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Posted by Darren Sabedra

North Coast Section baseball playoffs

Division I

Tuesday’s games

No. 1 Granada 5, No. 16 San Ramon Valley 2

No. 9 Casa Grande 5, No. 8 Dublin 0

No. 13 Clayton Valley Charter 6, No. 4 Windsor 5 (9 innings)

No. 5 College Park 4, No. 12 Heritage 3

No. 2 De La Salle 12, No. 15 Pittsburg 5

No. 7 Petaluma 5, No. 10 Castro Valley 1

No. 3 Foothill 8, No. 14 Liberty 2

No. 6 Benicia 9, No. 11 Redwood 5

Friday’s quarterfinals

No. 9 Casa Grande at No. 1 Granada, 5 p.m.

No. 13 Clayton Valley Charter at No. 5 College Park, 5 p.m.

No. 7 Petaluma at No. 2 De La Salle, 5 p.m.

No. 6 Benicia at No. 3 Foothill, 5 p.m.

Division II

Wednesday’s games

No. 1 Cardinal Newman 10, No. 16 Newark Memorial 0

No. 8 Amador Valley 2, No. 9 McKinleyville 1

No. 4 Campolindo 8, No. 13 Encinal 3

No. 5 Acalanes 3, No. 12 Ukiah 0

No. 15 Rancho Cotate 12, No. 2 Justin-Siena 5

No. 7 Livermore 6, No. 10 Alhambra 2

No. 3 San Marin 12, No. 14 Novato 0

No. 6 Tamalpais 4, No. 11 University 0

Division III

Tuesday’s games

No. 1 California 6, No. 16 San Leandro 2

No. 9 Washington-Fremont 12, No. 8 Eureka 4

No. 4 El Cerrito 9, No. 13 San Rafael 1

No. 12 Freedom 6, No. 5 James Logan 3

No. 2 Piedmont 7, No. 15 Archie Williams 6

No. 10 Northgate 9, No. 7 Bishop O’Dowd 2

No. 14 Kelseyville 12, No. 3 Del Norte 1

No. 6 Marin Catholic 7, No. 11 Analy 6

Friday’s quarterfinals

No. 9 Washington-Fremont at No. 1 California, 5 p.m.

No. 12 Freedom at No. 4 El Cerrito, 5 p.m.

No. 10 Northgate at No. 2 Piedmont, 5 p.m.

No. 14 Kelseyville at No. 6 Marin Catholic, 5 p.m.

Division IV

Wednesday’s games

No. 1 Arroyo, bye

No. 8 Healdsburg 5, No. 9 St. Patrick-St. Vincent 2

No. 13 Las Lomas 1, No. 4 Fort Bragg 0

No. 5 Moreau Catholic 9, No. 12 Ferndale 0

No. 2 Head-Royce 1, No. 15 Montgomery 0

No. 7 American Canyon 3, No. 10 Stuart Hall 1

No. 3 Berean Christian 6, No. 14 Albany 4

No. 6 Clear Lake 8, No. 11 St. Helena 1

Division V

Tuesday’s games

No. 1 Pinole Valley, bye

No. 8 The Bay School 4, No. 9 Hercules 3

No. 4 St. Joseph Notre Dame 12, No. 13 San Lorenzo 2

No. 5 Kennedy-Fremont 6, No. 12 Concord 5 (10 innings)

No. 2 Arcata 15, No. 15 Ygnacio Valley 0

No. 10 De Anza 3, No. 7 Branson 1

No. 3 St. Bernard’s 3, No. 14 Piner 1

No. 6 Miramonte 14, No. 11 Hoopa Valley 0

Friday’s quarterfinals

No. 8 The Bay School at No. 1 Pinole Valley, 5 p.m.

No. 5 Kennedy-Fremont vs. No. 4 St. Joseph Notre Dame at College of Alameda, 7 p.m.

No. 10 De Anza at No. 2 Arcata, 5 p.m.

No. 6 Miramonte at No. 3 St. Bernard’s, 5 p.m.

Division VI

Wednesday’s games

No. 1 Swett, bye

No. 8 Point Arena 4, No. 9 St. Vincent de Paul 0

No. 4 Athenian 19, No. 13 San Francisco Waldorf 2

No. 5 Cloverdale 2, No. 12 International 1

No. 2 St. Mary’s-Berkeley 13, No. 15 Victory Christian Academy 0

No. 10 Valley Christian-Dublin vs. No. 7 Credo at Golis Park, Rohnert Park, 7 p.m.

