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.
The end to a wild week of whipsawing weather across Northern California is at hand.
Sunny skies, calmer winds and cooler temperatures are forecast to return to the Bay Area on Saturday and linger into early next week, offering a respite from a weeklong parade of storms that felled trees, flooded roadways and caused power outages affecting thousands of people.
In the Sierra, clouds were expected to part beginning Saturday, potentially allowing skiers easier access over Interstate 80 and Highway 50 to take advantage of several feet of fresh powder around Lake Tahoe.
A few final rounds of rain and gusty conditions were expected throughout the day Friday, particularly around midday and into the early afternoon as a final band of storms sweep through the region.
But in a word, the weather should be “beautiful” for the last several days of 2025, said Dylan Flynn, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
“The sun will be shining, the wind will be light — it’s going to be really nice,” Flynn said. “The only potential drawback will be cooler temperatures that could dip overnight into the 30s for parts of the Bay Area, making it “noticeable, especially compared to how warm it’s been,” he added.
The calmer forecast comes after a drumbeat of storms pummeled the Bay Area, bringing with them hurricane-force gusts that toppled trees and left many residents celebrating Christmas in the dark.
Several thousand people were without power Friday morning, the vast majority in the Santa Cruz Mountains, along with other parts of the Peninsula and in the South Bay, according to Pacific Gas & Electric’s outage map. In all, the storms knocked out power to more than 777,000 people across PG&E’s California network, and about 41,000 of those people remained in the dark late Friday morning, said Paul Moreno, a spokesman for the utility provider.
Overnight Thursday into Friday, the weather service received reports of downed trees affecting Highway 152 and several boats damaged in the Santa Cruz Harbor from more bands of storms that rolled through the area.
Radar indicated a potential water spout in Monterey Bay right outside of Santa Cruz on Christmas Day, Flynn said, though it was not immediately clear whether it came ashore and caused any damage. The weather service also issued a tornado warning over the Santa Cruz Mountains later in the day, though it later appeared unlikely that anything touched down. Formal survey teams have not yet been dispatched.
Perhaps the greatest damage to emerge late this week came at the Lick Observatory atop Mt. Hamilton, where gusts of up to 114 mph on Christmas Day ripped open the shutter to its 36-inch Great Refractor dome, the observatory announced Friday. The dislodged shutter, which weighs more than two tons, “fell outward onto the roof of the Great Hall, crushing several structural beams,” according to a press release.
Though the telescope itself was not damaged, repairs to the facility are expected to take months. Complicating matters are the fact that the telescope’s precision lenses and electrical systems could now be “vulnerable” to precipitation, the observatory said.
“This was a frightening moment for our staff,” said Matthew Shetrone, deputy director of the University of California Observatories, in a statement that lauded his staff’s work to protect the telescope. “When the storm broke, everyone was safe, but the spiritual core of our observatory had been damaged.”
In all, since the first storms came ashore last weekend, Oakland and San Francisco have received more than 4 inches of rain, while the Oakland and Berkeley hills — along with the Santa Cruz Mountains to the southwest — received between 5 and 8 inches of precipitation, the weather service reported. San Jose received about 1.75 inches of rain, while similar totals were measured in Mountain View and Palo Alto and slightly more than 2 inches fell over Fremont.
The highest totals came in the North Bay, where Mt. Tamalpais received 15.11 inches of snow over the last week, according to the weather service. More than 6 inches fell in Tiburon, and Fairfax.
To the east, snow continued to fall over the Sierra — providing a direly-needed lift to Lake Tahoe-area ski resorts that had delayed their openings amid an unseasonably dry start to the season.
Several ski resorts reported another two feet of powder from early Christmas morning to just before dawn on Friday, according to Scott Rowe, another National Weather Service meteorologist. That latest dumping left Soda Springs with 72 inches of snow so far this week, while Kirkwood reported 59 inches of powder, and Bear Valley said it had received 58 inches of snow.
Borreal reported 47 inches of snow this week, as of early Friday morning, while 58 inches of snow had fallen at the summit of Palisades Tahoe.
Accessing those ski resorts remained difficult Friday. Caltrans continued to enforce chain controls over Interstate 80 over Donner Pass and Highway 50 over Echo Summit. Still, the new solid base layer of snow was a welcome sight.
Just a week ago, on Dec. 19, California’s statewide snowpack was at 12% of its seasonal average, with the state’s northern-most peaks registering just 4% of its normal snowpack total for that date, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Central California — including much of the Lake Tahoe region — also was at just 12% of average.
