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California researcher gunned down in Mexico

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

For four years, Gabriel Trujillo trekked the breadth of the United States and south into Mexico in search of a flowering shrub called the common buttonbush. The plant is native to the varied climates of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Trujillo, a 31-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, wanted to know why it thrived in such a range of places, and whether the evolution of the species held possibilities for future habitat conservation and restoration efforts.The research was tragically cut short last week in Mexico, where Trujillo’s father said he was shot seven times. Authorities discovered his body on June 22 in the state of Sonora, in northwest Mexico, days after his fiancée reported him missing.The killing has left the family reeling and searching for answers in a case that has yet again highlighted the rampant violence that plagues Mexico locations controlled by drug cartels.‘THE WRONG PLACE’Trujillo drove across the Arizona border into Nogales on June 17...

After 100 years, Sarah Winchester’s house still mystifies millions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

It was never supposed to be about the house.When Winchester Park opened to the public 100 years ago today, it promised dancing and bands on acres of pastoral land that were meant to become an amusement park. But what everyone really wanted to do was walk through Sarah Winchester’s house on the grounds, a sprawling Victorian mansion that many in San Jose had heard about but had never seen up close.As the Winchester Mystery House celebrates its centennial, San Jose’s most enduring and famous landmark continues to draw the curious not only from the Bay Area but from around the world.“We’re just so honored that 100 years on, this story still resonates,” said Walter Magnuson, executive director of the Winchester Mystery House since 2015. “It’s a little different for us celebrating this milestone, because typically we’re celebrating Sarah Winchester and we’re telling the stories and legends and lore associated with her, but for the centennial we’re really cel...

Gas isn’t as pricey as last year, but starting this weekend, you’ll pay a little more at the pump

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

The record gasoline prices that hammered motorists a year ago haven’t returned, but it’s going to cost you a little more to fuel up starting this weekend when the state’s gas tax goes up.California’s gas tax — already one of the country’s highest — will climb 8% July 1, or about 4 cents a gallon or 56 cents per 14-gallon fill-up. The increase will bump the total gas tax on a gallon of petrol to 57.9 cents.In a state with the country’s second-highest gasoline prices, averaging $4.80 on GasBuddy and $4.83 at AAA, that’s going to pinch a bit more.But it’s not expected to change driving habits much heading into the weekend before the Independence Day holiday. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said for the most part, motorists will just “grumble and take it.”The fuel-savings platform says gas prices nationally are averaging $1 less than a year ago in California and most other states, offsetting...

Bear breaks into Colorado home Tuesday, comes back Wednesday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

Tuesday night, a black bear entered a Granby home through an unlocked door. Hours later, it came back for seconds.The most recent break-in occurred sometime between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Wednesday, said Rachel Gonzales, spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. No one was home at the time.“Bears usually have a hard time with knob-style doors, but this bear figured out how to open them,” Gonzales said. “That’s why we’re always telling people who live in bear country to lock your windows, lock your doors because once a bear figures it out, they can do it again and they will come back.”RELATED: How to survive a bear attack – or better yet, avoid one altogetherGonzales said no one was injured and the damage was relatively minimal, likely caused by the bear searching for food.“I asked the district wildlife officer to rate the damage on a scale of one to five,” Gonzales said. “She gave it a three and said it looked like someone threw a really good party.”To keep bears out of your ...

Opinion: We were held hostage by an airline for a day and a half

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

If you’ve ever been held hostage by an airline for a day and a half, I invite you to whine right along with me.My wife and I recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary with a trip to Key West, Fla. The vacation itself was fabulous.And then we spent an entire day and night (and half the next day) sitting in three different airports over a 29-hour span enduring one exasperating delay after another, a stretch interrupted only by lousy food, heartburn and, you guessed it, lost luggage.We dropped off our rental car at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in plenty of time for our 2 p.m. flight home. With one connection, we were expecting to arrive in Sacramento just nine hours later and thus get home well before midnight local time.Yeah, right.First, our flight got pushed back to 2:15. Then it was delayed until around 3:30 and eventually until well after 5. There were a few thunderstorms in the area (common for this time of year), but the excuses we were getting fro...

