Police chases balance danger of criminals, safety risk to public // SF Gate
Three times in the past three months, suspects racing away from San Francisco police have plowed cars into innocent people, killing a woman and sending several others to hospitals. Each time, officers apparently followed department policy. But in the aftermath of twisted metal and grief, a long-nagging question has re-emerged:
When, why and for how long should police chase bad guys fleeing in cars, especially in a densely populated city like San Francisco?
Drought exposes Civil War veteran's grave in Monterey County lake // Mercury News
Joseph Botts Jr. stepped out of his pickup truck into a scrubby, sunbaked field of salt grass and mustard weed and bent over a granite slab bearing a worn inscription: "Corp'l John McBride."
The retired park ranger has known about the Civil War veteran's gravesite for most of his life. But for much of the past half-century, McBride's remains and the tiny ghost town where he met his fate lay at the bottom of a reservoir, submerged due to a thirsty state's need to corral every drop that flows through its parched ravines.
Effects of Airbnb disputed prior to Board of Supervisors regulation vote // SF Examiner
San Francisco voters would support a ballot initiative calling for The City to regulate short-term rental companies like Airbnb.
That’s according to a poll released Monday by ShareBetter SF, a coalition of labor groups, tenants, landlords, Supervisor David Campos and former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, which found that 63 percent of respondents would vote in favor of a possible November ballot initiative that calls for The City to regulate home-sharing.
S.F. Mayor beefs up housing bond by $50 million to buy Mission land // SF Business Times
The housing bond proposed for the November ballot will increase to $300 million, with one-sixth devoted to the city’s efforts to acquire land for affordable housing in the Mission District, the mayor’s office announced Monday.
The $50 million boost to the bond – which needs two-thirds of voters' approval to allow the city to take out debt to finance affordable housing needs – appears to be a political deal between Mayor Ed Lee and the Mission’s Supervisor David Campos after the heated debate over the proposed market-rate housing moratorium last week.
Drought barrier wreaking havoc on Delta currents, ferry service // CoCo Times
Ever since the state's salinity barrier stopped water from flowing through a segment of False River on May 29 -- a last-ditch drought effort to keep salty bay water from encroaching on the clean Delta drinking water -- the currents have shifted dramatically, endangering boaters and threatening nearby levees, island officials and residents say. Furious landowners on Bradford Island and Webb Tract, which are accessible only by ferry or boat, say the ferry has been damaged by the groundings, while the state has positioned an on-call tugboat to pull it out of trouble.
