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Top 11 Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Entrepreneurs make change happen. They have a vision for the world and aren’t afraid to do something about it. That’s what makes them so fascinating to watch. Here are eleven entrepreneurs guaranteed to make waves in upcoming years.#1 Ryan DeJong, Legal Cannabis Business SolutionsAs a Nationwide Director for the National Organization for Cannabis Compliance (NOCC), Ryan DeJong has assisted entrepreneurs in starting legal cannabis businesses for over 10 years through compliance, advocacy, and business development. Working jointly with entrepreneurs and government officials to streamline compliance programs in the legal cannabis space. He has assisted over 100 ventures to get licensed and operational at various stages of their development, being especially passionate about small business success in highly regulated markets. DeJong’s team includes professionals with 100+ years of combined experience in various industries from real estate, legal, financing, security, lobbyin...

Vital Garden Supply Proves Organic Cannabis is Scalable

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

The team at Vital Garden Supply continues to prove cultivating organic cannabis is very much possible at scale. As mega gardens have become more prominent and significant in the wake of Prop 64’s passing seven years ago, people wanted more shortcuts to go with the scale of their operation. Many didn’t care much what was in it if it passed testing and made their lives easier. Much of the time because they weren’t smoking it themselves. Brian Malin from Vital Garden Supply is the exact opposite of that ethos. Since 2006, Vital Garden Supply has provided California gardeners of all kinds with the means to grow things organically. But, of course, the company holds a special place in the hearts of cannabis farmers, to the extent that when the state said it was time to create a mechanism to certify organic cannabis farming in California, they called Malin in to help write the rules for the OCal program.Pacific Reserve in Salinas.This week we got to visit Pacific Reserve’s farm in Salinas....

Letters: S.F. homeless | Striking teachers | Reality of aging | SVB accountability | Santos indictment

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.San Francisco mustsolve homeless crisisRe. “Half century after mental health reform failures, state tries again” (Page A6, May 9).I have always been a big fan of San Francisco. I think it is the most beautiful city in the world, and I’ve always loved its progressive politics. However, I’m worried.I never thought I’d agree with George Skelton, but I too believe it is time to do something about the terrible homeless situation. My husband and I have resolved not to return to the SOMA theaters after a recent visit required walking past people lying on the cold cement and defecating in the gutter. I know many others who are avoiding the city altogether. It feels as though the city has abandoned this large group of suffering humans. It is time for city leaders to take responsibility.The city has been more and more deserted lately, and I understand why. San Francisco, please get on...

Column: Lakers’ Anthony Davis deserves more respect

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Mirjam Swanson is a sports columnist for the Southern California News Group, our partner publication.“Concussion!?” Stephen A. Smith screeched on ESPN’s “First Take” on Thursday morning, his most incredulous level of falsetto threatening eardrums across the nation. “I thought the NFL season was over.”Wait, what?“I understand that concussions can happen in other sports – boxing, UFC. I mean, if the collision is fierce enough, I guess it could happen in basketball too but damn, I ain’t see nothing yesterday that made me say concussion!”What even – what?“Was he running over the middle and got hit by Ronnie Lott or something? Did I miss something? Did he get hit by Aaron Donald? Did I miss something?!”Did Smith miss 7-foot strongman Kevon Looney swinging his substantial forearm into Anthony Davis’ head on Wednesday night, during Game 5 of the Lakers-Golden State Warriors second-round playoff series? Knocking him off kilter and sending him to the bench, and then into the tunnel, dazed an...

Oakland: Charges dismissed in human trafficking case

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

OAKLAND — Alameda County prosecutors have dismissed human trafficking and pimping charges against a man, due to an apparent lack of cooperation from the alleged victim.Nile Steward, 32, was arrested last January on charges that he trafficked a teen girl and threatened her with a gun when she resisted. Steward’s preliminary hearing had been set for late February, and the alleged victim was ordered by a judge to appear with her attorney.But just two weeks later, in mid-March prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges, citing a “lack of complaining witness,” court records show. Steward was released from jail later that day.Though Steward wasn’t arrested until last January, the charges stemmed from allegations made by the victim that covered a time period in October 2021. The girl claimed she delayed reporting Steward to police because she was afraid of him, and waited until July 2022, when he was arrested and briefly held in an unrelated investigation.

