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A inert grenade gave a West Kelowna family quite the scare the morning of Dec. 23. Candice Loring took to social media around 11 a.m. after her family was evacuated and West Kelowna RCMP investigated the unmarked package. The incident ended quickly after RCMP were able to confirm the delivery was meant for a neighbour and a military paraphernalia collector. The device was not live and had been delivered to the wrong address. Loring has updated her post around 12:30 p.m. to say her family is returning home. The incident took place in the 2000-block of the Old Okanagan Highway.

Iran has made good on its pledge to expand its nuclear program in response to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passing a resolution critical of the country. According to an announcement on Sunday by the speaker of the nation’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Tehran has inaugurated new advanced centrifuges for nuclear enrichment. The UN atomic watchdog passed the resolution at its board of governors meeting on Thursday. The motion denounced Iran’s lack of transparency on its nuclear activities. While China, Russia, and Burkina Faso voted against, it was passed with 19 votes in favor. There were 12 abstentions and Venezuela did not vote, according to AFP sources. In a joint statement ahead of time, the UK, France and Germany claimed Iran’s nuclear program posed a “threat” to international security. Washington also slammed its nuclear activities as “deeply troubling.” Ghalibaf told parliament that the resolution reflects the West’s “politically unrealistic and destructive approach” toward Iran’s nuclear program. He accused countries like the US of using Iran’s nuclear activities as a pretext for their own “illegitimate actions” and said the motion they spearheaded jeopardized the IAEA’s credibility and independence. “Their dishonesty and bad faith have disrupted the constructive atmosphere we were building for strengthened cooperation between Iran and the agency. These politically charged and nonconstructive decisions force countries to take measures outside the IAEA protocols to safeguard their national security,” Ghalibaf stated, before announcing that Tehran would deploy advanced centrifuge systems for uranium enrichment in response. He urged IAEA member states to oppose the West’s influence on the agency and reiterated that international nuclear cooperation should be conducted in a nonpolitical framework. Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Mohsen Naziri Asl, earlier called the IAEA resolution “politically motivated.” The West has long claimed Iran’s uranium enrichment activities are a covert attempt to develop atomic weapons, despite Tehran’s insistence that its nuclear program is peaceful. The 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers put limits on the program in exchange for sanctions relief, but the deal collapsed after the US withdrew from it in 2018. Iran has since stepped up its enrichment capabilities, and according to IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, is now close to the threshold required for weaponization. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Grossi during his visit to Tehran earlier this month that there would be a response if the IAEA board passed an anti-Iran resolution. According to Araghchi, Tehran is ready to renegotiate the 2015 agreement, but only if the West is willing to agree a new deal on mutually beneficial terms.ALPHA PRO TECH, LTD. ANNOUNCES $2 MILLION EXPANSION OF SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAMInvesting in remains an attractive strategy given a volatile macro environment and shifting economic landscapes. In addition to a stable stream of recurring income, quality dividend stocks allow you to benefit from long-term capital gains. While the broader equity indices are trading near all-time highs, investors can still find fundamentally strong undervalued dividend stocks that can deliver outsized returns in 2025 and beyond. Canadian investors looking to deploy $1,000 right now can consider gaining exposure to energy infrastructure giant ( ) and clean energy powerhouse ( ). The two companies offer attractive dividend yields and possess certain competitive advantages, making them enticing investments. Let’s dive deeper. Valued at a of $131 billion, Enbridge is among the largest companies in Canada. It pays shareholders an annual dividend of $3.77 per share, translating to a forward yield of 6.3%. Notably, its dividends have risen by 10% annually over the last 29 years. Despite an uncertain macro environment, Enbridge demonstrated strong financial performance and strategic execution in the third quarter (Q3). In fact, it remains on track to end 2024 at the top end of its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) and distributable per share (DCF) guidance. The company had initially estimated EBITDA between $17.7 billion and $18.3 billion, with DCF per share of $5.40 and $5.80 per share in 2024. Given its midpoint DCF per share estimates, Enbridge has a payout ratio of 67%, which provides it with enough room to target accretive acquisitions and lower balance sheet debt. In the first nine months of 2024, Enbridge added $7 billion to its secured growth program and completed the acquisition of three natural gas utilities from . It expects to grow EBITDA at a compounded annual growth rate of at least 7% through 2026 due to a robust capital-allocation framework. Additionally, it has an annual investment capacity of $8 billion, $6 billion of which was allocated towards low-capital intensity expansions, modernization, and utilities rate base investments. Analysts expect ENB to expand adjusted earnings from $2.78 per share in 2024 to $3.2 per share in 2026. So, priced at 18.8 times , ENB stock is reasonably priced and should be part of your dividend portfolio in 2025. Brookfield Renewable Partners delivered a strong performance in Q3, achieving record funds from operations (FFO). Moreover, the company confirmed it is on track to meet its FFO per unit growth target of +10% for 2024. Brookfield attributed its Q3 results to asset development, acquisitions, and strong pricing across its portfolio. Its diverse business model across global power markets and its focus on mature low-cost technologies have allowed Brookfield Renewable to perform admirably in recent years. The company pays shareholders an annual dividend of US$1.42 per share, up from US$0.87 per share in 2011. Analysts forecast its adjusted FFO per share to expand from US$1.53 in 2023 to US$2 in 2026, indicating its dividend payout should continue to grow. Priced at less than 12 times forward FFO, BEP stock is relatively cheap, given its tasty dividend yield of over 6%. Analysts tracking the remain bullish and expect it to gain over 25% in the next 12 months.

A teen cross-country runner at a California high school is ripping school officials for forcing the girls to accept a transgender teammate and says that trans athletes are neither fair nor safe. Kylie Morrow, a 16-year-old athlete from Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, spoke out after school officials censored two of her teammates for wearing t-shirts reading “Save Girls Sports.” The administrators outrageously said that the girls’ shirts were no different than wearing a “swastika.” The two girls were singled out by the school and then sued their school over the incident. The girls allege that the school forced a boy who identifies as a girl onto the varsity team, even though the boy never attended practices nor met other academic requirements, and then removed one of the girls from the team to make room for the trans student. For her part, student Kylie Morrow spoke out during a November 21 Riverside Unified School District board meeting in support of the girls who are being censored and insisted that girls should be allowed to support the cause of saving women’s sports from incursions by trans athletes, Fox News reported. “I’m constantly affected by the actions taken place this season, and I have been around the females, and just my team in general, who have felt almost silenced to speak out about i, because the whole LGBTQ is shoved down our throats!” Morrow said during her time at the mic. “We live in a society where it’s almost impossible to speak out on it without facing repercussions,” she said. “It feels as though that my school and the school district is choosing to support one person instead of the whole team,” Morrow added. “To see the athletic director turn around and tell my teammates that their shirts that say, ‘Save girl’s sports’ be compared to a swastika, that is not okay. These girls feel silenced, they felt silenced, and when they finally did something to speak out against it . . . they were completely stabbed in the back.” The teen also said that allowing boys to play on girls’ teams creates an “unsafe” environment for biological girls. “It is not okay that I have to be in position, and I have to see a male in booty shorts, and having to see that around me, as a 16-year-old girl, I don’t see that as a safe environment,” Morrow insisted. “Going into a locker room and seeing males in there, I don’t find that safe. I don’t find going to the bathroom safe when there’s guys in there. It’s not okay. I’m a 16-year-old girl!” One of the girls who filed a lawsuit against the school was heartbroken after being tossed off the school track team so officials could make room for the boy who identifies as a girl. “My initial reaction was like, I was really surprised, because it was like, why is this happening to me?” student litigant Taylor said. “There’s a transgender student on the team. Why am I getting displaced when I’ve worked so hard and gone to