Hike or horseback ride through the stunning redwood forests and rolling grassy hills of the East Bay by day, and each evening enjoy camping, delicious prepared meals, and lively entertainment.

Join for a single day, multiple days, or just for dinner.

Best of all, your participation directly supports local trails and nonprofits, including the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

Register by June 25th to get the best price!

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Brentwood employees complain of gender-based discrimination by city manager – Just weeks after City Manager G. Harold Duffey was implicated in a texting scandal in Oakland, several Brentwood employee associations have urged city leaders to launch an independent review of gender-based discrimination complaints during his time in Brentwood.

In a letter to the Brentwood City Council, employees from four organizations said they had “serious concern” about Duffey and incidents at their workplace.

The letter – submitted by employees from the Brentwood Employee’s Association Miscellaneous Office Division, the Employee’s Association Public Works Division, the Supervisors and Professionals Employee’s Association, and the Managers and Confidential Employee’s Association – said the matter has been reported to the city’s human resources department.

“Members of the Brentwood Employee Associations have expressed discomfort and concern regarding interactions with City Manager Duffey, and its impact on the City organization,” read the letter. “Given the seriousness of the matter, we respectfully urge the City Council to consider this information while conducting City Manager Duffey’s performance evaluation, as well as immediately initiate an independent third-party review.” Read More > in The Mercury News

Ballots Are All In, but California Election Results Could Take Weeks to Settle. Why? – After months of campaigning, millions of dollars’ worth of advertisements and a 61-candidate ballot for governor that included names such as LivingForGod AndCountry DeMott and Barack D. Obama Shaw, California voters have arrived at the next phase of the election:

The wait.

After counting late into election night, just 54% of the vote for governor has been tallied as of Wednesday afternoon, according to an estimate from the Associated Press. Many of the state’s largest counties won’t issue another update until Thursday — or even Friday — meaning longer waits for hundreds of thousands of votes that could have an impact on the race.

Once again, the crawling pace could draw false accusations, largely from national Republicans, that something nefarious is happening with the count in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged that concern when he recently urged election officials to speed up their work.

But those registrars and experts argue that without more resources, California will continue to endure days or weeks of uncertainty in the closest contests on the ballot as long as it relies so heavily on voting by mail.

“The two biggest variables of how long it takes a state actually to count ballots aren’t so much the policies. It is, one, the margin of victory, and two, the number of mail ballots that are cast at the last minute,” said David Becker, executive director and founder of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research, which works to ensure elections are trustworthy.

California began sending every registered voter a mail ballot by default during the pandemic, in an effort to make voting as easy as possible. In California’s 2024 general election, more than 80% of voters cast a vote-by-mail ballot.

The trade-off: processing time. With traditional in-person voting, voters’ signatures are reviewed before they cast a ballot.

With vote-by-mail, the verification and processing happens after election officials receive a ballot. Every signature on every envelope is reviewed to match the voter’s signature on file, a check meant to prevent voter fraud. Read More > at KQED

The top-two primary was supposed to change California politics. Did it flop? …California’s unusual “top two” election system puts every candidate on the same primary ballot; the first and second place winners progress to the general election. The idea, approved by voters in 2010, was advertised as an engine of both political moderation and more meaningful choice. Both the Democratic and Republican parties were opposed.

Proponents argued that pulling candidates out of a purely partisan primary system would encourage them to appeal to voters across the ideological spectrum, rather than just the party base. 

The new voting scheme would “change the dysfunctional political system and get rid of the paralysis and the partisan bickering” in California politics, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who championed the proposition, said at the time.

In districts where one party dominates the field, allowing multiple candidates from that same party to compete was meant to make general elections competitive.

But if current election results hold — and with so many ballots still left to count, they may not — Californians don’t appear likely to see many competitive statewide races in November. 

In Tuesday’s races for lieutenant governor, attorney general, controller and treasurer, a series of high-profile, well-financed Democrats are competing against Republicans who range from long- to longer-shot. In congressional contests in West Los Angeles and Napa Valley, where upstart progressives challenged moderate incumbents, the upstarts appear to have been boxed out, leaving the two veteran Democratic representatives, Mike Thompson and Brad Sherman, to face ill-fated Republicans. 

A notable exception is the insurance commissioner’s race, in which two Democrats — Jane Kim and Ben Allen — hold the two top spots. The 2018 lieutenant governor’s race was also a Dem-on-Dem contest. It’s happened a few times in U.S. Senate races. But in most cases, a reversion to the polarized partisan norm is the rule. 

That’s in part thanks to the primary electorate itself.

Fewer voters tend to turn out in June elections, and those who do tend to be committed partisans prepared to vote for one party or another. Though the top-two system is officially nonpartisan, Democratic voters treat it like a partisan primary, herding around the person they consider the strongest representative of their party, with Republicans doing the same, said Eric McGhee, a political researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California.

There may be a handful of “pure independents in the middle” who will swing between parties, moderating the outcome and potentially crossing party lines to put a centrist over the top. 

But such voters are rare — especially in June. Read More > at CalMatters

Waste of the Day: Mismanagement at SF Zoo – Topline: The taxpayer-funded San Francisco Zoo “does not have a healthy or stable financial condition,” according to a city audit released in May. The zoo has no written plans or budgets to guide its construction projects, and spent $12 million on them without city approval. Employees are also allegedly hiring their friends and relatives as contractors.

Key facts: The zoo is required to get approval from San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission before paying more than $50,000 for a construction project. But employees never did so while spending millions on a new “Madagascar Center” and other huge projects, auditors found.

There is also a “widespread view among staff that [the zoo] has a toxic workplace environment,” according to the audit. Employees were allegedly chosen for senior roles based on “discrimination and favoritism,” not “professional qualifications.”

The zoo spends more than $4 million on contracted services like security and advertising every year, but there is no evidence that any of them went through a competitive bidding process to find the best price. The zoo keeps no records of its contractors and was unable to tell auditors how much they are being paid, the audit found.

The audit also confirmed that former zoo CEO Tanya Peterson’s fiancé was hired to perform concerts, and other relatives of zoo staff received more than $800,000 for construction projects. The San Francisco Chronicle first exposed the nepotism allegations in 2024, which eventually contributed to Peterson’s resignation.

The City of San Francisco gives the zoo $4 million in funding every year, though that amount has not increased since 1993. Most of the zoo’s revenue comes from tickets, but low attendance has caused the zoo to outspend its budget for at least the last eight years. The zoo hid this fact from the city by projecting “unrealistically high” attendance numbers each year and making purchases based on the inflated revenue that never materialized, according to the audit. Read More > at Real Clear Investigations

Where a major Hayward fault quake could shake the Bay Area hardest – The Hayward fault line has not had a major earthquake since 1868, but new simulations designed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have found the Bay Area’s geography will shape the next “big one,” trapping seismic waves in basins like Livermore Valley and amplifying the destructive energy of quakes because of the earth beneath them.

Understanding how “ground motion” from an earthquake can be amplified as it travels away from an earthquake’s epicenter is crucial for Bay Area communities’ earthquake preparation, because damage isn’t solely determined by how big the magnitude of an earthquake is, but how kinetic energy spreads over topography and is magnified by local geology.

“Basins like San Pablo Bay or down in the Livermore basin, they will always amplify the ground motion, because when the (kinetic) waves come into the soft sediments, they convert into larger motion and they remain trapped,” said Arben Pitarka, a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist and co-author of a study published in Seismological Research Letters.

A Department of Energy project, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with support from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, analyzed the effects of a 7.0 magnitude quake along the Hayward fault, combining physics-based rupture modeling with a detailed wave-propagation simulation run on supercomputers to create, “for the first time,” a synthetic ground motion database, Pitarka said.

The last major earthquake on the Hayward fault line occurred Oct. 21, 1868. The California Department of Conservation estimates that a major quake on the fault line occurs roughly every 140 years, making the fault line overdue. The U.S. Geological Survey has since estimated a 33% chance of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake or greater by 2043, making the Hayward fault the most dangerous in the Bay Area. Read More > in The Mercury News

Why are California gas prices expected to rise again July 1? Here’s what to know – Californians soon will be paying more at the gas pump.

The state’s gas tax, already the highest in the nation, will go up by 2.2 cents per gallon July 1 under a state law requiring an annual increase, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Californians will pay 63.4 cents per gallon, an increase from the current 61.2 cents per gallon, for gasoline, the agency said.

Taxes on diesel fuel will go up by 1.6 cents to 48.2 cents per gallon from the current 46.6 cents per gallon.

