DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a friend who asks me from time to time to go shopping with her. Neither of us has a car, so we use public transit, and always eat out where we shop.

The trouble is, she finds a problem with everything — from the driver of the bus to whatever she has ordered at the restaurant. At a restaurant, for example, she will order more biscuits or a to-go drink after the bill has been presented.

She is very loud and repetitive about making her case known. She will keep repeating herself over the person in charge, confusing them and blaming them.

I have told her that her complaints would be more effective if she did not scream repeatedly at the staff, and also that it is wrong to order food after the bill arrives. But she says they expect this, as she has waitress experience — which amounts to about six months over the course of her 58 years.

Other than this behavior, I love her conversation and company. Any ideas on how to deal with her?

GENTLE READER: Well, not by shopping or eating out, as Miss Manners trusts that you have learned.

Why don’t the two of you go fishing together? Or hiking in the mountains? Or skydiving? Then you could enjoy each other’s conversation without causing collateral damage.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: In social settings, is it OK to finish a conversation and walk away when doing so leaves the other person awkwardly alone?

I was chatting with someone I did not know at a party. After about 20 minutes of pleasant conversation, I used a pause to say I was going to refresh my drink and asked if the man would like one himself. He said no, and I walked away and joined friends in another room. He was left sitting alone, and I felt a bit guilty.

I know I’m not obligated to sit with him until someone else joins us, which may not happen, but is there a better way to leave?

GENTLE READER: The only people who never have such awkward moments — being stuck talking to the same person or being left adrift — are people who refuse to attend these types of parties. And Miss Manners cannot say that she blames them.

Had another guest been on the loose in the vicinity, it would have been graceful for you to nab a substitute as you left. But such is not always the case, and your excuse, which implied that the gentleman could have accompanied you to the bar, or that you would have been willing to come back to him with a drink had he wanted one, was polite.

Such parties are hazardous, and the hosts should be on the lookout to draw people together. But there is only so much guests can do to rescue one another.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

DEAR ABBY: My girlfriend, “Dyanne,” and I recently had a baby conceived not long after we started dating.

While I love my child with all my heart, Dyanne is constantly dropping hints that she wants an engagement ring or a “promise ring.”

I understand why because she has explained her reasons. But she’s pressuring me to provide something I believe should come when I feel comfortable doing it.

While some would say I don’t act like it, I’m traditional in some ways for a millennial. I believe that when I give someone a ring, it should be because I plan to marry her. I don’t consider marriage the way most do and think I can just get divorced and it’s no big deal.

Am I wrong to stall until I feel ready to actually propose and not just say, “Sure. One day we will, and here’s a ring in the meantime”?

UNENGAGED IN CALIFORNIA

DEAR UNENGAGED: Nowhere in your letter did you mention that you love Dyanne. You should not give her a ring and keep her in a holding pattern if you aren’t sure you want to follow through with the commitment.

Be honest. Tell her you care about her and love your child and intend to responsibly co-parent with her, but you are not ready for marriage and don’t know when you will be. That’s the truth.

DEAR ABBY: I’m a volunteer tour guide for several historic sites. One of them is a cemetery. My fellow guides and I are concerned — not to mention saddened — when we see children running around unsupervised, and standing on and climbing on the gravestones. Cemeteries are sacred places in which the dead should be remembered and honored.

When parents or caretakers allow children to use the cemetery as a play area, they fail to teach them respect for the dead or for the survivors who are visiting the graves of their loved ones.

They also place their children in danger. Gravestones can fall or tip over. Children have been killed or seriously injured by toppling stones. Flat grave markers can be tripping hazards. When we caution parents about these dangers, we are often met with indifference.

Please urge your readers to take our concern for their children’s safety seriously and control their children’s activities in cemeteries.

CONCERNED TOUR GUIDE

DEAR CONCERNED: I’m pleased to pass along your message because it is an important one.

Cemetery etiquette is simple: Treat the graves as you would the graves of your own cherished loved ones, or as you would like your own to be treated. This includes no loud chatter, and because there are people in mourning there, not walking on the graves, not leaving chewing gum on the gravestones, keeping pets leashed — if they are brought there at all — and teaching children the difference between a cemetery and a playground.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Dear Critter Corner: We have been having a hard time with our puppy stealing items in the home and not wanting to give them back. Lately it has turned into the whole family having to hunt the puppy down to retrieve the stolen item. Can you help us?

Oh the fun game of ‘Catch Me if You Can!’. This is an all-time favorite of most all puppies and dogs. It starts out innocently enough and before you know it your pup is stealing anything just to get the game to happen. Here are some tips to turn the tables on your thieving pup.

One of the first things I recommend is to pick your battles. This means that if he has stolen a sock, you let him have it and don’t chase him, after all it is just a sock. I would then maybe go and get one of his toys and make it exciting. Curiosity will get the best of him and he will want to see what you have and leave the sock or after he realizes that you are not going to chase him, he drops the sock on his own.

Teaching a ‘Drop’ or ‘Trade’ cue is another great option. Here you will start by giving him a ‘legal’ item and telling him to ‘take it’. You will then ask for the ‘drop it’ and present a high value treat and wait for him to let go of the item and take the treat. Repeat several times until you are getting a quick response then try with something a little harder or one of the ‘illegal’ items.

The last piece is of course to manage the environment. This means you may need to enclose him in smaller areas so he doesn’t get to roam the house unsupervised. You may also want to ‘puppy proof’ the house a little more so that there are less items for him to steal until he is a little more trust worthy and realizes that the game has changed.

Over time with the above suggestions, you should start to see a change in your pup. If you are still having problems, please reach out to our behavior department to schedule a 1:1 consultation at training@phs-spca.org or 650-340-7022 ext. 667.

Tasha Suda is the Lead Dog Trainer for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA Behavior Department. For more information, please visit www.phs-spca.org, call 650-340-7022 or email tsuda@phs-spca.org.

For years, a group of local conservationists has tried to acquire a “missing mile” of land at Mount Diablo’s north peak surrounded by vast swaths of open space it had already protected against future development.

Now the group, Save Mount Diablo, has secured that critical square-mile piece by forging a $1 million conservation easement agreement with a local equestrian society that was considering selling some of the property for construction of single-family homes.

The coveted 154-acre property — along with the creeks and species such as the Golden eagles that treat it as habitat — now will forever be unfettered, though the Concord Mt. Diablo Trail Ride Association still plans to allow horse riding there.

“Before the campaign, this was just a pipe dream,” said Ted Clement, the group’s executive director. “We hoped we could raise the money and that we could get to the finish line. Well, we just got there.”

In the mid-2000s, Save Mount Diablo members had noticed large homes and buildings sprouting up nearby and worried that more would follow. So it decided something must be done to prevent structures from further sullying the scenery.

With a $1 million conservation easement, the land is now legally guaranteed to remain open space, though it remains under the ownership of the Trail Ride Association. Save Mount Diablo will oversee its conservation easement with annual monitoring.

“This agreement affords us the security of knowing that a beautiful piece of the mountain will be forever protected from urban development without sacrificing land ownership. The heritage of horses on Mt. Diablo can continue indefinitely,” said Elaine Baker, president of the Trail Ride Association’s board.

The property is adjacent to Save Mount Diablo’s Young Canyon property and North Peak Ranch project and is surrounded by Mount Diablo State Park on three sides.

It rises from 1,100 feet to 2,010 feet with views of the Carquinez Strait and Suisun Bay to Lassen Peak and the Sierra Nevada Range, according to Save Mount Diablo.

