.”“It’s a real opportunity to take a very, very bold step,” board member and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.First responders on the scene in Venice after a Metro bus driver was stabbed on June 22, 2023 (Citizen app)T...

Tourist panics upon seeing signs to Mexican border and kills her Uber driver, police say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

An Uber passenger accused of fatally shooting her driver reportedly told police she thought he was kidnapping her because she saw road signs indicating they were approaching Mexico.The shooting happened last Friday, June 16, at 2:19 p.m. on Highway 54 in El Paso, Texas, a police report said.The passenger, a 48-year-old Kentucky woman, was in the city visiting a boyfriend and planned to meet him at his workplace, Speaking Rock Casino.Uber driver Daniel J. Piedra Garcia, 52, picked her up in west El Paso for the drive to the casino, which is a mile from the Mexican border.When they were about 10 miles from the destination, they passed a ramp to Interstate 110, which is marked as the route to Juárez, Mexico. Shortly afterward, the woman took a handgun from her purse and shot Piedra, police say.The arrest affidavit, cited by TV station KFOX14, said the woman did not attempt to call 911 before the shooting and that her first call was to her boyfriend, whom she texted a photo of the wound...

Doja Cat kicks off North American arena tour on Halloween in Bay Area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

Doja Cat is set to launch her first North American headlining arena tour.And she’s kicking off the party in the Bay Area.The Grammy-winning music star’s 24-date trek — dubbed The Scarlet Tour — begins on Halloween night, Oct. 31, at Chase Center in San Francisco.Fans can register in advance to buy tickets through 10 p.m. June 25 at https://verifiedfan.ticketmaster.com/dojacat2023. After registration closes, Doja Cat fans will be randomly selected to receive a code that gives them access to presales that begin on June 28. Tickets will also be sold to the general public at 10 a.m. June 30, Ticketmaster.com.TOUR DATES:Tue Oct 31San Francisco, CAChase Center *Thu Nov 02Los Angeles, CACrypto.com Arena *Fri Nov 03Las Vegas, NVT-Mobile Arena *Sun Nov 05San Diego, CAViejas Arena *Mon Nov 06Anaheim, CARelated ArticlesMusic | With a new tour and documentary, Carlos Santana says, ‘My guitar is my best lover, ever’ Music | Fans raise security q...

Nicki Minaj’s neighbors petition for her sex offender husband to leave posh Hidden Hills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

Nicki Minaj is facing a new line of resistance to her controversial marriage to childhood sweetheart Kenneth Petty, and it’s coming from her new neighbors in the posh city of Hidden Hills.Since December, they’ve been gathering signatures on a petition that demands that Petty leave the city because he’s a sex offender, TMZ reported. “Say no to sex offenders in Hidden Hills,” the Change.org petition reads.The petition notes that the rapper’s husband was convicted in 1995 of the attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl, which landed him in prison for four years. Petty, 45, also is serving a one-year sentence on home confinement, presumably in the $19.5 million Hidden Hills mansion Minaj, 40,  purchased in December, per TMZ. He pleaded guilty in 2021 for failing to register as a sex offender when he moved to California, and TMZ reported that he recently changed his address on the Megan’s Law website to show that he lives in Hidden Hills.“We, t...

Manfred says swipe at A’s fans was out of context, but ‘We did everything we could possibly do’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred continues to show little interest to mend fences with A’s fans, using a media session in London to offer a sorry, not sorry response to criticism that he mocked and downplayed the recent fan-driven “reverse boycott.”The event attracted 27.759 fans to the Coliseum for a Tuesday night game against the Tampa Bay Rays to urge John Fisher to sell the team and to show that ownership’s stewardship of the team — efforts to move to Las Vegas and gutting the roster to the smallest payroll in baseball — and not the fan base is at the root of the A’s ranking dead last in home attendance for the second straight season.The event received significant attention locally as well as nationally. So did Manfred’s response. Asked two days later at the conclusion of the quarterly MLB owners meeting if he had watched any of the “reverse boycott”, Manfred said he had, and somewhat dismissively noted, “I mean, it w...

Bay Area landscape architect aims to ‘get people outdoors,’ create spaces for gathering

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:55:37 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we look at outdoor spaces. No longer simple amenities, they have become essential as people gather more outdoors for work, school and leisure.Casey Case, a longtime landscape architect and president of Walnut Creek’s Gates & Associates, has always felt that way. Her firm’s mission is simple: “to get people outside.”“Especially in California, there’s all this square footage that we don’t always take advantage of,” she said. “When we work with a school campus, or even a corporate campus, one of the first things we ask is ‘What’s some of the programming that happens inside that you might be able to do outside?’ ”Case said her firm, which has designed a wide range of projects throughout the Bay Area, aims to “pull people outside” and nourish their connection to nature while considering the user’s needs and the space itself. That includes at corporate campuses where some conference rooms are moving outsid...