On Feb. 15, 20-year-old San Jose resident Joshua Sodapop Bocanegra was arrested in San Francisco and 20-year-old Gilroy resident Michael Carabajal was arrested in Gilroy, San Jose police Officer Tanya Hernandez said in a news release.

The suspects were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on murder charges.

Gunshots were reported around 4:20 a.m. on Dec. 17 in the area of Snow and Giusti drives. Hernandez said officers arrived to find evidence of a shooting but no victims.

A short time later, two men arrived at an area hospital suffering from at least one gunshot wound each, Hernandez said. One died of his injuries while the other survived. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office will release the identity of the man who died once it is confirmed and his next of kin is notified.

The death marked the city’s 33rd homicide of 2023.

Hernandez said detectives went on to identify Bocanegra and Carabajal as suspects in the case and obtained warrants for their arrest. Police did not release a motive for the shooting.

Anyone with information related to the case can contact Detective Sgt. Martinez at 3934@sanjoseca.gov, Detective Jize at 4324@sanjoseca.gov or both at 408-277-5283.

Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or www.siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.

Check back for updates.

Instead, Castro is facing a felony child endangerment charge, which requires no malice or willful intent.

“He’s not charged with any intentional homicide, and he’s not accused of not loving his baby,” Deputy District Attorney Maria Gershenovich said in her closing argument. “What he is accused of is that after he was entrusted by CPS and others to take care of Phoenix, this 3-month-old infant … (he) kept her in a home that was so toxic and dangerous it actually killed her.”

After listening to three days of prosecution witnesses, including a toxicologist who found fentanyl and methamphetamine in the baby’s blood and police detectives who found the same drugs in Castro’s San Jose apartment, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Paul Bernal ruled there was “sufficient cause to believe he’s guilty of that crime.” He also denied a defense request to release Castro from jail while he awaits trial. An arraignment is scheduled for March 11. If convicted of child endangerment and other enhancements, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

The arrest and prosecution of Castro comes amid a surge in fentanyl deaths across the Bay Area, including five infants since 2020. Dr. Mehdi Koolaee, the Santa Clara County coroner who conducted the autopsy on the infant, testified that he had never before seen fentanyl or methamphetamine in a baby.

Unanswered is how baby Phoenix ingested the fentanyl. During the preliminary hearing, neither Koolaee nor the prosecutor explained her manner of death, only that the crime lab had found fentanyl on various discolored parts of her little pink onesie, including on the snaps.

San Jose Police Det. Mike Harrington testified Thursday that Castro tested negative for drugs on the day of baby Phoenix’s death. But in a video of police interrogating Castro, he admitted that he knew how to game the system to pass drug tests for social workers while he had custody of the baby. Sometime he would stop using days before a scheduled test or use undetectable amounts.

The baby’s May 13, 2023, death, and the coroner’s ruling that she died of a fentanyl overdose, led not only to Castro’s arrest but to intense scrutiny of the Santa Clara County’s Department of Family and Children’s Services. An investigation by the Bay Area News Group late last year found that the child welfare agency sent Phoenix home despite the parents’ history of drug addiction and warnings from a social worker that the home environment could be life threatening. Phoenix’s two older siblings, now 3 and 5, were taken away by the child welfare agency a year earlier because of severe neglect — and the parents had done little to get them back.

On Thursday, Castro’s defense lawyer, Mishya Singh, showed the judge photos Castro had taken of his infant daughter happy in her bouncy seat and videos of his tickling her tummy. Castro, 38, sat in a brown jail suit and shackles and wiped away tears as he watched.

“CPS took two of his other kids away, but CPS chose to give Mr. Castro another chance to take care of Phoenix,” Singh said. “And what Mr. Castro did is that he rose to the challenge the best way he could although he had his own addiction to deal with. He loved that baby.”

