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sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 10:20 pmAn Oakland teen became a fentanyl tycoon, feds say. He now blames grandma’s cancer diagnosis
OAKLAND — He started selling fentanyl on Bay Area streets as a boy.
By age 18, prosecutors say he was directing a multi-state ring that stockpiled the deadly powder by the kilogram, sold ounces of it at at a time, and had ongoing plans to obtain more from the Cartel Jalisco New Generation in Mexico. Now, because of all this, 19-year-old Eldin Miralda Cruz will spend the remainder of his teens and part of his 20s in federal prison.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar sentenced Miralda Cruz was to four years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, a federal offense that likely would have resulted in a higher prison term if not for his young age, according to court records. Prosecutors describe Miralda Cruz as “a hard-working, independent, and entrepreneurial young drug dealer,” who made hundreds of “pertinent” calls during a DEA wiretap investigation, negotiating not just drug deals in Oakland but Portland, Oregon, agents reportedly overheard him bossing around men in their 20s.
But could all of this been motivated by a personal tragedy? That’s what Miralda Cruz’s defense team has argued. They say that after making the dangerous trip, alone, from Honduras to the Bay Area, enrolling at International High School in Oakland, and taking a job at a packaging plant in Hayward, Miralda Cruz got word that his grandma was sick with cancer. That changed everything, a defense sentencing memo says.
“With little income coming in, he learned that his grandmother in Honduras had been diagnosed with cancer and needed help to pay for her treatment. Only 16 years old and struggling to find money, he turned to selling drugs,” his attorneys wrote in court filings. “It was a terrible decision that Mr. Miralda Cruz regrets immensely—he knows now that there was no excuse for the choice he made.”
Miralda Cruz was charged as part of a large scale DEA investigation that branched into two cases. One charging him in the Bay Area, another charging a family member named Melvin “Tito” Miralda Cruz in Portland. A raid of Melvin Miralda Cruz’s Portland stash house yielded 7.4 pounds of fentanyl powder as well as “over $100,000 in cash, multiple containers of a fentanyl cutting agent (Mannitol), and fentanyl processing equipment,” prosecutors said in court filings.
The wiretap call allegedly demonstrated Eldin had directed Melvin “and others to conduct dozens, if not over a hundred, drug deals” Oregon. Eldin also sold drugs to an undercover DEA agent five times in 2023 and 2024, including one $1,200 deal for five ounces, authorities said in court filings.
“In these communications, Mr. (Eldin) Miralda Cruz and Tito also discussed that one of their fentanyl sources was the Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), which is a cartel that is a major distributor of fentanyl and other controlled substances from Mexico into the western United States,” prosecutors said in court filings, later stating that Eldin Miralda Cruz was “no pawn, but instead directed co-conspirators who were older than him.”
The case against Melvin Miralda Cruz and his co-defendant, Pablo Marin Aguilera, is still pending.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys both agreed on the four-year prison term, with U.S. Attorneys acknowledging he’d have faced 70 to 87 months behind bars if not for his young age. The four-year sentence, prosecutors argued, struck a balance between the need for deterrence and message to other drug dealers that “while their youth will be a consideration, it will not be tantamount to a get-of-jail free card that absolves them of responsibility for their actions.”
After prison, Eldin Miralda Cruz will be deported back to Honduras, his attorneys said in court filings, quoting his own desire to “do things the right way.”
“Mr. Miralda-Cruz has no intention of returning to the country and reoffending. Though his childhood was challenging, he enjoys a supportive relationship with his parents, with whom he will be reunited when he returns to Honduras,” the defense sentencing memo says. “He also has plans for employment upon his return: He will work on his family’s farm and sell produce at his grandfather’s fruit stand.”
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primeideal) wrote2025-09-16 06:16 pmPythagoras be like
yourlibrarian) wrote2025-09-16 05:06 pmOverlooked Again
Two other factors: "It's not just celebrating entertainment. It's trying to talk about the ways that popular culture and entertainment can deeply shape who we are and want to be as a people, as empathetic citizens in the world" and "also...is it a story that matters? So, sometimes the craft can be brilliant, but it may not be a story that matters." ( Read more... )
2) A few more notes about Silent Witness as I move into S26. S23 seemed a really unusual season, enough so that I wondered about its production dates. ( Read more... )
3) Watched a documentary on the BeeGees which, like a lot of documentaries, goes very light on the time after their popularity peaked. (That was one thing the Billy Joel and Bon Jovi ones avoided). ( Read more... )
4) A Spy Among Friends was well written and interesting to watch but I kept constantly thinking about the 2003 Cambridge Spies which I saw last year and suspect it's much closer to the truth. ( Read more... )
5) Just a few comments about the Emmys, mostly in how unsurprising it was that Stephen Colbert finally won an Emmy for Best Show more because voters were jolted into a show of support. Yet John Oliver won yet again, twice. (Particular irony given the broadcast was on CBS).
