Here's what's happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW news:
San Jose police rolls out first wave of body cameras in department milestone // San Jose Mercury News
"Wednesday, an inaugural group of about 20 swing-shift officers were trained how to use the new $400 cameras, which are the size of a deck of cards and are affixed to an officer's chest with a magnetic mount. Officials believe that recording interactions will help strengthen the trust between police and the community—and some evidence suggests that when the cameras are running, officers and citizens both behave better.
"Officials plan to train and deploy 30 officers a day for at least the next two months. Patrol officers will be the first to get the cameras, followed by officers in special operations—which includes the SWAT, Metro and gang units—then detectives and then reserve officers. Uniformed staff ranging from the officer level all the way up to captain will be expected to have cameras anytime they are in the field."
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UC Berkeley chancellor under investigation for alleged misuse of public funds, personal use of campus fitness trainer // Los Angeles Times
"UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks is under university investigation for the alleged misuse of public funds for travel and the personal use of a campus fitness trainer without payment, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
"A whistleblower complaint alleged that Dirks had failed to pay for use of the campus Recreational Sports Facility and its professional services, and that he used public funds to pay for travel with a recreational sports employee on non-university business, according to an April 11 letter to Dirks from Rachael Nava, the University of California’s chief operating officer."
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KKK flyers distributed in San Francisco neighborhood // KTVU
"The flyer contends that the Black Lives Matter movement is telling people to kill white people and police officers and that the KKK is the only organization that stands up for white people.
"Residents reported finding the fliers on their doorsteps and gates, according to the social media site Nextdoor.
"The San Francisco Police Department tells KTVU they are aware of the leaflets, but that it is not against the law to distribute them."
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Berkeley council criticizes hospital closure plans // East Bay Times
"The City Council on Tuesday registered its strong concern over plans to close Alta Bates hospital, calling upon owner Sutter Health to keep it running and possibly seismically retrofit it. A Berkeley institution since 1905, Alta Bates has the only remaining emergency room between Richmond and Oakland since Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo closed last year.
"The vote followed a 6 p.m. rally in front of Old City Hall staged by the California Nurses Association to protest the planned closing, projected for sometime between 2018 and 2030.
"Sutter Health intends to consolidate Alta Bates services at its Summit hospital in Oakland, one of three campuses that constitute Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, along with Herrick hospital in Berkeley."
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Study finds that Bay Area restaurants have the largest race-based pay gap in the country // East Bay Express
"The female fine-dining restaurant employees were, on average, paid $3.34 less than their male counterparts—due in large part to their being dramatically underrepresented in the high-paying bartender positions at those types of establishments. The race-based wage gap at fine-dining restaurants was even larger, as workers of color earned a whopping $6.12 less than white workers on average. According to [the Restaurant Opportunities Center], this is the largest race pay gap that the organization has found in the entire country.
"The ROC report was based on 525 surveys completed by current Bay Area restaurant workers, as well as a smaller number of structured interviews with restaurant workers and employers. The organization hailed its study as one of the largest to date on the Bay Area's restaurant workforce, but all of the usual disclaimers about small sample size apply here."
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Google, LinkedIn strike stunning "grand bargain" for property swap in Mountain View, Sunnyvale // Silicon Valley Business Journal
"Executives say the blockbuster property swap—involving 1 million square feet of existing buildings, including LinkedIn's current headquarters, and 2.4 million square feet of future development capacity—benefits both sides: It will give Google control over critical puzzle pieces in North Bayshore, providing a path forward for the search giant’s futuristic vision there as LinkedIn departs the Google-heavy North Bayshore business district. At the same time, LinkedIn will gain property—elsewhere in Mountain View and in Sunnyvale—that allows it to build out a cohesive corporate campus years earlier than anticipated under previous plans for a costly planned mixed-use headquarters called Shoreline Commons."
