DEAR JOAN: Recently I noticed mushrooms growing at the base of one of the juniper trees in the backyard. It was interesting, so I took a picture.
A couple of days ago, I noticed that the mushrooms were gone, and there were scratch marks in the damp earth at the base where the mushrooms had been.
I am curious as to what animal could have eaten the mushrooms, and if that animal is in any danger from poisoning. I see raccoons, possums, squirrels, and birds on my backyard camera.
Who is the most likely culprit, or victim?
— Nancy McKiernan, Sunnyvale
DEAR NANCY: The winter rains can turn our Bay Area yards into fairylands with mushrooms popping up all over. While it is never a good idea to eat one without knowing exactly what type it is, animals don’t have the benefit of being able to call on a mycologist to determine the identity.
Instead, they rely on taste, outcome and experience. If a wild animal eats a mushroom that later makes it ill, it will avoid those mushrooms in the future, provided they survive. They’ll likely also stay away from anything that has a same or similar taste. That provides them with some protection against eating the poisonous ones.
In the Bay Area, there are two mushrooms that are unsafe for any creature, and those are the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and the western destroying angel (Amanita ocreata). Both are commonly found near and around oak trees.
As for what animal would eat the golden hued mushrooms you observed, the list is long. Mushrooms are a treat for wildlife as they have a high water content, are a good source of protein, and a good source of vitamins and phosphorus.
Rats, squirrels, deer, box turtles, wild turkeys, and wild boars, just to name a few that might be visiting your yard, all love mushrooms. The scratches you observed lead me to think of turkeys, but there’s no way to know for certain.
DEAR JOAN: I’m already thinking about spring and what I’ll be planting in my vegetable garden. Last year, much of the garden was eaten by rats, birds and squirrels. I’m wondering if one of those plastic owls would scare them away?
— Alice B., Clayton
DEAR ALICE: Decoys do work, however briefly, against the birds but it’s unlikely the rats and squirrels will even raise an eyebrow.
Stationary owl statues and other decoys might keep the birds away for a day or two, but then the birds figure out there’s no threat, and before you know it, they’re perching on the fake owl’s head and having a good laugh.
You want something that will move unpredictably. Objects that are pushed and pulled by the wind, and which add unexpected flashes of light have a better and longer track record of success. You can hang reflective ribbons or old CDs throughout the garden.
For the rats and squirrels, the only thing stopping them are physical barriers. Surrounding your garden with a hardware cloth fence and a shock wire on top will do wonders.
The Animal Life column runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.
Several families were left without a place to call home after a fire ripped through their apartment complex earlier this week in Sunnyvale.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but officials say two dozen people were displaced. Now, those families have to figure out how to move forward after Tuesday’s fire.
“I was on my way out, I helped out my neighbor, and everything was good, she needed some help with her garbage disposal, another day, and when I came two hours later, I was homeless,” said Frank Lampkin, who lived at the complex.
Frank and Nicole had been living in their apartment on Kirkland Drive since 2018 with their five children.
They’re now living in a hotel.
Raquel Perez and her family are in a similar situation. She and her kids are living in a hotel while they find a new home. Friday night, they were at the ER because her son wasn’t feeling well.
“It’s been crazy, it’s been crazy, trying to keep optimistic,” Perez said.
“We have my younger brother, he’s 12 and it’s already a big deal, so we’re trying not to freak him out and not sit in the hotel crying all day so we cry when he’s at school,” Tatiana Castañeda said.
Both families have started online fundraisers and say they’re thankful for the community’s support.
“We definitely know how to pull together and support one another, it’s gonna be better,” Lampkin said.
Under a blazing bright November sun, Officer Andrew Tara re-arranged the gear for his patrol car on the asphalt outside of the department headquarters in Sunnyvale. Inside the car, evidence bags and a riot helmet is familiar to most police officers — not so much the other items he carries: a defibrillator and a full firefighting uniform with a respirator.
The gamut of equipment might seem unusual for a police officer, but Tara isn’t just a police officer, he’s also a firefighter and an EMT – and so is every other officer in Sunnyvale’s Public Safety Department.
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officer Andrew Tara’s equipment includes gear for police, firefighting and emergency medical work. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Sunnyvale is one of the only departments in the country that fully cross-trains police officers as firefighters and EMTs. With the department celebrating its 75th anniversary last year, many city leaders tout the success of the model as part of the reason Sunnyvale ranks among the safest cities in the Bay Area and beyond. And while the data is unclear on whether the combined department should take the credit for that success, the model has offered unique advantages that city leaders say could serve the city for years to come.
