- Woman who died at Alta Bates may be victim of medical error not medication mistake (Oakland Tribune)
The 66-year-old cancer patient whose death has become a flash point during a Bay Area-wide lockout of nursing staff may have succumbed to the most basic of treatment errors: A replacement nurse apparently gave her a nutrient solution intravenously instead of through a feeding tube. Judith Ming's death originally was blamed on a medication error administered Friday evening by a temporary replacement nurse hired by a contractor to fill in for regular staff that was locked out after a strike Thursday at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.
- Affirmative action bake sale ruffles feathers at Cal (Contra Costa Times)
UC Berkeley's student Republicans' plans to hold a satirical anti-affirmative action bake sale have ruffled feathers across campus, sparking debate about discrimination and complaints about trying to quash alternate points of view. The Berkeley College Republicans planned the bake sale Tuesday on the school's Sproul Plaza to protest a simultaneous event by affirmative-action supporters.
- Witness: Oakland Police Shot Man in the Back (Bay Citizen)
A man killed by an Oakland police officer Sunday had his hands up to surrender at the time he was shot, according to witnesses, including an 11-year-old boy who saw the shooting from his bedroom window.
- Feds fear for safety of PG&E's gas system (SF Chronicle)
Much of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s natural-gas transmission system could be at risk of catastrophic failure, but the company's record-keeping system is so flawed that the true danger is impossible to determine, federal investigators said Monday in their final report on last year's San Bruno disaster.
- Emeryville-based realtor sued by state for $17 million (Oakland Tribune)
The state Department of Industrial Relations filed a $17 million lawsuit Monday against Emeryville-based ZipRealty, claiming the firm has failed to properly compensate its employees since at least 2006...According to the lawsuit, ZipRealty repeatedly refused to pay its real estate agents overtime, neglected to pay them for hours spent in mandatory training seminars, failed to pay a minimum wage and refused to pay employees who are fired or laid-off a final paycheck that fully covers the hours they worked.
- Gov. Jerry Brown signs 38 bills, vetoes 4 (SF Chronicle)
Gov. Jerry Brown signed 38 bills and vetoed four others on Monday, including a Republican-sponsored measure that would have mandated that one of the state's Air Resources Board members be a small-business owner.
- Looming budget cuts threaten San Jose's expansive solar plan (SJ Mercury News)
The gloomy financial forecast that has San Jose considering shuttering its branch libraries and community centers next summer could also claim another casualty: a money-saving solar project at the heart of Mayor Chuck Reed's clean-energy plan. The threatened closures could kill plans to install solar panels at no cost to the city on the roofs or parking lots at libraries and community centers.
- Controversy over San Francisco pregnancy center ads nears boiling point (SF Examiner)
San Francisco could be headed for a legal showdown over a proposed law targeting so-called crisis pregnancy centers that attempt to dissuade women from getting abortions. Supervisor Malia Cohen said her legislation aims to protect pregnant women who are led to believe certain pregnancy centers provide abortions or emergency contraception, only to find they don’t offer those services, and counsel against the procedure instead.
- Apple Sets iPhone Event Oct. 4 (Wall Street Journal)
Apple Inc. invited reporters to an iPhone-related event Oct. 4, setting the stage for the widely anticipated launch of its latest smartphone. On Tuesday, Apple sent reporters an email with the message, "Let's talk iPhone," inviting them to an event at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. Apple has traditionally held an event in the early fall to update iPod products, as well as its iTunes digital music jukebox software.
- Marin among counties that helped push state to record-high kindergarten vaccination exemptions (Marin Independent Journal)
Led in part by Marin County, last year's class of California kindergartners had a record high percentage of parents who used a personal belief exemption to avoid immunization requirements, a development that concerns state health officials. More than 11,000 kindergartners missed at least one vaccine in 2010 because their parents decided to forgo inoculation. At nearly 2.5 percent of the state's 470,000 kindergartners, that's California's highest rate of declined vaccines since at least 1978, the year before the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was required.