Feed aggregator

A jury convicted three San Gabriel Valley residents on Tuesday, Sept. 26, of conning older adults of more than $2.5 million by persuading them to buy Target gift cards under false pretenses.

Blade Bai, of El Monte; Bowen Hu, of Hacienda Heights; and Tairan Shi, of Diamond Bar were each found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday.

Bai, 35, was also found guilty of an additional charge of conspiring to commit money laundering, which he committed after being freed on bond in the initial case.

The scheme involved various overseas telephone scammers who lied to victims to persuade them to buy Target gift cards to fix nonexistent problems, which included posing as law enforcement officers or government employees and claiming the victims’ identities had been stolen or warrants had been issued for the victims’ arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The scammers convinced their victims that money in the form of Target gift cards was necessary to remedy the problems.

Another tactic employed by the scammers involved tricking victims into responding to tech support emails posing as well-known companies and claiming there were problems relating to the victims’ financial accounts.

After buying the gift cards – typically in increments of $500 – the victims were then asked to read the card numbers and access codes over the phone to the scammers.

Bai, Hu and Shi obtained more than 5,000 gift cards from a group of unknown persons in China that called itself the “Magic Lamp,” often on the same day fraud victims had purchased the gift cards.  They then sold the gift card information through the online messaging application WeChat.

The defendants also used WeChat to coordinate the distribution of gift cards to “runners,” who used the gift cards at Target stores in Los Angeles and Orange counties to purchase electronics, other gift cards and other various items, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Yan Fu, 60, of Chino Hills, pleaded guilty in September 2022 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Fu, who was one of the “runners” in this conspiracy, is serving a 20 month-sentence in federal prison. Fu was also ordered to pay $48,073 in restitution.

Related Articles

• Crime and Public Safety | Oakland business owners call for state of emergency on crime amid symbolic strike
• Crime and Public Safety | Target says organized retail theft too much, will shutter 3 Bay Area stores
• Crime and Public Safety | 4 charged with stealing from California Macy’s suspected in 15 other thefts, police say
• Crime and Public Safety | California mall forced to close early — dozens of teens climb on cars, light fireworks
• Crime and Public Safety | ‘He shot my arm off!’: 3 men who robbed California liquor store seen in viral video plead guilty

The defendants and their co-conspirators sought to conceal the fact that the gift cards had been originally funded with fraudulent proceeds, and were estimated to have laundered more than $2.5 million in gift cards between approximately June 2019 and November 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Bai was arrested on a criminal complaint relating to the scam in November 2020 and was released on bond. Bai then became involved in another money laundering conspiracy involving Target gift cards days after his release and was arrested again in February 2022 on a superseding indictment. He has remained in federal custody since the arrest.

Hu, 28, and Shi, 29, were taken into custody after Tuesday’s verdict.

The three defendants will return to court for their sentencing hearing on Jan. 26, 2024, and will face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each money laundering conspiracy count.

 

Meanwhile Google pushes podcast listeners toward YouTube Music

Spotify has revealed it will use AI to clone the voices of prominent podcasters and translate their output into other languages.…

A youth tackle football league player suffered an apparent concussion and a coach of an opposing team was arrested as a result of a melee on Saturday, Sept. 23, in Murrieta, the Police Department said Tuesday.

Police were called to the field at Vista Murrieta High at about 5:40 p.m. because of an altercation among players, coaches and parents, a news release said.

“During the investigation, officers determined a coach, Eibylardo Funes, had struck a 14-year-old player from the opposing team. The victim sustained an injury to his eye and exhibited symptoms of a concussion,” the release said.

Related Articles

• Crime and Public Safety | Monterey County: Day care worker facing one year in jail for throwing down child
• Crime and Public Safety | Mom gets 30 days for waterboarding baby, putting him in freezer
• Crime and Public Safety | California mother of 6-year-old boy accused of manslaughter after her car hits and kills him
• Crime and Public Safety | California nanny accused of sexually abusing 17 boys goes on trial
• Crime and Public Safety | San Francisco man sentenced to 5 years in prison for sexting with teen boys while he was a teacher

Funes, 50, was arrested on suspicion of child abuse with possible great bodily injury and battery, the release said. He was booked into Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in French Valley and was released after posting $35,000 bail.