Otherwise can't say it was entertaining and I wish a lot of stuff not involved in handing out awards had been cut. The tribute to Gilmore Girls seemed to really exemplify "too little, too late" since it and so many shows from the WB had been overlooked through sheer snobbery decades ago, when the attention would have done more good.
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sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 10:09 pmSanta Clara County wants to become a regional leader in the fight against ICE
As President Donald Trump continues his crackdown on immigrants living in the country illegally — including pushing large-scale enforcements in Democratic-controlled cities like Los Angeles and Chicago — Santa Clara County leaders want the county to expand its role in fighting back.
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a referral on Tuesday from Supervisors Sylvia Arenas and Betty Duong to craft a plan on how the county can coordinate a regional response to immigration enforcement activities and maximize the $13 million already allocated by the county, the city of San Jose and other organizations to support immigrant communities.
Santa Clara County has the largest share of immigrant residents of California’s 58 counties — more than 40% of its residents were born outside of the United States. One in five of immigrant residents also are undocumented, according to county officials.
“(The Trump Administration) is creating a humanitarian crisis right here at home where children are afraid to go to school, parents are afraid to go to work and families are pushed into hiding,” Duong said. “It is our responsibility as public servants to ensure the safety of everyone in our community, no matter what their status, no matter who they are.”
Arenas and Duong expect the work to be “cost-neutral” — leveraging the $11 million the county has allocated since Trump was elected to a second term in November — while potentially temporarily shifting staff to work on the plan.
“What this is actually doing is offering the Board an opportunity to shape the details of the work plan so that you can see what the objectives are, what the goals, what the activities are that are going to make this work effective and efficient,” Arenas said. “The money is already there. We have already approved it.”
While details of the plan are pending, Arenas and Duong requested that the Sheriff’s Office work with local law enforcement agencies to ensure everyone is complying with “sanctuary” jurisdiction policies that prevent using local resources to aid in federal immigration enforcement.
Santa Clara County allocates $6 million annually through its Office of Immigrant Relations to support immigration legal services. But in December 2024, supervisors upped that investment, shifting $5 million out of a reserve fund for actions like legal support to prevent family separation, rapid response efforts and “know your rights” education.
The county is the main funder of the local Rapid Response Network. In June, as federal authorities started carrying out arrests at immigration courts in San Francisco and Concord, the network’s hotline saw a surge of calls reporting possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement sightings.
The proposed plan received praise from advocates during Tuesday’s board meeting.
Dilza Gonzalez, the director of organizing for Sacred Heart Community Service, urged the board to “protect urgent community needs.”
“Right now the premise of protection against unreasonable searches and equal protection clause under the 4th and 14th amendments have been stripped away from people who don’t look white or don’t speak perfect English regardless of your immigration or legal status,” she said. “Our communities are being unfairly targeted, and it is our shared responsibility to step up and defend their rights.”
But several residents criticized the county for trying to interfere with federal immigration activity.
One woman, who identified herself only as Alice, questioned why the county wasn’t advising individuals living here illegally to self-deport. As part of its broader immigration enforcement efforts, the Trump administration has tried to persuade undocumented individuals to self-deport by offering them a $1,000 stipend.
“Are you really trying to help illegals or are you trying to exploit them?” Alice told the Board of Supervisors. “It’s not compassionate but cruel to mislead them into thinking you have legal authority to defend them when in fact you don’t.”
While Trump has sent the National Guard into other Democratic-controlled locales like Los Angeles and Washington D.C. as part of his crackdown on both immigrants living in the country illegally and crime, and made threats to other blue cities like Oakland, Santa Clara County has so far managed to stay out of the president’s crosshairs.
Last month, the Justice Department published a list of cities, counties and states that it identified as “sanctuary” jurisdictions. While Santa Clara County has had the aforementioned policy on the books since 2011, San Diego County, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Berkeley were the only California locales to make the list.
“Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a recent news release. “The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.”
With other cities in the spotlight of the Trump administration, Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga asked that the county ensures they “are not taking any strategies that jeopardize our immigrant residents through drawing federal scrutiny.”
“That’s my concern,” she said. “I don’t want a bigger bullseye on our back rather than protecting our community.”