No. 3 Sonoma Academy 10, No. 14 Tomales 9

No. 6 Summerfield Waldorf 15, No. 11 Making Waves Academy 7

North Coast Section softball playoffs

Division I

No. 1 Liberty, bye

No. 9 San Marin 4, No. 8 Vintage 3

No. 13 Foothill 2, No. 4 Castro Valley 0

No. 5 California 10, No. 12 Bishop O’Dowd 4

No. 2 Livermore, bye

No. 7 Alameda 6, No. 10 Granada 5

No. 3 Casa Grande, bye

No. 6 San Ramon Valley 7, No. 11 Clayton Valley Charter 0

Division II

No. 1 Cardinal Newman, bye

No. 8 Newark Memorial 9, No. 9 Redwood 0

No. 13 Petaluma 5, No. 4 Marin Catholic 3

No. 5 Benicia 11, No. 12 Fortuna 0

No. 2 Carondelet, bye

No. 10 Archie Williams 3, No. 7 College Park 2

No. 3 James Logan, bye

No. 6 Windsor 5, No. 11 St. Helena 4

Division III

No. 1 Del Norte, bye

No. 9 Freedom 14, No. 8 American Canyon 3

No. 4 Alhambra, bye

No. 12 Berkeley 11, No. 5 Cloverdale 3

No. 2 Maria Carrillo, bye

No. 10 Heritage 9 No. 7 Dougherty Valley 2

No. 3 Arroyo, bye

No. 11 San Leandro 14, No. 6 Moreau Catholic 4

Division IV

No. 1 Northgate, bye

No. 9 Acalanes 18,. No. 8 St. Joseph Notre Dame 0

No. 4 Tamalpais, bye

No. 5 Pinole Valley 5, No. 12 Montgomery 0

No. 2 Berean Christian, bye

No. 7 El Cerrito 11, No. 10 Las Lomas 10

No. 3 San Rafael, bye

No. 6 Salesian 13, No. 11 Ukiah 8

Division V

No. 1 McKinleyville, bye

No. 8 Clear Lake 6, No. 9 Albany 5

No. 4 Miramonte, bye

No. 5 South Fork 20, No. 12 Hercules 3

No. 2 Kennedy-Fremont, bye

No. 10 Healdsburg 12, No. 7 Terra Linda 11

No. 3 Piner, bye

No. 11 Piedmont 15, No. 6 California School for the Deaf 5

Division VI

No. 1 Kelseyville, bye

No. 9 Ferndale 18, No. 8 Point Arena 8

No. 4 Calistoga, bye

No. 5 Willits 13, No. 12 Valley Christian-Dublin 3

No. 2 St. Vincent de Paul, bye

No. 7 Hoopa Valley 9, No. 10 San Domenico 1

No. 3 Tomales, bye

No. 6 Redwood Christian 11, No. 11 The Bay School 10

[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Caelyn Pender

CONCORD — A woman died in a two-vehicle collision that also injured two others Tuesday, according to a social media post from the California Highway Patrol.

The collision occurred at the northernmost intersection of Kirker Pass Road and Hess Road, authorities said.

Shortly before 5:30 p.m., officers from the CHP Contra Costa area office responded to the crash. A Ford Fusion had been attempting to make a left turn from westbound Hess Road onto southbound Kirker Pass Road but pulled in front of a Toyota Sienna that was traveling northbound, police said. The Toyota crashed into the driver’s side of the Ford.

The driver of the Ford, an adult woman, died at the scene due to fatal injuries, authorities said. The passenger of the Ford, a 14-year-old boy, was airlifted to a hospital with suspected major injuries.

The Toyota’s driver was taken to the hospital in an ambulance with minor injuries, police added.

The Toyota’s driver and the 14-year-old boy are both expected to recover, authorities said.

Police are continuing to investigate the crash and determined that driving under the influence was not a factor in the collision, authorities added. Kirker Pass Road was closed in both directions from 5:35 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. for the investigation.

Daily Happiness

21/5/25 20:53
torachan: a chibi drawing of sawko, kazehaya, and maru from kimi ni todoke (sawako/kazehaya)
[personal profile] torachan
1. We finished up another puzzle today. This is the first 500 piece one we've completed. It actually didn't feel much more difficult than the 300 piece ones as the characters are all pretty well differentiated colorwise (which is why I bought it). A fun one for sure.



2. This afternoon I had to drive around to four of our stores (three of which were our more distant ones while still being in the greater LA area) with a couple guys here on a business trip from our Hawaii branch. Didn't love that I had to change my schedule when this week is already pretty packed (this was only decided on Friday) but it was a pretty enjoyable afternoon showing them around the stores.

