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Inside the Spiral Unearths Robert Smithson’s Childhood, Catholicism, Art, and Death

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

A spiral, when you think about it, works like an inside-out labyrinth. The end is completely visible from the outside. If you can walk it, there’s hypnotic pleasure in following your feet to the center. That’s the experience promised by Spiral Jetty, the monumental earthwork that arcs through the blood-red waters at Rozel Point, in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. This is a massive sculpture — a 1,500-foot-long rock pathway conceived and built in 1970 by the enigmatic artist Robert Smithson. A tall, skinny, brooding, chain-smoking ersatz cowboy from Passaic, New Jersey, Smithson lived only three more years after finishing Spiral Jetty. He went up in a light plane for a long view of his newest project, Amarillo Ramp, still in its beginning stages, and crashed in the desert. He was 35.A good artist bio is a treasure box, and Suzaan Boettger gives the reader more of Smithson than anyone has to date. Still, reading Inside the Spiral is like getting a Snickers bar and being forced to eat the wrap...

TGI Fridays abruptly closes 36 restaurants. See the list

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

By Jordan Valinsky | CNNNew York  — Some fans of TGI Fridays were likely surprised this week when they found their local restaurant permanently closed because the chain abruptly shut down dozens of locations around the US.The chain said in a release that it closed 36 “underperforming” restaurants as part of its “ongoing growth strategy,” which also includes also a shakeup of its executive ranks and selling some restaurants back to its former CEO.Related ArticlesRestaurants, Food and Drink | 7 amazing Bay Area things to do this weekend Restaurants, Food and Drink | Central California restaurant’s comeback shows how outdated, false Asian stereotype of dog-eating persists Restaurants, Food and Drink | Taco Bell staple is coming to a store near you Restaurants, Food and Drink | New at Starbucks: Customers may use their own cups for mobile, drive-thru orders Restaurants, Food and Drink | High-end Oakland Mexican r...

Pac-12 football: Grading each team’s performance in the 2023 season

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

The final Pac-12 football season (as we know it) not only lived up to expectations, it thumped expectations. It broke open a close game in the third quarter and beat expectations by multiple touchdowns.The conference placed a team in the College Football Playoff and two teams in the New Year’s Six bowl lineup. It produced two Heisman Trophy finalists and the AP Coach of the Year (Washington’s Kalen DeBoer), generated a winning record against Power Five opponents and won more bowl games than it lost.In other words, the Pac-12 is leaving the college football stage on top after 108 years of competition.Collectively, the conference deserves an A+ for its showing in 2023. But what about the individual teams?The following grades are based on performance relative to expectations. To our expectations. To expectations that took into account personnel, schedules, circumstances and program potential. Two teams can have the same record but receive different grades.Here we go …...

66-year-old woman beaten, robbed in Oakland

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

OAKLAND — A 66-year-old woman was pushed to the ground and kicked repeatedly in the head Wednesday evening in North Oakland by two suspects who stole her purse, her iPhone and a shopping bag, authorities said.The Oakland woman sustained numerous cuts and bruises. She was treated at the scene and declined being taken to a hospital.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Police converge on People’s Park at UC Berkeley in attempt to wall off for construction Crime and Public Safety | 72-year-old man charged with threatening to kill East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell and his kids Crime and Public Safety | Did Pamela Price recall group exploit Oakland officer’s murder with fundraising thread? Crime and Public Safety | Stockton man charged with murder of Oakland officer had killed before as a teen Crime and Public Safety | Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price barred from prosecuting her loudes...

Police converge on People’s Park at UC Berkeley in attempt to wall off for construction

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

BERKELEY — An overnight move by UC Berkeley to wall off historic People’s Park in preparation for a long-term construction project was met with a heated swarm of protesters early Thursday morning, beginning another chapter in a saga of litigation.Shortly after midnight, hundreds of law enforcement officials outfitted in riot gear were deployed by the university, California Highway Patrol and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to start pushing out activists occupying the 2.8-acre park. Dozens of double-stacked cargo shipping containers were used to barricade the streets surrounding the park, clearing the way for UC Berkeley’s latest attempt to advance its controversial student housing project slated for the historic open space.Activists occupied the park Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, after they were tipped off to the university’s plans. Protestors sat atop the single-story building in the middle of the park known as the “kitchen” and chanted at p...