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 10:08 pmArchbishop Riordan guard Andrew Hilman stays in the City, commits to USF
Archbishop Riordan shooting guard Andrew Hilman is staying home — in a manner of speaking.
The senior, who originally hails from Cameroon, has decided to make San Francisco his collegiate home as well. On3’s Joe Tipton announced on the X platform Tuesday that Hilman has committed to play basketball at the University of San Francisco, giving the Dons a commitment from one of the top hoops prospects in the City.
Hilman is rated as a three-star in the Class of 2026 by 247Sports and the No. 156 player in the country. He is ranked the No. 25 shooting guard nationally and No. 16 player in California.
Along with fellow college prospects like Washington’s Jasir Rencher and John Tofi, who now plays football at Cal, Hilman led Riordan to the CIF NorCal Open Division championship and a spot in the CIF Open Division state championship game last season. The Crusaders lost 80-60 to Roosevelt-Eastvale from Southern California in the state final.
Hilman was Riordan’s second-leading scorer against Roosevelt with 11 points.
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sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 09:54 pmSan Jose Sharks sign 2018 first-round draft pick to professional tryout
SAN JOSE – With training camp starting later this week, the San Jose Sharks have signed free agent forward Oliver Wahlstrom to a professional tryout agreement.
Wahlstrom, 25, has 73 points in 236 career NHL regular-season games, having spent five years with the New York Islanders before splitting time last season between the Boston Bruins and their AHL affiliate in Providence.
The Bruins claimed Wahlstrom off waivers from the Islanders on Dec. 14, then waived him in late February and assigned him to the AHL, where he remained the rest of the regular season and playoffs. In 43 games between the Islanders and Bruins last season, the 6-foot-2 Wahlstrom had six points and averaged just over 10 minutes of ice time per game.
Wahlstrom had 15 points in 19 games with Providence but was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Bruins in June and became an unrestricted free agent.
Wahlstrom, taken 11th overall by the Islanders in 2018, has an AHL deal in place with the Barracuda, David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period first reported, if he does not make the Sharks roster as a depth option out of training camp.
“Oliver comes with an impressive NHL resume,” Barracuda general manager Joe Will said in a statement announcing the signing. “His size and skill are a welcome addition to our organization.”
Wahlstrom, a native of Portland, Maine, turned professional in 2019 after one season at Boston College, where he was teammates with Barracuda forward Patrick Giles.
The Sharks begin camp on Thursday at Sharks Ice in San Jose. All practices and scrimmages are open to the public.
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 09:46 pmHow you could win $1,000 this Saturday by picking up litter at the beach
For the past 40 years, thousands of people have fanned out across beaches, lakes, streams and parks every September for California’s Coastal Cleanup Day — the state’s largest annual volunteer event.
They have picked up litter to help improve the environment, protect wildlife and spend a few hours outdoors with family and friends. But this Saturday, on the event’s 41st year, there will be a new incentive: Prizes. Good ones, actually.
In an effort to increase participation, which dropped during the COVID pandemic and has yet to fully recover, the California Coastal Commission will offer some impressive prizes hidden in small 4-inch wooden chests at cleanup sites around the state. More than 20 vouchers can be exchanged for such rewards as $1,000 in cash, two nights at the Sonoma Mission Inn and Fairmont San Francisco luxury hotels, an e-bike, San Francisco Giants tickets, an inflatable kayak, $100 gift cards, and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at an A’s game.
“We are turning it into the world’s largest scavenger hunt,” said Eben Schwartz, marine debris program manager at the California Coastal Commission, which oversees the event. “There’s a lot of excitement about it.”
The prizes were donated by various large corporations, including Wells Fargo, Fairmont, the San Francisco Giants, the A’s, Oracle, Door Dash, Aquarium of the Pacific and others.
The event runs from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. To sign up, go to coastalcleanupday.org
The cleanup isn’t just limited beaches along the ocean. Volunteers for years have cleaned up creeks, rivers, lakes, and other inland areas. For the first time, all 58 of California’s counties will participate, after groups in Trinity County (population 15,000) organized a cleanup this year along the Trinity River near Weaverville, about 70 miles south of the Oregon border.
Since 1985 when the statewide event began, it has been a rite of fall. More than 1.8 million volunteers have picked up more than 27 million pounds of debris across California. This year there are more than 700 cleanup sites.
Major agencies, like the East Bay Regional Park District and the Santa Clara Valley Water District are cleaning up multiple sites.
Volunteers are asked to bring gloves and a bucket to the site they choose. If they aren’t able to bring either, the site coordinator, often part of a parks department or non-profit group, provides them. Everyone tallies up what is picked up. After 40 years the data has shown numerous trends.
