LaDoris Hazzard Cordell speaks during a press conference announcing her appointment by the San Jose City Council to be the next Independent Police Auditor.

Oakland Police Department releases the dispatch and police radio transmissions from March 21, 2009 when parolee Lovelle Mixon fatally shot four officers. Mixon was killed by police after they raided the apartment at 2755 74th Avenue in East Oakland.

Linda Ronstadt is more than one of the stars of the San Jose Mariachi and Latin Music Festival –she’s also a consuluting advisor. She spoke to Mercury News arts and entertainment Mark de la Viña about the role mariachi in her childhood while growing up in Tuscon, Ariz.

Junot Diaz is more than a talented writer who in April won the Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” Like the title character in his book, Diaz is a huge fan of fantasy and sci-fi. He spoke to Mercury News arts and entertainment reporter Mark de la Viña about what warms his fanboy cockles.

Author, talk show host and stand-up comic Chelsea Handler spoke to Mercury News arts, entertainment and style reporter Mark de la Viña about covering celebrities — and how she is not above such scrutiny.

Actor Gene Wilder, star of “Young Frankenstein,” is the subject of an SF Sketchfest tribute this week at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. He spoke to arts and entertainment writer Mark de la Viña about his movies, his new career as a novelist and the enduring popularity of the comedy classic.

Doug Martsch, singer, guitarist and chief songwriter for the rock group Built to Spill, talks to Mercury News reporter Mark de la Viña about the band’s unconventional approach to its music.

Horror film icon and “Night of the Living Dead” director George Romero talks to arts and entertainment reporter Mark de la Viña about “Diary of the Dead,” the rampant sadism in contemporary fright flicks and his professional start working on “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” in the mid-’60s.

Dave Foley, a founding member of the Kids in the Hall, talks to Mercury News reporter Mark de la Viña about the beloved sketch comedy group and its upcoming appearances at SF Sketchfest.

Comedian Anjelah Johnson became an Internet phenom on the strength of her YouTube video about a visit to a nail salon. The San Jose native, now a cast member of Fox’s “MADtv,” talks to Mercury News reporter Mark de la Viña about her post-cheerleading life as a stand-up performer.