The sloped property can also be seen from Marsh Creek Road in Clayton.

Save Mount Diablo and the Trail Ride Association discussed during negotiations how the land could remain free without taking away the association’s ability to manage equestrian trails for its members.

The association, which owns 200 acres around Mount Diablo, will keep some buildings on the site, including horse-riding facilities and a clubhouse. A couple of decades ago, the organization had begun leasing some of the land for private residences to raise needed revenue. Now it won’t have to.

“Riding on the trails is extremely peaceful,” said Chris Barnhart, the group’s treasurer. “I just love the quiet and the beauty of the mountain. It’s a phenomenal place.”

Save Mount Diablo’s fundraising campaign, Forever Wild, finished last year after reaching its $15 million goal with most of the donations coming from private contributors, Clement said.

The campaign helped the group secure and preserve several other nearby properties, including the 105-acre Highland Springs, the 95-acre Anderson Ranch and the 87-acre North Peak Ranch.

Save Mount Diablo’s largest acquisition to date was the Curry Canyon Ranch, a sprawling 1,080-acre valley the organization purchased for $7 million in 2015.

SAN JOSE – Timo Meier set multiple team records with his five-goal outburst Monday afternoon in the Sharks’ 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at SAP Center.

Meier became the first Sharks player to score five goals in a single game and his hat-trick in the first period, which came in 19:09, were the fastest three goals for any one player in Sharks history.

Meier’s first four goals came in 18:22 of actual game time, setting another Sharks individual record. The former record of four goals in 22:46 was set by Tomas Hertl on Oct. 8, 2013 against the New York Rangers in what was his third NHL game.

“That’s now a long time ago,” Hertl said Monday. “Today was Timo’s night.”

Here’s what else the Sharks were saying about Meier’s record-setting game.

BOB BOUGHNER

“The first period he had and coming back and getting another two in the second, it was nice to see. We’ve talked about the season he’s had, being voted as our all-star, which was much deserved. We talked about all his work away from the puck. With one of these games today, I believe if you put in enough good, hard work, it pays you back a little bit. Timo got paid back and our team, I think, got paid back a little bit.”

“He’s naturally gifted. He’s bigger, stronger, faster than most guys in the league. I don’t want to take credit other than just trying to make him a 200-foot player. Timo deserves all the credit. He’s put in a lot of hard work and he’s got to commit to that and he did.”

TOMAS HERTL

“I think he worked really hard on his game. The games before he was always up and down. He was skating and on the puck one night and otherwise, he was nowhere. This year, he’s just come and he’s there for us every night, and that’s what the best players in the NHL do. If you want to be the best and help the team win, you have to be there most nights, you can’t be one night off and one night on. This year he is there most nights and he’s helping us win a lot of games for us.”

ERIK KARLSSON

“It’s always nice to see guys have these accomplishments like that. It raises the spirit of the whole team. I think it was a big game for us.”

“He’s a big boy and he skates well and I think that he’s starting to use that to his advantage a little bit more, and it’s hard to do that. He’s starting to realize that he can put a lot of guys on his back and create a lot of things for himself with his size and his speed, and the puck keeps going in.”

“He finds open areas out there and he’s been doing that on a consistent level this year, which I think has come with the experience that he’s had and the things that he’s gone through. I think we all knew that he had great potential, but this year he’s definitely matured into a way where he thinks that on a nightly basis and even though it doesn’t always work out on the scoresheet, he still keeps going. If you keep doing that, you’re going to have games like this.”

TIMO MEIER

Did you want six? “I always want to score goals. Yeah, you don’t really think too much about that. The main focus is to win the game. Obviously, after the game, you realize that stuff. I know Mike Ricci had five goals (with Quebec). He told me that. But I think overall, a great team effort. My linemates made some really nice passes on the power play, too.”

On the game’s flow: “Especially in the first two periods, we didn’t really create much in the offensive zone and we were spending most of the time defending, to be honest, but our chances were going in. In past games when we were creating a lot of chances, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. So today, it was kind of a little bit the opposite. It’s nice to see them go in.”

To hear the crowd chant his name: “It’s special. It’s almost, you can’t describe it. Yeah, very special, goosebump feeling. Our fans have been great. So it’s just really, really cool.”

Confidence right now: “When you feel like things are going your way in the game, then you definitely feel more comfortable with the puck and maybe try a shot from the spot where you wouldn’t shoot in another game. But yeah, just a really nice play by Hertl there, a sauce over on that last goal, and like I said, some really nice setups by our guys.

Did you ever think a game like this was possible? “No.”

By Jill Lawless | Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — As he fights for his career, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has one constant refrain: Wait for Sue Gray.

Gray is a senior but previously obscure civil servant who may hold Johnson’s political future in her hands. She has the job of investigating allegations that the prime minister and his staff attended lockdown-flouting parties on government property.

The prime minister last week made a contrite, carefully worded apology in Parliament, but stopped short of admitting rule-breaking and urged everyone to wait for Gray’s verdict.

But Alex Thomas, a program director at think-tank the Institute for Government, said those expecting the report to “either clear the prime minister or damn him” would likely be disappointed.

“This is a huge political and wider public issue,” he said. “The Gray report is an important part of finding out what happened. But in the end this is a judgment for Conservative Cabinet ministers and MPs about whether they want Boris Johnson to lead their party and therefore lead the country.”

Gray is investigating close to a dozen alleged gatherings held between May 2020 and April 2021, most in the prime minister’s Downing Street office-cum-residence. One party took place when people in Britain were banned from socializing or visiting sick relatives in hospitals. Another came on the eve of Prince Philip’s socially distanced funeral, at which widowed Queen Elizabeth II was forced to sit alone in church.

Johnson has acknowledged attending one event, a May 2020 garden party, but says he considered it a work event. But his former top aide Dominic Cummings, who is now a fierce critic of Johnson, said Monday that the prime minister had been warned the party broke the rules, and lied to Parliament by denying it.

Gray has access to “all relevant records” and power to interview officials, including Johnson, in her attempt to uncover the facts. The prime minister’s office would not confirm whether Johnson has been quizzed by Gray, though Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said Johnson had “submitted himself” to investigation.

Gray can establish “whether individual disciplinary action is warranted” against officials, and London’s Metropolitan Police force says it could open an investigation if she finds evidence of law-breaking.

Crucially, though, Gray has limited room to censure Johnson. Usually, civil service inquiries make recommendations to the prime minister. Here it’s the prime minister who is being investigated, making Johnson the arbiter of his own punishment.

The inquiry is an unusually high-profile assignment for a woman used to exerting power behind the scenes. Gray has served both Labour and Conservative governments over several decades, according to a brief biography on the government website, with a gap in the 1980s when she ran a pub in Northern Ireland.

As head of “propriety and ethics” at the Cabinet Office, she investigated previous allegations of wrongdoing by ministers, including claims of sexual misconduct against then deputy prime minister Damian Green in 2017, who was forced to resign as a result.

Gray is regarded within government as a straight shooter unafraid to stand up to politicians. But freedom of information campaigners have criticized her role in keeping government secrets. A previous role involved vetting officials’ memoirs to ensure no secrets were spilled, and she has been accused of stonewalling freedom of information requests.

Thomas, who knows Gray, said she wouldn’t be enjoying the spotlight.

“You don’t generally join the civil service to become a household name,” he said. “That said, she is a resilient person.”