3. I have one of those phone wallets that sticks on the back of your phone and holds a few credit cards/driver's license, and tonight after work I picked it up from my desk and noticed all the cards were gone. I knew they were there yesterday because I got gas, but I couldn't remember when I'd last seen them after that. Thankfully they had just fallen out in the car and not somewhere else! I'll have to be more careful about it from now on.

4. Look at that cutie curly tail Gemma's showing off.

landofnowhere: (Default)
[personal profile] landofnowhere
System Collapse, Martha Wells. I took a break from Murderbot to read a bunch of historical stuff, partly because I'd remembered that this wasn't as good as Network Effect. Which is true, but I still liked it better the second time around, though in some ways it's less of a fun read. I mentioned when reviewing the early books in the series is that part of the appeal is that while Murderbot is a huge bundle of anxiety, it's also stunningly competent in what it does, especially when it has a reason to care. However a lot of the first half of this book is Murderbot having to deal with stuff going on that is making it less competent, which is useful character development in that it gets to work more as part of a team, but means that the fun stuff is really loaded into the second half of the story.

(I have seen the first two episodes of the show, but would prefer to have this be a book-discussion-only zone.)
escapade_team: (Default)
[personal profile] escapade_team posting in [community profile] escapade_con
 Only a few weeks away and we have great news! The panel ballot is open for voting! So, get your votes in now before we close the panel ballot on June 6th. And it’s not too late to submit panels! You have the opportunity to submit a write-in panel on the panel ballot. Voting will be open until June 6th.
 
Dates to remember:
Panel voting ends June 6th
Convention June 27th-29th
 
Panel Voting: https://escapadecon.net/virtual-con/panel-voting/
Registration: https://escapadecon.net/escapade-35-5-registration-online/
Scholarship: https://escapadecon.net/scholarship/
 
https://escapadecon.net/35-5-panel-ballot-voting-is-open/
[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Caelyn Pender

PACIFICA — A San Jose man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly indecently exposing himself on three separate occasions, according to a press release from the Pacifica Police Department.

Around 7:49 p.m. on Oct. 16, Pacifica police officers responded to a business on the 500 block of Linda Mar Shopping Center, authorities said. There, a man had allegedly exposed himself to an employee and then fled before police arrived.

After he was identified, police found that the 33-year-old suspect had allegedly exposed himself on two other occasions, authorities said. They obtained a $20,000 misdemeanor warrant for two counts of indecent exposure.

The suspect was arrested at the Santa Clara County Superior Court Hall of Justice in San Jose where he had been for a separate court case, police said. He was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail.

Jaws ficlet

21/5/25 19:14
snickfic: Buffy looking over her shoulder (Default)
[personal profile] snickfic
I was swamped the entire writing and treating period for this round of [community profile] seasonsofdrabbles, and only barely managed the one fic I did write. Glad I finished something, though.

respects a triple drabble for Jaws. Brody/Hooper, post-canon, featuring a ghost.

Now to finally get back to my H/C Ex fic...
[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Caelyn Pender

SAN JOSE — Two caregivers have been charged with elder abuse and fraud for allegedly abusing residents at an unlicensed care home while receiving Medi-Cal payments, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday.

Lavinia Fotuaiki and Segia Poti Jackson are facing two felony counts of elder abuse and one felony count of dependent adult abuse, according to a press release from the California Department of Justice. Fotuaiki is also facing one felony count of filing a false claim. The charges were filed with the Santa Clara County Superior Court.

“Those who care for our elders have a profound responsibility to treat those in their care with the highest level of compassion and dignity,” Bonta said in a press release. “They support individuals during some of the most challenging moments in their lives. At the California Department of Justice, we are committed to fighting against all types of elder abuse and neglect. We will take prompt action to ensure that anyone who exploits or harms these vulnerable members of our community is held accountable.”

The Department of Justice had received a complaint referred from the California Department of Social Services reporting alleged neglect of residents at the San Jose care home, the department said. The alleged abuse included leaving residents’ medical issues untreated and having residents live in biohazardous conditions.

During the alleged abuse, the caregivers were receiving in-home support service payments through Medi-Cal, the department said.

Between Sept. 14, 2022 and Sept. 3, 2024, Fotuaiki and Poti Jackson allegedly willfully endangered the health of an elder dependent adult who was over the age of 80, according to court filings. The second charge alleges they did the same to a second dependent adult between April 1, 2023 and March 11, 2025. The second victim was above the age of 68.

