By and | Bay Area News GroupOAKLAND — Two months before 36 people died in the Ghost Ship fire, an Oakland Fire Department employee entered the warehouse and observed exposed electrical wiring, recommending tenants fix the hazard, according to an amended lawsuit filed Wednesday by attorneys representing victim families.The 179-page amended lawsuit adds the city of Oakland, Alameda County and state of California to a growing list of defendents, and alleges the agencies failed in their duties to shut down the crowded fire trap and its illegal parties.There are a few new details including in...…By and | Bay Area News GroupOAKLAND — Two months before 36 people died in the Ghost Ship fire, an Oakland Fire Department employee entered the warehouse and observed exposed electrical wiring, recommending tenants fix the hazard, according to an amended lawsuit filed Wednesday by attorneys representing victim families.The 179-page amended lawsuit adds the city of Oakland, Alameda County and state of California to a growing list of defendents, and alleges the agencies failed in their duties to shut down the crowded fire trap and its illegal parties.There are a few new details including in...WW…

Traffic in the deserted Maze freeway complex near Oakland, March 2020. The pace of planned layoffs in the Bay Area has slowed dramatically so far in August compared with July -- but job cuts continue to jolt a wide array of industries amid renewed shutdowns linked to the coronavirus, official state filings show.The pace of planned layoffs in the Bay Area has slowed dramatically so far in August compared with July — but job cuts continue to jolt a wide array of industries amid renewed shutdowns linked to the coronavirus, official state filings show.Numerous Bay Area companies had attempted...…Traffic in the deserted Maze freeway complex near Oakland, March 2020. The pace of planned layoffs in the Bay Area has slowed dramatically so far in August compared with July -- but job cuts continue to jolt a wide array of industries amid renewed shutdowns linked to the coronavirus, official state filings show.The pace of planned layoffs in the Bay Area has slowed dramatically so far in August compared with July — but job cuts continue to jolt a wide array of industries amid renewed shutdowns linked to the coronavirus, official state filings show.Numerous Bay Area companies had attempted...WW…

GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupAn innovative strategy to house Santa Clara County’s sickest and most desperately struggling homeless residents is working, according to a new study, and the results could impact how agencies in the Bay Area and beyond address homelessness.New research by UCSF looks at Project Welcome Home, which was to target the most challenging of the area’s chronically homeless residents — those who are continually in and out of jail, hospital emergency rooms and emergency psychiatric wards. The...…GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupAn innovative strategy to house Santa Clara County’s sickest and most desperately struggling homeless residents is working, according to a new study, and the results could impact how agencies in the Bay Area and beyond address homelessness.New research by UCSF looks at Project Welcome Home, which was to target the most challenging of the area’s chronically homeless residents — those who are continually in and out of jail, hospital emergency rooms and emergency psychiatric wards. The...WW…

By | | Bay Area News GroupCalifornia’s finance department on Thursday put the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic in stark relief, forecasting a staggering $54.3 billion hole in the state budget that’s nearly three and a half times the size of California’s “rainy day” emergency reserves.The massive deficit marks a historic turnaround from the multi-billion dollar surplus expected at the beginning of the year, when California and the rest of the country rode high in an economy firing on all cylinders.Gov. Gavin Newsom, who ordered the country’s first statewide stay-home order March...…By | | Bay Area News GroupCalifornia’s finance department on Thursday put the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic in stark relief, forecasting a staggering $54.3 billion hole in the state budget that’s nearly three and a half times the size of California’s “rainy day” emergency reserves.The massive deficit marks a historic turnaround from the multi-billion dollar surplus expected at the beginning of the year, when California and the rest of the country rode high in an economy firing on all cylinders.Gov. Gavin Newsom, who ordered the country’s first statewide stay-home order March...WW…

GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupAmid Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scenario of a post-sheltering world, there are two chilling words: herd immunity.Tomorrow’s tableau — waiters with masks, distant desks, split-shift schools — will be the new normal, he told reporters in his Tuesday press briefing, “at least until we have herd immunity.”The phrase came up again as he explained what’s ahead, as “we begin to transition into suppression, ultimately, on our way to herd immunity” and a vaccine. He repeated it later, describing progress...…GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupAmid Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scenario of a post-sheltering world, there are two chilling words: herd immunity.Tomorrow’s tableau — waiters with masks, distant desks, split-shift schools — will be the new normal, he told reporters in his Tuesday press briefing, “at least until we have herd immunity.”The phrase came up again as he explained what’s ahead, as “we begin to transition into suppression, ultimately, on our way to herd immunity” and a vaccine. He repeated it later, describing progress...WW…

GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupThis was a silent spring for Bay Area residents, as COVID-19 trapped us indoors to wait, worry and whine.But outside, our birds re-discovered their most sexy serenades. The stage was all theirs.A first-ever acoustic comparison of avian songs before and during the springtime shutdown reveals that birds respond quickly when humans hush.They sang more softly — and these songs were faster, with a wider, lower and more romantic range of pitch, according to the study, published in .The sound levels...…GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupThis was a silent spring for Bay Area residents, as COVID-19 trapped us indoors to wait, worry and whine.But outside, our birds re-discovered their most sexy serenades. The stage was all theirs.A first-ever acoustic comparison of avian songs before and during the springtime shutdown reveals that birds respond quickly when humans hush.They sang more softly — and these songs were faster, with a wider, lower and more romantic range of pitch, according to the study, published in .The sound levels...WW…

By By Rishi Iyengar | CNNTwitter said on Wednesday it had restricted President Donald Trump’s campaign from tweeting after its account shared a video containing false claims about the coronavirus.The tweet, a video of Trump’s interview with Fox News in which he said children are “almost immune” to the virus, “is in violation of the Twitter Rules on Covid-19 misinformation,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. “The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again.”The account appeared to have the ability to tweet following Twitter’s statement, suggesting...…By By Rishi Iyengar | CNNTwitter said on Wednesday it had restricted President Donald Trump’s campaign from tweeting after its account shared a video containing false claims about the coronavirus.The tweet, a video of Trump’s interview with Fox News in which he said children are “almost immune” to the virus, “is in violation of the Twitter Rules on Covid-19 misinformation,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement. “The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again.”The account appeared to have the ability to tweet following Twitter’s statement, suggesting...WW…

By | Bay Area News GroupA consortium of South Bay city leaders are asking Santa Clara County officials to step up COVID-19 testing and contract tracing so schools and the economy can safely reopen, but the county executive cautioned against the idea of quick fixes, saying that addressing the pandemic will take “two to three years.”In a letter from the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, mayors and councilmembers of all 15 cities in the county requested “accelerated action to ramp up testing” from the county Board of Supervisors, Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody and County Executive Jeff...…By | Bay Area News GroupA consortium of South Bay city leaders are asking Santa Clara County officials to step up COVID-19 testing and contract tracing so schools and the economy can safely reopen, but the county executive cautioned against the idea of quick fixes, saying that addressing the pandemic will take “two to three years.”In a letter from the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, mayors and councilmembers of all 15 cities in the county requested “accelerated action to ramp up testing” from the county Board of Supervisors, Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody and County Executive Jeff...WW…

By | and | | Bay Area News GroupSAN JOSE — In what could signal a major shift in law-enforcement attitudes toward longstanding complaints about its use of violence, California’s largest police unions called Sunday for a reform agenda aimed at lessening the use of force, increasing accountability and rooting out racist police officers.In full-page ads in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, the Mercury News and the East Bay Times, the San Jose Police Officers Association, the San Francisco Police Officers Association and the Los Angeles Police Protective League...…By | and | | Bay Area News GroupSAN JOSE — In what could signal a major shift in law-enforcement attitudes toward longstanding complaints about its use of violence, California’s largest police unions called Sunday for a reform agenda aimed at lessening the use of force, increasing accountability and rooting out racist police officers.In full-page ads in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, the Mercury News and the East Bay Times, the San Jose Police Officers Association, the San Francisco Police Officers Association and the Los Angeles Police Protective League...WW…

As protests against the statewide stay-at-home order hit from Southern California to Sacramento Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom assured residents that California is “many days, not weeks” away from starting to gradually reopen.In an afternoon briefing, Newsom said that the state is edging closer to loosening restrictions than ever — even as he urged people to heed social distancing and local county orders.“I just want folks to know we’re close to making really meaningful augmentations to that stay at home order,” Newsom said, adding, “We’re getting very, very close to making some announcements...…As protests against the statewide stay-at-home order hit from Southern California to Sacramento Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom assured residents that California is “many days, not weeks” away from starting to gradually reopen.In an afternoon briefing, Newsom said that the state is edging closer to loosening restrictions than ever — even as he urged people to heed social distancing and local county orders.“I just want folks to know we’re close to making really meaningful augmentations to that stay at home order,” Newsom said, adding, “We’re getting very, very close to making some announcements...WW…