The increases are based on the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index, the office said. Read More > in The Sacramento Bee

State worker union tries novel legal angle to stop Newsom’s return-to-office order – A state worker union hopes to use a California environmental law notorious for obstructing the construction of new homes to block a very different kind of project: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s impending return-to-office order.

On Wednesday, the union representing state attorneys and administrative law judges sent “exhaustion” letters to over 100 state departments, arguing that the return-to-office order will require more than 90,000 state workers to commute four days a week, which will negatively impact California’s environment.

The California Environmental Quality Act requires agencies to complete a report on the additional carbon dioxide emitted from more drivers on the road before imposing the return-to-office order, the union said.

“Importantly, the CEQA review requires that each agency and department consider feasible alternatives, and we’ve been living in one of those for the last six years,” said Talene Ghazarian, the president of California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment.

“Status quo is a feasible alternative,” she said, referring to the current two-day, in-office policy most eligible state employees are following.

The Governor’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The environmental lawsuit is the latest attempt to prevent the governor from carrying out his unpopular return-to-office order. Earlier this year, unions sponsored a bill that would give agencies authority to set department-specific telework policies, instead of adhering to the governor’s one-size-fits-all approach. Read More > in The Modesto Bee

CA high-speed rail OKs $3.5B contract that puts laying first tracks on new timeline – After more than a decade of construction in the Central Valley, the California High-Speed Rail Authority could be fewer than six months from laying the system’s first tracks.

The rail authority’s board on Monday awarded a track and systems construction contract of up to $3.5 billion to an operation between rail and engineering contractors Kiewit, Stacy Witbeck and Herzog. The joint venture is expected to do the track work between Merced and Bakersfield in various phases that will each require board approval.

The board’s new chair, Steve Kawa, described the award as a turning point for a project that has been slow to clear environmental rules, acquire the necessary right-of-way and build out infrastructure.

“Today the conversation changes,” he said during the meeting. “Track and system construction is the moment this project truly begins to become a railroad.”

California voters first approved $9.95 billion in bonds for a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system initially projected to cost $45 billion. The rail authority today is focused on first completing a 171-mile Merced-to-Bakersfield route by 2033 for $34.76 billion on the low end.

The rail authority expects work to begin on the first 22 miles that are ready for tracks – a space between the Shafter area and the Tulare-Kern County line – by Nov. 30.

That work is expected to be completed by June of next year, rail authority Chief of Construction Ed Fenn said during the meeting. From there, track work will advance north toward Fresno until it is complete on the initial 119 miles between Shafter and Madera County. Read More > at The Fresno Bee

How a Vaccine-Skeptical California County Stopped a Measles Outbreak – …While California has some of the strictest vaccine laws in the country, conservative Shasta County’s approach during the covid pandemic stood in stark contrast with the state’s guidance. Its local leaders opposed masking and vaccine mandates, and they ousted the county public health officer, who had sought to enforce those state policies and other safety measures.

A potential measles outbreak had “always been in my mind,” said Mu, an outspoken family physician who was among local doctors to sign a 2022 letter opposing covid vaccine mandates. But Mu, the county’s current public health officer, said that when his department identified the first local measles case, it acted decisively: “We forgot about fear.”

They went to work, he and his team said, to painstakingly retrace the steps of nine people sickened with measles, contacting more than 600 people who may have been exposed at Costco, a sushi restaurant, sporting events, a school, or a healthcare clinic. Just one of the nine contracted measles from one of those locations, while the others were characterized by the public health department as “close contacts.”

Two and a half months later, the Shasta County public health department had declared the measles outbreak over. Infectious disease experts say the rapid response executed in the mostly rural, vaccine-hesitant county offers a playbook for public health officers across the nation who are struggling to keep the highly contagious virus from spreading. Read More > at Governing

Google wants to release up to 32 million ‘good’ mosquitoes in California and Florida – When you think of Google “debugging” something, you probably think of software – not actual bugs. Yet the tech giant is seeking approval from the federal government to release up to 32 million mosquitoes in California and Florida as part of its “Debug” program. 

The little-known program aims to “stop bad bugs with good bugs” by releasing millions of sterile mosquitoes to eliminate those that carry disease.  

Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal in the world, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Out of the over 3,500 species of mosquitoes, one species alone, Aedes aegypti, carries dengue fever, Zika and chikungunya, which sicken hundreds of millions of people per year.

“They’re a difficult problem to solve,” Google Debug says on its project homepage, further explaining that most diseases carried by mosquitoes don’t have effective vaccines or treatments. “Attacking mosquitoes with pesticides is unsustainable because they’re becoming less effective over time and can be toxic, [and] clearing standing water is not enough because people can never find all the places that mosquitoes breed.” 

So, what exactly is that approach? Well, bugs – but “good” ones. 

“Good bugs are the same species of mosquito as the bad bugs that spread disease. Our good bugs are male mosquitoes that have a naturally-occurring bacteria called Wolbachia which makes them unable to have offspring with wild female mosquitoes,” the Google Debug webpage reads. “Male mosquitoes can’t bite or spread disease, so good bugs will stop bad ones from reproducing. Over time, there will be fewer and fewer bad mosquitoes.”  Read More > in The Hill

California Bet $20 Million on Prison Efficiency. The Returns Keep Shrinking. – California spends a lot of money running its prison system, and for years state leaders have tried to decrease those costs.

While there has been some progress, prison spending has remained stubbornly high considering the state’s incarcerated population has dropped by half over the last 20 years.

One of the few reliable ways to lower California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s expenses is closing prisons, which the Newsom administration has done three times since 2021 and is in the process of closing one more.

On average, closing one state prison is estimated to save California roughly $150 million annually. But it also results in the loss of stable jobs in the community where the facility is located and requires prison staff to either transfer facilities or find employment elsewhere. The number of staffers working in each of California’s 31 prisons ranges between 1,000 and 2,000 depending on the facility’s size.

Despite a recommendation from the LAO and an appetite from some lawmakers to continue shuttering prisons, Gov. Gavin Newsom does not plan to do so as part of his final budget proposal. Instead, the Newsom administration hopes to trim CDCR’s budget by following the advice of outsider consultants who were hired to look for ways to make state government more efficient.

The Boston Consulting Group, which was awarded a $20 million contract last year, took a fresh look at the department’s budget and made recommendations on where wasteful spending could be cut. But since this efficiency exercise was first announced, the amount the state expects to save from the consults’ recommendations has been dramatically reduced.

The state initially estimated it could save $125 million in fiscal year 2025-26 based on the work from the BCG contract, but that estimate was revised down to $42 million at the May revision. In fiscal year 2028-29, that discrepancy is expected to grow significantly. Savings in that year were initially estimated to reach $635 million, but now the state only anticipates saving $116 million.

“The actual savings versus what we were anticipating is less than 20% — that’s pretty stark,” said Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, during an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing last week. Read More > at Governing

Get-a-Waymo: How a burglar used a robotaxi to flee the scene in a first-of-its kind S.F. case – The getaway car was parked just outside the Marina yoga studio, idling in the January night air as the burglar made his move. 

In under three minutes, the burglar was in and out of Hot 8 Yoga with an armload of activewear. He stuffed the loot in the car’s trunk, hopped inside and disappeared down the street, comfortably carried away by an autonomous Waymo vehicle.  

The suspect’s escape turned an otherwise unremarkable break-in into a novel case for San Francisco police, who said it was likely the city’s first instance of a criminal fleeing the scene in a self-driving car. 

Nearly six months since the burglary, police have still not made an arrest or publicly identified any suspect, despite the fact that Waymos are outfitted with multiple high-definition cameras and require users to make accounts with their credit card numbers. Read More > in the San Francisco Chronicle

Anthropic Urges Global Pause in AI Development, Flags ‘Self-Improvement’ Risk – Anthropic is calling for top artificial intelligence labs to weigh slowing the pace of development, suggesting that AI systems are advancing so rapidly that they may soon be able to improve themselves without human intervention in ways that could pose significant societal risks.

The ability to slow global AI development would “likely be a good thing,” the company said Thursday in a blog post that disclosed internal data documenting how quickly its most advanced models are improving.

The post, written by the head of its internal research institute and a company co-founder, noted that model advances appear to be on a path toward “recursive self-improvement,” when AI systems can improve on their own without human intervention. Some AI insiders have seen that threshold as a potential marker of danger and enormous societal upheaval.

“We believe it would be good for the world to have the option to slow or temporarily pause frontier AI development to enable societal structures and alignment research to keep up with the advance of the technology,” the post, written by Marina Favaro and Jack Clark, says. It proposes a global agreement on how to potentially slow development and a mechanism for verifying that competitors are respecting it.

