Slave descendants take a fight to protect their Georgia island homes to voters

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By RUSS BYNUM

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Voters in a coastal Georgia county will decide Tuesday whether large homes should be allowed on remote Sapelo Island, where Black landowners fear the change could saddle them with unaffordable property taxes in one of the South’s few remaining Gullah-Geechee communities founded by freed slaves.

The referendum organized by island residents seeks to override McIntosh County commissioners’ 2023 decision to double the size of homes allowed in the tiny Hogg Hummock community. Their vote weakened building limits that for decades helped keep property taxes low for one of America’s most culturally unique Black populations.

Tensions between Hogg Hummock’s Black landowners and county officials have been high for more than a decade, fueled by outsiders buying land in the community and building vacation homes. Island natives worry their taxes will balloon as wealthy buyers build larges homes, increasing property values. Commissioners have blamed the changing landscape on native owners who sold their land.

Black residents and their supporters brought the fight to voters after gathering more than 2,300 petition signatures and challenging commissioners before the Georgia Supreme Court to force a special election.

Regardless of the outcome, the vote wasn’t expected to settle the dispute.

“I strongly believe we’re going to win,” said Jazz Watts, a Hogg Hummock descendant and landowner who was among the organizers of the referendum push. “What happens next is still kind of a legal question based on what the county does.”

Island may see land values spike in new tax assessment

Commissioners have said that if voters repeal their zoning changes, they will consider Hogg Hummock to be without any limits on development rather than go back to building restrictions that protected the community for three decades.

That could lead to another court fight. Dana Braun, an attorney for the Hogg Hummock landowners, accused county officials of “pushing this ludicrous argument” in an effort to defeat the referendum.

Commissioners could also try to push through a new zoning law for Hogg Hummock.

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“I do believe there exists a willingness by the Board to consider a moratorium on zonings and building permits,” Commission Chairperson Kate Pontello Karwacki told The Associated Press in an email “However, the Board will have to collectively agree on next steps.”

Meanwhile, county assessors are weighing a proposal to recalculate the taxable value of Hogg Hummock properties for the first time since 2012. Their chief appraiser, Blair McLinn, predicts landowners could see painful increases, with values per half-acre possibly jumping from an average of $27,500 to $145,000.

McLinn said he plans to meet with island residents to hear their concerns. But given nearly 20 sales in recent years with half-acre lots fetching up to $210,000, he said, steep increases seem unavoidable.

“To leave it alone is not going to be an option, as far as revaluation goes,” McLinn said in a phone interview.

Recognized as a US treasure, island relies on local protection

Located about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Savannah, Sapelo Island remains largely unspoiled. The state of Georgia owns most of its 30 square miles (78 square kilometers), and there are no roads linking the island to the mainland.

Hogg Hummock, also known as Hog Hammock, sits on less than a square mile. About 30 to 50 Black residents still live in modest homes along dirt roads in the community.

Gullah-Geechee communities are scattered along the Southeast coast from North Carolina to Florida, where they have endured since the Civil War ended. Scholars say separation from the mainland caused these communities to retain much of their African heritage, including a unique dialect.

Hogg Hummock earned a place in 1996 on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of treasured U.S. historic sites. But for protections to preserve the community, residents depend on the local government in McIntosh County, where 65% of the 11,100 residents are white.

“People worked hard to get this land on Sapelo and they worked hard to preserve who they are,” said Maurice Bailey, an island native who runs a program aimed at boosting farming in the community. “Without this land, all of our descendants lose their connection.”

Dozens of the island’s Black landowners protested after being hit with sharp property tax increases in 2012, and county officials rolled back their tax bills. Island residents followed up with a lawsuit accusing McIntosh County of taxing them while providing minimal services. A 2022 settlement froze island property assessments through last year.

Island residents said they were blindsided in 2023 when commissioners moved swiftly to weaken a special zoning ordinance enacted three decades earlier to protect Hogg Hummock landowners from unaffordable tax increases.

Commissioners voted to increase the maximum size of homes in Hogg Hummock from 1,400 to 3,000 square feet (130 to 278 square meters). They said the changes would allow more living space for families and denied seeking to displace Black landowners.

Trump threats and Bukele model on crime back Latin American progressives into corner

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By MEGAN JANETSKY

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Latin American progressive leaders are increasingly being backed into a corner on organized crime by pressure from the Trump administration and from their own voters, who point to the results from El Salvador president’s war on gangs.

