A Menlo Park man and a San Jose woman died following a multi-vehicle crash in Santa Clara on Sunday morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The two individuals were traveling northbound in a 2023 Hyundai Elantra on Highway 101 when they were struck from behind by an unknown vehicle, causing the first vehicle to hit the median barrier and flip over, according to CHP.
The unknown vehicle then reportedly drove away from the collision, which occurred around 1:11 a.m.
The two passengers of the Elantra managed to exit the overturned car, which was then struck by a third vehicle – a Hyundai Accent – leading to the two fatalities, according to CHP.
The driver of the Accent reportedly remained on the scene.
The victims were a 27-year-old woman from San Jose and a 44-year-old man from Menlo Park.
Information on this incident is being listed as preliminary at this point and the CHP is expected to release a full report on Monday.
OAKLAND — BART passengers were experiencing delays Sunday due to maintenance operations and police activity that hampered trips on sections of the Bay Area transit system.
In one occurrence, a 10-minute delay had occurred Sunday morning at the Coliseum station in Oakland in the direction of Daly City due to police activity. It wasn’t disclosed which law enforcement agency was involved. By 9:30 a.m., that delay had ended.
BART also reported Sunday morning that a 10-minute delay was underway on the San Francisco line in the direction of Berryessa in San Jose, Antioch, and Millbrae due to overnight track maintenance. By 10 a.m., that advisory had ended.
In recent months, BART passengers have suffered through mammoth delays and systemwide shutdowns that snarled the regional transit system.
A major “identity theft” bust in the South Bay led to the arrest of a former apartment manager, officials said Sunday.
The sheriff’s office said the woman is accused of using her job to steal and sell the identities of her tenants.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputies searched her home and collected evidence, including methamphetamine, ledgers with victims’ personal information and signs of drug-dealing, officials reported.
Sheriff officials said the woman admitted to using people’s personal data, email addresses and phone numbers to create fake IDs and open credit cards in their names.
She’s now facing identity theft and drug charges, according to authorities.
SAN JOSE – San Jose State defeated Hawaii 45-38 Saturday night behind a career-high 215 receiving yards and two touchdowns from wide receiver Danny Scudero, marking the fifth consecutive Spartans victory in the Dick Tomey Legacy Game.
Despite trailing 31-14 at halftime, the Rainbow Warriors (6-3) rallied to move within one score with 1:16 left in the game. But their last-ditch onside kick rolled out of bounds and sealed a victory for the Spartans (3-5).
Both of Scudero’s touchdowns came in very opportune moments.
The two best passing offenses in the Mountain West were on display as Hawaii started the second half with a 8-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Micah Alejado to running back Landon Sims, making it 31-21 SJSU in the third quarter.
The following drive, Spartans quarterback Walker Eget hit Scudero for a 62-yard touchdown pass.
Alejado, though, hit wide receiver Jackson Harris for a 68-yard touchdown to cut SJSU’s lead to 21-14 with 4:07 left in the second quarter.
Then the following drive, Eget hit Scudero for a 50-yard touchdown to pad the Spartans’ lead to 28-14.
Then a sack by SJSU linebacker Jordan Pollard sack stifled a Hawaii drive, which led to a Spartans 24-yard field goal by Matthias Brown, securing a three-possession lead at 31-14.
Eget finished the game 20-for-40 for 458 yards and the two TD passes to Scudero. SJSU wide receivers, Scudero, Leland Smith (113) and Kyri Shoels (109) all went over 100 yards for the second time this season.
Defensively, Pollard finished with eight tackles, with two tackles for loss, including the sack.
Hawaii’s Alejado finished the game 31-for-46 for 367 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Despite trailing 31-14 at halftime, Hawaii made things uneasy in the fourth quarter, closing within 38-35 after a 20-yard touchdown pass from Alejado to Pofele Ashlock Harris with 9:32 left in the fourth quarter.
But the Spartans cashed in again on their following possession with Steve Chavez-Soto scoring on a 1-yard run to make it 45-35 with 5:37 left in regulation.
Chavez-Soto had three rushing touchdowns in the game as San Jose State’s running back duo of Chavez-Soto (10 carries, 53 yards) and Lamar Radcliffe (10 carries, 97 yards) combined for 150 yards and four touchdowns.
SJSU will be back at home Saturday Nov. 8 against Air Force (2-6,1-4) with kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m.
SAN JOSE – The day after the Sharks were blown out by the Utah Mammoth last month, coach Ryan Warsofsky said his team – desperate to get off to a fast start — was too focused on the result of winning, and not enough on the details of how to make it happen.
“So we’ve got to worry about – and every coach says it — the process, and the way we have to work and the way we have to play,” Warsofsky said Oct. 18, “and (victories) will come with that.”
Since that 6-3 loss to the Mammoth on Oct. 17 in Salt Lake City, the Sharks have switched from a 1-1-3 alignment to a much faster, more aggressive 2-1-2 forechecking style. The move has allowed the Sharks to utilize their speed and create a few more high-danger scoring chances, while preventing fewer grade-A opportunities for opposing teams at the other end.
With that has come what everyone in teal wanted from the start — more wins. Since a 0-4-2 start, the Sharks,“You ask any player, they don’t like being under pressure.
The Sharks are still sporting a modest 3-6-2 record, but the eight points they have after 11 games actually represent their best start to a season since the 2021-22 season, when they began 6-4-1.
“I think our strength is we’re young and we’ve got some guys with some juice in this room,” Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro said. “Using our skating and being as aggressive as possible, what we’ve been doing — obviously being smart while we’re doing it — but our aggressive play has really helped us so far.
“Since we’ve been playing better with that, we haven’t changed a thing.”
In beating the New Jersey Devils 5-2 on Thursday, forwards Alexander Wennberg and Philipp Kurashev each had a goal and an assist, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves in his best performance of the season.
Macklin Celebrini assisted on Will Smith’s second-period goal that gave the Sharks a 4-1 lead and now has five goals and seven assists in a career-long six-game point streak, as the Sharks earned their first win on home ice this season.
Celebrini now had 17 points in 11 games, becoming just the fifth teenager in the past 15 years to record 17 or more points in a single calendar month. The others were Connor McDavid in February and November 2016, Clayton Keller in March 2018, Andrei Svechnikov in November 2019, and Connor Bedard in March 2024.
That Celebrini’s hot streak began soon after the Sharks made the change to a less conservative forechecking style probably isn’t a complete coincidence.
“I think it helps just not sitting back as much, not giving (teams) free entry,” Celebrini said. “Putting a little bit more pressure, turning over more pucks, I think it helps us just get possession.
“You ask any player, they don’t like being under pressure. So I think the more pace and pressure we can put on the other team’s players or defensemen, it helps us get more possession time.”
Since a 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 18, a game they controlled for the final two periods, the Sharks have gone 3-3-0, with the three losses by a combined four goals.
