Category: Bay Area

Baseball No. 1 Granada 4, Reno 3 Riley Winchell stroked a bases-loaded single to center with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh on Wednesday night to drive in Peyton Richards with the winning run as Granada remained undefeated, beating Reno in the opening round of the Bishop Gorman tournament in Las Vegas. Richards opened the inning with a walk. Mikey Boyd followed with a bunt single and Parker Warner was walked on four pitches to load the bases, setting the stage for Winchell’s dramatic finish. Granada (13-0) scored three in the third to grab a 3-1 lead. Reno responded with two in the fourth to even the score. Boyd had three hits and an RBI for Granada, which is off to its best start since it opened the 2013 season 20-0. A.J. Hattaway pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh innings for Granada. Reno fell to 9-5. No. 2 Acalanes 7, Vintage 1 Acalanes improved to 14-0 as Sully Bailey tripled, doubled, singled and knocked in two and Henry Souza had two RBIs to lead the Dons past Vintage at the Concord tournament. Peter

The A’s appear poised to leave Oakland, their home since 1968. The team had scheduled meetings with Oakland and Sacramento officials on successive days this week and is nearing a deal to play next season at Sutter Health Park, home of the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, Sacramento radio host Dave Weiglein reported Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the team is staying quiet: Attempts to reach an A’s spokesperson and team president Dave Kaval went unreturned Wednesday evening. A spokesperson for the Sacramento mayor’s office declined to confirm whether the meeting set for Wednesday even took place. The organization is reportedly set for an internal meeting tomorrow. It all leaves Oakland fans in limbo, waiting for word that they will be losing a third team since 2019. Of course, the A’s have threatened to leave before — many times, in fact. Here’s a timeline of Oakland’s often tenuous hold on its baseball team: 1970: Two years after moving the A’s from Kansas City to Oakland, owner Charlie Finley reportedly talks with Toronto representatives about moving the team to Canada. 1975: Finley, the absentee owner who lived in Chicago, was

LOS ANGELES — If their first series against the fearsome Dodgers provided any indication, then no, the San Francisco Giants did not come close this winter to closing the gap between them and their deep pocketed rivals to the south. The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep Wednesday, handing the Giants a 5-4 loss, and like the previous two, never trailed. As parting gift, Shohei Ohtani slugged his first home run in Dodger blue, a 430-foot solo shot off Taylor Rogers in the seventh that proved to be valuable insurance when Jorge Soler answered with an even more impressive 452-foot solo shot the following inning. Dropping the final two games of the series by just one run apiece, the Giants scratched and clawed again Wednesday, with a two-run single from Michael Conforto and another solo shot from catcher Patrick Bailey, but moral victories don’t count in the standings. “You don’t get any prizes for close,” manager Bob Melvin said, referencing a deep fly ball off Conforto’s bat following Soler’s blast in the eighth inning that could have tied the game but fell just short, similar to

SAN JOSE – A pedestrian who was hit and killed by a driver over the weekend in San Jose has been identified as Qinghua Liu, 79, of San Jose, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office. The collision happened around 7:40 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Saratoga Avenue and the Interstate 280 on- and off-ramps, the San Jose Police Department said. Liu was crossing eastbound on Saratoga Avenue in the north crosswalk when he was hit by a man driving a black 2021 Mitsubishi Mirage northbound on Saratoga Avenue, according to police. He suffered major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, police said. According to police, preliminary information suggested Liu was crossing against a solid red hand when he was hit. Alcohol and drugs did not appear to play a role in the collision. Liu’s death marked the 11th traffic fatality of the year on city streets. Anyone with information related to Sunday’s collision can contact SJPD Traffic Detective Ryan Leslie at 408-277-4654 or 4264@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be

SAN JOSE  –  Natalie Dixon’s offspeed pitches baffled Gunderson batters as the junior Del Mar softball pitcher rang up a season-high 16 strikeouts on Wednesday afternoon. The Dons won 11-4 and extended their perfect start to 7-0.  Facing a Blossom Valley Athletic League West Valley Division opponent that entered the game averaging 20 runs-per-game, Dixon got 11 of her strikeouts via a swing-and-miss third strike. And after every pitch, strikeout or not, her defense serenaded and strengthened Dixon with cheers. “They’re so supportive, and always talking, cheering and encouraging me,” Dixon said. “It helps me.” A huge second inning gave the Dons the cushion it needed, scoring six runs as each player in the batting order came up to the plate.  Del Mar didn’t need a hit to score its first run.  Kaida Carson started the inning by getting hit by a pitch, and Maren Woodfill drew a walk, Zulema Hernandez de Orta was hit by another pitch to load the bases, and then Angelina Lopez earned another walk to drive in a run. Singles by Sienna Denson and cleanup hitter Suzette Hernandez de Orta

