- Labor march could affect LA airport travelers (SF Chronicle)
A labor march could delay Thanksgiving eve travelers at Los Angeles International Airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Members of the Service Employees International Union are expected to march between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday outside the Century Boulevard entrance to the airport. The union is in a dispute with an airport services company that no longer has SEIU contracts.
- Black Thursday: Stores opening even earlier this year is the new norm (SJ Mercury News)
The furious competition among retailers to one-up each other with bigger and earlier Black Friday sales may turn Thanksgiving dinner into a quick turkey sandwich. While the holiday shopping season traditionally kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, the push to sell holiday presents is moving earlier and earlier. Now big retailers have laid claim to Thanksgiving evening and some Bay Area malls are opening at midnight for the first time, leaving some to wonder if the traditional family holiday will disappear as more consumers are lured by big discounts and aggressive retail advertising.
- New San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is officially holding its own weight (Oakland Tribune)
The new Bay Bridge surpassed a herculean milestone Tuesday as engineers and contractors announced the world's longest self-anchored suspension span is officially holding its own weight.
"There is, it is fair to say, a big collective sigh of relief from all the engineers working on this project," said Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Steve Heminger, who leads one of the three agencies overseeing the $6.4 billion construction project. - S.F. barely passes public-nudity ban (SF Chronicle)
Undressing in public will likely no longer go unpunished in San Francisco, as the Board of Supervisors voted by the barest of margins Tuesday to ban public nudity. Derided by nudity defenders as an attack on personal expression and supported by others who've had enough of seeing those who let it all hang out, the legislation bans genital exposure on all city sidewalks, plazas, parklets, streets and public transit.
- Thanksgiving holiday closures, mass transit schedules (SF Chronicle)
Federal, state courts and offices Closed Thursday. State courts and offices closed Friday; federal courts closed; some offices open.
City and county offices Closed both days.
Banks, savings institutions Closed Thursday, open Friday. - SF supervisors back micro-apartments
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to give pint-size apartments a try, approving legislation that would allow for the construction of hundreds of 220-square-foot residential units.
Up to two people will be allowed to live in the micro-apartments, which legislation sponsor Supervisor Scott Wiener said would help those who want to live alone but can't afford most of the studio apartments on the market. - California elected officials set to take pay cut (Sacramento Bee)
California elected officials from governor to legislator will see their pay cut by thousands of dollars next month under decisions made by appointees of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Effective Dec. 3, Gov. Jerry Brown's pay will drop to $165,288. Legislators will be paid $90,526, legislative leaders $104,105. Salaries for constitutional officers from attorney general to secretary of state will range from $143,571 to $123,965.
Santa Clara Co Board President Shirakawa decries attacks against alleged credit card abuse as 'political lynching' (SJ Mercury News)
Santa Clara County Board President George Shirakawa, under fire for thousands of dollars of questionable credit card spending of taxpayer money, on Tuesday called the reports of his alleged financial improprieties a "political lynching," and urged the public to essentially ignore the accusations against him. "Much has been written in the past about my personal office's P-card usage, and I wanted to tell you ... don't let this be a distraction," he said in his first public comments about the purported misspending, directed to his four board colleagues at a regularly scheduled board meeting.
Pleasanton: Police commander's wife, suspect in elder fraud case, turns herself in (Contra Costa Times)
The wife of a former police commander suspected of conspiring with her husband to defraud an elderly Pleasanton woman has surrendered to authorities, police said Tuesday. Elizabeth Regalado, 30, turned herself in at Hayward police headquarters on Friday, Pleasanton police Sgt. Kurt Schlehuber said. She was charged with one count of felony conspiracy to defraud her 82-year-old neighbor, Schlehuber said.