West
Residents explain why they fled the Bay Area: Homelessness was 'just getting out of hand'
Former residents report having found better quality and cost of living outside the Bay Area, where homelessness and housing prices have skyrocketed.
“It’s a challenging place to live — the most expensive metro area in the country for consumer prices and buying a home. In a recent poll of Bay Area residents, nearly half said they were considering leaving in the next few years,” the East Bay Times reported.
One family who left the Bay Area to live in Idaho said that homelessness had become a problem.
“The homeless situation in downtown Martinez was just getting out of hand,” Ken Freeze told the Times.
(Nearly half of Bay Area residents considered leaving the city due to rising costs and costs of living, according to a report.)
“Beautiful Marina Park was just littered with needles. People didn’t want to take their families down there,” he added.
MASK MANDATES RETURN FOR HEALTH CARE FACILITIES IN DEEP BLUE STATE
In 2005, Freeze and his wife bought several acres of land in Placerville, California, with plans to retire.
“But by the time retirement rolled around, the state had changed too much for them,” the Times reported.
Per the Times, “They decided to swap out the foothills of the Sierra Nevada for the foothills in Idaho, and move to Meridian, a fast-growing suburb of Boise. They’d first traveled there in August 2017 for the total solar eclipse, and were struck by the good condition of the roads and how affordable the homes were.”
But the Freezes weren’t the only ones attracted to the area.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to crack down on homelessness, cleaning up trash and threatening to strip municipalities of funding if they do not take action against the issue. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
“In the short time we’ve been here, areas that when we first moved here were just open fields are now apartment complexes and buildings,” Freeze told the East Bay Times. “I’d just like to see them pull back the reins a little bit and let the infrastructure take a breath.”
WHY TRUMP IS HEADED INTO ‘THE BELLY OF THE BEAST’: THE STRATEGY BEHIND HIS BLUE STATE STOPS
Another Bay Area couple felt the housing squeeze and saw prices elsewhere “too good to pass up.”
They found a house in Phoenix they loved and “now pay less for their mortgage than they did for their one-bedroom in San Bruno.”
As the Times reported, “It came with a pool, palm trees and a view of the mountains. ‘You can’t get all that in California anymore, unless you’re Elon Musk,’ [Jared] Troutman joked.”
A family from Oakland moved to the South due to the area feeling like a “third-world country.”
“I didn’t want to wait until everything got worse than it already was,” Mary Ezell-Wallas said.
Oakland Homeless encampment (Getty Images)
“Living in Oakland was stressful every day and night,” she said.
She explained further, “It’s so much better down here.”
Ezell Wallace, a resident of Oakland for nearly four decades, ran a beauty parlor in the 90s. She said Oakland had good shopping downtown back then.
“We could get anything we wanted real fast,” Ezell-Wallace said.
She added, “I thought Oakland was one of the greatest places there was.”
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Washington
Utah Starts Road Trip with Win in Washington | Utah Mammoth
Both of Utah’s power play units scored in the win. Sergachev scored his 10th goal of the season on the power play 13 and a half minutes into the first period. Peterka scored his 21st of the season, on the man-advantage, in the final two minutes of the middle frame.
Peterka has three power play goals in the 2025-26 campaign while Sergachev has matched a career-high with five power play goals this season. Overall, Utah’s power play has scored six goals in the last six games. That output matches the Mammoth’s total from their previous 18 games (per Mammoth PR). Tourigny discussed what’s changed with the team’s performance in recent games.
“(The) puck gets in,” Tourigny laughed. “But, no, I think there’s a number of things. The most important thing is we’re aggressive. We’re attacking.
“…If you look at our goal, the first one, it’s a direct play to the net and then on the loose puck recovery we take a shot with traffic and we score,” Tourigny continued. “On the second one, it’s a slot pass, a great shot by (Peterka). I think we had that attack mindset.”
Guenther, who is on the Mammoth’s top power play unit, agreed with Tourigny’s assessment of attacking more.
“I think just attacking, less predictable,” Guenther explained. “Shooting it more, I think (it is) just work really. Trying to play like a 5-on-5 mindset but on the (power play).”
