Monday Must Reads: Toxic Algae Threatens Dungeness Crab Season; Bay Bridge Bike Path Delayed, Again

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. A massive toxic algae bloom off the West Coast is threatening to delay this year’s Dungeness crab season, the Chron reports. Scientists are concerned about the neurotoxin domoic acid being present in this year’s crab harvest. If consumed by humans, domoic acid can cause memory loss, seizures, and even death. The toxin also can’t be killed by boiling crabs in water. The algae bloom is likely caused by extraordinarily high ocean temperatures.

2. The Bay Bridge bike path connector to Treasure Island likely will not be open by the end of the year as promised by Caltrans, the Chron$ reports. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority predicts that the connector will not open until next summer. Currently, the bridge bike path stops before Yerba Buena and Treasure islands.


[jump] 3. Mayor Libby Schaaf’s administration plans to submit a new plan for an Oakland Raiders stadium in a few weeks, the Chron$ reports. The plan is being developed with consultant Mitchell Ziets from Tipping Point Sports of New York. The Raiders face a $400 million financing shortfall for a new stadium, and Schaaf has vowed to only use public dollars for infrastructure upgrades in and around the Coliseum site.

4. Governor Jerry Brown declared that California is facing “the worst epidemic of tree mortality” in the state’s modern history, the SacBee$ reports. The mass die-off of millions of trees is due to the punishing four-year drought and a deadly bark beetle infestation.

5. A wind company whose turbines have been shredding thousands of birds to death in the Altamont Pass announced that it’s shutting down operations, the CoCo Times$ reports. Altamont Winds operates about eight hundred older turbines that kill lots of birds and is refusing to upgrade to newer ones that are much safer.

6. And new Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a series of TV interviews yesterday that he will not work with the Obama administration on immigration reform — a move that surely endear him to hardline conservatives, The New York Times$ reports.