The post cautions that recursive self-improvement hasn’t yet happened and isn’t inevitable, “but could come sooner than most institutions are prepared for.” Read More > in The Wall Street Journal

John Ducker: Learning to get along with the car’s co-pilot – I had my first crack at trying hands-free technology last week. Seems a little weird doesn’t it? A guy writing about all things driving has never driven a semi-autonomous vehicle. I probably went through what many of you have already experienced: this feels wrong.

That feeling came on the Trans-Canada Highway north of Victoria while piloting a brand-new 2026 Chevrolet Tahoe equipped with General Motors’ Super Cruise system. The steering wheel glowed green, the SUV tracked steadily through traffic — my hands hovering nervously inches above the wheel.

…

The GM representatives were careful about the language. They avoid terms like “semi-autonomous” or “self-driving,” instead calling Super Cruise a “hands-free driver assistance technology.” That distinction matters.

You can remove your hands from the wheel on compatible roads, but not your attention. The vehicle still expects you to watch the road continuously, and it knows if you are not.

Mounted on the steering column is an infrared camera that tracks your eyes and head position, even through sunglasses. Look down at your phone too long, rummage through a glovebox, or mentally check out, and the vehicle warns you through visual alerts, seat vibrations and audible signals.

Ignore those warnings and the Tahoe escalates. It slows itself, activates hazard protocols and contacts OnStar emergency services if things really go sideways.

So, no napping, eating lunch or re-creating infamous Youtube videos of drivers misusing automated technology. As Alice bluntly told me: “Super Cruise is not autopilot. It’s a co-pilot.”

On mapped highways, the Tahoe smoothly maintained speed, centred itself in the lane and monitored traffic ahead. When approaching slower vehicles, the system can even signal, move into a passing lane, overtake, and return to the original lane automatically. That feature gave me pause, to put it mildly.

Passing through roadwork north of Victoria, Super Cruise repeatedly recognized pylons, changing road markings and narrowing lanes. When confidence dropped, the system disengaged and clearly instructed me to retake control. A green steering wheel light meant the Tahoe had the helm, red meant “over to you John,” along with dashboard alerts and those unsettling seat vibration warnings.

In other words, when conditions became messy, the vehicle stopped pretending it knew better than the human. That may actually be the most encouraging thing about this technology. Read More > at Times Colonist

Job openings soar to two-year high as hiring falls, BLS says – Job openings soared in April to 7.62 million, the highest level in two years, as hiring declined to 5.12 million, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.

Vacancies at professional and business services companies accounted for the biggest share of the openings, rising 7.1% to a three-year high, the BLS reported, belying anxiety that artificial intelligence has begun to supplant office workers.

Still, updates to the data may eventually wipe away some of the gains in business services, Pantheon Macroeconomics Chief U.S. Economist Samuel Tombs said in a note. “Sharp drops in openings in this sector in previous months have been revised away as more data have been collected,” he said. “We think it is just as likely that April’s big increase in openings also proves illusory.” Read More > at CFO Dive

Manufacturing activity speeds up to fastest pace in four years: ISM – The report of solid manufacturing activity highlights how economic growth has so far overcome the shocks of high tariffs and the Iran war.

“Crosswinds are buffeting the U.S. economy this year — of course the Iran War, but also the AI boom, the fiscal stimulus package passed last year, and the Fed’s rate cuts passed in late 2025,” Bill Adams, chief U.S. economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, said in a statement.

“The net effect of these crosswinds is an economy that continues to grow at a good clip, but with quite uneven distribution across sectors,” he said.

The policy and investment shifts have lifted defense, aerospace and semiconductor companies, and the bonus depreciation clause in the 2025 tax bill has spurred demand for capital equipment, Adams said.

“Also, the backlog of business decisions delayed in 2025 because of tariff uncertainty looks like it is starting to flow through to purchases and production,” he said.

The economy will likely grow during the second quarter at an annual rate of 3%, the Atlanta Fed estimated on Monday. Read More > at CFO Dive

Who owns US railroad tracks? – Unlike people in many other countries, travelers in the United States rarely rely on heavy rail as a common transportation option. When Americans travel from city to city, they usually turn to air travel or driving. But what makes the U.S. passenger rail system so unreliable? As federal legislators debate transportation appropriations, which could significantly impact the future of U.S. passenger rail, it’s important for Americans to understand how their rail system got where it is today.

The U.S. freight rail system, one of the largest in the world, covers almost 140,000 route miles and is operated by seven Class I railroads, 22 regional and 584 local/short line railroads. Tracks and railroad infrastructure are owned by the private operators who are responsible for maintenance and improvements. American railroads served as an engine of the nation’s industrial development, dramatically increasing the ease and speed of transporting everything from ore to grain to cattle. While new technologies and government subsidies helped the rise of new transport modes like airplanes, rail remains a key player in U.S. goods movement.

Until 1970, passenger rail was run by the same private companies that operate freight rail. As passenger rail began losing significant amounts of money, the federal government created Amtrak to operate passenger rail services. The agency relies on federal funding for its capital costs and fare revenue for operations. Amtrak’s operations consist of the Northeast Corridor, long-distance routes, and state-supported routes. It owns just 623 route miles. While Amtrak has a legal right to preference on shared tracks based on a 1973 statute, limited track capacity and the larger profit margin of freight mean that freight trains often get priority. Because freight companies pay for the vast majority of rail maintenance projects, they also have the right to remove infrastructure at will, regardless of Amtrak’s needs. Read More > at Planetizen

The Hormuz Squeeze Is Redrawing the Oil Map for Good – For decades, the Persian Gulf’s energy map converged on a single chokepoint: the Strait of Hormuz. Now, spurred by the Iran war, the region’s petrostates are rushing to draw new lines to circumvent it.

Across the Gulf, governments are pouring billions into new oil pipelines, rail corridors and energy storage hubs to bypass the waterway in what is set to become one of the most durable outcomes of the conflict. The new energy links are part of a broader redrawing of the region’s logistics map, shifting trade toward trucking, rail and new ports.

“The legacy of the crisis will result in the construction of infrastructure to bypass the Strait of Hormuz,” said Hamad Hussain, commodities economist at London-based research firm Capital Economics. “The genie is out of the bottle given that the longstanding threat of Iran effectively closing the strait has now materialized.”

Even if Washington and Tehran reach a deal to reopen the strait and maritime exports resume, the shift toward an export network with multiple exits will endure because the conflict has proved that robust contingency plans are essential, officials and analysts say. Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil via a previously underused fallback pipeline demonstrated the strategic value of a backup, while in recent weeks the United Arab Emirates and Iraq have launched plans to expand pipelines of their own.

The stakes extend far beyond the Gulf. Bypassing a waterway that once moved a fifth of the world’s oil will reshape how securely energy reaches all corners of the globe. Read More > in The Wall Street Journal

Canada Needs A Real Reckoning For The ‘Mass Graves’ Hoax – ive years ago, a moral panic gripped Canada over a story that was obviously fake but that so perfectly confirmed the biases of anti-Catholic liberals, no one in the media or the political establishment bothered to check its veracity.

This of course was the hoax about the purported discovery of “mass graves” of indigenous children at what was once a government boarding school run by the Catholic Church. In late May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation claimed that ground-penetrating radar had revealed hundreds of graves near the site of a former school in Kamloops, British Columbia. Tribal leaders cited the radar survey as proof that scores of indigenous Canadian children had been buried in unmarked mass graves at the school.

It was a shocking revelation, we were told, about a residential school system the Canadian government mandated from the 1860s to the 1990s — a system that in some cases forcibly separated indigenous children from their families and sent them to boarding schools run by Catholic priests and nuns, often in rural and remote areas. According to the liberal mainstream narrative in Canada, these schools were places of abuse and “cultural genocide.” To those crimes, the tribal leaders in Kamloops declared, could now be added the horror of heretofore hidden mass graves.

There were a million reasons to be skeptical of the story when it first appeared, not least of which was the preliminary nature of the findings and the fact that the site in question had not been excavated for human remains. But major corporate media outlets like The New York Times, CNN, NPR, and The Globe and Mail simply repeated the central claim as fact, stating unequivocally that the remains of 215 children had in fact been found at Kamloops. CNN called it a “gruesome discovery.” The Washington Post said the mass graves story had “dragged the horror of Canada’s mistreatment of Indigenous people back into the spotlight.”