Phoenix’s mother had been sent to jail on outstanding warrants after the baby’s birth and was living in a drug and mental health rehab facility when the infant died. Emily De La Cerda was out on a day pass when she and her mother visited the apartment and found Castro panicking and the baby limp. According to a detective’s testimony, Castro told police that he had survived a drug overdose years earlier, and more recently he had revived De La Cerda from one with the use of Narcan. De La Cerda died four months after her daughter, in the same apartment, also of a fentanyl overdose.

That the father is being charged in her death, his defense lawyer said, is “unfair, not on a moral ground, look at the evidence.”

In court a day earlier, Singh had suggested that baby Phoenix didn’t die of fentanyl poisoning but that her father likely accidentally smothered her as they slept on the couch the night before — a contention refuted by the coroner, who said the baby showed no signs of suffocation.

On Thursday, however, Singh posited that if the baby did, indeed, die of a drug overdose, her mother may be to blame. Two days before Phoenix’s death, Castro took the infant to the rehab facility for a four-hour visit with her mother while he ran errands. In several text messages presented in court, De La Cerda complained to Castro that she was having troubling calming the baby that evening.

“You’re aware that fentanyl, if someone is agitated, it can calm them down?” Singh asked Harrington, who was on the witness stand.

“Yes,” testified Harrington, one of the lead detectives on the case.

“If a baby is crying, giving a baby a little fentanyl (will) calm them down?” she asked.

Gershenovich, the prosecutor, objected before the officer could answer and later told the judge there was no evidence suggesting the mother drugged the baby or had access to drugs there.

Gershenovich on Thursday also recalled to the stand the coroner who conducted the autopsy on the baby. During testimony a day earlier, he had said the baby had been dead between 24 to 36 hours, but on Thursday he said pinpointing a time of death is often “unreliable,” and it could have been closer to 10-12 hours.

Singh, the defense lawyer, also reserved blame for the county’s child welfare agency for not better informing Castro that drug residue on a tabletop, couch or his hands could harm the baby. CPS could have insisted on a deep cleaning in the house, she said.

“The person hurting the most is sitting right there,” Singh said, pointing to her client. “He would never endanger that baby willfully.”

But the prosecutor put the blame squarely on Castro.

“He was the only person caring for her,” Gershenovich told the judge. “He had a duty of care, and unfortunately he failed her.”

During a news conference at the future site, an empty lot in the city’s Berryessa neighborhood, Mayor Matt Mahan touted his push to bring down costs by redesigning the project, which is still set to host around 85 vehicles. The city now expects to spend about $7.5 million completing the site, down from the more than $15 million officials had initially estimated.

Officials said the main difference in the redesign is less office space for staff who will operate the lot, about a mile from the Berryessa BART station at 1300 Berryessa Road. However, RV residents will still receive supportive services and have on-site bathrooms and laundry.

On Thursday, Mahan, who’s widely expected to sail to reelection next week, framed the savings as part of his broader effort to bring homeless people off the streets faster and more cost-effectively. To solve street homelessness, he has focused on expanding “quick-build” cabin shelters and safe parking sites rather than permanent affordable housing, which in the Bay Area can cost as much as $1 million per door.

“We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” he said.

Launching the 6.3-acre site, set to open this fall despite safety concerns from some neighbors, may cost less than building new affordable housing, but operating it may not be cheap in the long run. When the city approved the site last year, officials estimated expenses would exceed $24 million over five years.

And if the city follows through on plans to add hundreds more safe parking spots and other “interim” shelter units, total operational expenses could soon exceed $70 million a year, about twice the current cost.

Mahan said he hopes to find more money in the city budget to support his shelter plans. He maintains the costs are worth it, given the human suffering on the streets and the strain homelessness puts on emergency services, law enforcement and city parks, creeks and public spaces.

San Jose has an estimated 6,200 homeless residents, about 70% of whom live outdoors or in vehicles.