“I think you can see in these last couple of games, we’ve come out pretty strong, come out really fast, gotten the first goal,” said Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, who made 29 saves Thursday. “We’re in games. There haven’t been a lot of games this year, maybe like one or two, where we didn’t really have it that night, and we didn’t really have a shot.”
The Sharks’ next few games will offer a stiff test. After Saturday’s game against the Central Division-leading Avalanche, the Sharks face the Atlantic Division-leading Detroit Red Wings on Sunday. That’s followed by games against the improved Seattle Kraken, the Winnipeg Jets, last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winners, and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
“We’ve definitely taken steps in that process, of what it looks like to win, and what it feels like, what it takes, and how hard you have to work, the details you need to play with,” Warsofsky said. “We still have a ways to go, but our group is definitely taking the teaching and the coaching of what it takes, and our guys are growing it with that as we go.”
DICKINSON UPDATE
Sam Dickinson was still with the Sharks as of Friday afternoon, as the team didn’t make any announcement about whether they would keep the rookie defenseman on the NHL roster to the Ontario Hockey League. Dickinson played his ninth game of the season on Thursday and had 14:23 in ice time, all at even strength, as he played on the Sharks’ third defense pair with Shakir Mukhamadullin.
If the Sharks play Dickinson in a 10th game, they would burn the first year of his three-year entry-level contract, making him eligible for restricted free agency – and a likely significant pay rise — following the 2027-28 season. The Sharks also have the option of loaning Dickinson back to his major junior team, the London Knights.
INJURY UPDATES
Sharks winger Ryan Reaves will not be available Saturday after he sustained a lower-body injury in the second period of Thursday’s game. Reaves had a second-period breakaway and got a shot on goal as he fought off a check from Devils winger Paul Cotter, but tripped over Allen’s glove and fell hard on his back. Reaves did not return for the third period. … Defenseman Nick Leddy (upper body) practiced Friday but will not play Saturday, Warsofsky said.
San Jose continues to fail to improve animal shelter services to the community.
A scathing city audit of one year ago has failed to deliver measurable results. The city still fails to provide low-cost public spay and neuter, nor is outreach to rescue groups or trap-neuter-return a priority. The San Jose animal welfare community continues to be ignored.
In response to a number of ethics complaints that I filed regarding staff who have mismanaged SJACC, I was told by a deputy city manager that the “city is experiencing increased communication and complaints from you that is distracting staff from important work.”
This “Ivory Tower” attitude of entitlement, lack of ownership and accountability by city leaders funded by taxpayer money is clearly troubling — especially given that the budget for SJACS has increased to $17.5 million while performance and services have declined.
On this last No Kings Day, we stood along El Camino Real, a few yards from an inflated brown bear holding a “Resist” sign. During our time at the curb, at least half a dozen protesters in frog costumes passed behind us.
That evening, we joined a march through downtown Palo Alto led by a penguin, under the benevolent eye of an inflated frog who bounced at the edge of each crosswalk as we passed.
Later, I realized: On the first No Kings Day in June, the left reclaimed the American flag as a symbol of our commitment to democracy. Last Saturday, we reclaimed the frog as a symbol of life and joy, a counter to the alt-right’s misappropriation of Pepe as a racist meme.
Susan Luttner Palo Alto
Students shouldn’t worry about ICE raids
It is heartbreaking to see the pain and suffering so many families are experiencing. People are forced to live in constant fear that they won’t make it home to their families after a long day of underpaid work.
Despite having worked their whole lives and being positive members of our community, they are labeled as illegal aliens and criminals. So many Latino students are faced with even more anxiety and stress as they are forced to prepare in case their parents are deported. Children who have parents who have been deported are also at risk of developing depression and not doing well academically.
Students should be able to focus on school without having to worry about themselves or their family members being deported. Immigrants pay taxes even though they are not eligible to receive any benefits. Immigrants are an essential part of our society.
Wendy Martinez San Jose
Colleges must increase mental health services
College can be one of the most exciting yet most challenging times in a young person’s life. Between academic pressure, financial stress and the transition to adulthood, many students quietly struggle with anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges. Unfortunately, on many campuses, the demand for counseling services far exceeds the number of available counselors.
Adding more counselors, peer-support programs and wellness activities such as mindfulness workshops, stress-relief events or support groups can make a real difference. These don’t just help students in crisis; they also promote emotional resilience and well-being.
No students should have to wait weeks for an appointment when they’re struggling. By expanding counseling staff and providing accessible mental health programs, colleges can show that they truly care about their students’ success — both academically and personally.
Mireya Ramirez San Jose
Speak up to stop Trump’s wrecking ball
The wrecking ball is in full swing.
Aid to starving countries from USAID is gone; convicted criminals serving their full sentence is gone; civil discourse is gone; the dignified Oval Office is gone, replaced with ostentatious gold everywhere; the East Wing of the White House is gone. The list goes on and on. Will the freedom we all cherish be next?
It’s not about America first. It’s about Donald Trump first; always has been and always will be. These are sad times for America. Only we can stop the wrecking ball. Make your voice heard and vote.
Pat Toby San Jose
Trump’s future plans bode ill for Democrats
The Trump administration, having already commenced the process of desensitizing Americans to military presence in major cities, possibly in preparation for declaring martial law in the event that other measures fail to keep them in power, is perhaps now doing the same, foreshadowing the domestic use of lethality against opponents.
They strategically selected a most unsympathetic group, “foreign drug traffickers,” labeling them as “terrorists” justifying “armed conflict” to creatively legitimize lethal attack and commence the desensitization process for making it acceptable to kill anyone they desire to label as a “terrorist” with no proffered legitimate evidence, oversight or accountability. Thus far, the president’s domestic critics have only been subject to punitive attacks by government agencies, including the Department of Justice, funding elimination and civil suits. But it is noteworthy that Stephen Miller, one of the administration’s top white supremacist henchmen, has ominously described the Democratic Party as fomenting left-wing domestic “terrorism.”
From classic movies with live music to new tunes from Vampire Weekend and a Grateful Dead Celtic band, there’s a lot to see and hear this weekend in the Bay Area.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Classical picks: Hitchcock + orchestra; New Century
This week’s events light up the classical music scene with an iconic film score, a symphony at the opera, and a tribute to the seasons.
Halloween-appropriate: Scary enough? It has to be, when the San Francisco Symphony’s “Film with Live Orchestra” series presents Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” featuring composer Bernard Herrmann’s brilliantly spooky score. With the film on the big screen, conductor Conner Gray Covington will lead the orchestra in a live performance of the spine-tingling music. Come early to see the Symphony’s latest Art Installation, “Dia de los Muertos,” for a pre-show treat.
Symphony at the Opera: Since the start of fall, San Francisco Opera has brought dazzling productions to the stage; now, with “Parsifal” up and running and “The Monkey King” still to come, the company is presenting a concert conducted by company Music Director Eun Sun Kim. This one-night-only event features mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack singing works by Manuel de Falla; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony completes the 90-minute program.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $29-$250; sfopera.com.