The only problem was that it wasn’t true. There were no mass graves, no gruesome discovery, and no conspiracy of bigoted Catholic schoolmasters. That much has been obvious for years, if it wasn’t obvious enough when the story first appeared. Only now, five years later, The Globe and Mail, one of the major media outlets that helped perpetrate the hoax, has published an editorial mea culpa on the entire affair.

“Five years after the startling announcement that there were hundreds of possible unmarked graves near a residential school in Kamloops, B.C., there has been no public confirmation of the discovery of any human remains,” the editors write. “The media, including The Globe and Mail, did not initially scrutinize, much less challenge, that assertion.” The editorial goes on to note how the language used to discuss the claims about mass graves moderated as time went by, becoming less certain and more qualified. But that evolution of language, “does not erase the initial failure of journalism.” Read More > at The Federalist

Canada Shows The Gruesome Side Of Socialized Healthcare – n Canada, if your doctor refers you to a specialist, you’ll likely have to wait 15 weeks to get an appointment. Then another 13 weeks to get treated. Just getting an MRI will take 4 1/2 months, on average. But if you want to kill yourself? You can get a same-day appointment. 

A decade ago, Canada legalized “Medical Assistance in Dying,” or MAID. At first it was limited to those whose deaths were “reasonably foreseeable,” such as end-stage terminal cancer patients. Five years later, it was expanded to those whose “death is not reasonably foreseeable.” People with a disability or non-terminal illnesses could get a doctor to snuff them out. Lawmakers expanded it again to include those suffering solely from a mental illness, which the government expects to implement next year.

MAID is already big business in Canada. Nearly 100,000 Canadians have availed themselves of this form of “healthcare,” and it now accounts for more than 5% of all deaths in the country. 

And the government seems to be doing everything it can to make it a runaway hit. Lawmakers waived the 10-day waiting period for those whose deaths “are reasonably foreseeable,” and the rest have to wait only 90 days. 

The result is that same-day or next-day killings are common, which one member of the MAID Death Review Committee said “reveals remarkable fast‐tracking of euthanasia.”

“One elderly woman declined MAID and preferred palliative care,” he wrote. “When a hospice placement request was rejected, her husband, who had been assessed as struggling with ‘caregiver burnout’ asked for an urgent MAID assessment. She was euthanized that day.” Read More > at Issues & Insight

We May Already Have an Anti-Aging Vaccine – We have a vaccine that prevents shingles. We have a vaccine that markedly lowers the risk of dementia. We have a vaccine that might even slow aging itself.

Conveniently, these three vaccines are actually just one: the shingles vaccine.

In 2006, the FDA approved the vaccine Zostavax for adults aged 60 and older. For people previously infected with varicella-zoster virus, which causes chickenpox, the infection actually doesn’t end. The sneaky virus lies dormant in nerve tissue and can subsequently spring to life to cause shingles. Zostavax, and its more effective replacement, Shingrix, train your immune system to fight varicella-zoster in case it emerges from hiding to attempt a bodily coup.  

That’s a good thing because you really, really don’t want shingles. About 1 in 3 Americans will get it at some point. Its signature symptoms are a bubbly, blistering rash that traces the infected nerve, coupled with debilitating pain that’s been the subject of many painful-to-read Reddit posts. Sufferers use words and phrases such as “unrelenting,” “white hot,” and “I wish I could rip my arm out!”

So if you’ve had chickenpox in the past, it’s definitely worth your while to get vaccinated. The CDC actually recommends the shot for all adults aged 50 and older and all adults aged 19 and older who have weakened immune systems – because oftentimes you can be infected with varicella-zoster virus even if you’ve never developed chickenpox.

It was a good idea to get the shingles shot when all we knew was that it prevented shingles, but recent research has revealed a couple incredible health bonuses. First, vaccination is linked to at least a 20% reduction in one’s risk of dementia. Second, vaccination is linked to slower biological aging itself. Read More > at RealClear Science

Celebrate the 17th annual Martinez Beaver Festival at Susana Park! Enjoy live music ranging from Irish folk to big band, interactive exhibits including a giant mobile fish tank, rare birds, bees, and bats, and family-friendly activities. Children can earn a “Beaver Pond Totem” by learning about how beavers help water systems and painting their own tail. Adults can explore wildlife booths and learn about urban wildlife and beavers in the area.

The festival also features a silent auction with unique treasures and family adventures, and chalk artist Amy Gallaher Hall will be creating a beaver mural.

We’re celebrating in a new home!

Join us!
Sunday, June 14, 2026 at Vallejo People’s Garden,
1055 Azuar Drive, Mare Island, Vallejo

The Bay Area Butterfly Festival will take place throughout the blocks surrounding the Vallejo People’s Garden, transforming the neighborhood into a full day of art, nature, music, education, performances, and family-friendly activities on Mare Island.

For more information visit https://www.bayareamonarchs.org/.

School bus applications for Kindergarten through 8th grade will be available online for Brentwood, Oakley and Byron School Districts beginning June 8, 2026.

Applications for Liberty Union High School District will be available online beginning July 13, 2026.

The Student ID number will be required to apply.

Applications will be available online at https://www.luhsd.net/departments/transportation-services/welcome.

Bus passes must be signed for and picked up at 19 Oak Street, Brentwood, CA. Tap on the graphic to download a PDF of the flyer.

BART crews will be in the Transbay Tube to replace outdated light fixtures this Sunday, June 7. The work will be for the entire day on Sunday, which will reduce our normal service from two tracks to one through the tube. Service impacts on Sunday include:

• Trains will run every 30 minutes systemwide
• Only 3 lines will be in service (Blue, Yellow, Orange)
• Red and Green Line service will not operate
• A Yellow Line shuttle train will run between SFO and Millbrae all day – Passengers traveling beyond SFO must transfer

Similar work is planned in the Transbay Tube for Sunday, July 19. BART crews in April replaced more than 100 old fixtures with new LED lights and performed other trackway upgrades.

BART’s Trip Planner has been updated to reflect schedule changes for these days. Riders are strongly encouraged to plan their trips in advance. 

At the May 19th meeting, the Oakley Planning Commission held a public hearing and adopted a resolution approving a design review and variance for the new Oakley Library & Community Center located at 3235 Main Street.

The Oakley Library & Community Center will be a new single-story, approximately 13,030 square foot (sf) civic facility (approximately 12,015 sf for the building and 1,015 sf of covered exterior space) located on the Civic Center campus. This multi-functional community hub consisting of a library, community center, and civic office space, will have strong indoor-outdoor connections, abundant natural daylight, and architectural elements inspired by our beautiful Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Site and landscape improvements include a covered community porch, a multi-use outdoor pavilion (replacing the existing pavilion and restrooms), and a landscaped promenade. Deep roof overhangs and integrated shading elements are incorporated to reduce solar heat gain and glare.

Find out more at the links below:

Read the Staff Report

View the Vicinity Map

View the Project Plans

Download Siegel & Strain Architect’s Presentation

Watch the Meeting (item 4.1)

Follow the Project on our Envision Oakley platform

Two 55-hour full highway closures of State Route 4 from Roberts Road to the San Joaquin/Contra Costa County line are planned for July:

• 10 p.m. Friday, July 10-5 a.m. Monday, July 13
• 10 p.m. Friday, July 17-5 a.m. Monday, July 20

Learn more.

Average precipitation in May

0.43″

Rainfall Totals in May 2026

0.46″

Accumulated Monthly Totals from July 1, 2025 through May 31, 2026

14.66″

Average annual precipitation in the 12-month period beginning July 1 that continues through June 30 of the subsequent year.

13.22″

Percent of average YTD

115.43%

Weather data – https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/oakley/california/united-states/usca2070

A rainfall year season is defined as the 12-month period beginning July 1 that continues through June 30 of the subsequent year.

Plan to build more than 12,000 homes in this Bay Area community passes crucial vote – After years of delays, failed negotiations and political battles, Concord leaders approved an agreement Tuesday that sets the stage for one of the largest housing developments in the Bay Area — a sprawling, $6 billion master-planned community that would dramatically reshape the city over the next three decades.

The Concord City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a financial agreement with the Navy that would allow a developer to build a residential community that would include 12,272 homes — 25% of which would be affordable — more than 800 acres of parks and 6 million square feet of commercial space. 

As part of the plan, the developer, Brookfield Properties, would pay the Navy, which owns the 2,225-acre Concord Naval Weapons Station, $628 million over nearly 30 years. 

Tuesday’s vote marks the most significant progress on the project, after multiple previous attempts collapsed amid labor disputes and disagreements over terms with the Navy, which closed its Concord base in 2008. City officials and council members said the agreement finally aligns the city, the Navy, labor groups and the developer behind the same vision.

