5 aboard Titanic tourist sub are dead after ‘catastrophic implosion’
LA Times, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI: "All five passengers aboard a submersible that vanished while on a dive to explore the Titanic wreck site have died, officials said Thursday after underwater robots discovered seafloor debris from the sub that was “consistent with a catastrophic implosion.”
A robot from the Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic discovered several major pieces of the 21-foot sub, the Titan, in a debris field about 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John W. Mauger said at a news conference."
James Cameron says Titan submersible passengers likely had warning just before implosion
LA Times, EMILY ST. MARTIN: "“Titanic” director James Cameron said during an ABC News interview that one of his longtime friends was among the passengers on the tourist submersible Titan and that sensors likely warned of the disaster just before it occurred. All five aboard were killed in a “catastrophic implosion, officials said.
After OceanGate Expeditions released a statement Thursday saying that all five passengers’ lives had “sadly been lost” and the company confirmed that the debris found was indeed from the missing submersible, Cameron weighed in on the tragedy."
He took an OceanGate trip to the Titanic. Now he has ‘survivor’s guilt’"
LA Times, NOAH GOLDBERG: "Bill Price had complete faith in Stockton Rush.
Even when Rush’s experimental submersible Titan lost communication with the mother ship about an hour into its descent toward the Titanic shipwreck on its maiden voyage in 2021.
‘Intentional concealment’: Prosecutors claim former Fremont city manager hid misdeeds to strike rich payday
BANG*Mercury News, JAKOB RODGERS: "Fremont’s embattled former city manager is facing new accusations of fraudulently concealing his misuse of a city-issued credit card to land a final check of nearly $300,000 from the city while on his way out, according to a new criminal complaint.
Mark Danaj, whose tenure as the city’s top administrator ended ignominiously in 2021, now stands accused of obtaining money, labor or property by false pretenses after prosecutors say he misled Fremont’s City Council while negotiating a hefty severance package during his final days on the job. The latest felony charge includes a special allegation of aggravated white-collar crime, because the suspected amount taken from the city reached six figures."
S.F. hailed effort to cut 255-day wait to hire a city worker. It’s still tied up in red tape
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "In January, San Francisco Mayor London Breed touted reforms to the city’s byzantine hiring process that she promised would slash by 40% the 255 days on average it takes to hire one city worker.
But six months later, a new San Francisco Civil Grand Jury report about the city’s staffing crisis revealed that as of a few weeks ago when the report was written, none of the reforms were implemented."
Collaboration, not excessive regulation key to plastics recycling (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, KRIS QUIGLEY: "Here is an important question for California: when it comes to supporting the circular economy, improving plastic recycling, and reducing waste, do we want to help the environment or regulate more?
Recently, California lawmakers tabled AB 1290 also known as the “Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act.” This legislation would have eliminated necessary resins from the marketplace, thereby banning the use of plastic packaging commonly used to preserve our food, protect over-the-counter medicine, and contain household chemicals."
Equity and access in computer science education in the age of AI (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, ROBYN HINES, DAVID PALTER: "With rapid advances in artificial intelligence and an increasingly digital workplace, California’s students are often lacking the skills needed to thrive in a new era of technological advancement. As they enter the workforce, not enough of them are being equipped with the tools they need to secure well-paying 21st century jobs.
The research shows that the skills gap for California graduates begins in the K-12 system, where the majority of California students have no access to computer science education. In fact, California ranks 40th in the nation in the percentage of high schools offering computer science classes—sandwiched between New Mexico and Delaware. This skills gap is causing real-life challenges for our businesses who must spend their time and resources looking for talent outside of California. For example, in 2022, California averaged 76,446 open computing jobs each month with an average salary of $115,754, but the state’s universities only graduated 9,339 computer science majors in total in 2020."
Night rescue on Mount Whitney in ‘almost zero’ visibility underscores danger on California’s highest peak
The Chronicle, KURTIS ALEXANDER: "When the call came in this month that a climber had fallen on the slopes of Mount Whitney and needed help, it wasn’t a surprise for Inyo County’s search and rescue team. A lot of things happen on the highest peak in the lower 48 states.
