Morning Digest: 9 Stories You Should Know About Today

Aside from a few lingering showers today, a majority of the region will remain dry ahead of a developing upper level storm system offshore. This system will bring widespread rainfall, heavy at times, and a slight chance of thunderstorms to the San Francisco/Monterey Bay Area Tuesday and Wednesday as the low approaches the coast. Strong and locally gusty winds will be a possibility along the coast and in higher elevations Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Full story

The cherished coho salmon that historically wriggled their way past beachgoers up Redwood Creek into Muir Woods vanished this year and are now on the verge of extinction, prompting a last-ditch attempt by fisheries biologists to save the genetically unique species. No salmon eggs were spotted in the shade of the world-famous redwood grove this past winter, and not a single baby coho could be found in the summer. The situation was so bad in August that 105 juvenile salmon had to be removed from the creek and brought to a hatchery. Full story

In Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego, the only indication of the continuing drought — now among the worst in California’s recorded history — is the perpetually cloudless sky. Private lemon groves hark back to the area’s agricultural past, before it became home to some of Southern California’s wealthiest residents; horses roam through grassy pastures; palatial homes are surrounded by rolling grass lawns and, in at least one case, a three-hole putting green owned by the golfer Phil Mickelson. And all that greenery sucks down hundreds of gallons of water each day. Full story

While Richmond commanded a national spotlight as a key battleground in the debate over unlimited campaign spending, voters in economically depressed neighborhoods collectively shrugged on Election Day, an apathy that likely helped tilt the city's balance of power. And while the election results were interpreted by many as a rejection of Chevron Corp.'s campaign tactics, the turnout data indicate that many of the voters who might have been swayed by the oil giant's spending simply stayed home in a nonpresidential election year -- raising the question of whether such spending will be more effective in two years.Full story

For many online retailers, Cyber Monday is likely to be the peak shopping day of the year. To handle the onslaught of orders, Amazon has begun rolling out a new robot army. The Amazon order-fulfillment center in Tracy, Calif., is more than a million square feet — or 28 football fields, if you prefer — filled with orange and yellow bins flying this way and that on conveyor belts. Chances are, if you ordered a bunch of items in the San Francisco Bay Area recently, Amazon put that box together here. Full story

A resolution to rename the rainbow-striped Waldo Tunnel in Southern Marin after Robin Williams is expected to be introduced Monday by Assemblyman Marc Levine. D-San Rafael. "We have written the language of the resolution and are ready to introduce it," Levine said last week. ... Williams committed suicide Aug. 11 at his home in Tiburon. He was 63. Full story

Facing a delicate safety dilemma, San Jose leaders are set to decide whether to ban sidewalk bicycle riding downtown -- forcing anxious cyclists to share the road with cars so they don't pose a threat to pedestrians. The city is desperately trying to encourage its car-crazy citizenry to ride bicycles more often, but bike riders scared of getting seriously hurt or killed by drivers have been taking to the safety of downtown sidewalks at an astounding rate. That leaves the most unprotected of travelers -- walkers -- left to fend off occasionally aggressive bike riders who have also hit pedestrians. Full story

Rinse and repeat — that’s how environmental groups are responding to their narrow defeat this year in the California Legislature on a bill to ban microbeads, the tiny plastic particles in a wide variety of skin cleansing products. Next year, expect to see a second application in California at banning the bead, said Stiv Wilson, associate director of the 5 Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, which studies marine plastic debris and is backing bills that phase out microbeads. Full story

The two-year legal battle over the future of Drakes Bay Oyster Co. appears headed for closure with U.S. Department of Interior attorneys seeking dismissal of a related case that a federal judge is virtually certain to grant. Full story