In general, California’s beaches and waterways have gotten cleaner over the past 40 years.
Twenty years ago, in 2004, volunteers picked up an average of 18 pounds of litter per person. Last year it was 8.5 pounds. Some of that is due to monthly cleanups that non-profit groups do on their own throughout the year.
But recent changes in California laws also have affected the type of litter found on beaches, Schwartz said.
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law banning smoking on state beaches and state parks, with a fine of up to $25 per violation. Cigarette butts, nearly always the top item found each year by number, declined to 22% of the total amount of trash picked up last year — 82,895 butts — down from 394,920 in 2009, when they made up 37% of all trash collected.
Plastic bags have shown a similar drop since former Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law in 2014 banning single-use plastic grocery bags in an attempt to reduce litter and ocean pollution. Voters upheld the law two years later, rejecting a challenge from the plastic bag industry.
The result? In 2009, plastic grocery bags made up 8.7% of the pieces of litter found in California during Coastal Cleanup Day. Last year, they totaled just 1.6%.
“If anyone ever tells you plastic bag bans don’t work this proves them wrong,” Schwartz said. “It’s a huge success story. There has been a steady drop.”
The event is still bouncing back from the COVID pandemic. In 2019, the year before COVID hit, 74,410 people volunteered. During COVID in 2020, only 19,730 people did, without organized group events. That number grew to 47,493 by last year.
Schwartz said he expects 50,000 or more will join this Saturday.
Funny items turn up every year.
“Last year, we found an old ThighMaster at Point Isabel in Richmond,” said Jessica Sloan, volunteer program supervisor, with the East Bay Regional Park District. “It was half-hidden in the mud, with a few barnacles on it. But it still worked. People were trying it out.”
Sloan said East Bay Parks, which will have 11 cleanup locations this year, typically receives about 2,000 volunteers. Last year they hauled away 8,000 pounds of trash and cleaned 12 miles of shoreline in three hours.
“It’s fun,” she said. “It’s an incredible way to give back. Every piece of trash that we pick up is cleaning habitat for wildlife and making the parks better for our community.”
On the Peninsula, a non-profit group, the Pacific Beach Coalition, will oversee cleanups at 15 locations from Daly City to Half Moon Bay, and including Foster City.
The organization purchased $10 gift cards from coffee shops and other local businesses to hide as prizes. Lynn Adams, president of the coalition, said it’s important to remove trash before the first big rains of winter wash it into the ocean. Prizes help make the morning fun, she added.
“The beach cleanups are kind of like a wild hunt anyway,” said Adams, a former school teacher. “This makes it more of a game. It’s fun to go out with your family, and to know you are not the only ones who care. A lot of people care. It feels good to do something positive and to be with other people who are doing something positive.”
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 09:27 pmSan Jose’s Rotary PlayGarden turns 10, and its age is showing
There were a lot more grown-ups than usual at the Rotary PlayGarden last Saturday morning. Don’t worry, they weren’t hogging the slides or the swingset. The gathering of elected officials and community leaders was there to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the inclusive playground, where kids of all abilities have been able to play side by side.
This playground – a gift to the city from the Rotary Club of San Jose to celebrate its centennial — was a real jewel nestled in the Guadalupe River Park off Coleman Avenue when it opened in 2015. More than 1 million people have passed through its forest green gates in the decade since, and quite frankly it’s starting to show.
A merry-go-round designed to hold wheelchairs has been closed and fenced off while it awaits replacement parts. A shade structure in the picnic area has been ripped away by the elements, and the wear-and-tear from all that play is obvious on other features.
The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy is charged with maintenance of the park, and they’ve done a great job overall.
But Executive Director Jason Su says that when the park was built, most of its special features were being produced in Europe, not the United States. So the replacement parts have to come from Europe, and that’s been a bit of a wait. No doubt tariffs aren’t going to help the situation, either.
“All of these features are unique, they’re specialized,” Su said. ”They require support. They require reinvestment so that access is not just a descriptor but an action.”
One action people can take to maintain that access, Su says, is to support the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy at www.grpg.org.
PARTY IN EAST VILLAGE: Given the general mood of fear around celebrations that may bring out a lot of immigrants, it was heartening to see so many people come out to San Jose’s El Grito at City Hall on Monday night, commemorating the start of Mexican Independence Day.
There should be a lot of people on the streets near City Hall on Thursday as well That’s when the next big downtown block party is taking place in the East Village Business District on Santa Clara Street between Seventh and Ninth streets from 5 to 9 p.m.