Fotuaiki and Poti Jackson also allegedly caused “unjustifiable physical pain and mental suffering” to a third dependent adult, according to court filings.

The three abuse charges also allege aggravated circumstances for a high degree of callousness and particularly vulnerable victims, according to court filings.

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Posted by Jakob Rodgers

OAKLAND — An Alameda County jury began deliberating Wednesday whether an Oakland man beat his one-time fiancé to death five years ago, before stuffing her into the trunk of her car and ditching her body along an Interstate 580 frontage road in San Leandro.

Alameda County prosecutors pointed to a voluminous collage of surveillance footage, cell phone records and DNA evidence while making their final arguments to jurors in the case of Richard Charles, who faces second-degree murder in the March 2020 death of 32-year-old Anika Crane. They said it all happened while Crane visited Charles’ home near Mills College, after which Charles allegedly enlisted an unidentified “helper” to dispose of her body.

“The defendant chose to use his fists over and over and over on Anika Crane until she took her last breath,” Deputy District Attorney Colleen Clark said. “And then the defendant took very calculated, and very deliberate, steps to attempt to cover up his crime and to deflect blame away from him.”

To Charles’ attorney, the entire case amounted to a baseless story with little in the way of hard proof – including a definitive crime scene, an exact time of death or a motive.

“That is all that it is here – it’s a theory of what might have happened,” defense attorney Miki Tal said. “But there’s many holes in this. This is like a puzzle with many missing pieces.”

Crane’s disappearance five years ago garnered little in the way of broad media attention or alerts from law enforcement. It took three months before authorities announced an arrest: Her former fiancé and boyfriend of 12 years.

Crane and Charles had a “complicated” relationship and engagement, authorities said. They met when she was 18 and broke up several times over the next several years. During one such split, Charles fathered a child with another woman, authorities said.

Their relationship finally appeared to have ended shortly before she was last seen on March 23, 2020, authorities said. That day, after Crane got off work, she stopped at her grandmother’s house and then visited a liquor store near Bancroft and 77th avenues in East Oakland.

Surveillance footage showed Charles’ Ford F-150 pulling over near the store just as another man got out of Crane’s car. That’s when Charles appeared to get out of the pickup, walk by the man who had been with Crane and surprise her inside the store.

Both Crane and Charles then drove their own vehicles to Charles’ home, an RV where Crane had stayed the previous night.

Crane was never seen alive again. Over the following day, surveillance footage showed Crane’s Ford Fiesta repeatedly leaving and returning to Charles’ house — during which only Charles appeared on surveillance footage around his house. Charles also appeared to repeatedly dial an unnamed “helper” from West Oakland, while allegedly spending hours cleaning his home, prosecutors said.

The day after Crane was last seen alive, prosecutors say surveillance footage showed Charles loading something into the trunk of Crane’s car before driving the sedan to San Leandro and leaving it there. The following day, Charles filed a workplace injury report for a swollen right hand that, prosecutors said, appeared to be fraudulent.

“Those are the actions of a murderer trying to cover up their crime,” Clark said. She lauded Crane’s family for springing to action so quickly when Crane stopped picking up her phone, and for ultimately finding some of the last known video footage of her alive.

Clark specifically honed in on the fact that Charles twice told authorities that he hadn’t spoken with Crane after seeing her at the liquor store, despite surveillance footage suggesting Crane drove to his home afterward. Authorities also found the tip of a blue latex glove between Crane’s shoulder and the inside wall of her car’s trunk, which appeared to contain Charles’ DNA, according to court testimony.

Charles’ attorney spent nearly an hour Wednesday highlighting all that prosecutors didn’t show: A motive, almost any blood at the crime scene or any suggestion of Charles not cooperating with police. He never fled, Tal stressed. Rather, he tried calling Crane 19 times in the four days after she vanished. And, Tal said, he joined Crane’s mother in calling 911 to report her missing on March 25, 2020.

Investigators found almost nothing in the way of Crane’s blood inside his RV, save for a small amount on one of his old “filthy” slippers.

“This is entirely a circumstantial evidence case,” Tal said. “This is not story time, ladies and gentlemen. This is not ‘what could have happened.’ This is the criminal justice system, and it has the highest burden of proof.”

Tal also took issue with prosecutors’ claims that Charles had a “helper” who guided his alleged cleaning of the crime scene. She highlighted how that person was never identified or heard from at trial — framing it as indicative of a half-baked case against her client.