Apple buys big Cupertino office building as real estate footprint grows

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

CUPERTINO — Apple has grabbed a big Cupertino office building in a purchase that points to the tech titan’s expansion mode — a real estate deal that also hints at a feeble office market in the wake of the coronavirus.The iPhone maker bought a four-story office building at 10200 South De Anza Boulevard, a property that’s about two miles from the company’s Cupertino world headquarters at Apple Park.Apple paid $70 million for the vacant office property, according to documents filed on June 29 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.The tech company bought the building through an all-cash deal, the county public records show.The building totals roughly 161,000 square feet and occupies about 1.3 acres near the corner of South De Anza Boulevard and Cali Avenue, a few blocks from Stevens Creek Boulevard, according to property databases.The floors are roomy, ranging in size from 36,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet, which allows for plenty of fl...

Opinion: Rename San Jose street after Filipino-American civil rights activist

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

“I’m Asian?!” my son exclaimed.He was 7, and we had arrived at a summer camp on the border of San Jose and Milpitas. “You didn’t know?!” I responded incredulously. As a Filipino parent of biracial children, I have often wondered about this interaction with my now teenage son. I regret my reaction, scolding him for not knowing. The same thing happened to me a few years ago when I told a White colleague that I didn’t know about Larry Itliong until I was 40. “Really?! Even I knew about him,” he said judgmentally.Although I was raised in San Jose by Filipino immigrants, I had no knowledge of Larry Itliong, the first Filipino-American civil rights activist. Itliong played a significant role in forging the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) with Cesar Chavez. He was a strong advocate for workers’ rights and one of the Delano Manongs, the first wave of Filipino men to immigrate to the United States. They experienced severe discrimination and racist violence during the Watsonville riots. Itlio...

Opinion: Contra Costa DA Becton capitulated with bogus racial-bias court ruling

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

Thanks to the Contra Costa district attorney’s puzzling refusal to adequately defend her office against bogus allegations of racially discriminatory charging practices, the county’s most dangerous gang-banging murderers will avoid the punishment they deserve.Diana Becton’s anemic response to both the charge of bias and a subsequent court ruling sustaining it will leave informed observers with the nagging suspicion that she’s happy with the result. She could use the ruling as a convenient excuse for never again seeking appropriate charges against hardcore gang members and for dropping charges against some who already have been convicted.Under California law, a gang-inspired murderer can see his sentence “enhanced” by 10 additional years, and in the case of an especially egregious murder, the gang connection could support a “special circumstance” subjecting him to a no-parole life sentence or even the death penalty. In either instance, the connection must be ch...

Professor: There’s no proof California paid bounties for Native American scalps

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

CHICO — If you could have cornered Native Americans during the early decades of California’s existence as a state, you could have murdered your way to publicly funded riches — as much as $25 per scalp, head or other body part.In fact, the state would have gladly paid this bounty to anyone willing to aid in an official effort to exterminate native populations as people of white European ancestry sought to settle the new state.Sound far-fetched? It is, and Chico State history professor Mike Magliari can prove it, following substantial detective work on the topic. His essay, “The California Indian Scalp Bounty Myth: Evidence of Genocide or Just Faulty Scholarship?” appeared in the summer 2023 edition of California History, a publication of the University of California Press.Magliari Magliari, along with fellow Chico State professor Mike Gillis, is an expert on early California history — especially as it pertains to John Bidwell and his establishment of what became the modern city ...

Sale closed in Oakland: $2 million for a four-bedroom home

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:33:06 GMT

5408 Bryant Avenue – Google Street ViewThe spacious historic property located in the 5400 block of Bryant Avenue in Oakland was sold on May 16, 2023. The $1,975,000 purchase price works out to $837 per square foot. The house, built in 1922, has an interior space of 2,359 square feet. The property features four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a garage. The unit sits on a 3,000-square-foot lot.Additional houses that have recently changed hands close by include:In July 2022, a 1,114-square-foot home on Thomas Avenue in Oakland sold for $2,825,000, a price per square foot of $2,536. The home has 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom.On Kales Avenue, Oakland, in August 2022, a 1,405-square-foot home was sold for $1,800,000, a price per square foot of $1,281. The home has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.A 1,634-square-foot home on the 5300 block of Manila Avenue in Oakland sold in July 2022, for $1,652,000, a price per square foot of $1,011. The home has 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.