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New fires bring unhealthy air to Bay Area Published on September 28, 2020 at 01:50AM by Bay City News Service Wildfire smoke from the Glass Fire in Napa County and expected smog has prompted the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to extend its Spare the Air Alert through Monday. Air district officials said that smoke from the Glass Fire that broke out Sunday morning will have consequences for the North Bay. In addition, smoke combined with high inland temperatures and vehicle exhaust is expected to cause unhealthy smog accumulation in the Bay Area, mainly in the South and East Bay. The alert means it is illegal for Bay Area residents and businesses to burn wood or manufactured firelogs in fireplaces, woodstoves and inserts, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits, or any other wood burning devices. "Unfortunately, we are still in the midst of wildfire season on top of a heat wave," said Jack Broadbent, executive officer of the Air District. "We must all remain vigila...

Ginsburg, a feminist icon memorialized as the Notorious RBG Published on September 19, 2020 at 05:36AM by By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg moved slowly. When court was in session, she often had her head down, sometimes leading visitors to think she was asleep. She once acknowledged that she did occasionally nod off. She once confessed to dozing during a State of the Union. But it was a mistake to equate her gait and gaze with frailty, for Ginsburg showed over and over a steely resilience in the face of personal loss and serious health problems that made the diminutive New Yorker a towering women’s rights champion and forceful presence at the court over 27 years. She made few concessions to age and recurrent health problems, working regularly with a personal trainer. She never missed any time in court before the age of 85, and then only following surgery in December 2018 for lung cancer. Ginsburg died Friday of complicat...

Inspiring quotes and life lessons from Ruth Bader Ginsburg Published on September 19, 2020 at 05:10AM by Jasmine Ting, Cosmopolitan The Supreme Court justice died Friday at age 87.

Victims of deadly California wildfire found in cars, roadway Published on September 17, 2020 at 03:21AM by OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A 72-year-old man found dead in a vehicle and two other people discovered on a roadway were among the latest victims of the deadliest wildfire in California this year. Fifteen people were killed last week in the North Complex fire burning about 125 miles (200 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, and two people remained missing, the Butte County sheriff's office said late Tuesday. DNA testing was used to positively identify 10 of the victims, Sheriff Kory Honea said. They included Jacob Albright, 72, of Feather Falls, whose body was found in a vehicle on a property in the community. The two bodies in the roadway were found in Berry Creek — one about 10 feet from an all-terrain vehicle, the other also near a vehicle, Honea said. One of them was identified as Paul Winer, 68, while the other has not been identified. California Gov. Gavin Newsom sai...

LEADING OFF: M's-Giants shift because of fires, Hamels debut Published on September 16, 2020 at 08:12PM by By The Associated Press A look at what's happening around the majors today: SHIFTED SITE The Mariners and Giants play at Oracle Park after their two-game series in Seattle was postponed because of poor air quality caused by the West Coast wildfires. The teams will now play twice in San Francisco. Forecasters are calling for smoke to reach very unhealthy levels in Western Washington through at least Thursday. There have been smoky skies in the Bay Area, too, but the air quality has remained OK. The Mariners and Oakland split a doubleheader Monday in Seattle. The smoke level reached a level of very unhealthy on the air quality index, even with the roof closed at T-Mobile Park. “I’m a healthy 22-year-old. I shouldn’t be gasping for air or missing oxygen. I’ll leave it at that,” said Jesús Luzardo, who started the opener for the A’s. HAMELS TIME The wait is over for l...

Photos: Kamala Harris visits Calif. wildfire devastation Published on September 16, 2020 at 03:15AM by Vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday in her home state to survey the devastation left behind by the Creek Fire in Fresno County and show support for the victims and firefighters. Surrounded by a charred landscape with a smell of smoke in the air, Harris said “ideology should not kick in" when responding to wildfires and the climate crisis, a veiled criticism of President Donald Trump, though she did not say his name. Harris' first trip to California as the Democratic vice presidential nominee came a day after Trump stopped in the Golden State for a briefing on the fires near Sacramento on Monday. The president rejected the scientific consensus that climate change is exacerbating the state's wildfires. “The people who are victimized by these, they could care less and their children could care less who th...

