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'Aurora's Sunrise' shines light on Armenian Genocide survivor's journey to Hollywood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

"Aurora's Sunrise" is an internationally animated documentary about Aurora Mardiganian.It's a true story about how a 14-year-old girl escaped death during the Armenian Genocide, fled to New York and became a silent film star. "Aurora's story is one of the rare ones," said Inna Sahakyan, the film's director. The story becomes vivid again through the dynamic combination of mediums, animation, archival interviews with Aurora herself, and digitally restored footage.Back in 2014, Sahakyan was doing research for a different project at the Zoryan Institute in Canada when she stumbled upon Aurora's testimony recorded in 1984 when she was 84 years old. In the footage, Aurora is holding a poster for "Auction of the Souls" from 1919, a silent 20-minute film that depicted the tragic events of the genocide. Aurora played herself, an orphan teenager, kidnapped, raped, and then sold into slavery. Through a series of miraculous events, she escaped and moved to New York when she was 17. She told her...

SF Giants hope renewed mental health can help reignite Darin Ruf

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — In between hugs and hellos and how’ve you beens, Darin Ruf arrived at his locker in the Giants clubhouse Wednesday afternoon. Almost a year to date since he was on the move in their season-opening win in 2022, some seven months since he was surprisingly sent on the move to New York, and two weeks since his brief tenure there came to an unceremonious end, Ruf was back where he wanted to be all along, with the Giants in San Francisco.“The hugs I got to give today,” Ruf said, “were a lot better than the hugs I got to give back in August. It was great to see everybody.”Designated for assignment by the Mets after spring training, Ruf had to wait a week as he went unclaimed through the waiver process. He didn’t initially see a reunion with the Giants in the cards, but a string of left-handed pitching and injuries to right-handed hitting outfielders Mitch Haniger and Austin Slater opened a door. The Giants wasted no time getting Ruf in th...

Antioch leaders express outrage, dismay over racist police officer texting group

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

ANTIOCH — Emotions boiled over across this city following the release of a report detailing years of racist and homophobic text messages by more than a dozen police officers as the mayor angrily decried “dog-whistle racism” and defense attorneys moved to challenge criminal cases involving the officers.Residents and some city leaders expressed outrage at the police department during a tense City Council meeting Tuesday evening, hours after this news organization published material from a 21-page report quoting by name officers who shared the deeply racist and homophobic messages, boasted about falsifying arrest reports and made light of violence against residents.Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe called for an audit of the department and the firing of anyone involved in the sending of racist or homophobic texts. One of the texts sent among officers targeted the mayor, who is Black, offering a “prime rib” dinner to anyone who would shoot Thorpe with a rubber bul...

Steph Curry is 16 wins away from a fifth title, but stays grounded heading into Kings series

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry will start his ninth career playoff appearance when the Warriors take on the Kings Saturday in Sacramento. It starts his quest for a fifth championship — something only a handful of players in NBA history have achieved — with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.The 35-year-old superstar is 16 wins away from rarified air. But over his 14-season career, he’s learned the only way to get there is to stay grounded.“Can’t fast forward to the end of the race,” Curry said on Wednesday. “That’s part of human nature when you have experiences of getting to the mountaintop and finishing the job. You understand how hard it is to do that and the amount of effort it takes to go through 82 games and four rounds of a playoff, the only way you can repeat that is to stay right here.“Pretty comfortable just locking in on Game 1. Sounds boring and cliche but it is how we accomplish greatness. It’ll cheapen the j...

Arkansas gov. signs bill imposing minumum social media age

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

By Brian Fung | CNNArkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a sweeping bill imposing a minimum age limit for social media usage, in the latest example of states taking more aggressive steps intended to protect teens online.But even as Sanders signed the bill into law on Wednesday afternoon, the legislation appeared to contain vast loopholes and exemptions benefiting companies that lobbied on the bill and raising questions about how much of the industry it truly covers.The legislation, known as the Social Media Safety Act and taking effect in September, is aimed at giving parents more control over their kids’ social media usage, according to lawmakers. It defines social media companies as any online forum that lets users create public profiles and interact with each other through digital content.It requires companies that operate those services to verify the ages of all new users and, if the users are under 18 years old, to obtain a parent’s consent before allowing...