A’s blocked newly founded Oakland B’s from playing June game at Coliseum

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

By JANIE McCAULEY | AP Baseball WriterOAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The independent league Oakland B’s planned to take over the Oakland A’s venue at the Coliseum for a night of nostalgia in late June — until the big league club blocked their agreement as exclusive rights holder to the building for professional baseball.Months ago, before the newly created Oakland Ballers were official and for the most part still just a big dream, co-founder Paul Freedman went back and forth by email some 70 times in an effort to secure one special game at one special venue where he and so many others hold treasured memories dating to their youths.Freedman said he and co-founder Bryan Carmel had a signed contract in place and a deposit paid through communication with ASM Global, which operates the building for the Coliseum Authority — an agency leasing the ballpark to the A’s through this year.Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the A’s relocation to Las Vegas in November, and the team plans t...

The Oakland A's blocked plans for the minor league B's to play a game at the Coliseum

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The minor league Oakland B's planned to take over the Oakland A’s venue at the Coliseum for a night of nostalgia in late June — until the big league club blocked their agreement as exclusive rights holder to the building for professional baseball. Months ago, before the newly created Oakland Ballers were official and for the most part still just a big dream, co-founder Paul Freedman went back and forth by email some 70 times in an effort to secure one special game at one special venue where he and so many others hold treasured memories dating to their youths.Freedman said he and co-founder Bryan Carmel had a signed contract in place and deposit paid through communication with ASM Global, which operates the building for the Coliseum Authority — an agency leasing the ballpark to the A's through this year. Brock Purdy will not play in regular-season finale vs. Rams, Shanahan says Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the A's relocation to Las Vegas ...

'I'm gonna kill your children': Florida man threatened Swalwell and his family, DOJ says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- A Florida man was accused of threatening to kill Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and his family, according to federal court documents. Prosecutors allege Michael Shapiro, 72, of Greenacres, left several profane voicemail messages for a lawmaker's D.C. office on Dec. 19, which included violent threats. Adam Schiff lands United Farm Workers endorsement in Salinas "Hey mother-[expletive], you [expletive] Chinese spy," Shapiro said, according to court documents filed in the Southern District of Florida last week. "You mother-[expletive], I'm gonna come after you and kill you, [N-word]." Swalwell is not named in the criminal complaint, but confirmed he is involved with the investigation in a social media post Wednesday."No threat is going to stop me from representing my constituents," Swalwell wrote in a post on X. "MAGA Republicans have chosen violence over voting and this is what it looks like. But I’m not going away and neither should you."Prosecutors allege Sha...

Iran suspects suicide bombers launched attack killing 84 as purported Islamic State claim circulates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

Families of victims of the explosions gather at the courtyard of a hospital in the city of Kerman, about 510 miles (820 kilometres) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. Two bombs exploded Wednesday at a commemoration for a prominent Iranian general slain by the U.S. in a 2020 drone strike, Iranian officials said, as the Middle East remains on edge over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Sare Tajalli, ISNA via AP)(AP/Sare Tajalli) Families of victims of the explosions gather at the courtyard of a hospital in the city of Kerman, about 510 miles (820 kilometres) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. Two bombs exploded Wednesday at a commemoration for a prominent Iranian general slain by the U.S. in a 2020 dr...

Culpeper police investigate ‘swatting’ call reporting hoax triple homicide

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:02:01 GMT

Culpeper law enforcement are searching for answers after a hoax call sent them to a home with a seemingly triple homicide.On Dec. 29, at approximately 6:17 p.m., the Culpeper County E-911 Center received a non-emergency phone call from an anonymous male subject. The man on the phone alleged that he had just fatally shot three family members at a residence in the 1800 block of Piccadilly Circus, according to a news release from Culpeper Town Police. After a brief conversation with the dispatcher, the caller hung up and did not answer call backs.The Culpeper Police Department and the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area and began coordinating emergency medical services in preparation for the state of the scene.Once at the residence, officers established a security perimeter and began to evacuate neighbors. The family inside the suspected house were contacted and removed. After the residence was cleared, nothing was found on scene that matched the information provided...