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City of Berkeley votes to return sacred Native land to Ohlone

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City of Berkeley votes to return sacred Native land to Ohlone
  • Ohlone people celebrated on Wednesday over the return of sacred Native land in Berkeley, California.
  • Berkeley’s City Council unanimously voted to give title of the 2.2-acre parking lot to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust.
  • Mayor Jesse Arreguín said the site is significant as a place for education, prayer and preservation of Ohlone history.

Ohlone people and others rejoiced Wednesday over the return of sacred Native land dating back thousands of years, saying the move rights a historic wrong and restores the people who were first on land now called Berkeley, California, to their rightful place in history.

The 2.2-acre parking lot is the only undeveloped portion of the shellmound in West Berkeley, where ancestors of today’s Ohlone people established the first human settlement on the shores of the San Francisco Bay 5,700 years ago.

Berkeley’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt an ordinance giving the title of the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a San Francisco Bay Area collective led by women that works to return land to Indigenous people. The collective raised most of the money needed to reach the agreement with developers who own the land.

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“We want to be a place for global Indigenous leadership to come and gather in solidarity,” said Melissa Nelson, chair of the board of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, at a celebratory news conference Wednesday. “We want to educate, we want to restore and we want to heal.”

Melissa Nelson, chair of the board of directors of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, speaks at a news conference on March 13, 2024, in Berkeley, Calif. Berkeley’s City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt an ordinance giving the title of the land to the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a women-led, San Francisco Bay Area collective that works to return land to Indigenous people and that raised the funds needed to reach the agreement.  (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

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The crowd cheered as speakers talked of a movement to restore other lands to Indigenous people.

The site — a three-block area Berkeley designated as a landmark in 2000 — will be home to Native medicines and foods, an oasis for pollinators and wildlife, and a place for youth to learn about their heritage, including ancient dances and ceremonies.

“The site will be home to education, prayer and preservation, and will outlast every one of us today to continue telling the story of the Ohlone people,” Mayor Jesse Arreguín said, adding that their history is “marked not by adversity, but more importantly, by their unwavering resilience as a community.”

Before Spanish colonizers arrived in the region, the area held a village and a massive shellmound with a height of 20 feet and the length and width of a football field that was a ceremonial and burial site. Built over years with mussel, clam and oyster shells, human remains, and artifacts, the shellmound also served as a lookout.

The Spanish removed the Ohlone from their villages and forced them into labor at local missions. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Anglo settlers took over the land and razed the shellmound to line roadbeds in Berkeley with shells.

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“It’s a very sad and shameful history,” said Berkeley City Councilmember Sophie Hahn, who spearheaded the effort to return the land.

The agreement with Berkeley-based Ruegg & Ellsworth LLC, which owns the parking lot, comes after a six-year legal fight that started in 2018 when the developer sued the city after officials denied its application to build a 260-unit apartment building with 50% affordable housing and 27,500 feet of retail and parking space.

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The settlement was reached after Ruegg & Ellsworth agreed to accept $27 million to settle all outstanding claims and to turn the property over to Berkeley. The Sogorea Te’ Land Trust contributed $25.5 million and Berkeley paid $1.5 million, officials said.

The trust plans to build a commemorative park with a new shellmound and a cultural center to house some of the pottery, jewelry, baskets and other artifacts found over the years and that are in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Corrina Gould, co-founder of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and tribal chair of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Ohlone, attended Tuesday’s city council meeting via video conference and wiped away tears after the council voted to return the land.

The shellmound that once stood there was “a place where we first said goodbye to someone,” she said. “To have this place saved forever, I am beyond words.”

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Wyoming

From Douglas to Jackson, Week 4 Is Loaded for Wyoming Boys’ Swim & Dive

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From Douglas to Jackson, Week 4 Is Loaded for Wyoming Boys’ Swim & Dive


It is Week 4 in the 2026 Wyoming High School boys’ swimming and diving season. It features several medium-sized competitions. After a dual in Douglas on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday are packed with meets. Jackson hosts its two-day invitational with four teams heading to Teton County. There are three-team events in Casper, Gillette, and Sheridan on Friday, plus two five-team meets at Cody and Rock Springs.

WYOPREPS BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING WEEK 4 SCHEDULE 2026

Saturday also has swim invites at Evanston, Powell, and Sheridan. The schedule for Week 4 of the prep boys’ swimming and diving season in the Cowboy State is below. The schedule is subject to change.

