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San Jose’s Playful People teaches onstage, backstage skills

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Neighborhood NotesROSE GARDEN>>Registration is open for Playful People Productions’ 2023 summer session, running July 10-30 at the Historic Hoover Theater in San Jose. The summer session provides opportunities for young theater-lovers to work both onstage and backstage.In the former category is “Disney’s 101 Dalmatians KIDS.” Suitable for ages 5-12, this production rehearses July 10-20 and will be performed July 21-22.Teen thespians ages 16 and older can take part in “Puffs,” the story of Wayne Hopkins, a regular boy who finds out he’s a wizard and goes to school in England. A comedic riff on a familiar story, “Puffs” will rehearse July 10-27 and be performed July 29-30.For teens interested in behind the scenes, there’s a three-week Costume Design, Building and Managing Masterclass Camp. Students will work directly with industry professionals and will help design and build costumes for the above summer productions. Suitable for ages 12-15, this class runs July 10-2...

New education director brings wealth of experience to Los Altos Stage Company

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Judging by her impressive theater background, Los Altos Stage Company picked the right person in Kristin Walter to become its new education director and help develop its youth program.Walter’s experience includes running conservatories for California Theatre Center, a Sunnyvale-based company that shuttered in 2017 after 41 years. She also served as the education director at Peninsula Youth Theatre in Mountain View. For the past 22 years, she’s been the middle school theater teacher at Castilleja School in Palo Alto.“After spending all that time at Castilleja, I was very much ready for a new challenge,” she says. “It’s a perfect use of my skills set and it’s part-time, which means I’ll still be able to direct adult shows, perform and write.”“We’re thrilled to have Kristin join us as our new education director,” says LASC’s executive artistic director Gary Landis. “She has a long and distinguished career in arts education and is widely respected throughout the local arts a...

Milpitas nonprofit trains volunteers as go-betweens for foster youth, courts

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Volunteers from Morgan Hill to Mountain View were sworn in March 7 as Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) through Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, a Milpitas-based nonprofit.The swearing-in ceremony, presided over by Judge Shawna Schwarz, capped a training process where 22 volunteers from eight South Bay cities learned how to serve as the go-between for children in the foster care system and court officials.More than 60% of foster youth currently waiting for a CASA volunteer live outside of Santa Clara County, although their case is with the Santa Clara County Dependency Court.“Our community continues to come together and support foster youth when it matters most,” said Frederick J. Ferrer, CEO of Child Advocates. “Our agency is grateful that so many individuals are committed to making an impact on the lives of foster youth, near or far.”Volunteer training consisted of 30 hours of self-paced courses and presentations, both online and in person, that covered topics like child ...

Latest line: A good week for Ismail Ramsey, a bad week for Walgreens

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Ismail RamseyBerkeley attorney, Air Force vet and Harvard law grad is confirmed by Senate to become U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, the Bay Area’s top prosecutor and Silicon Valley’s cop-on-the-beat.    WalgreensGov. Gavin Newsom cancels $54 million state contract with pharmacy chain, and it faces calls for boycotts after announcing it will not sell abortion pills in conservative states where Republican attorneys general object.   San Jose airportNew stats show the number of passengers traveling through San Jose Mineta International Airport is up 53% from last year. But just like with SFO and Oakland, it’s still not yet back to 2019 levels, before COVID. 

52 feet and counting: Lake Tahoe grapples with ‘ginormous’ snowpack

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Rather than use a yardstick, Deanne Maas measures each new snowstorm at her house atop Donner Summit by carefully examining the widening cracks in her drywall.Some of them now reveal the underlying studs — signs that more than a dozen feet of snow piled outside her house are buckling the walls and roof of her home. She can hardly see outside anymore, as snow covers almost all of her windows.“I feel like I live in a snow cave,” said Maas, 46.Even for a place so accustomed to receiving some of the highest seasonal snowfall totals in the continental United States, this winter is a doozy. The Lake Tahoe area is buckling under hundreds of inches of snowfall amid one of its most powder-filled seasons on record, all part of a historic run of atmospheric rivers and punishing arctic blasts that have filled reservoirs, flooded cities and eased drought conditions across California.A snow-topped bus stop in Alpine Meadows, Calif., provides a glimpse at the Lake Tahoe region’s ...

