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Elderly convicted killer pleads not guilty in 1980 slaying of woman found in Bay Area field

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

The suspect in a 1980 killing that went cold, Herman Lee Hobbs, 76, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Solano County Superior Court for the death of a 21-year-old woman whose body was found in rural Dixon.With Deputy Public Defender Nick Filloy at his side in Department 11, he also denied, as expected, all allegations and all prior felony strikes, and waived his right to an early preliminary hearing.Judge William J. Pendergast then assigned the case to Department 15, ordering Hobbs to appear in Judge Robert Bowers’ courtroom at 9 a.m. May 15 for a preliminary hearing setting in the Justice Building in Vallejo.Previously convicted in 2005 for a 1975 killing in Sacramento, Hobbs, bald and shackled in a wheelchair, showed no distinct emotions during the brief afternoon proceedings.District Attorney Krishna A. Abrams represented the people and will lead the prosecution.The case against Hobbs involves special circumstances, including the alleged prior murder conviction and the alleged murder...

Skelton: There’s a bright side to the battery of California storms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

Drought-busting storms this season have given California priceless opportunities on two ecological fronts.We’re practically drowning in water already, and the heavy runoff of record Sierra snow hasn’t even begun.First, we’ll have previously unimagined volumes of water to generate clean hydroelectric power. That means burning less dirty fossil fuel and less likelihood of power blackouts.Second, we can now earnestly pursue the ambitious task of refilling our depleted underground reservoirs, the sinking aquifers that have been irresponsibly overpumped for decades, mostly by farmers.But it’s not as easy as it might seem. Water doesn’t easily percolate everywhere. Sometimes it just evaporates unused, as is likely in the huge, newly reborn Tulare Lake in the southern San Joaquin Valley.These storms have wreaked havoc in many regions — bursting levees, flooding crops, inundating residential neighborhoods and washing out roadways.But they’ve been a godsend — at least for this year — in the ...

Held-to-answer arraignment set for East Bay siblings linked to Carmel woman’s 2021 death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

After a preliminary hearing earlier this week, a Solano County Superior Court judge ruled there was enough evidence to schedule further proceedings against a brother and sister charged in connection to the late-October 2021 killing of a 19-year-old Carmel woman in Fairfield.Judge William J. Pendergast then ordered Jessica Yesenia Quintanilla, 22, and Marco Antonio Quintanilla, 28, both of Pittsburg, to return to Department 11 for a held-to-answer arraignment at 9:30 a.m. April 24 in the Justice Building in Fairfield. Following that proceeding, if it is held, the judge will schedule other case-related matters, including a jury trial date.Jessica Quintanilla is represented by San Francisco-based attorney William Alan Welch. She is being held without bail on first-degree murder charges in the Claybank Detention Facility in Fairfield.Marco Quintanilla, who is represented by San Francisco attorney Laurie D. Savill, is charged with being an accessory in the case and violating his parole a...

Jury convicts Bay Area man in hate crime case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

A Petaluma man accused of racially motivated vandalism against a Black woman in Novato last year has been convicted of a hate crime, the Marin County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.Robert Lynn Thorne III, then 39, was arrested in October after an incident at the Novato Fair Shopping Center. The victim told police that Thorne, who is White, used racial slurs against her, spat on her car and kicked a door on the vehicle twice. The damage, which included scratched paint, was estimated at $1,000.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Saratoga High School leaders speak at county anti-hate incident panel after racist incident Crime and Public Safety | South Bay lawmaker’s bill aims to bolster hate crime charges Crime and Public Safety | Asian Americans are anxious about hate crimes. TikTok ban rhetoric isn’t helping Crime and Public Safety | Amid rising antisemitism, Jewish communities bolster security ...

Opinion: Wisconsin election shows Trump isn’t Republicans’ only headache

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

Republicans have a big problem. No, not the guy who got indicted. At least not directly.The most significant election of 2023 went to the Democrats on Tuesday, as liberal Wisconsin judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated her conservative rival Dan Kelly to flip the 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court.The outcome was a big achievement for Democrats, who rallied supporters and raised money across the country for what would normally be a little-noticed (and officially nonpartisan) contest. Protasiewicz made abortion rights a centerpiece of her campaign, and with her victory the court is now expected to overturn Wisconsin’s abortion ban rooted in a 19th century statute.Protasiewicz’s win continues a pattern of Democratic successes in the midterms and in other contests that we have seen ever since Donald Trump captured the White House in 2016. The results are especially remarkable given President Joe Biden’s unpopularity nationally.In particular, the Wisconsin contest marked another electi...