all of the practices, and this student has only attended a few of the practices.” The girls were also upset to be told that their “Save Girls Sports” shirts were equivalent to wearing a swastika. The two girls’ attorney, Julianne Fleischer, alleges that the school violated her clients’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and Title IX protections. “We’re seeing more and more women and young girls speak up and challenge these policies that are allowing biological boys to join and participate in these sports,” Fleischer insisted. “And so there’s lawsuits that are popping up all around the country. We’re hopeful that even with the incoming administration and Congress that, we’re going to see real positive change to Title IX that actually upholds and safeguards the rights of women to participate in their sports and to be safe and to be able to compete amongst one another.” Indeed, more and more women and girls are finally starting to fight back against transgenderism in sports. For instance, a girl’s high school volleyball team at a Christian school in Merced, California, recently forfeited a game because they did not wish to compete against a trans player. The Christian high school is only one of a growing list of school teams that are refusing to play against opponents with transgender players. A lawsuit was filed this year against San Jose State University (SJSU) and the Mountain West Conference for allowing a male to play on the SJSU women’s volleyball team. To date, five colleges have refused to play against SJSU over the school’s inclusion of transgender player Blair Fleming. The NCAA is also being sued by several groups over its policy of allowing transgender players to play as women. Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston , or Truth Social @WarnerToddHustonJack Fitzpatrick knew something was up when he got a call from his 75-year-old mother asking him if he was in jail. His mother, who had recently purchased a flip phone after years of aversion to technology, told him that she’d received a call from someone claiming to be him; they sounded just like him and even referred to her using the nickname that Fitzpatrick has been calling her since he was a kid. She was told by the caller that she needed to send him $6,000 via FedEx immediately to pay for a lawyer to bail him out. She needed to send the money to Quebec, which was especially curious seeing as she lives in a small town in northern New Brunswick and her son lives just outside Halifax. Fitzpatrick knew right away that it was a scam, but the detail with which it was executed took him aback. “I’d like to think I’m pretty security-aware, but again, they had my voice and they had my mom’s name,” Fitzpatrick, 39, says, now a few months removed from the experience. Though he was able to stop her from sending anything to anyone, the fact that she could be targeted so specifically and convincingly was alarming. Falling for scams has never been easier. In 2022, Canadians lost more than $58 million to spear phishing scams, which are a form of scam that target individuals with specific names, events or pieces of information, according to — in other words, highly personalized cyberattacks that can come via text message, email or by phone. In 2023 alone, Canadians lost a staggering $567 million to fraud — an increase of $37 million from 2022 and $187 million since 2021. Ali Dehghantanha, a professor of cybersecurity and threat intelligence at the University of Guelph and the founding director of the Cyber Science Lab, says even seasoned tech professionals fall for generative AI-driven email scams and fake links. With AI-assisted scams increasingly prevalent online, the days of being able to easily recognize scam emails by finding obvious typos and poor formatting are all but over. Still, there are ways to keep things locked down as the busy holiday shopping season ramps up. Experts say that using two-factor authentication, taking a moment to verify the legitimacy of transactions, and using “safe” words to distinguish between family members and fraudsters can keep your data safe from malicious online actors this holiday season. Ivo Wiens, field chief technology officer of cybersecurity at CDW Canada, advises using two-factor authentication whenever possible as an extra layer of security when banking and shopping online. Two-factor authentication — sometimes stylized as “2FA” — can be set up within banking and finance apps or through external apps like Google Authenticator or Duo; it prompts you for a one-time verification code to make sure it’s really you trying to log in to your account. “It’s like having a lock and an alarm system on your house,” Wiens says. “Think of that (as) the equivalent for your digital accounts.” It may be annoying — and slow down the snappy pace you’re used to when shopping — but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when