Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Fracking for oil and natural gas has led to a massive increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma, and the state now leads the nation in the number of temblors each year, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. In 2014, Oklahoma registered three times as many earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher as California, and even had more than Alaska, the nation’s traditional leader for quakes. Until the fracking boom began in 2009, earthquakes were uncommon in Oklahoma.
2. Thousands of climate protesters marched in Oakland on Saturday, denouncing Governor Jerry Brown’s embrace of fracking in the state, the Chron reports. In addition to triggering earthquakes, fracking for fossil fuels pollutes groundwater and creates air pollution.
[jump] 3. The ongoing labor dispute at the Port of Oakland and other West Coast ports deepened over the weekend, when shipping companies announced that they would no longer pay overtime for weekend work, the Chron reports. Port workers have been engaging in a slow-down in protest of safety conditions.
4. The Oakland police union is demanding an audit of the city’s technology department, because it allegedly screwed up a multimillion-dollar software upgrade that impacts OPD, the Trib$ reports.
5. A Kensington cop who had his gun and badge stolen during an encounter with a prostitute in Reno did not lose his job — and wasn’t even disciplined until a Bay Area News Group reporter started asking questions.
6. Tax experts say US Senator Barbara Boxer’s plan with Tea Party Republican Rand Paul to create a tax holiday for large corporations that park their profits overseas is a bad idea and will only increase the use of offshore tax havens in the future, the Chron reports. Boxer and Paul want to use the proceeds from a tax holiday to pay for highway repairs nationwide.
7. A trove of emails shows that PUC Commissioner Mike Florio had a cozier relationship with PG&E officials than previously thought, the Chron reports. Fellow commissioner Michael Peevey has already stepped down because of the PG&E scandal.
8. And new research shows that anti-vaxxers are more likely to believe anonymous comments on news stories about vaccines than expert opinions from doctors, the Washington Post$ reports.
1. Fracking for oil and natural gas has led to a massive increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma, and the state now leads the nation in the number of temblors each year, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. In 2014, Oklahoma registered three times as many earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher as California, and even had more than Alaska, the nation’s traditional leader for quakes. Until the fracking boom began in 2009, earthquakes were uncommon in Oklahoma.
2. Thousands of climate protesters marched in Oakland on Saturday, denouncing Governor Jerry Brown’s embrace of fracking in the state, the Chron reports. In addition to triggering earthquakes, fracking for fossil fuels pollutes groundwater and creates air pollution.
[jump] 3. The ongoing labor dispute at the Port of Oakland and other West Coast ports deepened over the weekend, when shipping companies announced that they would no longer pay overtime for weekend work, the Chron reports. Port workers have been engaging in a slow-down in protest of safety conditions.
4. The Oakland police union is demanding an audit of the city’s technology department, because it allegedly screwed up a multimillion-dollar software upgrade that impacts OPD, the Trib$ reports.
5. A Kensington cop who had his gun and badge stolen during an encounter with a prostitute in Reno did not lose his job — and wasn’t even disciplined until a Bay Area News Group reporter started asking questions.
6. Tax experts say US Senator Barbara Boxer’s plan with Tea Party Republican Rand Paul to create a tax holiday for large corporations that park their profits overseas is a bad idea and will only increase the use of offshore tax havens in the future, the Chron reports. Boxer and Paul want to use the proceeds from a tax holiday to pay for highway repairs nationwide.
7. A trove of emails shows that PUC Commissioner Mike Florio had a cozier relationship with PG&E officials than previously thought, the Chron reports. Fellow commissioner Michael Peevey has already stepped down because of the PG&E scandal.
8. And new research shows that anti-vaxxers are more likely to believe anonymous comments on news stories about vaccines than expert opinions from doctors, the Washington Post$ reports.