Posts Tagged: San Francisco

News

Affordable housing crisis grips California

A view towards Palo Alto, Stanford and the cities of south San Francisco Bay, where housing is at a premium.(Photo: Sundry Photography)

California lawmakers are in midst of trying to solve a housing crisis that has spread throughout the state. The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development — an agency that works to expand access to affordable housing — says California has built an average of 80,000 homes a year for the past decade, which is less than half of the 180,000 new homes needed to keep up with the predicted population growth through 2025.

News

No kill: LA’s tale of cats and dogs

Out for a spin in L.A. with the family dog. (Photo: Oneinpunch, Shutterstock)

Los Angeles is close to becoming the largest U.S. city to achieve a “no kill” policy for healthy animals placed in municipal shelters. When the trial program launched in 2012, the “save rate” — a measurement that reflects the percentage of cats and dogs not euthanized — at L.A. city shelters was 57.7 percent. Through the first quarter of 2017, the save rate rose to 89.4 percent.

News

California pedestrian deaths decline — finally

Pedestrians crossing Hollywood Boulevard. (Photo: Sean Pavone)

Pedestrian deaths are on the rise throughout the nation, but California is bucking the trend. Preliminary data by the Governors Highway Safety Organization shows an increase in pedestrian fatalities throughout the United States, rising 12 percent to 5,997 in 2016. Yet California, home to the highest number of pedestrian deaths for years, is finally seeing a drop.

News

DMV, Judicial Council hit over fees

California drivers in a Los Angeles traffic jam.(Photo: ShutterStock)

A motorist who faced more than $1,600 in fines for a traffic violation is suing the Department of Motor Vehicles and the state Judicial Council in federal court, contending that millions of California drivers had their licenses suspended illegally because they were unable to pay spiraling fees. “Traffic courts in California routinely impose exorbitant penalty assessments, fines and fees on all traffic court cases over and above the statutory fines” required for public safety, the pending suit contends.

News

State targets ‘bubble boy’ syndrome

Young David Vetter, who died from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) in the 1990s. (Photo: Biotechnology and Society)

California’s stem cell agency is ready to award $20 million on Thursday to a UCLA researcher to assist in his 30-year search for a widely available cure for what has come to be known as the “bubble boy” syndrome– severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).

News

Death toll up for bicyclists, walkers

Bicyclists navigating the streets of San Francisco. (Photo: Can Balcioglu)

FairWarning: More Americans are bicycling or walking to work these days, but with little government investment in safety measures, such as protected bike lanes and sidewalks, more cyclists and pedestrians are getting killed. In San Francisco, the hit-and-run deaths of two female bicyclists in a single day in late June spurred community outrage and a plan to add 15 miles of protected bikeways, more than doubling the city’s current total.

News

Stem cell: Hunting a cure for diabetes

A liquid nitrogen bank containing a suspension of stem cells. (Photo: Elena Pavlovich)

An eminent Harvard stem cell researcher who is searching for a cure for an affliction that plagues 29 million Americans stood on a San Francisco stage this week and spoke of “things we don’t understand.” The scientist is Doug Melton, who is on a deeply personal quest for a cure for diabetes. Both of his children have the disease. And the state of California is helping out on his search with $5 million.

News

Politico sets sights on Sacramento

A screen-capture image from Politico's Twitter feed.

Politico, a Washington, D.C.-based news outlet, plans to expand its California presence by adding 34 full-time employees by the end of next year and an additional seven by 2020, according to state business officials.

News

Top two: Democrats feel the heat

A California ballot box. (Photo illustration, Hafakot, via Shutterstock)

California’s fledgling top-two voting system, which creates an open primary for all statewide candidates, could prove costly to Democrats in liberal districts while rewarding Republicans who lose. In heavily liberal areas in Northern California, voters could be presented with the choice of two Democrats and no Republicans in the general election.

Recent News

Whistleblower targets OSHA office in San Francisco

A safety inspector on the job. (Photo: BillionPhotos, via Shuttterstock)

FairWarning: The whistleblower claim filed last week with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel charges that the San Francisco regional office of OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program routinely dumped legitimate complaints. He contends his disclosures to senior OSHA and Labor Department officials -– all the way up to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez — “did not spark good faith corrective action.”

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