Bay Area’s wildflower season could be the best in years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

A Harlequin flower blooms in the Marin Headlands in Sausalito on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)Wildflowers bloom in the Marin Headlands in Sausalito on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)Show Caption of ExpandLove wildflowers? This year could be one of the best yet.“I think this is going to be the best spring in terms of diversity and flowers in Northern California – and probably the entire state – in 20 years,” said Seth Adams, land conservation director for the nonprofit Save Mount Diablo.This spring’s eclectic weather, featuring rain, snow, flooding and hail, actually benefits wildflowers, which thrive on the ecological adversity California has recently encountered.“Three years ago, we had giant fires on four sides of the Bay Area and almost no rain. The next year, we had really heavy, early rains that then stopped, and now we have so much rain it’s record-breaking and flooding,” Adams said.“Now, a lot of the ar...

Pajaro Valley cemeteries filling up

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

WATSONVILLE — Cemeteries in the Pajaro Valley are facing a crisis in burial space.Of the Pajaro Valley Public Cemetery District’s five cemeteries, only Valley Public Cemetery in Watsonville has availability for new burials but only for single plots. However, even those spaces are limited, putting the district in a spot where all cemeteries are likely to fill up in terms of ground burials within the next five years.“We’re looking for more land to expand,” said District Manager Elizabeth Lopez. “We haven’t found anything yet, so right now, that’s our high priority for the district.”The Pajaro Valley Public Cemetery District is a special district funded through the taxes paid by community members and governed by a board of directors. It oversees Day Valley Cemetery in Aptos, and Pioneer, Valley Catholic, Watsonville Catholic and Valley Public cemeteries in Watsonville.Lopez said there has been a spike in burials at the cemeteries in recent years, something she largely attributes to the...

Arsenal’s trust in Mikel Arteta paying off, says Klopp

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

In a season of so many coaching changes in the Premier League, Jurgen Klopp says Arsenal is a good example of what can happen when a club practices patience.Mikel Arteta takes his first-place team to Liverpool on Sunday as the Gunners try to move a step closer to capturing what would be their first Premier League title since 2004.“I know people are always asking for time for managers. I really think Mikel deserved each minute he got there when it was not going perfectly well,” Liverpool coach Klopp said Friday at a news conference. “In the beginning, maybe the steps were not big enough for some people and stuff like this and now they are (in first place).”Chelsea’s firing of Graham Potter on Sunday was the 13th managerial departure this season — the most in league history. All but one — Potter’s resignation from Brighton — were related to underperformance.Arteta took charge of Arsenal in December 2019 and guided the team to back-to-back eighth-place finishes.The st...

Acusan a una dermatóloga del condado de Orange de envenenar a su esposo con un limpiador de desagües líquido

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

(CNN) — Una dermatóloga de California fue acusada formalmente por un jurado investigador por presuntamente envenenar a su esposo con un limpiador de desagües líquido, según la Oficina del Fiscal de Distrito del Condado de Orange.Yue “Emily” Yu, de 46 años, fue acusada de tres delitos graves de envenenamiento y un delito grave de agresión doméstica con lesiones corporales, según un comunicado emitido este miércoles.El abogado de Yu, Scott Simmons, dice que su cliente se declarará inocente. Agrega que el esposo diseñó estos eventos para aprovecharse de Yu en la corte de divorcio.El esposo de Yu, Jack Chen, quien también es médico, declaró en documentos judiciales que lo envenenaron con un limpiador líquido y que ella estaba tratando de matarlo.Detienen a un odontólogo por la “atroz, compleja y calculada” muerte por envenenamiento de su esposaYue “Emily” Yu.“Comencé a notar un sabor químico en mi limonada. Eventualmente desarrollé síntomas que me hicieron ...

Bayern forward Choupo-Moting a doubt for Man City game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:08:02 GMT

MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting will miss Saturday’s league game against Freiburg with a knee problem and is a doubt for the Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Manchester City next week, coach Thomas Tuchel said Friday.Tuchel said the 34-year-old Cameroon striker would not travel to Freiburg and would undergo treatment. “The time is tight” for him to recover ahead of the match at City on Tuesday, the coach added.Choupo-Moting was best known as a backup for Robert Lewandowski until this season but has come into his own since the Poland forward left for Barcelona in July. He has 17 goals in 28 games for Bayern this season and four in six in the Champions League, including one against Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16.He went off after 64 minutes of the 2-1 loss to Freiburg in the German Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday.Serge Gnabry, Sadio Mané and Thomas Müller are candidates to replace Choupo-Moting ahead of Tuchel’s first Europe...