Johnson’s office says the prime minister “will accept what facts she establishes,” but won’t say what action he might take after Gray’s report. He has previously ignored a similar civil-service inquiry: In 2020, Johnson backed Home Secretary Priti Patel after an investigation concluded that she had bullied her staff.

British media reported Monday that the prime minister plans to fire senior officials and aides to save his own skin if Gray’s report is critical —a plan dubbed “Operation Save Big Dog.”

Johnson spokesman Max Blain dismissed the reports and said he had “never heard that term used.” He also denied the government was deploying “Operation Red Meat” — throwing out attention-grabbing policy measures to distract from the party claims.

The government has undeniably made a flurry of recent announcements likely to appeal to Conservative lawmakers who may be wobbling in their support for Johnson. They include a plan to cut taxpayer support for the BBC; a vow to deploy the military to stop migrants crossing the English Channel from France in small boats; and an intention to lift remaining coronavirus restrictions next week.

“Partygate” has helped the opposition Labour Party open up a double-digit opinion poll lead on the Conservatives. Johnson doesn’t have to face voters’ judgment until the next general election, scheduled for 2024. But the Conservative Party has a history of ousting leaders once they become liabilities.

Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, was forced out in 2019 after failing to secure acceptable Brexit divorce terms with the European Union. Johnson could suffer the same fate if the party decides his popular appeal — the star quality that has seen him bounce back from past scandals — has vanished.

Under Conservative rules, a no-confidence vote in the leader can be triggered if 54 party lawmakers write letters demanding it. It’s unclear how many have already been submitted, and so far only a handful of Conservative members of Parliament have openly called for Johnson to quit.

“There is a real sense of anger and disappointment within the party,” Conservative lawmaker Andrew Bowie told the BBC. “And I think that many MPs therefore are struggling with the decisions that they may have to take over the next few weeks.”

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

Tsunami scare brings
out bad decisions

Re. “Tsunami surge, floods in Bay Area after volcano erupts in the Pacific,” Page A1, Jan. 16:

As I looked at the picture of a firetruck in your paper watching surfers rush to the tsunami waves, I found myself wondering what responsibility we really have to rescue people who take ridiculous risks.

After all, for anyone to venture into dangerous waves and currents to rescue a surfer, they must risk their own lives. Why is it OK to expect rescue when you are deliberately endangering your life? Waves can increase in volume very quickly, and by the time you took pictures, everyone knew the danger.

I think we need to take a look at our rescue squads and let them off the hook. At some point, let adults make bad decisions and then suffer the consequences. Personal responsibility seems to be a lesson too few learn. We need to change that.

Denise Kalm
Walnut Creek

Find new uses
for rodeo spaces

I agree with Eric Mills that rodeo “belongs in the dustbin of history.” (“‘Feel-good’ story reminds of rodeo’s brutality,” Page A6, Jan. 4) It would be laughable if it weren’t so cruel. Real men and women don’t prove their worth by degrading others.

Instead of abusing, injuring, and even killing animals for a few money-losing days every year, not to mention the kids who get injured in the toddler events, the Rowell Ranch Rodeo grounds, in particular, could be a year-round profitable attraction as a farm animal sanctuary and education center teaching real and useful animal husbandry skills.

Let’s discontinue rodeo’s senseless displays of abuse and instead teach some worthy and admirable skills.

Elizabeth Fisher
Pleasant Hill

Column merely talks
around election dangers

Victor Davis Hanson’s column “Why is the left now worried about end of democracy?” Page A7, Dec. 17 is a ruse.

The piece cites facts to seem credible, but none of those facts talks about why folks are frightened. The article doesn’t talk about states that have enacted laws removing venerable election officials (red and blue) that refused (rightfully) to negate the last election. Others are allowing intimidation of trustworthy officials until they quit, ensuring that partisans rule. The piece is quite comfortable talking around these issues as if a select few should get to choose who governs.

The lie that the last election was fraudulent has been discounted by folks of credibility and high integrity, yet this piece continues to purport without evidence that “800,000 foreign(ers) … some illegally … will vote.” What Americans are afraid of is a country where politicians, not the “people,” choose leaders.

Antonio Inserni
Alamo

Invest surplus in kids
to strengthen country

As a single mother, I have worked at many jobs in my life; teacher, waitress, door-to-door sales, fitness instructor, etc. I consider myself very blessed and lucky to have made some excellent investments that allow me a very comfortable retirement, and I can give considerable amounts to many charitable causes. I also pay a lot of taxes.

So I think I have a right to request my tax money go to making this an economically strong country in which I can be proud to live. That country invests my taxes in things like protecting American children from poverty, with investments in child tax credits, allowing children the benefits of higher education and earnings. That’s how you make a great and economically strong country.

Tari Nicholson
Martinez

Press Manchin, Sinema
to secure voter rights

In a democracy, the most foundational freedom we have is the freedom to vote. This freedom is under threat from voter suppression laws in the states. But the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act will undo those laws.

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin say they want to pass the law, but they don’t want to do what it takes to pass it: amend the filibuster. The filibuster is an arcane rule that undermines bipartisanship and gives the minority veto power over the majority.

The day after MLK Day, those two senators will have a simple, clear choice when the Senate begins debate on the bill. Side with Dr. King – or side with voter suppression?

They’ve both said they care deeply about democracy. This is their chance to be voting rights heroes. Please, senators: make the right choice and help make the promise of democracy real for us all.

Nancy Latham
Oakland

Impeachment vote
deserves support

Rep. David Valadao’s vote to impeach Donald Trump was principled and courageous. The Hanford gentlemen in The Mercury News article must believe the “Big Lie.” (“Bad blood,” Page A1, Jan. 16)

The “tradecraft,” coordination, logistics, etc., to manage fraud on this scale is difficult to imagine. If the operation is expanded to other swing states, it defies logic to think that any organization could pull this off in the multiple state locations necessary to fraudulently elect President Biden. Donald Trump lost by 7 million votes.

Valadao has my support and will receive a letter thanking him for his courage.

Bob Douglass
Fremont

Change is in the air. “Black Monday” arrived in the NFL the day after the regular season ended with a flurry of major changes beginning around the league.

A week later, the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans were searching for new head coaches and the Bears, Vikings, Giants and Las Vegas Raiders were searching for new general managers.

The Bears had requested interviews with at least 15 GM candidates and 10 coaching candidates.

As a new cycle of firing and hiring proceeds, we’re tracking all of the latest moves.

Monday

<mark class="hl_orange">The Las Vegas Raiders fired general manager Mike Mayock, </mark><mark class="hl_orange">the team announced.</mark>

The scoop: Mayock was the Raiders GM for three seasons, and his teams went 25-24, including 10-7 in 2021. The decision comes a day after a 26-19 playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Raiders’ only postseason appearance in Mayock’s tenure. Mayock previously was a draft analyst with NFL Network and a TV announcer. Raiders coach Jon Gruden resigned in October after some of Gruden’s old emails containing racist, homophobic and misogynistic language surfaced. Interim coach Rich Bisaccia led the team to a 7-5 record the rest of the way. The Raiders are interviewing candidates for GM and coach, though they haven’t announced what Bisaccia’s future is with the team.

Thursday

<mark class="hl_orange">The Houston Texans fired coach David Culley after one season.</mark>

The scoop: The Texans finished 4-13 in the only season under Culley, 66, a longtime NFL assistant in his first job as a head coach. The Texans were playing without Deshaun Watson amid allegations of sexual assault against the quarterback. Week 1 starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor played in only six games because of injury, and the Texans turned to rookie Davis Mills to start 11 games.