But as Friday, the state stood at 69% of its snowpack average for the day after Christmas, with northern California coming in at 44% of average and the Central Sierra reaching 73%. More snow was expected to continue falling Friday before easing off this weekend.
“We’ll take any snow at this point in time,” Scott said.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
The winter holidays are nearly here, which means it’s a great time to gather with friends and family for some festive celebratory drinks. But where to go? If cozy kitsch, the glow of Christmas lights and an abundance of tinsel are your vibe, head for one of these 11 pop-up holiday cocktail bars around the Bay Area.
Sippin’ Santa and Miracle — two pop-up bar organizers — work with existing bars to offer their seasonal cocktail menus. The Sippin’ Santa concept is generally more tropical and tiki-drink focused, while the Miracle bars also offer professionally developed cocktails “and the nostalgic energy of the best office party you’ve ever been to.”
Originally launched in 2014 in New York City, the Miracle pop-up has grown since then, and now brings its seasonal pop-ups worldwide, according to its website. Meanwhile, the first Sippin’ Santa started in 2015 in New York City and has since expanded to over 60 locations across North America, especially following the creation of a 2018 partnership with tiki connoisseur, writer and bar owner Jeff “Beachbum” Berry. Generally, the menus are the same across the different locations for each concept, and each has a number of collectible cocktail mugs as well.
There are five of each concept open now or very soon around the Bay Area.
Santarex mugs are a popular item at Miracle’s pop-up holiday experience in participating restaurants and bars. (Photo by John McCall, South Florida Sun Sentinel)
SIPPIN’ SANTA LOCATIONS
Beer Baron, Pleasanton
Open 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-1 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays and 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 15-Jan. 4, at 336 St. Mary St., Pleasanton; beerbaronbar.com
Open 5 p.m.-midnight Tuesdays-Saturdays, Nov. 28-Dec. 31 (closed Christmas Day), at 32 Third St., San Francisco; konastreetmarket.com
55 South, San Jose
Opens at 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and 6 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 20-Jan. 3, 55 S. 1 First St., San Jose; the55south.com
Flamingo Lazeaway Club, Santa Rosa
Open 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m.-2 p.m. and 2:30-10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 31, at 2777 Fourth St., Santa Rosa; lazeawayclub.com
Additional California locations are in Hollywood, Paso Robles, Sacramento, San Diego and Santa Barbara.
The Snowball Old-Fashioned cocktail made with rye whiskey, gingerbread, aromatic and wormwood bitters and orange essence will be served during the Miracle pop-up bar experience at participating restaurants and bars this holiday season. (Courtesy of Miracle)
MIRACLE LOCATIONS
You’ll also find Miracle pop-up bars at the following bar locations. These cocktail bars are less tiki-themed, more.
Pop’s Public House, Gilroy
Open 4-9 p.m. Mondays, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays, 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays and 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 31, at 1300 First St., Gilroy; popspublichouse.com
The Fat Pigeon, Livermore
Opens 2 p.m. weekdays and noon weekends through Dec. 31, at 2223 First St., Livermore; fatpigeonbar.com
The Double Standard, Oakland
Opens 4 p.m. weekdays and 2 p.m. weekends through Dec. 31, at 2424 Telegraph Ave., Oakland; doublestandardbar.com
Brewsters Beer Garden, Petaluma
Open 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 1, at 229 Water St., Petaluma, brewstersbeergarden.com. The location is also hosting Santa visits each Tuesday and Thursday at 6 p.m., starting Dec. 2.
