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The trial for Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar’s suspected killer is scheduled to start in a San Jose courtroom May 23, but prosecutors expect the proceeding to be delayed.Defense for Antolin Garcia Torres, 24 of Morgan Hill, may not be available because they are scheduled to be in trial on other unrelated cases, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney David Boyd said. If the defense attorneys are present and able to proceed, Boyd said he is prepared to move forward with the capital murder trial.Garcia Torres has been in custody since sheriff’s deputies arrested him May 2012 on suspicion of abducting and murdering Sierra, 15, who was a Sobrato High School sophomore at the time of her disappearance. She was last seen March 16, 2012, when police say she disappeared while walking to her school bus stop in north Morgan Hill.If convicted of the murder charge, Garcia Torres faces the death penalty.Earlier this month, Garcia Torres was granted his request for a closed hearing, in which he told the judge he wanted new attorneys. He is currently represented by Al Lopez and Brian Matthews from the Santa Clara County Alternate Defender’s Office, according to court documents.However, Garcia Torres withdrew his request “without prejudice,” according to a May 13 order. It does not give a reason why he changed his mind.The hearing was closed to the public, prosecutors and all parties except the defendant and his attorneys, but other media outlets reported that Garcia Torres was upset with the slow pace of the court proceedings and wanted an attorney who could go to trial sooner.Despite hundreds of search parties since her disappearance, Sierra’s remains have not been found.In the days following her disappearance, police found some of her clothing and her backpack located off the side of the roadway near the neighborhood where she lived. The DA’s case hinges largely on DNA evidence—found on Sierra’s belongings and in the suspect’s vehicle—linking Garcia Torres to Sierra, according to authorities.The May 23 hearing will take place at the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice in San Jose.

Free compost

The South Bay is abundant with an astonishing variety of avian life. The captivating hobby of birdwatching allows you to discover and appreciate the marvelous diversity of wildlife all around us. At the water’s edge you may see a majestic Great Blue Heron or a reclusive American Bittern; you will learn how to tell the difference between Great and Snowy Egrets; you might be surprised by a crested blue-and-white Belted Kingfisher suddenly diving into the water and emerging with a fish.

Getting a good night’s sleep is one of the cornerstones to living a healthy lifestyle, but it’s a message that sometimes falls on deaf ears. Don’t be one of those people who brags about being able to accomplish a lot despite being sleep-deprived—you’ll pay for it in the long run.The reality is a lack of sleep is counterproductive. Research has clearly shown that adequate sleep—seven to eight hours a night for most people—helps us to stay sharp, perform mental tasks more effectively and commit information to memory, according to a recent post in the USNews.com health section.Sleep also improves mood and quality of life. If you need any more convincing to prioritize sleep—and why would you?—here are four more reasons to put sleep at the top of your list. Sleep keeps appetite hormones in checkYour body has hunger hormones—ghrelin and leptin—and they’re thrown out of whack when sleep is cut short. Leptin, which is produced by fat cells, decreases your appetite. Ghrelin is a hormone that increases appetite. A lack of shut-eye means an increase in ghrelin levels, or appetite, and a decrease in leptin.Studies have also shown that people tend to choose foods higher in calories and fats, or comfort foods, after getting minimal rest. Health experts have said there is clearly a link between obesity and a lack of sleep. According to the Mayo Clinic, more than 35 percent of adults are obese and about 30 percent get less than six hours of sleep a night (which is considered a “partial sleep deprivation”).Sleep fights off coldsA 2015 study published in the journal Sleep revealed that people who regularly sleep six hours or less each day were four times more likely to get a cold than people who slept just an hour longer. The research revealed that inadequate sleep was the most important factor in predicting who would get sick after being exposed to the cold virus.“Sleep is part of our own nature’s defense against illness,” M. Safwan Badr said in a September 2015 NBCNews.com health article. Badr is a doctor and former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and chief of the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.Growing while you sleepAthletes and hard-core workout aficionados might want to take notice of this one. If you want to get stronger and faster, you better not skimp on sleep. That’s because your muscles only grow while you’re in deep slumber. That’s right, the best exercise routine and nutritional plan won’t do you a lick of good unless you’re supplementing that with a great night’s rest.If you’re in the gym hoisting some serious iron, you’re actually creating tears in the muscle fiber. For the muscle fiber to grow and get bigger, they must be repaired, and that only happens during sleep. An endurance athlete who completes a tough interval workout will only reap benefits from the exercise session if they get some serious shut-eye.Why? Endurance training stimulates physiological adaptations, but in order to make the most of these adaptations, proper rest is required.Brains need restSleep not only helps you physically, but mentally as well. As we sleep, the brain recharges. Taxing workouts take a toll on us mentally.A rested brain means a more motivated and focused brain. Without proper rest, it’s going to make it that much tougher to meet your exercise goals. If you’re not making sleep a high priority, start now. Cut down on caffeine, which disrupts sleep quality and quantity. Establish a bedtime routine, and make sure to turn off all electronic devices at least 15 minutes before bedtime. Studies have shown that the light coming from the screen of your smartphone or laptop may stop the body from producing melatonin, a hormone essential to restful sleep.

