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Map: Highland Fire updated evacuation zone and perimeter

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

After a day of “mild” fire behavior, the Highland Fire in Riverside County was 20% contained and the mandatory evacuation area was reduced.Related ArticlesCrashes and Disasters | Philp: California fire victims may be taxed for their suffering Crashes and Disasters | Highland fire: 4 homes reported destroyed in Aguanga Crashes and Disasters | Fast-rising PG&E bills draw big-time opposition Crashes and Disasters | Calm shattered: Southern California Highland fire destroys retirees’ home Crashes and Disasters | Thousands flee Highland Fire in Southern California as hot and dry Santa Ana winds stoke the flames The report Wednesday evening from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection put the burned area at 2,487 acres (3.9 square miles). Seven structures had been destroyed and more than 2,300 remained threatened, it said.The fire started Monday, Oct. 30, amid dry, windy weat...

Bay Area high school football 2023: Week 11 preview, schedule

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

The final week of the high school football regular season is here and what a closing act it’s shaping up to be.Two win-and-in games in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Santa Teresa-Valley Division as Leigh, Westmont, Sobrato and Overfelt vie for the division’s two automatic Central Coast Section playoff spots.A win-and-in game in the BVAL’s West Valley Division between Del Mar and Prospect.A winner-take-all game for the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division championship between Live Oak and Christopher, both undefeated.Acalanes playing host to rival Campolindo with league championship and possibly playoff implications on the line.Antioch and Pittsburg meet in a big Big Little Game.The Bay Area News Group will have coverage of those games and more. If you have not already, please sign up for a digital subscription. Your contributions keep us going.Here are this week’s top matchups and schedule:FridayNo. 17 Clayton Valley (5-4) at No. 2 De La Salle (7-2), 7 p.m.: Play...

Snow time 2023: Get ready for another epic season at Tahoe and beyond

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

So much new! Now that pandemic panic has faded, California ski resorts came off an epic year — one that stretched ski season to midsummer — with hopes for another on the way. The flakes are already flying, a big El Nino event is predicted to bring mega-precipitation during the coming season and resorts are gearing up for projected opening dates before Thanksgiving.Opening dates depend on Mother Nature, of course, along with ever-more- sophisticated snow-making operations. But go ahead: Wax and tune your boards and get ready to ride!Meanwhile, there’s non-ski news all around the lake, from the much anticipated rebranding of the former Embassy Suites/Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel in South Lake Tahoe to the Margaritaville lifestyle brand — a nod, of course, to the late Jimmy Buffett. The new Tahoe Blue Event Center down the road in Stateline, Nevada, is making a splash in the meetings and events world, hosting everything from lectures and conferences to concerts and even the Harl...

Here’s the first glimpse of who is spending money to oust Alameda County DA Pamela Price

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

OAKLAND — A mix of real estate moguls, technology executives, retirees and former Alameda County prosecutors are among the early backers of the effort to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, newly released campaign filings show.The financial backers of the recall were identified for the first time Wednesday as having donated to Save Alameda For Everyone, or SAFE, a group that formed over the summer to oust Price. The first-term district attorney was elected last year on a platform of reforming the East Bay’s criminal justice system and combatting the legacy of mass incarceration.The filings show SAFE raised more than $212,662 from July 1 to Sept. 30. SAFE is receiving big backing from a group called Reviving the Bay Area, which spent $48,000 on polling and in October donated $230,000. One of the group’s officers, Philip Dreyfuss, also was listed as a founding member SAFE, campaign records show.The largest individual donor to SAFE so far is Ryan R. ...

7 terrific Bay Area things to do this weekend, Nov. 3-5

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

Got your weekend plans yet? Well, you have come to the right place, as we have all kinds of fun ideas, from the return of a rom-com icon to great live shows and amazing pies and cookies.Just be sure to double check event and venue websites for any last-minute changes in health guidelines. Meanwhile, if you’d like to have this Weekender lineup delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning for free, just sign up at www.mercurynews.com/newsletters or www.eastbaytimes.com/newsletters.1 WATCH: A new holiday classic?Alexander Payne’s new movie “The Holdover,” starring the delightfully irritable Paul Giamatti, has the feel of a new holiday classic. It tops our roundup of new shows and movies you should watch this weekend.The spiced hot chocolate pie by “Pie is Messy” cookbook author Rebecca Grasley incorporates Mexican hot chocolate flavors and is topped with espresso whipped cream. (Courtesy Anthony Tahlier/Ten Speed Press) 2 BAKE & SCARF: A slice (or two) of h...

