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“Letters of Suresh” is as beguiling as an origami bird | Theater review

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

When playwright Rajiv Joseph’s drama “Letters of Suresh” opens, Father Hashimoto has been dead for two weeks. In the Curious Theatre Company’s nuanced production (through Dec. 9), his grandniece, Melody Park (Desirée Mee Jung), is in her living room in Seattle writing a letter to a man named Suresh to let him know.While clearing out the priest’s room at a church in Nagasaki, Japan, Melody came across the cache of letters that Suresh sent Hashimoto over the years and wonders if he’d like them back. She also wonders who this relative she never knew — her mother’s uncle — was … and sometimes she just wonders.Desirée Mee Jung plays Melody Park in “Letters of Suresh” at the Curious Theatre Company. (Michael Ensminger, provided by Curious Theatre Company)“I don’t remember the last time I wrote a letter … . I don’t remember the last time I wrote anything,”  Melody, a writing teacher, writes to this unknown Suresh, tapping on her laptop and aware of the wincing irony...

Firefighters fall from 2nd floor battling blaze in downtown Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

Two firefighters are OK after falling through the second floor of a two-story downtown Los Angeles area office building that erupted in flames Friday morning.Crews responded to a fire burning outside the structure in the 1000 block of West Sunset Boulevard around 1 a.m.Firefighters respond to an office building blaze in downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 1, 2023. (OnScene.TV)The flames eventually extended into the building, believed to house medical offices, and traveled to the second floor, the Los Angeles Fire Department stated in a news alert. "There was a partial floor collapse on the 2nd floor which impacted two firefighters," the Fire Department posted. The firefighters were not injured and crews continued to battle the blaze aggressively.It took nearly an hour for the 68 firefighters to extinguish the blaze, the fire department stated. Arson investigators were sent to the scene. “The arson investigation is here … undetermined at this time as to how this fire started,” LAFD Assistan...

Wish Book: Preventing homelessness and hunger in Sunnyvale

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

Things were looking up for Benjamin Johnson. After a few years living out of his car in Fremont, he’d landed an apartment in Sunnyvale and a steady job as a cook at a bar and grill in town.He was even in line for a raise, set to take home $2,500 a month.Then suddenly in January, the main artery to his heart tore open, sending him to intensive care and stripping him of the use of his legs.“I’m glad to be here,” Johnson said. “Because everybody said it’s slim to none chances that you’re making it.”But without being able to work and soon facing eviction, Johnson, 45, was unsure how he would endure the grueling recovery ahead.In March, one of his former roommates reached out to Sunnyvale Community Services, and a caseworker with the nonprofit quickly got to work helping Johnson sign up for disability benefits and rental assistance. The group also negotiated a deal with Johnson’s landlord to let him stay in the apartment for another s...

Will the first cemetery built in San Jose since the 1880s come to Coyote Valley?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

The latest in a long line of battles to develop Silicon Valley’s most coveted green space is finally coming to a head after years of anticipation.And this time, it may be the difference between life and death.Heritage Oaks Memorial Park in Coyote Valley could become the first San Jose cemetery to be built in almost 140 years as developers argue the city is in desperate need of more space to bury its dead.But local environmentalists are having none of it. Denouncing the project, they claim the 275-acre site would disturb critical wildlife crossings in the predominantly agricultural area. The last major bureaucratic hurdle to get the project officially approved could come as early as next year.It’s not the first time builders have faced resistance in the Coyote Valley region. In early November, county officials killed a plan to build an 8,465-square-foot home in the area after voting to allow a local environmental agency to purchase the site through eminent domain. Tech co...

Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Zakara Cooper, Cornerstone Christian basketball

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

Cornerstone Christian basketball player Zakara Cooper is the Bay Area News Group’s girls athlete of the week for Nov. 20-25 after she received 36.68% of the vote by the deadline Wednesday.Oakland Tech flag football player Jhai Johnson finished second.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Related ArticlesHigh School Sports | Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Kevin Chapman, Moreau Catholic basketball High School Sports | Poll closed: Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week High School Sports | Poll closed: Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week High School Sports | Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Charley Staats, Valley Christian volleyball High School Sports | Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Jaxen Robinson, Christopher football Cooper, a junior, carried the Cornerstone Christian offense in a season-opening victory over Libert...

