Brock Bowers is surprised to be headed for Las Vegas. The former Napa High star and three-time All-American from Georgia was drafted Thursday night by the Raiders at No. 13 overall in the NFL Draft. The Raiders’ intent was kept pretty much under wraps. “I was shocked,” Bowers told reporters. “I wasn’t really sure what was happening. But when that phone call came in I was juiced.” Bowers was the John Mackey Award for the last two years as the best tight end in college football, and joins a franchise that included such luminaries at the position as Hall of Famer Dave Casper, Todd Christensen and ..read more

NEW YORK (AP) — Mason Miller retired Aaron Judge with a runner on for his first four-out save, and the Oakland Athletics beat the New York Yankees 3-1 Thursday night for a four-game split. Nick Allen and Tyler Nevin homered in the third inning off Nestor Cortes (1-2), and Alex Wood (1-2) escaped bases-loaded trouble in the first and fourth innings. New York was 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, stranded 11 runners and outhit Oakland 11-6. Miller, a 25-year-old right-hander, relieved T.J. McFarland with ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO — A Caltrain hit a motorcycle Thursday evening in San Francisco, according to the commuter rail line. Related Articles Crashes and Disasters | Caltrain hits occupied car near San Martin station Crashes and Disasters | Letters: Emulate ex-workers | AI’s promise | No panacea | Total ban | Gaza blockade | Raising profile Crashes and Disasters | YIMBYs can’t help but applaud secret apartments inside Caltrain stations Crashes and Disasters | Caltrain hits vehicle on track in Atherton on Friday night Crashes and Disasters | Caltrain fatally hits person in Atherton There were no ..read more

By Abby Sewell | Associated Press ISTANBUL — A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years or more with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons and convert into a political party if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders. The comments by Khalil al-Hayya in an interview Wednesday came amid a stalemate in months of talks for a cease-fire in Gaza. The suggestion that Hamas would disarm appeared to be a significant concession by the militant group officially committed to Israel ..read more

The tie in the Congressional District 16 race has been broken yet again as more preliminary results for the ongoing recount pour in — Assemblymember Evan Low is now up one vote over Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Since April 15, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties have been recounting the more than 182,000 votes cast in the March primary race to replace U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo. San Mateo County wrapped up its counting on Wednesday afternoon with no vote changes for either Low or Simitian, though a number of ballots that were challenged are still being adjudicated. Some of those challe ..read more

By David Bauder | Associated Press NEW YORK — Catch and kill. Checkbook journalism. Secret deals. Friends helping friends. Even by National Enquirer standards, testimony by its former publisher David Pecker at Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week has revealed an astonishing level of corruption at America’s best-known tabloid and may one day be seen as the moment it effectively died. “It just has zero credibility,” said Lachlan Cartwright, executive editor of the Enquirer from 2014 to 2017. “Whatever sort of credibility it had was totally damaged by what happened in court this week.” On Th ..read more

A controversial housing law that abolished single-family zoning across California has been ruled unconstitutional by a Los Angeles County judge — but the narrow ruling is likely to be appealed by the state. Passed in 2021, SB 9 allows single-family homeowners to split their lots in two and build two homes on each lot — allowing up to four units in each lot previously zoned for just one. Five Southern California cities — Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance, and Whittier and Del Mar — sued the state in 2022, claiming the law was unconstitutional because it interfered with their local authority ..read more

By Kate Brumback | Associated Press ATLANTA — As Donald Trump seeks a return to the White House, criminal charges are piling up for the people who tried to help him stay there in 2020 by promoting false theories of voter fraud. At least five states won in 2020 by President Joe Biden have investigated efforts to install slates of electors who would cast Electoral College votes for Trump despite his loss. Those slates were to be used by Trump allies in the House and Senate to justify delaying or blocking the certification of the election during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, whic ..read more

OAKLAND — Police arrested a prisoner at San Quentin and brought him to Alameda County jail in connection with a 2020 homicide that authorities say occurred during a gun sale, court records show. Reggie Morris, 24, now joins 25-year-old Johnnie KellySanders on a criminal complaint charging them with murder, attempted murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle. The charges stem from a Dec. 7, 2020 shooting near Green Acre Road and MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland, which both Morris and KellySanders allegedly blamed on a third suspect who wasn’t charged. Morris was serving an unrelated robbery ..read more

By Steve LeBlanc and Nick Perry | Associated Press The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony Thursday and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide as protests against the Israel-Hamas war continued to spread. College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month. Some universities called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and arrests nationwide, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of t ..read more