Sacramento

Cyber Monday 2024: The hottest deals are here

Finish your holiday shopping with these amazing deals Black Friday may be over, but there are still plenty of fabulous bargains to be had on Cyber Monday. Whether you’re looking for a new smart TV for the cinephile loved one or an espresso machine for the coffee aficionado on your holiday list, you can score major savings on many popular products. But if you’re overwhelmed by all the options, we’ve got you covered. We’ve collected our favorite Cyber Monday deals. We’re especially excited to see deals on top-rated products, including the Apple Watch SE 2nd Generation, the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2024) Gaming Laptop and the KitchenAid KSM150FEAQ Value Bundle Artisan 5 Quart Stand Mixer, but you can find even more can’t-miss savings to help you check off everyone on your holiday shopping list. Last updated on Dec. 2, 2024, at 2 a.m. ET Trending deals Apple Watch SE 2nd Generation 40% OFF This premium smartwatch is much more than just a fitness tracker. While it can track your workouts and provide important health info, it also allows you to text, make calls and control your

San Diego

More than 3 million travelers screened at US airports in a single day. That’s a record

By The Associated Press Travelers heading home after the Thanksgiving holiday set a record on Sunday, as airport officers screened more than 3 million people. The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that it handled 3.09 million travelers, breaking the previous record by about 74,000. That mark was set on July 7, also a Sunday after a holiday. Hundreds of thousands of travelers were delayed or had their flights canceled. Airlines canceled about 120 U.S. flights — not an unusually high number — and more than 6,800 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware. The largest numbers of delays were at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The TSA had predicted that Thanksgiving week air travel would rise 6% over the same days last year, fitting a pattern of record travel in 2024.

Sacramento

What billionaires and their advisors say keeps them from giving more and faster

By THALIA BEATY, Associated Press Marie Dageville and her husband Benoit Dageville became billionaires overnight when his data cloud company, Snowflake, went public in September 2020. After that life changing moment, Marie, a former hospice nurse, then set out to learn how to urgently give away that new fortune. “We need to redistribute what we have that is too much,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press from her home in Silicon Valley. While many say giving away a lot of money is hard, that is not Dageville’s perspective. Her advice is to just get started. America’s wealthiest people have urged each other to give away more of their money since at least 1889, the year Andrew Carnegie published an essay entitled, “The Gospel of Wealth.” He argued that the richest should give away their fortunes within their lifetimes, in part to lessen the sting of growing inequality. A whole industry of advisors, courses and charitable giving vehicles has grown to help facilitate donations from the wealthy, to some extent prompted by the Giving Pledge, an initiative housed at the Bill & Melinda

Sacramento

Closing arguments set in trial of veteran charged in chokehold death of NYC subway rider

By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Closing arguments are set for Monday in the trial of a military veteran charged with recklessly choking to death a distressed, homeless man after an outburst on a New York subway train. Daniel Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 death of Jordan Neely. Penny claims he acted in self-defense against threatening behavior. His reaction to Neely touched raw nerves and fueled debate about race relations, public safety, urban life and different approaches to crime, homelessness and mental illness. Some in New York and around the country see Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran turned architecture student, as a valiant protector of fellow subway riders who feared the erratic Neely was on the verge of violence. Others view Penny as a white vigilante who summarily killed a Black man who was in need of help. Neely, 30, once was among the city’s corps of subway and street performers and was known for his Michael Jackson impersonations. He struggled with drug abuse and a mental illness and had a criminal

Inland Empire

In 1899, San Bernardino County sheriff saw a strange tale of a mysterious husband