As humankind has expanded its reach, wildlife and the natural world have retreated. Only recently have we realized our power to exhaust the resources of a world we once thought limitless. What we had previously struggled to conquer, now needs to be saved.

“This year we focused on the east hills of Gilroy. I think it’s not a very well-known part of town,” says Kelly Barbazette, member of Gilroy Assistance League (GALs), a nonprofit organization with 35 active members. This is Kelly’s fifth year working with GALs for their annual “Impressions” Home and Garden Tour.GALs raises money and awards grants each April to youth groups that apply. “A lot of these little groups couldn’t make it unless they get grants from different organizations,” says member Sherri Kennedy. “With this house tour, it’s supplemented the funds that we can bring in tremendously. So, it’s been fantastic. The members give up their time to get everything organized and we let the homeowners know a year in advance, so they can get  ready and prepare and do their thing.”The annual Home and Garden Tour is GALs largest fundraiser. Last month GALs grants totalling $21,000 were awarded to 13 organizations benefiting local youth.“GALs has actually transformed,” says Kennedy. “It used to be groups sponsoring the Children's Home Society, it was adoption services and everything. Then, years ago there were members of the group that said ‘look we’re not doing this much anymore, so let’s turn it just toward Gilroy and Gilroy youth’ and so all of that happened about the late ’80s and then I’ve been a member since early ’90s.”Three homes were shown in this year’s tour. One was the home of Dolores DeFrancesco. Built by Dolores and her late husband Al, the DeFrancesco’s 7,200-square-foot Mediterranean style home offers panoramic views atop 120 acres in East Gilroy. The home shows beautifully with granite and oak inlaid floors in the foyer, a substantial kitchen, limited edition hand-painted wash basins and toilets by Kohler and a whimsical rooster collection. The home also includes a 1,200-square-foot party room that Vicki Card says is “used for family, entertaining friends, she has a bible study group. She plays bridge—you’ll see her chairs are all covered with cards. Which is really cute.”“We've had many celebrations here,” says Mia Eaton, Delores DeFrancesco’s daughter and GALs volunteer. “We’ve had bridal showers, birthday parties. We love cooking and eating and feeding people.”Asked how long it took the DeFrancescos to build, Eaton says “we built it from the ground up. [Dolores] did all the floor plans and all the finishes, she didn’t have an interior designer, she did it.”The DeFrancesco home also features oak and cherry fixtures throughout and includes wood-wrapped beveled windows by Kolbe, which are especially flattering to the outside views, making each window appear like a painting.One might expect nothing less in the home of an artist, whose in-home studio is on the second floor. The 74-year-old Dolores DeFrancesco is an avid painter and much of her own art is featured throughout the home. On the property, she personally tends to a small vineyard and vegetable garden.Taking the tour through the home, Barbazette, the GALs member responsible for this year’s home descriptions, says that no home is featured twice. “What’s really unique about this tour is that all of the homes are really different, and what’s different this year is that we are ending at a winery. That’s where we have our home and garden boutique with all local artists.”The home of Dr. John and Rachel Perez was also featured in this year’s tour. Influenced by Southwest and Mediterranean architectural styles, this three-level home of 7,000 square feet is set on a stunning 10.5-acre property overlooking the South Valley. Decorated with works of Native American communities of the Hopi and Navajo as well as Mexican artisans, the Perez home shows like a museum with eye-catching, well-organized collections throughout. Each collection is as unique and colorful as the indigenous people it represents.Descending to the first floor of the home, one passes a grouping of Mexican mask folk art. Each mask is collected from a different state in Mexico. Their style and detail reflect the region the mask came from. For instance, masks from northwest Mexico tend toward primitive, plain designs, compared to the more colorful and detailed masks from central or southern parts of Mexico. Each mask is unique and signifies the ancient spiritual beliefs and traditions from where it came. Masks are traditionally used for religious ceremony and ritual dances. When worn, dancers are spiritually and psychologically transformed into deities or supernatural forces.“I think it's just lovely to see people’s homes and how they really just put their hearts into them. You could just see so much effort and thought. You could just imagine sitting out on the patios having your morning coffee,” says first-time home tour guest and Gilroy resident Jen Hagen.The Perezes put their own sweat into the home, says home tour volunteer Mia DeLorenzo “She stained all of the doors herself, and these beams here—she went ahead and routed them and the doctor installed them.”The Perezes continue to add new features, including a first-floor sauna now under construction, not far from their theater room, where the cornerstone of the property was first laid.“Everything is very personal and meaningful,” DeLorenzo adds, pointing to the collection of Mexican blue pottery and several lithographs of plains Indians trading with fur trappers. “The things mean so much to her and show their ethnic backgrounds, it just blows me away. She’s a very talented woman.”The pottery, El Palomar Blue Bird Butterfly, in the Perez collection is by El Palomar in Tonala, Jalisco. The Perezes visited the factory and purchased the set on a trip to Mexico in 1980. It’s the same pattern, but in green, that was gifted to President and Lady Bird Johnson by Mexico’s president in the 1960s.The tour has a team for each homesite, made up of current GALs members and honorary members—usually former GALs volunteers who return to help during the home tour.Tiffany Oetinger, chair for this year’s home tour has been with GALs for about five years. She explains how the teams come together. “We typically start actually crunching down and dialing in all of the details of it about January. As far as getting all of your team in place and your home captains and your logistics and your co-chair, that all starts at the end of this tour,” she says. “My co-chair, who's Margaret Demers, will be chair next year, so she's probably already reaching out to homeowners.”Each year, GALs fundraisers, including the Home and Garden Tour, help meet the needs of underserved youth in our community. This year’s tour concluded with a home and garden boutique at Miramar Vineyards, where attendees were invited to sample the vineyard’s wines, taste recipes from GALs cookbook and check out handmade art, jewelry and food items sold by local artisans and specialty food makers.“What’s good about this event is it’s not just a girl thing, it’s not just a guy thing,” Kennedy says. “This is to get men and women, young people, to come through and you can just see it, people love to go inside other people’s homes.”

