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“The Trackers” and other short book reviews from readers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables (or not). Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].“The Trackers,” by Charles Frazier (Ecco, 2023)“The Trackers,” by Charles Frazier (Ecco, 2023)Set in the Great Depression, this novel opens with a young artist, Val Welch, traveling to a small town in Wyoming, having been commissioned by the Federal Art Project to paint a mural on the wall of the town’s post office. The mural’s subject is the history of Wyoming and, yes, trackers figure largely in that history. Welch has been invited by the local big-wig rancher (and wannabe politician) to stay in a cabin on...

What to expect from flu, COVID and RSV this year? Virus season could start early in Colorado

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

All signs so far point to a relatively average respiratory virus season in Colorado, but, with three major threats instead of two, that could still cause some strain in the health care system.Last year, the flu season was moderate, and while COVID-19 still caused significant numbers of hospitalizations, it didn’t rival the gigantic waves in the first two winters of the pandemic. Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, roared back, though, overcrowding children’s hospitals and forcing them to take steps like treating teenagers in adult settings.From October 2022 to May 2023 in Colorado, 8,231 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 and 3,076 were for flu. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment doesn’t collect statewide data on RSV hospitalizations, but tallied 2,597 in the Denver area, the vast majority of them involving children.With COVID-19 in the mix, a typical virus season now is higher-risk than one before the pandemic, said Beth Carlton, associat...

Denver’s toppled civic monuments remain in limbo as the city figures out how to replace them

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

Robert Gray tried his best to protect a monument to Christopher Columbus that had watched over Denver’s iconic Civic Center park for a half-century.Just a day earlier, protesters motivated by the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd had spray-painted and then toppled a 111-year-old sculpture of a Civil War soldier in front of the Colorado state capitol on June 25, 2020. So Gray placed plywood boards around the bronze Columbus statue to keep demonstrators from vandalizing it.Robert Gray, founder of the Black Love Mural Festival, poses for a portrait at Civic Center park in Denver on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)The boards had been painted with original works by Black artists as part of Gray’s Black Love Mural Festival and he hoped protesters would think twice if they had to smash through a wall of colorful, progressive art before going after the Columbus statue, something they saw as a symbol of oppression.“I wanted to make sure...

2 killed when car slams into firetruck in South Los Angeles; 4 firefighters hospitalized

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

A driver and passenger were killed when their vehicle crashed into a firetruck, injuring four crewmembers, in West Compton Tuesday.The crash was reported around 12:30 a.m. as the engine company was responding to a medical incident, Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesperson Craig Little said. The truck was traveling down Avalon Boulevard when it was hit by the civilian vehicle traveling on Compton Boulevard, Little said.Officials investigate a fatal collision in the Compton area on Sept. 5, 2023. (KTLA)Four crewmembers were transported to a local hospital with non-critical injuries. “Unfortunately, the two members of the civilian vehicle were fatalities,” he said.The victims were identified by a California Highway Patrol spokesperson as a man and a woman who were both about 30 years old. Man threatened to kill driver in road rage incident Witnesses said the vehicle that hit the truck was racing another vehicle at speeds around 80 mph when the crash occurred. The CHP has not ...

Fans’ guide to following the SF 49ers on the road in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

Each year, more 49ers fans are making a pilgrimage into enemy territory, turning a Niners’ away game into a weekend retreat.The 49ers Faithful spans coast to coast (and beyond). Those who travel certainly won’t find themselves alone. Some stadiums become bipartisan by the sea of red jerseys. Some are lorded over by rowdy hosts, such as Philadelphia’s bullring where the 49ers’ 2022 season ended.The 2023 season’s itinerary is first-class, with an eclectic mix of stadiums, cities and locales to visit. The preseason opened Aug. 13 in Las Vegas, and that is where the 49ers hope their postseason ends, in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11.Based on my extensive research — 22 years crisscrossing NFL cities — as well as fan’s suggestions, here’s my travel guide for this season’s tour stops:Sunday, Sept. 10, 10 a.m.At Pittsburgh SteelersAcrisure Stadium: Rebranded last season from Heinz Field, this 22-year-old gem abuts the three rivers (Ohio, Allegheny, ...

