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Wish You Were Here: Travel tips for an Azerbaijan vacation

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

Our readers have been making up for lost time by venturing to the farthest corners of the planet. They’ve traipsed around Brazil, explored the Azores and hiked Kauai’s Napali Coast. And they’ve  shared travel tips and memorable experiences along the way.Today, an intrepid Oakland resident is sharing her recent adventures in Azerbaijan.Wish You Were HereAZERBAIJAN: In March, Oakland resident Jan Wilson visited Azerbaijan, which lies between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. “In spite of its being in the trade crossroads of the world, between Europe and Asia, with thousands of years of history, culture and art everywhere, the relative number of tourists is low,” she says. “Baku, the capital on the Caspian Sea, is a beautiful blend of old European-style buildings interspersed with ultra-modern architectural high rises. Added charm is the occasional discovery of a narrow cobblestone street or an extravagant medieval palace. A must for visiti...

New Concord bird enthusiast seeks help in attracting visitors to her feeder

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

DEAR JOAN: How long does it usually take birds to discover a new feeder? I’m new at this.— Yvonne Moss, ConcordDEAR YVONNE: It’s sort of miraculous that birds find feeders at all. They’re soaring 20 to 30 feet above our yards, keeping one eye out for predators and avoiding sudden downdrafts, all while keeping the other eye out for food, water and shelter. Yet, when they do find a full feeder, they remember it and visit often, which means we have to keep shelling out for food, keep the larder filled and make sure everything is clean and tidy.For the most part, birds don’t have a good sense of smell, so locating food is all done by sight and some possibly by hearing and word of beak. We can help birds find our feeders and visit our yard regularly by doing a few things to let them know they are welcome and safe.Hang your feeder in a spot where it is more easily seen from above. Under a shady tree is not the best spot. If you plant bright flowers, that might get their attent...

TasteFood: Salad days of summer – the leftovers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

This installment of Salad Days of Summer is a recipe for your dinner repertoire. Steak salads make for a fresh and substantial bowl that you can call a meal. I call it a leftovers salad — it was, in fact, composed of leftover steak and green beans when it was prepared — but “grilled steak salad” sounds more enticing.If you don’t happen to have cold steak and cooked beans lurking in your refrigerator, you can easily make this recipe from scratch. However, I believe that if you go to the trouble of paying for and grilling a nice piece of steak, you should enjoy it hot off the grill. I suggest purchasing a little extra so that you can have your grilled steak dinner — and then the wonderful “problem” of leftovers to make this salad.This recipe includes methods for both grilling the steak and cooking fresh beans, should you decide to concoct the salad from scratch. Note that French haricots verts may be used for the green beans. Haricots ve...

Travel Troubleshooter: I paid twice for my checked luggage on Avianca. I want a refund!

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

DEAR TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER: I booked two flights through GoToGate from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Mexico City, and then to Oaxaca, Mexico.I ran into a problem on my flight to Mexico City, which was on Avianca. I knew these were small planes, so I prepaid $33 for each checked bag. But when I checked in at San Jose, the agent had no record of my prepaid bags. I discussed it with them and showed my receipt. I even spoke to a supervisor. But I ended up having to pay $90 per bag.Christopher Elliott, the Travel Troubleshooter I have copies of my boarding pass showing “no checked bags” and the receipt for the $180 fee. When we arrived in Oaxaca, I called the phone number on my receipt, but after speaking to a representative, we were disconnected. A representative emailed me and said there should have been no issue with the baggage. She invited me to file a claim. I’ve heard nothing since. Can you help?— Peter Holt, Woodinville, WashingtonANSWER: You shouldn’...

Photos: Allisen Corpuz wins the US Women’s Open

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Allisen Corpuz found herself on the biggest and most beautiful stage in women’s golf and made it look like a stroll on the beach.Never mind that she had never won on the LPGA Tour or that she had heard all week about the historic occasion of the U.S. Women’s Open held at Pebble Beach for the first time. Nothing could make her crack.“Every few holes I kind of looked out and said, ‘I’m here at Pebble Beach. There’s not many places that are better than this,’” Corpuz said.There weren’t many better performances, either. Corpuz turned a tight duel with Nasa Hataoka into a runaway, closing with a 3-under 69 on Sunday for a three-shot victory to become the first American in 20 years to make the U.S. Women’s Open her first LPGA title.At Pebble Beach, no less.Allisen Corpuz waves to the crowd after her final putt on the 18th green after winning the 78th U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif., o...