Consider the dilemma facing San Bernardino County Sheriff Charles A. Rouse 125 years ago this month. In December 1899, he captured a man he was certain was Charles A. Webber, who disappeared after writing a bunch of bad checks in Redlands. Several residents identified Webber, a landscaper who had skipped town three years earlier, abandoning his wife and new child. The suspect certainly matched Webber’s physical description, though he never wavered from claiming his name was Wilson and that he lived in Santa Barbara County. Rouse figured he could seal the deal by having Webber’s wife identify him. The suspect even shaved his beard to prepare for a confrontation with Mary Webber, who also was in the process of divorcing the missing husband. But she absolutely shocked Rouse by saying the suspect wasn’t her husband, the San Bernardino Daily Times-Index reported Dec. 16, 1899. “When brought face-to-face with the prisoner, (she) stated most positively that this was not ‘her man’ and became very indignant when it was hinted that perhaps she was trying to shield ‘her man’ from San Quentin by denying his identity,” the

Los Angeles

Israeli-American hostage Omer Neutra confirmed dead, IDF says

By Renee Anderson Updated on: December 2, 2024 / 10:11 AM EST / CBS New York Israeli-American hostage from Long Island confirmed dead, IDF says Israeli-American hostage from Long Island confirmed dead, IDF says 01:03 NEW YORK — U.S.-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra is confirmed dead in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday. The IDF says the 21-year-old from Long Island was killed fighting Hamas militants during the Oct. 7 massacre . His body was taken into Gaza, where it is still being held by Hamas.  “The Neutra family is deeply grieving and devastated with the news. They are currently requesting the public who has been very supportive throughout this journey to please respect their privacy until they are formally ready to announce the next steps,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement Monday.  Neutra had deferred his enrollment at SUNY Binghamton to join the IDF after high school.  “We just learned that this prayer couldn’t be answered for the family of Omer Neutra. Omer was barbarically murdered by Hamas in the October 7 attacks,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a

Los Angeles

Starbucks promotes recycling to customers but many plastic cups end up in the trash

How plastic Starbucks cups end up in trash CBS News investigation finds some Starbucks cups placed in recycling bins end up in landfills 06:23 Many consumers trust that when they toss a plastic cup into a recycling bin at a restaurant or coffee shop, it will be recycled and turned into something new. However, a CBS News investigation uncovered that this isn’t always true. CBS News investigated what happens at one of the largest users of plastic cups that advertises its recycling practices: Starbucks. Reporters placed plastic cold drink cups, embedded with trackers, into 57 labeled recycling bins at Starbucks locations across the country to see where the cups went. Only 36 provided reliable data.  The trackers were superglued between two Starbucks cold drink plastic cups and CBS News monitored each tracker’s location multiple times a day until the trackers stopped moving.  Of the 36 cups CBS News dropped, 32 did not go to a recycling facility. Fourteen cups were traced to landfills, five to incinerators, and thirteen to waste transfer stations, where trash is compacted before being sent to landfills or incinerators. Only four

Los Angeles

How to protect yourself from Cyber Monday scams

How to protect yourself from Cyber Monday scams – CBS News Watch CBS News The FBI reported more than $73 million in consumer losses from holiday scams in 2022. Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, joins “CBS Mornings Plus” with tips to stay safe while shopping online. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Los Angeles

Read this before you shop on Cyber Monday

According to Adobe Analytics, consumers are expected to spend a record 13.2 billion dollars on Cyber Monday 2024. The day was created in 2005 to promote online shopping, and it worked. Now, it’s synonymous with some of the best deals of the season. This year, the products are in stock and the deals are a-plenty. Follow Rich On Tech for more tech news, helpful tips and gadget reviews! “During the heart of the pandemic, it was really challenging to get deals, and now we’re seeing more deals that are sort of returning to pre-pandemic levels,” explained Annemarie Conte, an editor with the comparison website Wirecutter. “I think the real key is if you see something that you want at the price you want, buy it,” said Conte. This year, a new trend emerged: AI as a helpful shopping companion. If your ChatGPT account has access to the web (it’s mostly paid subscribers right now), it can return key information about which retailer has the best deal on a particular product. Perplexity.AI is also a great resource. It can combine multiple product reviews into one simple

Bay Area

Should Pleasanton birdwatchers take down their feeders to avoid avian flu?