He has no documented criminal record in Riverside County.

Police say the investigation is continuing and asked witnesses not already interviewed to call Officer Meyer at 951-461-6882.

The league is not affiliated with the Murrieta Valley Unified School District, police said.

 

Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters fight a wildfire burning on the north side of CA-134 and CA-2 freeways, slowly backing towards homes in Glendale, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019. The brush fire erupted near the border of Glendale and Eagle Rock and shut down the 134 Freeway in both directions, according to the Glendale Fire Department. (Lucas Dovarganes via AP) 

Three Southern California counties have the nation’s highest wildfire risks – and getting insurance to protect property is getting harder to find.

A report from First Street Foundation says a growing number of Americans are finding it difficult to afford insurance on their homes, a problem only expected to worsen because insurers and lawmakers have underestimated the impact of climate change.

The report said the nation’s top spot for wildfire risk is Riverside County. Its risk equals destruction of 1,612 structures worth $1 billion per year in today’s conditions. That will grow to 2,336 worth $1.5 billion in 30 years.

No. 2 was Los Angeles County with expected annual losses of 1,450 structures worth $1 billion growing to 2,272 worth $1.6 billion in 30 years. Next in teh ranking was San Bernardino County, 801 structures worth $484 million at risk growing to 1,290 worth $768 million in 30 years.

The report says states such as California, Florida and Louisiana – all prone to wildfires and damaging storms and flooding – are likely to see the most dramatic increases in premiums. But the fire that destroyed the Hawaiian community of Lahaina on Aug. 8, as well as the historic flooding that happened in Vermont and Maine in July, are examples of events that could drive up insurance costs for homeowners in other states.

“If you’re not worried, you’re not paying attention,” said Bill Dodd, a California state senator whose district includes the wine-country counties devastated by the LNU Complex fires in 2020.

First Street estimates, factoring climate models into the financial risk of properties in its report, that roughly 39 million properties — roughly a quarter of all homes in the country — are being underpriced for the climate risk to insure those properties.

“Some places may be impacted very minimally, but other places could see massive increases in insurance premiums in the coming years,” said Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications at First Street and a co-author of the report.

First Street, a New York-based non-profit, has been a to-go researcher on the financial implications of climate change for years. Their research is used by Fannie Mae, Bank of America, the Treasury Department and others for understanding the potential risks to properties.

There are several signs that climate change is taking its toll on the insurance industry. The U.S. homeowner’s insurance industry has had three straight years of underwriting losses, according to credit rating agency AM Best. Losses for the first half of 2023 totaled $24.5 billion, which is roughly what was lost in all of 2022.

“(Climate change) is a problem that is already here,” said Todd Bevington, a managing director at the insurance broker VIU by HUB. In his 30 years of doing insurance, he said “I’ve never seen the market turn this quickly or significantly.”

Price of paradise

Skyrocketing insurance costs are a serious concern for the small town of Paradise in Northern California, which was nearly wiped out by a deadly 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people.

Jen Goodlin moved back to her hometown from Colorado with her family in 2020, determined to help in the town’s recovery. They began building on a lot they had purchased, and moved into their new house in October 2022. In July, she was shocked to receive notice that the family’s homeowner insurance premium would be $11,245 — up from $2,500.

“Our insurance agent said, ‘Just be thankful we didn’t drop you,’ and I said, ‘You did, you just dropped me,’” she said.

Goodlin, a former dental hygienist who is now executive director of the nonprofit Rebuild Paradise Foundation, said hundreds, if not thousands, of people are being hit by these rate hikes in a town being built with updated fire-safe building codes and little if any fuel to burn. She knows a homeowner whose premium is now $21,000 for a newly constructed home.

Law enforcement officials search through rubble from the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group) 

Record numbers of Americans are now insured through state-affiliated “insurers of last resort” like California’s FAIR Plan, or Louisiana or Florida’s Citizens property insurance companies. These programs were designed to insure properties where private insurance companies have refused to insure or the price for private insurance is too expensive.

