Here’s what’s happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW news:
Mission district building gutted by fire last year damaged in blaze again // SF Examiner
“A building gutted by fire about a year ago in the Mission district was again damaged in a blaze late Sunday night.
“The burned-out building at the corner of 22nd and Mission streets had been abandoned since the first blaze Jan. 28, 2015, when 60 tenants and a handful of businesses were forced out by a nighttime inferno that killed one person.”
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Apps for Ag aims to lift the 'lettuce curtain' separating Silicon Valley from Salinas Valley // San Jose Mercury News
“Silicon Valley and Salinas Valley are about an hour away, but they need not be different worlds.
“Another new program aims to part the so-called 'lettuce curtain' dividing the two industry hubs. The first local Apps for Ag hackathon took place this weekend at Cabrillo College's Watsonville campus, uniting coders and commercial farmers.”
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Big haul: First car in BART’s future fleet being trucked cross-country // SF Gate
“As you were clutching that overhead bar on BART this morning, crushed between someone’s backpack and somebody else’s luggage, you may have wondered when those long-promised new rail cars are going to show up.
“Well, the first of the 775 new cars is making its way west — beep beep! — atop a flatbed truck.”
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Delta islands sale to Southern California company roils state water politics // Inside Bay Area
“They see the purchase as part of a water grab to send more water to Los Angeles through Gov. Jerry Brown's $15.5 billion twin tunnels plan, at the expense of fish and wildlife.
“Either way, some 20,000 acres of island is moving toward a change of ownership that is stirring up waves in California's water politics.”
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“Amin Shokrollahi couldn't wait to lecture at an electronics conference in San Francisco. The annual gathering of top tech minds, investors and customers was the perfect place for the German-Iranian professor to gain support for his start-up.
“But before he could make his trip to the January forum, Shokrollahi discovered his permission to travel to the United States from Switzerland had been revoked. He immediately knew why. Just weeks before his flight, Congress had made changes to the visa waiver program, which allowed citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa.”
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Growth in East Bay boarding homes for seniors raise questions about care // Inside Bay Area
“To Michael Morgan, moving to a Castro Valley boarding home seemed like a good deal. The disabled man would have his own room for $750 a month, $350 less than he paid to share a room in a residential care facility for the elderly in Hayward.
“So off he went, not realizing he was entering the little-watched and unregulated world of boarding homes-- one that appears to be growing as rising rents and high costs push more licensed facilities out of business. Unlike skilled nursing facilities and the care home Morgan just left, the state has no oversight over landlords who rent rooms to strangers, and there's little regulation at the local level.”
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