Category: Bay Area

The San Francisco 49ers have once again opened up their checkbook ahead of Election Day, spending over $2.3 million on Santa Clara City Council races — more than 17 times the second biggest spender in the city. Four seats are up for grab on the council and the NFL team is backing Santa Clara Unified School District Trustee Albert Gonzalez in District 1, Councilmember Kevin Park in District 4, Councilmember Suds Jain in District 5 and former Parks and Recreation Commissioner George Guerra in District 6. The 49ers have spent on average roughly $302,000 supporting each of the candidates through the end of October. The team is also running opposition campaigns against some of their chosen candidates’ challengers. The 49ers have shelled out $247,694 opposing former Charter Review Committee member Satish Chandra in District 1, $233,879 opposing former Councilmember Teresa O’Neill in District 4, $230,039 against businessman David Kertes and $391,059 against Santa Clara University Assistant Dean Kelly Cox in District 6 — the most the team has spent on any seat this election cycle. The 49ers are not supporting or opposing indicted Vice Mayor Anthony Becker in

Two years ago, Rep. Kevin Mullin, the incumbent Democrat representing California’s 15th Congressional District, seized a rare opportunity to fill a Bay Area seat previously held by political heavyweight Jackie Speier, who stepped down after 15 years in Congress. As he seeks reelection, Mullin appears well-positioned to retain the seat, having secured 75% of the vote in March’s primary against Republican challenger Anna Cheng Kramer, who garnered 25%. Kramer, an affordable housing executive from San Carlos, is determined to continue her campaign and insists she won’t go down without a fight. As a conservative Republican in the strongly Democratic Bay Area, she claims to have “made a dent” in the local progressive political landscape. If reelected, Mullin’s top priorities will include addressing affordable housing needs and improving regional transportation. District 15, encompassing most of San Mateo County and southeastern San Francisco, is at the “epicenter” of California’s affordability crisis. “The federal government needs to do much more on affordable housing,” Mullin said. “This includes tax credits to make projects financially viable and the ability to activate these initiatives.” Mullin advocates for converting parking areas at

At his Oakland home within earshot of the Coliseum sports arena and the BART tracks, Michale Jones said he usually sleeps just five hours each night. On top of the periodic rattle of the transit trains and roar of sports fans, there’s the intrusion of illicit activities that keep him awake. “I always hear a lot of the gunshots, a lot of music playing, side shows and lots of other stuff like that at night and even midnight every day,” Jones said. Jones might get a little relief Sunday when daylight-saving time ends at 2 a.m. across most U.S. states and clocks “fall back” an hour to standard time, granting an extra 60 minutes to sleep in. But it may not prove much of a break for Jones and his neighbors, whose ZIP code stood out as having the highest percentage of “short sleep duration” in the Bay Area at 41.2%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest 2024 PLACES: Local Data for Better Health report. More than one in three American adults say they do not get the recommended amount

TODAY’S WORD — MERCIFUL MERCIFUL: MER-sih-ful: Full of compassion or leniency. Average mark 38 words Time limit 45 minutes Can you find 45 or more words in MERCIFUL? The list will be published Monday. YESTERDAY’S WORD — EMPHASIS: mash mashes mass mesa mesh mess messiah mishap miss misshape pass passe passim phase pima hasp heap hemp hiss ahem amiss aphis apish apse apsis ashes same sash seam semi sepia sham shame shape shies shim ship smash spam spasm spies impasse To purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last! RULES OF THE GAME: 1. Words must be of four or more letters. 2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed. 3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible. 4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar or sexually explicit words are not allowed. Contact Word Game creator Kathleen Saxe at kzsaxe@gmail.com.

Dear Eric: My partner and I just bought a house together and are settling in nicely. He and his ex were married for 10 years, and she was mentally and emotionally abusive toward him. It took a lot of strength for him to leave. They do not have children, pets or any property together. It should have been a clean break; however, she still contacts him. Recently, she sent him a card in the mail. In it was a housewarming gift, a $1,000 gift card. Two weeks later, she sent him a letter stating how much she still loved him, misses him and wishes he would let her into his life and that she’s changed. He’s not falling for it. He’s aware she is being manipulative but he’s also not confronting her on the issue of letting go either. Instead, he’s choosing to ignore it and believes any response would fuel her behavior even more. I trust my partner, and I know there’s no funny business happening. I also feel this isn’t healthy for anyone. He’s mentioned in the past how he feels obligated to

