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ID Cafe is bringing fast-casual south Indian food to Pleasanton and beyond

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

Think Chipotle or Panera, but make it dosas and idlis. That’s the kind of household name that Hayward neighbors and friends Sriram Arun and Prasad Komala are hoping to achieve for southern Indian cuisine with their growing restaurant chain ID Cafe.The co-founders opened their third East Bay restaurant at Pleasanton’s Stoneridge Mall in mid-July. The first location opened in Newark in 2021 and the second launched in April in Antioch. They’re hoping to open two more spots in the South Bay in the coming months, according to Arun.The backstory: Arun and Komala were two friends working in tech and missing the food from their home country. Both grew up in India – Arun is from Chennai and Komala is from Hyderabad – and struggled to find a local chain that offered consistent, authentic Indian food.“You don’t have Panera or Starbucks or Chipotle or even a Sweetgreens for Indian food,” he says. “We found a gap there.”In particular, they were craving not just the curries and stews often availa...

Elon Musk, self-described ‘free speech absolutist,’ sues nonprofit over its speech

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

Elon Musk, owner of the company formerly called Twitter and an avowed crusader for free speech, this week followed through on a threat and sued a nonprofit over its statements criticizing his firm, now called X.The lawsuit targets allegations by the Center for Countering Digital Hate that hate speech spiked at X in the week after Musk bought it in October, with users tweeting tens of thousands of anti-Black, anti-trans, anti-gay and antisemitic slurs, increases of 23% to 300% over 2022 averages. The lawsuit accused the nonprofit of “a scare campaign to drive away advertisers from the X platform.”The nonprofit used “flawed methodology” by focusing only on the number of tweets and retweets of the slurs and not on how many times they were viewed, X’s lawsuit filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco alleged.During the week after Musk’s takeover, he claimed in a tweet, “we have actually seen hateful speech at times this week decl...

Classic animated films get the spotlight in new Berkeley series

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

The animated film rarely gets the credit it deserves.Consider this. Since Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” in 1991 landed a best picture Oscar nomination — the first ever animated film in that category — only two other animated films have managed to squeeze into that prestigious contest. Both came came from the creative team at Pixar: 2009’s “Up” and 2010’s “Toy Story 3.”Instead a kvetching, let’s focus on some of the animated films that deserve to be bathed in artistic praise, especially since more than a few of them are part of “The Art of Animation: Storytelling in the Digital Age,” an upcoming series at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.The August program celebrating high-quality animation and storytelling includes three free outdoor screenings and seven inside the Barbro Osher Theater. As an added bonus the co-authors of “Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation”– Berkeley-based indie filmmaker Bill Kinder and New York-based au...

Couple watching grandchildren targeted in Oakland home invasion robbery

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

OAKLAND — A couple watching their grandchildren were targeted Monday afternoon by robbers who broke into their Leona Heights district home, authorities said.The residents, an 80-year-old man and his 69-year-old wife, were not injured.Neither were the children, who authorities said are a 2-year-old and an infant.Authorities said two men, both armed with guns, broke into the house on Leona Street about 1:30 p.m. Monday and confronted the couple. The neighborhood is above the Highway 13 and Interstate 580 connection and below Merritt College.The suspects spent at least an hour in the home searching for valuables before finally leaving with a gun and some ammunition, authorities said.Detailed descriptions of the robbers were not available.Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $5,000 in reward money in Monday’s robbery for information leading to the arrests of the suspects. Anyone with information may call investigators at 510-238-3326 or Crime Stoppers at 5...

Biotech firm settles with family over cells for research

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

By Lea Skene and Sarah Brumfield | Associated PressBALTIMORE — More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company that they accused of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.Tissue taken from the Black woman’s tumor before she died of cervical cancer became the first human cells to continuously grow and reproduce in lab dishes. HeLa cells went on to become a cornerstone of modern medicine, enabling countless scientific and medical innovations, including the development of the polio vaccine, genetic mapping and even COVID-19 vaccines.Despite that incalculable impact, the Lacks family had never been compensated.Lacks’ cells were harvested in 1951, when it was not illegal to so without a patient’s permission. But lawyers for her family argued that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., of Walt...