DEAR JOAN: There has been a lot in the media recently about humans catching bird flu. I am concerned about the possible risks to us from feeding birds in our yard. We have two feeders – a seed feeder and a hummingbird feeder for fast birds. With each, we find thank-you deposits on the feeders. We have not found any dead birds. Are these deposits a risk to us? In your article dated Nov. 18, you suggest removing feeders and water sources from the yard to prevent the spread of bird flu.  We enjoy watching the birds from our breakfast table and would miss the pleasure. Is removal the answer for us? — Paul Christensen, Pleasanton DEAR PAUL: Avian flu (H5N1) is a highly contagious virus that spreads from bird to bird, and in rare instances, from bird to humans. There are no known cases of human-to-human transmission. The majority of infections are within waterfowl and domestic poultry, but other mammals can contract avian flu. Cats that spend time outdoors, especially if they kill an infected bird, have contracted avian flu, and there is one reported case

Bay Area

Wish You Were Here: Biking through Bali

The Bay Area News Group’s intrepid readers have circled the globe this last year, road-tripping through Tuscany, touring the Taj Mahal, exploring Bolivia and in this case, biking through Bali. And once back home, they wrote in to share their stories and photos and offer helpful travel tips. Along the way, they’ve shared their journeys and offered helpful travel tips. Find even more reader travel inspiration at www.mercurynews.com/tag/wish-you-were-here/. Wish You Were Here INDONESIA: Vallejo resident Mel Orpilla and Redding’s Kathleen Saxer traveled to Bali this summer on a trip that included all sorts of adventures, including a bike ride near the island’s rice fields. TRAVEL TIPS: from Redding taking a rest in a rice field during a bike ride on the island of Bali. Bali is a very diverse island with beaches, volcanoes, bustling cities and small villages. You can see it all in a week. Join the fun! Send a photo of yourself on your latest adventures — local, domestic or international — to jburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com. Tell us where you are, who everyone is and where they’re from, and share a travel tip or two

Bay Area

They wanted good schools, nature and ‘a feeling of privacy.’ What could they find on the Peninsula with $3.5 million?

SUBSCRIBER ONLY They wanted good schools, nature and ‘a feeling of privacy.’ What could they find on the Peninsula with $3.5 million? A couple from Menlo Park decided to trade up their ‘starter home’ for more space Tej Ravindra, right, and her husband, Niket Sirsi, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) The couple looked at homes for nearly three years before they made an offer that was accepted. Originally Published: December 2, 2024 at 6:01 AM PST

Sacramento

Biden heads to Africa to highlight his own counter to China. Will Trump take it up?

By GERALD IMRAY, Associated Press CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — President Joe Biden is finally making his long-promised visit to Africa to showcase a U.S.-backed railway project in three countries that he has pushed as a new approach in countering some of China’s global influence. Biden’s first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president — which he left to the very end — will highlight the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment in Zambia, Congo and Angola. Biden starts a three-day trip to Angola on Monday. En route to Angola, he stopped off in the Atlantic Ocean island of Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa for a meeting with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva. A new strategy The Lobito railway project aims to advance U.S. presence in a region rich in the critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies. That’s a key field for U.S.-China competition and China has a stranglehold on Africa’s critical minerals. President Joe Biden is greeted by Cape Verde’s Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva at Amilcar Cabral international airport on Sal island, Cape Verde Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, en route to Angola as he makes

Bay Area

Kurtenbach: The music has stopped playing for the ‘last dance’ 49ers

SUBSCRIBER ONLY Kurtenbach: The music has stopped playing for the ‘last dance’ 49ers San Francisco 49ers 10 – Buffalo Bills 35: The Niners have been outscored 73-20 in their last two games. San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel Sr. (1) dives forward during the first half of an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus) The Niners have been outscored 73-20 in their last two games, but they say they can make the playoffs. Originally Published: December 2, 2024 at 5:45 AM PST