“We have no idea who this person is,” Tal said. “You have no phone content, no conversations — you don’t even have the person’s name. For you to just assume it was a so-called ‘helper’ makes no sense and is not what your job is.”

Moments before the jury left to deliberate, Clark pleaded for jurors to simply follow the evidence and return with a conviction.

“Unanswered questions do not mean the defendant gets away with murdering Anika Crane,” Clark said. “The defendant doesn’t get rewarded for covering up his crime.”

[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Nate Gartrell

MARTINEZ — A man was convicted of murdering his girlfriend and wounding her husband in an Antioch shooting motivated by the suspect and victim’s fractured relationship.

Brian Yacopetti, 48, was convicted of first-degree murder and assault, as well as gun possession, in the May 25, 2023 shooting death of 39-year-old Jennifer Dallmann. Witnesses told police that Yacopetti and Dallmann had dated, with the blessing of Dallmann’s husband, but that their relationship disintegrated shortly before the murder.

The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Delta Fair Boulevard in Antioch.

Yacopetti’s attorney, Anthony Ashe, argued that Yacopetti was high on marijuana and drunk, and under extreme stress after Dallmann yelled “I hate you” during their breakup that day. It all added up to a killing in the “heat of passion,” he argued. If jurors agreed, that would have made Yacopetti eligible for a conviction of manslaughter instead of murder.

For Yacopetti, the conviction means a return to prison. He was last incarcerated less than a year before the murder, for an aggravated assault conviction, and paroled to his father’s home in Bakersfield in September 2022 before coming to the Bay Area.

Yacopetti’s Facebook page, last updated just four days before the murder, appears to celebrate his release from prison. His introduction says simply, “I’m free, b—-.”

He faces 25 years to life on the first-degree murder charge alone.

[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Caelyn Pender

SAN JOSE — A Nicaraguan national was charged Wednesday with assaulting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer while he was being taken into custody in San Jose for deportation proceedings, federal authorities said.

Francisco De-Jesus Morales, 25, faces one count of forcibly assaulting a deportation officer, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

On May 2, three deportation officers attempted to take Morales into custody at an ICE facility in San Jose to carry out a warrant for his deportation, prosecutors said. Morales allegedly resisted and tried to flee, which resulted in a struggle with the three officers.

Morales and the three officers sustained injuries and were provided medical treatment, prosecutors said. Injuries suffered by the officers included a groin injury, an ankle strain or stress fracture, a chest contusion, scrapes and bruising. Government officials did not describe Morales’ injuries.

His charge is for causing “significant groin bruising” to one of the officers, federal prosecutors said. Morales remains in custody of ICE while his deportation is pending.

If convicted of the assault charge, Morales could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.

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Posted by Paul Rogers

In an ominous sign for an already struggling project, state officials on Wednesday said they are unhappy with the lack of progress over plans by the Santa Clara Valley Water District to build a huge new dam near Pacheco Pass and Henry W. Coe State Park in Santa Clara County.

Members of the California Water Commission, an 8-member agency appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that tentatively committed $504 million in state bond funding seven years ago to the $2.7 billion project — and still could revoke it — expressed frustration at the district’s shifting timelines and lack of specifics and accomplishments.

“As we move forward in time, the uncertainties should be decreasing,” said commissioner Sandra Matsumoto. “But I feel like the more we hear from the public, the more additional issues are coming up that make it sound less likely.”

Added commissioner Jose Solorio: “This is more about tracking the progress and making sure these projects are all going forward rather than backward. Maybe down the road we do have to look at ways of lowering investments if there’s not sufficient progress in terms of viability.”

The Santa Clara Valley Water District, a government agency based in San Jose also known as “Valley Water,” provides drinking water and flood control to 2 million people in Santa Clara County.

Its plans call for building a new 320-foot-high earthen dam on the North Fork of Pacheco Creek in rural canyons about 2 miles north of Highway 152, east of Casa de Fruta.

The reservoir would hold 140,000 acre feet of water, and would be filled mostly by piping in water from nearby San Luis Reservoir in wet years that the district buys from state and federal agencies and needs a place to store for dry years.

But the project has run into setback after setback. When the district applied to the state seven years ago for funding under Proposition 1, a water bond passed by voters in 2014, it said the new reservoir would cost $969 million. Since then, the costs have tripled to $2.7 billion. The district also announced then that it would secure partnerships with other large Bay Area water agencies to help share the costs and the water. But none have been signed. The original plans were to break ground in 2024 and finish construction by 2032.