RAWLINS AT DOUGLAS – dual

 

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3A Boys State Championship Recap 2025

4A Boys State Championship Recap 2025

3A Diving Champ Bryson Laing in 2025

4A Swim Champ Cy Gallion in 2025

4A Diving Champ Brady Benne in 2025

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4A Swim Champ Ben Forsythe in 2025

Kemmerer’s Malachi Villarreal Reacts to Record Weekend in 2025

 

CASPER TRI at NCHS – Cheyenne East, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County.

CODY INVITE – Cody, Newcastle, Powell, Riverton, Worland.

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GILLETTE TRI – Campbell County, Cheyenne Central, Thunder Basin.

JACKSON INVITE – Jackson, Kemmerer, Lander, Laramie, Sublette County.

ROCK SPRINGS INVITE – Evanston, Lyman, Green River, Rawlins, Rock Springs.

SHERIDAN PRE-INVITE – Buffalo, Douglas, Sheridan.

 

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CHEYENNE CENTRAL AT CAMPBELL COUNTY – dual

EVANSTON INVITE at Davis MS – Evanston, Green River, Lyman, Rock Springs.

GENE DOZAH INVITATIONAL at Powell – Buffalo, Cody, Newcastle, Powell, Riverton, Worland.

JACKSON INVITE – Jackson, Kemmerer, Lander, Laramie, Sublette County.

SHERIDAN INVITE – Douglas, Kelly Walsh, Natrona County, Sheridan, Thunder Basin.

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3A State Boys Swimming-2025

3A State Boys Swimming-2025

Gallery Credit: Frank Gambino

4A Boys State Swimming & Diving Meet-2025

4A Boys State Swimming & Diving Meet-2025

Gallery Credit: Frank Gambino

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West

EXCLUSIVE: Mom speaks out after illegal alien DUI suspect allegedly kills 8-year-old, maims Marine dad

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EXCLUSIVE: Mom speaks out after illegal alien DUI suspect allegedly kills 8-year-old, maims Marine dad

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

EXCLUSIVE: A mother is speaking out after an illegal alien DUI suspect allegedly killed her 8-year-old daughter in a Thanksgiving weekend crash that also critically injured her U.S. Marine husband, Oscar, who had his leg amputated and remains in a fight for his life more than a month later.

Jackie Cruz Acencio, who is grieving the loss of her 8-year-old daughter, Arya Cruz Acencio, says the suspected illegal immigrant driver should not have been in the country in the first place.

“I care very deeply for these people that want to have a better life. I really do, but I have no sympathy for the driver that hit me and my family. I don’t. I’m angry, and he shouldn’t have been here in the first place,” Jackie told Fox News’ Matt Finn in an exclusive interview.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH PRIOR DUIS, DEPORTATION ORDER, CHARGED IN CRASH KILLING 8-YEAR-OLD CALIFORNIA GIRL

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Arya Cruz Acencio, 8, was killed in an accident allegedly involving an intoxicated illegal immigrant driver. Her father, a U.S. Marine named Oscar Cruz Acencio, had his leg amputated and is fighting for his life. (Courtesy)

 The alleged driver, Bryan Josue Alva-Rodriguez, a 25-year-old Guatemalan citizen, was arraigned while being treated for injuries in the hospital. He is facing charges for murder, vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence.

“Now an innocent life has been lost in a tragedy that could have been prevented,” the San Diego office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wrote on X.

Alva-Rodriguez illegally entered the United States on Feb. 8, 2018, and was arrested by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Calexico, Calif. He was issued a notice to appear before an immigration judge and released, ICE said.

SHERIFF SLAMS LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES FOR RELEASING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO ALLEGEDLY HIT OHIO NURSE

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An illegal migrant was charged with murder for his involvement in a fatal accident near San Diego, Calif. (Alvin Miller Abraham)

While in immigration proceedings, he was charged with two DUIs on Sept. 6, 2020, and April 7, 2021, according to the agency. On March 16, 2023, an immigration judge ordered him deported. However, Alva-Rodriguez failed to leave the U.S. as ordered, authorities said. 

The Cruz Acencio family was on their way home from a Thanksgiving visit when the suspect, who was allegedly intoxicated, allegedly hit their vehicle. The suspect allegedly crossed a double yellow line and crashed into the family’s car head-on. 

“We didn’t deserve it, and nobody does,” Jackie told Finn.

Her husband, Oscar, is still recovering not only from the leg amputation, but also a traumatic brain injury that he suffered during the crash. He is being treated at a Navy hospital in San Diego.