Los Angeles

Newsom wants $25 million to fight the Trump litigation he sees coming

State lawmakers will gavel in a special session Monday focused on a proposed $25-million litigation fund to respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s anticipated attacks on California policies on civil rights, climate change and abortion access. Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the Legislature to approve the funding for the Department of Justice and other agencies so the state can file lawsuits against the federal government and defend against litigation from the Trump administration. “California is a tent pole of the country — from the economy to innovation to protecting and investing in rights and freedoms for all people. We will work with the incoming administration and we want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans,” Newsom said in a statement Sunday. “But when there is overreach, when lives are threatened, when rights and freedoms are targeted, we will take action. And that is exactly what this special session is about — setting this state up for success, regardless of who is in the White House.” Legislative Democrats have so far responded to Newsom’s request with two bills that will be considered as part of the

Los Angeles

Who will be UCLA’s starting quarterback in 2025? Five questions facing the Bruins

Once UCLA lost to USC, erasing the possibility of a winning season and a bowl game, the most important date on the Bruins’ calendar shifted to Dec. 9. That’s the day the transfer portal opens. More than anything else, DeShaun Foster’s success as the coach at his alma mater will hinge on his ability to fill holes on the roster and upgrade talent. UCLA is losing 26 seniors, at least 13 starters — including nine on defense — and maybe a handful of other players via the NFL draft or the transfer portal from a team that finished 5-7 in Foster’s first season. Among other things, the Bruins need a new starting quarterback, a disruptive edge rusher, several offensive linemen, another go-to tight end and an entirely new starting secondary. Will they have the name, image and likeness funds and persuasive recruiting pitch needed to restock their roster? Here are five questions facing Foster and the Bruins going into the most critical offseason of his coaching career: Who will play quarterback? UCLA quarterback Justyn Martin played well in his one college start, a loss at

Los Angeles

Rose Bowl improvements: Eye on the future while preserving the past

(Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation) The Rose Bowl is a National Historic Landmark, and maintaining that status is paramount to people associated with the stadium and Pasadena preservationists. Among the signature elements essential to the design are the contiguous oval shape and the gradual slope — also known as the rake — of the seating. There’s logic behind the symmetry of the Rose Bowl. Organizers of the New Year’s Day game wanted to make sure there were no home and visiting teams. Everyone receives the same treatment, has identical locker rooms, etc. So preserving that contiguous shape — as opposed to, say, the asymmetry of SoFi Stadium or the Intuit Dome — took on a different importance. Then there’s the low-slung look of the seating, unlike the vertical prominence of modern stadiums. There are no obstructed-view seats in the Rose Bowl, and the suites and club seats are the farthest from the field, in the Terry Donahue Pavilion. Phase 2 of the Lasting Legacy Campaign includes resizing and improving the stadium seating, something that isn’t scheduled until 2029 at earliest. Instead of clawing into the existing

Los Angeles

What to know about Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead FBI

What to know about Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick to lead FBI – CBS News Watch CBS News Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump announced loyalist Kash Patel is his pick to lead the FBI if current FBI director Chris Wray, who has three years left on his term, resigns or is fired. Patel, who would need to be confirmed by the Senate, was an active promoter of Trump’s false stolen election claims. CBS News’ Nancy Cordes has the latest. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Los Angeles

Cyber Monday expected to break online shopping records

Cyber Monday expected to break online shopping records – CBS News Watch CBS News Some retailers are offering their lowest prices of the season with the holidays in full swing. According to Adobe Analytics, on Friday alone consumers spent nearly $11 billion online, up 10% from last year. Consumers are expected to spend $13.2 billion on Cyber Monday, which is expected to be the biggest online shopping day ever. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On

Los Angeles

Travelers return home from Thanksgiving amid winter storm

Travelers return home from Thanksgiving amid winter storm – CBS News Watch CBS News Nearly 80 million Americans traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday. Snow made driving conditions heading home treacherous in parts of Pennsylvania, New York and the upper Midwest. Kris Van Cleave shows how the storm impacted travelers by air and car. Be the first to know Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Not Now Turn On