Rep. Lee, others push House to debate war against Islamic State
WASHINGTON — With hundreds of U.S. forces now operating on the ground in Syria and Iraq, Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland led a bipartisan effort Thursday to insist that Congress debate escalating U.S. ground combat overseas against the Islamic State. President Obama sent 200 additional ground troops to Iraq and 250 special operations forces to Syria last month, using the war resolution Congress passed 15 years ago to approve the invasion of Afghanistan. On Thursday, three House Republicans and five House Democrats stood outside the Capitol to demand that Speaker Paul Ryan allow debate on a new war resolution, arguing Congress has a clear constitutional obligation to approve wars, but that GOP leaders are shirking that responsibility for political reasons. The group said it intends to offer amendments asking for a war authorization on a pending defense bill, but have had no assurance from Ryan or other House GOP leaders that the amendments will be permitted. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said opinions on what a new war authorization should include vary widely, but that is all the more reason to have a public debate over the purpose, scale and timeline of the war against the Islamic State.
Health care firm to pay for firing woman who sought medical leave
A Walnut Creek health care company will pay more than $37,000 in back wages and damages to an employee who was fired when she asked for medical leave, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday. Latoya Blanche, a clerical employee with Muir Orthopedic Specialists for nearly two years, applied for four weeks of leave in June 2015 because of a serious health condition, the Labor Department said. The federal Family Medical Leave Act allows employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for their own or a family member’s health problem. “This employee suffered emotional and financial stress at a time when she could least afford it,” Susana Blanco, director of the Labor Department’s San Francisco district office, said in a statement.
Concord picks developer for huge project
The Concord City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to hire Lennar Urban to develop a portion of the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, despite objections from several residents that the process had been unfair and that the company is untrustworthy. At stake are 500 acres of 2,200 to be developed over 30 years in what could become a $6 billion housing, commercial and recreational series of projects — though only the first phase has been awarded to Lennar. The three council members present — Dan Helix, Edi Birsan and Mayor Laura Hoffmeister — said they supported Lennar because it had improved its proposal with greater financial protection and more affordable housing units. In February, an independent investigator determined that associates of Lennar had improperly funneled nearly $17,000 into Councilman Tim Grayson’s campaign for state Assembly. The investigator had also found that Concord officials had conducted an illegal private meeting during which they suppressed a city report recommending Catellus. On Wednesday, however, advocates for affordable housing applauded the Lennar project, which would add $40 million in affordable housing subsidies.
15 last-minute Bay Area-themed Bay to Breakers costumes
If you’ve got your race bib but no costume ideas, we’re here to give you an assist.
Magnitude-3.5 earthquake strikes near The Geysers
New Exploratorium boss from IDEO design firm
The Exploratorium, San Francisco’s pioneering hands-on science museum, has a new leader right out of Silicon Valley’s high-tech design world. Directors of the 47-year-old museum said Wednesday that Chris Flink, a partner at Ideo, an Palo Alto international design firm, will become the institution’s new executive director. George Cogan, chairman of the Exploratorium’s board of directors, said Flink’s appointment was the result of a months-long international search for a leader who would “redefine what it means to be a science center in the 21st century.” Flink, 44, has been a partner at Ideo for 18 years and has headed the firm’s “Consumer Experience Design” practice.