it comes to making financial transactions online. If you can’t get two-factor authentication enabled on banks and other accounts, Dehghantanha recommends any form of SMS or text message alerts to make sure that you catch any fraudulent charges or entries the moment they come across your account’s dashboard. At the very least, it’ll help develop a habit of checking (and rechecking) all transactions. “If your bank is not offering that, at least enable notifications — whether it’s SMS or app notifications — from your bank for every single purchase,” Dehghantanha adds, which can be done through the notifications settings in various banking and finance apps. Perhaps less obviously, Wiens recommends having a “safe” word to use with family to quickly determine whether you’re actually speaking with a member of your family. AI-driven impostor scams like the one that targeted Fitzpatrick’s mother are becoming increasingly common, he says, and having quick and clear checks that can help identify fake voices, doctored video and look-alike profiles can be a game-changer. “This helps spot the scammers pretending to be family members,” Wiens says. “Having that word that you share as a family, the family secret word that you can call out for when this is happening.” Making sure you’re speaking to a real family member is even more important amid a rise in identity theft. As a result, it may be worth it to invest in identity monitoring — services that scan the web to check if your personal information appears in a data breach — or fraud insurance, Equifax Canada chief information security officer Octavia Howell says, just in case. “Fraud and identity insurance is out there to help people get back on their feet,” Howell advises. “Because we know that when your identify is stolen or when you’re defrauded for anything, it’s very difficult for you to do it on your own.” Experts say some digital scams can be avoided simply by recognizing them. Though there may be a temptation to blaze through online transactions, shipping confirmations and coupon codes, taking even a few seconds to double-check transactions, verify the legitimacy of offers and closely examine URLs for things like typos in names can save you a headache down the line. Professionally made, convincing-looking, fake online stores are more common (and effective) than you might think; blocked 9.9 million attempts by users to access fake shops in September and 13.4 million such attempts in October, with more fake pop-ups expected ahead of Black Friday and Christmas. So if a deal in an email or pop-up ad looks too good to be true, it usually is, says Wiens. “It’s like getting a counterfeit bill nowadays, that even bank tellers have trouble spotting,” Wiens says. “That’s why it’s crucial to slow down and verify.” Back in Nova Scotia, Fitzpatrick advises getting a second opinion to give yourself time to critically examine the situation, in line with the “slow down and verify” approach. “If you have something like that — that doesn’t make much sense — and you can’t get a hold of the person, tell the story to somebody else,” Fitzpatrick says. “Someone who’s emotionally removed.”

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Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and his wife are set to assume absolute power after loyalist lawmakers Friday approved a constitutional amendment elevating her to the position of "co-president" and boosting the pair's joint control over the state. Under sanctions for human rights abuses, Ortega himself had proposed the change, which also increases the Central American country's presidential term from five to six years. Nicaragua's National Assembly is under control of Ortega's ruling FSLN party, and parliament chief Gustavo Porras said Friday the measure was approved "unanimously." It is all but guaranteed to pass a second reading in January. Ortega, 79, has engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices, tightening control of all sectors of the state with the aid of his powerful wife, 73-year-old Vice President Rosario Murillo in what critics describe as a nepotistic dictatorship. The ex-guerrilla had first served as president from 1985 to 1990, returning to power in 2007. Nicaragua has jailed hundreds of opponents, real and perceived, since then. Ortega's government has targeted critics, shutting down more than 5,000 NGOs since 2018 mass protests in which the United Nations estimates more than 300 people died. Thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile, and the regime is under US and EU sanctions. Most independent and opposition media now operate from abroad. The constitutional amendment stipulates that "traitors to the homeland" can be stripped of their citizenship, as the Ortega government has already done with hundreds of politicians, journalists, intellectuals and activists, among others perceived as critical. Ortega