Stabbing inside Levi’s Stadium during soccer match heightens concerns about security

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

SANTA CLARA — A brawl and stabbing captured on video during a soccer game at Levi’s Stadium earlier this month is raising new questions about security at one of the Bay Area’s biggest event facilities — home of the San Francisco 49ers, countless major concerts and the scheduled site of matches in the 2026 World Cup.Brawls at sporting events are nothing new; combine robust alcohol sales with sets of opposing fans often sitting in close proximity to each other, and fists will be thrown. But the graphic video on social media of the July 2 fight at a CONCACAF Gold Cup match between Mexico and Qatar — a chaotic swirl of people, grabbing each other and exchanging sloppy punches — is escalated in seconds as a man runs in, swinging what appears to be a knife over his head and into the group.A 29-year-old Sacramento man was arrested within days and faces three charges of felony assault. Authorities said Friday that the weapon was a metal folding knife, smuggled through a security...

$20 million lawsuit claims anti-Asian bias at San Jose tech company

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

A long-time employee at a San Jose tech company is seeking $20 million in a wrongful-termination lawsuit accusing the firm of a “culture of prejudice against Asians,” and a manager of saying his internal presentation on discrimination “made White people feel bad.”Lumentum — which makes laser- and optics-based hardware for telecommunications, data centers and other business uses — fired Andre Wong late last year for “vocally and persistently” pointing out alleged discrimination against Asian-American employees, Wong alleged in the lawsuit filed June 30 in Santa Clara County Superior Court.Wong worked at the multinational company for more than 20 years, and created and led development of a new product line based on three-dimensional scanning and facial-recognition technologies, according to the lawsuit. He claimed his work, and connections with Apple, Microsoft and other tech titans, brought in $1 billion in business to Lumentum and R...

‘Flow trail’ proposal for Berkeley hills highlights challenges of building new paths for Bay Area hikers, bikers

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

Chase White and Theo Lemkin are reduced to a blur while zipping through the Berkeley hills atop their mountain bikes.Whether riding for the Berkeley High School mountain bike team — believed to be the first of its kind nationally — or just a personal outing, the teenagers join hundreds of others who navigate trails in Wildcat Canyon, Tilden and other areas of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD).There’s one problem: they’re cramped for space.Bikes are technically only allowed on 18% of the narrow, unpaved trails in those parks — sharing 30 miles of multi-use trails and less than two miles of single-track routes wide enough for just one person with dozens of hikers, dog walkers and equestrians along the way.“There’s a lot of people walking their dogs who are scared of bikes and other people who just don’t enjoy having someone rush by them at 25 miles an hour,” said White, 17. “We often need to slow down or even walk to avoid people and not scare the oth...

3 DC-area baseball prospects among 2023 MLB Draft first round selections

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

Draft prospect Jonny Farmelo participates in the MLB baseball draft combine, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)(AP/Matt York) Draft prospect Jonny Farmelo participates in the MLB baseball draft combine, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)(AP/Matt York) Three D.C.-area baseball prospects — James Madison High School’s Bryce Eldridge, Westfield High School’s Jonny Farmelo and University of Maryland’s Matt Shaw — were selected in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft.Eldridge, who committed to the University of Alabama, was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the 16th overall pick. He once told WTOP that playing in the major leagues was a dream of ...

Union Pacific Railroad in tentative deal with union on paid sick leave

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:28:24 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — United Pacific railroad has reached a tentative deal with a major union regarding paid sick leave.The railroad and the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers said that the deal reached over the weekend provides up to eight paid sick leave days to around 5,900 railroad employees.While all Union Pacific employees receive some form of paid leave, the proposed agreement will provide the union members an additional five paid sick days annually, prorated for 2023. Starting next year, they also will have the ability to convert up to three paid leave days for use as paid sick time.If ratified by workers, Union Pacific, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, will have paid sick leave agreements in place with all 13 of its labor unions, making it the second railroad in the industry to to do so.Last month Norfolk Southern was the first major North American freight railroad to reach deals to provide paid sick time to all of its workers.Othe...