Sonoma traffic stop leads to massive gun bust

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

(KRON) -- A traffic stop in Sonoma led to the seizure of a large cache of guns, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook. The suspect, 61-year-old Kris Manning Peterson, was also found with drugs in his car.Police stopped Peterson just after 2:30 a.m. Sunday on the 2600 block of Fremont Drive because his car had no front license plate. As the deputy talked with Peterson, police said they noticed Peterson showing signs of being intoxicated. 22 arrested in San Jose sex crimes sweep operation Peterson agreed to be searched, and deputies found a "Whip-It!" canister in his pocket. Police said these items are nitrous oxide containers and illegal to possess for recreational drug use. SCSO said Peterson told them he had forgotten about the "Whip-It!" and admitted there were other drugs in the car. A search of the car yielded the following:31.66 grams of suspected methamphetamine4.5 grams of suspected crack cocaine12-15 more "Whip-It!" containers and a device used to inhale nit...

'He had so many dreams': Pleasant Hill homicide victim remembered

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

CONCORD, Calif. (KRON) -- Bartender Oscar Laredo Arrellano, 37, was celebrated in Concord Wednesday just a few blocks from where he worked and one day before he will be laid to rest. He was shot to death last week, becoming Pleasant Hill's first homicide victim since 2021.His family is still reeling from the sudden and shocking loss.His partner, Nickoles Toushay, was in mourning Wednesday and being consoled by others sharing his loss at the Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in Concord where Laredo Arrelano's funeral mass was celebrated. 22 arrested in San Jose sex crimes sweep operation "Broken. Light. You know, everyday moves on but life, time is still. Oscar was my life," Toushay said.The two were together for two years, including last week -- the night the 37-year-old man was shot and killed. A gunman opened fire while Laredo Arrellano attempted to de-escalate an argument outside Farrington's Bar in Pleasant Hill."He taught me things my parents could never," Toushay said. "He...

US to Mali: End restrictions on UN peacekeepers, seek peace

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States warned Mali’s military government Wednesday that it would be “irresponsible” for the United Nations to continue deploying its more than 15,000 peacekeepers unless the western African nation ends restrictions including on operating reconnaissance drones and carries out political commitments toward peace and elections in March 2024.The warning came as the U.N. Security Council considers three options proposed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the peacekeeping mission’s future: increase its size, reduce its footprint, or withdraw troops and police and turn it into a political mission. Its current mandate expires on June 30.U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis told the council that “it is unacceptable” that Malian authorities denied nearly 300 flight requests from January through March — about 80% of them for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance drones. The denials were seen as threatening the safety of peacekeepers and thei...

Funcionarios cubanos expresan preocupación por medidas de EE.UU. que “estimulan” la migración ilegal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

(CNN) — El Gobierno de Cuba expresó su preocupación por las medidas estadounidenses que, según dicen, “estimulan” la migración ilegal hacia Estados Unidos.El viceministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba, Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez y subsecretario adjunto para el Hemisferio Occidental del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional de EE.UU., David Cloe, se reunieron este miércoles en Washington para discutir acuerdos migratorios entre ambos países.“Cuba reiteró su preocupación por las medidas de estímulo a la migración ilegal. Especial énfasis tiene el impacto negativo que el bloqueo económico de Estados Unidos y las medidas de reforzamiento extremo aplicadas desde 2019 ejercen sobre las condiciones socioeconómicas de la población cubana, factor que constituye un incentivo importante a la migración”, se lee en el comunicado del gobierno.Cuba dijo que el trato preferencial que reciben los cubanos que ingresan a territorio estadounidense también impulsa las migraciones i...

States confront medical debt that’s bankrupting millions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:31:54 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Cindy Powers was driven into bankruptcy by 19 life-saving abdominal operations. Medical debt started stacking up for Lindsey Vance after she crashed her skateboard and had to get nine stitches in her chin. And for Misty Castaneda, open heart surgery for a disease she’d had since birth saddled her with $200,000 in bills.These are three of an estimated 100 million Americans who have amassed nearly $200 billion in collective medical debt — almost the size of Greece’s economy — according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Now lawmakers in at least a dozen states and the U.S. Congress have pushed legislation to curtail the financial burden that’s pushed many into untenable situations: forgoing needed care for fear of added debt, taking a second mortgage to pay for cancer treatment or slashing grocery budgets to keep up with payments.Some of the bills would create medical debt relief programs or protect personal property from collections, while others would lower interes...