and Murillo accuse the Church, journalists and NGOs of having supported an attempted coup d'etat, as they describe the 2018 protests. The change also allows for stricter control over the media and the Church, so they are not subject to "foreign interests." And it gives the co-presidents the power to coordinate all "legislative, judicial, electoral, control and supervisory bodies, regional and municipal" -- formerly independent under the constitution. Manuel Orozco, a Nicaraguan analyst for the Inter-American Dialogue, told AFP the reform "guarantees the presidential succession" of Murillo and the pair's son, Laureano Ortega. The Geneva-based UN human rights office (OHCHR) in its annual report on Nicaragua warned in September of a "serious" deterioration in human rights under Ortega. The report cited violations such as arbitrary arrests of opponents, torture, ill-treatment in detention, increased violence against Indigenous people and attacks on religious freedom. The revised constitution will define Nicaragua as a "revolutionary" and socialist state and include the red-and-black flag of the FSLN -- a guerrilla group-turned political party that overthrew a US-backed dictator in 1979 -- among its national symbols. Constitutional law expert Azahalea Solis said this change excludes other political ideologies, while Salvador Marenco, a human rights lawyer exiled in Costa Rica, said it will end political pluralism and the doctrine of separation of powers. "Everything in the reform is what has actually been happening in Nicaragua: a de facto dictatorship," Dora Maria Tellez, a former comrade in arms of Ortega turned critic, told AFP from exile in the United States. When it was proposed by Ortega earlier this week, Organization of American States secretary general Luis Almagro described the amendment as "an aberrant form of institutionalizing the marital dictatorship." He also labeled the initiative an "aggression against the democratic rule of law." mis-mlr/dwEnviri’s ALTEK to Join REAL ALLOY’s US Department of Energy Zero-Waste Recycling Project

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency during Trump's second term. President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering rolling back the Biden administration's credit for electric vehicles – a move that experts say would have varying effects across the automotive industry. President Biden implemented a tax credit of up to $7,500 to incentivize the purchase of greener vehicles. However, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Trump plans to ax the tax credit as part of his sweep of Biden's climate agenda. While the decision remains in debate among oil and energy advocates, one group promoting public policy on behalf of the natural gas industry suggested that behind the scenes, automotive groups and consumers could feel relieved if the EV credit is eliminated. "Losing $70,000 on an EV is not a winning business model and U.S. automakers know that," said Tim Stewart, president of the U.S. Oil & Gas Association. Stewart said axing the EV tax credit gives members of the auto industry the opportunity to shift back to traditional production lines. HOUSE PASSES BILL TO BOLSTER GEOTHERMAL ENERGY PRODUCTION BY INCREASING LEASE SALE FREQUENCY "If I was a CEO, I would quietly be relieved to have a reason to shift production lines back to traditional models and invest in new hybrid technologies," Stewart told Fox News Digital. "The EV tax credit was the only way to entice consumers to ‘maybe’ purchase something they really didn’t want, but told by the Biden folks they had to buy." FILE - An electric car charges at a mall parking lot on June 27, 2022, in Corte Madera, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) "With the tax credit gone and the onerous Biden regulatory mandates lifted, the new administration is providing the exit ramp the U.S. producers were really hoping for, and U.S. consumers really want." HOUSE PASSES BILL BLOCKING BIDEN ADMIN ATTEMPT TO REQUIRE TWO-THIRDS OF NEW CARS TO BE ELECTRIC WITHIN YEARS However, proponents of the tax credit, such as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm – and those advocating for the switch to EVs – say its elimination would result in the U.S. being less competitive in the industry. "The auto industry is investing billions of dollars in EV battery and EV manufacturing in the United States. Eliminating the tax credit will hurt the U.S. auto industry and make American manufacturers less globally competitive," said Ingrid Malmgren, senior policy director of Plug In America, a Los-Angeles based nonprofit advocating for the transition to EVs. The elimination of the tax credit could have differing effects across the auto industry, experts say. One of Trump's strongest allies, Tesla CEO Elon Musk , revealed in July that he supports getting rid of the credit. "Take away the subsidies," Musk posted to