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Crosscurrents

Connecting the Dots: Top news stories for Thursday, June 21, 2012

(Oakland Tribune)  // A UCLA Anderson jobs forecast says unemployment in California will remain in the double digits until next year...

(San Jose Mercury News) // Unemployment may still be high, but falling interest rates and rising home values have led to an increase in mortgage refinancing throughout the Bay Area. The recovering housing market makes many more people eligible for new and better loans; and more home equity has allowed some to refinance for the second or third time this year...

(Bay Citizen) // San Francisco’s Public Health Department plans to pay the California Hospital Association $330,000 to lobby on its behalf. The city says the group's efforts will help public hospitals, including SF General. But consumer and labor advocates say the CHA often fights efforts to increase patient rights and improve care...

(Bay Citizen) // Governor Jerry Brown has abandoned a proposed plan to exempt the California bullet train project from environmental laws. Brown’s plan would have blocked judges from issuing stop work orders on the train, an attempt at getting construction on the $68 billion project started as soon as possible. Environmental groups welcomed the announcement… 

(Oakland Tribune) // Also under scrutiny by watchdog groups, Mayor Jean Quan’s office admitted that the main statistic used to justify her "100 Blocks" crime-fighting campaign is not accurate. The mayor has said repeatedly that 90% of violent crime occurs within a 100 block radius, where the city has focused the majority of its police presence since last year. Her office now admits that the city's violent crime problems are far more widespread...

(San Jose Mercury News) // Former Silicon Valley hedge fund manager Albert Ke-Jung Hu has been convicted of defrauding local investors of millions of dollars by fabricating the support of prominent law firms and auditors. Hu promised returns of 20-30%, but instead ended up losing around $5 million. He faces five-plus years in federal prison...

(SF Chronicle) // Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle Corporation, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to purchase the Hawaiian island of Lanai from LA real estate mogul and fellow billionaire David Murdock. Some residents feel that the commodification of their home is “bizarre;” others hope the new owner will scrap Murdock’s plan to build 170 power-generating windmills.

Connecting the Dots brings the day's news together. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter; we're KALW News. 

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