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The hunger for a more heavy-handed response to endemic problems has been mounting for years in Latin America. El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s punitive tactics launched against his country’s gangs in 2022, resulted in a sharp decline in homicides and soaring approval by Salvadorans.

Bukele not only touts the success at home, but has also looked to export his approach, winning fans among voters and conservative populists across the hemisphere, including U.S. President Donald Trump.

Over the past year, Trump has taken a more confrontational approach toward Latin America than any U.S. president in recent history. He’s declared a slew of Latin American criminal groups foreign terrorist organizations, deposed former Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro for trial on drug-trafficking charges, threatened military action on an array of countries and pointed to Bukele as an example of what he wants to see for the rest of the region.

That ratcheted up pressure on more progressive administrations in Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala that had pitched more holistic solutions to endemic problems, like rooting out corruption and offering youth economic opportunities.

Guatemala President Bernardo Arévalo was the latest to feel that pressure when suspected gang members killed 10 police officers in apparent retaliation for the government denying privileges to imprisoned gang leaders. On Sunday evening, he declared a state of emergency curtailing some constitutional rights.

“The mix of growing U.S. pressure and the rightward reference of Bukele that gives an answer to security issues has … forced governments to pragmatically balance their own principles with the growing requests for a crackdown,” said Tiziano Breda, a senior analyst for Latin America and the Caribbean for the conflict analysis group, ACLED.

Guatemala state of emergency may limit rights

Things came to a head in an eruption of violence in Guatemala over the weekend when inmates in prisons notoriously controlled by gangs rioted and took guards hostage. When authorities retook one prison, suspected gang members in the capital slayed 10 police officers.

Arévalo said the emergency would stay in place for 30 days to combat the gangs, which he described as “violent criminals who commit acts of terrorism.” The declaration can limit some constitutional rights like the freedoms of movement, gathering and protest, and was approved by Guatemala’s congress Monday night.

“We will spare no resources to punish, to pursue, to find those responsible for these crimes,” Arévalo said in a speech Monday at the funeral of the officers.

Arévalo’s move echoed actions taken by his neighbor Bukele in 2022. El Salvador’s state of emergency remains in place nearly four years later and more than 90,000 Salvadorans have been arrested under it, fueling accusations of human rights abuses. But the country recorded just 82 homicides in 2025, compared to 6,656 in 2015.

‘Projecting toughness’

Arévalo is just the latest leader in Latin America to take a page out of Bukele’s book, following in the footsteps of Ecuador, Honduras and Costa Rica, which just last week broke ground on a prison modeled after El Salvador’s infamous prison for alleged gang members.

But efforts to piggyback on Bukele’s political success have largely fallen flat even as the region experiences a rightward political shift. That is in part because many leaders are hesitant to go as far as Bukele, who has detained more than 1% of his country’s population and is regularly criticized for what civil society groups describe as authoritarian tendencies.

When Arévalo was elected in 2023, the son of a former progressive president said bolstering legal institutions, including legislative reforms and rooting out corruption, was a solution to endemic gang violence, straying from competitors who called for a more Bukele-esque approach.

The Guatemalan president also proposed boosting security and building a maximum security prison, but the state of emergency marks an escalation. Arévalo said in a Jan. 15 interview with the Associated Press that combating drug trafficking and organized crime is a shared interest with the U.S.

“A lot of it is political theater and taking strong measures, but from there to actually being effective and actually delivering is the challenge,” said Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue. “Projecting toughness is a political winner.”

Leaders face political pressure

Breda, the ACLED analyst, attributed the shift both to Trump’s pressure and upcoming judicial elections in Guatemala, a decisive moment for Arévalo’s anti-corruption agenda.

In Mexico, under mounting threats by Trump, President Claudia Sheinbaum has gone after cartels far more aggressively than her predecessor, who instead pushed a policy known as “hugs, not bullets,” which sought to address poverty and the lack of opportunities as “root causes” of violence instead of directly confronting cartels.

In Colombia, President Gustavo Petro is facing a similar dilemma.

Petro, an ex-rebel, became Colombia’s first leftist leader in 2022 on a promise that he would consolidate “total peace” and unravel decades of conflict in the Andean nation. Namely, he aimed to reach peace agreements with a range of illegal armed groups and provide opportunities to youth.

But as peace talks have stalled with guerrillas from the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, and other armed groups, Petro has failed to follow through on his bold agenda. Frustration toward Colombia’s left has simmered in much of the country in the months leading up to Colombia’s presidential elections.

