- Yosemite climbers near goal in historic ascent of El Capitan (San Jose Mercury News):
Two fearless dreamers who have captured the nation's attention with their monumental climb reached the upper ledges of Yosemite's El Capitan late Tuesday evening, just a few finger holds away from history. By Wednesday afternoon, it's expected they will have carved another historical notch into the shimmering white granite where so many of rock climbing's famed feats have occurred over the past half-century. Full story (And also see: El Cap Report, the San Francisco Chronicle and National Geographic)
- Huge delays on BART after apparent suicide at Powell Street station (San Francisco Chronicle):
BART service in San Francisco was brought to a near-halt Wednesday morning after a man jumped in front of a train at the Powell Street Station and was killed, officials said. The man jumped onto the tracks in the eastbound direction at 7:55 a.m. BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said in a tweet that “limited trains are traveling to S.F. Many trains are turning back throughout system.” Full story
- Oakland to pay $1.36 million to settle another Occupy Oakland protest case (San Francisco Chronicle):
A federal magistrate tentatively approved a $1.3 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by Occupy Oakland protesters who said they were corralled by police outside the downtown YMCA before being unfairly arrested and held in jail for hours. In signing off on the deal last week, U.S. Magistrate Nathanael Cousins in San Francisco also granted preliminary class-action status, meaning the eight plaintiffs who sued the city of Oakland and Alameda County would share the money with roughly 400 people who allege they were unlawfully arrested on Jan. 28, 2012. Full story
- 'Top two' primary could pose challenge for Harris' Senate run (Bay Area News Group):
California Attorney General Kamala Harris immediately became the candidate to beat Tuesday after becoming the first politician to jump into the race to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer. But being a well-funded front-runner will be a lot less comforting in California's political world in 2016. Harris' biggest fear might be that a crowded field -- especially one packed with Democrats with similar views and supporters -- will become a complicated and fractious fight that allows other candidates to slip past her in the anything-can-happen "top-two" primary. Full story
- California: Dry, dry, dry and likely to stay that way (Capital Public Radio):
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the drought that started in 2011 in California will linger into summer. NOAA reports that after nearly four years of drought, the California water deficit can only be made up by "epic amounts of rain and snow" and that isn't likely to happen. Full story
- San Francisco far behind New York in units used as second homes (San Francisco Business Times):
Some San Francisco affordable housing activists have said that the new luxury high-rise towers sprouting throughout the city are catering to wealthy folks who don't even live in the city full-time, but rather use these units as second homes. With spiraling housing prices, advocates argue, every unit should go to house the city's increasingly squeezed workforce rather than sit mostly vacant when absentee owners aren't using them. The New York Times explored the issue of absentee Manhattan owners recently and found as many as one in four apartments in the city aren't used as primary residences. San Francisco's housing, in contrast, appears to be occupied overwhelmingly by locals and very few units sit empty. Full story
- New wild wolf spotted near Oregon-California border (Sacramento Bee):
Another adult gray wolf is roaming territory in Oregon near the California border, joining the famous wolf known as OR7, which has established a pack in the area. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on Tuesday announced the arrival of the latest wolf. It also released a photograph from a remote trail camera. The blurry photo shows an adult gray canine with its head just outside the frame. Full story
- Al Bendich, attorney who defended Lenny Bruce and 'Howl,' dies at 85 (New York Times):
Al Bendich, a lawyer who successfully defended the right to free speech in two landmark midcentury obscenity cases — involving Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl and Lenny Bruce’s nightclub act — died on Jan. 5 in Oakland. Bendich was the last living member of the defense team in the Howl case, in which the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who had published and sold Howl in book form, stood trial in San Francisco in 1957. He was the sole defense lawyer in the first of Bruce’s obscenity trials, in San Francisco in 1962. Full story
- 'I Owe It All to Community College' (New York Times):
In 1974, I graduated from Skyline High School in Oakland, an underachieving student with lousy SAT scores. Allowed to send my results to three colleges, I chose M.I.T. and Villanova, knowing such fine schools would never accept a student like me but hoping they’d toss some car stickers my way for taking a shot. I couldn’t afford tuition for college anyway. I sent my final set of stats to Chabot, a community college in nearby Hayward, Calif., which, because it accepted everyone and was free, would be my alma mater. Full story
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