Is 49ers-Eagles the biggest game of the year? Don’t ask the Niners

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

SANTA CLARA — It’s finally here: 49ers vs. Eagles on Sunday. Brock Purdy and Jalen Hurts. The Brotherly Shove. The bitter 49ers howling at the injustice of losing Purdy, whose elbow was rendered useless after a Haason Reddick sack off the edge with 7:03 left in the first quarter in the NFC title game.The Eagles won 31-7 and went on to lose 38-35 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. When the 2023 schedule arrived on May 11, it contained the Dec. 3 gift of a 49ers-Eagles rematch in Philadelphia.The most anticipated regular-season game of the season has arrived. Mainstream and social media are abuzz. Columnists and bloggers are weighing in. It’s the biggest topic on local radio in the Bay Area and Philadelphia, not to mention national platforms such as the NFL Network and ESPN.Yet at 4949 Marie P. DeBartolo way in Santa Clara and the NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia, Jan. 29 is very much yesterday’s news. That’s the way coach Kyle Shanahan wants it...

Pedestrians need to look up from their phones: Roadshow

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

Q: I think it is important to remind pedestrians about how to safely cross streets. I don’t see anything about that anywhere.So many pedestrians pay no attention to what’s going on around them as they stare at or talk on their phones while crossing the street. It’s so dangerous.— Georgia SchumannA:  That’s a very important point. Distraction is a major risk for anyone using the road, including pedestrians. We share responsibility to make roads safe for everyone.The CHP website describes bicyclists and pedestrians as “vulnerable road users.” They are, given their increased risk of injury or death if they’re involved in a collision with a vehicle. The website includes videos showing pedestrian safety practices and why they are essential. Check this page on bicyclist and pedestrian safety: https://www.chp.ca.gov/programs-services/services-information/bike-and-ped-safetyQ: When I was growing up, my mother taught me to make eye contact with...

Opinion: Californians want lawmakers to safeguard elections from AI

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

Since 2020, voters in California and beyond have seen disinformation proliferate and poison our politics more than ever before. Generative artificial intelligence has the power to rapidly intensify this trend for the worse.After all, we’re one year away from another enormously consequential presidential election.With current AI tools, it doesn’t take much effort to make a fake audio recording of Joe Biden saying anything you want. Imagine if a robocall from “Joe Biden” shared false information about polling place changes with hundreds of thousands of voters on the eve of the next election.Or imagine a conspiracy theorist making a fake video of an elections official “caught on tape” admitting that their voting machines can be hacked, and then publishing it to a fake news site populated with otherwise regular content and engineered to look like a local newspaper. New AI tools can make all of this, easily.With no current avenue to directly address the damage these new digital threats p...

Big San Jose apartment complex lands affordability-preserving buyer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

SAN JOSE — A real estate firm that’s on a mission to preserve affordable rental housing has bought a big San Jose apartment complex in a deal that tops $100 million.The Grove, an apartment complex at 1919 Fruitdale Avenue in San Jose, has been bought for $102 million by an affiliate of Jonathan Rose Cos., according to documents filed on Nov. 30 with the Santa Clara County Recorder’s Office.New York City-based Jonathan Rose Cos. is described as a company that specializes in owning and developing affordable and mixed-income housing nationwide.The Jonathan Rose firm bought The Grove apartments in San Jose through an affiliate called 1919 Fruitdale Preservation.The price the company paid was about 4.1% below the $106.4 million assessed value of the apartments as of early 2023, county real estate records show.Related ArticlesHousing | Free rent? With apartment supply increasing, Bay Area landlords turn to concessions Housing | Big Walnut Creek...

Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Kevin Chapman, Moreau Catholic basketball

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:42:10 GMT

Moreau Catholic basketball player Kevin Chapman is the Bay Area News Group’s boys athlete of the week for Nov. 20-25 after he received 55.16% of the vote by the deadline Wednesday.Miramonte football player Carson Blair finished second.Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition.Related ArticlesHigh School Sports | Poll closed: Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week High School Sports | Poll closed: Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week High School Sports | Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week: Charley Staats, Valley Christian volleyball High School Sports | Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week: Jaxen Robinson, Christopher football High School Sports | Poll closed: Bay Area News Group girls athlete of the week The junior had 18 points and eight assists to lead Moreau to a season-opening 56-52 victory over Vanden-Fairfield at the Bishop O’Dowd Thanksgiv...