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Desert Fungi: Canyon Creek Mushrooms Are Feeding The Coachella Valley

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

When snowbird Jim Shaffer emigrated from his frigid Michigan roots to the warm breezes of the Coachella Valley, the only thing he really missed was finding fresh mushrooms to satisfy his love for fungi. After spending a few hundred hours on YouTube, he created his own farm in a spare bedroom, and within three years, his Canyon Creek Mushrooms could hardly keep up with the desert demand.The one-room operation started in 2019, when Shaffer built his first fruiting room in his garage, followed by an incubation room and a lab. What was just meant to be a source of fresh fungi for family and friends, Canyon Creek Mushrooms outgrew its garage-based farm and moved into its current 4,500-square-foot facility in Palm Desert in 2021.“When most people think of mushrooms, they think of dark caves and manure;  that’s so not us,” Shaffer tells L.A. Weekly in the sterile climate-controlled fruiting chamber located in an industrial section of the Washington Business Park. Jim Shaffer at Canyon Cree...

10 Facts About Memorial Day You May Or May Not Know

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance and honor for those who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It’s a time for Americans to pay tribute to the brave men and women who have sacrificed everything to defend our freedoms. But did you know that there are some fascinating and little-known facts about this national holiday? From its origins to its traditions, Memorial Day has a rich history that many people are unaware of. Read the full article on our sister site, the Fort Bend Star, here. Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.The post 10 Facts About Memorial Day You May Or May Not Know appeared first on LA Weekly.

Robert Miller Killed in Pedestrian Accident on State Route 246 [Buellton, CA]

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

Pedestrian Crash Near Casino Drive Kills 69-Year-Old Solvang ManBUELLTON, CA (May 9, 2023) – Friday midnight, a pedestrian crash on State Route 246 claimed the life of Robert Miller.The incident happened around 12:00 a.m., along the eastbound State Route 246, just west of Casino Drive.According to reports, Miller was wearing dark clothing as he traveled on foot across State Route 246. At that time, a 2011 Ford pickup was traveling on the westbound lanes of the highway as Miller was crossing its path. The driver of the Ford attempted to stop but could not do it in time, striking Miller, leaving him with serious injuries.Responding paramedics transported 69-year-old Robert Miller of Solvang to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.The California Highway Patrol said the involved driver was uninjured.In addition, Chumash Casino provided a surveillance video from the establishment that captured the collision.No words can mend the broken hearts and sorrow felt during t...

Lolo Zouai Wants to Play

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

Lolo Zouai Wants to Play: The last time we saw Zouaï, she was opening for Dua Lipa at the massive Kia Forum. She certainly didn’t look out of place that day, wowing somebody else’s crowd in an arena setting. The day when she headlines such a place might not be too far away, especially considering the quality of last year’s PLAYGIRL album. This is the latest stop on The Playgirl Tour, so expect her to pull out all the stops. Amelia Moore also performs.“This whole album is about not boxing myself into any one genre or sound,” she said in a statement. “Once I had that revelation – that my album could be like my life itself – it unlocked an entirely new outlook on making music for me.”Of that show at the Forum, we said last year, “Lolo Zouaï was born in Paris and raised in San Francisco and, as a result, she sings in a combination of French and English. Like, literally, she switched languages within the same song. It made for some fascinating musical moments, particularly on excel...

Mark Maglione Killed in Pedestrian Crash on Ramon Road [Palm Springs, CA]

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

Pedestrian Collision on Crossley Road Left 63-Year-Old Palm Springs Man DeadPALM SPRINGS, CA (May 9, 2023) – Thursday evening, Mark Maglione was killed in a pedestrian crash on Ramon Road.The incident happed at around 9:45 p.m. at the intersection of Ramon Road and Crossley Road.Upon arrival, police located the unresponsive man lying in the roadway. First responders declared the victim dead at the scene.Meanwhile, the involved driver stayed at the site of the incident and cooperated with the investigators.Later, the Riverside County Coroner’s office identified the deceased pedestrian as 63-year-old Mark Maglione of Palm Springs.At this time, the circumstances that led up to the incident remain unknown. Authorities said that drugs and alcohol did not play a role in the collision.Those with additional information about the fatal pedestrian crash are encouraged to contact the Palm Springs police traffic division at 760-323-8125.The team at Sweet James sends their warm and sincere...

