Category: Bay Area

A measure of success, I believe, is not how you look at a problem, but whether you look at the same kind of problem the same way as a year ago. My columns this week focused on resolving guesses — for instance, a two-way guess for a missing queen — by drawing inferences from the bidding or play. A beginning declarer is unable to organize his thought-processes well enough to draw inferences; he has other worries, such as whether to draw trumps. But most “card-reading” is simple in principle. It takes focus and practice, but anyone can do it. Today’s South plays at four spades after North has opened one club in fourth position. West leads the jack of hearts, and declarer takes the king and sees a possible loser in each suit. If West has both black kings, South may make an overtrick; but if East has both, the defense will have time to set up and cash a heart trick. At Trick Two, South correctly leads a diamond. He hopes to set up a diamond trick in dummy for a heart discard. West

Dear Amy: I’m writing to you to ask your opinion of a moral/ethical situation that I am experiencing. Many years ago, my mother died, leaving a will that stated that my brother and I were to share equally in the money that she had in bonds. She had discussed this bequest with me. Since she made my brother the executor of her estate, he was able to sell the bonds without my knowing. He kept all the money and told me that there was none for me. My brother died last year. I didn’t want to bring up the aforementioned situation at that time, due to my sister-in-law’s health and her intense grief. But now that it’s almost a full year since he passed, I’d like to know this: Would it be morally/ethically correct if I ask her for the money that my brother “stole” from me? I know that she most likely didn’t know anything about the fact that he did this. It upsets me to know that he didn’t honor our mother’s final wishes. I do need the money. So I’d like your

DEAR ABBY: I have been deceiving my husband for a couple of months and can’t figure out how to come clean. I feel like a terrible person. We have been married 17 years, and during the first four or five we were happy. We don’t have very many disagreements, but when we do, he always wins. This is because he’s intense, intelligent and very intimidating, so I always back down. I am so uncomfortable with him and careful about what I say that it has started to make me depressed and anxious. I’m in therapy and trying hard to speak up for myself. The deception I speak of is that I have rented an apartment in another town and have lied to him about trips to see my sister, my daughter and my mother just so I can feel some peace, read a book, knit, and just … be. He has no idea because our finances are separate (his choice). I’m afraid to tell my husband I want to leave him because a few years ago I expressed how unhappy I was and said I

Baseball No. 3 Serra 5, No. 11 St. Ignatius 1 The Padres bounced back after dropping the first of a two-game series against the Wildcats on Friday.  St. Ignatius took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Patrick Ruane scored Makai Susor on a sacrifice bunt.  Serra responded in a big way in the fourth inning.  The San Mateo school scored four consecutive runs as St. Ignatius struggled to get outs. After Evan Bradshaw knocked in Ian Josephson to tie the game, the Wildcats walked three straight batters with the bases loaded and Serra took a 4-1 lead heading into the fifth.  Ian Armstrong’s RBI single in the seventh gave Serra a commanding 5-1 lead to seal the win for the Padres.  Serra, which improved to 18-5, 9-3, snapped its two-game losing streak. St. Ignatius dropped to 15-7, 6-6. No. 4 Valley Christian 11, Bellarmine 0  The Warriors blanked Bellarmine behind a superb pitching performance from Rohan Kasanagottu . Kasanagottu pitched 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits.  Stanford commit Quinten Marsh went 3 for 3 with five RBIs and a

SAN JOSE – A woman was found shot to death Friday night in downtown San Jose, according to authorities. Officers responded to a report of an injury around 9:07 p.m. in the area of North 4th Street and East St. John Street, police said Saturday. The victim, who was not breathing when police arrived, was taken to a hospital but later pronounced dead. It was the city’s 12th homicide of the year. The suspect was gone by the time officers got to the scene. Police have not yet released the suspect’s description or a possible motive for the shooting. The victim’s name is being withheld pending notification to next of kin. The San Jose Police Department is investigating the fatality. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Sgt. Van Den Broeck and Detective Estantino of the Homicide Unit at 3829@sanjoseca.gov and/or 4339@sanjoseca.gov or 408-277-5283.

