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ABC 7 News

February 2026

Federal prosecutors in Luigi Mangione case won't appeal ruling that took death penalty off the table

This means the federal trial is expected to begin this fall with jury selection in September

Jack Dorsey's Oakland-based fintech company Block cutting 4,000 jobs over AI shift

Shares in the Oakland-based financial technology company Block soared more than 20% in premarket trading Friday after its CEO announced it was laying off more than 4,000 of its 10,000 plus employees, reconfiguring to capitalize on its use of artificial intelligence

Jack DorseycEO
For years, we have debated whether AI would dent jobs at the margin. Now we have a public case study in which the CEO explicitly says that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,
A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better. And intelligence tool capabilities are compounding faster every week,
Other large employers have announced tens of thousands of cuts in recent months. Some have downplayed the AI link. Block did not.”

Anthropic 'cannot in good conscience accede' to military use of its AI, CEO says

Unfortunately, this is further indication that the Department of Defense seeks to completely ignore AI governance,
Thom Tillisunited States Senator from North Carolina since 2015
Why in the hell are we having this discussion in public?"
When a company is resisting a market opportunity for fear of negative consequences, you should listen to them and then behind closed doors figure out what they're really trying to solve."
We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions,
Otherwise, we will terminate our partnership with Anthropic and deem them a supply chain risk for DOW,

Friends rescue man buried in snow while skiing at Palisades Tahoe, video shows

Everybody needs to be aware. When you go out in that deep snow, you need to ski with a partner, and you need to be trained. You need to have a shovel probe. You need to have all the right stuff,
It's what every skier dreams of,
I see ski tips and next thing you know, you just kind of go into 'go mode' and just dig them out until you can find his face,

Olympic champ Alysa Liu is back in the Bay! Here's where she visited, what Oakland has planned

The gold medalist has been spotted at multiple spots around the Bay Area in the past 24 hours

We made a congratulation plate with chocolate cake, and she loved the tiramisu and she thought it was the best tiramisu she's had. So I'll take it,
It was so cool. She walked out and I don't think she expected all these people but yeah- everyone was applauding for her,
Everything she has proven to others it makes you want to do more and put the effort and work,
As you might imagine her schedule is crazy right now, but we are confirming any day now the exact day of the celebration that will not only be for Oakland, but for the entire Bay Area,
We landed and the flight attendant made the announcement sponsoring Delta with the Olympics and she congratulated the gold medalist Alysa, and we were all kind of confused and she said, 'Yes, she's in the back of the plane.' So, we all looked back and she's seating there and everyone started applauding,
Yeah, I'll do her hair,
I can't believe I'm seating at the same table. What a history she has and such an accomplishment for a young woman. I'm just amazed. She was so terrific,
Luz PenaaBC7 Eyewitness News reporter
Do you want her to come here?"
For this week, we are on five billboards along the 880. We don't want people to slow down too much. Keep up with traffic but definitely pay a nod and check out Alysa

US child, teen obesity rates reach record high while adult trends appear to slow, CDC report finds

John Brownsteindr.
I do think the advent of the GLP-1s are absolutely playing a role,
David Ludwig (physician)dr.
We saw that dip and we all got excited thinking that we were beginning to turn the tide,
We've seen dips in the past and typically, when they do, in the next reporting period it goes right back up,
I think the only way that we're going to see a downward trend in that number is if we take that adolescent group of 12- to 19-year-olds and actually start to apply the clinical practice guidelines and treat those kids seriously, offering them medications,
So, we're seeing, for the first time in decades, that there's like a leveling off and even maybe a slight decrease and I think this is like challenging a major shift from the long-held expectation that obesity would just be climbing year after year,

Tracking fisherman to track fish: The new technological approach to better understand ocean life

What we do is we take all the GPS positions of all the boats in the world. You're talking about a database of 100 or well over 100 bazillion, 100 billion, GPS positions. And we use machine learning to determine what types of boat they are, what they're doing, if they're fishing boats, when they're fishing,
Fisheries data, ecological data is time consuming to collect. It's often people going out in planes, on vessels, on scuba. That takes a lot of time and money. So we're looking for this sort of data stream that's available already and available very quickly to provide us those inferences,
You know we think about the blob, that 2014 to 2016 heat wave is a prominent example that had a lot of harmful algal blooms that got into the shellfish and crab fisheries. Those shut down. So that was an economic loss for the fishery,
We wondered if we could use it to understand what's happening to the ecosystem as the climate changes,
Millions of gigabytes of satellite imagery to and apply AI to that to detect vessels and then determine which vessels are broadcasting which ones or not, to come up with that larger picture of where activity on the ocean is happening,

UC Berkeley student gets $25,000 scholarship from Chick-fil-A CEO

The journey has been so long and difficult and getting an opportunity like this,
Andrew T. CathycEO
She's worked really, really hard to keep up her grades, a volunteer in the community,
The healthcare system is very much broken and I think there needs to be things done to fix it and if I could give back to my community, other communities, it would be amazing,
Seeing them being here and crying for me and just seeing how proud they are of me, it's a feeling I will never get over,

VIDEO: Sonoma County home on the verge of collapse amid landslide threat

The home sits on a hillside near Neeley Road and Orchard Avenue

The water finds a way, is pretty much what everybody around here says, and so the situation is- is that it did go under and lift up the shotcrete barriers,