X, saying "it will only help Tesla." Companies that are financially sound, such as Tesla, could benefit if the playing field for electric vehicles is narrowed, while the smaller companies that rely on the tax credit for consumer affordability could face setbacks, analysts suggest. "Tesla has such a big cost advantage in EVs," said David Whiston, an analyst at financial services firm Morningstar Inc, according to a report from CPA Practicing Advisor. "Getting rid of that tax credit wouldn’t necessarily hurt them." Dan Ives, a senior equity research analyst covering the technology sector at Wedbush Securities with a focus on EVs, conducted a review of the market impact on Tesla if the EV credit is removed. "While this is a clear negative for the EV industry at first look and would particularly hurt GM, Ford, Stellantis, and Rivian... on the flip side, we view this as a net bullish move for Tesla and Musk over time," Ives said in a report on Tesla. "We expect Musk to have a big seat at the table as these EV discussions happen within the Trump transition team." "In line with our thoughts over the past few weeks, Tesla has a scale and scope that is unmatched and while losing the EV tax credit could also hurt some demand on the margins in the U.S., this will enable Tesla to further fend off competition from Detroit as pricing/scale/scope is apples to oranges when compared to the rest of the auto industry once the EV tax credit disappears," Ives added. Ives also said that removing the credit could slow down the shift toward EVs in Detroit, specifically. During his campaign, Trump highlighted his intent to target Biden's clean energy-driven initiatives, such as vowing to "cancel the electric vehicle mandate." Find more updates on this story at FOXNews.com.Widening loan defaults and foreclosures haunted Bay Area properties in 2024, but a late-year flurry of significant tech industry leases offered hope for the battered South Bay office sector. Throughout the year, sky-high vacancy levels jolted Bay Area buildings, a dearth of business travelers posed problems for hotels and expensive financing afflicted the suddenly shaky apartment market. However, as the year closed, impactful office deals by high-profile tech companies may have foreshadowed a rebound in the sputtering sector in 2025. Several big leases — one of them a huge rental agreement that could accommodate thousands of workers — occurred in the South Bay alone. Among the significant rental deals: • Snowflake subleased 773,000 square feet of office space in Menlo Park, enough room for 3,800 workers. • Amazon reached an agreement to occupy 217,000 square feet of space in Mountain View. • Nvidia leased 101,600 square feet of office and research space in North San Jose. • Netgear leased an office building totaling 89,400 square feet in North San Jose. And it wasn’t just leases. A few technology powerhouses also pulled off some of the biggest property purchases in the Bay Area, particularly in the South Bay — transactions that helped to buoy the sinking commercial real estate sector in the nine-county region and portend a back-to-the-office trend for next year. “More and more companies in Silicon Valley will have people working in offices in 2025,” said Chad Leiker, a first vice president with Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm. “If that happens, it will bring us closer to where we were in the old days” before the COVID-19 outbreak. The year began ominously, providing an early glimpse of what became a trend throughout 2024: A big office building was facing foreclosure due to a delinquent loan. Located at 3100 North First St., the site in San Jose fell into a loan default and was eventually seized by its lender through foreclosure before it was sold — a reminder of the boom-bust cycle of Silicon Valley and the battered commercial real estate market. In January, it was valued at $32.1 million. The foreclosure in May slashed its value to $19 million. In September, a biotech firm bought it for $17.5 million. The building’s fate illustrated the general struggles of the office market and was a reminder that despite relentless layoffs, companies continued to scout for purchases that could help them solidify their footprints in Silicon Valley. Here are the biggest property purchases of 2024 in the Bay Area: • Nvidia paid $374.3 million in May for eight buildings in Santa Clara that are near the company’s campus. • Microsoft paid $330 million in September for a Mountain View property it had occupied since 2019. • Fortinet paid $192 million for a Santa Clara tech campus that it bought from Texas Instruments. Despite some successes, dozens of office buildings, apartment complexes and hotels throughout the Bay Area toppled into various stages of loan delinquencies or seizures. Those that escaped foreclosure were bought at prices that were a fraction of their prior worth, unleashing