Efforts to spice up tourism

With a nod to classic comfort food, Hawthorne-based restaurant The Eureka! chain has just introduced recent menu items and beverages in any respect locations.

“With the launch of the new menu, we are returning to our ethos as a restaurant group, focusing on classic comfort foods with a modern twist,” said Alexia Peters, a spokeswoman for the chain, which has Bay Area locations in Concord, Mountain View, Berkeley, Santa Clara and Cupertino.

The recent items were introduced on May 23 and include appetizers like Dorito-crusted shishito peppers, topped with Tajin, Parmesan cheese, smoked bourbon honey and scallions, and served with an avocado-cilantro dressing for dipping.

“We thought we could bring back that nostalgia by covering it with Doritos. It's really crunchy,” she said. But watch out, because shishito peppers can vary in spiciness, so your bites can range from mild to spicy.

Nacho fans should try the Slow-Roasted Pulled Pork Nachos. They are served with a cheese mix, refried beans, chipotle and crema, in addition to jalapeños, Fresno chilies, onions, tomatoes and cilantro.

“This is a really fun recipe. Our chefs thought about how to revive the memory of eating a pastrami sandwich with your grandfather,” Peters said.

The pastrami is served between a flour quesadilla, so it really tastes like cheese and has a rather spicy note.

New offerings also include drinks just like the bourbon-infused Campfire! It's made with Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Graham Cracker Syrup, Amaro Montenegro, cinnamon, chocolate bitters and garnished with a toasted marshmallow.

“It tastes like smores, but not like candy,” she said.

Here is the list of recent menu items at Eureka!

Appetizers

Shishito peppers with Dorito crust

Fried cucumbers: The dish consists of Carolina cucumbers fried in buttermilk with garlic aioli

Slow Roasted Pulled Pork Nachos

Appetizers

Beer Dog: It is made with a beer sausage, goat cheese, caramelized whiskey onions, cider-braised cabbage, porter mustard and parmesan cheese.

NY Strip Steak: The 8-oz. cut is served with grilled broccolini with cashew pesto and caramelized shallots.

Slow Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwich: This sandwich is served with beer barbecue sausage.

Pastrami Quesadilla

Fried salmon

Roasted Veggie Tacos: The Taco consist of carrots, pickled onions, avocado, coriander, bean spread, salsa verde, served with rocket salad

Dessert

Carrot Cake: The cake is served with Whistle Pig Bourbon maple whipped cream and candied pecans

Cocktails

Spa Day Margarita

Campfire!

Big Island Daiquiri

Pineapple Tequila Sour

Uncharted Forests: This drink accommodates Spring44 Gin, coconut, ginger, lime, pandan and BroVo Forest Liqueur

Strawberry Lychee Martini

Peach Buzz Sangria

For more information and locations, visit eurekarestaurantgroup.com

Asian American Studies has been a recognized field at American colleges and universities for greater than 50 years. But outside of California, students who wish to major or minor in it are often out of luck.

However, the tide is starting to show.

Duke University created a tutorial minor in Asian American Studies in 2022. Harvard University, criticized for a very long time discontinued since it didn’t offer enough courses in ethnic studies two everlasting teachers Members of Asian American Studies for the past two years.

Vanderbilt University announced latest major and minor in the sector in 2023. The same yr, Williams College began his concentrationjust like a minor, and Fordham University began his minor.

Amherst College, where I teach, recently created a serious in Asian-American and Pacific Islander Studies starting in fall 2024. Amherst shall be the primary liberal arts college within the country with a dedicated major on this field.

Southern California Claremont Colleges – Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, Pomona and Scripps – have offered a typical major for 25 years. Public high schools across the country have also experience growth in content about Asian Americans.

Decades of lobbying

These programs didn't get off the bottom overnight. Students at these and other campuses have advocated for Asian American studies for years. Student activists are collaborating all around the country the South, the northeast And the southwest Continue to advocate for more courses and majors or minors on this area.

However, if student activism and college interest were enough to bring about curriculum change, Asian American studies and related fields would have appeared on campuses way back. At Amherst, students had pushed for more attention to be paid to Asian American studies 50 years.

The recent commitment to teaching more courses and hiring everlasting faculty—versus visiting professors—is partly resulting from tragedy. The programs began to grow when attacks on Asian Americans, including the 2021 murders of spa employees in Atlanta, increased through the COVID-19 pandemic. Former President Donald Trump's repeated reference to COVID-19 as “Chinese virus“added rhetorical fuel to racial hostility.

Fights against discrimination encourage latest programs

Historically, ethnic studies programs emerged following protests against public discrimination. Founding of BlackNative, Latino and Asian American Studies in California followed the Civil Rights Movement and Protests of the Nineteen Sixties.

