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Retail real estate robust, but Denver’s office space still trying to shake pandemic’s pall

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

A new real estate report shows a robust post-pandemic rebound for retail, resulting in low vacancy rates. However, office building vacancies keep trending the other way, stirring concerns about downtown Denver’s bounce-back and the potential of foreclosures.There is “very little availability” for retail space in metro Denver, said Sam Zaitz, an executive vice president at JLL, a global real estate company with an office in Denver. Overall, about 5% to 6% of the retail space is open, he said.“But if you look at sought-after trade areas where the retailers and restaurants want to be it’s probably more like 2%” availability, Zaitz said.By contrast, the vacancy rate of downtown Denver’s office buildings is 28.1%, according to JLL.The low vacancy rates in retail are due in part to lower levels of new construction, Zaitz added. “What you’re seeing more of is mixed-use development with retail going on the first floor of office and multifamily” buildings....

Colorado public defender employees raise concerns about disbursement of $16 million pay boost

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

More than 500 employees in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender signed a petition this spring raising concerns about how a $16 million wage increase will be divvied up among workers.The 546 petitioners worry that some employees will remain underpaid even while managers and administrators receive raises, according to a copy of the petition shared with The Denver Post by the newly-formed Defenders Union of Colorado, which organized the effort and submitted the petition to agency leadership last month.The employee group, which was created last year, has not been recognized as a union by the Office of the State Public Defender, but nevertheless is pushing for transparency and a seat at the table during the budgeting process. The public defender’s office has close to 1,000 employees; its attorneys represent people charged with crimes who can’t afford to hire an attorney or who are in jail.“The culture has been so silent on this issue for so long,” said...

Bay Area Little League field named after Brandon Crawford

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

There were no cornfields, ghosts or voices in people’s heads, but the Greater Vallejo Recreation, Good Tidings Foundation and Giants Community Fund knew that if they eventually built it, he would come.The three organizations helped rebuild it — a Little League field at Wilson Park — during the last two months, so on Tuesday morning he came.He. Brandon Crawford.Crawford — the three-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover and two-time World Champion with the San Francisco Giants — was on hand for the ceremony celebrating the renovation of the Wilson Park Baseball Field as well as the renaming of the field as the Brandon Crawford Junior Giants Field. This was done as part of the Peter A. Magowan Fields for Kids program.A mural of Crawford at the site — later signed by the shortstop himself — was also shown for the first time.Crawford said it was an honor to have his name attached to an amazing product like the field, the result of a team effort.“As a kid growing up I remember I was fortun...

Fremont: Person killed in early morning I-880 collision

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

A vehicle struck and killed a person walking on Interstate 880 early Wednesday morning in Fremont, according to the California Highway Patrol.The CHP was alerted to the incident just after midnight, at 12:26 a.m. on northbound I-880 just past Mowry Road. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities.The investigation shut down all lanes except for the far left between 12:59 and 2:05 a.m.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | 8-year-old boy killed, 2 siblings critically injured in California crash Crashes and Disasters | Manslaughter charge filed in Thanksgiving 2021 fatal East Bay crash Crashes and Disasters | Oakland woman sentenced to probation for killing husband in DUI crash Crashes and Disasters | Three dead in East Bay after vehicle slams into tree Crashes and Disasters | Motorcyclist killed on Skyline when he tried to pass car that was making a left turn, CHP says More det...

16-year-old boy killed in Bay Area shooting identified, another suspect arrested

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

Police on Tuesday released the name of a teen fatally shot last week in Vacaville.Mateo Godinez-Vallejo, 16, of Sacramento, was killed May 11 following an altercation. A 17-year-old boy was subsequently arrested in connection with the shooting but his identity has not been released.An investigation revealed that Godinez-Vallejo and the suspect were involved in some type of spat prior to the shooting. What is was about or where it occurred has not been shared.Around 6:30 p.m. May 11, callers alerted police to reports of gunfire in the 100 block of Meadows Drive.Responding officers found Godinez-Vallejo suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers provided medical aid and the teen was transported to a local hospital, where he later died.Later that night, the suspect, a Vacaville resident, arrived at a local hospital also suffering from a gunshot wound. His condition was described as not life threatening and he was reported as still being in the hospital during the weekend.Related Articles...