“We do three jobs all in one. You could be in a police uniform this year, and next year, you could be driving a fire engine,” said Sunnyvale Public Safety Department Chief Dan Pistor. “That’s what really makes us different.”
When the department was founded in 1950, Sunnyvale had fewer than ten thousand residents and Santa Clara Valley was just beginning its transition from agricultural destination to the beating heart of technological innovation.
At the time, Sunnyvale had a police department of only 16 people, a volunteer fire department and no EMT department. But in 1950 Sunnyvale was looking to begin a professional fire department, and then City Manager Kenneth Hunter thought that blending the police and fire department would be the best use of the city’s money and result in a safer community. So with two patrol cars, three fire trucks and 23 officers, the city moved forward with its new model.
Now, 75 years later, the department’s unique approach remains even if it has grown more than tenfold with the city better known as a hub for tech giants like Google and Apple then the small town that dried and canned fruit.
Its longevity makes Sunnyvale’s Public Safety Department one of the oldest in the country.
Of the over 18,000 departments dedicated to police work in the US, only about 130 put police and fire under a single system, according to counts from 2016, and departments like Sunnyvale, where officers are fully cross-trained, are rarer still.
The model requires extensive instruction for every officer, with nearly two years of training during which recruits become certified as EMTs, firefighters and police officers.
Officers rotate between fire and police duties every year, though those who specialize further, such as with crime scene investigations, can stay in their roles longer.
“The appeal of being able to do both is huge, and then being able to advance in the two different fields, there’s always that chance to get better,” said Matt Dupuis, who has served as an officer with the department for 11 years.
Several officers interviewed by The Mercury News echoed the appeal of the variety of the job, and the department claims a 90 percent retention rate after training is completed.
It’s a statistic likely aided by another unique aspect of the department: Sunnyvale’s public safety officers are among the highest-paid of any public safety employees in the county, with their recruitment website boasting salaries of up to $247,069. Even so, a Mercury News analysis of city budgets showed that the department actually spent less per capita on public safety and similar amounts per total employees compared to similar cities across the Bay Area.
“We are three departments in one,” said Pistor. “It saves the city from having a separate fire budget, separate police budget, separate EMS budget, along with separate administration, separate buildings and all of that. So in the long run, this model does save money for the city.”
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Chief Dan Pistor talks about his integrated police and fire departments during an interview Nov. 17, 2025, at the department’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
For years, the city has graced roundups of the safest large cities in the country, at times topping nationwide lists, and public safety officials tout their blended department as a key part of that.
While Sunnyvale has lower rates of violent crime than similarly-sized cities across the Bay Area, when compared to other cities with the same median household income throughout the Bay, Sunnyvale sees similar crime rates.
The same is true for instances of police violence, according to a Mercury News analysis of state data on incidents where police killed or seriously injured someone. Sunnyvale saw lower rates of police violence compared to similarly sized cities, but it ranked close to those with similar median income.
Still, Sunnyvale has some of the lowest rates of violent crime in the Bay Area, and city leaders say the model has played a key role.
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officer Kalahikiola De Dely parks a fire engine as he returns from firefighting training Nov. 17, 2025, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein admits that many things could factor into public safety, from the socioeconomic status of the city to the “small town,” “welcoming feel.”
“I know that the model itself isn’t a fix, but I think it helps break down barriers in our community,” said Klein. “There’s a lot that makes Sunnyvale unique … our merged model is part of the magic sauce that makes our city so great.”
Beyond simple metrics of public safety, the model offers a degree of flexibility that has allowed the department to respond rapidly to emergencies across Sunnyvale.
Officers interviewed by this news organization cited as an example when police vehicles are the first on the scene to medical emergencies, the officer can start providing medical attention until fire fighters or an ambulance arrive — and even help provide assistance after.
If the site of a medical emergency or fire is also a crime scene, then the firefighters who respond to an emergency are trained on how to preserve the evidence so that those who investigate later have what they need to solve a crime.
Public Safety Officer Matthew Son, center, shows fellow officer Chris Evangelista how to enter evidence into the system at the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officer Andrew Tara collects evidence during a criminal investigation Nov. 17, 2025, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety’s fire engine and Mobile Emergency Operations Center vehicle are parked inside a fire station in Sunnyvale, Calif., Nov. 17, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Officer Kalahikiola De Dely returns from firefighting training Nov. 17, 2025, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
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Public Safety Officer Matthew Son, center, shows fellow officer Chris Evangelista how to enter evidence into the system at the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
The model also can ease coordination between those assigned as fire and police. The department shares a single radio system and dispatch system.