The project has mostly remained unchanged from previous attempts. The key difference is that the city, developer and Navy have all come to an agreement, said Guy Bjerke, the city’s economic development director, before the vote. Read More > in the San Francisco Chronicle

E-motorcycles on East Bay’s Iron Horse Trail becoming urgent safety issue – On the Iron Horse Regional Trail traversing Contra Costa and Alameda counties, the whir of electric bikes has become part of the summer soundtrack. But not all of those rides are what they appear to be, and some are moving fast enough to alarm the people sharing the path.

“They kind of just speed fast by me, and it just kind of scares me a little bit sometimes,” said Ashley, who attends high school nearby.

Local law enforcement says the problem has grown serious. In Danville, the police department said officers recently detained a 12-year-old boy after he ran a stop sign traveling at 45 miles per hour on a Talaria electric motorcycle. Police say it’s a vehicle that looks like a bicycle but operates like a motorbike. Officer cited both the child and his parents.   Continue reading  Back to Home

The incident prompted Police Chief Thomas Rossberg to urge residents to educate themselves about the vehicles their children are riding.

“These electric motorcycles are not ‘e-bikes’ — they are motor vehicles, and are not street legal,” wrote Rossberg in a social media post. “Not only will illegal riders be stopped and cited, parents of underage riders will also be cited.” Read More at CBS Bay Area

Tax to bail out struggling Bay Area transit agencies appears headed to voters – Backers of a new sales tax measure to bail out the Bay Area’s struggling public transit systems say they have gathered enough signatures to place the proposal on the November ballot.

On Tuesday, supporters announced they’d submitted 300,000 signatures to bring the measure before voters, surpassing the 186,000 required. They say the tax hike is critical to preventing drastic service cuts triggered by a decline in ridership across the region with the rise of remote work.

“Public transit is a public good,” said Jeff Cretan, spokesperson for Connect Bay Area, the campaign behind the measure. “It’s part of a well-functioning, thriving region.”

If approved, the initiative is estimated to generate about $980 million a year for bus, train, ferry and metro lines in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara and San Francisco counties. The measure asks voters in those areas to raise sales taxes by 0.5%, except in San Francisco, where the increase would be 1%.

To pass, it needs a simple majority of votes across all five counties combined.

Measure supporters, a coalition of business, labor, and transit advocates, say the tax increases would cost most Bay Area households around $100 annually. The new rates would kick in at the start of 2027 and last for 14 years.

Critics argue that rather than raising taxes on residents already facing growing affordability concerns, local transit agencies should instead scale back operations to adapt to lower ridership. They’ve also questioned whether the potential service cuts floated by agencies, including BART and Caltrains, are as dire as projected, a claim measure backers rejected. Read More > in The Mercury News

Southern California could get 85% of its water locally and avoid Delta tunnel, groups say – A coalition of conservation groups wants Southern California to get 85% of its water locally, up from the 50% it gets now, by 2045, and says a new plan shows how.

It’s urging state leaders to scrap plans for a 45-mile tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and consider asking voters to approve a bond measure to fund local water solutions. The 34-page strategy was released as critical decisions loom for local officials, California’s next governor and legislators.

Over the last century, Southern California has grown and thrived thanks to giant aqueducts it built to bring water from hundreds of miles away — the Eastern Sierra, the Colorado River and Northern California.

But with water costs rising and climate change jeopardizing these distant sources, there is growing interest in finding ways to get more water locally.

The allied groups are calling for recycling more wastewater, capturing more stormwater, improving efficiency and cleaning up contaminated groundwater.

“We have to prioritize our investments, and prioritizing them in local water makes the most sense,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of the group Los Angeles Waterkeeper.

The coalition includes fishing groups, environmental organizations and Northern California’s Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

Its plan calls for a “new urban water renaissance” in California that prioritizes local water. This approach would reliably yield more and cost far less than Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed Delta Conveyance Project beneath the Delta. Read More > in the Los Angeles Times

An Obscure Political Race With Big Consequences for California – The race for California insurance commissioner is attracting new attention, new money, and a range of policy ideas as increasingly frequent disasters have shaken up the insurance industry.

People with big political ambitions don’t tend to be drawn to the California insurance commissioner’s office. It’s one of the lower-profile statewide positions, charged with regulating the insurance industries that operate in the state and approving insurance rates. And it’s one of the less glamorous political jobs out there. Even when insurance rates are low and coverage is good, insurance ratepayers aren’t looking around for a politician to thank.

But this year, the California insurance industry is undergoing an upheaval following years of increasingly frequent, costly disasters. And the race for California insurance commissioner is crowded, competitive and expensive.

California has had an insurance commissioner since the 1860s, but the position has only been elected since the late 1980s, following voter approval of Proposition 103. In addition to making the commissioner an elected position, the proposition required the office to approve rate increases requested by insurance companies. Partly as a result, California, one of just 11 states with an elected insurance commissioner, has relatively low insurance rates.

Following disastrous wildfires over the last decade, insurers in the state have sought to raise rates while limiting their coverage. Current California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara sponsored a bill as a state senator in 2018 that imposes a one-year moratorium on insurers dropping or declining to renew policies in areas affected by disasters. Insurers have continued to pull back; State Farm stopped offering new home insurance policies in the state altogether in 2023. Lara has also promoted a Sustainable Insurance Strategy to stabilize the industry and promote broader coverage in areas where property owners are especially reliant on the state-run FAIR plan, which provides last-resort insurance coverage. Critics have said Lara’s policies are overly generous to insurance companies, and that proposals meant to improve coverage in risk-prone areas are full of loopholes.

The next commissioner will have to respond to a knot of political problems: insurance industry demands to raise premiums to reflect growing risk, a statewide need to mitigate fire risk at the property and neighborhood levels, and voters’ focus on affordability, particularly in a state already beset by runaway housing costs. Read More > at Governing

Yuba and Sutter counties to vote on proposal to split California into two states – Yuba and Sutter county leaders are expected to vote on Tuesday on resolutions supporting a proposal to split California into two states.

Assembly GOP leader James Gallagher introduced the latest “two state solution” proposal on the issue last year. It would create a new state out of California’s 35 inland counties, covering most of Northern California, the Sierra Nevada, the Central Valley, and the Inland Empire.

Yuba and Sutter counties would be included in the new state. See a map below of the counties that would be covered by the new state.

On Tuesday, the boards of supervisors in both counties will hear resolutions to support Gallagher’s plan. Both cite a number of issues they say divide the inland and coastal counties, including water rights, wildfire protection, and Proposition 50, the voter-approved measure that temporarily redrew congressional lines to create more Democratic districts in response to efforts in Texas to help Republicans.

For the state to be split, a majority in both the Assembly and Senate would have to approve the plan. Read More > at KCRA

Inside Gavin Newsom’s Solar Scam – Governor Gavin Newsom has dismissed fossil fuels as “alternative energy,” and wants to power California with, among other things, the sun. Through extensive mandates and extra energy costs for non-solar consumers, the Newsom administration has directed billions to building solar energy capacity.

The centerpiece of this initiative is the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program. SOMAH began under Governor Jerry Brown, who signed legislation requiring a state commission to apportion up to $100 million a year from California’s cap-and-trade program to pay for the installation of solar panels on apartment buildings in poor areas. Since then, California has devoted nearly $900 million to SOMAH, which the state hoped would create 300 megawatts of power by 2030 and advocates envisioned would create a million solar-using renters.

The results have been disastrous. Since 2015, the program has installed or reserved only 129 megawatts of solar power for approximately 65,600 residents—nowhere close to the target of 1 million “solar renters.”

What happened? First, incompetence. For a decade, businesses and utilities have been forced to buy emissions credits, and while the state has lavished nearly $900 million on SOMAH, administrators designed the program so poorly that they have paid out only $131 million for solar installation.

As the program’s largest contractor admitted in a draft audit, potential customers were turned off by the paperwork, bureaucracy, and red tape. “Initially, we found housing owners excited about the program,” the contractor said, “but after a long and laborious process, they are much less enthusiastic.”

That is an understatement. From the beginning, the SOMAH program has been plagued by delays and cancellations. More than 400 applications have wound up cancelled or withdrawn, or about a third of the total. On average, projects take three and a half years to make it through the program’s gauntlet of paperwork and inspections.

