8 Stories You Should Know About Wednesday

Snow levels that didn’t quite measure up turned a snowshoe party in the Sierra into an exercise in hand-wringing on Tuesday as it became clear that recent storms have done little to end California’s historic drought. The snowpack is only 50 percent of normal across the Sierra and reservoir levels are still well below the average for this time of year, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The cold facts came out almost in defiance of the heavy snow that fell on department workers as they tromped around Tuesday near Echo Summit taking measurements for the winter’s first snow survey. Full story

A weather front bearing what is predicted to be one of the coldest nights of 2014 blew in with a vengeance Tuesday afternoon, knocking out power, shutting transportation routes throughout the Bay Area, and raising fears for the safety of the homeless as temperatures fall below freezing. Winds knocked out power to 40,000 PG&E customers while fallen trees, branches and wires blocked roads and public transit throughout the Bay Area by Tuesday afternoon. BART suffered systemwide shutdowns, officials said, creating major headaches for commuters beginning their evening treks home, particularly in San Francisco and Oakland. Caltrain also suffered delays. Full story

Deaths due to influenza and pneumonia have hit “epidemic” levels in the U.S. as flu activity became widespread in 36 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Officials reported 837 flu and pneumonia deaths to the CDC through its 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System during the 51st week of the year. Those deaths accounted for 6.8% of the 12,358 total deaths that week, just meeting the epidemic threshold. Full story

(T)he city is bracing itself (and you) for another long night of demonstrations, and if history is any indication, the evening will begin peacefully and evolve into late-night wrongdoing. Thus, city leaders are circulating another bulletin today, warning businesses, residents, and now revelers to be ready for some chaos in downtown (Wednesday) night. Occupy Oakland tweeted out the news saying that it and its followers will meet at Broadway and 14th streets at 9 p.m. sharp for a #blacklivesmatter demonstration. Full story

Apple has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that it doesn’t inform users just how much storage its new operating system will eat up – and then prods them to buy more space through its iCloud service. The case, filed in the Bay Area’s federal court on Tuesday, claims iOS 8 can take up as much as 23.1 percent of the advertised storage capacity on Apple gadgets, but few users realize that when they make their purchases. Seeking damages and changes to Apple policies under California state law, plaintiffs hope to represent sweeping classes of users who bought Apple gadgets with iOS 8 already installed and users who upgraded to the latest version of the software. Full story

A memorial fund for a beloved educator killed in a bike accident in Contra Costa County on Saturday raised nearly $50,000 in its first 24 hours. Herman Shum, 40, an active bicyclist who was an assistant principal at Saint Mary's College High School in Berkeley, died Saturday around 9:15 a.m. on Highland Road between Livermore and San Ramon. He had swerved to avoid another bicycle crash ahead of him and fell into an oncoming truck. Full story

Dismayed. Frustrated. Disappointed. City Attorney Dennis Herrera is all of these, according to a letter he sent this week to Planning Department Director John Rahaim. What’s got Herrera so peeved? The apparent continued delay by Rahaim and his staff in holding Academy of Art University accountable for multiple zoning violations. Full story

At least one former employee of Sony Corp. may have helped hackers orchestrate the cyberattack on the company’s film and TV unit, according to security researcher Norse Corp. The San Francisco company narrowed the list of suspects to six people, including at least one Sony veteran with the necessary technical background to carry out the attack, said Kurt Stammberger, senior vice president at Norse. The company used Sony’s leaked human-resources documents and cross-referenced the data with communications on hacker chat rooms and its own network of Web sensors, he said. Full story