At the same time, Trump has threatened military intervention in Colombia and accused Petro of being a drug trafficker, most recently days after a U.S. military operation in Venezuela that ousted Maduro. Trump had accused Maduro too of being a drug trafficker and now he awaits trial in U.S. federal court.

Under pressure from Trump and fed up Colombians, Petro has turned to the same entity he once sharply criticized: the Colombian military, said Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group.

Last week, in a forceful pivot from his hopeful campaign discourse, the leftist threatened a joint military action with Venezuela if the ELN did not enter a peace process with his government.

“It takes a very long time to mobilize action on these holistic ideas, and even longer for those holistic ideas to yield results,” Dickinson said. “What Bukele did, the reason it’s attractive across the region is that it appears to provide a fast and simple, straightforward solution to a very complex problem.”

Russia’s top diplomat says NATO faces a deep crisis over Greenland

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By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — The bid by U.S. President Donald Trump to take over Greenland heralds a “deep crisis” for NATO and raises questions about the alliance’s preservation as a single military-political bloc, Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday.

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“It was hard to imagine before that such a thing could happen,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference, noting it could create a scenario in which “one NATO member is going to attack another NATO member.”

He said Trump’s actions upended the Western concept of the “rule-based global order” that Russia has long criticized, even after Moscow sent troops into neighboring Ukraine nearly four years ago.

“Now it’s not the Collective West writing the rules but just one its representative,” Lavrov said sardonically. “It’s a major upheaval for Europe, and we are watching it. The Euro-Atlantic concept of ensuring security and cooperation has discredited itself.”

Denmark’s control over Greenland was a vestige of the colonial past, Lavrov claimed.

“In principle, Greenland isn’t a natural part of Denmark,” he added.

At the same time, Lavrov strongly denied Trump’s suggestions that Russia and China have any intentions to threaten the Arctic island.

“We have no relation to that,” he said. “We are certainly watching this serious geopolitical situation and will make our conclusions when it’s settled.”

Speaking at an annual news conference on Moscow’s foreign policy priorities, Lavrov also offered cautious approval of Trump’s initiative to set up a Board of Peace. The organization initially was seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza but is taking shape with ambitions to have a far broader mandate of other global crises, potentially rivaling the United Nations.

The Kremlin said that it was studying Trump’s invitation to join the board and waiting to hear more details from Washington.

“This initiative reflects the U.S. understanding that even with the foreign policy philosophy it has it considers necessary to rally a group of nations that would cooperate with them,” Lavrov said.

He praised Trump’s initiatives to negotiate an end to fighting in Ukraine, describing the U.S. as the only Western country that has “expressed understanding of the need to take Russian interests into account and offered solutions taking into consideration the root causes of the crisis.”

At the same time, Lavrov scolded Kyiv’s European allies for trying to amend the U.S. proposals as the Ukrainian army facing a relentless Russian onslaught.

The top Russian diplomat argued that while the initial Trump’s proposal that was accepted by President Vladimir Putin at their summit in Alaska envisioned protections for Russian speakers in Ukraine and Moscow-affiliated Ukrainian Orthodox Church, it was removed from the plan’s latest version proposed by Kyiv and its European allies.

Moscow wouldn’t accept such changes, he said.

“We won’t allow the luxury of once again letting the Kyiv regime to take a break and rearm,” Lavrov said.

He noted that while Moscow doesn’t rule out contacts with European leaders, “most likely, we won’t be able to agree with them on anything as they drove themselves too deeply into hating Russia.”

But Lavrov also criticized the U.S. for its capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and his transfer to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., calling it a “crude military intervention.” He said Moscow is still waiting for the U.S. to make good on a promise to release two Russian crewmembers from a Russia-flagged tanker seized by the U.S. earlier this month, and he also noted U.S. threats to Cuba and other Latin American nations.

Lavrov noted Washington’s refusal to accept Putin’s proposal to respect the limits on nuclear weapons set by the New START arms control treaty for another year after it expires next month.

Russia is ready to continue dialogue with the U.S. on the basis of mutual respect for national interests, Lavrov said. He said that during U.S.-Russian talks in Riyadh in February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized the need for cooperation where their interests allow it and prevent disagreements from growing into a confrontation.

“I responded that I fully share this philosophy and logic,” Lavrov said.

Super Bowl LX guide: What to do within 10 miles of Levi’s Stadium

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You’re arriving days early for the Super Bowl LX. Or maybe you’ve scheduled some vacation days after the big game to explore the area around Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Here’s our guide to what to do, see, eat and drink within 10 miles. Keep checking back for more suggestions.

