Catch Me Up: Daily news roundup for May 14, 2025

This Daily News Roundup for the 24 hours from 4:00 PM Tuesday 5/13 to 4:00 PM Wednesday 5/14 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 Wednesday, May 14th, 2025. Here is a look at some of the top stories from across the region.

We begin in San Jose, where city leaders are considering new ways to fund affordable housing and homeless services. As reported by San Jose Spotlight, the City Council on Tuesday explored creating an enhanced infrastructure financing district, or EIFD, for the Diridon Station area. This tool would allow the city to capture future increases in property tax revenue within the district’s boundaries to fund public projects, including affordable housing. While the plan could generate significant long-term funding, some councilmembers and community advocates raised concerns about the potential impact on existing county and school district revenues and whether the benefits would reach the most vulnerable residents quickly enough. The council directed staff to further study the EIFD proposal.

Staying in San Jose, a significant housing development is moving forward in North San Jose. Prominent developer SummerHill Homes has secured financing to build 292 apartments and 42 townhomes at 210 Baypointe Parkway. The project, approved in October 2024, is located near the Baypointe VTA light rail station, a prime spot for transit-oriented development. District 4 Councilmember David Cohen praised the project as the kind of smart, sustainable growth envisioned for North San Jose, which has faced development halts in the past due to litigation. While the project will add over 300 homes, 15 apartments will be designated as affordable. SummerHill Homes will also pay in-lieu fees to the city.
Shifting our focus to education, a CalMatters report highlights an innovative approach at August Boeger Middle School in East San Jose. Eighth graders there are taking their first college-level course, an entry-level class on career planning, offered directly on their middle school campus. This initiative by the San Jose Evergreen Community College District aims to make college enrollment easier, particularly for students in high-poverty areas. The district plans to expand offerings to include subjects like sociology and ethnic studies, with the goal of enabling middle schoolers to complete several college courses before high school. While some faculty union members have expressed concerns about readiness, proponents believe early exposure to college can motivate students.

Turning to the justice system, a delivery driver pleaded guilty on Tuesday to defrauding the San Francisco-based company DoorDash of more than $2.5 million. Federal prosecutors said 30-year-old Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, a Newport Beach resident, admitted to working with others in 2020 and 2021 to cause DoorDash to pay for deliveries that never occurred. The scheme involved using customer accounts to place high-value orders, then using an employee’s credentials to reassign these orders to fraudulent driver accounts. These accounts would then falsely report deliveries, and the system was manipulated to repeat payments. Devagiri is the third person convicted in this conspiracy and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

In Santa Rosa, police are continuing their search for a man who robbed a bank on Saturday while wrapped in a blanket. The robbery occurred at the Montgomery Village branch of Exchange Bank. Police said a man, concealed by a light purple or lavender blanket, entered the bank, pointed a handgun at a teller, and demanded cash. After receiving an undisclosed amount, he fled on foot. Officers searched the area but did not locate him. The suspect is described as a tall, slender adult male wearing black jeans and black shoes. The Sonoma County Alliance Community Engagement and Safety Rewards Fund is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest.

Finally, a reminder for drivers in Santa Clara County: the California Highway Patrol’s San Jose-area office will be conducting a DUI checkpoint starting Friday night and continuing into early Saturday morning. The checkpoint, aimed at deterring impaired driving, will be set up at an unspecified location between 8 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. Saturday. The CHP stated the goal is to aggressively seek out those driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and to help reduce injury and fatal crashes. Motorists are advised to drive sober or designate a sober driver.

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