On Wednesday, district officials told the water commission that they still haven’t secured major permits needed to start construction, haven’t secured water rights, and only have completed 30% of the design. They said they wouldn’t be able to break ground until 2029 and won’t complete construction until at least 2036.

District officials said the project had been slowed by lawsuits by environmental groups, discoveries of geological problems in the area, and other issues, with costs driven up by inflation. They estimated that by the middle of next year they will have spent $132 million on the project and completed 60% of the design.

“It is very challenging to do any large infrastructure in California much less dam infrastructure,” said Vincent Gin, a deputy operating officer with the district.

The district’s leaders urged the commission to keep the state money flowing.

“An expanded Pacheco Reservoir is an excellent option for our agency and our region,” said Melanie Richardson, Santa Clara Valley Water District’s interim CEO, told the commission. “It would provide a critical source of emergency storage in the event of an earthquake, a levee failure, or any other catastrophe. Having Pacheco as part of our system would improve our agency’s operational flexibility allowing for more efficient management of our water resources.”

Critics of the project, who include environmental groups and rural landowners whose land would be flooded, say the costs are too high, and that the dam would flood a scenic area important to wildlife like tule elk, bobcats, and golden eagles. They argued the district should instead provide additional water supplies through cheaper alternatives like recycled water, raising the height of the existing dam at San Luis Reservoir, and expanded groundwater banking.

“The environmental impacts are excessive and the benefits are not justified,” said Mike Aviña, an attorney with the Stop Pacheco Dam Coalition.

“Valley Water continues to spend millions of dollars on a project that will cost many, many billions and is not feasible, and encumbers taxpayers and ratepayers with unjustifiable tax and rate increases. Hopefully you will find a way not to promote this,” said Shani Kleinhaus, an advocate with the Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance.

Water commission members were particularly incensed that the Santa Clara Valley Water District staff members at the meeting could not provide a specific date when the district will decide whether to move forward with the project or kill it.

“When are you going to be in a position to take this to your board and commit to this project?” said commissioner Alexandre Makler.

“That’s a question I can’t give you a confirmed answer on,” said Ryan McCarter, a deputy operating officer at the water district.

The commission chairwoman, attorney Fern Spivey, a former board member of the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles, said she wanted the Santa Clara Valley Water District to come back in a few months with specific answers.

Other commissioners hinted that the agency could shift the district’s $504 million to other agencies around the state who are making better progress building new reservoirs or groundwater banks.

“The challenge for us is that you are sitting on 20% of the (Proposition 1 water storage) program,” said Matsumoto. “And it has been parked there since 2014. There are many other water districts across the state who would love to have the luxury of half a billion dollars banked and ready to go if a project should get warm enough to opt into that.”

[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Nate Gartrell

OAKLAND — Two brothers are both named Lawrence Everett Henderson III, but that’s not the only thing they share: they’re also in jail for alleged sex trafficking offenses 375 miles apart, police say.

Other than their height and weight, the only thing that separates the two Henderson brothers is their age. The elder Henderson brother, 35-year-old Lawrence, was arrested in Anaheim last December, after police there say he traveled from Northern California to recruit an undercover cop who was posing as a prostitute. The younger brother, 31-year-old Lawrence, was arrested and charged with human trafficking of a minor and pimping on May 6, after an Oakland police investigation, court records show.

But that’s not all. Oakland police say that the teen girl the younger Henderson is accused of trafficking had a previous pimp when she was 14. It was none other than the elder Henderson, authorities allege.

The Oakland investigation started in January, when police detained the 17-year-old girl for violating an obscure city ordinance prohibiting “immoral dress,” as she walked along a section of International Boulevard that is widely known as an open air sex market, authorities said. Their investigation revealed that the girl had been trafficked at different times by both brothers, though only the younger Henderson faces charges related to the girl, court records show.

When the girl was being interviewed on the street by police, the younger Henderson allegedly drove by in his Audi, which was tracked by electronic surveillance to Vallejo, authorities said. Police arrested him in Vallejo on May 4. His bail has been set at $300,000, court records show,

Police said that they also recovered messages between the younger Henderson and the girl, where she calls him “Daddy” and “King,” as well as evidence the girl was being “threatened” to engage in prostitution.

The elder Henderson was charged in Orange County with pandering, attempted pimping and possessing a gun and an extended magazine, with bail set at $500,000, court records show.

Staff writer Harry Harris contributed to this report.

[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Kyle Martin

HAYWARD — The Hayward City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to place City Manager Ana Alvarez on paid administrative leave, less than six months after she was hired.