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Jackie recalled that she saw her daughter wasn’t breathing when the crash happened, describing that it looked like the little girl was sleeping.

“At that moment, I wasn’t thinking like, ‘oh, she’s dead.’ I just kind of didn’t think about it,” she said. Reality hit Jackie when she was told that her daughter did not survive the crash. She said that she is sad and angry and is still processing the loss.

Arya Cruz Acencio, 8, was killed in a car accident over Thanksgiving weekend involving an illegal immigrant DUI suspect. (Courtesy)

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLEGEDLY DRIVING DRUNK AT EXTREME SPEED KILLED WOMAN IN VIOLENT CRASH: DHS

The tragic accident comes amid a nationwide debate about the issuing of commercial drivers licenses (CDLs) to illegal immigrant truckers.

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The Department of Transportation has clashed with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in recent months, claiming that the state illegally issued non-domiciled CDLs. The department claimed that several migrants held CDLs that expired after the end of their work permits. California has until Jan. 5 to revoke illegally issued licenses.

An illegal migrant was charged with murder for his involvement in a fatal accident near San Diego, Calif., that killed an 8-year-old girl and injured multiple people.  (Alvin Miller Abraham)

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a post on X on Dec. 30 that the Jan. 5 deadline remained in place. He said that his department would act and possibly revoke nearly $160 million in federal funds if California misses the deadline.

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San Francisco, CA

Claims in lawsuit against Great Highway park dismissed by San Francisco judge

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Claims in lawsuit against Great Highway park dismissed by San Francisco judge


A San Francisco Superior Court judge dismissed claims in a lawsuit against Proposition K, the ballot measure that permanently cleared traffic from the Great Highway to make way for a two-mile park. 

One advocacy group, Friends of Sunset Dunes, said the legal action affirmed Proposition K’s legal standing and called the lawsuit against the park “wasteful.” 

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Proposition K passed with more than 54% of the vote in November 2024, but the debate didn’t end there. The Sunset District supervisor was recalled in the aftermath of that vote by residents in the district who argued their streets would be flooded by traffic and that the decision by voters citywide to close a major thoroughfare in their area was out of touch with the local community. 

What they’re saying:

Friends of Sunset Dunes hailed the judge’s decision in the lawsuit, Boschetto vs the City and County of San Francisco, as a victory. 

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“After two ballot measures, two lawsuits, three failed appeals, and dozens of hours of public meetings and untold administrative time and cost, this ruling affirms Proposition K’s legal foundation, and affirms the city’s authority to move forward in creating a permanent coastal park to serve future generations of San Franciscans,” the group said in a statement. 

The group added that their volunteers are working to bring the coastal park to life. Meanwhile, “anti-park zealots continue to waste more public resources in their attempt to overturn the will of the people and close Sunset Dunes.” 

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“Now that they’ve lost two lawsuits and two elections, we invite them to accept the will of San Franciscans and work with us to make the most of our collective coastal park,” said Lucas Lux, president of Friends of Sunset Dunes. 

The supervisor for the Sunset District, Alan Wong, doubled down on what he had stated earlier. In a statement on Monday, Wong said he is “prepared to support a ballot initiative to reopen the Great Highway and restore the original compromise.” The compromise he’s referring to is vehicles allowed to drive along the highway on weekdays and a closure to traffic on the weekends. 

Wong, in his statement, added that he’s talked to constituents in his district across the political spectrum and that his values align with the majority of district 4 residents and organizations. 

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When he was sworn in last month, Wong indicated he was open to revisiting the issue of reopening the Great Highway to traffic. He also said he voted against Proposition K, which cleared the way and made Sunset Dunes official. 

Engardio’s two-cents

Last September, Joel Engardio was recalled as the Sunset District supervisor in a special election. The primary reason for his ouster was his support of Sunset Dunes, the park which also saw the support of other prominent politicians, including former Mayor London Breed, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and State Senator Scott Wiener. 

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Engardio on Monday issued his own statement after the judge dismissed all claims in the lawsuit against Prop. K. 

“It’s time to consider Sunset Dunes settled. Too many people have seen how the park is good for the environment, local businesses, and the physical and mental health of every visitor,” Engardio said. “Future generations will see this as a silly controversy because the park’s benefits far outweigh the fears of traffic jams that never happened. The coast belongs to everyone and it won’t be long before a majority everywhere will embrace the wonderful and magical Sunset Dunes.” 

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