“Our fire department is responding to a couple dozen fires a day in our encampments,” Mahan said. “The environmental degradation, and ultimately even just the clean water issues, are really significant and are forcing cities across the state to be more pragmatic about getting people to safe and managed sites.”

“There’s a high likelihood that people will be stranded if they try to drive up here from the Bay Area,” said Craig Shoemaker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, on Thursday afternoon. “It’s too late to even try. It’s a very dangerous, life-threatening situation that will be developing.”

At local stores in Lake Tahoe, people bought tire chains, snow blowers, shovels, flashlights, candles, battery-powered lanterns and telescoping roof rakes for pulling down accumulated snow on homes.

“Today most of the locals are saying, “There is something big going on,” and yesterday they were saying, “Are we really going to get 10 feet of snow?” said Brittney McClain, manager of Ace Hardware in South Lake Tahoe.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Northern and Central Sierra continuing through 10 a.m. Saturday, the first such warning since Feb. 27 last year.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee issued a backcountry avalanche watch in effect from 7 a.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Sunday for the Central Sierra, including the Lake Tahoe area, warning of “extremely dangerous” avalanche conditions.

Because of high winds and declining visibility, ski resorts were expected to close or severely limit operations this weekend.

Sierra-at-Tahoe closed Thursday and announced it also would be shuttered on Friday “to preserve the safety of our guests and employees.” Heavenly closed Thursday afternoon, and other resorts, such as Kirkwood and Palisades, had only a few chair lifts running Thursday, with most closed due to high winds.

Last winter, a series of massive atmospheric river storms dumped dozens of feet of snow on the Sierra Nevada, ending a three-year drought. The Sierra snowpack, which provides about 30% of California’s water supply, was at its deepest level in 40 years. Reservoirs around the state filled, and ski resorts stayed open well into the spring.

As a result, Tahoe locals, even newly arrived residents, have a lot of recent practice on how to prepare for blizzard conditions, McClain said. In some neighborhoods, people plan to dig out fire hydrants to stop them from being buried too deep in snow. In other areas, residents were tossing salt pellets on their roofs or plugging in electric roof cables to prevent huge amounts of snow and ice from building up.

Last March, the roof collapsed at the Raley’s supermarket in South Lake Tahoe under the weight of snow and ice.

“When you have too much snow on your roof, your doors and windows don’t open correctly. Eventually you can start having beams break down, and the roofs can collapse,” McClain said. “We had a huge mass of ice, 15 feet long and about 2 feet around, that formed on the roof of our house last winter. It was in front of our windows. If it had fallen, it could have broken through.”

On Thursday afternoon, Tricia Popky, a Carmel Valley nurse who has a cabin near Donner Lake, was in central Truckee buying winter gloves, firewood and kindling and a new firewood rack for the cabin. “I’m just going to be hunkering down,” Popky said. “I’m going to cook some soup. I’m so excited because I got my wood-burning stove working.”

The latest storm, a powerful cold front that is carrying an unusual amount of moisture, originated over the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

The National Weather Service said it will only bring 1 or 2 inches of rain to most Bay Area communities. But the storm is forecast to dump 5 to 10 feet of snow in the Sierra above 5,000 feet and 1 to 4 feet of snow at about 3,000 feet. In some high-elevation spots, 12 feet is possible by Sunday.

“If what we’re seeing from the models ends up happening, this is a truly remarkable storm system,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab near Donner Summit. “It’s one that we very rarely have had before. It could set a highest snowfall on a single day for us.”

Since modern records began in 1970, the most snow the snow lab, which sits at about 6,900 feet, has ever received in one day was 53 inches, on Feb. 3, 1989.

An early inkling of the meteorological mayhem came Thursday morning when Interstate 80, the main highway over the Sierra, was closed eastbound for more than three hours after a big rig overturned near Donner Lake interchange, blocking both lanes of traffic, just as the snow was beginning to fall. The driver suffered minor injuries.

