California

California on March 5 paved the way for Disneyland, other theme parks and outdoor stadiums to welcome guests sooner than expected as it relaxed reopening criteria following a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases and pressure from operators.

The San Francisco Bay Area is by far the largest climate tech hub

The long-awaited opening of Los Angeles' Oscars museum was postponed again on Dec. 18 due to the pandemic, with officials saying its scheduled April debut would be "irresponsible" as the city grapples with record coronavirus cases.

Hollywood's motion picture academy will introduce new eligibility rules to boost diversity among Oscars nominees under a raft of new measures announced on June 12. 

The move comes after years of criticism over a lack of diversity among the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' members, and among the Oscar nominees and winners they select.

California's premier desert music fest Coachella, which had been postponed until October because of the coronavirus pandemic, has been canceled for 2020, health officials announced on June 10.    

California Governor Gavin Newsom has denied a parole request by Hampig Sassounian, an Armenian who assassinated a Turkish diplomat in Los Angeles in 1982.  

The announcement came on May 25 with Newsom reversing the Board of Parole Hearings' decision which found Sassounian suitable for parole.

Stanford Club of Greece will hold the first of a "virtual" speaker series titled "Deconstructing Covid-19, re-constructing the economy," on Wednesday, May 27, at 7 p.m.

Next year's Oscars could be postponed due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus in Hollywood, trade publication Variety reported on May 19.    

The movie industry's biggest night is currently scheduled for February 28.  

The possibility that Greece could develop its own version of Silicon Valley has grown more likely, as the state has recovered ownership of the 760,000-square meter plot at Peraia in Thessaloniki, where a fourth-generation technology park is to be developed.

Silicon Valley on Feb. 19 was mourning a pioneering computer scientist whose accomplishments included inventing the widely relied on "cut, copy and paste" command.    

Bronx-born Lawrence "Larry" Tesler died this week at age 74, according to Xerox, where he spent part of his career.