Some projects have been fully installed—only to sit idle for a year or more waiting for permission to begin operating. As a result, more than $700 million of the program’s budget remains unspent. In other words, California can’t even give away a heavily subsidized, and sometimes free, product. Read More > at City Journal

High-speed rail revolt; Central Valley mayors reject tax-share idea. So who pays the bill? – California’s high-speed rail project is piecing together a complex funding plan after losing billions in federal dollars under the Trump administration, drawing pushback from Central Valley cities along the way.

The latest proposal to tap local tax growth near future stations has prompted threats of lawsuits from mayors across the region, including Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. The agency says it would use the money and zoning power to build infrastructure and make sure its station areas are correctly planned.

• The California High-Speed Rail Authority wants to capture a portion of property and sales tax growth within a half-mile of future stations through tax-increment financing to help fund infrastructure, though the proposal’s details have not been finalized.

• Nine California mayors, including Fresno’s Jerry Dyer, signed an April 23 letter warning they would likely sue over the tax capture plan, calling it unconstitutional under Prop 1A and “a legally dubious scheme” to divert local revenue. Read More > in The Fresno Bee

California judges are testing a new AI clerk, and you won’t know if it’s looking at your case – Two of California’s largest courts are testing an AI tool that can draft orders and produce research memos. 

Judges so far are using it primarily for civil cases, but documents obtained by CalMatters indicate the possibility of expanded applications in criminal cases, where people’s freedom and access to justice are on the line. 

The Los Angeles County Superior Court began a pilot program in February to test a tool created by the company Learned Hand. Other courts may follow, according to Learned Hand founder and chief executive officer Shlomo Klapper.

Learned Hand uses a combination of language models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google to act as an AI clerk for judges. The company says it tests for bias and accuracy, but it has not yet published results. 

In Riverside County, which has a $10,000 agreement with the company to test the program, civil and probate attorneys are primarily using the tool to draft research memos that help judges reach their decisions. It’s typical for research attorneys to assist judges as they review cases.  

Los Angeles County Superior Court has a roughly $314,000 contract that includes a roadmap to test the tool’s use in criminal, family and probate divisions. Officials would not describe in detail to CalMatters the criteria they’re using to evaluate whether use of the tool can safely expand to criminal and family courts, where the stakes are often much higher than in civil cases.  Read More > at CalMatters

Citing ‘severe’ math deficits, UC faculty demand a return to SAT tests for STEM applicants – More than 600 University of California faculty members, led by mathematicians at UC Berkeley, are calling on the system to reinstate standardized testing requirements for science, technology, engineering and mathematics applicants, saying that six years of test-free admissions has not reliably assessed readiness and professors are often teaching middle school math to incoming students.

Without standardized testing in admissions, professors said they don’t know whether incoming students can handle college-level math. The open letter, addressed to top UC leaders, asks for SAT or ACT exams to be required beginning in fall 2027 and for STEM faculty to be given formal oversight of readiness standards in their majors.

“We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics while simultaneously teaching the material students need for sciences, engineering, economics, and other quantitatively demanding fields,” they warned.

Over three years — from fall 2021 to fall 2023 — the letter said, at least 20% of Berkeley first-semester calculus students who took a diagnostic exam showed deficits. “Basic mathematical fluency is analogous to literacy; without it, success in university-level STEM becomes structurally unattainable for students,” faculty wrote. Read More > in the Los Angeles Times

California brought back beavers for the first time in 70 years, and the results are already amazing – Deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills on the Tule River Indian Reservation, tribal member Kenneth McDarment had passed by an ochre-red pictograph countless times throughout his life—a simple yet unmistakable image of a beaver with four paws and a distinctive paddle tail. Estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old, this ancient artwork adorned the walls of a rock shelter alongside other paintings of wildlife, humans, and geometric designs created by the Yokuts people.

To McDarment, this beaver image seemed like just another beautiful piece of Native art. That is until he looked at it again, this time seeing it clearly with fresh eyes.

When severe drought struck the reservation about a decade ago, McDarment and other tribal leaders began searching for innovative ways to conserve water. The answer, it turned out, had been staring at them from the cave walls all along.

“Sometimes you need to just look at things more often,” McDarment told researchers.

Glancing back up at the beaver, the pictograph suddenly took on new meaning as McDarment and the other tribal leaders began to recognize the ancient wisdom embedded in their ancestors’ art. If beavers had once thrived on these lands and helped manage water resources, perhaps bringing them back could address their contemporary drought challenges. This revelation prompted the tribe to pursue what would become California’s first beaver restoration program in over seven decades.

The revelation sparked an unprecedented collaboration between California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and Native tribes. In the past, the Tule River Tribe and the Maidu Summit Consortium were dismissed, and told there was “no way to move beavers in California legally.”

But after years of advocacy and preparation, in 2021, California finally launched its first beaver restoration program since the 1950s in partnership with both tribes.

On October 18, 2023, seven beavers were released into their new home in Tásmam Koyóm, a 2,325-acre valley in Plumas County. By September 2024, the total number of relocated beavers had grown to 28, spread across five release sites. Read More > at Upworthy

The form asked my permission to share my health data. Then it wouldn’t let me say no. – To experience what patients have to do to opt-out of having their data shared, I went to doctor’s appointments in seven states. One clinic showed me how easily dark patterns force patients to share their data with big healthcare networks, even when the privacy form they’re signing explicitly says they can opt-out….

Over the last year, I’ve interviewed more than 20 patients, healthcare providers, experts and advocates about the privacy forms they must sign to get care at their providers’ offices.

Time and again I was told the same thing: Across the country, from large hospital systems to small, private clinics, patients are being asked to sign waivers blindly without knowing exactly what they’re signing.

When patients ask to see more, staff usually don’t have an easy way to show them. When patients do get the forms, it tells them all the ways their medical data will be shared and reused, and some of the ways patients can refuse. But electronic systems make it impossible to opt out on the spot, requiring follow up emails.

Records sharing between unaffiliated providers through these networks can benefit patients by making their scattered records more visible to the provider who is treating them. 

But it can also harm patients.

Patients seeking an abortion may not want records to travel with them from a state where that treatment is legal to one where it is criminalized.

In other cases, companies, such as GuardDog, have admitted to accessing patient records “under the guise of treatment” and funneling them to personal injury law firms.

Researchers have also found healthcare workers snooping through electronic health records. Other dangers include data breaches and serious potential for misuse, such as domestic abusers stalking their partners though the pediatric records of their children.

There’s not much patients can do to limit the risks of their data being available across networks, except by aggressively pursuing opt-outs when providers offer them. Turns out, that can be pretty hard to do.  Read More > at CalMatters

US government overpaid welfare and Medicare recipients by $186 billion last year — after a shocking surge – The federal government overpaid welfare and social services recipients by a stunning $186 billion in fiscal year 2025, a startling surge of $24 billion from the previous year’s total.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 15 federal agencies made up the massive improper payments overage spanning 64 programs, with approximately 82% of the overages the result of overpayments.

And these are just the mistakes that the government caught — usually not outright fraud, like the billions alleged in Minnesota.

The GAO’s analysis comes as a fraudtask force helmed by Vice President JD Vance seeks to apply pressure to states, including New York, to root out the sources of fraud or risk losing federal funding.

Medicare was responsible for the largest share of overpayments, according to GAO’s analysis, coming in at $57 billion.

Medicare — the second largest government program after Social Security — has a budget of nearly $1.1 trillion.

Medicaid mistakes cost $37 billion, while the government doled out $21 billion for the Earned Income Tax Credit to people who didn’t deserve it. Read More > in the New York Post

Alberta will vote on whether to remain part of Canada. What now? – The western Canadian province of Alberta will ask its citizens this October whether they want to remain part of Canada or kick-start the process of holding a binding referendum on separation, marking a major test of the country’s unity, the first in decades.

Alberta’s leader, Premier Danielle Smith, announced the coming vote on 21 May in a televised address.

She said she herself supports a unified Canada.

There has been a growing separatist sentiment in the oil-rich province in recent years, and plebiscite comes after 300,000 people signed a petition asking that a referendum be held on the matter.

Here’s why some Albertans are calling for independence — and what comes next.

The question being put to voters won’t be a simple “stay” or “leave”.

Instead, Albertans will be asked: “Should Alberta remain a province of Canada or should the Government of Alberta commence the legal process required under the Canadian Constitution to hold a binding provincial referendum on whether or not Alberta should separate from Canada?”

The premier’s office clarified to the BBC that voters will have a choice of checking two boxes — option A being to remain in Canada and option B being to commence the legal process to hold a binding separation referendum. Read More > at BBC

Why hybrids are ‘having their moment’ as EVs and gas-powered vehicles lose market share – For much of the 2020s, automakers poured billions into fully electric vehicles while federal and state governments rolled out tax incentives aimed at accelerating EV adoption.

