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Toxic wild mushrooms linked to 3 deaths as state officials issue urgent warning

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Toxic wild mushrooms linked to 3 deaths as state officials issue urgent warning

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Consumption of death cap mushrooms — often mistaken for safe, edible lookalikes — has been linked to a deadly outbreak in California.

The mushrooms, officially called Amanita phalloides, contain toxins that can cause amatoxin poisoning, which can lead to severe illness or even death.

In the California cases, the poisonings caused severe liver damage in both children and adults, resulting in three deaths, three liver transplants and 35 hospitalizations as of Jan. 6, according to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).

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The CDPH warned the outbreak was linked to consumption of “wild, foraged mushrooms” and urged Californians not to pick or eat wild mushrooms at this time.

The officials stated in a report that death cap mushrooms are “still poisonous even after cooking, boiling, freezing or drying.”

Consumption of death cap mushrooms has been linked to a deadly outbreak in California. (Ethan Crenson/New York Mycological Society)

The California Poison Control System (CPCS) identified cases across Northern California and the Central Coast, spanning regions from Sonoma to San Luis Obispo between Nov. 18 and Jan. 6.

Affected individuals ranged from 19 months to 67 years old. Officials blamed the recent rainfall for the overgrowth of the toxic mushroom.

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Symptoms of amatoxin poisoning

Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and dehydration, which can occur within six to 24 hours after ingesting the poisonous mushroom, stated the CDPH report.

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“You might not get symptoms for the first five or six hours, and that’s just by nature of the breakdown of the toxin in the stomach. Then you get the nausea, vomiting and diarrhea,” Dr. Lauren Shawn, M.D., a board-certified emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Northwell Health Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York, told Fox News Digital.

“Because of the damage caused by the death cap mushroom, the liver is no longer able to function properly.”

Although symptoms can resolve within a day, serious or even fatal liver damage can still occur two to four days later. 

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After the initial stomach issues subside, the toxin continues to invade the liver cells and stops them from making RNA (ribonucleic acid), which the body needs to make healing and protective proteins.

“It takes some time for the toxin to actually damage the cell, which is why people don’t show up with liver failure until a day or two after,” Shawn said.

In the California cases, the poisonings due to death cap mushrooms caused severe liver damage in both children and adults, resulting in three deaths, three liver transplants and 35 hospitalizations. (iStock)

Amatoxin “damages many types of cells in the human body, but especially liver cells,” Dr. Adam Berman, the associate chair of emergency medicine and a medical toxicologist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, told Fox News Digital.

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“Because of the damage caused by the death cap mushroom, the liver is no longer able to function properly. Without a functional liver, the body begins to fail and can quickly die,” the doctor warned.

As there is no widely available rapid test to detect amatoxin poisoning, clinicians rely on exposure history, symptoms and liver tests, according to experts. 

When to seek medical attention

Anyone who has consumed this type of mushroom should follow up with their primary care physician or a liver specialist to monitor for liver failure, doctors recommend.

The CDPH warned the outbreak was linked to consumption of “wild, foraged mushrooms” and urged Californians not to pick or eat wild mushrooms at this time. (iStock)

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“Ideally, if you have leftover mushrooms, bring them in or take pictures of them, because hopefully a poison center can call a mycologist and actually identify what the mushroom is,” Shawn advised.

Toxicologists agree with the California health agency’s warning to avoid foraging wild mushrooms.

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“The death cap mushroom can look to the untrained eye like many common and non-toxic mushrooms, which often makes it often difficult to spot and avoid,” Berman told Fox News Digital. “Because of this, it is best to not go looking for wild mushrooms to eat, especially in areas where the death cap mushroom commonly grows.”

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Shawn agreed that it is also not worth the risk.

“There’s a saying, ‘there are old mushroom foragers, there are bold mushroom foragers, but there are no old, bold mushroom foragers,’” she told Fox News Digital. “It’s a risky thing and you really have to know what you’re doing.”

Anyone who has consumed this type of mushroom should follow up with their primary care physician or a liver specialist to monitor for liver failure, doctors recommend. (iStock)

The CDPH recommends that individuals purchase mushrooms from trusted grocery stores and retailers, to be careful when buying them from street vendors, and to keep children and pets away from wild mushrooms. 

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Those in the area who have ingested a death cap mushroom should contact the CPCS hotline at 1-800-222-1222 and seek medical attention right away, health officials advised.