This level of integration could be a significant boon to the department, said Brian Higgins, a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who consults with public safety departments across the nation. Higgins previously oversaw fire, police and emergency management departments in Bergen County, New Jersey.
“Communications are always issues when it comes to police and fire,” said Higgins, who maintained that for coordinating across departments “there’s a real advantage to having this mixed model.”
Even so, Higgins, city officials and some in the department note that transitioning to the model would be difficult. And while Higgins doesn’t recommend the model for every department, he has a simple message regarding its success: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
The Police Records Access Project contributed policing data and data analysis to this report.
A Sunnyvale apartment manager has been charged with allegedly operating a gun- and drug-dealing operation next door to an elementary school, prosecutors said.
Brett Maxwell, 51, faces 25 felony charges related to possessing firearms, assault weapons, ghost guns, explosives, and narcotics for sale. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday the alleged operation involved heroin and methamphetamine worth an estimated $100,000.
The charges stem from a Nov. 13 search by the Santa Clara County Gun Violence Task Force at Maxwell’s apartment in the Fair Oaks Park area and at a storage unit several miles away. Investigators recovered 19 firearms, including three assault weapons, along with explosives, cash, and several pounds of drugs, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The apartment complex is located next to an elementary school and a city playground.
“We will never accept turning our neighborhoods into gun and drug bazaars. Thanks to the partnership between local and federal law enforcement agencies, we shut down both this extremely dangerous business and the reckless felon who ran it,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
Maxwell was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. He faces a significant prison sentence if convicted, prosecutors said.
The debate over renting vs. owning has long posed a challenge for households in California. Arguments have morphed in recent years as home prices and mortgage rates soared beyond the increasing rents. To illustrate the complexities, we’ve created a hypothetical rent vs. buy scenario to track housing finances over a 30-year period. However, the math doesn’t account for the intangibles: the flexibility of renting compared to the stability of owning.
HOW MONTHLY COSTS COMPARE
Key in any housing calculation is monthly cost. Our example estimates California house rent today at $4,000 a month vs. buying a $900,000 house with a 10% down mortgage at 6.5% plus property taxes, insurance, association fees, and repairs. The scenario assumes costs grow with historical inflation and the mortgage rate is lowered twice by a half-point through refinancing.
RUNNING THE TAB
Homeowners need to repay their mortgage plus cover a range of additional costs. So renting’s total costs run cheaper for nearly two decades. But owning ends up costing slightly less over time. Here’s cumulative costs by year, in thousands of dollars.
THE BOUNTY: Ownership’s edge
Owning’s true financial benefit arises from the increasing value of the home. Assuming historical gains of 5% per year, the owners gets a $3.8 million asset after 30 years. The renter, who hypothetically invested the $90,000 down payment in the stock market, would accumulate $929,000. Here’s investment value by year, in thousands of dollars.
WHERE IT GOES
Look at the slices of 30 years of housing expenditures, rent vs. own. The renter just pays the landlord. Owner costs go to principal and interest on the mortgage, property taxes, home insurance, association fees, and repair and maintenance costs. Note: Interest payments and property taxes can be tax deductible.
A HISTORY LESSON
Look at the past 30 years of historical returns for three key factors in this rent vs. buy calculation, using 10-year moving averages for rent (California Consumer Price Indexes); home values (federal California index) and stocks (Standard & Poor’s 500).
Unfathomable, unaffordable
California’s long-running and steep affordability crunch makes the rent vs. buy debate a moot argument for many people. Housing costs throttle numerous California family budgets. The state’s flock of high- paying jobs pushes up housing costs well past what more typical paychecks can easily afford. That’s true for households considering renting or buying.
Stagnant ownership
Stubbornly high ownership costs have kept California’s share of people living in homes they own relatively stable, except for a temporary surge in the early 2000s when mortgages were too easily obtained. Those risky loans played a key role in the Great Recession, as borrowers defaulted in huge numbers.
Housing afforability index
It’s tough to be a California homebuyer. The estimated number of Californians earning the statewide median income who could comfortably purchase a single-family home is falling sharply, according to a California Association of Realtors index. The Golden State share of qualified buyers is significantly below the national norm.
Housing-cost stresses
The 2024 edition of Census housing data details how California’s cost of shelter varies between renters and homeowners — with or without mortgages on the property.
But because renters typically earn less than owners, it’s more likely that their housing costs exceed 50% of their household incomes, an extreme level of financial stress.