Singer/songwriter Ashley Mehta — who has been having quite a summer with her single “Heat” — will be the headline act, taking the stage around 7:30 p.m. She should feel right at home, too, as she’s a San Jose State graduate. It’s free with an RSVP at Eventbrite.
WEDDING BELLS: What happens when a beloved radio personality and a “recovering, cynical divorce attorney” decide to tie the knot? The answer is a heartwarming and, at times, hilarious wedding at Regale Winery in Los Gatos for former KBAY morning show host Lissa Kreisler and Jeffrey Blum, her steady guy for the past 13 years.
It’s a second marriage for both; Blum was divorced, while Kreisler’s first husband, Michael Whelan died in 2007. In his vows, Blum said he never thought he would remarry but decided “love is not a battlefield but a garden to be cultivated.”
Unsurprisingly, Kreisler couldn’t contain her bubbly personality that radio listeners grew to love over her decades on KLOK and KBAY. “Did you say my ‘awful wedded spouse’?” Kreisler asked during her vows. Fortunately, after 13 years, Blum’s gotten used to her sense of humor.
ART AND ABOUT: “Pushing Boundaries: Ceramic Artists and Identity” just opened last weekend at the Palo Alto Art Center, and it’ll be celebrated at this week’s Friday Night at the Art Center. The free event starts at 6 p.m. and will include performances by Mosaic America, as well as specialty cocktails and other refreshments for sale.
Friday also will mark the debut of “Ashwini Bhat: Being, Longing…,” a site-specific installation at the Palo Alto Art Center by the Bay Area artist that includes a performance video projected onto clay, a neon element and a large-scale ceramic mandala. You can get more information about the exhibitions at www.paloalto.gov/artcenter.
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 09:16 pm2 Southern Californian men arrested in statewide CVS gift card scam
Santa Rosa police last month arrested two men and confiscated more than 25,000 compromised gift cards related to a fraud operation potentially spanning hundreds of CVS locations in California, police said.
The arrests occurred on Aug. 7, after automated license plate readers in Sonoma County captured the plate of a vehicle associated with prior fraud incidents, Sgt. Patricia Seffens said in a news release.
On Aug. 1, the department received an advisory of that same vehicle’s possible connection to a crime known as “gift card draining.” In this operation, scammers record or alter the activation information for legitimate gift cards, then re-seal them. When someone buys one of the tampered gift cards, the scammers access the funds when it is activated, draining the card of its value. The account number or PINs are also often damaged.
After receiving the tip, real time crime center analysts tracked the vehicle as it stopped at CVS stores in Rohnert Park, Petaluma, Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, including the location at 2700 Yulupa Avenue. An undercover sergeant followed one of the passengers, later identified as 29-year-old Yongsheng Zhao, into the Santa Rosa store and saw him manipulating gift cards while hiding another large stack of cards in his possession, Seffens said.
An officer, working in communication with detectives, pulled over the vehicle near Bennett Valley Road and Warm Springs Road in Glen Ellen.
Zhao, of El Monte, and Zhipeng Li, 33, of Monterey Park, were detained. Police searched the vehicle and found 10,000 gift cards bundled and identified by store location, about $7,000 cash, and ledgers documenting an operation involving more than 200 CVS stores. The gift cards were for stores such as The Home Depot, Macy’s and Bath & Body Works.
Detectives later discovered compromised gift cards at other locations Zhao and Li visited that day. About a week later, police found 15,000 more gift cards in a hotel room the two men rented in Hayward.
Zhao and Li were booked into the Sonoma County jail on suspicion of six felony charges, including burglary, grand theft, theft and forgery of access card information, forgery and conspiracy. On Aug. 8, they were both charged in Sonoma County Superior court with all six counts.
Zhao and Li were initially booked under an enhanced bail of $100,000.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Li remains in custody and is set to appear Oct. 3 in court. Zhao was initially released on bail, but violated the agreement, according to court records. A warrant for his arrest was issued Sept. 5.
Santa Rosa police continue to work with other state and federal agencies to investigate the extent of the gift card scam. The Petaluma and Sebastopol police departments and CVS asset protection and corporate investigators assisted in the case.
Since the arrests, investigators have worked with retailers to identify and remove damaged gift cards from shelves.
Some indicators that a card has been tampered with include visible tears around the edge of the secure pack, paper fibers sticking out around the border that indicate a knife cut the side, knicks on the pull tab, brand logos or colors that seem slightly off, a balance that does not match what was spent or a PIN cover that is wrinkled, compromised or doesn’t match typical packaging.
Anyone who believes they have been a victim of gift card fraud should report it to their local law enforcement agency, Seffens said.
