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Campbell student named Coke Scholar for academics, community service

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

Campbell resident Anna Yang, a senior at Notre Dame High School in San Jose, has been selected as one of 150 Coke Scholars by Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, which will contribute $20,000 to her education at Stanford University. The only honoree from Santa Clara County, Anna was chosen from among more than 91,000 applicants.As part of her application, Anna selected Notre Dame physics teacher Olena Petrova as her Educator of Distinction. The school honored Anna and Petrova at its annual Senior Recognition Night on Thursday, May 25.The Coke Scholars Award honors students who combine academic achievement with community service. The honor caps an array of achievements for Anna throughout her high school career in both science and literature. “I feel like everyone is born to love humanities and science, and it’s really just the world that pushes them to choose,” Anna said in a statement.Anna is the current Youth Poet Laureate for Santa Clara County.  She was a Top 10 finisher in the New Y...

Youth rock and jazz bands to perform in Saratoga

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

A natural performanceYouth rock and jazz bands from Be Natural Music are performing June 11 in Saratoga to celebrate the Cupertino music school’s first anniversary.The concert is set from noon-3 p.m. at the Tamra Mediterranean Grill, 12019 Saratoga Sunnyvale Road, Saratoga. Admission is free, but Be Natural will be accepting donations for its scholarship program, which awards over $1,400 per month to 33 students.For more information, visit www.benaturalmusic.live/donate.‘Find Your Voice’ at libraryThe Santa Clara County Library District invites patrons to “Find Your Voice” during the district’s free summer reading program.Throughout the months of June and July, district libraries will be hosting a lineup of programs for children, teens and adults featuring performers, arts and crafts, book clubs and speakers.The program is designed for patrons to discovering different ways to express themselves.“According to the California State Library, summer reading programs can help children dev...

Willow Glen preschool acquires neighboring campus

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

Neighborhood NotesWILLOW GLEN>>Regard Preschool of Willow Glen has been acquired by Action Day Schools. Both schools have campuses on Lincoln Avenue. Established in 1991, Regard enrolls students ages 2-6, while Action Day, which opened in 1975, enrolls children from infancy to age 5.“We are thrilled to add the Regard Preschool campus to the Action Day Schools family,” Action Day Schools president Cathy Jelic, a longtime Willow Glen resident, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Regard team to create a seamless transition for families and provide even more opportunities for children to learn and grow.”“The decision to close Regard was not an easy one. However, I do recognize that this is the right time to begin my retirement,” said Julie Rymer, the preschool’s founder and director. “It has been an honor and a privilege to work with so many wonderful Willow Glen families.”This acquisition is part of Action Day Schools’ ongoing growth strategy. For enrollment...

Latest line: A good week for Applied Materials, a bad week for Ron DeSantis

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

Applied MaterialsJoined by Vice President Kamala Harris, leading semiconductor equipment maker announces it will spend $4 billion to build a new research center in Sunnyvale with 2,000 new jobs by 2026.    Ron DeSantisFlorida governor teams with Elon Musk to announce his presidential candidacy on San Francisco’s Twitter. But the event was marred by technical glitches and became the butt of jokes nationwide.   Eleni KounalakisCalifornia’s low-profile lieutenant governor gets a big endorsement from Hillary Clinton in her run for governor in 2026, which will help with fundraising. But she’s still an unknown to most voters. 

They said it: Steering the narrative

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

“We are going to try to leak it tomorrow to take the wind out of Gillmor’s sails.”— San Francisco 49ers Communications Director Ellie Caple, in an Oct. 6 text message to team researcher Tim Hoekstra on leaking a Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury report that echoed Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor’s criticism of team influence over officials in the city where the NFL team plays. 

