Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. In a surprise move, City Auditor Courtney Ruby entered the Oakland mayor’s race yesterday, adding to an already large field of candidates trying to unseat Jean Quan. Ruby had said last year that she had no plans to run because she has young children, but told the Chron that she’s getting into the race because she believes the city’s crime problems are not being properly addressed. Ruby has released a series of highly critical reports on Oakland city government, including one that singled out Councilmembers Desley Brooks and Larry Reid for alleged misconduct.
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2. Because of the drought, East Bay MUD is preparing to purchase water from two sources — the Freeport Project on the Sacramento River and Placer County’s American River, the SacBee$ and CoCo Times$ report. East Bay MUD, which serves Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond, and other parts of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has not yet instituted rationing or drought pricing to discourage water use.
3. Citing the collapse of the monarch butterfly population, environmentalists are asking the US Environmental Protection Agency to crack down on the pesticide glyphosate, which was first marketed under the brand name Roundup, the LA Times$ reports. Big Agribusiness has been using increasing amounts of glyphosate on GMO crops to eradicate milkweed, which provides habitat for monarch butterflies.
4. A North Bay slaughterhouse that was forced to recall 8.7 million pounds of beef is being investigated for selling cancerous meat, the Chron reports. The Rancho Feeding Corp. allegedly cut the cancerous heads of cows to trick federal meat inspectors.
5. And anti-transgender activists are vowing to fight the disqualification of numerous ballot-petition signatures by election officials, the AP reports. The anti-transgender groups were attempting put a measure on the statewide ballot to overturn a new state law that allows students to use school bathrooms that coincide with their gender identity. But the signature-gathering effort fell short when elections officials disqualified more than 100,000 signatures for being invalid.
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