Caelyn Pender

6 days ago | mercurynews.com | Caelyn Pender

Christina Rogers and Mostafa Rezazadeh want to get married at the historic chapel in Las Vegas featured in the movie “Viva Las Vegas.”But as a Plan B, the couple will get married at San Francisco City Hall. As a Plan C, they will make an appointment at San Jose City Hall. And for Plan D, Rogers, 37, will travel thousands of miles to meet Rezazadeh in the republic of Georgia.

1 week ago | sanluisobispo.com | Caelyn Pender

A grass fire broke out at Almaden Lake Regional Park during the 9th annual Fourth of July fireworks festival in San Jose, CA. (Caelyn Pender/Bay Area News Group) Caelyn Pender TNS There will be one fewer place for San Jose fireworks fans to see the rockets’ red glare on July 4 this year, as the city has canceled the annual event held at Almaden Lake Park. And it seems this is partly a case of an event being called off because of its own success.

1 week ago | mercurynews.com | Caelyn Pender

SAN JOSE — A Mountain View man pleaded guilty Wednesday to defrauding an employer out of between $250,000 and $550,000 by falsely claiming to be on military deployment and requesting differential pay despite never having been in the military, according to prosecutors. Omar Naziry, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in federal court, according to a press release from the Department of Justice Northern District of California. He was first indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2024.

1 week ago | mercurynews.com | Caelyn Pender

People will be gathering in cities across the Bay Area this week to celebrate Juneteenth at festivals, runs and parade, commemorating the freeing of enslaved African Americans in Texas 160 years ago. Juneteenth, which was made into a federal holiday in 2021, commemorates the day that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out they had been freed in 1865. Two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, federal troops freed the remaining enslaved people in the state.

1 week ago | mercurynews.com | Caelyn Pender

Two gray whales washed up dead in the San Francisco Bay near Richmond over the past week, bringing the year’s total whale deaths to 22 in and around the bay, according to the Marine Mammal Center. Whale beachings this year are outpacing the numbers of recent years, with the numbers higher than years that saw an influx due to an unusual mortality event, with gray whales dying in higher-than-usual numbers. On Thursday, a subadult gray whale washed up at Point Isabel in Richmond, scientists said.