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 09:13 pmBill to boost housing near transit passes. But one Bay Area county got an out
California lawmakers last week passed a bill to allow taller housing developments near major transit hubs, which they hope will create much needed housing and boost transit ridership. But to get the bill over the finish line, it will also include a number of exemptions, including one loophole that allows an entire Bay Area county to avoid the law.
The bill, SB 79, is the culmination of an eight-year effort by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco to pass a “transit-oriented development” bill. The new law gives developers permission to build multifamily housing as high as seven stories within a quarter-mile radius of BART or Caltrain, or up to six stories within a half-mile radius. Land along light-rail and certain bus lines will also be up-zoned to allow for buildings up to six and five stories high.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the measure in the coming weeks.
“Decades of overly restrictive policies have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people away from jobs and transit and into long commutes from the suburbs.” Wiener said in a statement. “Building more homes in our most sustainable locations is the key to tackling the affordability crisis and locking in California’s success for many years to come.”
But the final version is narrower than Wiener’s original 2018 proposal, having been whittled down to meet the demands of suburban lawmakers and affordability activists who have blocked previous versions of the bill.
One amendment to the bill meant that it would only apply to counties with more than 15 high-frequency train or bus stops. Ultimately, just seven counties within the state fit the bill: Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. (Orange County will be included after their streetcar project is completed next year.)
In the last week of the session, legislators tweaked the language defining which stations count toward that threshold. The changes allowed one Bay Area county in particular to duck the law: Contra Costa.
With its 12 BART stations, and three Amtrak stations on the Capital Corridor line in Richmond, Martinez and Antioch, Contra Costa has exactly 15 qualifying stations, just below the threshold.
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and city councilmembers in Lafayette and Orinda — both home to BART stations that would have been subject to up-zoning to allow higher density — lobbied their state lawmakers to get the amendment passed. They argued that SB 79 would increase density along fire evacuation zones in the county and put existing residents at risk.
Assemblymember Anamarie Avila Farias, who represents northern Contra Costa County, said in a statement that the final bill language “upheld [Wiener’s] vision while also respecting the distinct needs of each community.”
Tenant advocates also got carve-outs, which they say will help prevent displacement of low-income families. Developers can’t use SB 79 to advance a project that would demolish more than two rent-controlled apartments, which would prevent most multifamily buildings built before 2014 from being redeveloped through the law.
Through 2031, cities may also exempt certain areas defined as “low-resource” by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, so long as they also plan for density in other parts of the city. That could exempt much of the areas around BART stations in Oakland, San Leandro and Hayward from SB 79, if those cities act.
Local government officials, who long have been worried about losing local control over zoning decisions, will retain some authority under the amended bill, too. To get out of SB 79, cities can draft alternative zoning plans within transit areas by 2026, but must preserve at least half the mandated density stipulated by the law.
Developers who do use SB 79 will have to meet certain affordability standards as well. Projects with 10 or more units must set aside between 7% and 13% of them for low-income households. Projects on land owned by transit agencies face even stricter mandates of 25%. For projects over 85 feet high, they’ll have to use union labor, per an amendment negotiated in by the State Building and Construction Trades.
“The bill has undergone changes that limits where it applies,” said Jordan Grimes, a housing policy advocate with the Greenbelt Alliance, which sponsored the bill. “But this is still a monumental bill that will have significant impacts across California.”
California has made an effort to chip away at strict regulations around housing in recent years as it seeks to boost supply amid a housing shortage that has led to skyrocketing rent and housing costs. While lawmakers have passed a series of reforms in recent years, many have been diluted in negotiations as Democrats who control the legislature worked to satisfy competing constituencies.
Zoning has been among the most divisive issues. The split often runs not along party lines but geography, with urban legislators favoring state mandates to spur development and suburban representatives fighting to preserve local control.
That divide was evident in the final vote on SB 79. The measure passed 43-19 in the Assembly and 21-8 in the Senate. Several Bay Area Democrats withheld support, including Assembly members Diane Papan of San Mateo, Liz Ortega of Hayward and Josh Becker of Menlo Park. Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, whose Contra Costa County district was carved out of the bill, also did not vote. Republicans in the Legislature were split, with a handful voting for the bill.
Housing advocates say that such amendments were necessary to get the votes for the bill.