Goodlin will soon be one of those homeowners. She said she’s in the process of transitioning to the FAIR Plan.

The number of homeowners covered by California’s FAIR Plan was 268,321 in 2021, almost double what it was five years before. That figure has almost certainly increased in the last two years, experts say. In Florida, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. now has 1.4 million homeowners’ policies in effect, nearly triple in five years.

In some cases, policymakers have bound the hands of insurance companies, leading to an underpricing of risk. For example, the most a California insurance company can raise a homeowner’s premium by law each year is 7% without involving a public hearing, a process that most insurers want to avoid. Those policies, along with the increased chance of catastrophic events, have led insurers like State Farm and Allstate to either pull out of the California market or pause underwriting new policies.

As a result, California’s FAIR plan, which was created 50 years ago as a temporary stopgap measure for those impacted by riots and brush fires in the 1960s, is now the only option available to homeowners in some ZIP codes.

“We’ve got to find a way to get insurers to get back into the market, to take people out of the FAIR Plan so that we can reduce the risk there,” Dodd said.

Dodd was one of the key lawmakers trying to negotiate a bill in the final weeks of the state’s legislative session to address the issue. But all sides failed to reach an agreement.

There are likely to be more insurance market failures in the future, Porter said, as more insurers simply refuse to underwrite policies in certain communities or go property by property. Comparisons to the National Flood Insurance Program, which is now $22.5 billion in debt, have become common.

Repricing of risk

Even the backstop programs are buckling under tremendous losses. Louisiana’s insurer of last resort, Citizens, raised its rates for 2023 by 63.1% statewide to cover higher costs.

This summer, reinsurance companies such as Swiss Re and Munich Re raised their property catastrophe reinsurance premiums in the U.S. by an average of 20% to 50%. Reinsurance brokerage firm Guy Carpenter & Co. said it was the highest increase for reinsurance rates since the year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

“It’s a global problem. Virtually every geography is seeing a repricing of risk,” said Lara Mowery, global head of distribution at Guy Carpenter, in an interview.

Reinsurers step in to help cover losses resulting from a catastrophe, so regular insurance companies do not take on all of the risk. In one example of a typical reinsurance contract, a $20 million contract could require the insurance company to cover the first $10 million in claims and the reinsurer to pick up the other $10 million.

Related Articles

• Housing | Walters: California Legislature punts insurance crisis to Newsom and Lara
• Housing | Will Commissioner Lara’s plan ease California’s insurance crisis?
• Housing | Governor, insurance commissioner announce major California home insurance overhaul
• Housing | Opinion: California can lead nation with a public option for health insurance
• Housing | Insurance premiums could surge in these U.S. cities because of climate disasters, new data shows

Mowery added that many reinsurance firms now have resources dedicated to studying the impact of climate change on how to price catastrophes.

There have been other factors impacting the insurance industry as well. Inflation has made the cost of repairing homes pricier and home prices remain near record levels. A labor shortage means getting damaged homes repaired may take longer, requiring insurers to pay for temporary housing for policyholders longer.

In short, an industry whose business model is calculating risk based on what happened in the past is increasingly unable to do so.

“You can no longer rely on 100 years of wildfire data to price risk when the unprecedented has happened,” Mowery said.

While the intensity of wildfires, floods and storms can vary from year to year, the trend lines in these models point to more wildfire activity as well as more intense storms, all likely to result in more catastrophic amounts of damage that insurance companies will have to cover.

Factoring in climate models and acres estimated to be burned, First Street estimates that by 2050, roughly 34,000 homes will burn down because of wildfires every year. That’s roughly the equivalent of losing the city of Asheville, N.C., every year.

Going forward, it may become more necessary for potential homebuyers to look at the cost of insuring the property they are looking at before locking in a mortgage rate, due to the potential for significant rate hikes in the future.

“It used to be homeowner’s insurance was an afterthought when you are looking at buying a property. Now you’ll really need to do your research into what risks there may be in that property in the coming years,” Bevington said.

Southern California News Group reporter Jonathan Lansner and AP reporters Adam Beam Janie Har contributed to this report.

