1. Prosecutors have filed murder charges against a nineteen-year-old man in the fatal shooting of an Oakland mom who was trying to protect her kids when she was caught in the crossfire of a brazen gunbattle earlier this week, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. The suspect, Anthony Sims of Oakland, was also injured in the shootout that killed Chyemil Pierce. Police said the gunbattle ignited after two groups of women got in a brawl on the street, and then men arrived and started firing.
2. California has just one year of water supplies left and the state is failing to act decisively to keep from running out, writes Jay Famiglietti, the senior water scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, in a LA Times$ op-ed. Famiglietti, who is also a professor of Earth system science at UC Irvine, states that California should enact mandatory and strict water rationing statewide before it’s too late. California has no backup plan for when water supplies run out.
3. California water officials, however, have no plans to enact strict rationing — instead the Chron$ reports that they’re considering a proposal to fine water wasters up to $500 per violation. Households also may be limited to two days a week of outdoor watering, and restaurants might be prohibited from serving water unless a customer wants a glass.
5. San Francisco-based developer, Carmel Partners, paid $20 million for property in Oakland’s Jack London District and plans to build a 300-unit, mid-rise housing project, the Trib$ reports. The project would include the demolition of Cost Plus headquarters at Jackson, Madison, Fourth and Fifth streets.