Humpback whale sightings in bay thrill boaters, alarm biologists
Humpback whale sightings in bay thrill boaters, alarm biologists Humpback whales have been swimming into San Francisco Bay in unprecedented numbers over the past two weeks — even leaping out of the water near Alcatraz — in a sight that has thrilled boaters, alarmed marine biologists and harked back to a famous wayward whale three decades ago. “I had never seen humpback whales before, and it was awesome,” said Lauri Duke, 54, of Rocklin (Placer County), who volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center and Golden Gate Cetacean Research and happened to spot the leviathans during visits over the past two weekends. “If they head any direction except west they could get into big trouble,” said Schramm, adding that the potential for disease and skin problems is greater in fresh and brackish water. Schramm’s biggest fear is that the giant bay intruders will go the way of Humphrey, the famous 40-ton humpback who caused pandemonium in 1985 when he swam through the Carquinez Strait, up the Sacramento River and into a creek near Rio Vista. The Solano County city became the focal point of a whale craze, attracting 10,000 people a day as experts tried desperately to turn the lost animal around. The recent influx, experts said, may be the result of an unusual concentration of anchovies near shore — a phenomenon that also occurred last year, when fishermen and whaling boats reported large numbers of the cetaceans near the Golden Gate. Unlike gray whales, which generally make a beeline to Alaska, humpbacks slowly move north after giving birth in Mexico and Central America, feeding all along their migration route, Schramm said. Humpbacks are unique among whales, known for their complex vocalizations that sound like singing and for their acrobatic breaching, an apparently playful activity in which they lift nearly their entire bodies out of the water before splashing down. Marine scientists are looking at a variety of factors, including environmental changes, food distribution, predator behavior and the practices of the shipping industry.
Ken Graves, 74, known for distinctive street photographs, dies
Ken Graves, a street photographer whose black-and-white images captured all the color of San Francisco in the transition from the 1960s to the 1970s, has died suddenly at age 74. […] opening Saturday is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which has 21 works by Mr. Graves in its permanent collection. “It is both funny and a little odd, which is what a lot of Ken’s work was about, at that time,” said Sandra S. Phillips, senior curator of photography at SFMOMA. Mr. Graves had been invited to a preview party for the featured artists at SFMOMA a few weeks ago, but had by then become ill and was unable to attend. Off the street, Mr. Graves photographed the subcultures of competitive ballroom dancing, school proms, amateur prizefighters and the weird fraternal rituals ordinary men become involved in. Without telling his parents, he enlisted in the Navy in 1962 and served on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. After his release from active duty in 1966, he came home to study at the San Francisco Art Institute on the G.I. Bill. “I found myself, upon discharge, in a city and at a particular historical moment characterized by rebellion and protest against the dangers implicit in too much authority,” he later said. Mr. Graves received his bachelor of fine arts degree in 1970 from the art institute and his master of fine arts degree in 1971. After knocking around as a house painter, he was hired as a professor of art at Penn State University, where he taught undergraduates how to take pictures and then how to turn these pictures into handmade books. In 1985, Mr. Graves met Lipman, a Czech-born social worker and amateur ballroom dancer. Mr. Graves also became a collage artist, working in the same quirky themes, pasting together pictures from old magazines and medical books, always about men in unheroic circumstances. “The work captures intimate, magical moments of unabashed tendernesses amongst the protagonists in the photos,” said Jack Fischer, the gallery owner.
U.S. judge rules ex-dockworker’s disability is permanent
When a Bay Area dockworker took early retirement in 2002 because of constant pain from a knee injury suffered at work 15 years earlier, workers’ compensation judges classified his disability as “temporary” because it might be eased by future surgery. The former worker, Robert Carrion, is entitled to permanent disability benefits until he’s able to work again, if that ever occurs, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Carrion was a chassis mechanic for Matson Terminals in Oakland when he suffered a torn cartilage and ligament in his right knee in January 1987. The possibility of future surgery isn’t enough to reclassify a disability, the court said, because the operation might not work, the patient might decide against it, or future medical advances could lead to additional medical interventions.
Ethnic studies deal brings end to SF State hunger strike
Four hunger strikers called off their 10-day protest Wednesday at San Francisco State University after the school’s president agreed to provide an additional $480,000 in funding to the College of Ethnic Studies. After a four-hour meeting inside the administration building, the four students and President Leslie Wong signed an 18-point statement that also provides for hiring two new Africana studies professors, creating a program in Pacific Islander studies and “hopefully implementing” a requirement that all students take an ethnic studies class in order to graduate. Wong and the students also agreed to a “silent period” for the rest of the year, during which neither the administration nor the protesters will make public statements about the ethnic studies program. Kenneth Monteiro, dean of the College of Ethnic Studies, said budget restrictions meant he must consider dropping about 70 classes from the 170 or so he planned to offer in the coming school year.
