Six Bay Area Newspapers to Consolidate Into Two // New York Times
“Six daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area will be merged into two, one serving Oakland and the East Bay and the other Silicon Valley. The Bay Area News Group said the move would result in a modest reduction in staffing, but did not provide details."
"The company said that in the East Bay, The Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, The Daily Review and The Argus would combine to become the new East Bay Times. The media group’s vice president for audience, Dan Smith, said that in Silicon Valley, The San Jose Mercury News and The San Mateo County Times would form The Mercury News. Mr. Smith said subscribers in Oakland, Hayward and Fremont also would receive new community weeklies. He said the changes, starting April 5, were prompted by a survey of subscribers.”
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Bay Area Voters React to Results of Super Tuesday // ABC7 News
“Super Tuesday brought people together in San Francisco to watch the results come in. While most aren't surprised by the frontrunnersABC7 News political analyst and Politico reporter Carla Marinucci says she saw something very dramatic unfold.
“Marinucci says Donald Trump "killed it" and because of that the Republican establishment is in panic mode. She believes the party and the voters are at odds.”
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Facebook facing German cartel probe over suspected data protection abuses // The Guardian
“Facebook is being investigated by the German federal cartel office, the Bundeskartellamt, for suspected anti-competitive behaviour stemming from breaches of data protection law.
“The Bundeskartellamt said on Wednesday that it has initiated proceedings against the social network, which operates within Europe from a base in Ireland.
“The Bundeskartellamt president Andreas Mundt said: ‘For advertising-financed internet services such as Facebook, user data are hugely important. For this reason it is essential to also examine under the aspect of abuse of market power whether the consumers are sufficiently informed about the type and extent of data collected.’”
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Woman's Suicide Spurs Claim Against East Bay City, Hospital // NBC Bay Area
“The son of a woman who committed suicide has filed a claim against the the City of Antioch and a Contra Costa County hospital. The claim is the first step toward a lawsuit against the East Bay city and hospital.
“In April 2015, AfrozaChowdhury was brought to the Contra Costa County's Regional Medical Center in Martinez for a psychological evaluation. An Antioch police report said the woman later was cleared and put in a cab to go home -- a place Chowdhury did not want to go back to.”
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Yosemite's name change signage modifications spectacularly half-hearted // SFGate
“The hotels and gift shops at Yosemite National Park might have been forced to change some longtime signage and unload merchandise as the park prepares to welcome a new concessionaire company, but some of the disgruntled workers — who call the forced changes ‘terrible’ and ‘obscene’ — are making the absolute worst of it.
“The orders to change the traditional (and apparently trademarked) names of hotels and other attractions in the area comes following a change in Yosemite's concessions operator. When the now former operator, Delaware North, was beaten out by Aramark for a new contract, which begins in March, the company revealed that it had trademarked the names of some of the area's most iconic destinations, including the Ahwahnee Hotel, the Wawona Hotel, Curry Village, and the Badger Pass Ski Area.”
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Park district votes to close Chabot gun range next year // Oakland Tribune
“The East Bay Regional Park District board voted unanimously Tuesday to close the gun range at Anthony Chabot Regional Park because of extensive lead contamination, giving the club's owners 12 months to wind down operations.
“The vote came after more than five hours of comments from a spillover crowd of nearly 500 people who showed up at the meeting. Some 235 people signed up to have their moment at the podium, but many left before their turn came up. About 100 stuck around long enough to weigh in.
“‘Keep it open for people like myself and future victims,’ said Karen Nunez of Richmond, who said she had been stalked. ‘You will be closing not just a gun range but closing a community.’"
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