Rain! The National Weather Service says a wet storm will move into Sonoma County Thursday night and spread rain across the entire region Friday. Forecast details.
- PG&E wields influence at CPUC, now described as 'rogue agency' (Contra Costa Times):
What's being described as the "pervasive" influence of PG&E with the state Public Utilities Commission extended well beyond disgraced former PUC President Michael Peevey and included other commissioners and top PUC staffers. That's the conclusion of Bay Area political leaders, state legislators and a former PUC official who have reviewed a sampling of the 65,000 emails released by PG&E late Friday. Full story
- State let oil drillers taint drinkable water in Central Valley (San Francisco Chronicle):
Oil companies in drought-ravaged California have, for years, pumped wastewater from their operations into aquifers that had been clean enough for people to drink. They did it with explicit permission from state regulators, who were supposed to protect the increasingly strained groundwater supplies from contamination. Full story
- California's water czar doesn't wait for shower to heat up (Sacramento Bee):
Felicia Marcus gets in the shower when it’s still cold. As full-time chair of California’s State Water Resources Control Board, Marcus has a key role in how California stewards its finite resources during a devastating drought. So Marcus can hardly let precious water wash down the drain while she waits for the shower to heat up. Full story
- The fire on the 57 bus in Oakland (New York Times):
It was close to 5 o’clock on the afternoon of Nov. 4, 2013, and Sasha Fleischman was riding the 57 bus home from school. An 18-year-old senior at a small private high school, Sasha wore a T-shirt, a black fleece jacket, a gray newsboy cap and a gauzy white skirt. For much of the long bus ride through Oakland, Calif., Sasha — who identifies as agender, neither male nor female — had been reading a paperback copy of “Anna Karenina,” but eventually the teenager drifted into sleep, skirt draped over the edge of the bus seat. Full story
- Measles outbreak raises fury over California's vaccine exemptions (San Jose Mercury News):
California's permissive vaccine law is under fire as the state struggles to contain an expanding outbreak of measles, a once-controlled infectious disease that has sickened more than 90 people across the state and threatens many more. While state law requires parents to immunize their children, easy-to-obtain exemptions are leaving tens of thousands of schoolchildren unvaccinated -- and that puts others at risk, experts say. Full story
- Chris Christie: Parents should have choice about vaccinations (Associated Press):
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a likely Republican candidate for president, said Monday that parents should have some choice on whether to vaccinate their children. Christie, speaking after a tour of a biomedical research center in England, said he and his wife had vaccinated their children, describing that decision as "the best expression I can give you of my opinion." But he added: "I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. So that's the balance that the government has to decide." Full story
- Section of Mount Diablo State Park closed to give peregrine falcons some room to do their thing (Inside Bay Area):
A portion of Mt. Diablo State Park in Contra Costa County will be closed to the public for five months to allow for the nesting season of a protected species, according to the East Bay Regional Park District. The closure started Sunday. American peregrine falcons have been nesting in the Castle Rock area of the park since the late 1800s, park district officials said. Full story
- Another Mission District bookstore bites the dust -- not because of high rents (SF Weekly):
Borderlands Books says the city's minimum-wage law, not a rent increase, will force it to shut its doors. Full story
- Depressed groundhog sees shadow of rodent he once was (The Onion):
According to sources, clinically depressed groundhog and weather prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil awoke from his slumber this early morning, peered directly into his soul, and saw but a mere pathetic shadow of the rodent he once was. Full story