Catch Me Up: Daily news roundup for May 26, 2025

This Daily News Roundup for the 24 hours from 4:00 PM Sunday 5/25 to 4:00 PM Monday 5/26 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 Monday, May 26th, 2025. Here is a look at some of the top stories from across the region.

San Francisco police have arrested a man in connection with a fatal stabbing that occurred on a Muni bus over the weekend. Fifty-one-year-old Daniel Garcia was taken into custody after a passenger was fatally stabbed Sunday afternoon on a bus near Bayshore Boulevard and Cortland Avenue. The victim, who was found with a stab wound, later died at a hospital despite life-saving efforts. Garcia has been booked into San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, and elder abuse, and is being held without bail. Muni officials stated that their vehicles are equipped with security cameras and expressed sorrow over the “senseless act of violence,” reaffirming their commitment to rider and staff safety.

Meanwhile, in Solano County, firefighters are battling a 25-acre grass fire that ignited near Vacaville Monday afternoon. The Cherry Fire began around 1:15 p.m. off Cherry Glen Extension Road, north of Interstate Highway 80. As of late Monday afternoon, there was no containment on the blaze. Cal Fire reported the fire is burning uphill in light, flashy fuels with a moderate rate of spread. Fortunately, no structures are currently threatened, and no injuries have been reported. Crews were already in the vicinity conducting a prescribed burn, but authorities do not believe it sparked the Cherry Fire.

Shifting our focus to the East Bay, cleanup efforts are underway in the Oakland Estuary after a large, two-masted sailing vessel sank at its Alameda dock over the weekend. The ship, named the Kaisei, is a replica brigantine tall ship owned by the Bay Area nonprofit Ocean Voyages Institute. The organization uses the Kaisei to raise global awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution in the ocean. The vessel began sinking Sunday night, prompting the Oakland and Alameda fire departments to deploy a floating boom to contain any potential fuel spills. The U.S. Coast Guard is collaborating with an environmental cleanup company on containment efforts. The Kaisei is known for its 2009 expedition to the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where its crew collected samples of marine debris and fish containing plastics.

Good news for BART riders: Normal service on the Green Line between Berryessa and Daly City stations resumed Monday morning. The service was restored shortly before 9 a.m. Monday, following a nearly weeklong disruption. The Green Line had been suspended since May 20, after a fire near the San Leandro station damaged trackside equipment and caused power issues. BART is operating on a Sunday schedule for the Memorial Day holiday, with trains running from 8 a.m. until about midnight. All five lines will be in service until approximately 9 p.m., after which BART will transition to three-line service on the Yellow, Blue, and Orange lines.

In other developments, two women in San Joaquin County are facing multiple felony charges in a disturbing animal cruelty case where dozens of horses were found dead or severely malnourished. Jan Johnson and Justine Fitzhenry, both residents of Clements, were arrested Wednesday after a months-long investigation by the District Attorney and Sheriff’s offices. Authorities began their probe last August, uncovering twenty-seven dead horses and many more suffering from neglect on one property, with an additional fifty-three dead horses found on two other properties. Ninety horses were discovered malnourished, some requiring euthanasia, while sixteen were rescued. Johnson is charged with over twenty felony counts of animal cruelty, illegal firearm possession, and seventeen counts related to cockfighting and animal neglect. Fitzhenry faces three felony counts of animal cruelty and one misdemeanor count of neglect. Their arraignment is scheduled for June 6th, with Johnson potentially facing up to twenty-five years in prison if convicted.

Finally, in Monterey County, two women have been arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter following the death of a three-month-old baby at what authorities allege was an unlicensed daycare center in Royal Oaks. Maria Marquez, age sixty-two, and her daughter, Johanna Marquez, age thirty-five, were taken into custody. Sheriff’s deputies and first responders were called to a residence on Hillcrest Road Saturday morning, where they found an infant unconscious and not breathing. The baby was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced deceased despite life-saving efforts. Detectives claim the women were operating an unlicensed facility and watching as many as thirty children of various ages simultaneously. Both Marquezes are being held on fifty-thousand-dollar bail and face additional charges of felony endangering a minor and operating an unlicensed daycare. The investigation is ongoing.

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