A.M. Splash: Bay Area Freeze; Port of Oakland Tries to Prevent Occupy Shutdown; Spike in SJPD Sick Days; 49ers Clinch NFC West

First fog, then wind and now freezing cold. Last week's Great Basin storm that brought thick fog and high winds to the Bay Area has now moved on, leaving a patch of chilly air most of the region.

The Port of Oakland, bracing for a blockade on Dec. 12, has sent an open letter to the community pleading to keep the facility open. In a full-page ad that ran Sunday in the Oakland Tribune, the Board of Port Commissioners calls the shutdown proposed by the Occupy movement a "bad idea." "Another shutdown will only make things worse--diverting cargo, tax revenue, and jobs to other communities. It will hurt working people and harm our community," according to the letter, signed by the board's president Pamela Calloway and two other members.

...[Jane] Kim and her fellow progressive supervisors have been big supporters of the Occupy movement and its right to camp out in Justin Herman Plaza. But the prospect of an Occupy takeover of an abandoned school site on Mission Street is bringing out the NIMBYs in force.

San Jose police officers are calling in sick far more than ever before -- and it's probably not just the sniffles. The yearlong, pronounced spike in sick time -- up an astonishing 40 percent from the year before -- comes during a stressful season of layoffs, pay cuts and talk of major pension reform. It's also occurring as the city is suffering its highest level of homicides in 14 years, even as the department has been slashed to its lowest staffing level in two decades.

Gov. Jerry Brown's public approval rating is still relatively high after almost a year in office, but it has slipped slightly, and the specter of additional spending cuts could erode it further, according to a new Field Poll.

Mayor Ed Lee will put his stamp on the largest component of San Francisco’s budget next year when most of The City’s labor contracts come up for renegotiation. When unions representing nurses, gardeners, engineers, lawyers, deputy sheriffs, public works employees and others sit down for contract talks, the bottom line will affect city finances for years to come.

San Rafael officials announced Friday that Diana Bishop, a captain in the Santa Clara Police Department, has been selected to be San Rafael s next chief of police. Bishop, 50, will be the first woman to run San Rafael s 87-employee department and will start her new job Jan. 9.

Although a proposed plastic bag ban has captured more attention, another zero-waste proposal has several cities up in arms: The Alameda County Waste Management Authority wants to make recycling mandatory and violators subject to penalties. That could mean fines of up to $1,000 for putting things like newspapers, aluminum cans and food scraps in the garbage instead of recycle and compost bins.

...On the day [49ers' quarterback Alex Smith] secured a playoff berth for the first time in his seven-season, 66-game career, he threw deep, and he threw deep and, at long last, he connected on a 52-yard, third-quarter pass to Michael Crabtree in a 26-0 win over the Rams that clinched San Francisco's first NFC West title since 2002.