“The fact that we could pass this bill at all is just a massive step forward for the state,” said Jeremy Levine, executive director of the pro-housing group Palo Alto Forward and a member of Inclusive Lafayette. “It will provide a blueprint for what works, and hopefully we’ll be able to build on that foundation in future legislative sessions.”
lunabee34) wrote2025-09-16 05:32 pmDrive-By Update
You can't get a biologic at a regular pharmacy; only specialty pharmacies carry them. So right now I'm at the stage where the RX has been sent to the specialty pharmacy and they're in the process of doing the prior authorization and figuring out how much my insurance will pay. I'm just waiting for them to get back to me to let me know if it's been approved and what the copay will be.
Assuming it gets approved and is affordable, I'll be taking once weekly injections of Enbrel.
Anybody here take Enbrel and want to share?
trobadora) wrote in sid_guardian2025-09-16 11:18 pmGuardian Wishlist sign-ups are closed! All wishlists are live!
guardian_wishlist sign-ups are now closed! We have 21 wishlists covering a variety of Guardian canons and related fandoms and a wide range of media. Go forth and make gifts!!! :D :D :DWishlists are tagged for fandoms and media (previous years' tags are labelled with their respective years, so check the plain fandom and media tags at the bottom for this year's), and there's also a spreadsheet for your convenience.
Anyone can write or make gifts for any sign-up, right up to reveals on 6 October (Reunion Festival). All gifts must be hidden from public view until reveals. Post or link gifts in comments on the recipient's wishlist. (Comments are screened.) Gift comments can be anonymous or signed in. You don't need a Dreamwidth or AO3 account to gift.
Rules/FAQ/schedule | AO3 collection | Fandom and media tags | Spreadsheet | Promo text and graphics
trobadora) wrote in guardian_wishlist2025-09-16 11:18 pmSign-ups are closed! All wishlists are live!
guardian_wishlist sign-ups are now closed! We have 21 wishlists covering a variety of Guardian canons and related fandoms and a wide range of media. Go forth and make gifts!!! :D :D :DWishlists are tagged for fandoms and media (previous years' tags are labelled with their respective years, so check the plain fandom and media tags at the bottom for this year's), and there's also a spreadsheet for your convenience.
Anyone can write or make gifts for any sign-up, right up to reveals on 6 October (Reunion Festival). All gifts must be hidden from public view until reveals. Post or link gifts in comments on the recipient's wishlist. (Comments are screened.) Gift comments can be anonymous or signed in. You don't need a Dreamwidth or AO3 account to gift.
Rules/FAQ/schedule | AO3 collection | Fandom and media tags | Spreadsheet | Promo text and graphics
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 08:47 pmRodeo man convicted of killing one half-brother, then scaring another into jumping from a second-sto
MARTINEZ — A Rodeo man was acquitted of murder but convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing his half-brother in 2022, an act he testified at trial was done in self-defense.
Joseph Gladney, 26, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter with an enhancement for personal use of a firearm in the shooting death of 25-year-old Vinson Bragg, as well as a charge of threatening to kill another half-brother who lived in the family home. The surviving half-brother was so scared of Gladney’s threat that he jumped from a second-story window, breaking both his legs, then crawled on his stomach to safety, prosecutors said.
Gladney remains jailed in Contra Costa, and is set to be sentenced in November, court records show.
At the end of trial last Thursday, Gladney’s lawyer argued that Bragg shot at Gladney, who went to the Rodeo home in a folly attempt to reconcile after their relationship had totally disintegrated. The defense attorney, Michael Caesar, told jurors that Bragg became enraged after Gladney outed him as a gay man, and sought revenge.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Kate Jewett, argued that Gladney was the one who was enraged, and that the homicide was committed with an unregistered AR-15 likely manufactured by Gladney himself. She said Gladney went to Rodeo on June 14, 2022 seeking revenge after he’d been kicked out of the family home — located on the 1200 block of Mariposa Street — and brought the gun with him to settle a score.
The two half-brothers had argued frequently, taunted one another online, and called each other derogatory names, both sides agreed. But Jewett denied there was any evidence Gladney had outed Bragg, calling that a concoction used to bolster the self-defense theory. She argued that Bragg — who was set to go to Alaska for a job opportunity the day after he was killed — wouldn’t have risked that by attacking his brother with a gun. Gladney, by contrast, had told neighbors “Vinson’s not going to Alaska,” she said.
“They didn’t know how serious he was at the time, but now they do,” Jewett said. She said after killing Bragg, he found his second brother and told him, “you’re next.”
Caesar argued that Gladney told jurors the truth when he testified for two days and recounted that he invited Bragg to share an alcoholic beverage, and that things quickly devolved. He testified Bragg shot at him first but that he couldn’t remember crucial parts of what happened next.