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San Francisco, CA

President Trump terminates Presidio Trust

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President Trump terminates Presidio Trust


SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Efforts to get rid of the Presidio Board of Trustees, the federal trust that oversees San Francisco’s Presidio Park, date back to over a year ago when the president said the trust is unnecessary and should be eliminated in an executive order. That trust has officially been terminated.

“The Administration has informed our board members that their appointments to the Presidio Trust board have been terminated,” the Presidio Board of Trustees said in a statement. “We had been anticipating that we would ultimately receive new board members and are awaiting information on the new appointments.”

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the six board members received termination notices on Wednesday and have not been informed whether there will be new appointees. All six were appointed by former President Joe Biden.

“We have a long history of wonderful leaders serving the Presidio, and we look forward to welcoming and working with the new members,” the board continued in its statement. 

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The Presidio Trust was formed in 1996 to oversee park upkeep and ensure visitors could continue to enjoy the park. The trust oversaw the park’s 1,500 acres of land. The Presidio received $200 million in funding in 2023 from the U.S. Department of the Interior to maintain aged utilities and infrastructure, according to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

The Presidio once served as a Spanish fort but was made a national park in 1994.



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Denver, CO

Projecting Nuggets’ Lineup vs. Spurs If Nikola Jokic Plays

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Projecting Nuggets’ Lineup vs. Spurs If Nikola Jokic Plays


The Denver Nuggets have just one game left on their regular season calendar before their postseason action gets underway, as they’ll be tasked with a road trip against the West’s second-seeded San Antonio Spurs. And it’ll be a game for Denver where they’ll be without a significant chunk of their regular rotation.

No Jamal Murray, no Aaron Gordon, and neither starter on the wing in Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson will be suiting up in an effort to rest for the postseason. Nikola Jokic is listed as questionable, but is likely to play in order to meet the 65-game minimum required for end-of-season awards.

So, as the Nuggets’ lineup is set to be shorthanded in a night that could decide their final seeding in the Western Conference playoff picture, let’s take a peek at what their makeshift starting five could shake out to be:

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PG: Bruce Brown

Mar 29, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown (11) reacts after a play in the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
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While Tyus Jones could fill in as the starting point guard once again as he did against the OKC Thunder, this feels like the right moment for Bruce Brown to take those duties instead; someone who’s started just three games this season, but on pace to be one of 18 players around the league to play in all 82 regular-season games.

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It’s hard to roll out an extremely small lineup against a team like the Spurs and hope for overwhelming success. Brown gives the Nuggets some upside in that size department, as well as their overall shotmaking.

SG: Tim Hardaway Jr.

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Mar 24, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) against the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Outside of Jokic, Tim Hardaway Jr. is the easiest name to fill into the Nuggets’ makeshift starting five while without four of their regular starters, even while he might be making a last-effort push for those Sixth Man of the Year honors.

If the Nuggets want to pull off an upset victory over the Spurs to continue their lengthy win streak, they’ll have to cash in on a big offensive performance from Hardaway Jr., which could be well within play as he’ll become one of their de facto top options to look for on that side of the floor.

SF: Julian Strawther

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Mar 24, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Julian Strawther (3) against the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Julian Strawther has shifted around the Nuggets lineup more than anyone this year. He’s gone from the end of the rotation to a fill-in starter on the wing, and even a DNP as Denver has gotten healthier towards the end of the season.

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This game against San Antonio presents a perfect opportunity for Strawther to get a well-deserved start on the wing next to Hardaway Jr. His shot-making has been at some of the best of his career this season, averaging career-high shooting numbers from the field (46.7) and from three (38.0).

PF: Nikola Jokic

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Apr 6, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) after the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

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This is where Nikola Jokic comes in. Against the size that San Antonio presents with an alien like Victor Wembanyama in the frontcourt, coming to match that with a double-big lineup as the three-time MVP slots in at the four could be an ideal setup for this game in particular.

As it concerns Jokic’s availability, if he does play, don’t be shocked if he’s only on the floor for 15 minutes rather than the whole game. That’s all he needs to remain eligible for end-of-season awards, and might be all David Adelman is asking of him.

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C: Jonas Valanciunas

Apr 4, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Nuggets center Jonas Valanciunas (17) leaves the court in the second quarter against the San Antonio Spurs at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

In an effort to try and match the Spurs’ length as best as possible, Jonas Valanciunas fills into the five in our lineup projections to do just that.

