OAKLAND — A third suspect has been arrested and charged with murder in the death of a 46-year-old man who police say was beaten with high heels and stabbed in the buttocks. Miah Newman, 19, of San Jose, was charged this week with murdering Roy Ramsey in a March 29 stabbing and beating. Her co-defendant, 23-year-old Kimberly Burgos, was charged earlier this month, as was a 17-year-old girl who is facing charges as a juvenile. One of the suspects allegedly sent a text message saying that Ramsey was intoxicated and started the altercation by “slamming” Newman to the ground, authorities said. Both ..read more

By Jacques Billeaud and Josh Kelety | Associated Press PHOENIX — Eleven Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election were charged Wednesday with conspiracy, fraud and forgery, marking the fourth state to bring charges against “fake electors.” The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signi ..read more

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Legislators should OK single-payer health plan State legislators should pass AB 1400 or CalCare now to give all Californians the health care they need. Obamacare is a big improvement in preventing insurance companies from denying health care because of pre-existing medical conditions, but some people still have no health care — for example, if they are low income, unemployed, in certain geographical, racial or otherwise marginalized groups — because insurance companies choose to maximize profit by not serving ..read more

By Rick Callahan and Kathleen Foody | Associated Press CHICAGO — The “rat hole” is gone. A Chicago sidewalk landmark some residents affectionately called the “rat hole” was removed Wednesday after city officials determined the section bearing the imprint of an animal was damaged and needed to be replaced, officials said. The imprint has been a quirk of a residential block in Chicago’s North Side neighborhood of Roscoe Village for years, but it found fresh fame in January after a Chicago comedian shared a photo on the social platform X. The attention, however, quickly grew old for neighbors who ..read more

Unionized teachers from Downtown College Prep, a charter school system in San Jose, issued a vote of no confidence in CEO Pete Settelmayer after he announced budget cuts and a school closure earlier this year. Hundreds of students at DCP Alum Rock High School will have to transfer when the campus closes this summer, due to declining enrollment and a hefty budget deficit. DCP was founded in 2000 and serves predominantly low-income students of color in downtown San Jose and Alum Rock. Settelmayer, who came to DCP in 2021, said last month that the 205 students enrolled at the high school did not ..read more

OAKLAND — A former Antioch community services officer avoided jail time for involving herself in a college degree scam that got her $3,000 in ill-gotten city pay and reimbursements, but also led to a felony conviction and the loss of her livelihood. Before she was sentenced on Tuesday, Samantha Peterson stood up in court before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, and read an apology to everyone — the community she said she was once proud to serve, her former department and her family. “I have let you all down and I’m sorry,” Peterson said, her voice shaking at times. She added, “This was out of ..read more

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. U.S. shouldn’t support war crimes in Gaza What does real moral leadership look like? A “no” vote on the recent House bill providing weapons to Israel. That’s what it looks like. Reps. Barbara Lee and Ro Khanna came through on this, but not Nancy Pelosi, Anna Eshoo or Kevin Mullin. We commend many votes all five representatives have cast in the past, but Israel’s war against Palestine has gone well beyond self-defense and is patently criminal. Arming Israel makes us complicit in the wanton murder of innocent Palest ..read more

Antioch Unified School District Superintendent Stephanie Anello this week called for an “independent investigation” of the district’s handling of employees’ complaints that their boss was bullying and harassing them and that the district had turned a blind eye. At the same time, the AUSD Board President Antonio Hernandez has called for a special closed-session meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss Anello’s handling of the matter and her performance, which hasn’t been evaluated for several years. The school board will also meet for a discussion about an unnamed public employee’s “disciplin ..read more

An April 17 article about protests of a Google cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government incorrectly reported some facts about a sit-in protest that targeted Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office. The sit-in, attended by more than a dozen people, took place outside of Kurian’s office and did not obstruct normal work or prevent anyone from entering or exiting the area. Google engineer Marie Vachovsky was not among those who joined the sit-in ..read more

By Haley Talbot, Lauren Fox and Clare Foran | CNN House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Columbia University’s president to resign Wednesday during a tense news conference where the crowd repeatedly interrupted the speaker and at times loudly booed him and other GOP lawmakers who were with him as they stood at the microphones. “We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and antisemitism to flourish on our campuses, and it must be stopped in its tracks. Those who are perpetrating this violence should be arrested. I am here today joining my colleagues, and calling o ..read more