PITTSBURG – Pittsburg running back Jamar Searcy has opened his recruitment, he announced in a X contribution on Thursday.

Searcy had committed to play at Washington State next yr and signed his National Letter of Intent last week, but after it was announced Wednesday that coach Jake Dickert would accept a head coaching job at Wake Forest, the three-star Running back hired has decided to explore other options.

Before signing with Washington State, Searcy had offers from UNLV, Sacramento State, San Diego State, UC Davis and Cal.

Searcy is six days faraway from his best performance as a highschool player, as he totaled 290 yards and 4 touchdowns in Pittsburg's heartbreaking 28-26 loss to Lincoln-San Diego within the CIF Division I-AA state championship game.

The 5-foot-8 running back finished his senior yr with 1,668 yards and 22 touchdowns and was chosen to the Bay Valley Athletic League's first team. Searcy was one in every of Pittsburg's senior leaders and in addition played defense for safety reasons.

“I've been telling scouts all season that Jamar Searcy is the best touchdown maker in Northern California, if not the entire state,” Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez said after Pittsburg's win over Archbishop Riordan in September. “

Originally published: December 19, 2024 at 5:02 pm PST

REPRESA – Five men – including an Oakland man already involved in three other murders – are suspected of killing a fellow inmate at California State Prison in Sacramento on Friday, authorities said.

The victim of the day room attack was Darryl Hudson, a 40-year-old Pittsburgh native serving a life sentence for murdering a PC World magazine editor during a robbery. State prison officials say Hudson was attacked by five men, lost consciousness in the course of the attack and later succumbed to his injuries. They haven’t said whether a weapon was used or if the motive has been revealed.

The attackers were identified in a press release from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as Darryn Mayberry (30), Robert Keller (38), Tray Watson (58), Marcell Battiest (29) and Otis Wyatt (27). They were placed in solitary confinement, authorities said.

Wyatt was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison earlier this yr after being convicted of the premeditated murder of Darrell Daniel in 2016. He also pleaded guilty to a single count of manslaughter in reference to a 2016 Oakland celebration shooting that killed 20-year-old Craig Fletcher-Cooks and 22-year-old Terrence McCrary, a 21-year sentence that drew criticism from families of each victims.

Battiest and Keller were serving prison sentences for murder in Sonoma and Los Angeles counties, and Watson was serving an 18-year sentence for robbery, authorities said.

Hudson was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2009 for the murder of Rex Farrance, 59. Farrance was a PC World editor who had been targeted for his home marijuana cultivation, authorities said on the time. On Jan. 9, 2007, 4 men broke into his home. Police believed Hudson personally killed Farrance, but he denied this at his sentencing.

“Frankly, they got the wrong person,” Hudson said at the top of the hearing.

Bay Area News Group photographer Jose Carlos Fajardo was tracking vegetation fires suspected to be brought on by illegal fireworks on the Fourth of July in eastern Contra Costa County. At about 8:45 p.m., he found a burning palm tree on Somersville Road in Antioch. Over the course of three hours, Fajardo discovered 12 more vegetation fires.

People set off illegal fireworks from their street during Independence Day celebrations in Antioch, Calif., on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Tomales Bay Drive, Pittsburgh

Morgan Way, Antioch

Lotus Court, Antioch

Crews went door-to-door evacuating residents of Lotus Street after initial fears the fireplace might reach homes within the neighborhood. The 8,000-square-foot fire didn’t burn down and no injuries were reported. Residents returned to their homes after the fireplace was under control, in line with Contra Costa Fire Protection District officials.

Hillcrest Avenue, Antioch

At around 10:05 p.m., Contra Costa Fire Protection District crews responded to the 2700 block of Hillcrest Avenue. After 55 minutes of concentrated efforts, the fireplace was successfully extinguished, spokesman Captain Victor Daniel confirmed.

Sycamore Drive and L Street, Antioch

PITTSBURG – A controversial 606-acre parcel of land within the rolling hills of Los Medanos southwest of Pittsburg was incorporated into city limits Wednesday, clearing the way in which for a successful East Bay developer to appreciate his decades-long plans to construct custom homes near the scenic ridge.

The Faria/Southwest Hills project goals to accumulate to 1,500 recent single-family homes across the Los Medanos Ridgeline. The project, proposed by Discovery Builders – owned by Concord-based developer Albert Seeno III – has already been approved twice by the Pittsburg City Council.