The Mammoth made several line changes for tonight’s game and the new lines started to find chemistry, despite it being the first game with these changes.
“I like them,” Tourigny said of the changes. “Obviously (Guenther) got a goal, but Cooley’s line was really good. I was looking at the expected goals at the end, I think they were above 90%. So that’s pretty, pretty awesome. Then I think (Barrett Hayton’s) line worked really hard. They’re heavy on pucks and they play well defensively. I did like (Michael Carcone’s) line in (the) previous three games, and I did like them again tonight.”
When Washington pushed back with a power play goal and multiple close chances in the third period, Utah fought hard against the momentum swing to secure the win.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Keller explained. “Weathering the storm as much as we could. They’re a great veteran team. They made it hard on us. They pressured us all over the ice, but I was proud of the way we fought there towards the end.”
Utah’s bench was positive and calm throughout the game, especially late in the third. This helped the Mammoth through the momentum swings. Keller, who had two assists in the win, was one of the key voices for the Mammoth.
“He’s one of the guys who was really positive on the bench,” Tourigny explained. “(All the players) were but (Keller) was really vocal. He was really good energy on the bench. So that was really good.”
Additional Notes from Tonight (per Mammoth PR)
- Guenther had two points in the win (1G, 1A) and the forward has earned a team-high nine points (5G, 4A) through six road games in 2026. He has become the third Mammoth skater to reach the 50-point mark this season (28G, 23A) and established a new career-high in goals.
- Sergachev has 18 power play points this season (5G, 13A) and is tied with Keller for the team lead this season.
- Keller has recorded multiple primary assists in a game for the seventh time this season and the 27th time in his NHL career. He has now tallied multiple points in four of his last six contests (2G, 8A), with three multi-assist outings over that span.
The Mammoth continue their five-game road trip in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Game time is 5 p.m. MT and available to watch on Mammoth+ and Utah16.
Wyoming
Snowpack In The South Laramie Range At Just Three Percent Of Normal Levels
The snowpack in the South Laramie Range in southeast Wyoming as of Monday was at three percent of normal, according to the Cheyenne Office of the National Weather Service.
And while other mountain ranges in southeast Wyoming were not nearly that low in snowpack, they were still well below normal at last report.
The agency posted the following on its website:
February was yet another warm and dry month, continuing the pattern that has dominated our area since last fall. Mountain snowpack remains well below average in southeast Wyoming, especially in the Laramie Range where snowpack is at an all time record low. For the plains, some light snow fell last month, but it was not enough to keep from increasing seasonal snowfall deficits. Cheyenne is off to its 4th least snowy start to the season since records began in the 1880s, and Scottsbluff has received the 2nd least snow since record began in the 1890s. We are now approximately two-thirds of the way through the snow accumulation season, with a little more than one-third to go in March, April, and into early May.
But the good news is that after a wet 24 hours on Monday night/Tuesday, more snow may be headed our way on Friday.
Cheyenne, Laramie Forecasts
Cheyenne Forecast
Tonight
A slight chance of rain and snow showers before 11pm. Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 24. West wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 55. West wind around 10 mph.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy, with a low around 30. West wind 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday
A slight chance of rain showers after 11am, mixing with snow after 5pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 59. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south southeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Thursday Night
Rain and snow showers likely, becoming all snow after 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25. Blustery. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Friday
Snow showers. High near 32. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 90%.
Friday Night
A chance of snow showers before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 18.
Saturday
Sunny, with a high near 44. Breezy.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 29. Breezy.
Sunday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. Breezy.
Sunday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 35. Breezy.
Monday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Breezy.
Monday Night
A slight chance of rain and snow showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 35.
Tuesday
A chance of rain and snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 54. Breezy.
Laramie Forecast
Tonight
Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 20. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph after midnight.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 48. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west southwest in the afternoon.
Wednesday Night
Increasing clouds, with a low around 27. South wind around 5 mph.
Thursday
A slight chance of rain and snow showers after 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 52. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Thursday Night
Snow showers. Low around 23. Chance of precipitation is 80%.
Friday
Snow showers. High near 31. Chance of precipitation is 90%.
Friday Night
A chance of snow showers before 11pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 13.