Kaitlyn Lyle has a very simple goal when she goes to big competitions: Have fun.

Live Oak has plenty to keep its head up about despite losing 3-1 to Stevenson on Wednesday.

Any California residents interested in voting in the June 7 presidential primary election must be registered to vote by May 23, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.Those registering for the first time or who want to update their registration information can visit registertovote.ca.gov.The June 7 election, which includes the Democratic and Republican primaries, has the local ballot for a seat on the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees. Thomas Arnett, an education researcher, and Pamela Torrisi, a retired paraeducator, are the two candidates running for that education seat.The winner will fill the seat vacated by former trustee Amy Porter-Jensen, who resigned from the board in 2015 before her term was up. The term of that office will expire at the end of 2016, and another election for the same seat’s next four-year term is scheduled for Nov. 8, 2016.For local election information, visit the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office website at sccvote.org.Voters who registered with a political party may only vote for a presidential candidate running in that party’s primary election.Voters, regardless of their political party preference, can vote for any candidate running in their district for the following races: U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, and State Assembly.Info for voters registered with No Party PreferenceVoters with no party preference who vote at the polls can request a Democratic Party, American Independent Party or Libertarian Party ballot on Election Day from a poll worker, according to election officials.Voters who did not return this postcard will receive a nonpartisan ballot without presidential candidates.Voters registered with no party preference who want to vote in the June 7 presidential primary for a Republican Party, Green Party or Peace and Freedom Party presidential candidate must re-register to vote with one of those respective parties by May 23, 2016.