New Century, new “Seasons”: The New Century Chamber Orchestra starts the fall season with Vivaldi’s beloved “Four Seasons,” along with works by Dvorak and Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova; conducted by company music director Daniel Hope, four performances are on the schedule.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at First Church UCC, Berkeley; 7:30 Oct. 31 at Empress Theatre, Vallejo; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; and 2 p.m. Nov. 2 at Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael; tickets $35-up; ncco.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
More movies and music
Fans of classic silent films can catch two of them — “Phantom of the Opera” and “Nosferatu” — at Grace Cathedral this weekend. But the real star of the events won’t be on the screen but seated at Grace Cathedral’s famed 7,500-pipe Aeolian-Skinner organ, which has been a key facet of the church since it was installed in 1934. The organ will be played by musician Dorothy Papadakos, who started out as a jazz pianist in her native Reno and has evolved into a world-renowned organ player, thanks in part to her long stint as organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York as well as her Grammy-winning stint with the Paul Winter Consort (their live album “Silver Solstice” remains a New Age/ambient classic).
Papadakos is, among other things, considered a talented improviser, which will come in hand in these gigs. She’ll accompany the 1925 silent version of “Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney, at 8 p.m. Oct. 30, and the 1922 version of “Nosferatu” — a film that was once ordered destroyed because it was deemed to be an unauthorized adaptation (read: ripoff) of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” — at 8 p.m. Oct. 31. The church — which is a San Francisco landmark and always worth a visit — is at Taylor and California streets in San Francisco. Tickets are $34.50-$44.50; go to www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Cool shows, great album
In late October of last year, Vampire Weekend performed two memorable sold-out shows — an evening gig, followed the very next day by a matinee performance — at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City. The shows included many longtime Vampire Weekend fan favorites, of course, such as “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “A-Punk” and “Oxford Comma.”
Yet, the NYC-born indie-pop act — led by vocalist-lyricist-guitarist Ezra Koenig — also performed a wonderful assortment of cover songs during those two shows. The list includes a number of Big Apple-appropriate tunes, such as the easily recognizable “Seinfeld Theme,” the Frank Sinatra favorite “Theme From New York, New York,” the Ramones’ blistering “Blitzkrieg Bop” and Billy Joel’s classic “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” the latter of which was reportedly performed with a candlelit table and waiter in a tux on the Garden stage.
Other cuts to make the Vampire Weekend setlist were The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” The Surfaris’ “Wipe Out,” Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town.”
Now all VW fans can experience the shows thanks to “Weekend at the Garden,” a limited edition double-LP recorded during that epic NYC stand. The offering, which includes portions of the two performances rather than the complete shows, is part of the band’s Frog on the Bass Drum vinyl series.
The Shaker Theater is showing the original 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” in a warehouse with a haunted maze in October 2025 in Oakland. (Shaker Theater)
Pop-up theater brings scares to Bay Area
This Halloween, you can see a scary movie in your local AMC theater. Or you can watch one as perhaps it was meant to be watched: In a dark warehouse full of horrific decor, where it feels like zombies could break down the door any minute.
The Shaker Theater is a new underground pop-up cinema in a residential part of northern Oakland. For its inaugural run, it’s been playing George Romero’s 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” during October, with final runs up until Halloween evening. It’s the uncensored, 96-minute original preserved on real celluloid. There will be popcorn and soda and, for more fun, before the movie the theater is playing clips from its “deep archives of rare and bizarre material.” Think Halloween safety films, forgotten trailers and classic monster-movie moments.
To get into the screening, visitors must first navigate a “Corridor of Horror” designed by local artist Rob Vertigo. Picture a classic haunted house, but turned into spooky-maze form. Did your group just lose a member? It’s probably nothing to worry about, they’re no doubt right behind you …. Wait, that’s not Chad! (Screams.)
Details: Preshow begins at 6:30 p.m. and movie starts at 8 p.m.; 950 54th St., Oakland; $18 online or $20 at the door; instagram.com/shakertheater.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Freebie of the week
We tend to think of great film experiences as those that expose us to brilliant camerawork, incisive dialogue, or a poignant or hilarious reflection on the world at large. But let’s not forget the joys that await us at the other end of the spectrum. There is nothing quite like experiencing a truly terrible film with a room full of gleefully derisive bad-movie fans. There’s a reason why “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” spawned three sequels and too many spoofs and homages to count, and it wasn’t John K. Culley’s nuanced cinematography. Halloween, it seems, is a favorite time to indulge in bad-movie bliss, probably because violent mutant vegetables and irritable aliens fit most comfortably in the horror genre.
And so it is that this week delivers the opportunity to view one of the most glorious and beloved bad movies of all time, “Robot Monster.” The film, in case the clever title doesn’t make it obvious, is about an alien robot sent to destroy Earth but who defies its orders when it saves an imperiled woman from certain death. The 1953 film took four days and $20,000 to make, $4,000 of which was spent on incorporating 3D technology. One of the stars was cast because he already owned a gorilla suit and therefore didn’t need to be costumed. So, yeah, this was not an extravagant production. Yet, it grossed $1 million in its first year and has gone on to be a favorite among those who revel in the wonders of wretched filmmaking. If such a buffet of bad moviemaking – in 3D!! – is your thing, “Robot Monster” will screen at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Internet Archive, 300 Funston Ave., San Francisco. The screening is free but if you feel like making a donation to the Internet Archive or co-presenter the Golden Gate Stereoscopic Society — both of which are dedicated to preserving humankind’s digital history — certainly no one would hold it against you.
When you think about it, Wake the Dead would be a tremendous name for a screeching-loud punk band or maybe a Goth band. But the real Wake the Dead is neither of those things. It is a collection of very talented Bay Area musicians merging two of their musical passions – Grateful Dead classics and Irish/Celtic music. The name is certainly appropriate, as it references the Dead as well as Irish wakes, which are known to be deeply heartfelt and celebratory affairs. The moniker also mirrors the title of the Dead’s 1973 album “Wake of the Flood,” the first recording the band released acting as its own label. Adding to the plays on words, the band’s annual gig at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley celebrates the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), the holiday widely observed in Mexico, in which family members and friends gather to honor loved ones who have passed away.
If all this is simply too much to ponder, just know that Wake the Dead will, per tradition, return to the Freight & Salvage on Nov. 1 to perform a Day of the Dead-themed show at which you are likely to hear high-energy Celtic takes on such Dead classics as “China Cat Sunflower” and “Eyes of the World.”