In Alameda County’s Cherryland, environmental injustices come in many forms

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

Claudia Canchola’s apartment in Cherryland should have been a place of comfort. She envisioned it as a space where she could cook meals for her husband and three young children, spend time together as a family and create a home.But the shiny promise of Cherryland’s name was lost in the details. This 1.2-square-mile pocket of Alameda County, bordered by three interstates and bisected by a railroad track, has a population of 15,808 and some of the county’s most worrisome health indicators. Asthma rates are high: in the 89th percentile. It’s an area defined in part by its geography, situated amid the toxic emissions from major thoroughfares.The area also has other challenges: more than 1 in 10 residents live in poverty, 47% have no education beyond high school, and only about a quarter of them live within walking distance of a supermarket.Claudia Canchola says there are some issues that need to be repaired like the electric stove, sink and loud noises coming from a wa...

Berkeley awarded $5.1 million to study plan for revitalizing its pier with ferry service

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

The Berkeley Marina’s historic pier has remained abandoned, crumbling and fenced off for the nearly eight years since it closed amid deteriorating concrete and corroded rebar from years of weathering by San Francisco Bay’s breaking salt water waves.Now a $5.1 million grant from local transit officials will help the city take another step to reopening and expanding the structure built directly across from the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1920s. The grant will fund critical state and federal environmental reviews of a $121 million restoration project.In addition to tackling desperately needed pier repairs, the project will also bring a large-scale passenger ferry service to the marina — nearly a century after plans to ferry commuters by boat never materialized.The new grant — which will fund the project’s design, environmental review and engineering work — was approved on Thursday by the 22-member Alameda County Transportation Commission that represents the ...

Castroville vs. Coachella: Battle heats up to grow the perfect California artichoke

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

CASTROVILLE – Quietly, over the last two decades, the beloved California artichoke has undergone a radical transformation.It’s not always easy to see from the outside – a studied eye can spot it – but an ambitious program to produce high-yielding, year-round artichokes has altered the flavor, color, texture and even the shape of them.This revolution has uprooted thousands of acres of heirloom artichokes across Castroville — the “Artichoke Center of the World” — and replaced them with hybrids. Now, it’s pitting technology against tradition and playing out at farm stands and on dinner tables across the country.The new varieties are cheaper to grow, have a longer shelf life and resist diseases, said Steven Fennimore, a UC Davis plant science professor.But what about flavor?“You can argue about taste all day,” he said, “but I won’t get into that.”A annual variety of artichoke at Ocean Mist Farms, left, and an heirloom perennial artichoke at Pezzini Farms in...

Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame: 49ers’ Patrick Willis adds another honor on path to Canton

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Singletary’s passionate speech came to an impactful pause while he described Patrick Willis, a former star 49ers linebacker Singletary helped groom.Willis was taking a rightful spot amid Thursday night’s Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame enshrinement, and Singletary’s thoughts drifted toward the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.“I thought for sure he’d be in the (Pro Football) Hall of Fame this year. There’s no reason why … I won’t even go there,” Singletary said with a sigh to the audience of nearly 1,000 at a downtown San Francisco hotel.Asked during the ceremony to expand on that, Singletary succinctly answered that Willis should have been a first-ballot entrant to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, five years after Willis’ award-laden 49ers career ended due to toe injuries.Lee Posey, 11, left, shakes hands with Patrick Willis while standing with his father Buster Posey during media interviews before the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame ceremony at ...

State Farm no longer offering home insurance in California

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:15:12 GMT

(The Hill) – State Farm will no longer offer home and property insurance to new customers in California starting Saturday, the company said in a press release.The insurance company pointed to “historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market” for its decision, making particular note of the risk posed by the state’s frequent wildfires.“We take seriously our responsibility to manage risk,” State Farm said. “We recognize the Governor’s administration, legislators, and the California Department of Insurance (CDI) for their wildfire loss mitigation efforts.“However, it’s necessary to take these actions now to improve the company’s financial strength,” it added.State Farm said that it will continue to serve existing customers in the state and that personal auto insurance would not be impacted.There were 7,490 wildfires in California in 2022 that burned more than 360,000 acres, which Cal Fire described ...