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Crosscurrents

Daily news roundup for Monday, December 14, 2015

“Pothole” by Flickr user JoshuaDavisPhotography. Used under CC BY-SA 2.0 / resized and cropped
Image source: http://bit.ly/222i4tm

Here’s what’s happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW News:

Long neglected road maintenance is now urgent and expensive // CALmatters

Californians pay one of the highest gas taxes in the country yet we have some of the worst roads. The state needs $135 billion to repair all the roads in poor or mediocre condition that have been identified by state and local officials.

The legislature is meeting in special session exploring ways to pay for the most urgent repairs, including possibly raising the gas tax.

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California gun sales break records// InsideBayArea

The holiday season is off to a roaring start for gun dealers.

Californians have bought a record number of firearms in 2015 , triggering 1.51 million federal background checks. There were major spikes in Black Friday sales and in the aftermath of the San Bernardino attacks, according to state and federal data.

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Family sues as video casts new light on the police killing of Mario Woods// SFGATE

A new video shows San Francisco police officers firing a barrage of shots at Mario Woods while his arms were at his sides. It contradicts police accounts that the 26-year-old suspect in a stabbing had threatened an officer with a kitchen knife before he was killed Dec. 2 in the Bayview neighborhood.

Woods' family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

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White Privilege: Has our racial divide shifted from Jim Crow to “micro aggressions” // Mercury News

Our national conversation about race has shifted from overt Jim Crow discrimination to a debate over what black and Latino student protesters across the country describe as white privilege.

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia threw more fire on the flames when during arguments on a University of Texas affirmative action case he said African-American students might be better off at a “slower track school” where they do well.

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Thinking outside the mosque: on learning to be Muslim in America// New America Media

At Zaytuna, the only accredited Muslim college in the United States, students are expected to help determine the future of their faith in America and go out into the larger community to promote a better understanding of Islam.

The college on Holy Hill in Berkeley offers only one bachelor’s degree, which is in Islamic law and theology, but the curriculum combines Islamic and Western teachings.

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LGBT glossary bridges linguistic gap across cultures// Oakland North

Some Bay Area health care agencies are taking steps to make it easier for Asian immigrants who identify as LGBTQ and don’t speak English to communicate with their doctors. Oakland’s Asian Health Services has published a 22-page glossary in Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese and Burmese that translates terms pertaining to sexual orientation.

 

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