Since 1994, Culley has been a wide receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, with which he was also the assistant head coach, a quarterbacks coach with the Buffalo Bills and the assistant head coach/wide receivers coach/pass game coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens.

<mark class="hl_orange">The Carolina Panthers are interviewing Bears special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, </mark><mark class="hl_orange">according to ESPN.</mark>

The scoop: Tabor was the Bears special teams coordinator for all four seasons under Matt Nagy, and he served as interim head coach for one game in 2021 when Nagy had COVID-19. He previously was the Cleveland Brown special teams coordinator for seven seasons, spanning multiple head coaches.

Wednesday

<mark class="hl_orange">The Chicago Bears added two more names to their general manager interview pool.</mark>

The scoop: The Bears have requested an interview with Pittsburgh Steelers vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan and New England Patriots senior consultant Eliot Wolf, ESPN reported. Khan had GM interviews last year with the Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans. Wolf, the son of former Green Bay Packers GM Ron Wolf, has worked with the Packers, the Seattle Seahawks and Cleveland Browns.

Here are the updated candidate lists:

General managers

• Steelers VP of football and business administration Omar Khan
• Patriots senior consultant Eliot Wolf
• Former Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith
• Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown
• Colts VP of player personnel Ed Dodds
• Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
• Browns VP of player personnel Glenn Cook
• New Orleans Saints assistant general manager Jeff Ireland
• San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon
• Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen
• Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly

Coaches

• Former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores
• Former Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson
• Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier
• Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich
• Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles
• Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
• Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus
• Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and former Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn

Jan. 11

<mark class="hl_orange">The Chicago Bears list of requested interviews has reached at least 8 general manager candidates and 9 coaching candidates.</mark>

The scoop: Recently fired Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores was a big name to pop up in a lengthy list of candidates the Bears have contacted about interviews.

NFL Network reported the Bears set up the interview with Flores, who went 24-25 in three seasons with the Dolphins. His last two seasons were winning ones, but the Dolphins didn’t make the playoffs.

Here are the other coaching candidates who reportedly have been requested:

• Former Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson
• Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier
• Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich
• Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles
• Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
• Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus
• Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator and former Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn

Former Houston Texans general manager Rick Smith is among the biggest names to be expected to interview with the Bears. Here’s a list of others:

• Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown
• Colts VP of player personnel Ed Dodds
• Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah
• Browns VP of player personnel Glenn Cook
• New Orleans Saints assistant general manager Jeff Ireland
• San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon
• Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen

<mark class="hl_orange">The New York Giants fired coach Joe Judge after two seasons.</mark>

The scoop: In his first NFL head coaching stint, Judge, 40, went 10-23, including 4-13 in 2021. Playing without quarterback Daniel Jones down the stretch, the Giants lost their final six games by a combined score of 163-56. After the 29-3 loss to the Bears in Week 17, Judge went on an 11-minute rant defending his team while talking to the media.

It is the second big Giants move in two days after general manager Dave Gettleman announced his retirement Monday. With Judge out, there are now seven NFL head coaching jobs open.

Jan. 10

<mark class="hl_orange">The Chicago Bears fired general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy.</mark>

The scoop: Pace is out in Chicago after seven seasons during which his teams went 48-65, qualified for the postseason twice and failed to record a playoff victory. In his first NFL head coaching stint, Nagy finished 34-31 with two playoff losses over four seasons.

The Bears never found the right fit between Nagy and a quarterback during his tenure , running through Mitch Trubisky, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton and Justin Fields. Nagy’s offense remained stuck in the bottom third of the league in many categories . The Bears finished 6-11 this season.

The Bears have reached out to former Eagles coach Doug Pederson to schedule an interview for their head coaching role, according to a league source. An ESPN report also indicated the Bears have requested permission to interview Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier for the job. The team, according to NFL Network, has also requested to speak with Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown for the GM opening.

<mark class="hl_orange">The Minnesota Vikings fired general manager Rick Spielman and coach Mike Zimmer</mark>

The scoop: Spielman was with the Vikings since 2006, first as the vice president of player personnel and then as the general manager since 2012. In that time, the Vikings went 132-123-2 with six playoff appearances.

Zimmer, a longtime NFL defensive coordinator, became the Vikings head coach in 2014. He led three seasons of 10 or more wins, three playoff appearances and two playoff victories. The Vikings finished 8-9 after a victory over the Bears on Sunday.

<mark class="hl_orange">New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman announced his retirement after four seasons in that role.</mark>

The scoop: In 2018, Gettleman became the general manager in an organization where he had spent 13 years previously in front office roles. But his efforts to resuscitate the franchise failed with the Giants experiencing their worst four-year stretch of losing in team history.

The Giants went 19-46 under Gettleman’s watch, including a 4-13 faceplant this season during which the offense finished last in the NFC in both total yardage and scoring. Gettleman announced his retirement Monday but may have been fired if he hadn’t. The future of coach Joe Judge remains uncertain and may hinge on what happens with their intensifying GM search.

<mark class="hl_orange">The Miami Dolphins fired coach Brian Flores after three seasons.</mark>

The scoop: Flores was fired in his third season despite posting back-to-back winning seasons. The Dolphins were 5-11 in his first year, 10-6 in 2020 and 9-8 this season, but they didn’t make the playoffs in his tenure.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross released a statement saying he “determined that key dynamics of our football organization weren’t functioning at a level I want it to be and felt that this decision was in the best interest of the Miami Dolphins.” General manager Chris Grier will remain with the team in his current role, ESPN reported.

Jan. 9

<mark class="hl_orange">The Denver Broncos have fired head coach Vic Fangio after three seasons.</mark>

The scoop: Fangio didn’t record a winning season in his three in Denver. He finished 19-30 in his first stint as an NFL head coach, including 7-10 this season. Fangio, 63, was a defensive coordinator in the NFL for 19 seasons, including four in Chicago, before he joined the Broncos in 2019.

Fangio’s defense this season ranked in the top 10 in yards and points allowed. But the Broncos offense didn’t produce well enough under Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock, the latest in a revolving door of quarterbacks in Denver recent years.

Dec. 30-Jan. 7

<mark class="hl_tblue">The Jaguars have conducted at least five interviews to replace Urban Meyer.</mark>

The scoop: The Jaguars fired Urban Meyer on Dec. 16 after just 13 games with the team.

The team already has gotten deep into their search to replace him, reportedly interviewing former Philadelphia Eagles coach Doug Pederson, former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell, Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

Read more of our coverage from Black Monday and beyond.

• Column: George McCaskey impugns Olin Kreutz’s character over a 2018 part-time job with the Bears — and that makes even less sense than offering the 6-time Pro Bowl center $15 an hour in the 1st place
• Column: The Bears made major moves. But how much really will change in their search for a new GM and coach?
• ‘This is a results-driven league’: Bears players react to the firings of coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace
• The Bears are seeking their 17th head coach. Here’s a look at how past coaches fared — and when they left the franchise.
• Disorder. Dysfunction. Disappointment. As the Bears’ systemic failures continue, one proposed remedy has become common: ‘You clean house.’
• ‘He knows how to galvanize people’: If the Bears set out on a coaching search this offseason, Leslie Frazier should be on the radar
• Matt Nagy’s time with the Bears: A look back at the career highs — and lows — for the coach

The Chicago Bears have reached out to at least 15 general manager and 10 coaching candidates for interviews. As they go through the process, we’re looking at each of the prospects.