Saturday
Sunny, with a high near 39.
Saturday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 25.
Sunday
Sunny, with a high near 48. Breezy.
Sunday Night
Mostly clear, with a low around 32.
Monday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. Breezy.
Monday Night
A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly clear, with a low around 33.
Tuesday
A chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 50. Breezy.
2026 WHSAA Wyoming State Wrestling Championship
Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore, TSM
West
Supreme Court ruling on secretive California gender policy could reshape parent rights fights nationwide
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Parental rights advocates celebrated Monday after the Supreme Court temporarily stopped California from blocking school policies requiring parents to be told when their child identifies as transgender.
Corey DeAngelis, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital the high court’s order, in which the three liberal justices dissented, was a “huge win.” The decision marks the latest in a string of victories for conservatives seeking to tighten policies surrounding transgender people, though DeAngelis noted it only applies to California at this stage.
“Parents in California should be very excited that the law that they have on the books to keep secrets from parents will no longer be in effect,” DeAngelis said, adding, “This precedent is surely a sign of good things to come. If there’s a lawsuit that arises in another state, you can be pretty sure that the Supreme Court is going to rule on the side of families.”
The case, Mirabelli v. Bonta, arose from a lawsuit brought by California parents and teachers who argued that the state’s policy violated their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment and religious freedom rights under the First Amendment. The parents said the policy prevented school administrators from telling them about their child’s potential efforts to engage in gender transitioning unless the child consented to it. The policy also required school staff to use a student’s preferred name and pronouns regardless of the parents’ wishes.
A protester holds a transgender pride flag outside the Supreme Court as it hears arguments in 2026. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, an elected Democrat, the parents and teachers appealed to the Supreme Court, and on an expedited and temporary basis, the high court vacated that order while the case proceeds through the lower courts.
“The State argues that its policies advance a compelling interest in student safety and privacy,” the high court wrote in the unsigned order. “But those policies cut out the primary protectors of children’s best interests: their parents.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks during a news conference. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Justice Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, wrote in a dissent that the temporary order was a sign that the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, sometimes known as a shadow docket, continued to “malfunction.”
Attorneys for California argued that balancing the interests of parents and the “needs of transgender students” presented complex questions.
“In this case, the district court entered a sweeping permanent injunction that would require instant, dramatic changes from the status quo,” California attorneys wrote. “Currently, under California’s laws and constitutional provisions on privacy and antidiscrimination, schools may balance parental interests with students’ particular needs and circumstances, such as the risk of harm upon disclosure of the student’s gender identity without student consent.”
DeAngelis said the Supreme Court’s ruling also bolstered the case for school choice, which allows the government to funnel public education funds to schools parents want to send their children to that are not necessarily the designated public school in their neighborhood.
CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICT LETS STUDENTS CHANGE NAMES AND GENDER IDENTITY IN SECRET FROM PARENTS
Facade of the Supreme Court on Oct. 3, 2024. (Valerie Plesch/picture alliance via Getty Images)
“It would be great if more areas, like California, that are controlled by Democrats had policies like school choice. … You should be able to take your child’s education dollars somewhere else, to a private school that’s more aligned with your values, maybe a charter school,” DeAngelis said.
He added that Monday’s decision was a “wake-up call for school choice policy as well, because parents may be upset about a lot of things in the public schools. Transparency is just the very bare minimum that the public schools in too many places aren’t getting right.”
Carrie Severino, president of the conservative JCN Network, said the 9th Circuit appeared to disregard the Supreme Court’s key ruling last year in Mahmoud v. Taylor, which allowed parents to opt their children out of lessons that involved gender ideology or other sensitive topics based on religious beliefs.
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“The liberal Ninth Circuit disregarded the Court’s ruling in Mahmoud,” Severino wrote. “Today, the justices reaffirmed the principles of its landmark ruling and said that California’s law substantially interferes with the ‘right of parents to guide the religious development of their children.’”
New York Times columnist David French also agreed with the high court’s decision.
“The idea that a school could withhold such key information about a child from the child’s parents (in the absence of evidence of abuse) was ludicrously unconstitutional from the beginning,” French wrote on X.
Read the full article from Here
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