News you don’t want to miss for April 23:
1. Oakland Housing Chief Michelle Byrd is leaving her post. NBC Bay Area reports she was fired. The department has faced criticism for lax enforcement of the city’s eviction regulations.
2. A wildfires tax? PG&E asked state regulators to approve a plan to increase utility bills for California customers by about $20 a month, the Sacramento Bee reports.
3. Oakland’s restaurant scene has long fueled the city’s renaissance. Now its cooking oil will fuel the city government’s vehicles. The San Francisco Chronicle reports Oakland is partnering with a biomass company to convert spent cooking oil into biofuel. $$
4. The crumbling Richmond-San Rafael Bridge has about a decade of use before it needs to be replaced, a Metropolitan Transportation Commission representative told the Mercury News. Following recent reports of concrete falling from the upper deck of the span, a $300,000 study will begin this week to analyze its condition. $$
5. More school districts in the state and Bay Area are coping with the housing crisis and the loss of good teachers by building their housing projects, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. $$
6. Big Soda registered another super-sized victory in the state Legislature Monday after downing a third proposed bill over the last month to limit access to sugary drinks, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. $$
7. A man was arrested at the Apple store in Walnut Creek after allegedly attempting to use a digital camera attached to his shoe to record video from under a girl’s dress, the East Bay Times reports. $$
8. An bill introduced by Assemblymember Rob Bonta to clarify a patchwork of tideland and trust issues at the A’s proposed waterfront ballpark passed its first legislative hurdle Monday, the East Bay Citizen reports. Another A’s bill, this one from state Sen. Nancy Skinner, will be heard Wednesday. But not before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meet today to sign an intent to sell its half of the existing Coliseum property to the A’s.
$$ = Stories you may have to pay to read.
.Tuesday’s Briefing: Embattled Oakland housing chief is ousted; PG&E asks to raise monthly rates by $20
Big Soda crushes another proposed state bill to limit sugary drink consumption