ANTIOCH – A man was carjacked Tuesday afternoon at the Kaiser Permanente Antioch Medical Center, police said. The incident happened just before 1:15 p.m. at the medical center, located at 4501 Sand Creek Road, Antioch police Acting Capt. Desmond Bittner said in a news release. When officers arrived at the scene, they learned the victim had confronted several suspects in the process of stealing his vehicle, Bittner said. One of them, Bittner added, confronted the victim, making him fear for his safety. Bittner said the suspects drove away in the victim’s vehicle, which was later found in a nearby neighborhood. After obtaining several leads, officers turned the investigation over to the police department’s investigations bureau. Police did not announce any arrests in the case Wednesday

San Mateo County will commit to allocating at least $1 million to fight an epidemic of loneliness, Supervisor David Canepa said in a forum Wednesday on the topic in Redwood City. This is the first financial commitment made by a county official to address loneliness as a public health concern two months after the Board of Supervisors declared it a public health emergency. “I’m here to announce that the County of San Mateo has committed to Peninsula Family Service $1 million. The bottom line is we cannot have our nonprofits doing the work if we don’t invest in the nonprofits,” Canepa said during the event, hosted by Peninsula Family Service, a nonprofit based in the city of San Mateo. “We are committed to doing that.” Canepa told this news organization at the sidelines of Peninsula Family Service’s forum “Overcoming the Epidemic of Loneliness: A Community Challenge” that the budget will be proposed and voted on by the board sometime in September. He said it would be a “one-time allocation” that would be sourced from the county’s budget or Measure K, a local sales tax fund

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Rich Republicans again evade justice Two Republicans, Donald Trump and Ken Paxton, have demonstrated unequivocally that, in the United States, if you have enough money you can escape criminal prosecution and accountability for your actions. Paxton, the attorney general from Texas, once again bought his way out of legal troubles without so much as a hand slap. Trump, by virtue of delays, incessant appeals and all manner of chicanery, has shown that a scofflaw can indeed prevail, escape prosecution and real accountability, deny any and all wrongdoing and still be the presidential candidate for millions of Americans. Jon James Pleasanton A cry for a free home is not anti-semitic Re: “Universities battle to define antisemitism” (Page A6, March 26). Noah Feldman cites the phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine should be free” and questions whether it is antisemitic. I’d broaden it to “from the North Pole to the South Pole, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Palestine should be free.” Why should anyone be imprisoned or assassinated anywhere

OAKLAND — The grisly shoreline discovery last year of a Pleasanton woman’s headless and dismembered corpse — and the potential lack of concrete evidence for exactly how she died — took center stage Wednesday during opening statements in the murder trial of her boyfriend. Blame for the July 2023 killing and beheading of Rachel “Imani” Buckner came under intense debate as Alameda County prosecutors opened their case against Joseph Roberts, 43, who faces a murder charge and sentencing enhancements in the woman’s death. While prosecutors laid responsibility for Buckner’s death and the subsequent state of her “mutilated and violated” body on Roberts, defense attorneys questioned whether the lack of a specific cause of death in the case unspooled prosecutors’ entire narrative. Authorities first responded to a report of Buckner’s decapitated and partially-dismembered body on July 20, 2023, after a passerby found it stuffed inside a black plastic garbage bag that was bound with duct tape near the Bay Farm Island Bridge in Alameda. Her head, hands and feet have not been found. Standing before the jury, prosecutor Courtney Burris asked the jury to focus on

WALNUT CREEK — Patients at Planned Parenthood will soon have a quieter experience obtaining contraceptives, getting an abortion or seeking any other reproductive health care. That’s because bullhorns, megaphones, loudspeakers or any voice amplification devices have been banned within 100 feet of the doorway entrances to the facility, located at 1357 Oakland Blvd. in Walnut Creek. Concerned about the physical and emotional toll of noise reverberating through the reproductive health care facility’s walls and inside exam rooms, the Walnut Creek City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to enshrine the ban in its municipal code. Slated to take effect May 15, the new law is the city’s latest attempt to reduce the harassment, intimidation and obstructive behavior from protestors outside, which impacts patients’ ability to safely access care at Planned Parenthood. Elected officials previously approved “buffer zones” intended to keep protestors at least 100 feet from the clinic in 2022. Notably, the amendments of that ordinance approved Tuesday do not currently apply to any other reproductive health care facilities in the city, because, city councilmembers said, they have not reported the same level of disruptions as

