Catch Me Up: Daily news roundup for May 11, 2025

This Daily News Roundup for the 24 hours from 4:00 PM Saturday 5/10 to 4:00 PM Sunday 5/11 is based on news articles created by Bay City News reporters and editors. We prompted ChatGPT to analyze the articles produced by our staff and to choose 5 stories to highlight. Then we used ElevenLabs and other tools to help us convert the text into audio based on the voice of Leslie Katz, one of our Bay City News editors. This content was verified by a human editor.

Hello, and welcome to Bay City News for Sunday, May 11, 2025. We’re bringing you a roundup of some of the key stories developing across the region.

We begin in Santa Cruz, where authorities on Friday recovered a body from the water near Its Beach. The discovery follows an intensive search for a swimmer who went missing four days prior, on Monday, May seventh. According to officials, two individuals had jumped from a cliff along West Cliff Drive. While one managed to return to safety, the other submerged and was not seen again. Multiple agencies, including the Coast Guard and local fire and police departments, participated in the search efforts. The identity of the person recovered is currently pending verification by the Santa Cruz County Coroner’s office. The investigation into the circumstances of the incident is ongoing.

From that somber news in Santa Cruz, we turn our attention to civic matters in San Jose, where city leaders are tackling an ongoing urban issue. San Jose officials are strengthening regulations to combat the problem of abandoned shopping carts. The City Council recently approved measures requiring retail stores with more than 76 carts to implement theft-prevention systems, such as wheel locks, or to require customer deposits, or contract with a cart-retrieval service. This initiative aims to reduce blight in neighborhoods and ensure the city complies with clean water regulations, as abandoned carts often end up in local waterways. A three-month pilot cart retrieval program is also being launched in areas with the highest rates of abandonment to gather more data. City staff are also advocating at the state level for increased fines for cart theft.

While San Jose works to improve its urban landscape, efforts to preserve natural landscapes continue in other parts of the South Bay. In a significant move for conservation, the Peninsula Open Space Trust, or POST, has purchased 207 acres in South County’s Coyote Valley. The five-point-five million dollar acquisition of a former dairy farm will protect the northwestern ridge of Coyote Valley from future development. This area is a vital wildlife corridor connecting the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo range, crucial for maintaining biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience in the region. POST, along with the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority and other partners, is developing a master plan for the responsible use and ecological restoration of over 1,500 acres of natural and agricultural land within the valley.

The preservation of such natural assets is critical, just as decisions impacting our educational institutions have far-reaching consequences for our communities. A Sonoma County Superior Court judge on Friday cleared the way for Sonoma State University to proceed with significant budget cuts. These measures include the elimination of all its intercollegiate athletic programs and several academic departments. The university’s board made the decision in January, citing a nearly $24 million budget deficit exacerbated by declining student enrollment. The court ruling lifts a temporary restraining order that had been sought by student-athletes. University officials have stated these cuts, which also involve faculty and staff layoffs, are necessary for the institution’s long-term financial stability.

While one Bay Area institution navigates financial challenges, another part of the region is looking forward to new sporting developments. Professional soccer is on its way to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. A new team, Golden City Football Club, affiliated with Major League Soccer’s Next Pro league, is slated to begin play at the historic Kezar Stadium within the next two years. The agreement to use the stadium was announced as a public-private partnership. This partnership is expected to bring ten million dollars worth of upgrades to Kezar Stadium, which first opened in 1925 and was the original home of the San Francisco 49ers. The new team aims to grow the sport’s presence in the city.

From new ventures shaping the city’s recreational landscape, we now turn to a case of justice served in the North Bay. A Fairfield travel agent, Iqbal Singh Randhawa, has been sentenced to nine years in state prison for defrauding members of the South Asian community out of more than $147,000. The California Attorney General’s office announced the sentencing on Friday. Between 2017 and 2020, Iqbal Singh Randhawa took money from over a dozen victims for airline tickets he never purchased, instead providing them with fraudulent itineraries. He was also found to have committed over $89,000 in credit card fraud. After two trials, he was convicted on multiple felony counts of grand theft by embezzlement and violations of Seller of Travel laws.

And those are some of the top stories we’re following. Thank you for joining us for Bay City News.