Free Republic

Nearly half a century after a young California woman was strangled, officials say a thumbprint on a carton of cigarettes has led to an arrest. Willie Eugene Sims was arrested in Jefferson, Ohio, in connection with the death of Jeanette Ralston, according to a Friday statement from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Sims, 69, has been charged with murder and was arraigned on Friday in Ashtabula County Court before being sent to California. (snip) A thumbprint found on Ralston’s cigarette carton in her car was found to match Sims’s last fall after law enforcement had asked to run...

Authorities said they will not file charges against a person who hung a flag depicting a Nazi swastika on the Burnett Avenue overpass in Morgan Hill. Santa Clara County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Michel Amaral said the DA’s office has concluded an investigation into the March 21 incident and decided it will not charge the person who displayed the flag over Highway 101 with a crime. Amaral said after investigating, his office determined there was not enough evidence to support a criminal charge that would lead to a conviction in a criminal court. “The decision was made to not file...

ATTENTION: INVASIVE MOSQUITOES DETECTED IN A PART OF SOUTH SAN JOSEUpdate: Invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, first detected in the county in large numbers last year, have been found again this year in a neighborhood where they were detected last year. This reappearance means the mosquito’s eggs successfully survived the winter and are hatching now that the weather is getting warmer.This mosquito is an aggressive daytime biter and can spread diseases like dengue and Zika. These diseases aren’t in the county right now, but finding this mosquito again is a serious health concern because it means the mosquito is successfully surviving...

I just recently got notified by the tax collector telling me I'm delinquent on my property taxes in 2022 & 2023. First of all, I have the receipts (debit and cleared checks) that I did pay my property taxes. Had to order them from my bank as their online banking only goes back 18 months for downloading docs. When I receive them, my brother ( he co-owned the home) is gonna head down to the county office and stick these docs in their faces. The funny thing about this is never in 2022, 2023, or 2024 did I get notification...

San Jose police have arrested three men on suspicion of attacking another man with machetes in June, the department announced Wednesday. The suspects – 43-year-old Juan Ramirez of San Jose, 41-year-old Eddie Herena of Martinez and 43-year-old Raul Moreno of San Jose – were booked into jail for attempted murder in connection with the June 27 attack, which was captured by surveillance cameras. The victim suffered multiple stab wounds, but his injuries were said to be non-life-threatening, according to police. The attack happened just before 10 p.m. in a business parking lot along the 2600 block of Alum Rock Avenue,...

A former NBA player and actor was sentenced to 90 years to life in prison on Friday for a series of violent sexual assaults, some of which occurred in Los Angeles County, authorities said. “During their investigation, detectives learned [that] in 2010, Byrd was convicted of sexual assault involving a different victim,” the LAPD release stated. “Detectives also discovered that Byrd had been arrested for sexually assaulting a young woman in Washington State in 2005.” Byrd’s victims told investigators that he was “initially charming” before he subsequently forced them into a variety of sex acts. “He started as a charmer,...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- The San Jose Police Department is investigating after a suspect in possession of explosive material was arrested. He's now believed to be responsible for blowing up two PG&E transformers. The suspect has been identified as 36-year-old San Jose resident Peter Karasev who made his first court appearance on Friday. SJPD says the investigation began with two separate incidents involving explosive devices between December and January. On Jan. 5, officers responded to the 6000 block of Snell Ave. on a report of a damaged transformer. A PG&E employee said an explosion occurred the night before around...

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The fan who ran onto the field during the Los Angeles Rams' loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night filed a police report against Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner. According to TMZ Sports, the individual is an activist for the Berkeley-based animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere and was trying to "raise awareness for a trial involving the alleged theft of pigs from a factory farm." Wagner said Wednesday that he's aware of the police report, but the incident is behind him. "Can't really focus on it," Wagner said. "I'm more concerned about the security...

After taking the life of an elderly married man and dearly loved father, Jennifer Higgins Bradanini was supposed to go to jail for six months, complete 350 hours of community service, pay $183,857 in restitution, and be on probation for two years. Even though the initial sentence was considered lenient, and outraged the victim’s family, the sentence later was unexpectedly modified. The six-month jail time became home confinement with an electronic monitoring device. Shortly thereafter, Higgins was seen on social media dancing with an ankle bracelet on a rally stage in Los Angeles. In divorce court, a family law judge...