The City of Berkeley presented the Berkeley Bay Festival at Shorebird Park in the Berkeley Marina on Saturday. The perfect sunny spring weather and the location attracted hundreds of visitors to the free family event as a celebration of the San Francisco Bay local wildlife. It featured dozens of exhibits and hands-on educational activities from environmental and wildlife conservation organizations from around the Bay, live music by Purple Fox and the Heebie Jeebies, West Grand Brass Band, Pan Extasy, and a performance by Prescott Circus Theatre as festival goers watch the colorful and lively shows from the lawn while picnicking or enjoying the food trucks. Visitors also took a close look at aquatic animals displayed in a 1500-gallon tank as part of the Mobile Fish exhibit brought by the East Bay Regional Parks District, which was one of the big attractions of the event. Also, the Cal Sailing Club, which held an open house, provided free 20-minute boat rides to visitors. Volunteers from Cal Sailing Club give 20-minute free rides to visitors during the Berkeley Bay Festival at Shorebird Park in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday

The Pac-12 set a conference record with 43 selections in the 2024 NFL Draft and will carry loads of momentum into next — err, never mind. At least the conference went out on top, breaking its previous seven-round record of 39 selections set in 2015. That total was second among all conferences — the SEC led the way with 59 selections — and reflects the high quality of play in the Pac-12 last season. But the backdrop of realignment loomed over the three-day event in Detroit. Both Washington State and Oregon State produced three picks. The other 37 selections played for schools that are departing the Pac-12 this summer. Washington led the way with 10 picks, tying the school record since the draft was reduced to seven rounds in 1994. But if we expand our scope, the future of the sport becomes clear: Schools that will be members of the SEC and Big Ten next season accounted for 140 of the 257 selections (55.5 percent) — more evidence of their growing dominance. The first example came courtesy of the College Football Playoff: All four participants

A person was fatally shot Saturday afternoon in the Coliseum neighborhood of Oakland, according to Oakland police. Responding to an alert by the gunshot sensor ShotSpotter, officers arrived at the 6900 block of Hamilton Street just before 1:30 p.m. They found a struck vehicle but no victim. While on the scene of the crime, officers were notified that a person with a gunshot wound had arrived at a local hospital and was pronounced dead by medical personnel. The victim’s name is being withheld pending notification to next of kin. The Oakland Police Department is investigating the fatal shooting. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Homicide Section at 510-238-3821 or the tip line at 510-238-7950.

SAN JOSE — A year ago, San Jose State had a clear succession plan for when star quarterback Chevan Cordeiro eventually graduated. Former SJSU head coach Brent Brennan brought in University of Oregon and Liberty High School quarterback Jay Butterfield from the transfer portal and recruited highly-touted Sacramento area high school QB Anthony Garcia to be SJSU’s future playmakers once Cordeiro left the program after the 2023 season.  Since then, Brennan has left to be the head coach at the University of Arizona, Garcia has followed the long-time SJSU head coach, and Butterfield has fallen to fourth on the depth chart.  Enter Saturday, and new SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo has made it clear there will be a quarterback competition for who will be under center for the Spartans next season.  Two quarterbacks on the roster have caught his eye: Walker Eget and Emmett Brown.  “Right now it’s neck-and-neck between Walker and Emmett right now,” Niumatalolo said. “Right now I’m looking for the guy who’s going to take care of the ball for us and also be the leader that commands the respect from both

Cal Poly Humboldt officials are closing the campus for the remainder of the semester with classwork continuing remotely, as pro-Palestinian student activists refuse to end their occupation of two academic buildings. This closure means that anyone on campus without authorization by University Police is subject to citation or arrest, the university wrote in a statement Saturday. Students living on campus are being asked to limit their movement to between their residence hall and dorms, and they cannot be on other parts of campus “until further updates.” The far Northern California campus had already been shut down since Monday, when dozens of students set up an encampment inside Siemens Hall, an academic and administrative building, at the Arcata school in an act of “solidarity with those facing genocide in Gaza,” organizers said. They demanded that the university divest from Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers. University administrators called in riot police to clear the encampment, resulting in a clash with protesters and three arrests. “Those who are staying in there are not staying in there for noble causes. They’re criminals,” University President Tom Jackson told the Eureka

STANFORD – When Stanford opened last season at Hawai’i, traveling a day earlier than usual to adjust to the time change and the long flight, little did it know that it would be good preparation for the years to follow. Starting this season, Stanford will replace annual trips to the Pacific Northwest and Southern California with cross-country flights as it begins a new era in the ACC. The Cardinal will play four games in the Eastern time zone in 2024, including visits to Syracuse, Clemson and N.C. State and a previously scheduled game at Notre Dame. “It’s going to be fun,” junior cornerback Colin Wright said. “I know a lot of people have mentioned the travel implications, but I think all those things will work themselves out. Playing against schools that we’ve all admired growing up like the Clemsons and Miamis will be interesting. “A kid like me from Texas has never been to the East Coast, so it will be an interesting opportunity to see those places.” While almost everyone would prefer the old arrangement of the Pac-12 and its longstanding regional rivalries, the