Details: The show begins at 8 p.m.; tickets are $26.50-$44; or you can livestream the show for $25; more information is at thefreight.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Celebrating Día de los Muertos
The skeletons are dangling from the windows and looming merrily overhead the staircase in the festive lobby of Davies Hall, as the San Francisco Symphony gears up at 3 p.m. Nov. 1 to mount its 18th annual celebration of the Day of the Dead, the joyous Mexican tradition held to pay love and respect to ancestors who have passed on. The centerpiece of the festivities is a symphony concert, but multiple preconcert family-friendly activities are planned in the lobby and upper floors, including marigold flower making, offering-altar installations, a mariachi instrument petting zoo, sugar skull decorating and costumed dancers from Casa Círculo Cultural. The Symphony, conducted by Lina González-Granados, will perform traditional and contemporary Latin American music associated with the holiday, including Gabriela Ortiz’s “Kauyumari,” selections from Arturo Márquez’s “Espejos en la Arena,” the Intermezzo from Ricardo Castro’s “Atzimba” opera, Paul Desenne’s “Hipnosis Mariposa,” Jimmy Lopez’s “Loud,” Márquez’s popular Danzón No. 2 and Gabriela Lena Frank’s “The Mestizo Waltz.”
Details: Tickets, which are 50 percent off for those under 18, range from $27.50-$175; go to www.sfsymphony.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
An orchestral showcase
The San Francisco Opera takes a breather from its usual regimen of presenting full-fledged and lavish operatic productions to let Music Director Eun Sun Kim shine a solo spotlight on her instrumentalists in a single night concert of music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Manuel de Falla at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in War Memorial Opera House. The program opens with “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas,” a set of songs inspired by de Falla’s home country of Spain, sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, and continues with the second orchestral suite from the same composer’s ballet “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”). Following the intermission, the concert will conclude with Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony. Tickets, $29-$250, can be purchased through www.sfopera.com.
SAN JOSE – Deputies with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office shot and killed a man armed with a knife during a traffic stop Monday evening in San Jose, police said.
The fatal encounter unfolded just after 7:30 p.m. in the area of College Drive and Fruitdale Avenue, the San Jose Police Department said in a social media post late Monday.
The man was taken to an area hospital, where he died from his injuries, police said.
An investigation is underway into the shooting, police said, adding more details are expected to be released Tuesday.
Streets in the area of College Drive and Fruitdale Avenue remained closed late Monday.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District, which owns two properties in Gilroy that have turned into the largest homeless encampment sites in the city, is trying to clear out the sites by the first week of November.
One of the sites is near Tomkins Court, just west of U.S. Highway 101 and east of Monterey Road. Valley Water Assistant Officer Mark Bilski said environmental and safety concerns, including interactions between unhoused residents and district staffers, are compelling the district to strictly enforce a 2023 city ordinance prohibiting outdoor camping in certain areas, such as schools and parks.
“We look to prioritize the worst environmental and safety impacts and address those, and anybody else who was exhibiting good camping behavior had an opportunity to be considered low-priority for the enforcement of the ordinance,” Bilski told CBS News Bay Area. “There continues to be staff safety incidents that we are struggling to mitigate. Our staff have police accompaniment every time they go out to do their work at these sites, and police are able to respond when safety incidents occur, but it’s always reactive.”
Bilski added that with people moving in and out of the site, there are growing concerns with the campers.
“There have been arson concerns, where campers have set other camper tents on fire. But aside from that, a major concern is aggressive dogs. There are tens of aggressive dogs on the site,” Bilski said. “We continue to recover weapons from campers at the site, bladed weapons, firearms.”
And now, Bilski said, they established a November 3rd deadline for all campers at both encampment sites to vacate the premises.
“This is my kitchen right here, area is just a mess right now. Trying to get everything all sorted out,” Greg Porter, who has been living at the encampment site near Tomkins Court since January, told CBS News Bay Area.
“I mean it’s pretty mellow, we all try to help each other out here,” Porter said, adding that he believes they are being misunderstood. “We’re just normal people, like everybody else. There’s no fires out here. None, you see it’s all green out here.”
CBS News Bay Area reached out to the City of Gilroy for comment, and a spokesperson sent a statement from Mayor Greg Bozzo, saying:
“I have long advocated for a collaborative approach to addressing housing and homelessness. As the city located farthest from the county’s core resources, we recognize that this is not a challenge we can solve on our own. Yesterday, I met with District Supervisor Silvia Arenas’ office, Director John Varela with Valley Water District 1, and staff from Valley Water, the County Office of Supportive Housing, and the City of Gilroy to discuss both immediate and long-term solutions to this challenge. Our teams are committed to exploring every viable option. While implementing change takes time, I’m optimistic that Valley Water will consider extending the encampment shutdown date to allow our teams to continue this important collaborative work.”
Community advocates said these campers have nowhere to go, and the lack of available shelter beds is an issue.
“The County operates a centralized shelter hotline called Here4You in partnership with Bill Wilson Center. Through this hotline, individuals and families are referred to shelter beds as they become available,” said KJ Kaminski, director of the Office of Supportive Housing in Santa Clara County, in a statement to CBS News Bay Area. “There is currently a waiting list for both family and single adult shelter beds.”
Porter said he will just have to find a temporary solution in the meantime.
“We’re just probably going to find a spot that we can go to, hopefully,” Porter said. “We’re hoping the mayor would come down and talk to us too.”
Meanwhile, Valley Water officials said they will be more flexible with campers who have mobility issues, but still expect everyone else to vacate by the November deadline.
Cupertino’s De Anza College in Cupertino has been named a Pathway Champion for 2025 for its efforts in ensuring that students are on the path to transfer to a four-year university.
The Campaign for College Opportunity, a statewide research and advocacy group, awarded De Anza top rankings among California community colleges for student success in completing transfer-level math and English in academic year 2023-24. De Anza ranked third in the state for students completing transfer-level math (78.8%) within one year. The community college also ranked second in the state for Black students completing transfer-level English within one year of enrolling in their courses (82.6%).
De Anza earned similar recognition from the group in 2024, when it ranked second statewide in two categories for the 2022-23 academic year: students completing transfer-level math within one year (81.4%) and students completing transfer-level English within one year (81.2%).
The nonprofit compiles the rankings to recognize community colleges that are helping students reach their goals through “equitable course placement practices,” following the passage of state legislation in 2018 requiring community colleges to move away from traditional placement methods that led many students to spend time in remedial courses before they could take transfer-level math and English.
In response to that legislation, De Anza developed new assessment practices, curriculum and other services that support students in completing those college-level courses.
Tavern Talk
The Cupertino Historical Society and Museum is holding its next Tavern Talk on Nov. 12, 6-8 p.m., at Florentine’s Trattoria to celebrate the restaurant’s 61st anniversary and talk about its first location in Cupertino.
Florentine’s Trattoria is now located at 14510 Big Basin Way #11 in Saratoga. Tavern Talk tickets are $25 at http://bit.ly/4nlzcbg.
This year, NBC Bay Area’s parent company NBCUniversal awarded $2.5 million in local impact grants to nonprofit groups across the nation.
In the Bay Area, one of the grant recipients is the Youth Science Institute in Santa Clara County.
The Youth Science Institute offers programs to 30,000 students a year, giving them a chance to learn about the environment, science and reptiles.
Second graders from Millikin Basics Plus School in Santa Clara took a break from textbooks and computer screens to embrace hands-on science.
“I learned reptiles are cold blooded and mammals are not,” said Anaya Agham, a student.
