San Francisco

Apr 12 2013

i-Pads, robotic luggage handlers and rooms address you by name

Whether you’re on business or vacation, if you’re sleeping in anything more sophisticated than a zippered sack, staying connected is a necessary part of travel.

For years, a crusty USB jack and some intermittent Wi-Fi were enough to constitute a full suite of technological hotel amenities.

Today’s future-forward lodge has to offer in-room nightclub lighting and 3D television just to keep up with the Skywalkers.

The new breed of techie lodging is no less a hotel than a Best Buy with blankets.

Feb 26 2013

Coast Guard counts 54 probable hoaxes nationwide in 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.—The U.S. Coast Guard is suspending its search off the California coast for a distressed 29-foot sailboat that was carrying a couple and two children, and said Tuesday the incident is “possibly a hoax.”

The mission’s cost has reached several hundreds of thousands of dollars since Sunday, said Cmdr. Don Montoro.

Jul 12 2012

Train will travel from L.A. to San Francisco

An executive with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority applauded the state legislature’s recent approval of funding for the first phase of a high-speed rail project from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Nov 15 2011

Changes annual deductibles and other costs and coverage at a whim

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—More than 100,000 Anthem Blue Cross customers statewide could end up being part of a class-action lawsuit brought by three individual policyholders and the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog targeting the insurer’s May 1 increases to annual deductibles and other costs.

Jul 7 2011

$470 million

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.—California Pizza Kitchen Inc. and Golden Gate Capital today announced the completion of the previously announced acquisition of the Los Angeles-based restaurant chain for $18.50 per share in cash, or about $470 million.

On May 24, the companies announced that CPK and some affiliates of Golden Gate Capital Opportunity Fund had signed a merger agreement.

California Pizza Kitchen was founded in 1985. Of the chain’s 265 restaurants, 205 are company-owned and 60 operate under franchise or license agreements.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.