Tech firms ax hundreds of East Bay, Peninsula jobs, layoff pace eases

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

LIVERMORE — Tech companies have chopped hundreds more jobs in the Bay Area, affecting East Bay and Peninsula workers, but some hopeful signs suggest the pace of the cutbacks has eased.Thermo Fisher Scientific and Jabil have revealed plans to each chop more than 100 jobs, according to official filings with state officials.Together the companies have disclosed their decision to eliminate a combined 215 jobs, WARN notices filed with the state Employment Development Department show.Jabil has decided to ax 113 jobs in Livermore and Fremont.Thermo Fisher Scientific is cutting 102 workers in Pleasanton and South San Francisco.During 2022 and so far in 2023, tech companies have revealed plans to cut slightly more than 26,500 jobs in the Bay Area, according to this news organization’s analysis of the official WARN notices received by the state EDD.

Nima Momeni updates: Khazar Elyassnia refused police interview

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

(KRON) -- Nima Momeni was back in court for the second day of his preliminary hearing in San Francisco on Tuesday. A San Francisco judge will determine if the evidence against Momeni is enough to bring him to trial. Teen crashes Tesla in Santa Rosa joy ride, police say Yesterday, the court heard from the first officers to arrive at the scene of the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee on April 4. Police arrived just after 2:30 a.m. on Main Street where they found Lee bleeding from multiple stab wounds. Nima Momeni enters a courtroom. (Gabrielle Lurie / San Francisco Chronicle / Pool) Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now KRON4 Breaking News SIGN UP NOW The knife that is suspected to have been used in the killing was found on the floor of a CalTrans parking lo...

Zendaya remembers classmate, co-star in emotional social post

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

(KRON) -- "Euphoria" star and Oakland native Zendaya spoke out about the passing of her co-star Angus Cloud on Tuesday afternoon. Cloud was found dead in his Oakland home on Monday, and his cause of death has not yet been revealed. He was 25 years old. Zendaya took to Instagram to share a photo of Cloud, along with a note about his life. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now KRON4 Breaking News SIGN UP NOW "Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor). I’m so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh (I’m smiling now just thinking of it) I know people use this expression often when talking about folks they love…'they coul...

Suspect who brandished knife, ran into victim with car arrested in San Mateo

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

(KRON) -- A suspect who police say brandished a knife and hit a victim with his vehicle in a road rage incident last weekend has been arrested, according to the San Mateo Police Department. On Sunday, July 30, San Mateo PD was contacted by a father and his daughter at the police department.The father told officers he was the victim of an assault with a deadly weapon. Officers were told the daughter called her father after she noticed a black car following her. Remaining on the phone, the father drove to the location and saw the black car still following her. Nima Momeni updates: Khazar Elyassnia refused police interview At a red light at East Hillsdale Boulevard and Curtis Street, the father got out and confronted the driver of the black car. It was at that point that the driver brandished a knife and drove his car at the father, causing him to roll over the hood.Through an investigation, police were able to identify the driver of the black car as Thomas German. German was later ...

Blue Jays get SS Paul DeJong from Cardinals, MRI on Bo Bichette shows no damage to injured knee

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:00:56 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Blue Jays acquired shortstop Paul DeJong and cash from the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday while they continue to evaluate the status of injured shortstop Bo Bichette.The Blue Jays sent 24-year-old pitching prospect Matt Svanson to St. Louis.The trade comes one day after Bichette, a two-time All-Star, left a game against the Baltimore Orioles when he injured his right knee while running the bases.Before Tuesday’s game, manager John Schneider said an MRI showed Bichette had inflammation but no damage.“Nothing significant structurally,” Schneider said. “Best possible outcome. We’ll know more in the next day or so.”Bichette currently is day to day, but the Blue Jays have not ruled out a stint on the injured list, Schneider said. Bichette leads the AL with a .321 average and 144 hits. His 42 multihit games also are an AL high.Santiago Espinal, who replaced Bichette on Monday, was set to start at shortstop Tuesday, Schneider said. DeJong is not expected to arriv...