“It was pretty nasty for a while,” said John O’Connell, a Caltrans spokesman. “He was going too fast.”

Cars sat for miles all morning in stopped traffic or attempted to navigate backroads to get around it.

San Jose truck driver Erik Lopez, making a run from Stockton to Reno, was putting chains on his 18-wheeler near Kingvale on I-80 Thursday amid increasingly heavy snowfall after getting stuck in the lengthy jam. At the top of his mind was making sure he would return home to his family.

“There’s no fear in my heart,” said Lopez, 34. “But there’s safety in my heart.”

Farther east, Truckee resident Brent Martin was pulling into his garage after a sketchy trip from Sacramento in his pickup truck, traveling via backroads because of the I-80 crash. He planned to keep off highways until the storm has passed but was not expecting snow-related problems at home.

The blizzard would be “nothing compared to last year,” he predicted. “I’d shovel four feet off my deck twice a day last year.”

Martin urged non-residents to stay away this weekend.

“Tell everyone not to come up — all the Teslas and the Priuses, stay down in the Bay Area,” said Martin, 32. “That’s what causes a lot of the problems. Teslas are the new minivans — we hate ’em up here.”

The disruption Thursday wasn’t just limited to Tahoe and Donner Summit. Yosemite National Park officials said the park would be closed Friday and will not open until at least Sunday afternoon.

While a headache for motorists and first responders, the storm was a godsend to water managers. On Thursday, the statewide Sierra snowpack was 80% of its historical average, up from 28% on Jan. 1 after a wet February.

“When all is said and done, it is likely the Sierra snowpack will be significantly above average just about everywhere in as little as a week,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.

“This storm will certainly bolster the Sierra snow pack, but it is going to cause a lot of disruption.”

Elect Sally Lieber as
District 5 supervisor

As a long-time Santa Clara County resident and community advocate, I wholeheartedly endorse Sally Lieber for District 5 representative to the county Board of Supervisors. I have known Sally since her early days of serving on the Mountain View City Council. She has also been mayor of Mountain View and a state Assembly member. Sally currently serves on the state Board of Equalization.

Sally is honest, ethical, fair, collaborative, communicative and transparent in her decision-making and actions.

Sally has been the thoughtful champion for a variety of issues. When elected, Sally will be a pair of pragmatic boots on the ground. Sally has neither been bullied by nor beholden to self-serving special-interest groups, individuals or industries and will continue to champion important issues for those represented in District 5 and the county. Please vote for Sally Lieber for the Board of Supervisors, District 5.

Elinor Stetson
Sunnyvale

Casey is strongest
S.J. council candidate

George Casey is the best candidate for all of District 10.

He was the best candidate two years ago, when the other council members appointed someone else to temporarily serve our district, and he’s the best by far now. His life has been spent attaining the skills that will serve all of us in this position. He grew up in a couple of homes in two separate parts of the district, attained a high-quality education, including a law degree, master’s in urban planning and a master’s in real estate. He has used that knowledge and his negotiating skills to serve all of us for several years on the Planning Commission. He truly understands how the city functions and will use his negotiating skills to protect our neighborhoods while supporting Mayor Matt Mahan’s agenda to address crime, homelessness, and blight.

It’s time for us to select a strong council member.

Rich Crowley
San Jose

Tara Sreekrishnan for
Assembly District 26

Climate change is the issue of our times. We must elect leaders to the Legislature to reduce emissions and limit overall temperature increases.

Tara Sreekrishnan supports and champions the need for California to draw down carbon and move to a renewables economy. Her priorities include transitioning to solar, wind, EV adoption, sustainability and green buildings. Of particular note has been her effort to highlight the emissions from the Santa Clara Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant, and to move the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to dramatically increase oversight of the plant’s emissions reductions with a goal toward eventual closure.

Tara, a strong millennial voice and advocate for the environment, will work with the Legislature to champion change and push for climate solutions. Her proven record of leadership with grassroots environmental groups and youth is needed in the state Assembly.