The Waterhawk Lake Club, Rohnert Park
Open 11:30 a.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. weekend through Jan. 1 at 5000 Roberts Lake Road, Rohnert Park; thewaterhawk.com
ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS
Making Spirits Bright, Los Gatos
Los Gatos Soda Works will also be hosting its own seasonal pop-up with a new, independent holiday cocktail menu and extravagant decorations. Opens daily at 4 p.m. through Dec. 31 at 21 College Ave., Los Gatos; reservations encouraged. losgatossodaworks.com
The game was tied at seven in the first half Saturday, but that’s as close as Santa Teresa would get as SHC routed the Saints to advance to the section title game, where the Fightin’ Irish will play rival St. Ignatius next week. SHC used a 28-point second quarter to propel the San Francisco school to the win. Quarterback Michael Sargent accounted for six touchdowns – throwing for four and rushing for two. Running back Jaylen Malcom had three touchdowns for Santa Teresa, which finished 11-1. – Nathan Canilao
CCS Division V
No. 1 Piedmont Hills 41, No. 4 Jefferson 14
Piedmont Hills will play in its first section final since 2010 after making quick work of Jefferson at home. Senior Diego Arias was excellent on both sides of the ball, getting a 32-yard pick-six and throwing a 50-yard touchdown to Travis Linane. Running back Alijah Torres had two rushing scores. Quarterback John Palomo ran for a touchdown and kicker Cash Martinez knocked in field goals from 26 and 32 yards away. Jefferson quarterback Robert Saulny-Green accounted for both of his team’s touchdowns with a rushing score and a passing TD. The Pirates will play Sobrato for the D-V championship next week. They will try to avenge a 40-30 loss to the Morgan Hill school this season. Jefferson ended its season 9-2. – Nathan Canilao
No. 2 Sobrato 27, No. 3 Terra Nova 19
Brady Lennon rushed for 272 yards and three touchdowns to help Sobrato to the win and the program’s first appearance in a CCS title game. Lennon broke a 70-yard scoring run on the second play of the game. Brandon Huighes connected with Jacob Sorrentino on a 35-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0. After Terra Nova drew to within 20-19, Lennon’s 26-yard TD run with 1:46 left gave Sobrato (8-4) an eight-point lead. Then when kicker Kyle Gurney recovered a fumble on the subsequent kickoff, the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock. For Terra Nova (8-4), QB Joey Donati rushed for 93 yards and passed for 184 and touchdowns to Robbie Johnson and Holden Najar. – Glenn Reeves
NCS Division V
No. 2 Ferndale 35, No. 3 Salesian 7
Salesian traveled more than 250 miles up Highway 101 for its semifinal game against Ferndale, hoping to return home to Richmond with a shot to capture the program’s eighth NCS championship next week. For three quarters Saturday, there was still hope. The Pride trailed 14-7 with 12 minutes to play. But the home team found another gear down the stretch, scoring three touchdowns in the final quarter to advance to play top-seeded St. Vincent de Paul for the championship next Saturday at Rancho Cotate High in Rohnert Park. Instead of Salesian playing for an eighth NCS crown, Ferndale (12-0) will be seeking its 15th. Salesian finished 10-2. – Darren Sabedra
DEAR JOAN: There is something that I have noticed for years, and I finally decided to ask the only expert I know.
At the southbound Thornton Avenue exit to Interstate 880 in Newark, there are some power lines that extend all the way across the freeway. Every time I go that way I see many birds sitting on the lines, but only on the southbound side, never on the other side.
This is not a once-in-a-while thing; I’ve noticed it for many years.
I’ve never seen them fly away, they all just sit there. Can you think of anything special about these particular power lines?
Inquiring minds want to know.
— Sherry Hughes, Newark
DEAR SHERRY: Not being able to read bird minds, or the minds of any living beings, I can’t say for certain, although I’m sure they have an excellent reason. I can, however, list a few possibilities.
First off, birds really like sitting on elevated lines, whether those are power lines, telecommunication wires or cable lines. The high wires provide an excellent vantage point for surveying the area, giving them a bird’s eye view of the territory. From there, they can look around for food and watch out for predators.
The lines are also a convenient spot for taking a rest and as there are other birds on the line, a chance to converse. They come and go as they please, but it’s not likely they would all fly off at once unless something really frightened the entire flock. It might look like the birds sit there all day and night, but it’s a revolving cast.
Such gatherings also provide some communal support and protection from predators, and in the winter, the combined flocks can offer a little extra warmth.
Considering how much power is surging through the lines, we have to wonder how the birds can casually perch on them and avoid electrocution. The answer? Science.
Just like water, and nature itself, electricity seeks a balance. It flows from high energy points to low energy points. A bird sitting on the wire doesn’t interrupt or redirect the flow, but if it was to have one foot on the wire (high energy) and another on the ground (low energy), the electricity would seek to balance, redirecting through the bird to complete the circuit, with deadly consequences. The birds are remarkably exact about the positioning on the lines, keeping a small but equal distance between them, and avoiding touching anything else.
Why the birds choose one wire and not the other most likely has to do with environmental factors. The wind might be stronger on that side, the wires might not provide the same vantage point, or there could be something on that side of the freeway or the lines themselves, that the birds just don’t care for.
The birds like a clear pathway when they fly off the wire, and the ones on the northbound side might be more advantageous.
Wish we knew for certain, but maybe one day the birds will talk.
The Animal Life column runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.
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.
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.