The discriminatory attacks that increased through the pandemic inspired a Rise in activism amongst Asian American students. They desired to embrace their heritage and reflect their very own history and experiences within the course offerings. The attacks also made it clear to college administrators that, contrary to their stereotype as easy achievers, Asian Americans are having an experience unique sort of discrimination by which they’re “forever strangers”. They deserve greater attention in the school curriculum.

As more schools join the list of faculties offering Asian American studies programs, the fabric included in Asian American studies can be expanding. The most typical subjects within the Asian American program are cultural studies, literary studies, and other interdisciplinary areas of the humanities. The field has also drawn on history and sociology, topics that similarly challenge popular views about which racial groups were in power and why.

One of an important topics in Asian American studies now includes critical race theory and criticism of it The United States as an “empire.”” and US militarization.

Asian American studies advocates may hold more political opinions resembling: Support for Palestinians and for positive motion who share the perspectives present in these topics. Given that Asian American studies began because of scholars within the Nineteen Sixties and Seventies activismPolitical activism continues to be a central a part of this field.

However, the sector's roots within the humanities and humanistic social sciences have meant that other disciplines have been omitted. This too is changing. In the last two years, for instance, the Association for Asian American Studies, the sector's largest skilled association, emphasized the necessity for greater attention to review Asian America in social sciences resembling political science, anthropology, economics, and psychology. In April 2024 symposiumthe organization connected faculty from psychology, education, political science and other disciplines with the department and vice versa. A mentoring program for these faculty was also provided.

The department will likely proceed to expand its scope of presentation because it expands across campus. A more comprehensive take a look at the experiences of Asian Americans can result in a greater understanding of the recent circumstances which have led to a rise within the variety of programs on campus. For example, understanding the rise in violence against Asian Americans requires knowledge of U.S. wars in Asia and their connection to the social psychology of individual Americans.

More than 50 years ago, Asian American studies were virtually unheard of. In one other 50 years, programs that similarly mix subjects from multiple disciplines could change into mainstream.

By Stephanie Yang, Los Angeles Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan – The rivalry between the United States and China has a brand new flashpoint within the battle for technological supremacy: electric cars.

So far the US is losing.

China became the world's top automobile exporter last 12 months, overtaking Japan with greater than 5 million overseas sales, based on the China Passenger Car Association. About 25% of those exports were recent energy vehicles, and greater than half of them were manufactured by Chinese brands, marking a departure from China's traditional assembly role for foreign automakers.

“The big growth has happened in the last three years,” said Stephen Dyer, head of the Asia automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners, a consulting firm. “With Chinese automakers capturing most of the market share, this is a big challenge for foreign automakers.”

China's rapid expansion at home and abroad has fueled a series of disputes between the U.S. and China over trade and advanced technology as competition between the 2 superpowers increases.

The US has lofty goals for expanding its own electric vehicle industry. California, which accounted for 37% of nationwide electric automobile sales in 2022, is aiming for this Phase out purchases Number of latest cars that can run on fossil fuels by 2035.

Concerns about oversupply in China got here as an overall decline in sales hit electric vehicle makers. Tesla announced on Monday that this might be the case greater than 10% laid off its workforce to scale back costs and increase productivity.

In the corporate's last earnings report in January, CEO Elon Musk warned concerning the competitiveness of Chinese brands. BYD, China's largest electric vehicle maker, surpassed Tesla in automobile sales last 12 months.

“If there are no trade barriers, they will essentially destroy most other automakers in the world,” Musk said.

This 12 months, California-based Fisker Inc., an electrical vehicle startup, cut 15% of its workforce, delisted its stock and said it’d file for bankruptcy. Apple also recently announced that it will end its long-held ambitions to develop a self-driving electric vehicle.

One area where Chinese automakers clearly beat Western rivals is price, due to government subsidies that supported the industry's initial rise, in addition to low cost access to critical minerals and components like lithium-ion batteries, which account for a few third of the overall price make up production costs.

“These ingredients were always there,” said Cory Combs, deputy director of China energy policy at consultancy Trivium China. “It was a magical moment when these things came together.”

This enabled the success of BYD, which began producing lithium-ion batteries in 1996 and cars in 2005.

In March, BYD cut the value of its most cost-effective electric vehicle model in China to under $10,000. According to Kelley Blue Book, the common retail price for electric vehicles within the U.S. is $55,343, in comparison with $48,247 for all vehicles.

While price wars have forced Chinese automakers to squeeze their profit margins at home, they’ll charge higher prices in overseas markets, providing further incentive for exports as growth at home has slowed. According to research firm Gavekal Dragonomics, demand in China has cooled on account of the lifting of tax breaks and increased use of public transport following the pandemic.

“There's a lot of pressure, especially if you're a smaller player, to find a market that's less competitive,” Combs said. “And every market is less competitive than China’s.”