Please join me in voting for Tara.

Carrie Levin
Sunnyvale

Return Zoe Lofgren’s
expertise to Congress

I am proud to serve with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, the chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation and one of the most respected members of Congress. She is an expert on immigration law, science policy and a former chair of the House Ethics Committee.

I’m disgusted by Charlene Nijmeh’s campaign that is centered on disinformation — including the recent distribution of flyers with pictures of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries with the candidate, clearly meant to mislead voters. Both Pelosi and Jeffries endorse Zoe Lofgren.

Disinformation destroys democracy. Voters must stand with truth and vote to reelect Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.

Rep. Anna Eshoo

Menlo Park

Liccardo will get things
done in Congress

Sam Liccardo’s recent eight years as a get-things-done mayor of San José showcased how effective he would be in Congress. Liccardo’s successful leadership of the nation’s then-10th largest city ⏤ from homeless mitigation to the high cost of living ⏤ was a doctoral treatise on how a major metropolitan area can prosper in difficult times. He explains online how he will do it again as a new member of the House.

Some may view District 16 as a Palo Alto and North County preserve. It is not. District 16 has evolved with exciting potential. With changes to California’s district maps following the 2020 census, District 16 is an engine of accomplishment and challenge from metropolitan San José to high-tech in Santa Clara County. Sam Liccardo has a track record of successfully dealing with the multifaceted demands of 2024 unmatched by any other candidate in this election.

John Heagerty
San Jose

Simitian best prepared
for seat in House

Re: “Crowded field raises more than $4M in bid to replace Rep. Eshoo” (Page A1, Feb. 16).

The article on the run for Anna Eshoo’s open congressional seat is a good comparison of candidate positions on important issues, including climate change.

Because of its urgency, climate change is the most important issue in this race for U.S. Congress. Please vote for Joe Simitian.

Rob Hogue
Menlo Park

House needs Lofgren
on agricultural policy

If we want the Salinas Valley to continue as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” we’d better elect to Congress a politician who supports agriculture.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren is a staunch advocate for the agricultural industry. She has experience, vision and a track record of support for AgTech.

She has already secured emergency relief for growers impacted by the 2023 storms and helped get $2.8 billion in support for farmers impacted by natural disasters, along with emergency USDA loans.

Addressing the agricultural labor crisis, she authored the Farm Workforce Modernization Act — the first agriculture labor reform legislation to pass the House since 1986. It helps grant 1.5 million farmworkers legal status, protects them and gives flexibility to employers.

She has led bipartisan efforts in crop science, precision agriculture and other research projects. She wants to reform specialty crop insurance.

Want District 18’s agricultural industry to flourish? Vote Zoe Lofgren.

Jim White
Salinas

It would have been nice from Duclair’s perspective, though, had players had also been able to wear special night-themed warmup jerseys – an exercise he wants to see return after the league banned the practice last offseason.

“Obviously like a night like tonight or any night that we celebrate should be celebrated properly,” Duclair said. “I think having those specialty jerseys — for whatever event it is — I think it’s awesome. The boys embrace it, and it sucks that we can’t wear it.”

A small number of NHL players, including former Sharks goalie James Reimer, chose for various reasons not to wear special Pride-themed warmup jerseys last season on the nights their teams held Pride celebrations.

Reimer said the jerseys went against his religious convictions, and some Russian-born players believed they might experience repercussions back home if they showed support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The NHL, feeling those few instances had become an unwelcome distraction, decided last offseason that teams will not be allowed to wear any themed pregame jerseys, including on Hockey Fights Cancer and Military Appreciation nights.

In October, the NHL sent a memo to all teams clarifying what they could and could not do as part of their respective in-arena theme celebrations. That included a ban on the use of specialty stick tape, such as rainbow-colored tape for Pride nights, an edict that was later rescinded.