August Complex Fire threatens Emerald Triangle, U.S.'s largest cannabis region Published on September 15, 2020 at 04:03AM by Mike Moffitt The largest wildfire in California history took aim at the largest cannabis-growing region in the United States on Monday.

Latest: Three more found dead in Northern California blaze Published on September 13, 2020 at 06:51AM by The Latest on wildfires in the U.S. West (all times local): 6:45 p.m. CHICO, Calif. — Search and rescue workers found three more bodies in the rubble of a Northern California wildfire, raising the death toll in that fire to 12 and total deaths in the state's recent blazes to 22. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea announced the additional deaths Saturday but did not provide any details. He said 13 people remain unaccounted for. The fire, which roared into Berry Creek and Feather Falls in the Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of San Francisco on Tuesday night, destroyed the small town of Berry Creek and other mountain communities in the shadow of a 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people. ___ 6 pm. PORTLAND, Ore. — A sheriff in Oregon says authorities responded to reports that armed people in rural areas were setting up roadblocks and demanding identification amid heightened ten...

Latest: 500,000 people in Oregon forced to flee wildfires Published on September 11, 2020 at 05:30AM by The Latest on wildfires in the U.S. West (all times local): 5:25 p.m. SALEM, Ore. -- Authorities in Oregon now say more than 500,000 people statewide have been forced to evacuate because of wildfires. The latest figures from Thursday evening come from the Oregon Office of Emergency Management. That’s over 10% of the state’s 4.2 million population. More than 1,400 square miles (3,625 square kilometers) have burned this week in the state. Authorities say the wildfire activity was particularly acute Thursday afternoon in northwestern Oregon as hot, windy conditions continued. At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Kate Brown said there have been fatalities but the exact number is not yet known. There have been at least three reported fire deaths in the state. ___ 5 p.m. WILSONVILLE, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Corrections says it is evacuating a prison out of an abundance of ...

Thousands evacuated as fires burn through Oregon Published on September 09, 2020 at 04:09PM by Timothy Bella, The Washington Post As wildfires stretching for thousands of acres ripped through southwestern Oregon late Tuesday, the state's governor declared an emergency and tens of thousands of residents faced mandatory evacuation orders to escape the Almeda Fire, the latest blaze to devastate the region in recent days. By early Wednesday, the fire was burning its way toward the central neighborhoods of Medford, Ore., a city of 82,000 people, where many have now been forced to flee their homes. "Pray for Medford," tweeted resident Jeff Carpenter. "We are on fire tonight." Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's emergency order for Jackson County, which includes Medford, came after the National Weather Service placed all of southwestern Oregon an under an extreme fire danger warning for the first time, according to the Oregon Climate Office. Brown, D, had declared emerge...

'Check evacuations': North Complex fire explodes, heading toward Oroville Published on September 09, 2020 at 04:46AM by Amy Graff Howling winds whipped up a fire burning in the Plumas National Forest east of Chico, Calif., spreading flames through the crowns of trees across thousands of acres.

Fast-moving fire grows west of Lake Tahoe Published on September 09, 2020 at 05:02AM by Julie Brown On Tuesday afternoon, a fast-moving fire was spotted west of Lake Tahoe in the El Dorado Forest. High winds quickly increased the scale of the Fork Fire from 100 to 400 acres in a matter of hours.

Public safety power shutoff planned for Monday night in Napa County Published on September 08, 2020 at 06:37AM by Bay City News Service About 5,700 PG&E customers may be affected by a Public Safety Power Shutoff in parts of Napa County starting late Monday night, Napa County emergency officials said. The shutoff is expected to start at 11 p.m. and end at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Areas that could be impacted include Deer Park, Angwin, Calistoga, Aetna Springs, Berryessa Estates, the eastern slopes above St. Helena, and parts of Pope Valley. The city of Napa, Yountville and American Canyon are expected to retain their power, emergency officials said. Customers can go to www.pge.com/pspsupdates to check to see if they will lose power. The utility's website will also have the locations of community resource centers where residents can go during the day to use the restroom, wash hands, charge medical equipment and other electronics, access Wi-Fi, and get water and snacks. Copyright...