Two women who said they were sexually extorted by a Riverside County sheriff’s correctional deputy who was charged with 18 felony counts spoke out on Tuesday, Sept. 26, shortly before their attorneys filed a claim against the county seeking unspecified damages.

Christian Phillip Heidecker, 32, was booked on Sept. 15 at the Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in French Valley. He has been charged with four counts of a detention officer engaging in sex with an inmate, four counts of extortion, four counts of a public official seeking a bribe, three counts of sexual penetration under color of authority and three counts of dissuading a witness.

The Sheriff’s Department, in announcing Heidecker’s arrest, said there were four female victims.

Heidecker pleaded not guilty to all charges on Sept. 20. He remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of $1 million bail. He is next due in court on Oct. 2. He has resigned from the Sheriff’s Department.

Heidecker was formerly assigned to the Riverside Alternative Sentencing Program at the Coordinated Custody Management Unit in Banning.

The claim is a legally required precursor to a lawsuit.

The two women, who declined to provide their names, spoke outside the government center in Riverside. One is 34 years old and the other is 27.

“We want other victims to come forward and not be scared of the Sheriff’s Department,” said the 34-year-old.

“We just want justice,” said the 27-year-old. “I want every other girl to not be afraid.”

Related Articles

• Crime and Public Safety | Judge tosses charges in Philadelphia officer-involved shooting
• Crime and Public Safety | City of Hayward identifies officers who fired guns in fatal police shooting
• Crime and Public Safety | California sheriff’s deputy under investigation after he’s filmed throwing teen girl to the ground
• Crime and Public Safety | Indicted Antioch cops earned nearly $1.8 million while on leave waiting to be criminally charged
• Crime and Public Safety | Mother slain at East Bay auto center ‘did nothing but smile’

One of their attorneys, Denisse Gastelum, said Heidecker sent the women sexually explicit photos of himself and demanded similar videos from the two women. Heidecker would dangle promises that the women, who were not in jail but were wearing ankle monitors, could spend more time away from home or with their families in exchange for sex, Gastelum said.

The attorney also took issue with $1,000 settlement agreements that both women accepted from the county. Gastelum said the county was attempting to force the women to “keep their mouths shut” about Heidecker.

County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said Gastelum is wrong about the agreements.

“Pre-litigation settlements do not contain non-disclosure language,” Federico said. “In fact, as this specific case involves an ongoing criminal investigation, these women may testify in a criminal trial. To characterize any pre-litigation settlements as an effort to buy silence is a clear mischaracterization. It is not uncommon to seek settlement prior to litigation to avoid the time and expense for both sides associated with lawsuits.”

Federico said the county has received the claim and that officials are considering their next steps.

 

When Jorge Alberto Oceguera-Rocha placed a call over his cell phone on Sept. 16 and drove from his home in Banning to a residence in Victorville, he likely had no idea that Riverside County sheriff’s investigators were listening to his every word and watching his every move.

But they were.

Several hours later, a court document says, Riverside County sheriff’s correctional deputy Oceguera-Rocha was in handcuffs, investigators having seized from his car 104 pounds of potentially deadly fentanyl pills that the Sheriff’s Department said he was trafficking for a drug cartel in Mexico.

Oceguera-Rocha, 25, on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of narcotics for sale and transportation with the intent to distribute narcotics, both felonies, along with a sentencing enhancement of possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony. The Banning resident, who had been assigned to the jail in that city, faces a maximum of 10 years in custody if convicted as charged, the District Attorney’s Office said.

Oceguera-Rocha was being held at John Benoit Detention Center in Indio in lieu of $5 million bail. A hearing on the bail has been set for Oct. 31. His attorney has not returned a phone message seeking comment.

A sheriff’s investigator filed a document in Superior Court asking a judge to make Oceguera-Rocha prove that if he attempts to make bail, the money came from a legal source.

“The Mexican Cartel is one of the largest criminal enterprises worldwide and is responsible for the vast majority of all narcotics trafficking within the United States,” the investigator wrote in his declaration regarding a felonious source of bail. “In addition to the mass amounts of narcotics, the Mexican Cartel and its various members have access to a near infinite amount of currency. Oceguera-Rocha conducts narcotics-related activity in concert with the Mexican Cartel and due to the nature of this relationship, it is presumed that Oceguera-Rocha has access to large quantities of narcotics as well as currency.”