Mayor Mark Salinas said Tuesday that the city had been conducting a performance evaluation of Alvarez since April 22, which had been revisited on May 6 and May 13. But city officials did not publicly give an exact reason for placing her on leave.

City Attorney Michael Lawson is taking over city manager duties in the interim, officials said.

Alvarez assumed her role on Jan. 9, replacing former city manager Kelly McAdoo, who left in May 2024 after 13 years with Hayward to work for the city of Santa Barbara.

In a news release Tuesday, Hayward officials said Alvarez will remain on paid leave “pending a final decision on her status” and added that “no further comment on the matter will be forthcoming from the city at this time.”

Salinas did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.

In a December news release announcing Alvarez’s hiring, Salinas said he was “beyond excited” and called Alvarez a “seasoned and highly skilled municipal administrator known for setting the bar high when it comes to delivering the very best public services.”

“She embodies the dreams and aspirations of Hayward families, with a remarkable journey of her own that began with humble immigrant roots,” Salinas said in the statement.

According to her two-year contract, Alvarez gets $385,000 a year in base pay, plus benefits. If terminated, she is entitled to a minimum severance of 90 days of salary and benefits, paid in a lump sum, according to the contract.

Alvarez previously worked as deputy general manager for the East Bay Regional Park District, deputy director of Parks and Open Space for the city and county of San Francisco and director of the Santa Fe Springs Community Services Department.

Alvarez, who was born in Mexico City, holds a doctorate degree in policy, planning and development from the University of Southern California, and a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Northridge.

[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Harriet Blair Rowan

There are fewer kids in classrooms across the Bay Area and California.

Regional and statewide school enrollment numbers continue to drop, though less precipitously than during the first years of the pandemic, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Education.

The state now has 5.8 million TK-12 students enrolled, down nearly 7% from the 6.2 million the state had a decade ago.

“The overall slowing enrollment decline is encouraging,” said Tony Thurmond, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. “While we have more work to do, the dramatic growth in [transitional kindergarten] is inspiring and shows that providing rigorous and quality programs can be a key ingredient to bringing more families back to our schools.”

While statewide changes in enrollment have settled back to the annual drops typical of pre-pandemic years, around half a percent each year, Santa Clara County continues to see the Bay Area’s most notable drops, with the county losing between 1% and 2% of students each of the last three years.

A declining birth rate, a population that is just returning to pre-pandemic highs, and changes in immigration patterns have all contributed to California’s shrinking youth population, and high housing costs have pushed many families out of the region.

The county’s declining enrollment has been a problem since before the pandemic, with Santa Clara County losing students each of the past 10 years, with the most dramatic drops of 3.7% the first full school year of the pandemic, and 4.9% the next year.

This year, the county’s enrollment was around 231,000, down over 16% percent from the 2014-15 school year, when the county had 277,000 students. San Mateo County has had the second biggest drop since 2014-15 in the region, with nearly 12% fewer students than a decade ago.

Only two counties in the Bay Area have seen year-over-year enrollment gains since the pandemic disrupted nearly every aspect of life for Bay Area residents, triggering an exodus from the region, and drops in the overall population.

San Francisco is the one county in the region that saw an enrollment gain from the 2023-24 school year to this school year. The foggy city also had the region’s most dramatic pandemic-era enrollment drops, but has shown slight increases in enrollment in each of the last three years, though the number of students is still 5,000 fewer than the year before the pandemic.

Contra Costa County is the only other county that has seen some positive growth in enrollment, with last year’s enrollment a 0.1% increase from the year before, and this year showing a tiny 0.8% decrease.

musesfool: Olivia Dunham, PI (there are blondes and blondes)
[personal profile] musesfool
Today was chilly and rainy - it was hard to get out of bed, were I was so cozy and warm. Part of me was like, is it May 21st or March 21st? I like it being cooler at night, but I'm so tired of all the rain.

I was supposed to go into the office yesterday, but my meeting got moved to tomorrow on Zoom, so I didn't have to go in. Luckily, my boss understands that I'm much more productive at home, and doesn't demand my presence more than once a month or so (if that). It's just been stupidly busy with the search committee stuff, though she and I are getting ourselves through it by clinging to the idea that once the search firm is on board, there will be significantly less of that work on our plates. *fingers crossed*

Meanwhile, I read another book:

What I've just finished: Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead by Elle Cosimano, the second book in the series. I enjoyed it, but I couldn't think too hard about any of it - just keep it light and breezy - because otherwise it's very hard to believe some of the things the characters choose to do.