ABC7 News producer stranded in Puerto Vallarta details city's recovery following El Mencho's death

The military helicopter was going over and sort of creating a sense of security that things are safe but I have no fear at all,
It's a great town. We have been coming here for 20 years and I love it here and I don't want my visiting here to end because of this and I don't think it will,
We don't feel scared but we are also not staying out late at night, not walking out far from this place. We are sticking close to home,

San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid sold again to investment firm, multiple reports

Michael Shvodeveloper
We bought the building just before COVID,
This is a very special place. The history of this site is so special to the city, to the west. We just had to honor that history,
Ben Dobbinsenior Partner
The major move was really bringing life to the ground floor of this entire city block, from Sansome to Montgomery and Clay to Washington,
Michael Shvodeveloper
We managed to remaster the building while restoring and respecting the past,

'This is going too far': Texas rep. appears to pursue staffer who died in explicit text messages

Tony Gonzales pursuing a relationship with his former staffer, Regina Santos-Aviles -- more than a year before she died by suicide

I'm just such a visual person" and "Sorry."
You don't really want a hot picture of me."
This is going too far boss,... how long have you thought I was this hot?"

'Lizzie McGuire' stars remember Robert Carradine after his death at 71

Carradine died Monday at the age of 71 after a decades-long mental health battle, a representative for his brother, actor Keith Carradine, confirmed to ABC News

Ever Carradineactor
I knew my dad loved me, I knew it deep in my bones, and I always knew he had my back."
Jake Thomasactor
My heart hurts today. I was fortunate to know Bobby for most of my life. And he was one of the coolest guys you could ever meet.”
There was so much warmth in the McGuire family and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents. I'll be forever grateful for that,
My dad was a lover, not a fighter. He was all heart, and in a world so full of conflict and division, I think we can all take a page out of his book today, open our hearts and feel and share the love,
Jake Thomasactor
My heart hurts today."

1st flights from violence-ravaged Puerto Vallarta land at SFO after cartel leader's death

Josef Pipolysan Francisco resident
Says 'we can't serve you. You have to leave. Leave right now.' We said, 'Why?' 'The cartel's coming,'
Doug Leightontraveler
A lot of people's flights were canceled yesterday and folks that were canceled yesterday were hearing that they might not be able to get out until Thursday or even into the weekend,
Josef Pipolysan Francisco resident
For me, I'm a diabetic. And so I had enough insulin for a couple days, but I'm like if this lasts a couple more days,
Already we're seeing deals that we weren't seeing before in part because demand has dropped,
What really became real was when I saw the fear in their eyes and on their faces,

From cane to glass: Ko's cocktails honor and innovate on Hawaii's Sugarcane Era

Kris Cosarebartender
Everything besides the champagne is sourced on the island,
Ko is sugarcane. That's what it is in Hawaiian,
People get to enjoy a little bit of what Ko is and get to know what Ko actually stands for,
Cameron Hallassistant Director of food and beverage
We really wanted to reflect in the cocktails as much as we could what (Executive Chef Matt Dela Cruz) was in the kitchen, having a representation of ingredients and the nationalities which worked on the sugarcane plantations."

Ko Restaurant returns with a revamped menu rooted in Hawaii's sugarcane plantation past

Matt Dela Cruzchef
Our concept here at Ko is to give the guests a little bit of the deeper culture of Hawaii, and it's deeply rooted in its multiple ethnicities that laid the core and the foundation of what makes Hawaii, Hawaii,
Leanne Poffenbargerserver
You come into my house, I get you fed, a good buzz on, and get to share a little bit of story,
Leanne Poffenbargerserver
Coming to Ko is not like anything else,
Matt Dela Cruzchef
It's a symbiosis, right? You need to take care of the farmers so they take care of you,
Matt Dela Cruzchef
Anybody can come here and have a great meal. You know, it's a family environment. Hawaii is family first."

Hundreds gather for vigil honoring Castle Peak avalanche victims

Courtney Hendersonbasketball player
The families carrying those losses bear a weight that is unbearable. What we know is that, however that grief is held tonight, it will not be held alone,
Courtney Hendersonbasketball player
Tonight we focus our hearts on those who are hurting most,
We also mourn the guests who lost their lives; individuals who shared a love of the outdoors and were part of this close-knit mountain community. We are heartbroken with everyone who is grieving during this profoundly difficult time."

Bay Area residents stuck in Puerto Vallarta amid unrest after killing of drug lord 'El Mencho'

We looked out and we saw fires to the north and to the south,
The streets are empty. The beaches are empty. It's frightening. It really is,
Juan Carlos Guerreroproducer
I followed news from Mexico City -- a lot from Mexico in general -- and there's been other times that they've captured the drug kingpins from Mexico. And that's, you know, led to a lot of violence and a lot of, precisely, of the car fires -- which are a way the car fires that they're using to block the roads, is basically to keep the military from getting into areas that the cartel doesn't want them to get into,
Juan Carlos Guerreroproducer
Yeah, we got here on Thursday and everything was wonderful,
Juan Carlos Guerreroproducer
We're about 10 miles south from Puerto Vallarta. We're a little more isolated. But you could see a lot of smoke rising from the area of downtown Puerto Vallarta,