The term “Mexican Cartel” does not refer to a specific cartel, but instead serves as an umbrella term for criminal drug organizations operating in Mexico, Sgt. Wenndy Brito-Gonzalez, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said in response to an inquiry Tuesday night.

The document says the department began investigating Oceguera-Rocha this month and investigators obtained a judge’s permission to tap his cell phone.

On Sept. 16, they intercepted a phone call during which Oceguera-Rocha said he was going to travel to a narcotics stash house in Victorville, the document said. Investigators went to Banning, where around 1 p.m. they found Oceguera-Rocha driving his gray Honda Civic. They recognized the car from previous surveillance.

Oceguera-Rocha arrived at the Victorville home around 3 p.m.

“When he arrived, he placed a telephone call to a family member … and informed him that he has arrived. Simultaneously, the garage door on the residence opened and Oceguera-Rocha pulled into the garage. The garage then closed,” the document says.

It wasn’t immediately known if the family member is a target in the investigation.

About 10 minutes later, the garage door opened, and Oceguera-Rocha got in the car, pulled out of the garage and left. Deputies followed as he drove back to Banning.

As Oceguera-Rocha neared County Line Road on the 10 Freeway in Calimesa, a narcotics interdiction deputy pulled him over. A drug-detecting K9 alerted deputies to the odor of narcotics. In the trunk, the document says, deputies found four trash bags containing square-shaped packages wrapped with cellophane.

Inside the packages were blue, fentanyl-laced M30 pills — almost 520,000 of them, the document says.

Fentanyl, an opioid many times more powerful than morphine and heroin that can legally be prescribed in extremely small doses, has fueled an epidemic harmful to drug users unaware that the pills they’ve acquired contain a lethal dose of the drug.

“The quantity he was in possession of at the time of his arrest is enough to kill approximately 2 million people,” the investigator wrote.

Deputies also seized a Glock handgun that is registered to Oceguera-Rocha, the document says.

He was read his rights and declined to make a statement, the investigator wrote.

Related Articles

• Crime and Public Safety | Judge tosses charges in Philadelphia officer-involved shooting
• Crime and Public Safety | City of Hayward identifies officers who fired guns in fatal police shooting
• Crime and Public Safety | California sheriff’s deputy under investigation after he’s filmed throwing teen girl to the ground
• Crime and Public Safety | Indicted Antioch cops earned nearly $1.8 million while on leave waiting to be criminally charged
• Crime and Public Safety | Mother slain at East Bay auto center ‘did nothing but smile’

Bail for Oceguera-Rocha was initially set at $1 million. But the investigator wrote that Oceguera-Rocha traveled to Mexico several times in the past few months to visit family and that authorities considered him a risk to flee back across the border.

“The set bail schedule is not sufficient for keeping him in custody and safeguarding the public,” the investigator wrote before the bail was increased to $5 million.

The Sheriff’s Department then sought federal charges against Oceguera-Rocha, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to file them. That office declined comment.

When that happened, Oceguera-Rocha was released on Sept. 20 because authorities were not going to be able to arraign him within the time required by law. But the Sheriff’s Department re-arrested Oceguera-Rocha that same day.

When New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez was busted for alleged bribery — a Mercedes, gold bars, envelopes stuffed with cash — the reaction from the state’s governor was swift and sure.

“These are serious charges that implicate national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system,” Democrat Phil Murphy said in a written statement, which included an obligatory nod to every citizen’s innocent-unless-proven-guilty guarantee.

“The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Sen. Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,” Murphy said. “Therefore, I am calling for his immediate resignation.”

Other Democrats followed suit, including California Rep. Adam B. Schiff.

“The allegations in the indictment of Senator Menendez are shocking,” he wrote on Twitter, er, X. “If accurate, they represent the most profound betrayal of his oath of office. He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence and will have his day in court. But the gravity of the matter demands his resignation.”