Still, wearing theme-night jerseys for pregame warmups remains outlawed, and Duclair would like the NHL Players’ Association to have discussions with league officials about ways to change the rule.

“That’s definitely a topic that they need to bring up, for sure,” Duclair said, adding later, “I would say the biggest changes will happen during the summertime and it should be and definitely will be a topic of conversation this summer. Hopefully, that can change for next year.”

The Sharks, as part of their Black History Month celebrations, wore special pregame jerseys for at least the last three years.

Last season, the jerseys’ shoulder patches showcased the NHL’s official Celebration of Black History Month logo, as the nameplates and numbers were designed by San Jose artist Dion Rollerson. The jerseys were later auctioned off, with net proceeds benefiting the African American Community Service Agency.

This Thursday, as part of our Celebration of Black History p/b @Zoom, every fan in attendance will receive a poster featuring Givani Smith, Anthony Duclair and Justin Bailey that they helped design!

: https://t.co/SkmDsIo5wt pic.twitter.com/RqmIXsxsfB

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 26, 2024

Duclair said other NHL players would also like to see themed-night jerseys make a return. Last summer, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid said the NHL’s ban was “disappointing to see.”

“I’m not the only one,” Duclair said. “Even like breast cancer awareness and indigenous nights, we‘ve got so many cultures in this league and so many guys that support different initiatives. Everything’s a little personal to them, just like for myself, Givani (Smith), and Justin (Bailey), this is a personal night for us.

“We want to represent and at the same time, we want to support other guys that support other initiatives. We want to come together and be one and a night like tonight where we can wear the jerseys would be beneficial for that.”

Thursday, the Sharks are giving away posters featuring the Sharks’ three Black players – Duclair and fellow forwards Bailey and Smith, and their autographs – with a handful of background images, including ones of trailblazers Willie O’Ree and Grier.

O’Ree became the league’s first Black player in 1958, and Grier, who played 1,060 games over a 14-year NHL career, became the league’s first Black GM when he was hired by the Sharks in 2022.

Duclair hopes Grier’s leadership of a hockey operations department can help open the doors for other groups.

“It’s good to have representation in that position for minorities, not just Black people,” Duclair said. “This doesn’t necessarily have to be through hockey. It can be in management, it could be social media or journalists. It could be connected to sports and other ways, and I think that’s definitely going to shed light on visibility in that sense, and definitely going to inspire young kids to hopefully be in that position one day.”

Urban Putt, which had its ribbon-cutting Thursday afternoon, is a sleek, indoor reimagining of the miniature golf courses we remember that opened at Paseo, the building that used to house the Camera 12 theaters.

But instead of trying to knock a ball through a windmill or into a clown’s mouth, you can take aim at a well-detailed replica of a room at the Winchester Mystery House or watch your lime green ball get vacuumed up through plastic tubes on a scaled-down version of the old Electric Light Tower.

Owner Steve Fox clearly spared no expense in letting his design team find some new ways to get a dimpled ball from putter to hole. It’s also got a spacious full bar and a kitchen run by Executive Chef Chad Ferry — downtowners still fondly recall Deluxe Eatery & Drinkery on San Fernando Street — making it a good gathering spot whether your putting or not.

Meanwhile, Still O.G. — about a block north at 66 S. First St. — is a hi-fi listening lounge that eschews digital sound for the throwback tones of analog music. Vinyl records line the shelves around the DJ station and everything from speakers to the ceilings and floors seems geared to letting people just bask in the sound. It’s a relaxed vibe for sure — except on Fridays and Saturday nights — and a selection of a dozen cocktails on draft have replaced the craft brews from the old Original Gravity. (The food menu, though, keeps some Original Gravity favorites like the smash burger, sausage sandwich and fries).

The other surprise within is Alter Ego, a cocktail-focused “speakeasy” taking up the back half of the old Original Gravity space that’s an entirely different world. With only about 40 seats (and reservations all but required), Alter Ego exudes a more refined, bespoke vibe.

