Plumbing

Tuesday Morning Information Roundup

A pair of Angel Island cottages designed by one of California’s most famous architects will be rebuilt thanks to a fresh infusion of state money for the project.

State Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, announced Monday that $1 million has been secured to rebuild two of the 12 cottages designed by Julia Morgan.

The cottages, which once housed immigration station workers, were destroyed by a fire 52 years ago during a fire training exercise, according to Ting’s announcement.

The rebuilding of the cottages, scheduled to finish in 2026, is part of a larger project that includes work on the dock, outdoor terraces and other buildings, Ting said.

Between 1910 and 1940, some 500,000 immigrants were processed through the Angel Island Immigration Station, known as the Ellis Island of the West.

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Concord police say a man who robbed a jewelry store at the Sunvalley Shopping Center in May has been arrested and charged.

Bryant Donquile Gray, 35, of Pittsburg is already in jail in San Francisco for an unrelated attempted homicide.

Police say Gray was the man who, on May 18, entered Sam’s Jewelers armed with a hammer, confronted staff, and smashed glass cases, stealing approximately $25,000 worth of jewelry.

Gray allegedly fled in a vehicle before police arrived. After months of investigation, police said Thursday they identified Gray as the suspect.

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Police said the case was forwarded to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office, who filed charges of second-degree robbery, grand theft of personal property and second-degree burglary. They said special allegations of Gray’s violent criminal history were presented at filing.

A 26-year-old Santa Rosa woman has been given nine years in state prison for her role in the 2022 shooting of two people she and an accomplice tried to rob near the Union Hotel, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.

Valerie Saenz pleaded no contest in May to charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, attempted robbery, assault with a semi-automatic firearm, shooting at an occupied vehicle and destroying evidence.

According to prosecutors, Saenz lured an old elementary schoolmate into a marijuana deal in October 2022 while conspiring with co-defendant Marcell Battiest to rob the man– Sergio Mora-Morfin– of his pot when he showed up.

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Saenz told Battiest to get a ghost gun and the two met up with Mora-Morfin in a parking lot across from the Union Hotel in Santa Rosa. Mora-Morfin arrived with 30 pounds of pot and a friend.

According to prosecutors, Saenz arrived on foot in the parking lot to meet the victims and then called Battiest, who she indicated would be the “buyer.” Battiest arrived in his vehicle shortly thereafter. Moments later, Battiest shot Mora-Morfin’s friend twice in the back, and as Mora-Morfin entered the driver’s seat of his vehicle to flee, Battiest shot him once in the neck at close range. Both men survived their shootings, but have had to undergo extensive medical care.

Both Saenz and Battiest were arrested in November 2022.

Co-defendant Battiest was convicted by a jury in September and is facing a life sentence. His sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 13.

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Police are seeking witnesses to a fatal stabbing at a discount store on Sunday in Salinas.

Officers were dispatched around 3:15 p.m. to DD’s Discounts on Main Street on a report of a stabbing. The suspect, Jose Alberto Velasco, 36, was still inside the store as police arrived. Velasco was allegedly chasing the victim around the store with a knife, but was apprehended by police.

The 50-year-old victim was suffering from multiple stab wounds and succumbed to his injuries and died.

Police said that there were many customers in the store at the time and they are looking for anyone who was there and may have witnessed the stabbing or any part of the attack to contact Detective Robert Miller at (831) 758-7954 or Detective Pete Gomez at (831) 758-7162. People with cellphone or other footage of the stabbing are also encouraged to come forward.

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Engineers know that water always finds its way home to the sea, but learning how to live in its path is one of the actions the state recommends as it kicked off Flood Preparedness week on Monday.

Standing at the ridge of the Lower Elkhorn Basin, a $280 million levee setback project that will divert water from the Sacramento River during high flow events, water officials and engineers held a public event to boost awareness about flooding.

California’s rainy season usually lasts from November to April.

Jason Ince, spokesperson for the California Department of Water Resources, said that every county in the state has experienced a flood emergency in the last couple of decades. With wildfires in the recent years, there is an increased danger of mud slides and debris flows.

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Flash flooding is the number one weather-related killer in the U.S. because it can roll boulders, tear out trees, and destroy buildings and bridges quickly, according to the DWR. Localized flooding, which happens in smaller geographic areas like neighborhoods, can usually be avoided by keeping storm drains clear of debris and leaves, so the stormwater system can function properly.

The state recommends that people sign up to receive real-time warnings from their local county office of emergency services or from the National Weather Service. Always have an emergency evacuation kit ready, be prepared to evacuate early, and have a plan for where you will go in an emergency and what to do with your pets.

A missing at-risk woman has been safely located, Oakland Police said Monday.

Leela Marie Givens had last been seen on Friday but has been found.

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Police would like to thank the community and media for assisting in this case.

A woman was arrested for alleged possession of fentanyl last week during a Santa Rosa traffic stop, according to police.

At about 4:15 p.m., a Santa Rosa police patrol officer stopped a vehicle that allegedly had several mechanical violations in an area near 2675 Santa Rosa Avenue.

Police said that all the people in the vehicle were either on probation or had warrants for their arrest.

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While a search of the vehicle didn’t turn up anything illegal, a 45-year-old Santa Rosa resident, Amy Mellot, allegedly admitted to having fentanyl on her, police said.

While searching her, officers allegedly found about five ounces of suspected fentanyl, according to police.

Mellot was booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of possession of narcotics for sale, transporting narcotics for sale and on an outstanding warrant, police said.

The Contra Costa County Library received $9.9 million dollars in grant funding for the buildout of the new Bay Point Library.

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The money comes from the California State Library’s Building Forward Library Facilities Improvement Program.

The award requires a 50 percent match from the library, which the library said Monday in a statement will come from a portion of the $10 million the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors designated for the Bay Point Library project in the 2023-24 budget.

The grant requires the money to be spent on specific parts of the project, including interior construction, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and conveying systems.

The existing 4,000 square foot Bay Point Library is located at Riverview Middle School in a building built in 1956. Library officials say it lacks the necessary power and data infrastructure to support the 21st century technological needs of a library. Limited electrical and telecommunications access means limited computer stations and reduced access to power receptacles for patrons’ laptop and mobile devices.

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The new Bay Point Library will be part of a mixed use, high-density, transit-oriented development within the Pittsburg-Bay Point BART station area. It will include retail space and 340 low-income housing units. The 21,000 square foot library is expected to open in early 2027.

The National Weather Service forecast for the greater San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday calls for mostly sunny skies. Patchy fog will greet residents of North Bay in the morning.

Daytime highs are expected to be in the 60s to 70s on the coast, mostly in the 70s around the bay, and in the 70s to 80s inland.

Overnight lows should be mostly in the 50s throughout the Bay Area.

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Forecasters anticipate near normal temperatures on Tuesday before a parade of cold fronts brings cooler weather starting Wednesday.

There is a chance of light rain with one of these fronts on Friday. Moderate to fresh offshore winds are possible through the San Francisco Bay Delta on Sunday, forecasters said.

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Copyright © 2023 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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