Big housing worries
A statewide survey last year asked “How often do you worry about the cost of housing for you and your family?” Those who said “every day” or “almost every day” …
For 26 years, Silicon Valley engineer John Vink had a weekly lunch routine.
Every Wednesday he’d head to the nearest Armadillo Willy’s barbecue restaurant for the Pit-Smoked Boneless Chicken Sandwich, a juicy thigh topped with jalapeno-spiked barbecue sauce and fresh jalapenos.
“When I worked for Apple I went to the Cupertino location. Then when I worked for Nest I went to Los Altos. Then Google bought Nest, so we” — by then it was a group, the VIM, Very Important Meeting lunch club — “had to come to this location,” he said, sitting in what was formerly the Sunnyvale Willy’s.
It’s now his restaurant.
The abrupt closure of three Armadillo Willy’s in late June set Vink in motion. “I had to buy it,” he said, or lose his favorite sandwich. “We moved fast.”
Vink negotiated a bankruptcy court sale and a new lease on the El Camino Real property and partnered with restaurant veteran Ousmane Barry, who was general manager of the Santa Clara Willy’s. They renamed the place Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli, which reflects both the Texas barbecue side of the menu and the new New York City-inspired deli sandwiches.
The John Vink sandwich of choice is on the new menu. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Empire Armadillo opened quietly a few weeks ago and will hold a big public celebration starting at 4:30 p.m. Thursday with a blues band, local dignitaries, the obligatory ribbon-cutting and a food deal for the first lunch and dinner customers.
Former customers have been posting excited reactions on social media and hugging and thanking the staff when they arrive. “It’s open!” customer Lani Ogilvie rejoiced when she spotted the sign Friday. She ordered a baby back rib plate and said she couldn’t wait to break the news to her colleagues.
Sunnyvale Mayor Larry Klein praised the restaurant team’s innovation. “Empire Armadillo is a story of loyalty, creativity and community spirit,” he said. “When John stepped in to preserve a beloved Bay Area BBQ tradition, he also gave Sunnyvale something brand news: a place where Texas barbecue and New York deli flavors come together.”
Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli owner John Vink, left, and company president Ousman Barry get a bite of a chicken sandwich with jalapeños and cheese, jalapeño sauce, served with spicy peanut coleslaw, and a pastrami and provolone cheese on rye bread at the former Armadillo BBQ & Deli in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. Vink, a longtime Apple engineer who had been a customer for 26 years at the former Armadillo Willy’s BBQ, bought the restaurant. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Besides a refreshed restaurant with new tables, diners will find something else new: A display case of iPhones and other products that Vink had a role in creating over the decades..
For his nascent culinary venture, he has engineered a knowledgeable team, hiring several of the restaurant chain’s longtime pitmasters,
“It’s great that they wanted to keep the Armadillo Willy’s legacy going,” said Jerzy Alanis, chef and assistant GM, who is a 30-year veteran. He’s joined by pitmaster-cooks Maricruz Sanchez (28 years), Mario Miranda (26 years) and Omar Hernandez (17 years).
A clock from the former Armadillo BBQ & Deli hangs on the wall at the new Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli owner John Vink, a longtime Apple engineer who had been a customer for 26 years at the former Armadillo Willy’s BBQ, bought the restaurant. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
They’re stoking the familiar fire pit near the front door with oak wood and making recipes they’ve been churning out for all those years. Besides the bestselling brisket and ribs, they smoke pork, turkey breast, tri-tip and Texas jalapeno sausage.
Willy’s side dishes are particularly popular. “People come in for the beans, the coleslaw.” a slightly spicy peanut version, Alanis said, “And the cornbread muffins,” Miranda chimed in. Those are served with honey cinnamon butter.
A pastrami and provolone cheese on rye bread is one of the menu options served at the Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
A trip to SAP Center led to the expanded menu vision. Vink was inspired by the Augie’s Montreal Deli sandwich he had at a San Jose Sharks game, so he and Barry hit the road to visit delis in New York and Los Angeles. They settled on a Pastrami, a Corned Beef and a Reuben, along with a French Dip.
And then there’s the prominent addition to the dessert menu. Barry, who worked in management at Magnolia Bakery for years, has developed a recipe for Banana Pudding that dials back the Southern-style sweetness to a more appealing West Coast level.
