On the first weekend of May, Livermore Valley will host its second annual CabFranc-a-Palooza, a three-day wine extravaganza with blind sensory tastings, a Francs ‘n’ Franks event (featuring bespoke sausages by the Livermore Butcher Shop) and a grand tasting featuring the cabernet franc offerings of more than 50 wineries around the world. Spearheading the celebration is Steven Kent Mirassou, who along with Momentous Hospitality, the hospitality company he co-founded with his wife and two friends, is on a mission to make Livermore Valley a global cab franc destination. “We believe that cab franc ..read more

OAKLAND — In a ruling that calls into question numerous Alameda County death penalty convictions, a federal judge on Monday found “strong evidence” that prosecutors here made a conscious effort to keep people off of juries based on their race and religion. The order by U.S. District Judge Vincent Chhabria suggests evidence that systemic racism and antisemitism was hiding in plain sight, within prosecution notes in the case file for a man named Ernest Dykes who was sentenced to death after a 1995 jury trial. It was only brought to Chhabria’s attention in 2023, by a county pr ..read more

LIVERMORE — A motorcyclist died Thursday morning after what the California Highway Patrol said was a three-vehicle crash on a freeway. Related Articles Crashes and Disasters | Authorities identify two who died in separate East Bay car wrecks Crashes and Disasters | 4 killed in crash identified as Livermore couple, 2 children Crashes and Disasters | Two-car crash results in fatality on Highway 4 Crashes and Disasters | Repeat drunk driver gets 15 to life for killing pregnant woman in California crash; baby survived Crashes and Disasters | One dead, two injured following accident In East B ..read more

OAKLAND — About 15 months after taking office, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price appears set to face a recall election this year after her opponents on Monday cleared the last significant hurdle to putting the question before voters. Tim Dupuis, the county’s registrar of voters, on Monday said the recall campaign Save Alameda For Everyone submitted 74,757 valid signatures, just over the 73,195 required to get the question on a ballot. In all, 48,617 signatures were found to be invalid, meaning they couldn’t count toward the group’s bid to unseat Price. A manual count became necessa ..read more

Last year, dozens of cities around the Bay Area missed the deadline to come up with a state-approved “housing element” — a plan the state requires cities to submit every eight years showing how they will accommodate their share of the 2.5 million homes that California must build by 2031. Without a valid housing element in place, cities face a penalty called the “builder’s remedy,” which effectively allows housing developers to bypass local zoning and design restrictions to propose projects far taller and denser than typically allowed, so long as 20% of the units they propose are affordable. Th ..read more

CORRECTION: A day after releasing its findings, Yelp announced that it had discovered a discrepancy between its rankings and its article on the rankings. The changes involve only a few top restaurants. Santa Clara’s Ramen Hajime now ranks No. 5.     In celebration of National Ramen Day April 4, Yelp is out with its Top 100 Ramen Spots in California list, a crowd-sourced ranking of customer favorites. “It’s no secret that Californians are obsessed with ramen,” Yelp said in its announcement. “In fact, according to Yelp data, California has had the second-highest number of searches ..read more

Residential transactions in Alameda County. Click here to browse previous weeks’ transactions. Occasional incorrectly reported, atypical home sales and special circumstances may be listed or alter the average cost per square foot. If the cost looks erroneous, please email content@bayareanewsgroup.com for more information. Alameda 94501 301 Broadway #306 $720,000 01/11/24 Built 1965 1185 SF, 2 BR, 2 BTH 1001 Shoreline Drive #204 $810,000 01/11/24 Built 1970 1360 SF, 2 BR, 2 BTH Alameda 94502 1117 Via Alamosa $760,000 01/10/24 Built 1968 1188 SF, 2 BR, 1.5 BTH Albany 94706 814 Curtis Street $1,1 ..read more

Granada baseball player Parker Warner is the Bay Area News Group’s boys athlete of the week for March 18-23. In online voting that ended at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Warner had 36.06% of the votes to finish ahead of Newark Memorial baseball player Noah Hanohano, who took second at 25.60%. Congratulations to all the candidates for this week’s recognition. Warner, a Stanford commit, pitched a three-hitter with nine strikeouts to lead undefeated Granada to a 2-0 victory over California in East Bay Athletic League play. The senior began this week with a 1.68 ERA in 25 innings. To nominate an ath ..read more

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. CalFresh meant tohelp people in need Re: “CalFresh setup causes a stink” (Page A1, March 20). I found the article on CalFresh disturbing. I was under the impression that programs like CalFresh were established to help those in real need: seniors on limited fixed incomes; people who, for reasons beyond their control, are in need of temporary assistance; people without family or other resources. I do not see how a 24-year-old college graduate falls into any of these categories. She does not need assistance. She need ..read more

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Civilian casualtiesunfortunate result of war Re: “Biden’s Gaza policy is cause for concern” (Page A6, March 13). The writer contends that the behavior of Israel in Gaza constitutes genocide and that U.S. backing of it is shameful. But I think it’s similar to asking if it was shameful for the United States to back the Allies in World War II. After all, the Allies killed quite a few innocent civilians when fighting tyrants for the survival of those targeted countries. War is a necessary evil that often results in th ..read more