It’s good to see these pieces coming together to make downtown’s nightlife scene more interesting. Now, someone just needs to figure out how to get enough people there to provide life during daylight hours.

SUMMER RELIEF: Water slides may be the last thing on anyone’s mind with all the expected rain and snow this weekend, but just wait until summer and you’ll be happy that the San Jose City Council gave its blessing Tuesday to California Dreamin’ Entertainment to operate Raging Waters at Lake Cunningham Park.

California Dreamin’ CEO Steve Dooner, who spoke at the meeting along with original Raging Waters developer Thomas Lochtefeld, said they wanted “not only to reopen the park but hopefully on a long-term basis make it a real destination for the whole valley.”

Their proposal for reopening the East San Jose Park this summer includes using partners like Chuck E. Cheese and adding new amenities like a wine garden. With an extension, the lease runs through September 2025, with a city option for another six months after that. Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Director Jon Cicirelli gave credit to PRNS staffers Shannon Heimer and Dominque Pacolba for doing the heavy lifting on the project in about five months.

“This was a big problem that landed in our lap completely unexpectedly and they had to drop a lot of other things to make this happen,” he said.

Countless kids seeking relief from San Jose’s sweltering summer heat in a few months will be thankful, too, I’m sure.

NEW YEAR’S WINDALL: Well, 2024 got off to a very good start for graphic designer Kyoko Dougherty, owner and creative director of San Jose’s Tabara Design. She walked into Community Bank and Trust’s San Jose branch on Jan. 20 knowing she had won something in a contest but had no idea it was $10,000 in CB&T’s holiday sweepstakes.

Dougherty got an entry in the drawing every time she used her credit card during the holiday season. “I never expected to win any drawing prize, so I was very surprised and very happy, and I feel that I am very lucky,” Dougherty said.

Officers were called at 1:18 a.m. to a shopping plaza in the 5100 block of Moorpark Avenue, near Lawrence Expressway, for a “weapons disturbance” at the location, according to a social-media post by the San Jose Police Department.

They found an injured man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators remained at the site for all of Thursday morning. Police said there is no ongoing danger or threat to the public.

Additional details were not immediately released. The death marks the ninth homicide of the year investigated by San Jose police.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

They feature a few guilty chuckles, many from the grumpy yet affable host who interjects his awkward perspective into the proceedings constantly. Then there are feather-fisted members of the security team that tries to break up the angry subjects and their physical battles, a motley crew of bad behavior.

Sadly, the security staff has all the effectiveness of a mouse guarding the door at a nightclub, but hey, anything that gets the purveyors of this brand of trash television to chant the host’s name is a supposed win.

All of which raises a question that probably no one in their right mind would even stumble upon: How in the world does “The Jerry Springer Show” connect to the primal nature of opera?

The answer is “Jerry Springer: the Opera,” a show born in London’s West End 20 years ago and now playing at San Jose Playhouse. It is not for the faint of heart. While the television show functioned highly as a prude-free zone, the production led by the talented cast is solid, even though creators Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee’s concoction isn’t exactly high culture.

The premise is predictable, based on the infamous host whose name blares inside the play’s title. The guests have lots of range — there are serial cheaters, all types of scuzzy folks and even a man who likes to dress as a baby and act out everything, down to the boom boom in his diaper. Oh, and there are also appearances from Angel Gabriel, Jesus and Satan, because hey, why would they miss out on this nonsense?

Any great opera has a brutal death, and Springer’s offing at the hands of someone who was probably actually gunning for a Klan member in Act 1’s finale is brutal indeed. That ending is complete with tap dancing leading to the tighter Act 2, aided by yet another Steve Wilkos (Fred Isozaki) security fail. As a result, Jerry’s infamous final thoughts have transitioned to his new address in Hell.

