- Workday shares debut stunningly higher than IPO price (SJ Mercury News)
After Workday received a payday of more than $600 million, investors who did not buy into the initial public offering received their opportunity Friday to weigh in on the biggest tech debut since Facebook. Reviews were incredibly positive, with shares in the cloud software company debuting 71.6 percent higher than the IPO price. The Pleasanton-based successor to PeopleSoft sold nearly 28 million shares Thursday for $28 apiece -- higher than the company had indicated just two days before -- putting at least $637 million in the company's coffers and establishing an initial valuation of about $4.5 billion.
- Moraga teen denied Eagle Scout tells 'Ellen' Scout leader knew he was gay (Oakland Tribune)
A Moraga teen who was denied Eagle Scout status and soon kicked out of the Boy Scouts after declaring he is gay appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Thursday to tell his story, including how he was initially told that his sexual orientation wouldn't be an obstacle. He also talked about the flood of support he has received since going public, helped in large part by his mother's online campaign for policy changes in Boy Scouts of America. That support also came in the form an oversized $20,000 college scholarship check from the photo-publishing website Shutterfly, which was presented to him on-air by DeGeneres herself.
- Mirkarimi fight leaves deep political scars (SF Chronicle)
San Francisco is a city divided, and few at City Hall have emerged politically unscathed from Mayor Ed Lee's failed effort to oust Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for official misconduct, political observers say. "To be honest, I think everybody kind of lost," Corey Cook, a political scientist at the University of San Francisco, said Thursday. "This is pretty ugly. It's hard to say that anybody really won."
- Tower shadow won't hurt parks, panel says (SF Chronicle)
Eight downtown-area parks may have to spend some time in the dark now that both the Planning and the Recreation and Park commissions have agreed that the shadow of the proposed 1,070-foot-tall Transbay Tower at 101 First St. won't have a significant or adverse impact on those public spaces. The decision, made at a joint meeting of the two commissions Thursday, changes the rules for new shadows on city parks. While 1984's Proposition K, known as the sunlight ordinance, essentially barred construction of any new building taller than 40 feet that cast shadows on city parks and playgrounds, the rules implementing the initiative measure were adopted by the Recreation and Park Commission in 1989.
- Space shuttle Endeavour on the move through Los Angeles -- at 2 mph (SJ Mercury News)
The space shuttle Endeavour started its slow trip to the California Science Center this morning, pulling out of a Los Angeles International Airport hangar on a special transporter in the dark of night. The 122-foot-long retired orbiter hit public streets about 2:30 am. and inched toward Westchester. Its 2-mph journey through Los Angeles and Inglewood isn't expected to wrap up until 9 p.m. Saturday, when the Endeavour should finally reach the California Science Center in Exposition Park.
In California schools' test scores, state sees success while feds' No Child Left Behind act sees growing failure (SJ Mercury News)
California schools continued their steady gains in achievement, and for the first time more than half of them met the state's target score, according to California's annual index of school achievement released Thursday... The statewide numbers offered some encouraging trends: Black and Latino students made greater gains than did white and Asian students but still lag far behind in scores.... But the slew of scores released also highlighted the stark divergence between state and federal scores. Even while more schools are meeting state targets, more of them are missing federal ones.
Judge expected to throw out Sgt. Derwin Longmire's discrimination suit against Oakland (Oakland Tribune)
A Superior Court judge has tentatively thrown out a discrimination suit against Oakland and two police commanders brought by a former homicide detective who claimed internal investigations of how he probed the 2007 murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey were motivated by religious and racial prejudice. Alameda County Judge John True, writing in a tentative decision released late Wednesday, rejected the claims of Sgt. Derwin Longmire that he was discriminated against because Police Chief Howard Jordan and others believed he was a Black Muslim and sympathetic to members of Your Black Muslim Bakery.
Muni expects $942 million in Central Subway funding (SF Examiner)
Muni’s controversial $1.6 billion Central Subway project is poised to receive a long-awaited $942 million federal grant today, a move that will finally secure full funding for construction. On Wednesday, the federal Department of Transportation issued a notice that it would make a “major funding announcement” today regarding the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni. Sources on Wednesday confirmed that it would be the Full Funding Grant Agreement.