Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Nearly 1 million Americans enrolled in Obamacare in December, pushing the total number of signups to more than 2 million nationwide, the Washington Post$ reports. The surge in signups came after the administration made fixes to the problem-plagued federal website. The total enrollment, however, fell short of the White House’s goal of 3.3 million. The enrollees to date will be eligible to receive private health insurance as of January 1, and uninsured consumers have until March 31 to sign up for Obamacare or face fines.
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2. Jean Quan has a ten-point lead in the latest Oakland mayoral poll, the Trib reports, citing a new survey from the Oakland Jobs and Housing Coalition. Quan leads challenger Joe Tuman, 32 percent to 22 percent, with Councilmember Libby Schaaf trailing in third place with 16 percent. However, the poll also showed that Quan’s lead evaporates if Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan gets into the race. In that scenario, Kaplan would be ahead with 26 percent to Quan’s 20 percent, followed by Tuman at 17 percent and Schaaf at 15 percent.
3. AC Transit bus drivers approved a contract agreement with management, thereby ending a months-long dispute, the Chron reports. The deal calls for a 9.5 percent raise over three years. The vote followed two previous ones in which drivers had rejected agreements that their own negotiating team had reached with the agency.
4. The true cost of Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant water tunnels could be as high as $67 billion, when factoring in interest payments, the Mercury News$ reports. Brown’s administration had maintained that the project will cost $25 billion.
5. And the family of Jahi McMath has until 5 p.m. today to find a medical facility that will accept the brain-dead teen or Children’s Hospital Oakland will be allowed to take the 13-year-old off of a ventilator, the Bay Area News Group$ reports.
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