BART paper tickets will no longer be accepted after Nov. 30, accelerating transit agency into digital era

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

Start dusting off the old paper BART tickets stuffed into the depths of your wallet, because the transit agency will stop accepting these blue-and-white magstripe passes at station fare gates on Nov. 30.The switch will finally usher in the full transition to all-in-one Clipper cards, which ​​are more durable, reloadable and accepted by every transit system in the Bay Area.Bay Area Rapid Transit officials are now advising riders to use up any remaining balances — stamped directly onto the passes — before the slots accepting paper tickets are officially covered on fare gates.Related ArticlesTransportation | Borenstein: Can Bay Area leaders meet the moment before it’s too late? Transportation | San Jose BART extension, beset by cost increases and timeline delays, gets $375 million in state funding Transportation | Letters: Recipe for disaster | Blinded by politics | GOP hypocrisy | Local options | Kill subsidies Transpor...

Photos: Oakland Ballet brings a Day of the Dead celebration to San Leandro school

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

As kindergartners to second-graders looked on, 10 dancers of the Oakland Ballet dressed as skeletons walked one by one through the door, moving stiff and zombielike,  to begin the show “Luna Mexicana,” a Day of the Dead ballet educational performance Wednesday at Yu Ming Charter School in San Leandro.Soon after, the kids were mesmerized by the music, dancing and colorful attire.“Luna Mexicana” is a story of a young girl who falls asleep by her family’s ofrenda. Then her relatives arrive dressed as skeletons and she spends the night dancing with different ancestors, to traditional Mexican music, folkloric and hip hop, said Graham Lustig, the Oakland Ballet artistic director.Oakland Ballet dancer Jazmine Quezada performs an excerpt of Luna Mexicana, a Day of the Dead theme ballet for K-2 students at Yu Ming Charter School in San Leandro, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. Luna Mexicana is story of a young girl who falls asleep by her family’s ofrenda. Then her...

Homeless shelters break ground in Palo Alto, Richmond

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

Construction is underway on two new homeless shelters in the Bay Area — a prefabricated project in Palo Alto for more than 200 people and a tiny home village in Richmond for more than a dozen young adults.At a groundbreaking ceremony this week for the Palo Alto site, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian applauded the project planned for near the Baylands at 1237 San Antonio Road as a crucial step toward bringing more of the county’s nearly 10,000 homeless residents indoors.“We know interim shelter is only part of the solution, but we can’t allow folks to remain on our streets while they wait for permanent housing,” Simitian said in a statement.The facility, with 88 “modular” units resembling shipping containers, is expected to open by early 2025, officials said. It’s estimated to cost around $37 million, with $22 million coming from California’s $3.75 billion Homekey homeless housing program.The rest of the money is being p...

Wildfire in Canyon prompted evacuation warning overnight Thursday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

CANYON, Calif. (KRON) -- A structure fire in the unincorporated Contra Costa County community of Canyon prompted an evacuation warning overnight Thursday as fire crews worked to contain the blaze.The structure fire was reported at 10:30 p.m., according to Moraga-Orinda Fire District Fire Marshal Jeff Isaacs, and the first crews at the scene found a structure fully engulfed in flames. The blaze spread to nearby vegetation, which turned into a half-acre to an acre of wildfire, Issacs said.Due to the threat of the wildfire, an evacuation warning was issued for Canyon residents, according to fire officials. The warning was rescinded as the fire came under control.No injuries have been reported. 3 hospitalized in Antioch Hobby Lobby hazmat situation Issacs said that downed power lines, narrow roads and limited water supplies initially hampered fire suppression efforts.A “significant dispatch” of Moraga-Orinda Fire District firefighters, assisted by Cal Fire, the East Bay Regional Park ...

Self-confessed Oakland drug dealer facing 20 years to life in prison

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:50:02 GMT

(BCN) -- A self-confessed drug dealer from Oakland is facing 20 years to life in prison for selling various illegal drugs in San Francisco, federal prosecutors said.Melvin Alexis Diaz Arteaga, 28, admitted he possessed and intended to sell 6.6 kilograms, or about 15 pounds, of fentanyl along with amounts of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement Wednesday.Diaz was arrested outside an apartment in Berkeley on Nov. 16, 2022. According to his plea agreement, which was accepted on Oct. 26, Diaz admitted using the same Berkeley apartment to make and store large amounts of drugs for sale in the Tenderloin district, among other areas. Wildfire in Canyon prompted evacuation warning overnight Thursday Prosecutors said more than $50,000 in cash was seized by officers on the night of his arrest, including nearly $42,000 found in his bedroom. Diaz admitted he got the money from drug ...