One of the challenges of the show is finding the line between gratuitous shlock and something genuinely edgy, which is blurred too often. Irreverent humor is the hallmark of many a great production, but here, that irreverence does not have nearly enough sharp satire for it to effectively sustain over the course of the show’s two hours.

That said, many moments are delightfully funny, with terrific production values — some of the best the Playhouse has produced in recent memory. The trio of creatives who make up the bulk of the Playhouse’s productions in downtown San Jose take turns showcasing the mastery of the spectacle.

That spectacle is led with Scott Evan Guggenheim’s deft direction of his talented cast, with Ric Iverson’s turn as Springer achieving a nice balance of the television host’s befuddlement and sketchy inquiry of his oddball guests. Vocal director Stephen Guggenheim consistently receives a pleasing sound from the 11-member cast that serves up tight harmonies and solos. And Shannon Guggenheim’s choreography parallels the freneticism of the original source material, the play mostly moving at breakneck speed. In addition, Shannon Guggenheim’s stellar video designs along with Jon Gourdine’s terrific set creates an environment where television hell (literally) is about to be unleashed.

What works well is the constant tension housed under the studio roof, with the basest and most offensive humor imaginable paired with the pleasing sounds of opera. Many Playhouse regulars make appearances in the production. Nina Edwards is a stellar Mary, with a buttery smooth register making fantastic runs constantly. Beautifully-presenced B Noel Thomas understands deeply the nature of tongue-in-cheek within her multiple roles. Krista Wigle showcases both a solid voice and impeccable comic timing, and Joseph Meyers is especially funny throughout, namely as the narrative comes to a close with his donning a skin-tight Elvis costume.

“Jerry Springer: the Opera” is one wild ride that isn’t going to be for everyone. I can’t really say it was even for me, and I love irreverence. But if it wasn’t wild, it wouldn’t be Jerry Springer. Or opera. After all, people who want their mamas to spank them while dancing on poles are still just, well, people.

David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.

‘JERRY SPRINGER: THE OPERA’

Created by Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee, presented by San Jose Playhouse

Through: March 17

Where: 3Below Theaters, 288 S. Second St., San Jose

Running time: Two hours with an intermission

Tickets: $45-$65; sanjoseplayhouse.org

The National Transportation Safety Board recently released the final report on the July 22, 2022, crash near the Reid-Hillview Airport. The 42-year-old pilot was the plane’s only occupant and survived the crash near the intersection of Ocala Avenue and Karl Street, albeit with significant injuries.

The Piper had 15 gallons of fuel available in one of two tanks, but the pilot used a tank that became depleted while the aircraft underwent its annual inspection at the airport. According to the NTSB, those errors by the pilot “resulted in fuel starvation, a total loss of engine power and an impact with the terrain.”

The NTSB said Reid-Hillview Airport did not sell the 100LL leaded aviation fuel that the Piper needed but that the lack of fuel at the airport did not likely influence the pilot’s decision “as he believed he had sufficient fuel to complete the flight.” It is one of only two airports in the country which sell only 94-octane unleaded avgas.

The pilot had intended to fly about 5 miles to Norman Mineta San Jose International Airport, the NTSB said.

Santa Clara County officials made the decision to sell only unleaded avgas at county airports starting in January 2022 after a county-commissioned study released in August 2021 found higher levels of lead in thousands of children living in the area around Reid-Hillview Airport.

A study released in June 2022 found that soil samples taken at the airport did not contain lead levels that exceeded local, state or federal levels. A federal study by the Environmental Protection Agency, released in 2023, found that leaded aviation fuel emissions were a public health hazard.

“The final accident report confirms what we believed to be true at the time of the incident — that the decision to go lead-free at county airports did not cause the crash,” County Executive James R. Williams said in a statement released by the county.

Overfelt High School, Clyde Fischer Middle School, Donald Meyer Elementary, a boys and girls clubhouse and Hank Lopez Community Center, along with scores of homes, all are located with a block or two of the crash site.