Trump appeals $5M judgment in Carroll sexual assault suit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

By Kara Scannell and Lauren del Valle | CNNFormer President Donald Trump is appealing the $5 million judgment awarded by the Manhattan federal jury that found he sexually abused and defamed former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.Trump’s lawyers filed the notice of appeal in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, hours after federal Judge Lewis Kaplan filed a written ruling endorsing the jury verdict and ordering Trump to pay Carroll the full sum. Kaplan presided over the civil trial in New York.Trump had previously indicated he planned to appeal.In a further development Thursday, in the wake of Trump’s continued insults against Carroll in his CNN town hall Wednesday night, the New York Times is reporting that Carroll may sue him again.Trump’s comments on CNN came one day after a jury in Manhattan awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after finding Trump liable for sexually abusing her in the mid-1990s and liable for defaming her last year when he described h...

San Jose: If you can’t read this sign, you’re driving too fast

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

After a record 65 traffic fatalities last year, San Jose is pushing out a new message to drivers: Slow down already!The three-month “Slow Down, San Jose” campaign was launched this week by the city’s Vision Zero Task Force, which aims to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities. The word will be going out in multiple language through billboards, yard signs and posters, as well as online videos and radio ads.We love our numbers here in Silicon Valley, so here are a couple shared by the task force. A car going 25 mph takes 30 feet to stop, and if you’re going 35 mph that stopping distance jumps up to 59 feet. Those extra 29 feet could cost somebody’s life.This billboard on East Santa Clara Street in San Jose is part of “Slow Down, San Jose,” a three-month awareness campaign launched May 8, 2023 to encourage drivers to reduce their speeds. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group) If you’ve been driving through downtown San Jose recently, you ...

Musk says he’s found a new CEO to run Twitter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

By Barbara Ortutay and Matt O’Brien | Associated PressElon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as it’s now called — and it’s a woman. He did not name her but said she will be starting in about six weeks.Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since, has long insisted he is not the company’s permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being Twitter’s executive chairman and chief technology officer.In mid-November, just a few weeks after buying the social media platform for $44 billion, he told a Delaware court that he does not want to be the CEO of any company.While testifying, Musk said “I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.”More than a month later, he tweeted in December: “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job.” The pledge came after millions ...

Alameda County District Attorney’s bid to secure early release for convicted murderer is delayed

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

SAN LEANDRO — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office will have to wait until later this year before potentially arguing for the early release of a man convicted in the 2012 fatal shooting of a 15-year-old girl.Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price in a county office building on Wednesday, April 13, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group) The delay came after a ruling Thursday by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Scott Jackson — concerning the case of convicted murderer Lilron Jones. Jones was originally sentenced to 114 years in the December 2012 death of Jubrille Jordan, 15. But several factors – including a change in California law, an appellate court order and the election of new District Attorney Pamela Price in November – have since raised the specter of Jones’ potential early release.Such a move would fall in line with Price’s efforts at reforming the county’s criminal justice system, which include limiting prison sentences and combattin...

Oakland treats: Trade a bag of garbage for free ice cream

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Not that you should need a reason to pick up garbage, but if you did, here is one: On June 3, if you collect enough trash from your neighborhood to fill a bag, a shop in Oakland will not only take it off your hands, they’ll give you free, delicious ice cream.This somewhat odd swap is the brainchild of Bear Silber, who runs the MyGoodness ice-cream shop inside an Ethiopian cafe at 2834 Lakeshore Ave. by Lake Merritt. Their brand is “decadent soft serve” made from organic Sonoma County dairy, and presumably they’ll be dolloping out plenty of it that first Saturday in June – provided, of course, you pony up the garbage first.Bear Silber, founder of Oakland’s MyGoodness ice cream. “Anyone that brings in a bag of trash cleaned up from their neighborhood will be able to exchange it for a free ice cream,” Silber says. “Even as a relatively new addition to the Oakland ice cream scene, we’ve already garnered 5-star upon 5-star review on bo...