SIGHTS, ATTRACTIONS, CULTURAL HERITAGE

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose marked its 100th anniversary as a tourist attraction in 2023. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Area News Group)

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Winchester Mystery House: For more than a century, San Jose’s most famous landmark and tourist attraction has been a Victorian mansion with a curious history. The 160 rooms are themselves an architectural marvel, but the mystery comes from the lore around owner Sarah Winchester, from her alleged obsession with the number 13, her interest in spiritualism and the notion that she kept building the house to quell the spirits of those killed by her family’s Winchester rifles. Millions of people have explored the house over the decades, including Harry Houdini in 1924.

Japantown: San Jose’s historic Japantown is one of only three such authentic neighborhoods in the United States. These vibrant blocks north of downtown seamlessly blend traditional and modern sights, shops and housing. The Japanese American Museum of San Jose is worth a visit for its coverage of the immigrant experience of the 1880s and the World War II internment era. Restaurants on Jackson Street and the surrounding area offer the full array of Japanese cuisine, along with Korean and Hawaiian fare. Need a suggestion? Anthony Bourdain ate hamachi sushi, katsu curry and tempura at Minato, the oldest J-town restaurant, when he visited.

Mexican heritage: As California was originally part of Mexico, the Santa Clara Valley’s Mexican roots run deep and the region has become a hotbed for culture, from lowrider cars to Chicano theater and Latino art galleries like downtown San Jose’s MACLA. As far as Mexican food, this valley is full of taquerias and burrito places, and everyone’s got their favorite. (Just ask.)  San Jose’s condiment claim to fame is Orange Sauce, developed by the La Victoria restaurant family and now copied by many other eateries. Not far from Levi’s Stadium is Puesto, with its fusion tacos. For an upscale experience, head to Copita Willow Glen for ceviche and succulent pork dishes or to Acopio for contemporary takes on duck and beef.

Little Saigon: Santa Clara County boasts the second-highest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam (behind only Orange County), but we’re tops when it comes to the sheer number of Vietnamese eateries. Although you can find great Vietnamese food in every city in the county, head to the Little Saigon district in San Jose for a high concentration of restaurant options. The two musts for foodies are banh mi and pho. For highly recommended sandwiches on crisp baguettes, head to a Duc Huong location. Want to slurp soup? Check out the Pho Ha Noi restaurants in San Jose, Cupertino and other Bay Area cities. Sweet, strong Vietnamese iced coffee is the drink to get.

Little Italy San Jose: Look for the gateway arch. You’ll find this ever-evolving historic district that pays tribute to the city’s original Italian immigrants of the 1880s with cultural events, a history museum and, of course, food. Restaurant options include the classic Paesano; Henry’s Hi-Life, located in a former boardinghouse; and the Littlest Little Italy, which comprises several eateries and a wine shop. The Little Italy speakeasy is located underneath the Cultural Center & Museum. Across the courtyard is the Poor House, a bistro and live-music venue.

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum: Opened in 1966 by the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, this museum contains the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts in Western North America. Inside its walls, visitors can imagine they’re taking part in an exhibition of a rock-cut tomb, examine mummies, see items that were part of everyday life in ancient Egypt or interact with an AI-driven robot version of the Egyptian god Thoth.

SILICON VALLEY SITES

Computer History Museum: We’ve all got smartphones and laptops, so delving into Silicon Valley’s history and creations isn’t just for geeks. The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, the world’s largest collection of computing artifacts, boasts such innovations as ENIAC, the electronic whiz; the speedy Cray-1 supercomputer; the portable but heavy Osborne; the legendary Apple I personal computer; and Enigma, the historically significant World War II machine used to encrypt Axis troop movements.

Details: 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View. Open Wednesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $21.50 with discounts for youth, seniors, military and educators.

The Tech Interactive: The mango-and-azure building in downtown San Jose signals that this hands-on learning center is more about the fun side of innovation. Inside you can explore an immersive AI environment, design and test a rollercoaster, examine the intricacies of the human body up-close at Body Worlds Decoded or be amazed by a movie on the huge IMAX dome theater.

Details: 201 S. Market St., San Jose. Admission: $38 adults, $25 for children, students and seniors. Check website, www.thetech.org, for seasonal hours.

