Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Children’s Hospital Oakland has finalized its merger with UC San Francisco, in move that officials hope will stabilize Children’s’ finances, the Hayward Daily Review$ reports. Children’s has faced monetary difficulties because it specializes in serving low-income kids on Medi-Cal. Under the merger, UCSF will take charge of Children’s’ finances and provide the Oakland hospital with more staff. Top management at Children’s also will become employees of the University of California.
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2. US Senator Dianne Feinstein has joined Governor Jerry Brown in opposing the legalization of marijuana in California. The AP reports (via Rough & Tumble) that Feinstein said she’s concerned about the impact that smoking pot will have on motorists. Feinstein also believes that cannabis is a gateway drug to other substances. Feinstein and Brown’s views, however, are out of step with most Californians. Recent polls show that a majority of state residents say pot should be legal.
3. A new survey found that 26 percent of UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff say they have “experienced exclusionary, intimidating or hostile behavior” on campus, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. About one-third of those said “they felt it was based on their race or ethnicity.”
4. The Port of Oakland is poised to kill a planned $450,000 contract with a security company that has ties to the former Your Black Muslim Bakery and had lied about having contracts with other governmental agencies, the Bay Area News Group$ reports.
5. The US Labor Department has closed its investigation into the Oakland Raiders, concluding that the team operates “seasonally” and thus is exempt from having to pay its cheerleaders the federal minimum wage, the Chron reports. Raiderettes, however, can still pursue their lawsuit against the team in state court, because California has no such exemption to its minimum wage law.
6. And California environmental regulators have banned retail sales of certain rat poisons that are known to also kill other wildlife and pets, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. However, pest control companies will still be able to use deadly rodenticides like d-Con.
$ = news stories that may require payment to read.