In 2010, Californians voted to create a nonpartisan Citizens Redistricting Commission to stop decades of gerrymandering. That reform was meant to restore fairness and ensure that all Californians — regardless of political affiliation — had a meaningful voice in representation.
Today, Proposition 50 threatens to undo that progress. If passed, it would allow California’s Democratic supermajority to tighten its control even further, reducing Republican representation in Congress from an already disproportionate 17% to just 8%, despite conservatives about 28% of likely voters.
Gov. Newsom’s support for this measure shows a willingness to suppress representation in pursuit of partisan gain. Such actions contradict the very principles of democracy and reveal a troubling hypocrisy. California deserves fairness — not one-party rule masquerading as reform.
Allowing private donors to pay government expenses — and especially allowing them to specify which government expenses they pay — is a terrible idea, regardless of its legality. (It’s probably illegal, as noted in the article.) That’s true whether it involves military salaries or a new wing on the White House.
Congress controls how much the government spends and on what. If the people don’t approve of the way Congress appropriates tax dollars, they can complain to their representatives or vote them out of office. Acknowledging that Congress isn’t functioning particularly well right now, if ultra-wealthy individuals fund government and the people don’t approve, what recourse do we have? That’s government by the wealthy, for the wealthy (aka, oligarchy), and the rest of us will be left with even less power than we have now.
There’s a reason that government agencies are allowed to spend only amounts appropriated by Congress.
Phil Sanders Fremont
Hegseth and Trump celebrate a slaughter
On Dec. 29, 1890, 300 Lakota Indian men, women and children were massacred by the United States Cavalry at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. A few days later, they were buried in unmarked graves. The soldiers who took part in the massacre were awarded Medals of Honor. The myth was that Wounded Knee was a battle when, in reality, it was a massacre.
There was an attempt by Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, to revoke the medals from the soldiers by ordering a review. However, the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, stopped the review, saying that the soldiers should keep their medals. For his action, Hegseth, along with his boss, President Trump, are celebrating the massacre of American Indians.
Republicans claim they cannot provide SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 if the government remains shut down. That’s not true. SNAP has a $5 billion-$6 billion contingency fund. Republicans are shamefully using the more than 40 million Americans who rely on SNAP as pawns, creating a hunger crisis to pressure Democrats to submit to Donald Trump’s will.
However, Democrats should not give up their fight to save our health care. Congress only has two weeks left to extend the ACA premium tax credits. Once open enrollment ends, the dramatic increases in health insurance premiums will be locked in — even if Congress acts later.
Meanwhile, this shutdown is really expensive. According to White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, this shutdown could cost the U.S. economy $15 billion a week.
What are we doing? Trump and Congress need to start negotiating on a bipartisan basis in good faith to reopen the government and extend ACA premium tax credits.
Jennifer Huber El Sobrante
In fact, GOP isn’t so tough on crime
The Trump administration is now using the National Guard for law enforcement in cities with shrinking crime statistics, in direct conflict with local officials and likely even federal law.
The president also pardoned 1,500 people for assaulting local and federal police officers while storming our nation’s Capitol and threatening to execute elected federal officials. Similarly, Trump commuted most of George Santos’ sentence and the administration granted favorable treatment to Ghislaine Maxwell.
All this while firing many senior officials in the Department of Justice, reducing federal funds for local law enforcement and prosecuting political enemies.
That is under the leadership of a draft-dodger, adjudicated sex offender and convicted fraudster. Don’t forget the never-completed efforts to prosecute him for election fraud and classified document cases.
Yet, the president has faced no resistance or objection from a Republican-controlled Congress. Are they strong on crime? I don’t think so.
Jim Kenna Brentwood
We should make health care a human right
Health care access and affordability has been an ongoing ethical issue. Millions of people are having a difficult time affording medical care, insurance and medication, and it is affecting their overall health and quality of life.
A couple of factors that are limiting their access to health care are income and location. I strongly believe that to prevent suffering, health care should be a human right and not a business for profit.
Health care access, affordable medication, health programs and insurance should be prioritized for our well-being, as well as protecting everyone, promoting public health and building strength in our communities.
If you are wondering how to vote on Proposition 50 gerrymandering, look no further than who is funding the “yes” campaign. Billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros are pouring millions of dollars into it. These are far-left-wing elites.
They are not interested in the people or what is good for the state of California. They are only interested in increasing their stranglehold over voters. They are the power-hungry force behind all the terrible policies that are destroying California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom conjured up this gerrymandering scheme. He has created this costly special election, hoping that turnout will be low and that people won’t care.
