A.M. Splash: Children Under 8 Must Use Car Booster Seats Starting Sunday

A new state law requiring children younger than 8 to use car booster seats will become effective Sunday.Children younger than 8 also must be properly buckled into a car seat or booster seat, and in the back seat, according to a news release from the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Instructions on how to recycle Christmas trees in many Bay Area cities

Bicyclists and pedestrians will be sharing the east sidewalk of the Golden Gate Bridge for nearly three months starting in January due to trail restoration work, the latest in a series of construction projects on the famed span.

...Solyndra's bankruptcy prompted investigations by a congressional subcommittee and the Department of Justice. Thousands of e-mails from the government, the company and its investors have been made public. Four months later, the most sensational allegations - particularly those of cronyism - remain unproven, though the public documents do provide support for some of the accusations.

Zynga's unexpected IPO flop this month could be bad news for other Silicon Valley startups. With buzzed-about social media companies having failed so far to make a lasting impression on Wall Street, the bar for going public is likely to remain high. That could dampen the wealth-generating effect a raft of initial public offerings can have on Bay Area employment, housing prices and luxury auto dealership

Taxi passengers in The City are complaining about being left out in the cold by drivers who won’t take credit cards, despite a city law mandating the acceptance of plastic. Drivers have been up in arms about a new policy forcing them to pay 5 percent when they accept credit cards. To protest the policy, some tell passengers that they don’t accept credit cards, or that their card swiper is broken.

The Ross Valley Sanitary District board has given the agency's manager the green light to solicit bids for $1 million to $1.5 million in emergency pipe repairs even though it may have to borrow the money required to pay for the work. The board approved the work on a 4-1 vote Wednesday night. Board member Frank Egger cast the dissenting vote.

...An analysis of state data by The Bay Citizen revealed a large variation in how fifth graders in Bay Area elementary schools perform on the [2011 statewide Physical Fitness Test]. The schools that performed the best have few students from low-income families, for reasons that experts say are not surprising. At Sycamore Valley Elementary, in an affluent suburban community, not a single student was eligible to receive a free or reduced-price lunch because of low family income last year, according to the state’s data.

Fueled by a backlash against the wealthy, Gov. Jerry Brown and left-leaning groups want voters to tax the rich next November.Californians have shown strong support for the idea in polls so far, despite the fact that they haven't passed a statewide tax hike since 2004. Brown said this month "the only tax that's overwhelmingly popular is the tax on wealthier people."