Opinion: Calculating the unprecedented economic costs of COVID

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

The economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States will reach $14 trillion by the end of this year, our team of economists, public policy researchers and other experts estimate. That makes it by far the costliest disaster the country has suffered this century.Putting a price tag on all the pain, suffering and upheaval people here and around the world have experienced from the pandemic is of course hard to do. More than 1.1 million Americans have died of COVID, and many more have been hospitalized or lost loved ones.We used data from the first 2½ years of the pandemic to forecast total economic losses from the pandemic over four years, from January 2020 through December 2023.Our team used economic modeling to approximate the revenue lost because of mandatory business closures at the beginning of the pandemic. We also used modeling to assess the economic consequences of the many changes in personal behavior that continued long after lockdown orders were lifted, such as th...

Police: Caregiver raped patient at Marin seniors’ home

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

A Novato man has been charged with raping a patient at a San Rafael care home where he worked as a hospice nurse.Michael Andre Shipe, 65, was linked to the crime from DNA tests on evidence in the case, said San Rafael police Sgt. Justin Graham.Michael Andre Shipe of Novato was booked on May 10, 2023, on allegations he raped a patient at a San Rafael care home where he worked. (Marin County Jail photo) The alleged crime was reported in September at Cogir of San Rafael Memory Care at 111 Merrydale Road. The center specializes in services for dementia patients and also offers hospice care.The woman had a sexual assault examination, and San Rafael police obtained a search warrant to get a sample of Shipe’s DNA. Police sent the material to a state lab, which matched the genetic profile to Shipe, Graham said.Police arrested Shipe on May 10 after receiving the test results. He was booked into the Marin County Jail with a bail amount of $200,000.On Thursday, the Marin County District A...

Sempervirens Fund purchase expands Big Basin Redwoods State Park conservation area

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

BOULDER CREEK — The Sempervirens Fund on Tuesday announced that the land trust recently purchased a 16.5-acre patch of forest adjacent to Big Basin Redwoods State Park known as the Sterrenzee Ridgetop.The ridgetop overlooks Big Basin to the west and Boulder Creek to the east, and is populated with second-growth redwoods and hardwoods, mostly untouched by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fires. The Sterrenzee Ridgetop is located on the northern edge of the 153-acre property known as the Gateway to Big Basin, which the land trust acquired last year, and follows on the heels of its purchase in January of the 15-acre Saddle Mountain Vista property, which lies just south of the gateway.Sterrenzee Ridgetop was purchased for $500,000 from Kurt and Mary Mortensen, and Saddle Mountain Vista was purchased for $376,500 from Andrea Potter. The purchases were made with financial support from Resources Legacy Fund and the Sempervirens Fund donors.“This series of land acquisitions will expand prote...

Opinion: Make digital world accessible to S.J.’s disabled community

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

There has been substantial public discussion around equity in society. Conversations frequently focus on gender, income, race or sexual orientation. But often missing is the disabled community, which overlaps with all identified groups.There are many disability categories, but people often think of the most visible types, such as wheelchair-bound individuals and their need for unencumbered physical access. However, accessibility is not limited to the physical world; it includes the digital world. Individuals classified under various disability categories must utilize “screen-reader” software to navigate and read documents and websites. When these individuals encounter digital media that is inaccessible, it is exclusionary. Non-compliant digital media offered by organizations intentionally or unintentionally discriminates against millions of people. One in five people in the United States has a disability. And from that population, approximately 8 million U.S. citizens utilize screen...

Exceptional rains in drought-struck northern Italy kill 6, cancel Formula One Grand Prix

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:12:28 GMT

ROME (AP) — Exceptional rains Wednesday in a drought-struck region of northern Italy swelled rivers over their banks, killing at least six people, forcing the evacuation of thousands and prompting officials to warn that Italy needs a national plan to combat climate change-induced flooding.The heavy rains and floods also forced Formula One to cancel this weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to not overtax emergency crews that were already stretched thin in responding to the emergency.Days of rainstorms stretched across a broad swath of northern Italy and the Balkans, where “apocalyptic” floods, landslides and evacuations were also reported in Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia.The president of Emilia-Romagna, Stefano Bonaccini, said six people were killed and others unaccounted for in flooding that forced the evacuation of thousands of people.Italian Civil Protection Minister Nello Musemeci called for a new nationwide hydraulic engineering plan to adapt to the impact of increasing incidents...