DEAR HARRIETTE: I have a “friend” who contacts me only when she needs something. She will text or call, acting like she wants to check in on me and then, like clockwork, she almost immediately tells me about something that she is doing and how I can support her. I didn’t figure out her pattern for some time, but now it is obvious to me. Sometimes I don’t have a problem with it, as I like to help people, but it’s clear now that she isn’t really a friend. I’m having a party soon and making the guest list. It is not a large event — mostly close friends. She is on the periphery of this group. I don’t really want to invite her, but I know she will find out about it. Should I add her to the list just to avoid hurt feelings? — Guest List DEAR GUEST LIST: If your party is for good friends, review the potential list of attendees and cross off anyone who doesn’t fit that category — period. Why add her if she doesn’t deserve to be on

Simple Saturday columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking. Today’s North-South reach 6NT in four rounds of bidding. South’s two hearts — a “reverse” — promises extra strength. (Some pairs, especially those who play a two-over-one response as game forcing, treat it otherwise.) When West leads the ten of clubs, South starts by counting sure winners. He has two spades, a heart, four diamonds and four clubs. What chances does South have for a 12th trick? In what order should he try his chances? THIRD SPADE If East holds the queen of spades, South can get a third spade trick by leading from dummy toward his jack. He can get a second heart trick by finessing with his queen successfully. But if South finesses in hearts first, losing, he goes down; to get three spade tricks, he must lose one. Declarer should win the first club in dummy and lead the deuce of spades. When East has the queen, declarer is safe. If West had it, declarer would probably finesse in hearts. DAILY QUESTION You hold: S A K 6 2 H 7 3

Bishop O’Dowd celebrates their 35-27 victory over James Logan’s in a West Alameda County Conference Foothill Division football game in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group) By Nathan Canilao | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: November 1, 2024 at 11:54 PM PDT O’Dowd quarterback Devin Wilson tosses four touchdowns as O’Dowd captures Mission Valley/West Alameda Foothill Division league title. Subscribe to continue reading this article. Already subscribed? To login in, click here.

SUBSCRIBER ONLY The latest installment in the rivalry of South Bay public school titans went to Wilcox thanks to gutsy play calling and a Herculean effort from senior Brayden Rosa. Wilcox High’s Brayden Rosa (2) runs for a first down before being tackled by Los Gatos High’s Andrew Sandoval (6) in the first quarter of their football game in Los Gatos, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group) PUBLISHED: November 1, 2024 at 11:37 PM PDT The latest installment in the rivalry of South Bay public school titans went to Wilcox thanks to gutsy play calling and a Herculean effort from Brayden Rosa.

SUBSCRIBER ONLY Acalanes clinches at least share of league title, can win its first outright league championship in 43 years with a victory next week against Las Lomas Acalanes’ students rush the field after defeating Campolindo at Campolindo High School in Moraga, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Acalanes defeated Campolindo 21-12. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group) Acalanes clinches at least share of league title, can win its first outright league championship in 43 years with a victory next week against Las Lomas Originally Published: November 1, 2024 at 11:35 PM PDT

Two Hayward police officers who used deadly force against a man in 2018 cannot be held criminally liable for their actions, found the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office Public Accountability Unit after re-reviewing the case that had been previously considered by the prior administration, according to a news release from Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. The PAU found that Hayward Police Officers Phillip Wooley and Michael Clark, who fatally shot Agustin Gonsalez on Nov. 15, 2018, could not be held criminally liable because the prosecution could not prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that the shots fired were not in self-defense, according to the news release. This was one of six police shooting cases Price slated for reconsideration by her newly-formed PAU shortly after taking office in 2023. Last month, an Alameda County judge threw out involuntary manslaughter charges against two of three officers accused in the death of Mario Gonzalez in 2021, the only other case of the six that has been reinvestigated. Price filed charges against the officers in April after they had initially been cleared of wrongdoing by Price’s predecessor. Around 9:19

Central Coast Section Open/Division I First round No. 1 St. Ignatius 45, No. 8 Salinas 7 No. 2 St. Francis 24, No. 7 Valley Christian 14 No. 6 Soquel (8-2) at No. 3 Riordan (6-4), Saturday, 1 p.m. No. 5 Los Gatos (8-2) at No. 4 Serra (5-5), Saturday, 1 p.m. Open final No. 2 St. Francis (9-2) vs. No. 1 St. Ignatius (9-2) at San Jose City College, Friday, 7 p.m. Division I semifinal No. 5 Los Gatos or No. 4 Serra vs. No. 6 Soquel or No. 3 Riordan, TBA Note: The first-round winners in the top half of the bracket will play for the Open Division championship in Week 2 of the playoffs. The loser of the Open Division championship will play the winner of the bottom half of the bracket for the Division I championship in Week 3 of the playoffs. Division II First round No. 6 Menlo 21, No. 3 Christopher 14 No. 7 Palma 28, No. 2 Sacred Heart Cathedral 19 No. 4 Menlo-Atherton 35, No. 5 Monterey 7 No. 1 Wilcox 36, No. 8 Santa Teresa 3 Semifinals