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Valentine’s Day falls on a Wednesday this year, right in the middle of the week. For florists nationwide, that typically means a much busier holiday than if the day fell at the end or beginning of a week. Lisa Filice, owner of Expressions Floral in...

GILROY—In Gilroy aviation artist Joe Kline’s latest work, at the end of the muzzle of the M60-7.62mm machine gun in the hovering Huey helicopter, there’s a just visible soldier manning the weapon to cover GIs in a landing zone in Vietnam.

A Santa Clara County Sheriff’s deputy was killed early Saturday morning by a suspected DUI driver on State Highway 87 in San Jose, according to the sheriff's office.  Deputy Arturo Romero, a 24-year member of the sheriff's office, was driving home to Gilroy after his...

MORGAN HILL—Fry’s Electronics has ended its title sponsorship with the PGA Tour, thus ending speculation of the Frys.com Open returning to Morgan Hill.

After nearly losing two critical medical centers in Santa Clara County five years ago to bankruptcy, both are now thriving and experiencing tremendous growth under the stewardship of Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, according to county officials. O’Connor Hospital (OCH) in San Jose, St. Louise Regional...

Ghosts and haunted houses happen more than just once a year on

Gilroy – Red bricks and cement would litter downtown, apartments would collapse on top of cars, and homes along Uvas Creek would crack and sink as though on quicksand if the big one ever hit Gilroy.

There’s nothing quite like a stage full of kids dressed as starfish, sea anemones and seagulls singing and dancing their little hearts out to lift one’s spirits these days. And the cast and crew of South Valley Civic Theatre do a charming job of it in their current children’s musical production of The Little Mermaid Jr. in Morgan Hill through Oct. 22.The story, loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s Danish fairy tale and adapted into a Disney movie and then a musical, involves a young mermaid, Ariel (Emily Pember) who falls in love with a human prince (Gannon Janisch) and is tricked into giving up her lovely singing voice to an evil sea witch (Jenna Hernandez) in exchange for legs so she can walk on land. She is surrounded by a cast of hilarious characters including the woebegone crab Sebastian (Tegan Leong) charged by Ariel’s father (Paul Maack) with keeping her safe.As the little mermaid of the title, Pember does fine work singing while managing the tricky aspects of swimming gracefully through the air (with flight direction by Jason Chamberlain). Unfortunately, her voice is sometimes overwhelmed by the recorded soundtrack on “Part of Your World.”As Ursula, the sea witch—in a wonderful costume of purple velvet and satin with sequined octopus’s tentacles—Hernandez has no such problems. She’s got a big voice and knows how to use it to best effect on “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”Stealing the show every which way is the spark plug Tegan Leong as the crab Sebastian, who knocks everyone out with a fish ensemble in “Under the Sea” and really tears things up in the sassy calypso “Kiss the Girl,” well supported by an undersea cast of seemingly thousands.Among the numerous other characters, well directed by Colleen Blanchard, Catherine Drayton stands out as the lead seagull, Scuttle (in a terrific costume, designed by Alice Gracey). Set designers Blanchard, Larry Tom and Jason Leong have created a wondrous undersea world, all wavering watercolors studded with bubbles and seaweed.The Little Mermaid Jr. Music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, book by Doug Wright. Directed by Colleen Blanchard at South Valley Civic Theatre, Morgan Hill. Final performance is Oct. 22. For tickets call (408) 842-SHOW or visit www.svct.org. 

Elodia Benitez has fond childhood memories of birthday parties at San Ysidro Park, while also admiring the rows of trees on Miller Avenue and grabbing a bite to eat at Pinocchio’s Pizza. But above all, it’s the time she shared with her grandmother that she...

The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department recently released new data showing a 19% increase in new tuberculosis (TB) diagnoses in the county in 2023, compared to the previous year.  This follows a 6% increase in new TB diagnoses in the county for 2022,...