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Another water rate hike likely mission voted 5-2 last week to recommend the 8% increase. The rate hike Palo Alto residents could see their isn’t final: It will go to council’s Fiwater bills go up 8% starting in July, in nance Committee for review and then part due to rising costs of Hetch Hetchy to the full City Council for a vote in water the city buys from the San Fran- June. The 8% increase recommended by cisco Public Utilities Commission. The city’s Utilities Advisory Com- the commission is less than a previousBY ELAINE GOODMAN Daily Post Correspondent
ly proposed 10% increase that would add about $12.60 to a typical resident’s monthly water bill. With an 8% increase, the monthly bill would go up by about $10. The new water rate hike would follow a 10% increase for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. In each of
THE UPDATE In the past five sessions
Dow –1476.37 Nasdaq –280.53 Oil +23.98 47,501.55 22,387.68 91.27 NY COMEX futures Gold 5,181.30 –115.10 courtesy of Mish Int’l (650) 324-9110 National Debt: $38,585,512,718,885
Trillion
Billion
Million
SON TAKES OVER: Iranian state TV says Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late supreme leader, has been named his successor. President Trump says the choice is unacceptable. VIRUS RAMPANT: Analysis of sewer water shows human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, is rampant in the North Bay. It causes pneumonia. There’s no vaccine. AMERICAN KILLED: The military says a U.S. service member died of injuries sustained during an Iranian attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. OVERWEIGHT KIDS: The CDC says more than 1 in 5 U.S. children and teenagers were obese between 2021 to 2023, compared to only 5.2% between 1971-1974. The number of children with severe obesity in recent years has hit 7%. SHOOTING AT RIHANNA’S HOUSE: A woman has been arrested after a gun was repeatedly fired toward the home of Rihanna in Beverly Hills yesterday afternoon. The shots hit the gate to the house [See THE UPDATE, page 4] LO S A LT O S E X PE RT I SE .
Nicole Ruccolo
HOMETOWN HERO
Thousands cheered on Olympic champion Eileen Gu in the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco. While she’s a native of San Francisco, she decided to represent China in the winter games, winning two silver medals and one gold. SEE PAGE 2. AP photo.
nicole.ruccolo@compass.com
Oil jumps to $100 a barrel
Oil prices eclipsed $100 per barrel yesterday for the first time in more than three and a half years yesterday as the Iran war hinders production and shipping in the Middle East. President Trump said it was a small price to pay for defeating Iran. The price was the highest since the early part of President Biden’s term. The increases followed the U.S. crude price jumping by 36% and Brent crude rising by 28% last week. Oil prices have surged as the war, now in its [See OIL, page 18]
Churchill closure draws opposition “Supposedly solving a perceived problem on Churchill Homeowners are pushing back on by transferring it to surrounda plea by parents and students to close a railroad crossing by Palo Alto High ing neighborhoods is not a School as a way to prevent more sui- solution.” BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT Daily Post Staff Writer
cides. Homeowners are worried about ambulances taking longer to get to Stanford Hospital and thousands more cars stuck on Embarcadero Road. “Supposedly solving a perceived
Resident Barbara Hazlett
problem on Churchill by transferring it to surrounding neighborhoods is not a solution. It is a redistribution resulting in real harm,” Professorville resident
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Barbara Hazlett told Palo Alto City Council on March 2. Resident Alexis Hamilton, who used the Churchill Avenue crossing to get to her radiation treatments for cancer, said Embarcadero Road is already “a nightmare” and will only get worse when the Town and Country Shopping Center adds housing. “While my heart is heavy at the loss of another Palo Alto student to suicide, [See CHURCHILL, page 19]
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the previous two years, the city raised water rates by 5%. Other utility rate hikes for Palo Alto residents this year included a 6% increase for electric, 5% for gas, and 20% for wastewater. The city of Palo Alto buys its water [See WATER, page 18]
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