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Weekend recap: BVAL Mt. Hamilton baseball race set up for a wild finish

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

NEW: PREP SPORTS MAILBAGThe Bay Area News Group is introducing a high school sports mailbag in May. Get your questions in as soon as possible. Our debut edition is an open forum. Got questions about spring sports playoffs, coaching changes, an early peek at football season, etc.? Send them to [email protected]. Please include “mailbag” in the subject line.BaseballLive Oak’s victory over the weekend has set up the possibility of a four-way tie for the baseball championship in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division.With two games left in the 10-team league, Leigh holds a two-game advantage over Live Oak, Pioneer and Branham.Leigh plays host to Live Oak on Tuesday and then travels to Live Oak on Thursday.Branham closes with two games against Sobrato, which is winless in league play.Pioneer finishes with two games against Leland.If Live Oak sweeps Leigh and Branham and Pioneer win both of their games, the four teams will finish with 12-6 league records...

NBA sends veteran ref Scott Foster to Game 4 of Warriors-Lakers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

The Warriors-Lakers playoff series was always going to draw attention to how the two teams were officiated.Now, as the series turns to a pivotal Game 4 with the Warriors down 2-1, could they welcome the assigned referee?Scott Foster will be the crew chief on Monday night, with Kevin Scott and Curtis Blair officiating the game alongside him.And while Scott and Blair are relatively fresh, each with just over 30 playoff games in their careers, it’s Foster who brings a wealth of experience, with 235 playoff games refereed in a 30-year career.The NBA sets referee assignments for the first four games of a playoff series at the start of each round, adding game assignments to each game as the series necessitates.So the NBA has known he’d had Game 4 for over a week, which will run a little counter to the narrative surrounding Foster. He’s picked up the nickname “The Extender” in recent years because, when he’s called in for games when the team trailing in a series picks up a win to lengthen ...

Diocese of Oakland files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

OAKLAND — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland announced Monday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in light of about 330 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse under a recent California statute that allowed decades-old cases to be re-opened.The Catholic schools that operate within the diocese are part of separate legal entities, and were not included in the filing, according to a statement from Diocese spokesperson Helen Osman. They will continue to operate as normal, Osman said.Employees will continue to be paid as usual, and their benefit programs will continue uninterrupted, she added. Vendors also will be paid for all their goods and services.Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the merits of each claim will be evaluated in a transparent process and claimants will have a say in the outcome, Osman said. The filing will also stop all legal actions against the diocese, allowing for a plan or reorganization based on assets and insurance coverage available to settle ...

12 terrific Bay Area pie shops where you can sate your sweet tooth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

Is there anything more nostalgic, more all-American, more all-around satisfying than a well made pie? Swirls of meringue float atop lemon curd. Creamy flounces adorn a fresh banana pie. And crumbly, gooey deliciousness oozes from flaky pastry shells everywhere.Many Bay Area restaurants feature a slice or two on their dessert menus, but this region is also home to some stellar pie-centric bakeries, each with its own spin on the classics. Here are a dozen hot spots to try, from a patisserie in Walnut Creek to an Argentine-inspired bakery in San Mateo and a worker-owned pie shop in Union City, where savory pies compete with the sweets.The Giving Pies, San JoseThe hardest part about going into a pie shop, of course, is deciding what to order. So many flavors, so little time. And once you commit to that big slice of apple, you might not have room for the berry. Horrors!Pie fans can (at least partially) bypass that problem at this San Jose shop, which specializes in mini pies — 1.5-...

Oakland teachers strike stretches into 3rd day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

(BCN) -- The Oakland Unified School District announced at 6:43 p.m. Sunday it did not reach a contract agreement with teachers and the Oakland Education Association (OEA) will continue its strike Monday. The district said "As was the case the first two days of OEA's strike, schools will remain open but it will not be school as usual. Nutrition services will still be provided as will other needed support for students and families. 5 injured after early morning shooting in Redwood City We regret the continued challenges this causes for our community." The strike involves about 3,000 teachers and other employees and affects about 35,000 students. Teachers and their supporters picketed at about 80 schools across the district Thursday and Friday. Teachers represented by OEA are striking over wages and issues such as safety and racial justice, for which they want concessions in any contract. District officials say they are prioritizing wages in contract negotiations because they wa...

