"The blaze on Sunday had come within 2 miles of a key reservoir that supplies most of San Francisco's water."
"The so-called Rim Fire, which has burned 134,000 acres, caused the closure of the White Wolf area of the park on its western side, said Yosemite spokesman Tom Medema. Thirteen of 74 camps were occupied and evacuated, he said."
"Under new U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyrequirements, air pollution monitors will be installed at four sites next to some of the region's busiest freeways. Similar steps will occur in more than 100 big cities across the country."
"Scientists have linked air pollution from traffic to a long list of health problems, including asthma, heart disease, bronchitis and lung cancer."
A pair of neurosurgeons at UC Davis have resigned their posts following the university's determination that they broke the rules.
From the Bee's Marjie Lundstrom: "Two UC Davis neurosurgeons who intentionally infected three brain-cancer patients with bowel bacteria have resigned their posts after the university found they had "deliberately circumvented" internal policies, "defied directives" from top leaders and sidestepped federal regulations, according to newly released university documents."
"Dr. J. Paul Muizelaar, 66, the former head of the neurosurgery department, and his colleague, Dr. Rudolph J. Schrot, violated the university's faculty code of conduct with their experimental work, one internal investigation concluded."
"All three patients consented to the procedures in 2010 and 2011. Two of the patients died within weeks of their surgeries, while the other survived more than a year after being infected."
CalPERS, the huge public pension fund with billions of dollars in investments, should invest more through minority-owned firms, according to a number of financial experts.
From Calpensions' Ed Mendel: "CalPERS is not investing enough money through minority-owned firms, two trade associations and several money managers say, and some want a legislative audit of “unfair” decisions, particularly for lucrative private equity funds."
"The complaints caused CalPERS, which regards itself as an historic leader in investing with minority firms, to respond with plans for better communication with minority firms and a task force to look for ways to identify firms that will be successful."
"The big pension fund is “very confident” that its selection process would be validated by an audit, the CalPERS board was told last week. But there have been meetings with “17 legislators or their staff in recent weeks” to explain the program."
It's frogs-versus-fish in a proposed species protection rule that has some critics hopping mad.
From the LAT's Louis Sahagun: "A federal proposal to make the Sierra Nevada as comfortable as possible for some of their rarest amphibian inhabitants has stirred a backlash from business owners over the economic pain it could cause the region's recreation industry."
"Many opponents worry the proposal would do more to protect frogs and toads than nonnative trout — a top tourist draw in mountain resort communities where cash registers ring up purchases by vacationers, hikers and fishing enthusiasts this time of year."
"The controversy hinges on a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to designate roughly 2 million acres in 16 Northern California counties as critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog, the mountain yellow-legged frog and theYosemite toad."
And from our "My Name is Holden Caulfield and I Hate Phonies" file comes word that new works by J.D. Salinger, written during the last half of the author's life, are going to be published starting in two years. Wow!
"This is like spoiling the end of a movie — Weinstein was strangely right — but the news is too great not to share. According to new reports from The New York Times and the Associated Press, there will be new published works by the notoriously reclusive author starting in 2015. There are five new pieces in total, they involve some of Salinger's most beloved characters, and this delayed schedule was Salinger's plan. Before his death, Salinger instructed his estate as to when and how to release the works. The Times has the most detailed summation of the forthcoming stories.""
"One collection, to be called “The Family Glass,” would add five new stories to an assembly of previously published stories about the fictional Glass family, which figured in Mr. Salinger’s “Franny and Zooey” and elsewhere, according to the claims, which surfaced in interviews and previews of the documentary and book last week.
Another would include a retooled version of a publicly known but unpublished tale, “The Last and Best of the Peter Pans,” which is to be collected with new stories and existing work about the fictional Caulfields, including “Catcher in the Rye.” The new works are said to include a story-filled “manual” of the Vedanta religious philosophy, with which Mr. Salinger was deeply involved; a novel set during World War II and based on his first marriage; and a novella modeled on his own war experiences."