The Contra Costa Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) — an influential group of city, county and special district officials answerable for overseeing the expansion of city limits — gave the green light to rezoning the Seeno-owned land in a 5-2 vote Wednesday. Farias's move forward relied on LAFCO approval to make sure future development can access services from Contra Costa Water and Delta Diablo Sanitation districts.

Before the vote, Pittsburg City Manager Garrett Evans pushed for approval, citing the project's plans to guard the mountain range, concentrate residential development within the valley, provide access to neighboring Thurgood Marshall Regional Park and preserve 44 percent of the property as open space — twice as much as originally proposed.

“This is a better project than 20 years ago,” Evans said on Wednesday. “It gives us hope, development and opportunities.”

The two commissioners who disagreed with the choice — Scott Perkins, San Ramon's deputy mayor, and Charles R. Lewis IV, an unelected public representative — expressed concern that the project developers' extensive list of environmental documents didn’t answer all of LAFCO officials' questions on the impact on surrounding open space.

Lewis insisted that crucial details in regards to the location and plan for the Faria project's development were still missing – information that LAFCO's executive director, Lou Ann Texeira, had requested in a minimum of a dozen “polite but firm letters.” Those documents, he said, were essential not only to assist the general public understand the proposed project, but in addition to enable LAFCO to think about approving annexation.

“The applicant has provided unlimited information – several boxes of documents – but the project level is not covered,” Lewis said, suggesting that there’s a lack of detail on the impacts of the development project.

He said town must have required more documentation from the developers before approving the project. “This does not seem to me to be a simple oversight that (the city of Pittsburg) overlooked or forgot. This is a willful failure to comply with the orders of this commission. I consider this both a substantive and procedural violation of due process.”

Winter King, Save Mount Diablo's attorney with the law firm Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, shared Lewis' concerns and argued that LAFCO should reject Pittsburg's annexation request.

However, Tom Geiger, the commission's legal counsel, said Pittsburg's final environmental certification from last yr was sufficient, especially since no lawsuits were filed after the City Council's April 2023 vote. In addition, he pointed to a 2022 court ruling that a programmatic environmental impact assessment was “appropriate and legal.”

“There was a small window of opportunity to take action against it,” Geiger said, “but that time has expired – the city certified it over a year ago.”

Commissioner Federal Glover said he was not originally a supporter of the Faria project, but modified his mind after years of discussions and changes to the plan.

“I know I've been trying to bring the parties together over the last few months, but it hasn't happened,” Glover said. “I don't know if further dialogue between the applicant and Save Mount Dablo will lead to anything more.”

In addition to a youth recreation center and mountaineering trails connecting to Thurgood Marshall Regional Park, plans for the opposite half of the Faria/Southwest Hills project include 265 acres of open space and greenbelt along the ridge as a buffer from the East Bay Regional Park District site, which in turn sits between a billion-dollar, 12,200-unit housing complex to be built across the hill on the previous Concord Naval Weapons Station.

But this buffer just isn’t enough to guard the nearby open spaces, say members and supporters of the nonprofit land and nature conservation organization Save Mount Diablo, which has been advocating for the “Save the Ridge” for years.

Environmentalists sent a whole lot of letters urging LAFCO to reject the annexation, saying the Albert Seeno III development was “disastrous” and threatened to “flatten the tops of Pittsburg's hills.” Opponents say Discovery Builders “never conducted a project-level environmental impact assessment as LAFCO has repeatedly requested,” nor did it provide an in depth site plan or a subdivision plan with home lots and streets.”

Seth Adams, conservation director for Save Mount Diablo, failed to convince the commission to ask for more green space – up to 500 feet – even though the regional park, with competing wildlife habitats, nature access, neighborhood traffic, fire risk and community views could be impacted by heavy grading during construction. He said Seeno's development team was unwilling to come to the negotiating table to openly discuss alternatives.

“Save Mount Diablo supports sensitive development and open space protection,” Adams said. “We don't care if Seeno goes ahead with their project, we just want them to avoid wasting the ridge and have less impact from development. That's not that arduous.”

The suspects – identified as Pablo Gutierrez-Morales, 31, of Concord, Vanessa Vera-Aguilar, 24, of Antioch, and Jazmin Ruiz, 25, also of Antioch – were booked into the Martinez Detention Facility. They are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Pleasant Hill police Capt. Matt Kristic said in a news release.

Santiago Jacobo was found dead within the principal car parking zone of Pleasant Hill Park, 147 Gregory Lane, at around 4:50 a.m. on February 10.