We do care. We need to say no. Vote no on Proposition 50.
My first reaction to this news was, “Who the hell cares what this guy thinks?” Do only billionaires’ voices matter? If Donald Trump rigs future elections, is peaceful protesting the only power we have? Not by a long shot.
Even as Trump tries to sabotage the power of the vote, we have the power of the purse. It worked on Disney during the Jimmy Kimmel fiasco. It will work on any company that sells to consumers. Www.goodsuniteus.com tracks corporate political donations. When, collectively, people stop shopping and subscribing to the brands that do not share their values, companies notice in a hurry. Trump may not listen to us, but he does listen to his billionaire buddies.
It may be time to start keeping corporate leaders up at night, watching their market shares tank. It may be time to remind billionaires that the money that drives this country comes from us.
Janice Bleyaert El Sobrante
Cal must do more to support students
UC Berkeley is regarded as the No. 1 public university. However, the students who make Berkeley great are facing hunger at an unacceptable rate. The 2022 UC Basic Needs Report shows that 47% of UC students have faced food insecurity.
I’m grateful for the opportunities this university has presented to me. However, a reason I and many other students hesitated in committing to Berkeley is due to the city’s basic cost of living. Attending Berkeley for most will be their greatest investment, so it should be on the university to support students contributing to the legacy of such an institution.
Currently, students can only visit Berkeley’s Basic Needs Center once a week, which is not enough for the students who rely on this resource the most. Working to expand on this resource could make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of the great minds we have at Berkeley.
Kennedy Jones Berkeley
Medical community must loudly denounce RFK Jr.
After eight months of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doing his best to unravel decades of advances in medicine and the development and use of tested and proven vaccines and medications that have saved millions of lives, saved millions of people from years of suffering, and prevented epidemics of many deadly and debilitating diseases — culminating in Donald Trump’s unhinged and unsubstantiated medical advice to America’s pregnant mothers not to take Tylenol because it causes autism in their children — I have one question: Where the hell has the medical community been?
The medical community in this nation has to stand up loudly to condemn and stop this devastation of what has allowed us all to live longer and healthier lives.
In fewer than 15 minutes, two separate carloads of people pulled up to the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez last Saturday. But then they turned away because the 325-acre park, with its Victorian mansion, historic pear orchard and visitor’s center, had been closed to the public without notice.
“What’s going on?” a man in one car asked. When told that the park was closed because of the federal government shutdown, he said, “I didn’t expect a historic site to be closed. I feel bad.” He had driven an hour from Santa Clara to Martinez, having heard that a famous American once lived there.
That eminent figure is Muir, the Scottish-born naturalist who founded the Sierra Club and hosted President Theodore Roosevelt on a camping trip in Yosemite in 1903. Muir is called the “father of the national parks,” in part because the writing he did in his Martinez study persuaded Americans to see their wilderness areas as treasures to preserve, not as resources to be exploited.
John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, pictured on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, is closed to the public due to the government shutdown. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
But since Oct. 1, Muir’s home has been shuttered, a closure Jonathan Jarvis, the director of the park service from 2009 to 2017, and Mark Rose, Sierra Nevada and clean air senior program manager of National Parks Conservation Association, said was emblematic of the murky future of the National Park Service.
Popular national parks in the Bay Area such as Alcatraz, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore remain open during the shutdown, though some of the larger open-air parks will offer bare-bones services. But three smaller, historic parks have been closed in Contra Costa County: Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, the Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial in Concord, and the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site in Danville.
Tao House, located at the Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site in Danville, where playwright Eugene O’Neill and his wife, Carlotta, lived from 1937 to 1944, is one of the national parks closed due to the federal government shutdown. (Cindi Christie/Staff Archives)
Jarvis and Rose said they fear the shutdown could become a pretext to drastically reduce funding for the country’s public parks, even as they broke attendance records in 2024, with 332 million visits. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump proposed $900 million in cuts to the park service — as detailed in a May 2 letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations from Russell Vought, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget — potentially wiping out budgets for at least 350 of the 433 parks, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Even though a House Appropriations Committee proposal would avert the administration’s “most damaging” cuts, the park service has still lost a quarter of its permanent staff since earlier this year, the parks association said. With the shutdown, more than 9,200 parks employees have been furloughed without pay, according to the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service Contingency Plan.
Friday, Vought announced on X that “The RIFs have begun,” referring to reductions-in-force of the 750,000 federal employees currently furloughed because of the shutdown. Politico confirmed with an OMB spokesperson that the reductions “are substantial” and “not furloughs.”