This lesson goes beyond show and tell. The institute’s curriculum is tied directly to the state’s science standard – a big plus for teacher Holly Nottage.
“Cause they have a connection so when they go back to class, they understand the textbook better they have it in their mind already and they have more discussions about it,” Nottage said.
Dani Rayan was fascinated by this California Newt.
“I learned [newt] are very clever, and they can easily defend themselves,” Rayan said.
For decades, YSI has been offering hands-on environmental science programs and summer camps here at Vasona Lake County Park and other locations in the South Bay.
Now, after receiving a $47,000 NBCUniversal local impact grant, the institute can move forward with even more programs.
“We are going to invest that money to make sure we can provide as much equitable access to programs as possible. We want to partner with as many title one schools as we can so we can bring them to nature centers or bring programming to the schools so they can have access to as much hands-on science programs as possible,” said Dan Gross, the executive director at the Youth Science Institute.
He says for many kids this experience can influence their future.
“We know it leads to kids becoming passionate about science, and they start to think about what careers in science would be like,” Gross said.
As President Donald Trump’s renews his threats to send the National Guard to the Bay Area, Santa Clara County and San Jose are proposing “ICE-free zones” that would prohibit immigration enforcement activity to take place on county or city-owned property.
Since Trump took office in January, the county — and its largest city — have pledged to protect its immigrant communities, filing lawsuits against the federal government over its attempts to restrict funding to ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions and spending on programs like “know your rights” trainings and immigration legal services. San Jose last month also instituted a policy that requires federal agents to remove face coverings while conducting immigration enforcement operations within the city.
The latest initiative, which stems from the “ICE-free zones” instituted earlier this month in Chicago, is being led by Supervisor Sylvia Arenas from the county and Councilmembers Peter Ortiz, Domingo Candelas and Rosemary Kamei from the city. Both the county and the city have long held non-cooperation policies that prevent officers from aiding federal agents in immigration enforcement efforts.
“This is really in the spirit of standing with our community and letting our community know that we want to make sure that we are not somehow inadvertently responsible in helping carry out some of the immigration enforcement activities,” Arenas said at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
The supervisor, whose district includes parts of San Jose, Morgan Hill and Gilroy, is asking officials to identify a list of county-owned or controlled properties that could “potentially be used for immigration enforcement staging, processing or surveillance.” The proposal, which was unanimously approved by the board, also wants signage posted on those properties that notifies the public that immigration enforcement activities are barred on the site.
The San Jose City Council’s rules committee is expected to vote on whether to move its own proposal forward on Wednesday afternoon.
Ortiz, who represents East San Jose on the City Council, said at a press conference on Tuesday that the effort started with a “simple but powerful idea: that city property, property built and maintained by the people, should only be used for city or county purposes.”
“When immigrant families see federal agents parked outside of our community centers, it doesn’t just create fear, it creates barriers to education, to healthcare, to housing assistance, to the very services that help families survive in this Valley,” he said. “That’s not who we are as a city, and that’s not what our public spaces have been created for.”
Similarly, the city proposal authored by Ortiz, Candelas and Kamei asks city officials to compile its own list of owned and operated properties “that are open space with publicly accessible parking lots that could be misused for non-city purposes.”
The proposals have already garnered support from immigrant rights advocates who maintain that the initiative will help protect the county’s diverse communities.
Jeremy Barousse, the director of policy at the nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe, urged the board during the meeting “to pass a strong policy that excludes federal immigration enforcement from using county property to execute their harmful family separation agenda.”
“This is our community and we must not let malicious federal agents use local government property to violate the constitutional rights and safety of our people,” he said. “Our county is a beautiful place that thrives due to the vibrant contributions of our immigrant communities and we must protect this diversity and our community with a powerful unifying partnership across the county that asserts ‘hands off’ our communities.”
In the meantime, Santa Clara County is continuing its work to ensure it protects its immigrant communities in the event Trump sends the National Guard to the Bay Area like he recently did in Los Angeles. Deputy County Executive David Campos assured the board that “no one is more prepared” than Santa Clara County.
“As scary as it is, and we feel a lot of anxiety, we’re actually ahead of the curve in terms of where other Bay Area governments are, and as a region the Bay Area is certainly looking to be more prepared than LA County was,” Campos said. “My objective and the objective of the administration is to make sure we are as prepared as we can be.”
South Bay tech company Bill.com and East Bay energy giant Chevron have revealed plans for new rounds of job cuts that are poised to displace well over 100 workers in the Bay Area, filings with the state government show.
The layoffs are a reminder that job cuts in the tech industry have yet to run their course, as a wide range of tech companies continue to reveal their plans to trim staffing levels in the region.
Bill.com logo on the tech company’s office building at 6220 America Center Drive in north San Jose. (Google Maps)
Chevron, which has moved its headquarters from San Ramon to Houston in another example of the corporate exodus from California to Texas, revealed prior layoffs that erased 600 jobs in the Bay Area.
According to WARN notices the companies sent to the state Employment Development Department, the layoffs include:
— Bill is cutting 84 jobs in North San Jose at the company’s headquarters complex. These layoffs are expected to take effect on Dec. 15, the WARN letter to the EDD shows.
— Chevron is eliminating 100 jobs in San Ramon, an East Bay city where the energy giant had once based its headquarters, according to the WARN letter. These most recent cutbacks are due to occur on Oct. 23. Chevron is also cutting 75 jobs in the Kern County city of Bakersfield.
Bill and Chevron both stated that the layoffs would be permanent.
“We are providing severance pay, medical continuation coverage, access to education and training resources, and outplacement assistance,” Henry Perea, Chevron’s manager of state government affairs, wrote in the WARN letter to the EDD.
The San Francisco 49ers Sunday night 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons delivered a much-needed morale boost.
While Christian McCaffrey supplied two rushing touchdowns and 201 yards from scrimmage, it was the 49ers’ defense that proved surprisingly stout, a week after losing Warner to a dislocated and fractured ankle.
McCaffrey ran for over 100 yards for the first time since 2023 (24 carries, 129 yards) and also delivered 72 receiving yards as quarterback Mac Jones made his third straight start and fifth this season in place of an injured Brock Purdy.
The 49ers (5-2) have yet to lose back-to-back games this season, keeping them tied atop the NFC West with the Los Angeles Rams (5-2).
Next up, the 49ers return to the road for a Sunday visit to the Houston Texans, who take a two-game win streak and a 2-3 record into Monday night’s game at Seattle (4-2).