Why Office Sex Is (Pretty Much Always) A Bad Idea

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

Whether it’s a Hollywood fantasy that roused your curiosity or a real-life colleague shared some of his own intriguing exploits with you, office sex is a temptation for many at one point or another. According to a Business Insider survey, 85% of those who were surveyed have thought of having sex with a colleague before — and 4% even switched jobs because of the sexual tension they had with someone at work.Office Sex 101: Should You or Should You Not?Many have contemplated doing it and a good many of those turned the dream into a reality (as 54% of those who were polled actually had office sex with a colleague. Unfortunately, a little office fling can lead to major consequences your career (and primary relationship) may not survive. Consider the following scenarios. The consequences of office sex with the bossThe majority find power to be an attractive attribute that a person can possess. To some, money is sexy to have as well. That’s why many fantasize about office sex with their bo...

SF Giants calling up infield prospect Casey Schmitt, Darin Ruf designated for assignment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

The Giants are getting younger.Tuesday morning, the club announced it was promoting infielder Casey Schmitt, their second-round pick in 2020 who is considered by Baseball America to be the team’s third-best prospect.Schmitt comes to the Giants hitting .313 with 10 doubles and one home run in 32 games with Triple-A Sacramento. He wasn’t originally known as a power hitter, but some mechanical adjustments led to a big season last year, when he hit 21 home runs in 526 plate appearances across three levels.While Schmitt is primarily a third baseman who projects as a future Gold Glover, he’s also spent about 30% of his minor league innings at shortstop, where he is likely to find playing time as Brandon Crawford works his way back from a calf strain. Schmitt also has three games of experience at second base.Thairo Estrada has played every game at shortstop since Crawford’s injury, but with Schmitt on the squad, Estrada could move back to second base. J.D. Davis (.875 OPS) has been the hot...

The buzziest California wine region isn’t Napa or Sonoma

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

By Elin McCoy | BloombergIf you’re on an all-out quest to make great cabernet, you might aim for Napa or Bordeaux.Not Daniel Daou. After a decade-long global search for the right plot of land to start growing the grape, he found the ideal combo of soil and climate for his dream in Paso Robles, a land of oak-studded hills and winding back roads, a three-hour drive south of San Francisco. “Paso,” he says, “has a climate between Pauillac in Bordeaux and Oakville in Napa. It was my destiny.”Once sleepy and overlooked, the region has new energy and a definite wow factor. It’s California’s shiny new wine hot spot, and not just for cabernet. It’s where to go for top Rhone style wines, and tourism is booming.Brothers George and Daniel Daou helped push Paso into the current spotlight with their wines and compelling story. After fleeing the bombs of the 1973 civil war in Lebanon with their family (one rocket hit their house and almost killed them), they ended up in France, where they grew up....

Black history, minstrel themes collide in 2 S.F. productions

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

Titles don’t get much more provocative than that of Marc Anthony Thompson’s new show at San Francisco’s Magic Theatre, “The Ni¿¿er Lovers.”“I wanted to record all the people that called to get tickets at the theater to hear how they solved their dilemma to say the N-word,” says writer-composer-director Thompson. “But the emphasis is really on ‘Lovers.’ This play is really a celebration of a really great journey, and a really great love story.”It’s loosely inspired by the true story of Ellen and William Craft, an enslaved couple who escaped from Georgia to Boston in 1848. Light-skinned Ellen disguised herself as a white man for the journey, while her darker-skinned husband posed as her enslaved valet. (A book about them, Ilyon Woo’s “Master Slave Husband Wife,” came out a few months ago.)“I’ve been reticent to actually draw that connection myself, because we’ve taken just the kernel of that story, and we use it as a jumping-off point to talk about gender, race then, race ...

Regulators saw problems, but didn't make Silicon Valley Bank fix them fast enough: report

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:01:38 GMT

When state and federal regulators spotted problems at Silicon Valley Bank, they didn't do enough to make sure the bank acted quickly to fix them. That's one of the key takeaways from a report published Monday by the California state department that shared responsibility for overseeing the bank, which failed in March. The report came from California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which, among other responsibilities, works with federal regulators to oversee state banks. Some of that oversight happens in the form of bank "exams," where government workers go in and investigate a bank's solvency, management and more. Actor Scott Baio says he’s leaving California after 45 years In the case of Silicon Valley Bank, California was sharing oversight with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The Fed had "assumed a lead role for many supervisory activities," the report said. In years leading up to the bank's collapse, California and federal regulators ...