Matt Eberflus interviewed for the head coaching position Monday, the Bears announced.

<mark class="hl_orange">Matt Eberflus</mark>

Age: 51

Title: Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator

Experience

Eberflus has been the Colts coordinator for four seasons. Before that, he spent six seasons coaching linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys after a two-year stint in the same role with the Cleveland Browns. Eberflus also has 17 years of college coaching experience on his resume at Toledo (1992-2000) and Missouri (2001-08).

You should know

Eberflus finished third in 2018 in the NFL’s Assistant Coach of the Year voting. Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio won the honor that season with Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Wink Martindale finishing as the runner-up. This season, Eberflus oversaw a Colts defense that led the AFC in takeaways (33) while finishing in the top 10 in the league in points allowed (21.5 ppg). The Colts had three defenders named to the initial Pro Bowl rosters last month — lineman DeForest Buckner, linebacker Darius Leonard and cornerback Kenny Moore II.

The buzz

Players laud Eberflus for his communication skills and leadership style. He is known as a detail-oriented coach with a knack for connecting with players and fellow coaches. Eberflus has earned a reputation for being able to blend his strategic insight with the personnel he has to work with, loading his defense with only as much as players can handle.

What’s been said

”I would fully endorse and support anyone who ever called and asked me about Flus as a man, as a leader and as a coach. He is a worthy candidate. Obviously I don’t want to lose him. But I’m happy for him and support him.” — Colts coach Frank Reich, when Eberflus became a head coaching candidate last year

The Chicago Bears have reached out to 15 general manager and 10 coaching candidates for interviews. As they go through the process, we’re looking at each of the prospects.

Ed Dodds interviewed for the general manager position Monday, the team announced.

<mark class="hl_orange">Ed Dodds</mark>

Title: Indianapolis Colts assistant general manager

Age: 41

Experience

Dodds joined the Colts as vice president of player personnel, and they promoted him a year later to assistant general manager. Dodds worked for 10 seasons (2007-16) for the Seattle Seahawks, becoming a senior personnel executive in the final two years. He started in the pro personnel department in 2007 and moved to college scouting in the south and central part of the country, eventually becoming a cross-checker and then a national scout. Dodds broke into the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and spent four seasons with them. In college, Dodds was a student coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

You should know

Dodds has a reputation for being a skilled and tireless scout. He was considered a valuable member of the Seahawks and helped build two Super Bowl rosters while working for GM John Schneider, who did not want to lose him to the Colts. As the right-hand man for GM Chris Ballard in Indianapolis, Dodds’ name has surfaced in January in recent years. The Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions interviewed him for their GM jobs last year. Dodds declined an interview with the Cleveland Browns two years ago.

The buzz

Dodds’ name has gained momentum in recent years, and it seems as if it’s only a matter of time before he lands an opportunity to become a GM.

What’s been said

“He’s unbelievable when it comes to communicating with coaches and seeing the fit of the player,” Ballard told The Athletic. “Being able to watch the tape and know, ‘That guy is going to fit.’ Ed’s a huge asset to us. He’s pretty good at his job.”

By JOSH DUBOW

The Las Vegas Raiders have fired general manager Mike Mayock after three seasons and will begin a search for a coach and GM following their second playoff berth in the past 19 seasons.

The Raiders announced the move to get rid of Mayock on Monday, two days after losing their wild-card playoff game to Cincinnati 26-19.

“We thank Mike for his contributions over the last three years in helping to form the foundation for the franchise to build upon in its future,” the team said in a statement.

The Raiders have already made a request to interview Patriots director of player personnel Dave Ziegler for the general manager job, as well as Patriots assistant Jerod Mayo for head coach, according to a person familiar with the request. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t make the requests public.

Coach Jon Gruden brought Mayock in to replace Reggie McKenzie following the 2018 season, but the Raiders had spotty results in the draft and free agency in recent years.

Gruden resigned in October following the publication of his old offensive emails, and now Mayock is out as well, potentially giving owner Mark Davis a clean slate.

Interim coach Rich Bisaccia led the Raiders (10-8) to the playoffs with four straight wins to end the regular season, but his status going forward remains unknown. He has met with Davis and the Raiders must conduct a full search before deciding on a new coach to satisfy the Rooney Rule.

Mayock joined the Raiders after a long tenure as a draft analyst at NFL Network. While Gruden had final say on all personnel matters, Mayock held the title of general manager and had input on the draft in which the Raiders failed to hit on several first-round picks in his tenure.

The Raiders had three first-round picks in his first draft after trading away stars Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper. Those picks failed to transform the franchise with No. 4 overall pick Clelin Ferrell becoming a reserve this season, No. 24 pick Josh Jacobs becoming a solid running back and No. 27 pick Johnathan Abram being a liability in coverage at safety.

The team did hit on two later-round picks that draft with fourth-round edge rusher Maxx Crosby emerging as a star this year when he was a second-team All-Pro, and fifth-round slot receiver Hunter Renfrow having 103 catches for 1,038 yards.

But the 2020 draft may end up being what doomed Mayock. The team has already cut both first-round picks with receiver Henry Ruggs III getting released after being charged with felonies in a fatal DUI crash that killed a 23-year-old woman, and cornerback Damon Arnette getting released after making online threats to someone.

Two of the team’s third-round picks — Lynn Bowden Jr. and Tanner Muse — never played a snap and none of the picks made a big impact.

The Raiders once again drafted a player higher in the first round than the consensus in 2021, taking tackle Alex Leatherwood 17th overall. He flamed out quickly at tackle and then moved to guard, where he also struggled with penalties and pass protection.

Free agency hasn’t been much better, with big contracts going to players like Trent Brown, Lamarcus Joyner, Tyrell Williams and Cory Littleton failing to lead to good results.

Now it will be up to a new general manager to make the key decisions on the future of quarterback Derek Carr and how to upgrade the roster to make the Raiders a perennial playoff contender.

___

AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi contributed to this report

Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.

S.J. forest management
plan is disappointing

Thank you for calling attention to our city’s dwindling and unbalanced tree canopy in your Jan. 10 article “San Jose losing hundreds of acres of trees each year.” (Page A1) During this climate crisis, planting as many trees as possible is a no-brainer, since trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere, provide shade, and lessen the urban heat island effect.

The incredible disparity between neighborhoods is appalling. I’m so disappointed in the city’s Community Forest Management Plan, which did not meaningfully engage East San Jose residents or organizations like Our City Forest, and left nearly $460,000 on the table. And $210,600 for a measly 250 trees? Our City Forest could do better. As a member of Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, I urge San Jose to add urban reforestation to the Climate Smart plan. Tree maintenance must also be addressed, as many homeowners cannot afford the cost. Other cities pay for this; why doesn’t San Jose?

Susan Butler-Graham
Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley
San Jose

Make fighting climate
change your mission

This is in response to Wendy Chou’s Jan. Jan. 12 Letter to the Editor about one’s local impact on climate change (“Local actions can have big impact on warming,” Page A6).

A year ago I couldn’t tell you what a Climate Action Plan was, and I have been a climate activist for 15 years. So I decided to get trained by Al Gore to become a “Climate Reality Leader.” Coupled with this knowledge, I felt morally obligated to save the planet for future generations. I live in Campbell where my son recently asked, “Will I be alive when it falls apart due to humans causing climate change?” It turns out that Campbell is one of three cities of the 15 cities in Santa Clara County that doesn’t have a Climate Action Plan, which is a city’s plan to manage our present climate emergency.