Although 27.5% tariffs have effectively shut Chinese electric vehicles out of the U.S. market, fears have spread that the cheaper models could ultimately undermine American automakers.

The Alliance of American Manufacturing warned in a February report that allowing Chinese electric vehicles into the country can be an “extinction event” for the U.S. auto industry. The group also cited the chance of Chinese auto firms constructing facilities across the border in Mexico that would avoid the tariffs.

After a visit to China in April, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen raised concerns about government-funded overcapacity in Chinese production of electrical vehicles, batteries and solar panels. She noted that other advanced and emerging markets shared those concerns, comparing the oversupply to a flood of low cost Chinese steel that swept the worldwide economy greater than a decade ago.

“If the global market is flooded with artificially cheap Chinese products, the viability of American and other foreign companies will be called into question,” Yellen said.

The European Union has launched an investigation into government subsidies to China's electric vehicle industry and whether that support violates international trade laws.

China's state news agency dismissed claims of overcapacity in an April article that said exports accounted for 12% of China's electric vehicle sales last 12 months. She attributed the industry's success to competitive prices and technology relatively than government subsidies.

After meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in April, Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned protectionism in other countries and said Chinese exports of electrical vehicles had helped reduce global inflation and combat climate change.

How the U.S. deals with China's increasing dominance in electric vehicles has already develop into a hot topic for November's presidential election.

President Biden has encouraged domestic expansion with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides electric vehicle tax credits for U.S. manufacturers, but not in the event that they source minerals and materials from “foreign companies of concern” reminiscent of China. Meanwhile, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has claimed that electric automobile manufacturing will eliminate automotive jobs and called for a rollback of electrical vehicle-friendly policies introduced during Biden's term.

Politicians from each parties have proposed even tougher tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles if they fight to enter the U.S. market, prioritizing protecting U.S. jobs over goals to scale back carbon emissions.

“This makes it even more important for Chinese companies to set up local assembly operations to minimize these costs,” said Gregor Sebastian, senior analyst at New York consulting firm Rhodium Group. “Many companies are taking a wait-and-see approach.”

Even without Chinese automobile imports, the technology within the vehicles has unnerved U.S. officials. In March, Biden announced an investigation into Chinese-made “smart cars” and the info the internet-connected vehicles could collect on American users. Collaboration between U.S. firms and CATL, the Chinese battery giant, has also come under greater scrutiny as tensions between the 2 countries have escalated.

But China has spent many years cementing its status as a world leader in sourcing minerals and developing critical technologies like electric vehicle batteries, while the United States has fallen behind. This will now make it harder for Western automakers to completely exclude Chinese suppliers, said Tu Le, founder and chief executive of Sino Auto Insights, a consulting firm.

“If automakers want to build affordable clean energy vehicles this decade, using Chinese batteries is the only way,” Le said.

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©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SUNNYVALE — A tech titan has expanded his Bay Area real estate shopping spree with the acquisition of a nondescript constructing within the South Bay, a spending spree that now totals well over 1 / 4 billion dollars.

Applied Materials paid $15 million to buy an industrial and warehouse constructing in Sunnyvale, in accordance with documents filed April 9 with the Santa Clara County Recorder's Office.

The constructing is situated at 222 Commercial Street and has a complete area of ​​24,000 square feet, in accordance with industrial real estate listing service Loopnet.

Santa Clara-based Applied Materials has acquired quite a few properties in Sunnyvale in recent times.

The semiconductor equipment maker's real estate purchases in town are all relatively near the corporate's headquarters on Bowers Avenue in Santa Clara.

Including probably the most recent acquisition, Applied Materials paid $296.4 million to buy a lot of properties in Sunnyvale.

The maker of semiconductor and display manufacturing equipment has also resorted to subleases to expand its footprint in its hometown of Santa Clara.

Applied Materials has acquired 246,000 square feet of space from Aruba Networks at 3333 Scott Blvd. sublet and your entire office constructing was taken over. The company also has 122,000 square feet at 3325 Scott Blvd. sublet. from Palo Alto Networks.

Applied Materials' seek for Sunnyvale real estate began in August 2018 with the acquisition of a constructing at 928 East Arques Ave.

The deals are a reminder that the businesses that make up Silicon Valley's economy never advance in lockstep.

The largest single deal in Applied's Sunnyvale purchasing effort got here in 2019, when the corporate paid $100.9 million for a technology campus with large office buildings leased to Apple at addresses between 1050 and 1090 East Arques.

Further property purchases could also be planned, in accordance with district documents.

The Sunnyvale property purchases could help bolster a large latest technology complex that Applied Materials is planning.

The future applied materials complex is often called a middle for equipment and process innovation and commercialization.