But with federal EV tax credits gone, gas prices rising and car prices still high, many buyers are turning to hybrids instead.

“Hybrids are having their moment,” says Stephanie Valdez Streaty, director of insights at Cox Automotive.

The most recent data from Cox shows hybrids emerging as the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. auto market, while both traditional gas-powered vehicles and EVs ceded market share in late 2025.

Hybrids accounted for nearly 20% of new vehicle sales by late 2025, nearly triple their share from three years earlier. At the same time, EV market share fell sharply to 5.9%, down from a peak of 10.3% in 2025, according to Cox data. 

Experts say hybrids are resonating with buyers because they offer better fuel economy than gas-powered cars without many of the charging concerns or lifestyle changes that can come with fully electric vehicles. Read More > at CNBC

Consumer Isn’t Dead Yet: US Retail Stocks Surge As Resilient Shoppers Surprise Markets – The S&P Retail Select Industry Index rose more than 1% Thursday morning as shares of Kohl’s, Best Buy, and Dollar Tree surged on better-than-expected earnings results. Results suggest the U.S. consumer was stronger than feared in the prior quarter, even as households were battered by a fuel-price shock at the pump, persistent inflation, and softening confidence, which has led to them draining what little savings they have left.

As Bloomberg notes, the three chains operate in very different parts of the retail sector, yet all surprised investors to the upside in a sign of strength by US consumers who are facing multiple hurdles. Here are the earnings highlights from this morning:

• Kohl’s comparable sales declined 1.1%, beating the estimated decline of 1.71%
• Best Buy reported first-quarter sales of $8.9 billion, beating analyst estimates, with comparable sales rising 2%
• Dollar Tree boosted comparable sales 3.5% in the first quarter, topping estimates, driven by a 4.5% gain in average transaction

The result was a surge in their respective stock prices:  Read More > at ZeroHedge

A $300-a-month gym is Gen Z’s social club – …Across the UK and US, younger consumers are redirecting their discretionary income from nightlife to fitness. Gym-related spending among Gen Zers and millennials is rising as alcohol consumption continues to decline, according to a February report from Bank of America. And, according to market intelligence firm Mintel, 30% of US Gen Z consumers say they’re spending more on gym memberships and classes than a year ago, as fitness takes a broader role in their lives. “We’re seeing consumers across the board becoming more focused on their wellbeing,” says Claire Tassin, principal strategist for wellness at Mintel. “But Gen Z in particular is driving a lot of that energy.”

Tassin says gyms and studios are filling a gap once occupied by bars, restaurants and even offices. Meeting people at a gym or through pickup sports activities is nothing new, but younger people are investing in fitness as their must-do social activity instead of just a healthy habit for their bodies. 

As a result, boutique fitness and premium gyms are increasingly functioning as social hubs for younger consumers, offering the structure, familiarity and community they’ve lost elsewhere. That’s the case for Nicolette Brewer, 25, a technology consultant who lives in New York’s West Village. Her main gym, Equinox, costs over $300 a month. She estimates she spends around $500 monthly on fitness between her SoulCycle spinning classes, boutique Pilates-Barre fusion studio the Silhouette Method, and entry fees to run races. Read More > at Bloomberg

Can Farts Spread Bacteria? Scientists Actually Tested It – It began, as good weird science often does, with an embarrassing question.

A nurse asked something most people would be too polite to say out loud: can a fart contaminate an operating room?

It’s not as silly as it sounds. During surgery, everything has to be sterile. Masks, gowns, gloves, hair covers — everything is designed to keep microbes away from open wounds. But what if someone in the operating theatre farted? Is it just embarrassing, or could it be contamination?

We have a strange blind spot for some bodily functions such as farting. Everyone does them, yet almost everyone pretends they don’t. This taboo has become strongly embedded into our culture, but taboo subjects can still carry biological consequences. Polite society can pretend like farts don’t exist, but that doesn’t eliminate their real biological consequences.

Flatulence is mostly gas, not a dense bacterial cloud. Its main ingredients are odorless gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, methane and oxygen. The smell comes from trace compounds, many of them sulfur-containing, made as gut microbes break down food. This isn’t to say that farts don’t carry any bacteria at all.

A 2020 short communication argued that flatus passing through clothing can contain enteric bacteria, and that toilet air after defecation can contain airborne bacteria. But the study only used bacteria as a possible model for fecal-oral spread and didn’t explicitly show direct viral transmission. So, it basically only suggests that flatus can, perhaps, cause some infections.

A 2023 review concluded that intestinal gas is produced by gut microbes, and that over 99% of intestinal gas is hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane, with smelly compounds making up less than 1%. However, it didn’t specifically address the risk of infection coming from the gas.

In fact, farts are grossly understudied, despite being an important part of human metabolism. Flatulence is socially awkward and hard to measure, and it’s pretty difficult to fit into polite medical research (most grant committees wouldn’t be thrilled about this type of research). Thankfully, that’s starting to change in the past few years.

We couldn’t find any more studies on whether farts are sterile but apparently, we’ve gotten a lot better at monitoring them. Scientists at the University of Maryland recently developed a wearable device nicknamed “Smart Underwear” that detects hydrogen in flatus. The device is designed to track gut microbial metabolism during ordinary life, rather than in the artificial setting of a clinic. Read More > at ZME Science

5 surprising benefits of walking – Of course, you probably know that any physical activity, including walking, is a boon to your overall health. But walking in particular comes with a host of benefits. Here’s a list of five that may surprise you.

Boosts immune function. Walking can help protect you during cold and flu season. A study of over 1,000 men and women found that those who walked at least 20 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week, had 43% fewer sick days than those who exercised once a week or less. And if they did get sick, it was for a shorter duration, and their symptoms were milder.

Counteracts the effects of weight-promoting genes. Harvard researchers looked at 32 obesity-promoting genes in over 12,000 people to determine how much these genes actually contribute to body weight. Among the study participants who walked briskly for about an hour a day, the effects of those genes were cut in half.

Helps tame a sweet tooth. A pair of studies from the University of Exeter found that a 15-minute walk can curb cravings for chocolate and even reduce the amount of chocolate you eat in stressful situations. And the latest research confirms that walking can reduce cravings and intake of a variety of sugary snacks.

Reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. Researchers already know that any kind of physical activity blunts the risk of breast cancer. But an American Cancer Society study that zeroed in on walking found that women who walked seven or more hours a week had a 14% lower risk of breast cancer than those who walked three hours or fewer per week. And walking provided this protection even for the women with breast cancer risk factors, such as being overweight or using supplemental hormones.

Eases joint pain. Several studies have found that walking reduces arthritis-related pain, and that walking five to six miles a week can even prevent arthritis from forming in the first place. Walking protects the joints — especially the knees and hips, which are most susceptible to osteoarthritis — by lubricating them and strengthening the muscles that support them. Read More > at Harvard Health Publishing

How Do Birds Become Infected with West Nile Virus?

West Nile Virus is spread by female mosquitoes of two species in Contra Costa County: Culex tarsalis and Culex pipiens. These mosquitoes are common in California and will bite birds, other animals, and people. 

Female mosquitoes can become infected with WNV by biting an infected bird (male mosquitoes do not bite, so they cannot transmit the virus). Birds in the corvid family (crows, jays, and magpies) are most susceptible to WNV. Once infected, when the mosquito bites another bird, animal, or human, it can spread the virus that can cause inflammation in the brain and spine. Horses are quite susceptible to WNV, and infections are often fatal, but there is an effective vaccine available for horses.

Are People Susceptible to West Nile Virus?

Yes. WNV was first detected in the United States in 1999 in New York, when people started showing up in hospitals with an unknown illness, and simultaneously, birds at the Bronx Zoo were dying of a similar illness. Prior to that, WNV had never been reported in North America. Some residents became very sick, experiencing inflammation in the brain and spinal cord (meningoencephalitis), sometimes leading to coma and death.

Within four years after that first detection of WNV in New York, the virus arrived in California, presumably spread by migrating birds. Today, it is considered endemic, which means it is consistently present.  

Humans are considered a “dead-end host” for West Nile Virus. That means mosquitoes cannot transmit the virus from one person to another.

How Do Contra Costa County Residents Report Dead Birds?

The California West Nile Virus Dead Bird Call Center is the place to report dead birds. Call 1-877-968-2473 or visit westnile.ca.gov. Not all birds are candidates for testing (susceptible species like crows and jays are targeted), but all reports help estimate virus risk. Call Center operators will determine whether the bird is suitable for testing, and will contact the District if it is within Contra Costa County.