It’s my mission and anyone who wants to join me, to get a bold plan to save our future.

Sean Mendelson
Campbell

Plenty of problems
need surplus spending

So, we have this massive amount of money, which the politicians are happily looking forward to spending.

What we do not have is a reliable water supply, decent roads, a workable plan to deal with the horrible and worsening homeless situation, and what is left over (if any) should go back to the real owners, the taxpayers.

Many of the dams are in critical need of repair and we also could use some new ones as our current water supply relies heavily on precipitation which is unpredictable and seems to be getting worse due to climate change. The roads in the Bay Area are despicable, comparable to third-world country roads. Homeless people can be found everywhere, in city parks, under freeways, urban sidewalks.

These issues should be addressed in new and creative ways that may not be elegant, politically correct, but workable and functional.

Peter Ligeti
San Jose

Lurching toward autocracy,
our democracy is in peril

We are no longer a country of political conservatives and liberals. Hiding behind the guise of individual rights and freedoms, many of us are ironically embracing totalitarianism.

Unwittingly, an intermingling of the fed-up, the indifferent and the idealistic social “scientists” (God bless them.) provide cover for the self-centered political cowards and the delusional Trumpers to push the country toward a “benevolent” autocracy, thereby placing our democratic republic in the hands of those who, behind the scenes, carve it up to suit their personal fiscal and power wants, desires, appetites, thirsts, cravings, itches, and lusts (pick one or more).

Jim Hamm
Los Gatos

To defend democracy,
write leaders, not editors

Those who know the truth regarding the danger to our democracy value letters that commiserate, yea, corroborate on that danger from Trump Republicans. But Letters to the Editor are misdirected or second-best in liberal California.

Letters, emails, phone calls or voice messages need to be directed to federal government officials — in support and gratitude to those defending democracy (Reps. Benny Thompson, Liz Cheney et al); in criticism of right-wingers for promoting the Big Lie (Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, take your pick); and to encourage sensible, moderate Republicans to do the right thing (Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse).

Michael Fallon
Santa Clara

Was White fear behind
attack on Capitol?

It seems to me, most White people in America today fall into one of two categories:

Type 2 White people choose power over democracy. It was Type 2 White people who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Garey Johnson
Redwood City

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Hundreds of volunteers gathered across the Bay Area on Monday to realize a vision for this nation once laid out by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the late Baptist minister and civil rights activist.

In Palo Alto, volunteers at the Oshman Family JCC Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life made burritos and no-sew blankets and decorated pillow cases to distribute to unsheltered residents being served by the nonprofit Life Moves.

Lynnelle Bilsey, a senior manager for volunteer programs at Life Moves, said the day’s activities reflected an alignment between King’s vision and her organization’s values.

“I think Dr. King’s vision is really treating people with equality, fairness and justice and that’s our goal working with the homeless population. Our goal is to treat people with dignity and support and to believe in positivity so when we’re doing these kinds of projects it’s a perfect opportunity to help us,” Bilsey said.

The breakfast burritos will be delivered to the Opportunity Services drop-in center, which serves approximately 75 to 80 unhoused Palo Alto residents daily; the blankets and pillows are for the roughly 12 families and 88 individuals receiving help through the organization’s 124-bed Mountain View shelter.

“During the pandemic when we can’t do in-person volunteering as easily because of the conditions, this is a way for the community to have a presence in the shelters. It really helps when the community can still feel like they’re contributing to people in need,” Bilsey added. “The energy from the volunteers — I think they’re just excited to be able to make a difference, and that to me is what Martin Luther King’s National Day of Service is all about: How can you make a difference in your community.”

Groups at the JCC also created zero-waste bird feeders, bee feeders and bee bomb pollinators; filled library boxes with essential products for the unhoused; packed snack bags for health care workers; and planted seedlings and decorated clay pots for adults with special needs.

In Richmond, more than 60 volunteers packed an estimated 10,000 meal bags and boxes containing soy, rice, vegetables and other nutritional supplements at Bay Hills Church. Worshipers participating in the day of service for the first time partnered with Rise Against Hunger, which stores and distributes the food globally to schoolchildren and hungry people receiving emergency relief. Each box can feed one child for up to one year, while each bag can provide six meals.

Tammy Hardin, a volunteer from Pinole, took inspiration from King.

“He was a giver among all things, and so I just wanted to give back and this was a perfect opportunity because this is my church so that was an easy choice,” said Hardin, adding that she brought her father and daughter with her for her first year volunteering on the federal holiday.

Kevin Mahaffy, the pastor at Bay Hills, invoked this excerpt from King Jr.’s 1968 Drum Major Instinct sermon: Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.

“That’s kind of the heart behind it — we want to come together as a church and invite the broader community to be part of loving and serving our neighbors,” Mahaffy said, adding that he hopes the event becomes an annual tradition.

SAN JOSE – Timo Meier was named to the NHL All-Star Game for the first time in his career last week. Now he has his first career four-goal game, setting a new San Jose Sharks record in the process.

Meier had a hat trick in the first period of Monday’s game with the Los Angeles Kings, then scored his fourth goal early in the second period to stake the Sharks to a 5-1 lead at SAP Center.

Meier’s first two goals came at the 3:02 and 18:48 marks of the opening period. He then completed the hat trick, the second of his career, with 51 seconds left in the first as he scored off an assist from Tomas Hertl.

Meier then scored his fourth goal, and his second of the game on the power play, as he took a pass from Erik Karlsson and beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick from a sharp angle at the 1:24 mark of the second period for his 19th goal of the season.

The four goals eclipsed the former Sharks record for fastest four goals within a a certain time frame, as the four goals came in 18:22. Hertl held the previous record as he scored four times in 22:46 on Oct. 8, 2013 vs. the New York Rangers.

Hertl had assists on three of Meier’s goals and Karlsson had two. The other Sharks goal at that point came from Rudolfs Balcers, who scored in his second straight game.

Meier now has 44 points in 35 games, already well past his total of 31 points in 54 games last season.

Kaiser Permanente has notified 3,900 patients vaccinated at its Walnut Creek Medical Center last fall they may have received less than a full dose of the Kaiser shot.

Kaiser is sending notices this month offering those who received the light shots appointments for a “repeat” dose if they want one. But Kaiser said that after consulting with experts and reviewing guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the dosing error should not significantly reduce immunity.

“The health and safety of our members and patients is our highest priority,” Kaiser Permanente said in a statement. “As a trusted health care provider, we are committed to informing patients of circumstances that could affect them, even if any potential impact is not considered significant, as in this matter.”

It’s not the first time Bay Area patients have been given improper doses of COVID-19 vaccines. In November, a Sutter Health pediatric clinic in Antioch gave 14 kids ages 5-11 twice the proper dose of Pfizer‘s children’s version of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Last March, KTVU reported that 4,300 people were administered a third less than the recommended dose while getting a shot at the Oakland Coliseum mass vaccination clinic. In that case, state officials told the TV station that no one was offered additional doses because the dosage error wasn’t considered significant.

Problems have arisen nationally as well. Last fall 112 children at a Virginia pharmacy received one-tenth of the formulation of the vaccine intended for adults, and 98 kids in Maryland received over-diluted doses at a school clinic.