A house that sold for $2.4 million tops the list of the most expensive residential real estate sales in Oakland in the past week. In total, 70 residential real estate sales were recorded in the area during the past week, with an average price of $812,821. The average price per square foot was $549. The prices in the list below concern real estate sales where the title was recorded during the week of March 18 even if the property may have been sold earlier. 10. $1.5 million, single-family residence in the 6200 block of Leona Street The sale of the single-family home in the 6200 block of Leona Street, Oakland, has been finalized. The price was $1,525,000, and the new owners took over the house in February. The house was built in 1995 and has a living area of 2,851 square feet. The price per square foot was $535. The house features four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Leona Street 9. $1.6 million, single-family house in the 12100 block of Blythen Way The 4,088 square-foot detached house in the 12100 block of Blythen Way in Oakland

RICHMOND — Relatives and business partners of sitting Richmond councilmembers may soon no longer be welcomed on city commissions and other decision-making bodies. The City Council on Tuesday began weighing a nepotism ordinance that would prevent councilmembers and staff with hiring power from appointing their family and business associates to boards, commissions, committees and task forces. It would also stop them from hiring relatives to city positions. But, if eventually approved, loved ones currently on those boards may be allowed to finish their terms. Under the city charter, the mayor has authority to recommend board appointments, which then need council approval. On Tuesday, Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez and Councilmember Cesar Zepeda, who brought forward the ordinance, argued the lack of a clear nepotism policy leaves the city vulnerable to corruption. The city’s administrative manual includes a broad definition for relatives — everyone from a parent, step-parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, child, step-child, grandchild, brother, sister, step-brother, step-sister, aunt, uncle or first cousin — but doesn’t prevent someone from hiring a relative. “In a perfect world scenario, we have no corruption, but we’re not there and this is

It’s been nearly a month of vote counting in California’s congressional District 16 race that’s been full of twists and turns with frequent lead changes between Assemblymember Evan Low and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, and with the unofficial election results finally in, the two are ending the primary election in a dead tie. The tie is the latest twist in the District 16 race to replace U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo that has captivated voters in the South Bay and on the Peninsula over the last month. On Tuesday afternoon, Santa Clara County posted its unofficial results, with Low leading by one vote. But on Wednesday, San Mateo County recorded its remaining votes, adding one more to Simitian’s total and keeping his congressional hopes alive. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. 

OAKLAND — The warfare over plans by Oakland International Airport to incorporate San Francisco Bay into its name widened on Wednesday after the East Bay aviation hub drafted travel leaders into its cause. San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport is the proposed new name of the East Bay air travel hub — which, according to a post on the Airport Parking Shop website, would approach the length of the current longest airport name, Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan palace Complex, an airport in Dubai. The new name proposed for Oakland International Airport prompted San Francisco International Airport officials to object, saying the suggested moniker would create confusion. “We are deeply concerned about the potential for customer confusion and disservice that could result from this proposed renaming,” said Ivar Satero, director of San Francisco International Airport. But on Wednesday, it became clear that Oakland Airport was determined to adhere to its plan to navigate its way to a new name and identity. “No one owns the title to the San Francisco Bay,” said Craig Simon, the Port of Oakland’s aviation director. Oakland Airport

By Hillel Italie | Associated Press NEW YORK — Maryse Condé, an acclaimed French-language novelist from Guadeloupe who in novels, stories, plays and memoirs imagined and redefined the personal and historical past from 17th century New England to contemporary Europe, has died at age 90. Condé, winner in 2018 of an “alternate” Nobel Prize, died Monday night at a hospital in Apt, outside Marseille. Her longtime editor, Laurant Laffont, told The Associated Press that she had suffered from a neurological illness that impaired her vision to the point of having to dictate her final novel, “The Gospel According to the New World.” But she still enjoyed a 90th birthday celebration, in February, when she was joined by family and friends. “She was smiling, she was joyous,” said Laffont, who otherwise remembered her as a woman of uncommon intensity and generosity. “It was a wonderful farewell, a truly great sendoff.” Condé, who lived in Luberon, France in recent years, was often called the “grande dame” of Caribbean literature. Influenced by Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire and other critics of colonialism, she was a world traveler who probed

In celebration of National Ramen Day April 4, Yelp is out with its Top 100 Ramen Spots in California list, a crowd-sourced ranking of customer favorites. “It’s no secret that Californians are obsessed with ramen,” Yelp said in its announcement. “In fact, according to Yelp data, California has had the second-highest number of searches for ramen in the country since 2019! And across the entire US, Los Angeles (#1) and San Francisco (#2) are the top 2 cities with the most Yelp users who have earned a Recognition badge for their reviews in the ramen category.” But it’s a Santa Clara restaurant that ranked highest in the Bay Area and Northern California, snagging the No. 3 spot. Ramen Hajime, located on Stevens Creek Boulevard near Lawrence Expressway, was founded by a ramen master, Hajime Kitayama, who became co-owner of a ramen shop in San Diego more than a decade ago, according to Yelp. That restaurant reportedly became so popular that is was selling up to 948 bowls a day. “Be sure to try one of their signature Kiwami ramen bowls (with your choice of tonkotsu