But what was unusual, said Victor Lawson, coordinator of the rescue team, was that the emergency call was one of few received so far in a climbing season marked by historic amounts of snow in the Sierra and extremely dangerous conditions on Whitney."
How the STARS College Network will help California’s rural students
EdSource, CARA NIXON: "Though 20% of public school students in the United States live in rural areas, many college campuses either don’t track their populations of rural students or find the number to be low. The Small Town and Rural Students College Network is hoping to change that by improving access to information about college for rural students around the country, including in California.
The University of Southern California and Caltech are among 16 schools that have recently opted into the new program. At USC, rural and small-town students have represented just over 2% of the freshman class in recent years; at Caltech, 7% of the admitted 2027 class attended rural and small-town high schools."
4 in 10 California residents are considering packing up and leaving, new poll finds"
LA Times, BENJAMIN ORESKES: "With its unmatched natural splendor and cultural attractions, California is a beacon that attracts people from around the world who put down roots and call it home.
About 70% of residents said they are happy living here, a new statewide poll shows, crediting the state’s diversity, economic opportunities and an enjoyable lifestyle as reasons to stick around.
Every Bay Area county is aging faster than the U.S.
BANG*Mercury News, SCOOTY NICKERSON, HARRIET BLAIR ROWAN: "We’re really aging, Bay Area. And fast.
The region grayed rapidly over the last decade, according to new Census data released Thursday, with the populations in all nine Bay Area counties outpacing the country in their upward median-age swing."
$104K a year is ‘low-income’ for single people in 3 Bay Area counties, according to state data
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "If you make $104,000 per year and live alone in San Francisco, San Mateo or Marin county, you’re considered low-income, according to new state data.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development released its 2023 income levels, which it calculates annually based on federal guidelines and uses to set eligibility caps for affordable housing programs, on June 6."
Can A’s fit Las Vegas ballpark on nine acres? Multi-billion bet on 'maybe?'
The Chronicle, JOHN SHEA: "The San Francisco Giants needed to be creative when squeezing their intimate China Basin ballpark into 13 acres within a street, a harbor and a waterway that became known as McCovey Cove.
With four fewer acres available, the Oakland Athletics want to build their publicly subsidized ballpark on the congested Las Vegas Strip that is already rife with traffic and transportation issues."
After Westfield’s exit, here are the biggest S.F. properties facing mortgage deadlines
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI: "In the wake of Westfield’s San Francisco mall exit and other high-profile mortgage defaults, some of the most valuable properties in the city face their own mortgage payment deadlines in the next year.
The list includes properties valued at more than $1 billion, including 555 California St., the city’s fourth-tallest building, which is partially owned by former President Donald Trump. Another is One Market Plaza, home to Google, Autodesk and Visa, according to data from Morningstar Credit, a research firm."
Report on staffing vacancies in Bay Area cities reveals how turnover has left Berkeley in crisis
BANG*Mercury News, KATIE LAUER: "The city of Berkeley has a people problem.
Between 2018 and 2022, more people voluntarily left city employment than were hired, and the citywide vacancy rate of 19% was the second highest in the Bay Area last year, according to a new report from City Auditor Jenny Wong.
How many of California’s homeless residents are from out of state?
BANG*Mercury News, ETHAN VARIAN, TARINI MEHTA: "Contrary to the oft-spouted belief that California’s temperate climate and supposedly generous social services make it a magnet for the country’s homeless people, a comprehensive new study finds the vast majority of the state’s unhoused residents lived here before losing their housing.
Why, then, is California home to almost a third of the nation’s homeless population? The main answer is simple, the University of California San Francisco study authors say: a severe shortage of affordable housing."
BART is requiring more of its police officers to patrol trains. Here's what to expect
The Chronicle, RICARDO CANO: "Police officers at BART, which faces a steep “fiscal cliff,” will get 20% raises under a new labor agreement that requires at least half of the transit police department's officers to patrol trains.
The market adjustment raises and the new “minimum presence requirement” that the agency’s Board of Directors unanimously approved Thursday aim to address riders’ safety concerns amid BART’s sluggish ridership recovery."