San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws against the Atlanta Falcons in the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) is congratulated by teammates, including San Francisco 49ers’ Colton McKivitz (68), after scoring a touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) is stopped short of the goal line by Atlanta Falcons’ Dee Alford (20) and Atlanta Falcons’ Xavier Watts (31) in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) throws against the San Francisco 49ers in the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) is congratulated on his touchdown by San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle (85) against the Atlanta Falcons in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Connor Colby (75) catches the ball on a fumble against the Atlanta Falcons in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) celebrates his touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Jordan Elliott (92) pressures Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) in the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Renardo Green (0) tackles Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Pitts Sr. (8) after a catch in the first quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Jauan Jennings (15) runs after a catch against Atlanta Falcons’ Dee Alford (20) in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) celebrates his touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons in the second quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Mac Jones (10) dives for yards against Atlanta Falcons’ Jessie Bates III (3) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) The San Francisco 49ers defense celebrates a fourth down stop against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Mac Jones (10) scrambles against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Tatum Bethune (48) tackles Atlanta Falcons’ Bijan Robinson (7) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News GroupSan Francisco 49ers fans celebrate a play against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) runs against the Atlanta Falcons defense in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Demarcus Robinson (5) can’t make a catch against Atlanta Falcons’ Mike Hughes (21) in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Mac Jones (10) throws the ball against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Brian Robinson Jr. (3) runs with the ball against the Atlanta Falcons in the fourth quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) San Francisco 49ers’ Tatum Bethune (48) leaves the field after their 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group.San Francisco 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey (23) walks on the field after their 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
SAN JOSE – Macklin Celebrini stood inside the San Jose Sharks dressing room and seemed to be in disbelief that he and his teammates were going through this again. Outside the room, coach Ryan Warsofsky, who has now been through four straight agonizingly slow starts with the team, facetiously said he’d give up one of his two young children for a win right now.
“Trust me, it sucks,” Warsofsky said Saturday night. “I keep telling myself, there’s a reason why this keeps happening.”
A Sharks season that was hoped to be a little bit better than the previous few has so far turned out to be anything but, as San Jose enters a challenging four-game road trip this week as the NHL’s last remaining winless team.
The Sharks fell to 0-3-2 with a 3-0 loss to Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at SAP Center. Responding after poor performances against the Carolina Hurricanes and Utah Mammoth earlier in the week, the Sharks were the better team for the final two periods as they established a forecheck, outchanced the Penguins, and kept Pittsburgh’s shots on goal to a minimum.
Still, the Sharks were unable to beat Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, who made 31 saves, as they were shut out for the first time this season. Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 18 saves in a frenetic first period, but Crosby scored a second-period goal on a tipped shot, and Anthony Mantha and Evgeni Malkin both scored in the third, with Malkin’s being an empty-netter, to hand San Jose its third straight regulation-time loss.
“The only way we’re going to get those bounces is if we keep working for them. They’re not just going to happen,” Nedeljkovic said. “We have to earn those bounces. And if we play like we did tonight, more times than not, coming up, we’ll start getting some.”
While the goaltending took a step forward Saturday, the Sharks have still managed just two even-strength goals in their last three games.
“I think we have a really tight group, and it’s just hard,” Celebrini said, “especially when you play some good games, do some good things, and it just feels like it hasn’t really kind of connected yet.”
The Sharks begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday against Matthew Schaefer, the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NHL Draft, and the New York Islanders. That’s followed by games against the New York Rangers on Thursday, the New Jersey Devils on Friday, and the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
The Sharks were 0-5-0 to begin the 2022-23 season, started 0-10-1 in 2023-24, and 0-7-2 last year. Warsofsky has unfortunately been a part of every dismal start, as he was an assistant under David Quinn from 2022 to 2024 before he was named the Sharks’ head coach.
This year’s team is believed to be better than any of the previous three. Now’s the time to show proof.
“We’re not going to quit,” Warsofsky said. “We’re five games into this thing. What’s happened has happened, and we’ve got to work. I’ve got to get this team to improve and individuals to improve. It’s on me.”
CAGNONI RECALLED
The Sharks on Sunday placed Shakir Mukhamadullin (upper body) on injured reserve and recalled fellow defenseman Luca Cagnoni from the Barracuda. Mukhamadullin, 23, has missed the previous two games after he was injured during practice last week, and it’s unclear when he might be able to return.
The 20-year-old Cagnoni, a second-year pro, had an impressive camp with the Sharks and scored in the Barracuda’s season-opening game against Bakersfield on Oct. 11. Cagnoni had 52 points in 64 games with the Barracuda last season and two assists in six games with the Sharks.
Warsofsky said Saturday that injured defensemen Timothy Liljegren (upper body) and John Klingberg (lower body) would be on Sunday’s flight to New York. However, it was unclear when either would be healthy enough to play. Both were injured in the Sharks’ Oct. 14 game against Carolina. Liljegren is on IR and is eligible to return for Thursday’s game.
Records: Stanford (2-4, 1-2 ACC); Florida State (3-3, 0-3 ACC)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. at Stanford Stadium.
TV: ESPN
Radio: KNBR 1050 AM
Series history: First meeting. The only program Stanford has played from the state of Florida is UCF, with meetings in 2015 (31-7 win) and 2019 (45-27 loss).
Stanford storylines: After its fourth road loss (all in different time zones), the Cardinal returns home to Stanford Stadium, where it is 2-0 with wins over Boston College and San Jose State. It hasn’t started 3-0 since 2018 – the last time it made a bowl game. … With games still to come against Miami and Notre Dame, a loss Saturday would all but guarantee there won’t be another bowl game this season. … After getting carved up by SMU’s Kevin Jennings last week, the Stanford defense must do a better job against another dual-threat QB in Tommy Castellanos.
Florida State storylines: The Seminoles started the season with a top-10 win over Alabama, but they fell from No. 7 to out of the AP Top 25 after starting ACC play with losses to Virginia, Miami and Pitt. … They still have one of the top offenses in the nation, ranking third in yardage (536.5 per game) and fifth in scoring (44.2). .. Their 21 rushing touchdowns this season are tied for third in the FBS, while Stanford has allowed just five rushing touchdowns this season (tied for 22nd).
Stats that matter: FSU has lost eight straight ACC games dating back to last year’s win at Cal. … Over the last three weeks, Stanford senior CJ Williams is second in the Power 4 in receptions and second in the ACC in receiving yards. … FSU QB Tommy Castellanos leads the nation with an average of 15.87 yards per completion. … Stanford QB Ben Gulbranson has completed 64.6% of his passes for 630 yards and three touchdowns in the two home wins. … The 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff will tie the latest scheduled start for FSU, matching games at San Diego State in 1973 and 1977.
The Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” will squeeze Santa Clara County health care funding. But raising local taxes is not the solution.
Instead, county supervisors should stem their rapidly escalating spending, which has doubled in the past eight years and ranks highest per capita by far of the 10 largest California counties.
And voters should reject Measure A, the five-year sales tax increase on the Nov. 4 special election ballot that has been in the planning stages since long before Trump won reelection.
The measure would add another five-eighths of a cent to each dollar of taxable goods, pushing the total rate to 10% or more in most of the county.
State data indicates that the average person in the county currently pays at least $1,700 a year in sales tax, which is distributed between state and local governments. Measure A would increase that by at least $113 annually.
Raising taxes before imposing long-overdue fiscal discipline puts the cart before the horse. While Measure A would expire in 2031, we expect it would be permanently built into the county budget by then and county officials would be begging for an extension to avoid cuts.