Surprisingly, Valanciunas has only started six games throughout his time with the Nuggets, and only one of those showings has been with him paired next to Jokic. But with the implications of Denver being shorthanded, along with their unique matchup of San Antonio, makes for the perfect opportunity to test the fit out once more before their playoff action gets underway next weekend.

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Seattle, WA

Can the Punk Rock flea market save the soul of Seattle?

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Can the Punk Rock flea market save the soul of Seattle?


Strolling the commercial corridor atop Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on a recent Friday afternoon, I catch a cappella voices booming down the block: Every woman, every man, join the caravan of love …

It’s the unlikely siren song flowing from the open doors of the Punk Rock flea market. This offbeat, itinerant bazaar has been popping up here, inside a former supermarket, four times a year since 2024, filling the 20,000-sq-ft space left vacant when a Kroger-owned QFC suddenly ceased operations and moved out.

The $1 entry fee hasn’t increased since 2006, when the first Punk Rock flea market was held in an abandoned basement bar across town. After occupying 13 other locations around the city, including a former post office, a former drugstore and a former strip club, it’s now settled in its current home in Seattle’s historically queer arts epicenter.

‘Punk stems from a musical style, but there’s an entire worldview that transcends the music.’ Photograph: Jonathan Zwickel

I pay my way in with pocket change and step into a parking lot given over to dozens of booths, tables and a food-truck court. People of every age and shape mill about in the spring sunshine. Inside the building, DJ Port-a-Party slides from the Housemartins to Kermit the Frog singing The Rainbow Connection. Hundreds of shoppers and more vendors – 204 in all – engage in a bustling economy entirely of their own making. According to organizers, more than 8,000 people will pour through this weekend – a modest tally, which during December installments typically reaches into five figures.

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Even a limited litany of items for sale would be too long for this article; suffice to say, the Punk Rock flea market is part renegade art gallery, part unfathomable yard sale and part curated vintage mall, overflowing with treasures and trash. Where the QFC’s produce section used to be, a woman shows artwork made from dried seaweed next to an anarchist bookseller next to a guy hawking carved wooden daggers. In the old storeroom, hundreds of Hot Wheels and action figures hang in a display reminiscent of a 1980s Toys R Us. Behind a bar that was once the deli section, volunteers serve beer and hot dogs. Every square inch of every vertical surface – and much of the floor and ceiling – has been painted, wheat-pasted, stickered and graffitied, the evolving contributions of hundreds of local artists, some commissioned, others extemporaneous. The crowd is equally spectacular, a parade of eye-boggling fashion and personal expression.

‘It’s this current of community that people say we’ve lost, but we haven’t.’ Photograph: Jonathan Zwickel

“I’m an ageing punk. I’m a weirdo,” says Ray Myzelle Bones, a regular Punk Rock flea market vendor selling lavender salts and sprays she makes on her farm outside the city. “This is a place that’s safe for neuro-spicy people. It’s also this current of community that people say we’ve lost, but we haven’t. It just lives somewhere else.”

The last 20 years have not been kind to the punks of Seattle. In that time, the US Pacific north-west’s largest metropolis morphed from low-stakes, overachieving cultural incubator to the US’s hub of neoliberal corporate capitalism. The cost of living has blown up by 78%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The city’s present status as the 12th most expensive in the world – unimaginable during Seattle’s grunge heyday – doesn’t leave much room for artists and freaks to live in the place they made famous.

Ray Bones, Punk Rock flea market vendor: ‘This is a place that’s safe for neuro-spicy people.’ Photograph: Jonathan Zwickel

The Punk Rock flea market has not only hung on for 20 years, it’s more popular than ever, seemingly galvanized by Seattleites’ acute desire for some kind of alternative economic reality. DJ Port-a-Party, aka Rob Zverina, cites the Punk Rock flea market as an example of Czech philosopher Václav Benda’s “parallel polis”, a self-contained society existing for and by itself as a mirror to the status quo.

What began as an anti-establishment endeavor has itself become the establishment, in the process deepening its community-minded values. The Punk Rock flea market operates as a non-profit that donates proceeds to Seattle’s Low Income Housing Institute and includes as employees former unhoused people. It maintains a low bar to entry to allow for maximum accessibility. Attribute this ethos of community caretaking to Josh Okrent, the Punk Rock flea market’s founding punk.

