Here's what's happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW news:
Oakland Council Bans Coal // East Bay Times
"During a raucous four-hour meeting Monday night, the Oakland City Council voted unanimously to ban the storage and handling of coal and petroleum coke in the city."
"Though the ban on storing and handling coal pertains only to future projects, the council also voted unanimously on a resolution to apply the new rule to the planned Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, a roughly 20-acre marine terminal situated within the 135-acre redevelopment of the former Army Base."
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Airbnb Sues San Francisco Over New Rules for Short-Term Rentals // SF Examiner
"Airbnb sued San Francisco on Monday over a new regulation requiring short-term rental companies to list on their websites only legal housing listings."
"The law, which takes effect next month, requires short-term rental websites to post registration numbers on listings or email the number and name of the host to The City's Office of Short-Term Rentals. Fines are up to $1,000 per day."
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Report: SF's Public Assets Need $1 Billion for Maintenance// SF Examiner
"San Francisco needs $1 billion in repairs to public assets like government-owned buildings, hospitals, landmarks, parks, playgrounds, streets and sidewalks, a Grand Jury report revealed Monday."
"Current maintenance standards lack transparency, the Grand Jury stated, whose suggestions included periodically assessing the conditions of public assets and creating a standard definition of 'maintenance,' and accounting and financial reporting systems that track maintenance needs, budgets, and deferment."
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Another Gas Leak on Haight Street Months After Troubled Project Resumes// KQED
"San Francisco's Department of Public Works is investigating a gas leak that took place in the city's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood Monday afternoon."
"The leak comes several months after work on the Haight Street project resumed. Last October, safety problems halted the $13.7 million project. Months later the city fired a subcontractor and began considering agencywide changes to complicated underground jobs."
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Facebook's Campus Expansion Heightens Traffic and Housing Fears // East Bay Times
"Facebook wants to build two new office buildings totaling 962,400 square feet, a 200-room limited service hotel, a public green space and a bicycle and pedestrian bridge on the 58 acres it purchased from TE Connectivity. Meanwhile, the company is also converting a 184,460-square-foot warehouse building into office space."
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In Vitro Fertilization May Save Coral Reefs // SF Gate
"Marine biologists at the California Academy of Sciences have joined a new international effort to rescue endangered coral reefs from the consequences of widespread human destruction and a warming climate."
"Recent record-shattering El Niños have raised Pacific Ocean temperatures and caused a new worldwide episode of coral bleaching that is turning the organisms dead white. The scourge began in 2014, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is already the worst and longest bleaching episode in history."