Soaring spending
There’s no question that the county will take a hit from the Trump Medicaid cuts. And there’s no denying the importance of county health services, which treat 40% of county residents and deliver 80% of trauma care. But it’s important to put county spending, the federal funding reductions and Measure A in context.
County spending has increased from $6.4 billion in the 2017-18 fiscal year to $13 billion in 2025-26. The biggest cause of that increase has been health care, which includes public health, mental health and, most significantly, Santa Clara Valley Healthcare’s network of hospitals and clinics.
The county, which already ran Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, rescued O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy from bankruptcy in 2019, and purchased Regional Medical Center in San Jose in 2025. The county now operates a much larger health care system per-capita than any other California county, says County Executive James Williams.
Suddenly running four hospitals instead of one, the county found losses for its hospitals and clinics increased from about $97 million in 2017-18 to $532 million expected in the current fiscal year. That forecast was before Trump’s budget bill exacerbated the shortfall.
While we supported the 2019 hospital purchases, we never intended that to be a blank check. Clearly a major reorganization to cut costs and find savings through economies of scale has been needed for years. Instead, the county has increased fourfold the subsidies from the general fund — from money that would otherwise go to other county services.
The greatest concern from the federal budget is the cut to Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, which serves primarily low-income and disabled residents. Forty-six percent of patients in the county’s health care system are covered by Medi-Cal, which accounts for about half of the revenue.
Santa Clara County officials forecast the cuts in Trump’s bill will cost the county $223 million in the current fiscal year, escalating to $1.3 billion by 2029-30. That’s significant pain.
But what’s important here is that the proposed sales tax increase would only solve a fraction of the problem. Measure A is expected to raise $330 million annually. There is no plan for how the county would address the rest of the shortfall over the next five years.
Regressive tax
While the ballot wording of Measure A says it could be used for a variety of purposes — to “support critical local services such as trauma, emergency room, mental health, and public safety” — Williams says the money would be used solely to shore up the health care system.
Measure A is a “general” tax, meaning that county supervisors have the discretion to spend the money on any legally permissible county services — and that the measure only requires majority approval. Had county supervisors instead sought a “special” tax, restricting the use of the money to a specific purpose, the measure would have required two-thirds approval.
Sales taxes are regressive, meaning they disproportionately impact those who can afford it least. In Santa Clara County, the levy on taxable goods, which excludes prescription medications and most groceries, would increase to at least 9.75%, with higher rates in Los Gatos (9.875%), San Jose (10%), Milpitas (10%) and Campbell (10.5%).
For example, in San Jose, home to about half the county’s residents, the sales tax is currently 9.375%, meaning a consumer pays an additional $9.38 on a $100 purchase. If Measure A passes, the tax would add another 62 cents, making the total sales tax $10 for that same $100 purchase.
For homeowners in the county, that would come on top of property tax levies that are based on assessed value. For example, for a home assessed at $1.5 million, the county collects $2,700 annually as its share of the 1% base tax, plus special levies for county employee pensions ($570) and to pay off voter-approved county bonds for affordable housing ($84) and hospital seismic improvements ($78).
Tax history
The only reason Santa Clara County leaders were able so quickly to place the sales tax measure on the same ballot as Proposition 50, the statewide redistricting measure, is that they had been working on the tax increase for two years, long before Trump’s return to office.
In 2023, at the urging of county officials, Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, pushed through state legislation enabling Santa Clara County supervisors to seek voter approval for the sales tax increase. At the time, Cortese argued the tax was needed to address significant and growing budget challenges.
The legislation limited the increase to five-eighths of a cent. If not for that limit, Williams told us, he would have recommended the board place a larger sales tax increase on the ballot.
Which is exactly the sort of thinking that concerns us. In 2023, according to data from the state Controller’s Office, Santa Clara County spent $5,046 per resident, at least 19% more than any of the nine other California counties with at least 1 million residents, and more than double San Diego, Orange, Alameda and Fresno counties.
Before asking residents for more tax money, county officials should find a way to spend what they have more efficiently.
Welcome the Hotline’s weekly picks against the point spread, published Thursdays throughout the regular season with a focus on the top games nationally and the most intriguing matchups across the West. Last week, we were 5-5. Lines are courtesy of vegasinsider.com. Picks are for entertainment purposes only … unless they aren’t.
The third Saturday in October is typically a tad early for tipping-point games, but that’s exactly the situation, for better or worse, for Arizona and Arizona State.
Both teams are fresh off defeats that were stark contrasts in margin but comparable in the predicaments they created.
Arizona’s come-from-ahead loss to BYU in overtime, combined with developments across the Big 12, seemingly have thrust the visit to Houston into must-win territory — or whatever is a half step from that terrain.
What of Arizona State? Playing without quarterback Sam Leavitt (and their entire defense, apparently), the Sun Devils were blasted off the line of scrimmage and out of Rice-Eccles Stadium. The lopsided loss to Utah left coach Kenny Dillingham and Co. with no margin for error entering the back half of their midseason double-whammy.
Next comes Texas Tech, with its $30 million roster (roughly), undefeated record, No. 7 ranking and designs on dethroning Arizona State as Big 12 champions.
Because the Sun Devils (4-2, 2-1 Big 12) also lost at Mississippi State, a defeat Saturday would knock them from at-large contention for the College Football Playoff — they aren’t getting in with three losses — and eliminate any cushion in their pursuit of the conference title.
They would have to win out and hope the Big 12 tiebreaker (with other teams at 7-2) propels them into the championship game as the No. 2 seed.
Put another way: The Sun Devils would be in a more precarious position in the middle of October than they were at any point last season during their stunning run to the CFP.
But if the Devils rise up and take down the Red Raiders, everything changes. They would be vastly better positioned for a spot in the Big 12 championship, thanks in part to the tiebreaker advantage over Texas Tech.
Arizona’s goals were not as lofty when the season began, then ticked up after the Wildcats rolled to a 3-0 start.
At the midpoint of coach Brent Brennan’s season, it’s clear from the lopsided defeat at Iowa State and the overtime loss to BYU that the Wildcats aren’t ready to contend for the title. But their victories over Kansas State and Oklahoma State are proof of substantial year-over-year improvement.
Exactly where Arizona (4-2, 1-2) falls in the Big 12 hierarchy will become clear Saturday — as will its prospects for a postseason bid.
The Wildcats must win two of their final six games to become bowl-eligible. That task is more difficult than it appears, given the recent performance of several looming opponents.
The visit to Houston is a toss-up game according to the oddsmakers and any rational assessment of the competing personnel.
Then comes a trip to Boulder, where Colorado showed life last week in a victory over Iowa State.
Then comes a home date with Kansas, which is 0-3 against ranked teams but 4-0 otherwise.
From there, the Wildcats make the long trip to No. 24 Cincinnati, which has far exceeded expectations and could be this year’s version of Arizona State.