4 S.F. supes now say Suhr shouldn’t remain as police chief
Supervisors Jane Kim, David Campos, John Avalos and Eric Mar said they had lost faith in Suhr’s ability to reform the department, changes that critics say are needed after a number of fatal police shootings and the revelation of racist text messages sent among some officers. While the sentiment of the four is not wholly surprising given their political stances — they are among the most progressive members of the Board of Supervisors — the chief had until now maintained the public support of the entire board. “He’s become a distraction to the department, and I think the police need a leader now more than ever and we should start the transition,” Kim said. The protests against the chief were driven by the racist text messages and the fatal police shootings of four minority men in the past two years. […] Suhr, a charismatic and popular figure both at City Hall and among the Police Department’s rank and file, said he was committed to staying on and reforming the department to emphasize de-escalation practices and violence prevention. […] the preliminary findings released Monday of a blue-ribbon panel of three judges created by District Attorney George Gascón to investigate bias in the police force appears to have changed minds. The panel found that the department had some outdated policies and that it does a poor job tracking officers’ conduct so it can root out problems, among other issues. “I don’t have a lot of confidence right now in his ability and commitment to lead the department to reform,” Avalos said. “Police reforms do not work unless the leader of the department wholeheartedly believes in them and can ensure that the rank and file strictly follow those policies,” she said. Supervisor Scott Wiener accused Kim — his opponent in the race for state Senate — of being motivated by a desire for media attention. Lee also said politics were at work: “The community has asked us to fast-track change and not put politics before police reforms and, unfortunately, that is exactly what this does,” the mayor said in a statement.
Daly City man, 77, fatally struck by motorcycle in SF
A 77-year-old Daly City resident was struck and killed Tuesday night by a man riding an electric motorcycle in San Francisco’s Parkmerced neighborhood, police said. The victim, identified by the city medical examiner as Gregory Konakis, was in a crosswalk at Brotherhood Way and Junipero Serra Boulevard around 10:25 p.m. when the motorcycle, driven by a 47-year-old man, plowed into him. The rider, who was not identified, was taken to a hospital with unspecified injuries and was expected to survive. The cyclist, who was not identified, suffered major head injuries, including a fractured skull, that were life-threatening, police said.
Study: Lack of funds stalls key Bay Area transportation projects
Lack of funds stalls key Bay Area transportation projects Political gridlock in Sacramento and Washington threatens to stall planned improvements to the Bay Area’s crowded and congested transportation system, according to a study released Wednesday by a national transportation research group. Just three of the Bay Area’s 20 most-critical transportation projects are fully funded, 11 have only partial funding and six aren’t likely to get enough money to even break ground until at least 2020, the report said. “When you look at the most critically needed projects, the ones that are going to keep the system moving and keep people safe, most of those don’t have the funds they need,” said Rocky Moretti, a spokesman for TRIP, which conducted the study. TRIP, which advocates for congestion-relieving projects, released the report in downtown San Francisco across the street from the Transbay Transit Center construction site, a project struggling to find funding for its second-phase: a Caltrain extension. The extension is among the mostly unfunded, and endangered, projects listed by the group along with reconstruction of the interchanges of Interstate 680 and Highway 4 in Martinez and of Interstates 80, 680 and Highway 12 in Solano County. […] unfunded or underfunded are BART improvements to increase capacity and service, the widening of Highway 152 heading from Gilroy toward the Central Valley and congestion-based pricing to reduce traffic in San Francisco. TRIP, a national transportation research group that advocates for congestion-relieving projects, used data from Caltrans and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, to choose the top 20 projects then ranked each either green, yellow or red, depending on their funding. “What makes TRIP’s assessment so valuable and so timely is that the report looks at the entirety of our transportation puzzle rather than just two or three pieces of it,” said Dave Cortese, MTC chairman and Santa Clara County supervisor. Critical projects all over the state are being shortchanged and threatened with delays because of the Legislature’s failure to find a way to fund transportation projects, said Will Kempton, executive director of Transportation California, a statewide transportation advocacy group and a former Caltrans director. “Giving a green light to critically needed transportation projects in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the state is going to require increased funding from all levels of government,” Will Wilkins, TRIP’s executive director, said in a statement. Unfortunately, too many of these transportation projects are facing yellow or red lights and potential state funding cuts could slow their progress even more. The Transbay Tube seismic retrofit for BART, Muni’s Central Subway and Transbay Terminal construction — all well under way — are the only projects given green rankings, meaning enough money is lined up. Maintenance of streets, roads and highways leads the top 20 list, and has a yellow ranking, signifying only partial funding. […] ranked yellow are the rest of the top five projects on TRIP’s list: region-wide improvements to the Bay Area’s largest transit systems, seismic retrofitting of the Golden Gate Bridge, construction of MTC’s planned express lane network, a BART extension to downtown San Jose and Santa Clara and infrastructure improvements at the Port of Oakland and former Oakland Army Base. TRIP chose the top projects, the organization said, based on their potential for relieving traffic congestion, improving safety, supporting economic development and improving physical conditions. TRIP, a national transportation research group, ranked the 20 most-needed Bay Area transportation projects and rated the sufficiency of their funding. Region-wide improvements to BART, Muni, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and AC Transit. Seismic retrofitting of Golden Gate Bridge. Infrastructure improvements at Port of Oakland and Oakland Army Base. BART Metro program to expand capacity, service on the central core of the system. Region-wide freeway ramp metering and other technological traffic management.