“There can be no doubt that this is a man with deep regrets, telling the truth about these events on the worst day of his life,” Caesar said.
duskpeterson) wrote2025-09-16 04:59 pmFIC: The High Court (Tempestuous Tours)
OTHER PUBLIC PORTIONS OF THE ROYAL PALACE
The High Court
The rest of the Koretian palace is more easily accessed than the royal residence, rewarding visitors with many hours' worth of sights. I can only touch here upon a few of the more popular places to visit.
A visit to Koretia's High Court is the goal of most visitors. Here Koretia's ruler holds important court cases. In the moment of judgment, he transforms into his godly form. Thus the High Court doubles as a place of worship for most Koretians.
A tip: Although the Jackal considerately wears a mask to hide the most terrifying features of his transformation (which the mask itself barely hints at), it is still wise not to look directly upon the Jackal at his moment of judgment. A few sidelong glances are reasonable enough; the Jackal does not – as one rumor insists – strike down anyone who sees him in divine form. But looking for too long at the Jackal in judgment can have unfortunate effects on viewers. For this reason, a healing woman remains in attendance to assist any visitors who may pass out.
In olden times, court cases were heard privately by Koretia's Kings. The current court, like all of the palace except for the royal residence, was built by Emor during its occupation of Koretia from 961 to 976. During that period, the palace served as the home for the dominion governor, and the court was used by him for trials. A memorial to the Koretians who are thought to have been innocent when they were executed or tortured to death upon the governor's orders has been placed near the entrance of the court. The memorial was paid for by the Chara, at the time that he freed Koretia. It is believed that the Chara had his late father were unaware during that time period of the crimes being committed by the governor in the name of the Chara.
[Translator's note: The Chara's discovery of his governor's offenses is described in Blood Vow and Law of Vengeance.]
fflo) wrote2025-09-16 04:56 pmbaseball crush
Anyhow, behold Addison Barger:
I want him to get hits cuz he's cute. He looks like he's a nice guy. His hair can get a little long, which is fun.
He's muscle-y, which isn't part of it, other than the general rounded shape of him that it influences (I like a pudgy player, as well as the speedy "slight" shape of the likes of one of my first ballplayer crushes, Willie WIlson), and I like a hitter for average with singles and doubles and timely hitting and using the whole field more than a power hitter, cuz home runs---however helpful and worthy of celebration when yer team needs them---are both fascist and comparatively boring.
My O's aren't going to be in the playoffs, so maybe I'll root Barger.
In other possibly sad news, Baltimore gave a new (power hitter) catcher a ridiculously long contract, leading to suspicions they might soon trade my 2nd fave, Adley, after trading my dear Ced at the deadline this year.
I'd like to tell them you gotta have heart, cuz they certainly don't have miles & miles & miles of heart.
sjmerc_local_feed) wrote2025-09-16 08:29 pmAfter manslaughter conviction, Oakland UPS driver charged with second killing
OAKLAND — As he awaits sentence for killing a man in November 2023, a local resident now faces a new murder case, this time for allegedly killing a man six months earlier in Emeryville.
James Wheeler, 44, was acquitted of murder but convicted of voluntary manslaughter last July, in the November 2023 shooting death of Johnny James Johnson Jr. But now prosecutors in Alameda County have charged Wheeler with murder in the death of 34-year-old Dexter Appleby in May 2023, authorities announced Tuesday.
Appleby was shot and killed about 20 minutes before midnight on May 26, 2023, on 41st Street and San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville. The case went unsolved for two years, then police released surveillance video of a suspect, prompting a person who knows Wheeler to come forward implicating him, authorities said.
Authorities say they’re exploring the theory that Wheeler shot Appleby during an argument. Similarly, prosecutors say Wheeler shot and killed Johnson after they got into an altercation on Nov. 21, 2023 outside a Taco Bell on the 6900 block of Bancroft Avenue. At the time of his arrest, Wheeler was working as a UPS driver, court records show.
After he was arrested on suspicion of murder, Wheeler allegedly called a woman from jail and gave his side of the confrontation, saying that Johnson “tried to vehicular manslaughter me or whatever.” His lawyer argued at trial that Wheeler had defended himself during the incident.
The defense also pointed to posts on Johnson’s Instagram — he had the habit of posting the same picture with different captions each time — that alluded to him challenging people to violent confrontations. One picture of him, with apparent blood smeared over his bald head, said “Let be a blood bath (sic).” Another post of the same picture had the caption, “I love breaking bones period.”
Wheeler is scheduled to be sentenced in Johnson’s killing on Oct. 17, court records show. He has not yet been arraigned on the new murder charge and is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail, where he has been since his arrest on Nov. 28, 2023, according to jail records.