A framed note from Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli owner John Vink is part of a display case featuring his iPhone and iPods at the former Armadillo BBQ & Deli in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025. Vink, a longtime Apple engineer who had been a customer for 26 years at the former Armadillo Willy’s BBQ, bought the restaurant. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Founded 42 years ago in Cupertino by John Berwald, the venerable Armadillo Willy’s chain grew to several Bay Area locations. One restaurant, in San Mateo, remains. Prior to the June shutdown of the Sunnyvale, San Jose (Blossom Hill) and Santa Clara restaurants, the San Jose (Camden), Los Altos and Dublin ones closed.
Could customers see the resurrection of any of those locations?
If there’s news on that front, Vink won’t keep fans waiting. But the priority now is reminding locals that this spacious smokehouse is back in business and ramping up for group events and catering gigs. The beer-and-wine license should be issued soon.
And he has a lot of eating to do. Devoted as he was to that chicken sandwich, “I never had the ribs until I bought the place!” he said, laughing. So he’s on a mission to familiarize himself with everything on the massive menu. “I’m not done yet.”
Details: On Thursday, the first 25 customers in line for lunch will receive a free side dish with their order, as will the first 25 customers in line at 5 p.m. The High Water Blues Band will play from 4:30 to 8 p.m., and the ribbon-cutting ceremony will start at 5 p.m. Empire Armadillo is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 161 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale; www.empirearmadillo.com
A message in a bottle that traveled over 1,500 nautical miles for eight years was discovered, connecting an Australian hiking group with three Bay Area women.
During a recent beach cleanup, hikers in Townsville, Australia, found a bottle they first believed to be trash. They put it in their backpack and opened it once they reached their car.
To their surprise, the message inside was legible and read, “Dear reader, we wrote this note because we heard so many stories about doing this. We’re leaving Navini today at 5:00 Fijian time so please write back to York Town Drive Sunnyvale, CA.” It was dated July 2016 and signed by “Savannah, Kate, and Janice.”
Members of Townsville Hike and Explore began their search for the three California women through social media and local news outlets but the Sunnyvale home referenced in the note had been sold in 2018.
“It’s like a treasure hunt, it’s very exciting,” said Susie Bidgood, who’s part of the Townsville Hike and Explore.
NBC Bay Area searched and successfully located Savannah Green, Janice Pierce and Kate Bonhan, the women responsible for the letter. Green recalls writing the note on her first trip to Fiji when she was just 10 years old. The Sunnyvale address was her childhood home.
“I just think we’re so lucky and I think I’m really happy for my 10-year-old self that that happened. Something so cool, I feel like I’m in a movie,” Green said.
The trio was visiting Navini, an island in Fijo, located some 1,900 nautical miles away from Townsville, Australia.
Upon finding the letter, Bidgood said the group posted it on Instagram in an effort to connect with its author. An Australian media outlet then picked up the story that went viral.
The hikers and trio were able to connect online and said they are now planning on meeting in the same spot where the bottle landed.
“Everyone in the world is so disconnected and I guess seeing something that connected me way back eight years ago to these people in Australia, seeing that the bottle had survived those eight years was kind of amazing,” Green said.
Sandra Lamari, one of the Australian hikers, added that this bit of positivity is what the world needs.
“This is really what the whole world needs right now—a little bit of positivity. A little bit of friendship across the whole globe,” Lamari said.
Google confirmed Tuesday morning that it has fired additional employees for being involved in protests at the tech company’s Sunnyvale and New York City offices to oppose a $1.2 billion contract with Israel amid the war in Gaza.
The workers demanded that Google drop its Project Nimbus, a joint contract between Google and Amazon to provide cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and other technology services to the Israeli government.
The advocacy group No Tech for Apartheid claims that Project Nimbus makes it easier for the Israeli government and its military to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land in Gaza. Google has said Nimbus isn’t being deployed in weaponry or intelligence gathering.
Some employees say many of the fired workers did not even enter the company offices during the demonstrations. A Google spokesperson told CBS News Bay Area the terminated employees were personally and definitively involved in the disruption.
“As we indicated, we continued our investigation into the physical disruption inside our buildings on April 16, looking at additional details provided by coworkers who were physically disrupted, as well as those employees who took longer to identify because their identity was partly concealed-like by wearing a mask without their badge-while engaged in the disruption,” said the spokesperson in an emailed statement..”Our investigation into these events is now concluded, and we have terminated the employment of additional employees who were found to have been directly involved in disruptive activity. To reiterate, every single one of those whose employment was terminated was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity inside our buildings. We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed this.”
Nine people were arrested during the protests last week in which workers were seen in Google offices holding placards and sitting on the floor, chanting slogans.