a dramatic reset in property values. The Courtyard Oakland Downtown, a prominent hotel in the urban heart of the East Bay’s largest city, was bought in October for $10.6 million, 76% less than the $43.8 million that the seller paid in 2016. In downtown San Jose, the historic Hotel De Anza was purchased for $11.6 million, or roughly half of its prior value. The owner of the 686-room, 36-story Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SoMa hotel walked away and gave back the keys to the lender. The hotel had been bought in 2018 for $315 million, but the foreclosure showed it was worth no more than $290 million. A plunge in values also created plenty of opportunities to capitalize on countless bargain basement properties. George Mersho, top boss at Shoe Palace, is one such bargain hunter. Mersho-led groups purchased two office complexes in downtown San Jose at a fraction of their prior value. In February, a Mersho-led group paid $34.2 million for a downtown complex that was 77% below the $141.4 million the sellers shelled out in 2019. But despite a slumping real estate market, some high-profile commercial hubs are thriving. Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose continues to land new tenants, including a new Alamo Drafthouse movie theater and numerous merchants that will expand the shopping, restaurant and entertainment center’s collection of luxury stores. Santana Row, a mixed-use destination neighborhood in San Jose, remains a magnet for new restaurants and shops. The One Santana West office building is now more than half full after several firms leased spaces. One of the tenants that headed to One Santana West was a unit of PwC, a global professional services company. PwC exited downtown San Jose to take space at Santana Row, which was deemed to be a blow to the city’s urban core. However, the building at 488 South Almaden Blvd. that lost PwC subsequently landed the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority as its principal tenant. Across the street at a different Santana Row site, Cisco Systems officially moved into an office in November where it will jointly operate with its subsidiary Splunk. Some 3,900 Cisco and Splunk employees will work in the building. Looking toward the future, downtown San Jose is ready to welcome an ambitious and massive effort to produce thousands of homes alongside data centers, with key support from PG&E. Construction is slated to launch in 2025. Global developer Westbank, PG&E and the city of San Jose have allied to speed the development of eco-friendly housing towers whose energy would be powered by surplus heat from the nearby data centers. In another unique downtown project, a former hotel tower was converted this year into a housing high-rise for San Jose State University students. The project helped meet housing needs and improved hotel vacancy levels in the South Bay. Downtown San Jose has also attracted an array of one-of-a-kind merchants. They include Urban Putt, a miniature golf course site; Unofficial Logging, an ax-throwing venue; and Eos & Nyx, a top-notch restaurant and bar. Pete Be Center also is preparing a music, entertainment and live events venue. The state of the Bay Area property market also may have helped to unravel the increasingly shaky real estate empire that China-based Z&L Properties had fashioned in San Jose. Z&L has neglected its properties, creating blighted conditions at three of the downtown sites it owns. After it had proposed several housing towers, it eventually presided over failed development efforts. The only project Z&L has completed, a 600-unit double-tower residential complex, is in default on its loan and could be seized by its lender. Even with commercial real estate struggles, some merchants are taking over spaces that were occupied by failed retailers. In San Jose, Hobby Lobby leased a space vacated by Bed, Bath and Beyond at Almaden Plaza. In the same center, Sports Basement is renting a site occupied by bookseller Barnes and Noble, which is planning to leave. A few miles away at The Plant shopping and restaurant center in San Jose, family-owned Mexican grocery chain Vallarta Supermarkets is opening its first Bay Area store. It will replace a long-shuttered Toys ‘R Us and Babies ‘R Us location. The collapse in valuations affects more than property owners — it is also poised to unleash widespread impacts on public agencies. The nosedive in real estate prices raised the specter that property taxes could erode and diminish the revenue flow to cities, counties, school districts and other government agencies. Still, some green shoots have begun to sprout amid the grim rubble of the commercial real estate landscape. The Plaza at Walnut Creek, a downtown Walnut Creek office complex described as a “trophy” real estate property, was bought for $162 million. The price of $477 a square foot is deemed to be a “top dollar” amount.