The condemnation from Menendez’s fellow partisans and calls for the ouster of the reputedly sticky-fingered senator stand in stark contrast to the see-no-evil response of countless Republicans who not only excuse the serial indictments of former President Trump but also double-down in support.

“Menendez needs to switch parties,” cracked George Conway, the conservative attorney and co-founder of the Trump tormenting Lincoln Project. “The other party would let him have at least two more indictments.”

In 2015, Menendez was indicted on federal bribery charges involving cash and lavish vacations received from a Florida eye doctor. The case ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict and the government decided not to retry him.

The latest case, rendered in a 39-page indictment, accuses Menendez and his wife, Nadine, of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to wield his political influence on behalf of the Egyptian government and business associates in New Jersey.

Authorities said a search of their home turned up more than $480,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes and jackets embroidered with Menendez’s name, more than $100,000 in gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz convertible parked in the couple’s garage.

From a cynical viewpoint, it’s easy to see why Democrats feel free to express outrage and cast aside the senator. They get a free pass. Murphy, after all, would surely exercise his power as governor and replace Menendez with another Democrat, thus maintaining the party’s control of the chamber.

Removing Menendez would also eliminate the possibility of putting his seat in play in 2024, when Democrats face a stiff challenge keeping their tenuous majority, and reduce the risk of him dragging down Democrats in New Jersey’s legislative contests this fall.

Not that Menendez is budging.

He lost his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stepping down as required by Democrats’ Senate bylaws. But he made clear Monday at a defiant news conference that he will ignore calls to resign, even as he strains credulity to the breaking point.

All that lucre secretly stashed around the house? A form of personal insurance, Menendez suggested, resulting from trauma he faced as the son of Cuban immigrants

The justice system will weigh Menendez’s guilt or innocence. But his party’s peers aren’t waiting for that to happen.

“Thanks to Democrats who are calling on Menendez to quit,” California’s former Democratic senator, Barbara Boxer, tweeted following his news conference.

“Sorry, it is not normal to have closets full of cash and BTW, just a couple of gold bars hanging around from ‘friends.’ Nobody’s indispensable & if we are to save America we better have people who won’t sell their souls.”

Republicans should pay heed and hold Trump to account.

Mark Z. Barabak is a Los Angeles Times columnist.

Related Articles

• Opinion | Skelton: Reagan gave America hope. Trump offers venom and lies
• Opinion | Walters: California Legislature punts insurance crisis to Newsom and Lara
• Opinion | Opinion: Work-family balance should be a top-tier policy area
• Opinion | Walters: Politicians point fingers as homelessness crisis persists
• Opinion | Mathews: California needs to censure the whole idea of censure

The authorities say at least 11 people have died as floodwaters submerge parts of the province.

A NASA astronaut and two Russians are back on Earth after being stuck in space for just over a year.

Pvt. Travis T. King dashed across the inter-Korean Demilitarized Zone in July to flee to North Korea.

Valve's work on Steam OS 3 for the Steam Deck help everyone, corporate users included

Open Source Summit  Steam OS is the Arch-based distro for a handheld Linux games console, and Valve is aggressively pushing Linux's usability and Windows interoperability for the device.…

The authorities say Artgemeinschaft used Nazi-era books "to raise new enemies of the constitution".

The remains of a dozen people are found strewn across the northern Mexican city of Monterrey.

The senator for New Jersey’s indictment on corruption charges raised a sometimes tricky question: When should a politician resign?

Travis King ran across the border from South Korea during a tour of the area in July

The Australian came up with the plot to spend New Year's Eve with another woman instead of his partner.

1850 University Way – Google Street View

The property located in the 1800 block of University Way in San Jose was sold on Aug. 29, 2023. The $2,203,000 purchase price works out to $1,140 per square foot. The house, built in 1941, has an interior space of 1,932 square feet. The layout of this two-story house includes two bedrooms and two baths. Inside, there is a fireplace. In addition, the home includes a two-car garage, ensuring ample room for parking and storage.