In the most recent incident involving Kaiser, the health care organization said patients who were supposed to have been given the 0.30 milliliter dose for teens and adults instead received 0.26 to 0.29 milliliter doses between Oct. 25 and Dec. 10, 2021.

“Once we became aware of this issue, we immediately consulted with experts in infectious diseases and vaccine science and reviewed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control,” Kaiser said. “All experts agreed the difference between the recommended dose and the dose an individual may have received was not significant and not likely to reduce their protection against COVID-19.”

According to the CDC, vaccine administrators are required to notify patients of any dosage errors, report them to the agency’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System even if they did not cause any problems, and consult with state authorities on how the erroneous dosage should be recorded.

The CDC says that when a lower-than-authorized dose is given to adults, such as when the patient pulls away, the syringe leaks or equipment fails, the dose should be repeated immediately.

Kaiser said it “took immediate steps to confirm that the issue was isolated and promptly retrained staff and validated their understanding of the correct procedure.”

“We are continuously monitoring so this does not happen again,” Kaiser said. “We sincerely apologize for any concern or inconvenience this may cause for those patients we are contacting.”

Coach Kyle Shanahan seemed optimistic Monday the 49ers would have defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner available for their divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, as well as quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

That’s right, Garoppolo.

Bosa left a 23-17 wild card win over Dallas late in the first half with a concussion, and Warner departed much later with an ankle sprain. Garoppolo’s inclusion on the 49ers injured list with a right shoulder sprain was a surprise, given he played all four quarters and nothing was said about it following the game.

Garoppolo was 11 of 14 for 133 yards at halftime but just 5-for-11 for 39 yards and an interception in the second half.

“He did it in the second quarter, had to play through some pain and stuff, but ended up checking out all right,” Shanahan said in a conference call with beat writers. “He should be good for practice.”

With the 49ers visiting Lambeau Stadium Saturday, the practices will begin on Tuesday without the customary day off.

That one day may or may not be a factor regarding Bosa. Since he’s in the concussion protocol, his condition will be monitored independently and it won’t be up to the 49ers whether or not he’s cleared to play. Shanahan sounded hopeful Bosa would face Green Bay.

“I didn’t personally get a chance to talk to him. I talked to a number of guys who did, and our trainers,” Shanahan said. “You know how those go. We’re being pretty optimistic with it. I’ve seen that a few times and he seems like he’s in a pretty good spot right now but I’m not going to be the one who judges that.”

Bosa left the game following a collision with teammate Jones on a pass rush with 1:13 left in the first half. He walked off under his own power, motioning to 49ers fans in the stands, but was not cleared to return.

The positive news on Warner, who briefly returned to the game after his injury and played 59 snaps in all, is that the sprain was not high on the ankle.

“We’ll evaluate and see as the week goes,” Shanahan said. “The initial scare was it could have been a high (sprain) so we got good news on that. He had something similar to this early in the year.”

The 49ers middle linebacker indicated on Twitter he expected to be available.

“Sorry for the scare yesterday everyone, I appreciate everyone showing love and support for me and the fellas. We’ll be good to go. Huge win, on to the next,” Warner tweeted.

Sorry for the scare yesterday everyone, I appreciate everyone showing love and support for me and the fellas. We’ll be good to go. Huge win, onto the next.

— Fred Warner (@fred_warner) January 17, 2022

Warner missed the second Seattle game on Dec. 5 with what Shanahan called a similar ankle sprain. Teammate Jordan Willis, who was one of the defensive linemen who picked up the slack in Bosa’s absence, was diagnosed with a high ankle sprain.

More to come on this breaking story . . . 

Hundreds of Oakland students are set to boycott classes Tuesday over demands to improve COVID safety and testing availability, an action organized by three sophomores.

Oakland student organizers Ayleen Serrano, Ximena Santana and Benjamin Rendon, who attend MetWest High School, are part of a local and national movement of students demanding better safety conditions in their classrooms and accountability from school leadership.

They started a petition, signed by more than 1,200 students as of Monday, after seeing a surge of COVID cases when school resumed after the winter break. They are demanding the district move in-person learning to online instruction and provide PCR and rapid testing twice a week, KN95 and N95 masks for every student in all schools and more outdoor spaces where the students can eat. Starting Tuesday, they plan to stay out of school press for their demands.

The students will be joining other districts in New York City and Southern California who have staged walkouts last week to protest what they say are unsafe conditions at their schools.

District officials are scrambling to avoid more empty classrooms. Last week, they tried to assure students they would meet some of their demands ahead of the planned “sickout” that involved teachers and students at half a dozen schools. The latest action is part of a larger movement at Oakland schools after staff members called out sick in protest earlier this month, prompting at least 12 schools to shutter instruction for the day.

“Public health and education leaders at the county, state, and federal level all say that keeping students in school is the best way to work through this stage of the pandemic, and that is what we intend to do,” said district spokesman John Sasaki about last week’s planned sickout.

Serrano said after the winter break she walked into a 9th grade class and only two other students were there.

“That’s when I was like, ‘We really need to get things done since the district isn’t doing anything,” Serrano said in an interview.

Serrano said students want to hold the district accountable for what they’ve promised, including masks for all students and teachers.

“It’s just us telling the district to give us what they are saying they have been giving us because we haven’t received it,” she said.

District officials said they received 10,000 masks as a donation last week and said they started distributing the masks to students last Thursday.

Sasaki also said that the district ordered 200,000 KN95 masks for students and every employee received at least three N95 masks and two KN95 masks, according to a news release. Another 50,000 KN95 masks were scheduled to be delivered to sites this week, officials said.

Santana said MetWest teachers — some of which helped administer COVID-19 tests to students during the first week of school — have tried to help. They tried to distribute KN-95 masks and at-home COVID-19 tests they received from district officials to students until they were told not to by administrators, she said.

School staff aren’t allowed to administer COVID tests without training, Sasaki, who cited California Department of Public Health protocol, said. Santana said some of the teachers who tried to help also administered COVID tests to students at the school last week, but were later told by administrators that they weren’t authorized to do so.

Rendon added that students are asking district for more outdoor eating spaces for safety. He said many kids go to a nearby Whole Foods to eat lunch on benches there because the benches at their school aren’t reliable.

“The benches outside, they’re broken and are really little so they can fit probably six people and we just want more space to eat,” he said.

Sasaki said the district is working on it, but previously pointed to “supply line issues” as the reason for the delayed delivery of supplies, including tables and shade structures, for covered eating spaces at the schools. He said student testing is available at 10 locations across the district, and the district has bi-weekly testing for secondary schools like MetWest, weekly pooled testing at elementary schools. (The district is also offering vaccine pop-ups this month at multiple locations.)

The student organizers are also concerned that they didn’t said receive an at-home rapid test from their school administrators.

District officials said they distributed 41,000 at-home rapid tests to local schools to distribute to students before winter break, but the student organizers said none of them received one. Rendon, whose brother attends Skyline, said neither he or his brother received tests.

“Over the winter break, we were supposed to get some and we kept getting messages saying, ‘Hey, check your at-home tests,'” Santana said. “And I messaged all my friends like, ‘Hey did you guys get COVID tests?’ And no one got them.”

Sasaki said on Friday he hadn’t heard about students not receiving tests. He said if students still need a test, they should contact a principal or him directly for one.

The student organizers said they prefer distanced learning but the district doesn’t want to move instruction to online because they would lose out on funding from California.