“The administration has been calling it a reduction in force, but it would just be a mass termination of potentially hundreds of thousands of additional park service staff,” Rose said.
The park service, in an email, said it “remains committed to maintaining as much access as possible to park lands during the lapse in appropriations. Critical functions that protect life, property and public health will continue to be staffed.”
The spokesperson did not respond to a question about potential layoffs, saying, “We do not have comment on personnel matters.” The White House Press Office’s automatic reply email stated media members could expect delays in responses because of the shutdown.
In contrast to the official parks service statement, Rose and Jarvis describe a more dire situation: To stay open, larger open-air national parks are relying on skeleton crews, which may be challenged to stop vandalism, harm to wildlife or damage to natural resources. Rose also said public safety is compromised, as help could be delayed if visitors get lost or injured.
This situation is the result of “a combination of incompetence and intent,” said Jarvis, who lives in Pinole. During a 2013 government shutdown, he closed all the national parks and said it’s “stupid” that parks are not all closed right now, though this move would be politically unpopular. He said the circumstances around this shutdown are unlike anything he’s seen. “It’s chaos upon chaos,” he said of the current state of the national park service.
Jarvis and Rose describe a top-down style of leadership in the U.S. Department of the Interior, which runs the park service, resulting in confusing information about what’s open, what’s closed and how the public should be notified. The national parks shutdown contingency plan stated that park websites and social media would not be updated, nor will regular notices of road or trail closures be posted.
Jarvis has raised concerns that the Trump administration is setting up national parks to fail. In a worse-case scenario he described in The Guardian, the parks’ failure would give this administration an excuse to privatize the park service’s high-visitation “cash cows,” such as Yosemite, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.
As for the hundreds of smaller parks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in May proposed the idea of transferring them to state agencies, as recommended by the Office of Budget and Management. Jarvis said that wouldn’t be easy, given that each national park was established by Congress and new legislation would be needed to strip them of their status. It’s also questionable whether many states could step in to run these parks, he said.
The John Muir site and the other Contra Costa parks fall into that category. The park service manages more than 130 sites that highlight places related to significant figures and events in American history. This includes famous battlegrounds, presidential homes and others that have been established to elevate narratives about those sidelined in traditional texts.
Interior of the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park visitor center on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Richmond, Calif. This site is closed to the public due to the government shutdown. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
So the Bay Area is home to the Rosie the Riveter park, which spotlights women who contributed to the war effort, local Japanese Americans and Black migrants from the segregated South. World War II also provides the backdrop for Concord’s Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial, which honors 320 Black soldiers killed in a 1944 explosion while unloading munitions — a tragedy that led to desegregation of the military.
Even if the Trump administration doesn’t have the legal authority to offload these sites, Jarvis expressed concern about the “moral aspect” of sending the message that they should be removed from the national park system.
“You’re basically saying that the people that the stories that these parks represent are not relevant to the American experience, and that’s just horrible,” Jarvis 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” …
After Starbucks announced it would be shutting hundreds of stores, its website is listing dozens in the Bay Area as being closed as of Sunday, Sept. 28.
To check if a store is on the closure list, go to the Starbucks store locator online, find your desired outlet and click the information icon to check whether it will be open beyond this week.
As of Sept. 26, the following stores were slated for a Sept. 28 closure:
After Week 1, the top three teams in the Bay Area News Group rankings solidified their spots.
De La Salle came away with a gritty win over Florida powerhouse Lakeland, Archbishop Riordan cruised past Oakland heavyweight McClymonds and Pittsburg lit up the scoreboard and then held off Granite Bay, a respected program from the Sac-Joaquin Section.
San Ramon Valley found its way into the Top 5 after beating El Cerrito in a close game.
Though Serra lost to Folsom in a 56-42 thriller, the San Mateo school proved HSRatings’ computer dead wrong. The computer had Serra losing 40-0. For that, the Padres moved up two spots, to No. 5.
Liberty defeated last year’s Division 3-AA state champion Frontier-Bakersfield and rose to the 10th spot in the rankings.
Sacred Heart Cathedral moved into the rankings following an impressive win over Sacred Heart Prep. The West Catholic Athletic League has six teams in the Top 25, the most of any league in the Bay Area News Group’s coverage area.
Editor’s note: Teams eligible for the Bay Area News Group rankings come from leagues based predominantly in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The news organization’s high school staff chooses the teams.