If the bird is suitable for testing, the Call Center will provide instructions on how to bag the bird and leave the bag in a location for a District employee to pick up, such as in front of a side gate.

What Can Residents Do at Home to Reduce the Risk of Mosquitoes and WNV?

The most important thing Contra Costa County residents can do is to walk around your front and back yard at least once a week and dump out any amount of standing water.

Mosquitoes need to grow from egg to adult in water, so leaving containers with any amount of water in your front or back yard can produce more mosquitoes.

That’s why the best thing you can do is dump out any standing water once a week and report a dead bird if you see one.

And Don’t Forget to Use Repellent

If you plan to go outside when mosquitoes are active, don’t forget to use repellent. The mosquitoes that spread WNV are most active in the evening and early morning. Repellents containing the active ingredients DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus have been proven most effective.

With warmer weather on the horizon, mosquitoes can grow from egg to adult more quickly and transmit WNV more efficiently.

So, dump out that standing water, report dead birds, use a mosquito repellent, and contact the District to request the District’s mosquito service if you are still experiencing mosquitoes.

And it’s important to know that Contra Costa County residents already pay for District services through property taxes and benefit assessments, so there’s no additional charge for any of our residential services.

The nursery shipped the plants without pest notification, and the shipment arrived without certification. An estimated 200 plants were sold before the infestation was detected. The plants were distributed across five Costco locations in Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Richmond, and Antioch. Remaining inventory was destroyed after most plants were confirmed to have multiple life stages of GWSS present.

County officials are now working closely with state partners and other affected counties to locate and recover plants that may have been purchased and planted in residential landscapes. Costco is also attempting to contact all customers who purchased the plants and is asking customers to contact the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture / Weights & Measures.

“The glassy-winged sharpshooter poses an immediate and serious threat to grapevines and agricultural landscapes throughout Contra Costa County. We are working closely with our state partners and other affected counties to get ahead of this, but we need the public’s help. If you purchased a grapevine at one of the affected Costco locations since April 21, please contact our office right away — do not move the plant, and do not put it in the trash. We will take it from there,” said Matt Slattengren, Contra Costa County Agricultural Commissioner.

Residents who purchased grapevines since April 21, from Costco locations in Danville, Concord, Brentwood, Richmond, or Antioch, should take the following steps immediately:

• Keep the plant in its original pot or container and away from other plants.
• Do not put the plant in the ground if you have not already done so.
• If possible, place the plant in two trash bags, one inside the other, and seal them closed.
• Do not return, transport or relocate the plants.
• Do not place plants in the trash or compost bin.
• Contact the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture / Weights & Measures at (925) 608-6600 to schedule pickup of grapevines and receive guidance on preventing further spread.
• GWSS monitoring traps may be placed on the property.

The glassy-winged sharpshooter is an invasive leafhopper, originally from the southeastern United States and Mexico. It was first detected in California in the 1990s and has since become established in parts of central and southern California. GWSS feeds on more than 300 plant species, including grapevines, citrus, almonds, and many ornamental plants commonly used in landscaping. In grapevines, GWSS transmits the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, which causes Pierce’s Disease — a condition that diminishes vine health and can result in grapevine death, posing a serious and immediate threat to Contra Costa County’s agricultural industry. GWSS adults are approximately ½ inch in length.

For more information, contact the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office at (925) 608-6600 or AgCommissioner@ag.cccounty.us.

The Estuary Partnership Director is responsible for leading a highly engaged and dedicated staff passionate about making tangible regional impact, as well as managing over $100 million in planning, design, implementation, and community capacity-building projects.

The position is open until filled. First consideration will be given to applicants who submit a letter of interest and resume by Wednesday, June 10, 2026.

For consideration, please submit a letter of interest outlining why you are interested in the position. Your resume must include detailed experience and dates of employment.

Submit your application to: sfepdirector@averyjames.com.
Attention: Michele James
Questions: Please submit via email to sfepdirector@averyjames.com
Attention: Michele James, President, Avery James Inc.

More details here.

Please note all work is weather dependent and subject to change.

State Route 4 Marsh Creek Road Detour Information:

• Westbound SR-4 Travelers: Detour begins at Byron Highway left on Brentwood Boulevard, left on Balfour Road, right on to westbound SR-4.

Eastbound SR-4 Travelers: Detour begins at Vasco Road; left on Walnut Boulevard, right on Payne Ave, left on Sellers Ave, right on Brentwood Boulevard, continue on Byron Hwy to eastbound SR-4.

Changeable message signs (CMS) will be posted throughout the corridor to assist drivers. Please follow posted signs and detour routes during these closure periods.

Motorists are advised to expect delays and allow extra travel time.

This closure will occur on Sunday, May 31, 2026, from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., and is required for the installation of k-rail, channelizers and modified traffic control/lane striping at the Old River Bridge. During this closure the following detour will be required.

• Westbound SR-4 travelers: Closure will begin on SR-4 at Tracy Boulevard. From SR-4, travel south on Tracy Boulevard to I-205 west, exit Mountain House Parkway, travel north to Byron Highway to SR-4.
• Eastbound SR-4 travelers: Closure will begin at Discovery Bay Boulevard. From SR-4, take Byron Highway south to Mountain House Parkway, south to I-205 East, exit Tracy Blvd, north on Tracy Blvd to SR-4.
• Local access: Only residents, emergency vehicles and business owners/employees will have access to locations on SR-4 within the closure limits.

Caltrans will utilize overhead and portable changeable message signs, alerting motorists of the detour and potential delays which are expected to be approximately 30 minutes.

This project is required to install a new polyester concrete overlay to the bridge deck (roadway) surface, install new guardrail systems located at the approaches of each end of the bridge, and painting of the bridge steel structure with weather-resistant paint and materials to increase the reliability and serviceability of this 100-year-old swing span bridge.

Additional in-water work will see the existing timber waling and the fenders on the north side of Pier 3 replaced, while the south side of Pier 2 would be supported with new high-density polyethylene walers mounted to the existing timber piles.

This $9.8 million project is being performed by Disney Construction, Inc. (Burlingame, CA) and is scheduled for 220 working days beginning the week of January 25-31, with completion expected on November 10, 2026.

Schedules are subject to change due to traffic incidents, weather, availability of equipment and/or materials and construction related issues.

Signups for Bat Talks and Tours at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area open May 26 for Friends of the Yolo Basin Foundation and June 2 for the general public. Tours are held June through September.

Bat Talks and Tours include a family-friendly educational presentation with live ambassador bats, a brief tour of wetlands and rice fields, and the grand finale – the nightly flyout of the largest urban colony of Mexican free-tailed bats in California.

Learn More

Scammers often:

• Ask for payment in unconventional ways such as pre-paid debit cards, gift cards, or third-party mobile payment applications. PG&E will not ask you to use any of these to pay a bill. Visit Ways to pay my PG&E bill to learn all the authorized ways you can pay.
• Threaten to disconnect your power because of past due bills if payment is not made immediately.
• Ask for Social Security, credit card or PG&E account numbers, logins, and other personal information.
• Create authentic looking 800 numbers which appear as PG&E on your phone display. If you have doubts, hang up and call PG&E at 1-833-500-SCAM.

How you can protect yourself

To assist service members in planning for life after the military, WalletHub evaluated all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 28 key indicators of veteran retirement-friendliness. The data set ranges from job opportunities for veterans to housing affordability to the quality of VA hospitals.

Military Retirement in California (1=Best; 25=Avg.):

• Overall Rank: 35^th
• 49^th – Veterans per Capita
• 2^nd – Number of VA Health Facilities per Number of Veterans
• 49^th – % of Homeless Veterans
• 44^th – Veteran Job Opportunities
• 51^st – Housing Affordability
• 48^th – % of Veteran-Owned Businesses
• 1^st – Number of VA Benefits-Administration Facilities per Number of Veterans
• 40^th – Quality of VA Hospitals

Memorial Day Facts

• 100 – Members of the 119th Congress have served in the U.S. military, only the 5th time in the last 50 years with an increase at all in the total veterans elected.
   
• 100M+ – Households worldwide will watch the National Memorial Day parade broadcast on TV.
   
• 3.7M – People are expected to travel by plane over Memorial Day weekend (up 0.3% over 2025).
   
• 818 – Number of hot dogs consumed every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day (seven billion total).
   
• 15 to 90 Percent Off – Discount shoppers can expect during Memorial Day weekend sales.

For the full report, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-states-for-military-retirees/3915