Author Archives: Public Press staff

By KQED news staff and wires, KQED News Fix San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor false imprisonment charge in connection with the domestic violence case involving his wife. Mirkarimi, 50, appeared in court after agreeing to the plea deal with prosecutors, who dropped three other misdemeanor charges related to a Dec. […]

By William Harless, California Watch California’s next big step in recycling – composting its meat scraps, broken egg shells, coffee grounds and other detritus of eating – is straining the state’s ability to effectively manage the ever-growing and sometimes dangerous industry. In October 2011, 16-year-old Armando Ramirez and his brother, 22-year-old Heladio Ramirez, died of […]

By Rachel Gulbraa, Bay Nature The vision to create a 550-mile trail around the San Francisco Bay is threatened by state park closures scheduled for this summer, trail advocates say. The Bay Area Ridge Trail may not be the target of California state budget cuts, but because it runs through four state parks that are […]

By Eleanor Yang Su, California Watch Step inside any public school these days, and you’ll likely see parents working alongside the staff. They’re running arts education in some schools, coordinating major fundraisers, setting up school assemblies and planting campus gardens. The deep budget cuts of recent years have left a void, and an army of […]

By Lance Williams, California Watch In losing the 2010 governor’s race, Republican Meg Whitman set a record for political spending in a California election: Her campaign cost $178.5 million. But Whitman’s losing campaign against Democrat Jerry Brown appears somewhat more economical in terms of dollars spent per vote obtained. Whitman paid about $43 for each […]

By Renee Frojo, Bay Nature A group of renegade agricultural activists is challenging the notion that nothing comes for free by grafting fruit-bearing branches onto trees lining city streets. Over the past year, the Guerrilla Grafters – a diverse group of volunteers who started in San Francisco – has been splicing fruit-bearing branches onto ornamental […]

By Bernice Yeung, California Watch Better access to primary health care and prevention programs could have kept thousands of California adults out of hospitals, according to a new statewide analysis. According to new data released  by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, there were more than 335,000 adult hospitalizations in California that could […]

By Christy Khoshaba, Mission Local Parking in the city — don’t wanna hear it. Take away 14 parking spots — come again? Yet add something nice in the neighborhood, and voilà, people forget those 14 parking spots ever existed. Or at least most people do. Often, business owners see the parklets that have grown up […]

By Zaineb Mohammed, New America Media A week after Attorney General Kamala Harris announced an $18 billion settlement for California’s foreclosure victims, homeowners and housing rights advocates declared the need to temporarily halt all foreclosure-related activity. During a foreclosure roundtable discussion held recently at the Mission Economic Development Agency, Alan Fisher, Executive Director of the […]

By Christina Jewett, California Watch As California continues to forge ahead implementing health reform, state Medi-Cal leaders and UC Davis researchers announced an agreement to examine public health system transformation efforts that may serve as models for the nation. The researchers will evaluate public hospital systems as they revamp daily operations in ways meant to […]