A months-long investigation revealed that the suspects and the victim knew one another because that they had all worked together at an assisted living facility in San Ramon, Kristic said.

Kristic said evidence showed the suspects planned, coordinated and carried out the attack on Jacobo after he finished his shift as a janitor at Pleasant Hill Park.

Before his murder, Jacobo had a relationship with Vera-Aguilar, while one other suspect, Gutierrez-Morales, sought a relationship together with her, Kristic said.

“Our thoughts and condolences go out to the Jacobo family,” Kristic said within the press release.

Anyone with information concerning the case is asked to contact the police investigations unit at 925-288-4630.

PITTSBURG – Heritage didn’t play its best game.

But when it mattered most, the Patriots found a technique to get the job done.

After struggling to attain runs for five innings, Heritage got here to life late, defeating Pittsburg 4-3 on Thursday and securing its spot as the highest team within the Bay Valley Athletic League standings.

Heritage junior Alonzo Alvarez was 3-for-4 and had two doubles. Elijah Ward totaled two hits and scored a run, while KC Karbowski had a success and an RBI.

Patriots pitcher JJ Kinnaird pitched 5 1/3 innings, striking out three and allowing two runs.

“All week we were preparing to play the best team in our area,” Ward said. “We knew we had to come out and score early and play dominant defense. That’s what we did.”

Pittsburg entered Thursday's game motivated to even the rating against its division rival because the Pirates lost the primary of the two-game series at Heritage 6-2 on Tuesday.

Pittsburg faced a rematch and looked dominant early on.

In the highest half of the fourth inning, pitcher Josh Painter got right into a jam as Heritage runners occupied second and third base with no outs. The senior retired the following batter and helped force a double play later within the inning that put the team out.

In the underside half of the fourth, Pittsburg's offense broke through.

Niko Fuentes' single to center field scored Cole Leschak and Anthony Garcia to offer the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

A half-inning later, Painter retired three of 4 batters because it appeared the Pirates were in complete control of the sport heading into the sixth inning.

Painter finished the day by striking out seven batters in five innings.

The Heritage crowd sat quietly for the primary five innings, but the whole lot modified within the sixth inning.

With a pitch count of 78, Pittsburg coach Marco Cartagena subbed Painter as he remains to be recovering from an injury sustained earlier within the season.

When the Pirates replaced their only pitcher, the Patriots took advantage.

The first three Heritage runners singled, loading the bases for KC Karbowski with no outs. The senior managed to drive in Gio Martini and provides the Patriots their first run of the sport. Jace Bernard tied the sport at 2-2 after being beaten on the following shot.

Sophomore Jett Guevara struggled within the early going as he hit a laser into the midfield wall to offer the Patriots a 4-2 lead.

“They just got hot and got a couple hits in a row,” Cartagena said of losing the lead within the sixth inning. “We were lucky it was only four runs.”

Pittsburg had possibilities to potentially tie or take the lead in the ultimate two innings, but couldn't convert it with runners in scoring position.

In the underside of the sixth, the Pirates' bases were loaded with one out, but grounded right into a double play that ended the inning.

In the seventh, Leschak scored on a wild pitch from second, cutting the Heritage lead to 1 run. With a runner on third and two outs, Pittsburg hit a ground ball that landed in front of relief pitcher Jason Stevens. The junior quickly recovered and threw out the runner at first, ending the sport and giving Heritage a decisive win.

“We knew they were going to be fired up,” Heritage coach Kevin Brannan said. “We knew that if we could find a way to give them a lead, we would play really well. We are at our best when we are ahead.”

The win gives Heritage a two-game lead over first place within the BVAL standings. The Brentwood school has 4 league games left – a two-game series against second-place Freedom before playing fourth-place Liberty in a two-game series.

Pittsburg fell to 3rd within the standings and is currently three games behind, but Cartagena was glad the team turned the battle right into a rivalry game.

“We have to have that energy to move forward,” he said. “We can use the playoff atmosphere today to our advantage. But these are just growing pains. We are a young team and we will continue to improve from here.”

The Patriots, who’re eighth within the rankings Bay Area News Group rankingsconsider they must be considered the most effective team within the North Coast section on par with top teams equivalent to Acalanes, Granada and De La Salle.

“I think we've grown since we lost to Acalanes in our first game and I think we're the best team in the Bay Area right now,” Karbowski said.