The Jane Doe, known only as "Blue Pacheco" by authorities, has now been identified as Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon. On June 3, 1993, Skiple's body was found on the side of California state Route 152 in unincorporated Gilroy. She was 45 years old at the time of her death. In 2019, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office partnered with the DNA Doe Project to attempt to identify the body via investigative genetic genealogy. “This case was exceptionally challenging due to recent Norwegian ancestry which resulted in very distant DNA matches on GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA,” said DNA Doe Project team...

The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department announced that all masking metrics have been met and therefore indoor masking will no longer be required beginning March 2. The Public Health Department and the California Department of Public Health strongly recommends that the public continue to wear masks in all indoor public spaces. The California Department of Public Health continues to require masking in higher-risk settings such as public transit, healthcare facilities, shelters, jails, and long-term care facilities. For information on the State’s requirements, visit: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/guidance-for-face-coverings.aspx “We are very encouraged by the progress we have made. We have much less...

That decision has garnered both praise and scorn from the public toward Dr. Codyhile millions of vaccinated people across the Bay Area can now leave their masks behind, those in Santa Clara County must continue to don theirs in most public settings. And that’s no doubt got many of them ticked off again at the county’s top health officer, Dr. Sara Cody. But Cody, whose hard stance has drawn both praise and scorn, isn’t budging, even after county Supervisor Cindy Chavez cracked the county’s typically united front against COVID-19 by publicly questioning an earlier public health mandate. “I do want...

Santa Clara County won’t be making any changes to its mask rules for now, despite a decision Monday by the state to loosen its order. During a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Public Health Director Dr. Sara Cody said that her office was still reviewing figures before they change any policies. “As you know, we are always seeking to do what we can to be the most protective but also flexible,” said Cody during Tuesday’s meeting in response to a question from Board President Mike Wasserman. “We are looking at our data and where we are in the omicron...

A retired sheriff’s captain who tried to unseat Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith in 2014 is trying again next year, amid a cloud of criticism over the six-term incumbent that hit a crescendo this week when the Board of Supervisors formally gave her a vote of no confidence. Kevin Jensen filed with the county registrar on Tuesday, records show, the same day that the no-confidence vote was held ...

Santa Clara Board of Supervisors are on the verge of approving a 15% cap on third-party food delivery fees in an effort to help local restaurants as they brace for weeks under lockdown. At Tuesday’s board meeting, supervisors unanimously voted to draft up a countywide ordinance relating to a temporary cap on commissions and fees charged by third-party delivery services by the next meeting on Dec. 15 instead of its original plan to report by January.

Just hours after reopening Monday under Santa Clara County’s new health order, hair and nail salons, gyms, tattoo parlors and other personal care services have to close yet again. During his noon briefing, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced immediate closures for indoor operations of restaurants, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, card rooms, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums. Bars must close altogether. The governor called for 30 counties — approximately 80 percent of Californians — on the state monitoring list for at least three consecutive days to close personal care services, fitness centers, places of worship, business offices and shopping malls....

The following is an email from Santa Clara County Supervisor I received earlier this afternoon. I hope this finds you well. Today, the seven Bay Area health officers, led by Santa Clara County’s Dr. Sara Cody, issued a new shelter-in-place order that beginning on May 4 reduces some of the restrictions that have been in place since March 16. A copy of the new order is here. A copy of the press release describing it is here. Our community’s success in sheltering in place has worked to flatten the curve and earned this first, careful step toward reopening. As President...

Ultimately, all coronavirus deaths are connected to Wuhan, but that’s not what UCSF microbiologist Dr. Charles Chiu means. He’s talking about different strains of the virus which can be detected with gene sequencing. So, for instance, the original Wuhan strain of the virus can be differentiated from the strain that formed the first U.S. hotspot in Washington state by looking for specific mutations.Dr. Chiu, who has been studying the outbreak in the Bay Area hasn’t been able to test samples from the three early victims of the disease which Santa Clara officials announced yesterday, so consider this informed speculation:...

A new study unveiled Monday from the University of Southern California (USC) with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health discovered infections of the novel Wuhan coronavirus to be far more widespread with a lower fatality rate than initially thought. The California researchers conducted rapid antibody testing of a representative sample of adults and found that approximately 2.8 to 5.6 percent of L.A. County’s adult population already had coronavirus antibodies present, translating to 221,000 to 442,000 past-infected people. The new estimate dwarfs the nearly 8,000 cases that had been reported at the time the study took place April 10-11....

These prevalence estimates represent a range between 48,000 and 81,000 people infected in Santa Clara County by early April, 50-85-fold more than the number of confirmed cases. Conclusions: The population prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Santa Clara County implies that the infection is much more widespread than indicated by the number of confirmed cases. Population prevalence estimates can now be used to calibrate epidemic and mortality projections.