.Thursday’s Briefing: Oakland’s Temple Sinai Hit by Anti-Semitism; Oakland and SF Sue Big Oil Over Climate Change


Stories you shouldn’t miss for Sept. 21, 2017:

1. Bigots scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls of Temple Sinai in Oakland early today, just hours before congregants began to assemble for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, KRON reports. Officials at the city’s largest Jewish synagogue, located near Uptown, quickly covered the hate speech with paper. Oakland police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

2. The cities of Oakland and San Francisco sued Chevron and other major oil companies, alleging that they knowingly caused climate change, reports Kurtis Alexander of the San Francisco Chronicle. The cities are demanding that Big Oil “pay billions in compensation for past and future flooding, coastal erosion, and property damage” resulting from the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

3. University of California President Janet Napolitano pledged that the UC system would contribute $300,000 for security costs related to next week’s planned right-wing events at Cal, but she warned that such huge expenses “may not be sustainable,” reports Teresa Watanabe of the LA Times$. A speech last week by conservative Ben Shapiro cost $600,000 alone.

4. About 65 percent of Bay Area residents say the cost of housing in the region is an “extremely serious” problem, reports Riley McDermid of the San Francisco Business Times$, citing a new UC Berkeley survey. In addition, 63 percent of residents said they support rent control.

5. The death toll from the 7.1 quake in central Mexico has reached at least 250 people, including dozens of children who were crushed to death by collapsed school buildings, the LA Times$ reports. The number of people killed by the quake is expected to rise as emergency crews continue to dig through the rubble.

6. The entire island of Puerto Rico could be without power for four to six months because of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria, The New York Times$ reports. The Category 4 storm also caused severe flooding on the island.

7. Unusual September snowfall closed Tioga Pass in Yosemite National Park and Sonora Pass on State Route 108, reports Amy Graff of SF Gate.

8. Alameda Fire Chief Doug Long, who has been with the fire department for 22 years, is retiring, effective Friday, reports Peter Hegarty of the East Bay Times$.

9. And undefeated world champion boxer Andre Ward of Oakland announced his retirement, saying he no longer has a desire to fight, the AP reports.

$ = news stories that may require payment to read.

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