Additional houses have recently changed hands nearby:

• On Bel Air Avenue, San Jose, in July 2023, a 1,680-square-foot home was sold for $1,700,000, a price per square foot of $1,012. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
• In March 2023, a 1,792-square-foot home on Bel Air Avenue in San Jose sold for $1,625,000, a price per square foot of $907. The home has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
• A 1,192-square-foot home on the 1800 block of McDaniel Avenue in San Jose sold in July 2022, for $1,525,000, a price per square foot of $1,279. The home has 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom.

 

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Lola Kirke, 33; Avril Lavigne, 39; Anna Camp, 41; Tamara Taylor, 53.

Happy Birthday: Keep life simple, factual and stress-free. Your decisions will determine how you feel and how far you get. Associate with people who have something to contribute and are willing to do their fair share, but don’t feel the need to tag along with anyone who wants you to walk a path that has no meaning or purpose for you. Savor beneficial relationships. Your numbers are 4, 17, 20, 26, 34, 38, 43.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Reach out to people who push you to try new things and participate in events promoting what you have to offer. A potential partnership needs monitoring. You will likely bring out the best and worst in one another. Proceed with caution. 3 stars

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take better care of yourself and your relationships. Don’t let unacceptable behavior be your downfall; poor health or financial choices can cause vulnerability. Consider what’s possible and how to utilize your intelligence. 4 stars

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Refuse to get trapped in someone else’s dilemma. Don’t believe everything you hear or get lured in by sob stories. Put more time and effort into personal appearances, meaningful relationships and physically making your life and surroundings suit your needs. Make happiness your goal. 2 stars

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Dedicate more time to listening and learning. What you discover will help you move from one situation to another quickly. Sidestep anyone trying to interfere with your progress or monopolize your time doing things that don’t interest you. Be true to yourself. 5 stars

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Take nothing for granted. Look at every angle and say no to frivolous or uncertain ideas. Pay attention to how you can mold your skills into something you enjoy doing. Concentrate on investments and making your money work for you. 3 stars

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Change can be good if you don’t hesitate. Size up situations and set boundaries to avoid taking on too much, overspending or any other enticement that comes your way. Keep life simple, your facts straight and your health immaculate. Concentrate on learning, saving, peace and love. 3 stars

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Pay homage to the ones you love. Your actions will make a difference to someone who needs encouragement. Don’t let ego or anger cause problems at home or when dealing with joint endeavors. Protect what you have and say no to temptation. 3 stars

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make your mark, press forward with discipline and approach people heading in a similar direction. A partnership will help you maintain your momentum to meet your deadline. Practicality, imagination and creativity will get you where you want to go. 5 stars

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): False information will slow you down. Don’t rely on others to do things for you. Take control of your destiny and invest your skills, knowledge and experience into your best work. Hard work, discipline and distancing yourself from interference will pay off. 2 stars

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Use brainpower to overcome adversity. Rely on experience and ingenuity to point you in the right direction. A domestic change will help alleviate stress, lower overhead or encourage you to engage in a healthier lifestyle. 4 stars

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Keep moving in a direction that soothes your soul and eases stress. Disregard what others choose to do and go about your business. Pay attention to what others request, and don’t be afraid to say no. A simple lifestyle will lead to personal freedom. 3 stars

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Come up with a plan and follow through. Don’t let anyone guilt you into something you don’t want. Give your all, and don’t lose sight of your objective. Your intuition won’t let you down. Follow your instincts and everything will fall into place. 3 stars

Birthday Baby: You are dedicated, cooperative and astute. You are innovative and productive.

1 star: Avoid conflicts; work behind the scenes. 2 stars: You can accomplish, but don’t rely on others. 3 stars: Focus and you’ll reach your goals. 4 stars: Aim high; start new projects. 5 stars: Nothing can stop you; go for gold.

Visit Eugenialast.com, or join Eugenia on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn.

Want a link to your daily horoscope delivered directly to your inbox each weekday morning? Sign up for our free Coffee Break newsletter at mercurynews.com/newsletters or eastbaytimes.com/newsletters. 

The former editor of French Vogue and renowned stylist discusses fashion week debuts, sex on the runway and why she finally got her first tattoos.

Tell it what you want to do, and it spits out the relevant code

MongoDB has built an AI-powered SQL converter designed to help developers move from relational databases to its document-oriented NoSQL system.…