COVID-19, flu and RSV: A guide to this fall’s vaccine options

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

We all feel vaccine fatigue.If you’re like many Californians, you rushed out in the spring of 2021 to get two COVID-19 shots. That was followed by a third “booster” shot in the fall. When a new and improved vaccine was offered in 2022, you might have gotten that, too.Now another shot will soon be available. Should you get it? The answer: It depends.While young people are at lower risk of severe illness than elders, “most people are under-vaccinated now. Which means our immunity is way down,” unless you were hit by this summer’s wave of infection, said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley.Even as we grow weary of sore arms, viruses continue on their merry way. Evolutionarily, they’re speed demons. New lineages of SARS-CoV-2 are constantly adding mutations that give them a competitive edge. Meanwhile, our antibodies fade — taking with them important protection.Soon after the CDC...

Buffered bike lanes may look complicated, but here’s how you navigate them safely: Roadshow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

Q: There is a new bike lane on Java Drive in Sunnyvale, and it has line markings that I’ve never seen before. It’s a solid white line on the car traffic side, then a bunch of diagonal lines, then a dashed white line, then the bike lane, then the curb. The speed limit there is 45.Am I allowed to carefully merge into it, yielding to any bikes, in order to turn right into the parking lot of the post office, as with a regular bike lane? Or does the solid-on-my-side-dashed-on-their-side rule apply? Or am I supposed to be regarding a space filled with diagonal painted lines as if it were a concrete barrier? The City of Sunnyvale website calls it a buffered bike lane.Lisa Payne, SunnyvaleA: The new bike lanes installed along Java Drive are buffered bicycle lanes. The buffer is an additional space separating the bike lane from the regular vehicular traffic lane. Motorists are not to enter the bike lane to make right turns at intersections until the bike lane and the buffer becom...

Will business travel to the Bay Area bounce back to pre-COVID levels? Maybe not

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

Before the pandemic, Oakland lawyer Bryan Schwartz boarded planes for three to four business trips a month. Now he takes that many work trips in an entire year.Some events and hearings function better in person, and jury trials need courtrooms. But taking to the skies for a simple, one-hour meeting, formerly commonplace for Schwartz, is no longer on the agenda.“One of the best silver linings coming out of the whole global nightmare of COVID was just that we have other ways to do business now, and for most of the work that lawyers do, though we never knew it before, we can do it from home or from our desk in the office,” Schwartz said.Attorney Bryan Schwartz, founder of his law firm, Bryan Schwartz Law, looks out the window of his office in Oakland on Aug. 18, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) Businesses large and small across the United States have slashed their spending on out-of-town trips. Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom said research ...

Examining 49ers’ end game if Nick Bosa doesn’t face Steelers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

SANTA CLARA — We’re at the point where it’s time to consider the possibility that the 49ers will go into their Week 1 opener in Pittsburgh Sunday without their best player.Edge rusher Nick Bosa remains unsigned while seeking a contract extension that would likely make him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL at $32 million per season or more, although it’s not known if the 49ers are willing to go that high in terms of a multi-year deal.The stages of grief among 49ers have have gone from “unconcerned” throughout the offseason to “barely worried” at the start of camp to “OK, now this is serious” as training came to a close.And although it’s still possible Bosa could sign an extension and be on the field Sunday in Pittsburgh, it remains to be seen how much he’d play no matter the amount of high-tech training he’s done in the last several months.Whether Bosa has minimal snaps or doesn’t play at al...

McManus: Republican foreign policy divide good for country — and GOP

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:24:25 GMT

Last month, eight Republican presidential candidates did something unusual: They held a serious debate about foreign policy, focused mostly on their disagreements over U.S. aid to Ukraine.Of those on the stage in Milwaukee, only two — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and upstart capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy — said they oppose additional help for Ukraine as it fights to repel the Russian invasion.“Ukraine is not a priority for the United States,” Ramaswamy said.DeSantis hedged his answer, saying he would halt aid unless Europe sent more. Former President Trump, who skipped the debate, has sounded similar notes.Three candidates pushed back loudly against the Trumpist tide. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued that helping Ukraine win is in the interest of the United States.“Ukraine is the first line of defense for us. … You are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country...