California’s gig economy law, which will take effect Jan. 1, was designed to protect workers from being misclassified as independent contractors. But as a side effect, it leaves millions of independent contractors in California worried about their livelihoods.
Read More
SAN FRANCISCO — Over the coming year, up to 10,000 of e-scooters will join the city’s busy traffic-scape. More scooter riders will weave through the cars, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds, bikes and all the other vehicles that uneasily share the city roadways.
Read More
San Mateo County will have completely green power by 2025, local agency says
SAN MATEO — By the end of 2019, the Wright Solar Facility in Los Banos will come online, converting that light into renewable energy for more than 100,000 San Mateo County homes. The facility is one local agency’s latest stride toward fulfilling an ambitious promise: supplying enough green power for all of San Mateo County within the next five years.
Read MoreMORE TOP STORIES
Local Iranian-American community holds Palo Alto candlelight vigil for victims of Ukrainian jetliner disaster
PALO ALTO – About 100 members of the local Iranian-American community held a candlelight vigil in Palo Alto’s downtown Lytton Plaza Jan. 12 for the victims of PS 752, the Ukrainian jetliner downed by an Iranian missile.
Read More
In the Wild West of online medicine, crowdsourcing is the next frontier
SAN FRANCISCO — Crowdsourcing diagnoses has gained traction in recent years as an unconventional approach to solving particularly tricky medical mysteries—especially when doctors struggle to resolve an illness.
Read More
Small business association pushes to remove parking meters in San Jose
SAN JOSE — Business owners on San Jose’s East Santa Clara Street, a corridor next to downtown that is comprised of 30 blocks of shops, salons, restaurants and community centers, say the presence of numerous parking meters in the area is turning away potential customers.
Read More
San Jose businesswomen transforming former laundromat into indoor market for local vendors
SAN JOSE — A new kind of market will soon open up on the East Santa Clara Street corridor in San Jose. Urban Kiosk, set to open just two blocks east of San Jose’s city hall, is an indoor market that will house local vendors selling crafts, wares and goods.
Read More
Outgoing Redwood City mayor reflects on region’s housing crunch
REDWOOD CITY — Redwood City has not been immune to California’s housing crunch. Councilmember Ian Bain, who passed the mayoral title to Diane Howard on Dec. 9 after finishing a two-year term as the city’s top government official, doesn’t have to imagine what it’s like to have trouble affording Bay Area housing.
Read More
The battle for the Redwood City salt ponds
REDWOOD CITY — For the past decade, a 1,400-acre salt property in Redwood City has been a community battleground.
Read More
In Colma, Pets Rest Cemetery and Crematorium stands apart from the austere atmosphere of human cemeteries
COLMA — For more than 70 years, Bay Area pet owners have said goodbye to their four legged companions at Pets Rest Cemetery and Crematorium in Colma, California.
Read More
New smoking ban aims to end cigarette butt litter on state beaches and parks
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law that will ban the use of cigarettes, nicotine and marijuana vapes at state parks and beaches. Starting Jan. 1, the state’s Department of Parks and Recreation will be required to put up no-smoking signs at beaches and parks. There will be a fine up to $25 for a person caught smoking, and it will be considered an infraction.
Read More
When the dead dance: Dia de los Muertos, 2019
SAN FRANCISCO — The annual Mexican tradition celebrates the lives and memories of those who have died. While the event’s energy carries a deep reverence, it is also a party.
Read More
Truck owners protest against AB 5, a California “gig economy” law
BAY AREA — Some truck “owner-operators” – who invest in their own vehicles and work as independent contractors to other trucking firms – say a new law taking effect on Jan. 1 will put them out of business. Supporters of the law say it will give protections to misclassified contract truck drivers.
Read More
Amid labor actions, mental health workers see high vacancies, turnover
SANTA CLARA COUNTY — Vacancies and turnover is a growing problem for mental health workers in Santa Clara County. In October, workers launched a labor strike to try and achieve better working conditions. The union has since entered into mediation with the county.
Read More360-DEGREE VIDEO STORIES
By Melanie Hogue and Ashlyn Rollins
SPECIAL REPORTS
A drug 50 times deadlier than heroin finds its way to California
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. Now, it is the most commonly used drug in overdoses: about 30 percent of overdoses in 2016 involved fentanyl. In 2016, the rate of overdoses involving fentanyl was 12 times larger than it was in 2013.
Advertisers are spending more money on Super Bowl commercials and reaching fewer people
Advertisers who invest in ad spots during the Super Bowl are paying dramatically higher costs year over year, while the number of people they reach by the dollar is steadily decreasing.
Twitter users bolster #ImWithKap leading up to Super Bowl LIII
The total number of tweets with the hashtag in the month leading up to game day was 1,955. On Super Bowl Sunday, there were 30,715 tweets with the hashtag.