Hana Baba

New legislation has reached the Governor’s desk that would change the way juveniles are sentenced. Senate Bill SB9, introduced by State Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco introduced the legislation ,which would allow people who are serving life without parole for crimes they committed when they were juveniles, to ask for sentences of 25 years to life instead.

Thousands of Californians spent years working for city governments and are now collectively owed billions of dollars in retiree health care benefits. But a new study by the nonprofit research group California Common Sense finds that many cities, including Oakland and San Francisco, haven’t ever set aside money to pay these costs.

Last night’s fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond put city residents in a state of panic. The fire sent up a huge plume of black smoke, stopping traffic, closing bridges, and shutting down BART stations.

The large-scale chemical fire still has local residents concerned for their health and safety. Many say they heard about the fire late, and that the multi-lingual phone system that is supposed to alert the diverse communities of Richmond in case of a disaster didn’t work. 

If you think back to the 1997 film Contact, you’ll recall a scene where Jodie Foster, playing alien-hunting astronomer Ellie Arroway, lies on her car hood with huge headphones on her ears, in a field of towering white satellite dishes. She’s waiting for something. A signal. She lies still, her eyes closed. And suddenly, she hears something, the sounds of something – someone  – beyond the earth, communicating with her.

The US dominates in many Olympic sports – track and field, swimming, basketball. But, one sport the US has never won a medal for is table tennis.

This year, the US team is hoping to change that. It’s going to be challenging. Only 4 players qualified to compete on the 2012 US Olympic Table Tennis team. Three of those four live and train right here in the Bay Area at an unlikely Olympic training ground – a converted warehouse that’s part of the Indian Community Center in Milpitas (ICC).