Jason Mastrodonato

2 weeks ago | mercurynews.com | Jason Mastrodonato

Looking to escape? Local readers have been busy exploring far away lands in Croatia and Tangier. Here are two recent trips readers took to Alaska and Vietnam. Wish You Were HereALASKA: Martinez resident Sandy Eger spent one week photographing brown bears in Lake Clark, Alaska. She stayed at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge, which is about 100 miles southeast of Anchorage on the Cook Inlet. “It is very remote and accessible only by boat or a small plane that lands on the beach,” Eger says.

2 weeks ago | mercurynews.com | Jason Mastrodonato

Due to the dangers presented to humpback whales, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it will end commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fishing south of Pigeon Point, including Monterey Bay and Morro Bay, on April 15. Vertical lines will be allowed to continue in other parts of Northern California, including Zones 1-3 in Half Moon Bay, San Francisco and Bodega Bay, where whales are now returning to their feeding grounds.

2 weeks ago | mercurynews.com | Jason Mastrodonato

When Mohib Sadat opened his new restaurant in Concord earlier this year, he decided to name it Mazza, which means “taste” in his native Afghanistan. The taste of Afghanistan is exactly what he was missing when he moved to the Bay Area in 2019. Having previously worked alongside the U.S. Military in Afghanistan, Sadat and his family were offered protection and eventually given special immigrant visas to settle in the United States.

3 weeks ago | sacbee.com | Jason Mastrodonato

San Jose Police are investigating the city’s fifth homicide of the year with a shooting Saturday night south of downtown that proved fatal Sunday. San Jose PD sent out a social media post at 7:06 p.m. Saturday alerting residents of a person shot in the area of Locust and W. Virginia streets, and blocked off traffic in the neighborhood southeast of the Interstate 280 and Guadalupe Parkway freeway intersection. Officers were on the scene investigating the incident and closed off Locust Street from W.

3 weeks ago | mercurynews.com | Jason Mastrodonato

One person is dead and another is accounted for after a mobile home caught fire Saturday evening on the 1300 block of Oakland Road in North San Jose. The San Jose Fire Department responded to a call at a fully involved mobile home at 9:24 p.m. The fire was knocked down at 9:50 p.m. and one civilian fatality was confirmed, while another occupant was accounted for. Adjacent units were evacuated and the fire department requested that people avoid the area. The cause of the fire is under investigation.