Mark Madsen won’t be the only former Stanford player in the Cal men’s basketball program next season. Andrej Stojaković, the son of former NBA All-Star Peja Stojaković and a former top-25 recruit, told ESPN that he will transfer to Cal after spending his freshman year across the bay with the Cardinal. Stojaković averaged 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds over 32 games as a freshman under Jarod Haase, who was fired following his eighth season in charge, none of which ended with an NCAA Tournament berth. Stanford hired former Washington State coach Kyle Smith, but Stojaković was one of several key players to leave the program. The 6-foot-7 Sacramento native also considered Kentucky and North Carolina, according to recruiting site On3.com, but ultimately decided to stay in the Bay Area. He shared the news on social media by simply posting an edited image of himself in a Cal jersey. “The stories and experiences he was able to share with my dad the first time meeting, we kind of bonded over each other’s goals,” Stojaković told ESPN of Madsen, who visited him the first week after he

Video posted online Tuesday by California Highway Patrol Golden Gate’s Air Division captures Bay Area cops chasing a suspect driving a car stolen in San Bruno until its tires rolled off in Solano County and the car immolated in Sacramento on Saturday night. The footage recorded by a camera on CHP Airplane 37 shows the pursuit in one dozen cuts over four-and-a-half minutes documenting CHP Golden Gate’s involvement in the April 22 chase, which begins in the video on I-80 eastbound as the suspect passes the Bayview Avenue exit in Richmond around 11:20 p.m. The voice in the left audio channel eight seconds in is Air-37 dictating the suspect’s motion to dispatchers responding on the right channel and coordinating with police on the ground dropping a spike strip to puncture the stolen car’s tires. The suspect continues fleeing at speeds CHP said exceeded 100 miles per hour until the car catches fire on I-5 in Sacramento and they bail out to surrender. “Unfortunately, even with four flat tires and the vehicle riding on the rims the driver continued to flee,” CHP Golden Gate Air Division

By Kirsten Grieshaber | Associated Press BERLIN — Several German parties on Saturday kicked off their campaigns for the election of the European Parliament in June with a focus on issues such as the war in Ukraine and support by many European voters for far-right nationalist parties across the continent. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ’s center-left Social Democrats, or SPD, launched their official campaign for the June 9 EU election with a rally in Hamburg, Scholz’s longtime home city. Responding to many German voters’ fears their country could be drawn into Ukraine’s war with Russia if it’s too proactive in its military support for the eastern European country, Scholz tried to alleviate such concerns. The chancellor reiterated that Germany would continue to stand by Ukraine’s side under his leadership as the second-largest arms supplier after the U.S., but would avoid a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia. “To those who are worried, who are afraid, I say: you can rest assured that no matter how the debates go, the German Chancellor, the government I lead, will not abandon the course of prudence, the course of

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is returning to the Middle East on his seventh diplomatic mission to the region since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began more than six months ago, the State Department said Saturday. Blinken is traveling to Saudi Arabia on Monday, just two days since arriving back in Washington after a trip to China. Blinken will attend a World Economic Forum conference and meet with Arab foreign ministers in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. An Israeli foreign ministry official says Blinken will visit Israel on Tuesday, a stop not mentioned in the State Department’s announcement about Blinken’s itinerary. His latest Mideast trip, on the heels of meetings in China with President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking officials, comes as the war grinds on, with more than 34,000 Palestinians killed, hundreds of thousands displaced and a steadily worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. In the surprise attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7 that triggered the war, about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 people abducted. U.S.-backed efforts to negotiate a cease-fire in exchange for the release of the hostages

By Larry Neumeister | Associated Press NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction. Attorney Arthur Aidala said Weinstein was moved to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan after his arrival on Friday to city jails. “They examined him and sent him to Bellevue. It seems like he needs a lot of help, physically. He’s got a lot of problems. He’s getting all kinds of tests. He’s somewhat of a train wreck health wise,” Aidala said. A message left with the hospital was not immediately returned Saturday. Messages seeking comment were also left with city and state corrections offices. On Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals vacated his conviction after concluding that a trial judge permitted jurors to see and hear too much evidence not directly related to the charges he faced. It also erased his 23-year prison sentence and ordered a retrial. Prosecutors said they intend to retry him on charges that he forcibly performed