“If they’re not going to send us to online school, then we’re asking them to make it as safe as possible to keep us in-person school,” Serrano said. “I love something my teacher said. He was like, ‘A lot of the kids who are missing are the ones who are already behind.’ That’s one of our biggest concerns too. The longer the district keeps up with this, the more we’re going to fall behind.”

The 49ers survived and advanced.

But now the stakes increase and the opponents become markedly tougher.

San Francisco will need to improve across the board.

The Niners’ defense, which played great on Sunday against Dallas, will have to up their game against Aaron Rodgers. The 49ers’ offense cannot play like they did in the second half in Texas for a single moment, lest they be run off the field by the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

But all of those things are easier said than done.

There’s something that the Niners can do to increase their chances of winning on Saturday in Green Bay and beyond that doesn’t require any additional practice or performance.

Kyle Shanahan can stop being so conservative on fourth down.

Sunday was anything but a masterclass from the Niners’ head coach. His risk-averse decisions throughout the contest provided a Dallas team that needed all the help it could get multiple chances to win a game that had no business being so close.

Shanahan twice punted on fourth-and-1 in the second half, to let Dallas back into the game — a contest that was, in part, still in question behind Shanahan’s first-half decision to “take the points” kick a 40-yard field goal on fourth-and-1 from Dallas’ 22-yard line.

That kind of passiveness will not work as the Niners face better head coaches, better quarterbacks, and better teams moving forward.

It is shocking how Shanahan can never seem to get his game management right. He throws when he should run the ball, runs when he should throw, and the clock never seems to be his friend.

And we can all admit that the goalposts are forever moving when it comes to judging these things. I legitimately feel bad for the guy, who can’t seem to get off the schneid with this. He’s this generation of NFL head coaches’ Andy Reid in this and so many other ways.

The truth is that it is ultimately player execution that decides games. Yes, you can love a decision to go for it on fourth down all you want, but folks usually second-guess if the offense doesn’t convert.

For instance, when the Niners did go for it on fourth down against the Cowboys on Sunday, they picked up a five-yard false start penalty.

The decision was sound. The execution was anything but.

That’s the way it goes sometimes.

So let’s be really specific about the issue here: Shanahan is too conservative. He has been all season.

The Niners were in the bottom half of the NFL this season when it came to “go rate” — situations where going for the first down was deemed more sound than kicking the ball.

On Sunday, Shanahan’s three decisions to kick on fourth-and-1 decreased the Niners’ chances of winning by a cumulative 25 percent, per EDJ Sports’ simulation model.

Decry “analytics” all you want. They’re just stats packaged into more useful ways, but apparently, they’re the boogeyman to the old guard.

So let’s take it one step further and put Shanahan’s decisions in brutish, football terms to remove the stigma of big, scary numbers:

Shanahan’s refusal to put his foot on the throat of an opponent who is down is going to burn him and the Niners, a team where execution comes and goes.

Much like it was indefensible for Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy to kick a field goal to keep the contest a two-score game, Shanahan’s decision to kick the field goal early in the second quarter to make the game 13-0 was puzzling — particularly with the way the Niners were running the ball.

The Niners can’t “take the points” against the NFL’s high-powered offenses — the kind they’ll see starting Saturday with their Divisional Round game against Green Bay. Rodgers does not leave such crimes unpunished.

The third-quarter decision to punt on fourth-and-1 from their own 34 can be justified by field position — and it was backed up by the Niners turning Dallas over in the subsequent possession — but it was ultimately another lifeline to a disorganized Cowboys team that needed nine or 10.

But the fourth-quarter call to punt (after two deliberate penalties, of course) with 2:51 remaining at the Dallas 49 yard line in a six-point game is baffling.

It took all of 23 seconds of game time for Dallas — who received the ball with no timeouts — to return to where San Francisco conceded possession.

Instead of winning the game right then and there — killing the Cowboys where they lie — Shanahan opted to take the conservative route with the game on the line.

A conversion would have set up a game-winning field goal attempt or left Dallas with roughly half a minute and no timeouts to go the length of the field, should San Francisco have simply run it three times into the back of their offensive linemen.

Yes, in a vacuum, all of Kyle Shanahan’s decisions were individually defensible.

But collectively, Shanahan’s fourth-down decisions on Sunday against the Cowboys (and, indeed, all season long,) showed a coach that refused to exert dominance in moments where such a thing was required.

The requirement goes to a new level this weekend. It’ll take everything for this Niners team to win Saturday and beyond. That includes the head coach not doing things that will actively hurt the team’s chances of winning.

Let’s see if Shanahan is up for the task.

Liberty football coach Matt Hoefs has resigned after just two seasons at the Bay Valley Athletic League school. Hoefs turned in his resignation Friday after meeting with principal Efa Huckaby and athletic director Andrew Lonsdale.

“I could tell they were having some thoughts about moving on,” Hoefs said Monday. “There was not a lot of support from the district. I didn’t think I would be back. I felt like they wanted to go in a different direction.”

Lonsdale on Monday said he couldn’t comment. The school was closed for Martin Luther King Day. The AD said he would be willing to discuss the coaching situation on Tuesday.

Hoefs, who was the head coach at Dublin High in 2017-18 before joining Ryan Partridge’s staff in 2019, was 9-6 in his two years with the Lions, including 5-5 last season.

The popular coach, who has children aged 1- and 5-years old, said spending more time with his kids was also a factor.

“Spending time with my family superseded it,” Hoefs said of coaching. “I was only getting to spend moments with them. Last week when we started the (winter) weight program, I felt like it was time. When I left the principal’s office, I felt disappointed and relieved.”

But there were some issues with the school’s administration that prompted him to leave now rather than wait a year or two. Hoefs said he was “hopefully planning for another year or two” at Liberty. The Lions have some good talent returning. The schedule is all but done, with only one non-league game still in doubt.

“It’s been a tough year and a half,” Hoefs said.

The direction Liberty takes in football will be interesting. During Partridge’s tenure, the Lions were 34-5, captured a state championship in 2018 and won at least 10 games in each of his three seasons. It became a destination school for many of Contra Costa County’s best players.

But Partridge, who is now the wide receivers coach at Massachusetts, did not have a pandemic to deal with.

Hoefs doesn’t know if he will return to coaching high school football. He said he already has received a couple of calls, but he lives close to Liberty and doesn’t want to commute.

The Ravens have re-signed cornerback and special teams contributor Kevon Seymour to a one-year deal, the team announced Monday. Terms of the contract were not announced.

Seymour, 28, was set to be a free agent this offseason. He appeared in nine games this season and started two in a Ravens secondary depleted by injuries and the coronavirus. Seymour finished with 25 tackles (three for loss), one pass defended and a sack on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the regular-season finale. In coverage, he allowed 24 completions on 30 targets for 279 yards and two touchdowns (127.6 passer rating), according to Pro Football Reference.

Seymour joined the Ravens’ practice squad in September. He played in four games and earned just nine defensive snaps over the season’s first 13 weeks, but his role expanded as cornerbacks Marlon Humphrey, Jimmy Smith, Chris Westry, Tavon Young and Anthony Averett were sidelined or limited by injuries. Seymour played at least 69% of the defensive snaps over the Ravens’ final four games. He also played at least nine special teams snaps in every appearance this season.

Seymour’s re-signing is the first move at cornerback in an offseason that could reshape the depth chart in Baltimore. Humphrey, Young and Marcus Peters are under contract through next season, though Young could be a salary cap casualty. Averett and Smith are both pending free agents, and Chris Westry is a restricted free agent.