The home schedule concludes with Baylor, which is three points away from being tied atop the Big 12 standings.
The Wildcats wrap up Brennan’s second season with the Territorial Cup and all the challenges ASU brings.
All in all, Arizona’s final six opponents have a combined record of 25-13.
Four of the games are on the road.
Can the Wildcats win two of the six? Absolutely. But a loss at Houston, which is hardly the most difficult assignment, would suggest zero guarantees ahead for the Wildcats.
The Big 12 has three bottom feeders: UCF, West Virginia and Oklahoma State. The Wildcats have already beaten OSU and don’t play the other two.
From here, nothing is easy.
If the Wildcats lose Saturday, the path into the postseason becomes vastly more treacherous.
To the picks …
Season record: 36-36-1 Five-star special: 3-4
(All times Pacific)
North Carolina (+10) at Cal Kickoff: Friday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN Comment: Generally, we avoid picking Cal as a home favorite, especially as a double-digit home favorite. (Under Justin Wilcox, the Bears have repeatedly played down to the level of their competition.) But the Tar Heels are dreadful, their chemistry is poor and their head coach has checked out. If the Bears don’t cover, there’s a problem. Pick: Cal
Washington (+5.5) at Michigan Kickoff: 9 a.m. on Fox Comment: Ohio State’s defense is beyond elite, so UW’s 24-6 loss a few weeks ago should carry limited weight when assessing the Huskies. And after watching Michigan’s lopsided loss at USC, we’re starting to seriously consider the possibility that the Wolverines are no better than mediocre. Feels like an upset. Pick: Washington
Arizona (-1.5) at Houston Kickoff: 9 a.m. on FS1 Comment: Arizona’s performance in the Red Zone has been substandard, and nothing turns a winnable game into a gut-punch loss like settling for three points instead of securing seven. With the early kickoff, the Wildcats can’t afford a sluggish start. Pick: Houston
UNLV (+11.5) at Boise State Kickoff: 12:30 p.m. on FS1 Comment: The Rebels are undefeated (6-0) but have played one of the softest schedules in captivity and just gave up 48 points to an opponent (Air Force) that has one win. But we have little faith in this edition of Boise State, which has handled Mountain West showdowns impressively in the past. Pick: UNLV
Texas Tech (-9.5) at ASU Kickoff: 1 p.m. on Fox Comment: We’re assuming both quarterbacks will play, although ASU’s Sam Leavitt could be healthier — and hence more effective — than Texas Tech’s Behren Morton. How will the Sun Devils hold up at the line of scrimmage? They were just overrun by an opponent (Utah) that the Red Raiders manhandled a few weeks ago. Pick: ASU
Washington State (+17.5) at Virginia Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. on The CW Comment: The Cougars mustered a terrific performance last weekend at Mississippi and were within range of a major upset. But this assignment is far more difficult, partly because of the logistics (another distant road game) and partly because Virginia won’t take the Cougars lightly after the scare they gave the Rebels. Pick: Virginia
Oregon (-17) at Rutgers Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network Comment: A long trip awaits the Ducks after a demoralizing loss (to Indiana), but there’s no better formula for getting back on track than a mediocre opponent with a turnstile defense: Rutgers is No. 135 nationally (out of 136 teams) in yards-per-play allowed. The Ducks should be sitting on 40 when the fourth quarter begins. Pick: Oregon
Maryland (+3.5) at UCLA Kickoff: 4 p.m. on FS1 Comment: The Terps are coming off back-to-back home losses (to Washington and Nebraska) and now must make the long trip to face a hot opponent. The Bruin Bounce, as the post-DeShaun Foster upturn is known on the Hotline, will end soon. But not this weekend. Pick: UCLA
Tennessee (+8.5) at Alabama Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. on ABC Comment: Kalen DeBoer’s wardrobe selection Saturday evening (i.e., the Black Hoodie of Death) matters far less to us than the game location: The Crimson Tide have been unbeatable in Tuscaloosa under DeBoer. This should be close for three quarters, but Tennessee doesn’t have the defense to withstand the final onslaught. Pick: Alabama
USC (+9.5) at Notre Dame Kickoff: 4:30 p.m. on NBC Comment: Notre Dame’s losses have come by three points to No. 2 Miami and by one point to No. 4 Texas A&M — we think the Irish are even better than their No. 13 ranking. Are the Trojans capable of making the cross-country trip in the middle of Big Ten play and holding their ground for 60 minutes in what’s tantamount to a playoff-elimination game? Nope, but they should hold up for 58 minutes. Pick: USC
Utah (-3.5) at BYU Kickoff: 5 p.m. on Fox Comment: The prime time slot on Fox is the broadcast window this rivalry deserves and heaps attention on a critical game for Utah coach Kyle Whittingham’s legacy. The winner becomes a frontrunner to reach the Big 12 championship while the loser has a steep climb. With plenty of focus on quarterback Devon Dampier and Utah’s offense against BYU’s granite defense, we suspect the outcome hinges on BYU freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier’s success — or lack thereof. Pick: Utah
Five-star special: Oregon. Dan Lanning will have the Ducks ready for an impressive bounce-back performance against an opponent that can offer little in the way of resistance.
Bay Collective, an organization founded in January by Bay FC owners Sixth Street as a parent company of sorts, has hired two new staffers to build out its front office, the club told the Bay Area News Group.
Anja van Ginhoven joins as the director of global women’s football operations at Sixth Street, and Patricia González joins as the global sporting director of Bay Collective.
The two new voices are joining from the English Football Association and Atlético Madrid, respectively, and will be working under Bay Collective CEO Kay Cossington’s leadership to drive the next phase of the Bay Collective’s strategy.
The moves come as Bay FC enters a state of transition with two games remaining in the regular season. Founding Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart already left her role in September, and head coach Albertin Montoya will be stepping down from his role at the end of the season.
“Patricia and Anja bring deep expertise and proven success at the highest levels within global women’s football,” Cossington said in a statement. “They have lived and breathed women’s football for the better part of their lives. Their experience and leadership will be instrumental in driving our organization to excel, fostering environments both on and off the pitch where players and staff can reach their full potential. They bring immense value to us, and their unrivalled knowledge of women’s football makes Bay Collective unique as we seek to execute the next phase of our strategy. I am thrilled for them to come on board.”
In the role as the director of global women’s football operations, van Ginhoven will be responsible for optimizing the platform’s soccer-related activities and operations, the club said. Her role will involve shaping the direction for football governance, operations, performance enhancement and facility development.
Van Ginhoven was previously the general manager of the English women’s national team for the past four years. She previously worked as general manager and communications manager for the Dutch women’s national team.
González will oversee and drive the sporting strategy for all clubs within Bay Collective and will work closely with club managers, coaches, and senior leadership to leverage data and analytics and position each club for success on and off the pitch, the club said. In her previous role as the women’s technical director of Atlético Madrid, she oversaw the scouting strategy and helped shape the club’s high-performance culture.
González, a former player, has also worked for FIFA and led its talent development unit.
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