They said it: Too much of a good thing

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

“Snow is pretty, but when you have so much of it, it’s a real pain in the tuchus.”— Elinor Gates, a resident astronomer at Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton east of San Jose, where so much snow has fallen it has interfered with the operation of their telescopes.

Roadshow: What will be done first, El Camino repaving or bullet train?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Q: El Camino Real between 237 and Palo Alto has been in desperate condition for many years and is getting worse. I have an $11,000 repair bill to fix a worn out suspension, which my daily commute along here has undoubtedly contributed to. This must be the worst major road in the state. In fact, I bet the Padres riding on their donkeys from mission to mission along El Camino had far fewer obstacles to navigate!Richard Cliff, Los AltosA: And…Q: What transportation project do you think will be completed first, the bullet train between San Francisco and L.A., or the repaving of El Camino Real from Grant Road to the Stanford Shopping Center? I’m putting my money on the bullet train.Larry CastelliA: I understand your point and frustration. The bullet train could take two or three decades to complete. El Camino Real should be repaved later this year.Q: As I read about more laws and regulations coming to control sideshow activity, I wonder if this is truly the best way to proceed. It ...

Rule 5 pick Blake Sabol making big impression at SF Giants camp. Can he make the roster?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — You probably hadn’t heard of Blake Sabol before the San Francisco Giants acquired him in the Rule 5 draft this past December. Yet his presence commands a room.“It’s fun to talk to a few guys in this clubhouse with their confidence,” starter Alex Cobb said, recalling a telling interaction with the 25-year-old former Pirates farmhand, whom the Giants are hoping can convert into a good enough catcher to carry his enticing left-handed bat (and infectious personality) on their 26-man roster.“I talked to Sabol about what his concerns are going into the season,” Cobb said. “He’s very confident in his catching.“I was like, can you hit?“He goes, ‘Oh yeah, I can hit.’“I love that.”What Sabol has done so far with his commanding presence in Giants camp couldn’t have made a better case for a spot on the active roster, a requirement of his Rule 5 status (if he is not on their roster, they must offer ...

Advocates push for state amendment to make housing a ‘human right’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

Should the state guarantee a right to housing for all Californians?A coalition of anti-poverty advocates led by Matt Haney, a Democratic state assemblymember from San Francisco, is proposing an amendment to the state constitution that seeks to do just that.The amendment does not define a right to housing, and backers have offered few specifics about what it would mean in practice. But they say it could make it easier for state officials to sue local governments that resist adding significantly more affordable housing. To pass, it needs a two-thirds majority in the state Legislature and then approval by voters.At a news conference in Sacramento this week, Haney, alongside leaders from advocacy groups including the ACLU of California and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, touted the amendment as a long-awaited solution to the state’s affordable housing shortage.“This is a crisis, and the status quo approach that doesn’t recognize (housing) as a funda...

Ohtani long HR powers Japan to group win at World Classic

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:00:45 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a 448-foot, three-run home run in the first inning that landed just below his image on an video advertising board and had four RBIs to lead Japan over Australia 7-1 Sunday night at the World Baseball Classic.Japan, already assured of advancement, won its group with a 4-0 record and will play a quarterfinal on Wednesday against the second-place team from Group A, to be determined later Sunday. South Korea beat the Czech Republic 7-3 in the day’s other Group B game.Ohtani turned on a hanging curveball from loser Will Sherriff, who didn’t even watch the flight of the ball into the Tokyo Dome’s right-field seats, bending and putting hands on his knees. It was the first home run of the tournament for Ohtani, who is 6 for 12 with eight RBIs and seven walks. He walked with the bases loaded in the sixth, the third straight walk after reliever Blake Townsend entered.Winner Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out eight in four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and no wa...