Week in Review: Local School Among Best in State; Burger King Delivers

FREMONT

Mission San Jose Ranked 10th Best High School in State

Two Fremont high schools are among the best high schools in the country, according to rankings released Tuesday. Mission San Jose was ranked 10th in the state and landed at No. 79 in the national rankings, making it one of 500 schools nationwide to qualify for a gold medal by U.S. News and World Report in its 2013 list of the nation's best public high schools. With a national ranking of 391 and a state ranking of 76, Irvington High School also is in the list of gold medal winners.

The rankings were calculated by looking at student performance on standardized tests, evaluating how well schools educated black, Hispanic and poor students, and by how effectively they prepared graduates for college.

Missing 88-Year-Old Man Found at San Jose Area Hospital

An elderly at-risk man who went missing from Fremont Wednesday was found Friday morning. David Mock, 88, was found around 8 a.m. at a hospital in the San Jose area. Mock, who suffers from dementia and is hearing impaired, had last been seen in the area of Margery Drive and Fremont Boulevard Wednesday morning. It appears Mock had fallen after he walked off and was taken to a hospital. Other than some minor injuries, he appears to be healthy.

Police Log: Autistic Boy Found; Gals' Night Out Ends In Pokey; Pizza Hut Robbed ... Again

This week's roundup of police activity also includes home burglaries, a robbery at Subway, a cab brawl and more. See the full police log here.

UNION CITY

Only $7 Million Buys a Retail Space At Union Landing

If you've ever wondered how much it costs to own a chunk of the busy Union Landing Shopping Center, a commercial for sale listing posted by RetailWest offers a frame of reference. Among the properties currently listed for sale is the building at Union Landing that currently houses the Sprint store and Mancini's Sleepworld. The building, with 10,727 square feet of retail space, sits on a 34,307 square foot lot. The asking price is $7 million. The sale would not affect either store. They are tenants with leases that run through December 2015 and July 2018, respectively. Any takers?

You Can Now Get Burger King Delivered in Union City. Is This a Good Thing?

As if a drive-thru wasn’t convenient enough, now Burger King is offering delivery in select cities across the country. Lucky us: Union City’s Alvarado-Niles Road location is one of them. According to an Associated Press report, customers must make a minimum order of at least $10 to receive delivery. Orders can be made by phone or online between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m., but delivery times and prices may vary by location. Of course, Burger King's new mobile venture raises concerns about making high-calorie fast food even more convenient. What do you think about fast food restaurants delivering? Will you try it?

East Plaza Closed Due to Vandalism

The East Plaza, which features a large fountain and three 15-foot bronze statues along 11th Street, only recently became open to the public. But just shortly after the surrounding fence came down, it had to go back up because of graffiti. According to Wayne Cruz, a public works employee known as "The Graffiti Buster," four tags were sprayed along the fountain's base sometime Wednesday. There were also footprints on top of the fountain, though no damage was done to the statues, Cruz said. "This is really a shame," Cruz said. "This is something the city put up for the people to enjoy themselves." According to Cruz, the temporary fence will stay up until security cameras are placed in the plaza.

NEWARK

Meet The Next Principal Of Newark Memorial High

Phil Morales will take over as principal of Newark Memorial High School next academic year, to replace the retiring Edward Marquez. As Patch learned in a recent interview, the 42-year-old southern California native comes to NMHS by an unusual path -- one that includes four years as a police officer, time at a seminary college and, eventually, teaching. He found his way to the Bay Area where he became a guidance counselor at Terra Nova High School in Pacifica. In 2011 he was named Terra Nova's assistant principal. Last academic year he became assistant principal at NMHS. In the coming academic year Morales will move into the top post overseeing a staff of about 150 faculty and a student body of about 2,000. Read the full interview here.

Newark's Cupcake 'Queen' May Soon Go To 'War'

Daytimes you'll find Kristen Hiller behind the counter at Sugar High Dessert Dispensary on the second floor of NewPark Mall, outside the Macy's. She got there after more than a dozen years of word-of-mouth catering, preceded by training as a pastry chef at the Culinary Academy in San Francisco. Today the 30-year-old Hiller rules a small cupcake and catering empire, using her mall shop to expand her referral network -- while planning for the day when she can carry Newark's flag onto the Food Network's "Cupcake Wars." Click on the link above and learn more in our Patch video.

Other incidents include thefts, warrant arrests and more. See the full log here.

What was your favorite story this week? Got a story idea for us? Tell us in the comments.

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