BARS, BREWERIES, NIGHTLIFE

Joanna Ringhofer, of Santa Clara, and Drew Maxwell, of San Mateo, participate in a dance battle during trivia night at Barebottle Brewing Santa Clara in Santa Clara, Calif., on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)

Barebottle Brewing Co.: The Santa Clara taproom and kitchen of this popular brewery is a primo place to enjoy the game, with multiple TVs and 20 to 30 beers on tap. There are Detroit-style square pies and tater tots from Joyride Pizza. Plus, the taproom has its own collection of games from shuffle board to pinball to “Killer Queen” – an multiplayer arcade-strategy game so rare there are reportedly only four playable consoles in the Bay Area.Details: Open daily at 2520 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara; barebottle.com/santa-clara-taproom

Mocktails from the Fox Tale Fermentation Project in downtown San Jose. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)

Fox Tale Fermentation Project: You’re guaranteed a wild time, tasting-wise, at Fox Tale. Founded by a longtime brewer and a holistic-nutritionist chef, the beers are spiked with mountain juniper, or candy-cap mushrooms, or umeboshi salt brine. There is in-house brewed kombucha on tap and fascinating mocktails mixed with esoteric herbs and syrups. And if you come hungry, take advantage of the kitchen’s offerings of healthy-but-hearty dishes, like kimchi pasta with lobster mushrooms and a tasting platter of fermented delicacies.Details: Open Wednesday-Sunday at 30 East Santa Clara St., Suite 120, San Jose; foxtalefermentationproject.com

Bartender Alfredo Velazquez mixes up a drink called East Meets West at the Nokori Japanese Whisky Bar inside the Tetra Hotel in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024. The East Meets West has Legent bourbon with matcha honey, lemon, mint, and ginger ale. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Nokori: For an upscale drinking experience, head to Sunnyvale’s Japanese whisky bar, housed on the ground floor of the elegant TETRA Hotel. You’ll find a carefully curated selection of whisky varieties and cocktails on offer, including highballs made from a carbonated-to-order soda fountain, plus bites like a grilled lobster sando, chicken karaage and torched Hokkaido scallops.

Details: Open 4 p.m.-12 a.m. daily at 400 W Java Dr, Sunnyvale; tetrahotelsv.com/dining/nokori.

BREAKFAST, BRUNCH AND COFFEE

A basket of bagels in the retail kitchen area of the new Boichik Bagels production facility on Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Berkley, Calif. The 18,000 square foot plant will produce dough, bagels and pastries. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

Boichik Bagels: For any New Yorkers making the trek out to California for the big game — don’t fret. We have great bagels here, too. Make a morning beeline for the nearest Boichik Bagels location, which comes NYT-recommended. Savor each chewy bite, slathered with whipped cream cheese. With advance notice, the shop will even make you a custom bagel shaped like a letter, number, or perhaps something more elaborate.

Details: Open 7:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. daily at 2050 Wyatt Drive, Santa Clara; boichikbagels.com.

At Stan’s Donut Shop in Santa Clara, Calif., 49ers doughnuts are a specialty, photographed on Tuesday, July 29, 2014. The doughnut shop is family owned and has been in business since 1959. (Gary Reyes/Bay Area News Group)

Stan’s Donuts: For one of the sweetest bites of a more nostalgic, old-school Santa Clara, Stan’s is your spot. This cash-only local favorite has been serving pillow-soft doughnuts to South Bay residents since Y.A.Tittle was the 49ers quarterback. You can’t go wrong with their warm, fresh-glazed doughnuts ($1.50), but their flavor-of-the-day buttermilk doughnut ($2) is a great choice too. Or opt for one of their specialty 49er doughnuts.

Details: Open 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily at 2628 Homestead Road, Santa Clara; stansdonutshop.com.

Valley Goat: Head to Sunnyvale’s Valley Goat, the star restaurant tenant in the new Treehouse Hotel Silicon Valley, for a weekend brunch to remember. Think passion fruit mimosas, paired with a vibrant Yucatan pork belly and tomato plate, a quinoa and tuna poke salad or spiced apple pancakes, all from the mind of Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard.

Details: Open 11 a.m.-2 p.m. weekends for brunch, the same time weekdays for lunch, 2-4 p.m. daily for bar and bites service, and 4-10 p.m. daily for dinner at 1100 N Mathilda Ave, Sunnyvale; valleygoatsv.com.