What I'm reading now/next: Probably the next book in the series, Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun, since I don't want to lose momentum (okay, I did lose momentum between books 1 and 2 - I had 2 open in a tab for weeks before I actually settled into reading it; sometimes all I want is Batfamily, which is still my main interest in fic-reading these days, for whatever reason).

*
china_shop: Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan crouched down, stroking a black cat, on a gree background. (Guardian - meet cute)
[personal profile] china_shop
I wrote two things for the 520 Day Guardian Reverse Exchange, both Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan. Firstly, my assignment, which I set during the blindness arc. This was the "4k words" fic I kept throwing tons of writing meta at... which helped to some degree, but the first draft still fell bafflingly flat. Thankfully, [personal profile] trobadora prodded me into making them actually talk about their feelings (what? who does that?!), and then it came into focus. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Also, this one had a title from pretty early on, so didn't cause me last-minute title stress. *pets it approvingly*

Title: Trust Fall (6163 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Mutual Pining, Emotional and Physical hurt/comfort, Domestic Weilan, Clothes Sharing, Protectiveness, Weilan letting their guard down around each other, Shen Wei’s secrets and Zhao Yunlan’s feelings about them, Episode Related, Blindness Arc, Missing Scene, Getting Together, First Kiss, Zhao Xinci's A+ parenting
Summary: Shen Wei’s grip on Zhao Yunlan’s arms tightened in line with the tension in his voice. “You didn’t tell Minister Gao.”

“What? This? Eh, why bother him with minor operational details during a holiday?”

“Details.” Shen Wei’s tone was flat, which probably meant his brow was stern. Not Envoy-forbidding, but something in the Mildly Disapproving Professor range.

Zhao Yunlan refused to be disapproved of. Why let worry flood in and wash away their victory?


And then I picked up a late-ish pinch hit. Which would have been completely fine, except that I pounced on the "outsider POV" prompt (yes!!), without considering that my outsider POV fics always run long, because I feel like the POV character needs to get their own arc as well as the requested pairing being very present. Seven thousand words later... Yeah, this is why I've been AWOL for the last week and a half. (Well, and other reasons. But this was a big part of it.)

Anyway, this is one of those post-canon/everyone lives fics, told from Li Qian's POV. I always feel like, having had her life saved by Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan at the beginning of canon, she has a low-key life debt to them. Not like she should call them benefactor or anything, but like they're karmically linked now, which is only a tiny step away from being found family. I had a lot of fun with her perspective, and (again, thanks to [personal profile] trobadora's beta) added more shippiness in the rewrite, and this is how it came out.

Note: This did not come complete with a preordained title, and I was flailing until inspiration hit about an hour before reveals.


Title: The Life-Changing Magic of a Home-Cooked Meal (7341 words) [General Audiences]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Lǐ Qiàn & Shěn Wēi, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, POV Outsider, Domestic, Politics, Dark Energy Science, Worldbuilding, Found Family, Sharing Clothes, Banter, Established Relationship, Long-Haired Shen Wei
Summary: Li Qian peered past him down the hall, but there was no sign of Professor Shen. What should she do with her gifts?

“He’s in the kitchen, cooking up a storm. I’ll take you.” Chief Zhao opened the door wider, and Li Qian squared her shoulders and walked into the home of Professor Shen, Shen Wei, hero, public figure, and Ambassador of Dixing.

Chief Zhao seemed completely at ease. He took her coat and hung it on a coat-rack that was already thickly layered with wool overcoats and leather and denim jackets. She left her shoes on the floor below, next to a pair of fine leather shoes, some casual sheepskin boots and some heavy black ones with buckles.

Her initial base assumption that the Black-Cloaked Envoy would live in eerie, solitary splendour was starting to seem shaky.
[syndicated profile] sjmerc_local_feed

Posted by Harry Harris

OAKLAND — A resident was rescued by firefighters Wednesday morning from his burning Ivy Hill area apartment, officials said.

The man, whose age was not available, was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

The fire erupted about 7:28 a.m. Wednesday in a third floor apartment of a building in the 700 block of East 20th Street.

Flames and smoke were coming from the unit when the first of 25 firefighters arrived. Firefighters entered and rescued the resident from the burning apartment, officials said.

No other injuries were reported.

The fire was declared under control at 8:17 a.m. after causing minor damage to three other apartments, Oakland Fire Department spokesman Michael Hunt said.

It was not immediately known how many residents were displaced.

Hunt said the cause of the fire was a cooking mishap. A damage figure was not available.

September 2022

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