Like many baseball teams in the Bay Area, Los Gatos spent a week away from home playing non-league teams.  But instead of taking on other opponents from the West Coast, the Wildcats traveled down to middle Tennessee, playing unfamiliar programs like Friendship Christian and Overton in a small town called Lebanon. Located around 45 minutes east of the state capitol and a world away from what the South Bay natives were used to, the teenagers grew to appreciate the state that coach Mike Minkel spent his college years. “They saw a lot of respect for strangers and people you’ve never met before,” said Minkel, who went to school at Cumberland in Lebanon. “A lot of time spent holding doors for people and going out of your way to be kind when you don’t have to be.” Despite both graduating from the same NAIA program in the 2000’s, both Minkel and his assistant coach Eric Mull still have plenty of friends in the area, making it possible to plan games and put together events with help from locals.  Los Gatos won all three games in the

If you’ve driven near the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds recently, you surely noticed Cirque du Soleil’s majestic big top — known as the Grand Chapiteau to fans — has risen in the fairgrounds parking lot. With the delightful “Kooza,” Cirque is back in town with all its tents for the first time since 2019, not counting an arena show last year at SAP Center. The show itself is loaded with all the crowd-pleasing antics and mind-blowing acrobatics that you’d expect from the touring French-Canadian troupe. If you don’t leave the show feeling elated and a little awestruck, that may be on you. Performers clown around with a member of the audience, far right, during Cirque du Soleil’s “Kooza,” at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)  And fair warning to anyone in an aisle seat close to the stage: You might just get brought onstage for a fun bit as one unsuspecting audience member did Thursday night. But after seeing the show Thursday night, I was most surprised by how much better the Fairgrounds

Thanks to a recent blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court ruling on excessive and often arbitrary local fees, reform may be on the way that could help ease California’s worsening housing crisis. But critical unanswered questions from the ruling could also lead to an unproductive morass of litigation — something state legislation could avert. The case, Sheetz v. County of El Dorado , stems from a homeowner who had to pay $23,420 in county fees to mitigate the transportation impact from a single home he proposed to build himself. George Sheetz challenged the fees, arguing that the Constitution limits what the government can take from you without fair compensation. Lower courts disagreed, citing a long-established precedent allowing the fees based on the way they were charged. But the Supreme Court in a unanimous decision with wide-ranging implications said that yes, because the Constitution does not distinguish between the way a fee is charged, neither will they. Fees on housing in California are the highest in the country and have been for decades, largely because Proposition 13 took away large amounts of money from old, single-family housing that subsidized local governments. Fees here are expensive:

California’s public schools, with nearly 6 million students, are feeling the financial impacts of a quintuple whammy. Billions of federal dollars to cushion the impacts of COVID-19 have been exhausted, school closures during the pandemic magnified declines in enrollment, chronic absenteeism has worsened, inflation is increasing operating costs, and the state budget is plagued by a huge deficit. Since the state largely finances schools based on their attendance, many local districts are seeing ever-widening gaps between income and outgo, stalling what had been a decade-long pattern of increasing per pupil spending. Local school trustees have few options to balance their budgets. They can close schools with low enrollments, lay off teachers and other staff or ask voters to approve tax increases, usually what are called “parcel taxes” on homes and commercial property — all of which encounter resistance. There is one other way for school officials to reduce their financial gaps: make it more difficult for charter schools to operate. Charter schools also get their money from the state, but operate independently. For years, they have been engaged in a running battle with school unions, particularly those of teachers

California’s math wars are roiling the state’s educational system, with contentious debates over high school curricula. At issue is whether a “data science” course should be available as a substitute for Algebra 2. The University of California and California State University systems previously accepted data science as an advanced math requirement in place of Algebra 2. But UC and CSU both recently reversed that decision. Data science proponents cite the high failure rates of Black and Latino students even in Algebra 1. They point to the concrete, real-world applications of data science as an excellent student motivator compared with dull, theoretical algebra topics such as the quadratic formula, arguing that the substitute offers more vital knowledge for our data-oriented society. Two popular data science curricula have emerged: UCLA’s Introduction to Data Science and Stanford’s youcubed. But as a longtime data science educator, I am appalled at the implications and consequences of allowing data science to substitute for Algebra 2. Among other concerns, it would hurt Black and Latino students, the very group that data science proponents profess to help, teaching them almost no practical or conceptual skills. Opponents of data science programs like