BY J.A. SCHWARTZ In December, the NFL celebrated the 100th anniversary of professional football by announcing the NFL100 team, representing the best 100 players to ever play in the league. The panel that chose those players was made up of 26 people, including coaches, team executives, retired players and members …

Celeste Marques passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of December 15, 2019. She was born on March 27, 1927 in Lowell, Massachusetts where her parents settled after emigrating to the United States from Madeira, Portugal. As a young girl, Celeste moved to Paul Do Mar, a small Portuguese …

Each year, mushrooms come out after the first rains of the season, which began on November 26. Mushrooms are ecologically important and can look beautiful – but some of them contain dangerous toxins. The death cap (Amanita phalloides) and Western destroying angel (Amanita ocreata) are two of the world’s most …

BY DEBRA J. MORRIS From the outside, Cara Cara oranges look similar to a regular navel orange and you’d expect to find orange flesh inside. But cut open a Cara Cara and you will be surprised to find a lovely rosy pink or red flesh. This variety is said to …

Bill Vanderklugt was born in Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. The son of a baker and one of 14 siblings, he immigrated to the United States in 1958 where he met and married “Bep,” his beautiful wife of 57 years. The couple became United States citizens in 1972 and lived in Lodi, Sacramento, Manteca and …

BY MASON BISSADA The battle of the two injury-decimated, bottom-of-the-west teams ended in surprisingly exciting fashion as the Golden State Warriors narrowly defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 106-102 Friday night at Chase Center. What began as a shockingly uncompetitive Warriors’ blowout of the still-Zion-less Pelicans ended in an epic shootout …

BY MASON BISSADA What was the biggest contributing factor to the Golden State Warriors’ ugly 100-79 loss to the Sacramento Kings? Should the loss be attributed to poor offensive execution? Or was it was their ugly defensive awareness? If you chose C (all of the above), you’ll be going home …

Contra Costa Animal Services (CCAS) will be offering $5 adoptions of all animals on Friday, December 13th and Saturday, December 14th, as part of the Bissell Pet Foundation’s “Holiday Hope” adoption campaign. The goal of this promotion is to bring holiday hope to homeless pets in Contra Costa County by …

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ Throughout the history of the NFL, minority quarterbacks coming out of college have been saddled with the notion that they don’t have the necessary skills to succeed in the NFL. As recently as last year, these quotes were offered about Lamar Jackson, the current front-runner for the …

BY J.A. SCHWARTZ Fandom. What does it mean to be a fan ? Why do we care so much about the exploits of men and women we don’t know as they play games that have no redeeming social value for our amusement ? We invest our own hard earned money …