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‘We are organizing to trade among ourselves in a way that refuses to recognize any other order and makes no concession.’ Composite: Jonathan Zwickel

“Punk stems from a musical style, but there’s an entire worldview that transcends the music,” Okrent, a 57-year-old father of two and longtime professional non-profit fund developer, tells me. “We are punk in that we are defining our own identity. We’re not political in terms of actively resisting anything, but we are organizing to trade among ourselves in a way that refuses to recognize any other order and makes no concession.”

An anti-capitalist marketplace?

“Trading is a natural human thing,” Okrent says. “It’s been going on since way before capitalism and will continue long after capitalism is dead. All the money is being kept in the community, and that’s the objective.”

Josh Okrent, the Punk Rock flea market’s founding punk: ‘We are punk in that we are defining our own identity.’ Photograph: Jonathan Zwickel

Okrent’s affable guidance has seen the Punk Rock flea market through challenging times. After the market outgrew its original location, Okrent spent years moving it to a series of spaces left vacant by previous tenants before new development turned them into sprawling condos or expensive commercial real estate, resilient like a cockroach surviving repeated disasters. During the pandemic, it took over an abandoned Bartell Drugs, at 15,000 sq ft its largest footprint at that point, thanks to a boost from the city of Seattle’s Storefronts program, which paid the market’s rent. This location was ground zero for the collision of Seattle’s homelessness and fentanyl crises, in a downtown core hollowed by Covid.

“We had these people not only living on our doorstep, but dying on our doorstep,” Okrent says.

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Ruby Tuesday Romero, who attended the inaugural Punk Rock flea market as a teenager and later joined the staff, led community outreach efforts. She responded to an electrical fire started by squatters and administered Narcan to people who had overdosed.

“As someone who’d recently exited homelessness, it was a really big deal for me to be a part of that community and try to help others in that situation,” she says.

Okrent credits lessons learned and credibility gained from the Punk Rock flea market’s 18 months downtown for leading to the market’s Shangri-la on Capitol Hill. Today, the Punk Rock flea market receives funding from 4Culture, an arts granting organization of the county, and is partnered with powerful real estate development firm Hunters Capital on the lease of the old QFC.

“The building was broken into several times and was in really rough shape,” says Jill Cronauer, chief operating officer of Hunters Capital. “So one of our biggest questions was, how is anyone going to take this space and make it work?” Okrent’s business pitch to Hunters included upgrading and securing the property as well as improving public safety by bringing life and culture into the neighborhood. Cronauer and her colleagues at Hunters were persuaded enough to take on the risk of a temporary tenant. “These guys are just so talented and creative and have such an amazing volunteer team behind them that they made the space what it is today,” she says.

‘One of our biggest questions was, how is anyone going to take this space and make it work?’ Photograph: Jonathan Zwickel

In a city suffering from chronic vacancies and exorbitant rents, Okrent sees Hunters as an outlier, a real estate developer genuinely aligned with community needs.

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“It’s rare that I have nice things to say about landlords,” he says, “but these guys have been fantastic.”

Okrent owns the Punk Rock flea market name as a business license in Washington state, but beyond that he takes no ownership of the concept; he says a Punk Rock flea market opened in Philadelphia in 2006, concurrent but unrelated. Over the last 20 years, he’s connected with organizers in London and Berlin and hosted exchanges with folks from Reno, all of whom now operate their own versions; more unaffiliated Punk Rock flea markets have opened in Toronto, Winnipeg, New Jersey, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and elsewhere. His paid staff of 11 meets weekly to plan events year-round, such as all-ages concerts, fashion shows and raves. In the Punk Rock flea market’s anarchistic form of governance, consensus happens through argument and compromise, decisions made collectively among staff, volunteers and vendors. They’re leasing from Hunters on a six-month-by-six-month basis, with plans to stay put through next year – or whenever it makes financial sense to begin construction on the six-story mixed-use development taking the place of the old building.

‘There’s no amount of money that could replace the culture that we’ve created for ourselves.’ Photograph: Jonathan Zwickel

“There’s no amount of money that could replace the culture that we’ve created for ourselves,” Okrent says. “At the end of the day, it’s about the people who make it happen. We like each other and we like working together, and there’s something wonderful about coming together in the challenge of this abandoned building and turning it into something beautiful – beautiful by our standards.”



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