California power grid operator calls 'Stage 2' emergency Published on September 07, 2020 at 06:51AM by Bay City News Service The California Independent System Operator declared a statewide Stage 2 emergency shortly before 6 p.m. Sunday, which means power outages are likely, because of excessive heat driving up electricity demand and use and putting strain on the regional power grid. The nonprofit California ISO oversees the operation of California's bulk electric power system and transmission lines. The California ISO called the emergency after a transmission line carrying power from Oregon to California, and another in-state power plant, went offline unexpectedly. The cause of these outages is unknown as of late Sunday afternoon. The emergency declaration allows the ISO to use reserve power and to tap into emergency assistance from neighboring balancing authorities. During this Stage 2 emergency, if system conditions do not improve, the ISO may declare a Stage 3 emerg...

People allowed to return to some evacuated areas in Sonoma Co. Published on August 31, 2020 at 06:21AM by Bay City News Service Evacuation orders in the Armstrong Woods and Dry Creek areas near Guerneville in Sonoma County have been downgraded to evacuation "warnings," from evacuation "orders," and residents are allowed to return to those areas at their own risk, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department said Sunday night. One downgraded evacuation zone is north of Mill Creek Road, west of Dry Creek (the actual creek) and Westside Road, south of Chemise Road and east of the burn area. Another is north of Sweetwater Springs Road, west of Westside Road, south of Mill Creek Road and east of the burn area. The third is north of the Russian River to the burn area, west of Westside Road, south of Sweetwater Springs Road and east of Armstrong Woods Road and Sweetwater Springs Road. Residents living on Sweetwater Springs Road will have to report to the traffic control ...

Trump touts authorization of plasma, but scientists are doubtful Published on August 24, 2020 at 05:49AM by Josh Dawsey, Laurie McGinley, Carolyn Y. Johnson and Seung Min Kim, The Washington Post WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he had helped break through a regulatory "logjam" to grant emergency authorization of convalescent plasma to treat covid-19, a "powerful therapy" that he claimed "had an incredible rate of success," despite the fact that his own scientists are calling for more studies to definitively show whether it works. The announcement, at a news conference where Trump was flanked by Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, drew criticism from physicians and scientists who said their statements misled the public by overstating the evidence behind a therapy that shows promise but still needs to be tested rigorously. "I watched this in horror,"...

Venezuelan restaurant Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen to close after 10 years on Valencia Street Published on August 23, 2020 at 03:30AM by Dianne de Guzman, SFGATE After 14 years in the food business and 10 years on Valencia Street in San Francisco, Venezuelan restaurant Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen is shuttering permanently at the end of August.

As more colleges stay online, students demand tuition cuts Published on August 22, 2020 at 09:49PM by By COLLIN BINKLEY, AP Education Writer As more universities abandon plans to reopen and decide instead to keep classes online this fall, it's leading to conflict between students who say they deserve tuition discounts and college leaders who insist remote learning is worth the full cost. Disputes are flaring both at colleges that announced weeks ago they would stick with virtual instruction and at those that only recently lost hope of reopening their campuses. Among the latest schools facing pressure to lower tuition are Michigan State University and Ithaca College, which scrapped plans to reopen after seeing other colleges struggle to contain coronavirus outbreaks. The scourge has killed more than 175,000 people in the United States. Worldwide, the confirmed death toll crossed 800,000 on Saturday, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, and cases passed 23 milli...

Schools close in California county after virus list issue Published on August 22, 2020 at 04:06AM by UKIAH, Calif. (AP) — Schools in one California county were forced to close this week when state officials said their coronavirus cases had been higher than previously reported, and several hundred students were sent home from class, officials said Friday. Michelle Hutchins, superintendent of schools in Mendocino County, said she learned this week the county had been placed on a state monitoring list for coronavirus infections with a date retroactive to July 25, and that as a result schools should have not been allowed to open for in-person instruction after that point in time. Hutchins said on Wednesday she sent home 300 to 400 students who had already started the year off in largely rural schools. It's possible elementary school students will be allowed to return under special waivers offered by the state but middle and high schoolers will remain on distance learning until viru...

Email to employees says Farallon Restaurant will close permanently Published on August 20, 2020 at 05:07AM by Tessa McLean After more than 23 years in Union Square, an email sent Wednesday to Farallon restaurant employees said the business is closing permanently.