Haagen Dazs takes pandering to the next level with awful tech-themed BART ads
When marketing meets Silicon Valley, we all lose.
Gaping SF sinkhole expected to take 2 days to fix
A good-sized sinkhole in downtown San Francisco wowed onlookers early Wednesday as city crews got to work fixing the gaping crater that opened up during the evening commute the day before. Officials said it could take up to two days to fix the hole and get the streets reopened. “Holy moly – this is insane,” Cupertino resident Ryan Lee said early Wednesday morning on his way to meet a friend for breakfast in the city. Lee was one of scores of onlookers taking cell phone pictures of the growing spectacle that was first reported around 5 p.m. Tuesday when a sport utility vehicle got partially caught in the 9-foot-deep hole. No one in the SUV was injured and the motorist was able to drive away after getting a quick tow out of the pit. Like the others, that hole was caused by an old, broken pipe but was accelerated by the massive flow of water surging through the at-capacity main.
SFPD sergeant suspended for alleged sexual reference, ‘Negro boys’ comment
A San Francisco police sergeant who faces discipline and possible termination after two Bayview Station colleagues reported he had used offensive language allegedly said he had to “chase Negro boys around,” according to a source familiar with the internal affairs investigation. In a written statement, department officials said the officer had used inappropriate language with “racial and sexual undertones” in the “presence of two other employees,” and that his case had been forwarded to the city Police Commission “with a recommendation for discipline up to and including termination.” Civil rights activists and community leaders repeated the report, which prompted civil rights attorney John Burris to schedule a news conference Wednesday calling for state Attorney General Kamala Harris to conduct an investigation of the San Francisco force. The suspension was revealed last week, just before a blue-ribbon panel assembled by District Attorney George Gascón released preliminary findings saying that the Police Department lacked accountability and engages in “stop and frisk” tactics on the street that have drawn accusations of racial profiling around the country. Authorities are also reviewing more than 200 criminal cases that may be tainted because they were investigated by officers implicated in exchanging text messages since 2014 that included racial slurs and stereotypes about black, Latino, Indian, transgender and gay people. An earlier group of officers who exchanged racist and homophobic texts in 2012 are still employed by the department after winning a court ruling in December permitting them to keep their jobs and avoid discipline because police officials waited too long to act on misconduct allegations.
With reservoirs nearly full, EBMUD declares water emergency over
Nearly full reservoirs and a return to normal rain and snow patterns mean that the water emergency in the East Bay is over, the East Bay Municipal Utility District has decided. On a 7-0 vote, the board ruled on Tuesday that water supply levels were “normal,” suspended water rationing and also dropped the 25 percent drought surcharge on water bills, effective July 1. To cover water shortages over the past two years, the district spent $75 million to buy emergency water from other districts.