1 Oz Coffee: For an array of top-tier espresso drinks, look no further than 1 Oz Coffee, which has two Santa Clara locations. There, you’ll find an extensive menu of year-round offerings alongside craft seasonal menu items, including the peppermint-snap latte, oat cookie cappuccino and snowcap hojicha latte, plus pastries from Neighbor Bakehouse.

Details: Open 7 a.m.-4 p.m. daily at 3051 Tasman Drive, and 7 a.m.-5 p.m. daily at 549 Benton St., Santa Clara; 1ozcoffee.com.

MUSEUMS AND MORE

Triton Museum of Art: Just past its 60th anniversary, Triton holds an impressive range of art inside its walls – including the city of Santa Clara’s art collection – and offers a fresh-air experience in its pleasantly landscaped garden. The founder of Triton was a local rancher who took a big interest in raising horses, so expect lots of horsey-inspired art. There are also four new exhibits that opened in January, ranging from eerie paintings of suburbia to something intriguing called “polyphonic images.”Details: Open 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 1505 Warburton Ave., Santa Clara; free admission, tritonmuseum.org

San Jose Museum of Art: Head to this art museum to take in contemporary works of painting, sculpture, film and new media. Current exhibitions include the photography of Pao Houa Her, handcrafted items by ektor garcia, mud sculptures from nearby locations and more. The museum is also a great starting point to enjoy San Jose’s First Fridays event series (the next is Feb. 6),  during which the museum is free and open late. A number of the city’s museums and galleries open their doors during this festive, monthly event.

Details: Open 4-9 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. weekends at 110 S Market St, San Jose; sjmusart.org.

Harry Edwards, a former SJSU sociology professor, speaks at San Jose State University as the school announces the return of the track and field program Monday morning, Aug. 1, 2016. The announcement was made next to the 24-foot-tall statutes of Spartan star runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who were both in attendance. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

San Jose State University: The West Coast’s oldest public university (1857), San Jose State has been known over the years as a top college for teachers and as the university that supplies more engineers to Silicon Valley than any other. In the 1960s, it was dubbed Speed City for its revered track-and-field program. With the Olympics getting under way the same weekend as the Super Bowl, consider a stop on campus to view “Victory Salute.” The statue depicts the civil rights salute of SJSU graduates and Olympic athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

OUTDOOR, INDOOR ACTIVITIES

People play trivia and indoor mini-golf at Tipsy Putt in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)

Tipsy Putt: Combine indoor mini-golf with cocktails and elevated pub fare for a fun night out with the crew at this Sunnyvale destination. From $18 per person. Note: The location becomes 21-and-up after 5 p.m.

Details: Open 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11 a.m.-1:30 a.m. Friday-Saturday at 301 W McKinley Ave., Suite 150, Sunnyvale; tipsyputt.com.

People watch kayakers at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View in June 4. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)

Shoreline Lake: Head to Mountain View’s Shoreline Lake Park, where you can rent bicycles to take out on the Bay Trail, or a kayak, sailboat or canoe to play at Shoreline Lake. You can also use the park as a starting point for a strolling or birdwatching excursion.

Details: Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily at 3160 N Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View; shorelinelake.com.

MILPITAS, CALIFORNIA – MAY 17: Ducks sleep at the edge of the water at Sandy Wool Lake at Ed R. Levin County Park in Milpitas, Calif., on Monday, May 17, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

Ed R. Levin County Park: Looking to get some fresh air in the green hills — with fido? Ed R. Levin County Park has 19 miles of trails, an off-leash dog park, a golf course and spaces for picnicking and fishing.

Details: Open daily 8 a.m.-sunset, 3100 Calaveras Road, Milpitas. $6 vehicle entry fee. parks.santaclaracounty.gov

MORE RESTAURANTS TO CHECK OUT

Santa Clara’s Koreatown: Over the years, a suburban Koreatown has sprung up not far from Levi’s Stadium. Head to El Camino Real for kalbi, bibimbap, noodles and more. Find a full guide to the Santa Clara Korean Food trail on the Discover Santa Clara website. Bonus: If you’re craving late-night eats, some of these restaurants are open well past midnight.

Teske’s Germania: This old-style Bavarian beer hall can accommodate all fans of Germanic cuisine with jäger schnitzel, wild-boar sausages and a baked pork shank that looks like something a caveman would thomp a dinosaur with. Lighter fare includes baked salmon with lemon-caper sauce and warm pretzels with soft Bavarian cheese. Wash it down with a cold stein of imported beer.Details: Open Tuesday-Saturday at 255 N. First St., San Jose; teskes-germania.com