Lauren Peace, Tampa Bay Times | (TNS) KFF Health News OCALA, Fla. — Fire Capt. Jesse Blaire steered his SUV through the mobile home park until he spotted the little beige house with white trim and radioed to let dispatchers know he’d arrived. There, Shawnice Slaughter waited on the steps, wiping sleep from her eyes. “Good morning, Shawnice,” Blaire said. “How are you feeling today?” “I’ve been good, I’ve been good,” Slaughter said. “Much better.” Three days earlier, Blaire — a paramedic who leads the fire department’s emergency medical team — met Slaughter at a nearby hospital. She had overdosed on opioids. It took four vials of an overdose reversal medication and dozens of chest compressions to get her breathing again. At the hospital, Blaire told Slaughter about a free program that could help. It wouldn’t just connect her with a recovery center but would also get her doctors’ appointments, plus rides there. More important, she would get medicine to alleviate withdrawal symptoms so she wouldn’t search for drugs to ease the sickness. Blaire would bring that medication, daily, to her home. “I have a

Lauren Sausser | KFF Health News (TNS) When Karla Adkins looked in the rearview mirror of her car one morning nearly 10 years ago, she noticed the whites of her eyes had turned yellow. She was 36 at the time and working as a physician liaison for a hospital system on the South Carolina coast, where she helped build relationships among doctors. Privately, she had struggled with heavy drinking since her early 20s, long believing that alcohol helped calm her anxieties. She understood that the yellowing of her eyes was evidence of jaundice. Even so, the prospect of being diagnosed with alcohol-related liver disease wasn’t her first concern. “Honestly, the No. 1 fear for me was someone telling me I could never drink again,” said Adkins, who lives in Pawleys Island, a coastal town about 30 miles south of Myrtle Beach. But the drinking had caught up with her: Within 48 hours of that moment in front of the rearview mirror, she was hospitalized, facing liver failure. “It was super fast,” Adkins said. Karla Adkins works as a coach to help people quit drinking alcohol.

The 49ers won’t be doubling their Brock collection, after all. Over the weekend, the team signed restricted free agent Brock Wright to an offer sheet, but the Lions, for whom Wright played the last three years, announced Wednesday that they will match the offer. Wright will earn $12 million ($6 million guaranteed) over a three-year deal, according to ESPN. Detroit had tendered Wright a one-year offer of just below $3 million to maintain the right of refusal if Wright signed an offer sheet elsewhere. The 49ers are still seeking a second tight end to pair with George Kittle and spell him at times. Charlie Woerner left in free agency for the Falcons, leaving the 49ers with two players entering their second year behind Kittle on the depth chart. Cameron Latu was a third-round pick out of Alabama but missed the entire regular season and playoffs with a meniscus injury suffered in August. Seventh-round pick Brayden Willis dressed for seven regular-season games and all three playoff games, but only played 56 total snaps on offense with no catches, according to Pro Football Reference, instead filling more

As California’s $20 minimum wage kicked in for fast-food franchise workers this week giving them a 25% pay boost, the state’s Republicans pointed Tuesday to an ad for a $16-an-hour busser from a Lake Tahoe area cafe Gov. Gavin Newsom founded that’s part of a hospitality group now run by his sister. PlumpJack Cafe in the Lake Tahoe community of Olympic Valley, which posted the job ad last month for the restaurant and bar that opened in 1995, wouldn’t be subject to the state’s $20 fast-food minimum wage, which took effect April 1 for some 3,000 franchise restaurants belonging to chains with 60 or more locations nationally. But the Democratic governor’s Republican critics said it’s another example of the governor avoiding rules he imposes on others. “I wonder why Gavin Newsom’s food businesses don’t pay $20/hour?” Assemblyman Joe Patterson, a Rocklin Republican, posted Tuesday on X. “It’s very, very expensive to live there… but he doesn’t do as he tells others and doesn’t pay a living wage.” I wonder why @CAgovernor @GavinNewsom’s food businesses don’t pay $20/hour? Live job posting at $16/hr in Olympic Valley. It’s

SAN JOSE — A deadly hit-and-run crash occurred early Wednesday in a residential neighborhood, prompting several road closures in the area, according to San Jose police. The crash involving two vehicles was reported at 4:12 a.m. on Nieman Boulevard near Elkins Way, a street that becomes Daniel Maloney Drive on the west side of the boulevard and leads to Montgomery Elementary School and Silver Creek High School. Additional details about the circumstances of the collision were not immediately released by police. Nieman Boulevard, an arterial road that connects Capitol Expressway to Yerba Buena Avenue, was closed for one to two blocks in each direction surrounding the crash site to allow police to examine the site. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.