2 lanes closed on northbound I-880 for investigation of fatal crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

(BCN) -- The California Highway Patrol is at the scene of a fatal crash Monday morning on northbound Interstate Highway 880 in San Jose. The crash was reported about 8:20 a.m. just north of Stevens Creek Boulevard. Petaluma police search for drive-by shooting suspect No other information about the collision was immediately available. The two left lanes are expected to be closed until about 10 a.m., according to the CHP. Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc.

AI Tries (and Fails) to Detect Weapons in Schools

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

On Halloween day last year, a 17-year-old-student walked straight through an artificial intelligence weapons detection system at Proctor High School in Utica, New York. No alert went off.The 17-year-old then approached a fellow student, pulled a hunting-style knife out of his backpack, and repeatedly stabbed the other student in the hands and back.The Utica City School District had installed the $4 million weapons detection system across 13 of its schools earlier that summer, mostly with public funds. The scanners, from Massachusetts-based Evolv Technology, look like metal detectors but scan for “signatures” for “all the guns, all the bombs, and all the large tactical knives” in the world, Evolv’s CEO Peter George has repeatedly claimed.In Utica, the 17-year-old’s weapon wasn’t the first knife, or gun, to bypass the system. Earlier that month, at a parents’ night, a law enforcement officer had walked through the system twice with his service revolver and was puzzled to find it...

Down 3-0, Leafs’ Big 4 seeking breakthrough versus Panthers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — It was almost automatic in every game this season for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Either Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Auston Matthews or John Tavares was going to score a goal.That was the case, anyway — until the Eastern Conference semifinals.Three games against the Florida Panthers in this series, and that fearsome foursome has been blanked so far. After scoring at least once in 81 of Toronto’s 88 games this season entering this series, Marner, Nylander, Matthews and Tavares have combined for exactly zero goals so far in their matchup with the Panthers.“Bobrovsky,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, offering the simplest and most accurate explanation. “That would be the end of that answer.”That would be Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who has stopped everything they’ve thrown at him. Matthews has gotten 14 shots at Bobrovsky in the first three games. So has Nylander. Tavares has gotten 12 to the net. Marner has taken nine.That’s 49 shots on goal in all — and ...

Virginia teen dies from sand hole collapse in North Carolina

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Authorities in coastal North Carolina are investigating the death of a teenager who became trapped in a hole that was dug in the sand, the latest fatality from the scourge of sand holes that continues to claim young people’s lives. The 17-year-old male died Saturday afternoon in the small resort town of Frisco, which sits along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the Outer Banks, the National Park Service said in a statement. Park rangers responded to a 911 call regarding a teenager trapped in a hole that was dug in a back-dune area behind the beach’s primary dune along the Atlantic Ocean, the park service said. The teenager was buried under several feet of sand after an adjacent dune apparently collapsed into the hole. Rangers and other emergency responders worked with family members to rescue the teen while simultaneously performing CPR, the park service said. Efforts to revive the teen, who lived in Chesapeake, Virginia, failed. “We urge v...

WATCH: Sweets lure Rockville neighborhood’s black bear into trap

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:36:00 GMT

(new Image()).src = "https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384&cid=c2ffed0c-3624-46c0-b10f-97c976d290a3";cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384",mediaId: "9e5ca4ca-dfc8-4217-94a4-495e0eee7363"}).render("b3c8ad570ec245778f935be6a6b3b33c"); });A black bear seen repeatedly hanging out in Rockville, Maryland, neighborhoods (at times destroying beehives) was lured into a trap with sweets and relocated on Monday morning.Not honey, but instead doughnuts, molasses and vanilla were used to entice the animal into a bear trap, according to the Rockville City Police Department.“We wish him all the best in his new journey,” police said after the animal was moved out of the city and Montgomery County.The trapped animal is believed to be the same “large black bear” spotted repeatedly over the past week in the areas of Woodley Gardens and Great Falls Road. Since the furry visitor stuck around ...