141-year-old sewer main breaks, leaving sinkhole in SF street
Mission Street between New Montgomery and Second Street in San Francisco will be closed off at least through Wednesday, and buses are being re-routed, after a gaping sinkhole opened up Tuesday when a sewer main broke apart after 141 years of service. No one was hurt when the sinkhole appeared around 5 p.m., though a minivan was briefly caught in the trap. “It’s a large sinkhole,” said Charles Sheehan, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. […] the 14 and 14R MUNI buses are being rerouted to Market Street, said Paul Rose, a Muni spokesman.
Nextdoor social site cracks down on fear-mongering
After finding itself an unlikely hub for racial fear-mongering, the social site Nextdoor.com says it is transforming into a model of respectful, neighborly conduct. No longer will suspicious neighbors be able to post their fears about a stranger based on that person’s color or ethnicity, Nextdoor’s chief executive Nirav Tolia told Oakland city officials and neighborhood activists who have demanded that the company change the site to prevent racial profiling. The 5-year-old San Francisco company is a free neighborhood bulletin board where locals trade tips about plumbers, gossip about new shops, and alert each other about break-ins. In October, a group called Neighbors for Racial Justice said Nextdoor was also being used for something else: airing suspicions — generally about people of color — who were committing no crimes. Since November, the site has also let users flag posts as “racial profiling,” which are removed.
SF sheriff responds to complaints of force against journalists
San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said Tuesday she wants to change the city’s press credentialing system after four journalists said they were injured while trying to cover a demonstration Friday night inside City Hall. The four journalists — two San Francisco City College students, one San Francisco State University student and one 48hills.org reporter — filed formal complaints against the sheriff’s office over injuries they sustained while reporting on the raucous protest that called for the firing of Police Chief Greg Suhr and resulted in 33 detentions and citations. In a confrontation caught on video, City College third-year student Natasha Dangond was struck on the head by a baton as someone shouted “that’s the media!” and her boyfriend pulled her over a desk and away from sheriff’s deputies. Hennessy said the city’s press credentialing system needs fixing, especially in terms of recognizing those in alternative media, blogs and community newspapers as legitimate members of the press.
SF State hunger striker hospitalized
Hunger striker Julia Retzlaff, 19, was rushed to a hospital around 10:30 p.m. after complaining of chest pains, according to an online post from Defend and Advance Ethnic Studies at SF State. A photo posted by supporters on Facebook showed the student in a hospital gown with one hand raised in a fist and the other connected to an IV. Retzlaff and her fellow hunger strikers — Ahkeel Andres Mestayer, 20, Hassani Bell, 18, and Sachiel Rosen, 19 — have gone without solid food for nine days and counting to protest steep cuts in funding to the College of Ethnic Studies. Kenneth Monteiro, dean of the ethnic studies college, said he must consider dropping about 70 classes from the 170 or so he planned to offer in the upcoming school year if the college receives less funding. The school’s administration caught wind of Retzlaff’s hospitalization and was worried about the well-being of the protesters, university spokesman Jonathan Morales said Tuesday. The school was using emergency funds to cover the budget deficit for the current academic year and next year but may stop covering the deficit after that.
State Fish and Game Commission gets new director amid debate on priorities
The California Fish and Game Commission has hired Valerie Termini, a policy adviser at the California Ocean Protection Council, to serve as executive director. The Fish and Game Commission advises the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on conservation practices and helps develop policies, including setting hunting and fishing regulations. Officials at the Department of Fish and Wildlife praised Termini as an informed conservation leader who is well positioned to move the agency and California’s wildland and ocean management forward. The latest to leave was Jim Kellogg, an avid hunter and fisherman who resigned out of concern that the commission was losing people who support the traditions of sportsmen. Over the past few years, the sport community has come out on the losing end of several decisions, including bans on bobcat hunting and lead bullets. In the future, the commission is likely to play a role in such issues as managing growing populations of wolves, coyotes and mountain lions as well as overseeing dwindling numbers of salmon and marine mammals. Environmental groups have praised the recent opinions of the commission, noting the growing pressures of development, climate change and drought on wildlife and stressing the need for greater protections. Termini, who will be the first woman to head the agency when she starts May 16, will not vote on commission issues but will lead the research that is offered to commissioners to make their decisions.
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