California san jose airport

As a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, it’s been Brian Halstead’s job for years to observe the San Francisco garter snake. And he’s constantly startled by its beauty. It has an orange-red head, turquoise chin and both colors running in stripes, along with white, across the length of its lean black body. The reptile has the shine of a tire recently sprayed with Armor All, and the bold color choices of a contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” “It's a snake,” Halstead says, “that even somebody who doesn’t like snakes can love.” Cast your vote: Vote for the (unofficial) Official Animal of San Francisco: Final Four! The San Francisco garter snake is both a stunner and a survivor, its habitat shrunk to alarming extremes by encroaching urban sprawl. The snake lives only in the Bay Area, its highest profile home flanked by a freeway overpass, PG&E transformers and the San Francisco International Airport. It has been name-checked by Ronald Reagan. It’s been on … [Read more...] about A snake named San Francisco: Endangered Bay Area serpent is a survivor

The Bay Area has a day to dry out before a new atmospheric river closes in on California. A storm will start late Monday and continue Tuesday before subsiding Wednesday. As a low-pressure system heads from the Gulf of Alaska to California’s central coast, it will steer the bulk of the atmospheric river to Central and Southern California. While the Bay Area will get rain, the bulk of it is likely to hit the Santa Cruz Mountains, with 2 to 3 inches. Bay Area hills and mountains could average 2 inches, while the valleys could get up to 1 inch. Another layer of Sierra Nevada snow The storm that dropped rain on the Bay Area on Sunday is likely to bring scattered snow to the Sierra Nevada through late Monday morning, with 1 to 2 feet of snow possible. Tahoe has a slight chance of snow Monday before the next storm approaches at night. The low-pressure system sliding down from the Gulf of Alaska will carry much colder air. Sierra Nevada snow levels could drop 3,000 to 4,000 feet by … [Read more...] about Another atmospheric river is heading to California. Here’s where and when it will hit

The angry emails poured into central office inboxes at San Mateo Union High School District. More than 800 missives from inside and outside the community complained about the district’s ethnic studies courses , saying the curriculum promoted left-wing dogma aimed at turning teens into angry activists. Superintendent Randall Booker didn’t believe that was true, but told The Chronicle the complaints stemmed from fear and misunderstanding about a course that older generations had never heard of and included topics that were taboo in public schools for decades. “We are fighting hate in real time,” he told the school board. To help quell the outrage, the district scheduled a school board study session earlier this month to delve into what is taught in ethnic studies classrooms and how to improve lesson plans. Meanwhile, officials plan to continue to roll out the course across the district. The controversy in San Mateo over the purpose of ethnic studies and how to teach it is … [Read more...] about California ethnic studies classes are sparking controversy as mandate looms

Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa speaks during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum in this file photo taken on March 1, 2023. INQUIRER.net / Ryan Leagogo MANILA, Philippines — Airport officials got a mouthful from Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa on Monday  for supposedly barring the police aviation security group from entering the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). According to Dela Rosa, he was told by  members of the Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group (PNP-AVSEG) that  they are no longer allowed inside the Naia. He said it would be “a very immature reaction” and  could compromise airport security if the  supposed change in  policy was a result of the Senate probe on alleged human smuggling at the Naia. But Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Cesar Chiong immediately denied this during the  hearing of  the Senate blue ribbon  committee. “No sir, that’s not true sir. In fact, during our coordination meeting  with the PNP-AVSEG, it … [Read more...] about ‘Unacceptable’ to bar, limit access of police aviation security, Dela Rosa tells airport execs

SACRAMENTO — Jewish groups angered by their exclusion from a proposed ethnic studies curriculum for California high school students credited their concerns in large part for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill requiring the course for graduation. It was the latest twist in a fight that has lasted more than a year over whether California’s high school students should be required to take an ethnic studies class and, if so, what should be included. The bill’s author pulled it in 2019 after a similar dispute over the course material. This year a revised version of the bill easily passed the Legislature, but Wednesday night, Newsom vetoed it. In his veto message, the governor said only that the curriculum still needed more work because it was “insufficiently balanced and inclusive.” AB331 would have added a one-semester ethnic studies course to the high school graduation requirement, starting with the 2029-30 academic year. Newsom’s veto infuriated the bill’s supporters, who said … [Read more...] about Newsom vetoed high school ethnic studies bill after complaints from Jewish groups about curriculum

Two weeks after a routine trip to a health clinic turned into a psychiatric hospitalization, Emma Troughton was on a plane to Denver. The intervention had been building: By early 2017, Troughton had struggled with body image and eating for years, first as a high schooler in Indiana piecing through their gender identity (Troughton is nonbinary) and then as a college student in California processing personal trauma. School-issued laptops sent Troughton down social media rabbit holes of unhealthy weight loss strategies. A password-protected blog became a repository for body measurements and bad information. Troughton crashed their car because of the brain fog and cognitive decline caused by their malnourishment. Providers at a campus health clinic were so alarmed they wouldn’t allow Troughton to return to class. After two weeks in a psychiatric unit, Troughton left for Denver. The city, they had learned, was a national hub for eating disorder treatment. “I felt this existential … [Read more...] about Colorado — a national hub for eating disorder treatment — hopes to slow surging rate of stigmatized illness

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 On a recent trip to Vietnam, I’m pretty sure I found one key to a happy and harmonious urban life. During the drippy, languid hours of mid-day heat in Ho Chi Minh City, which many also call Saigon, I frequently ducked into every hẻm, or alleyway, that I saw for a little bit of shade. They quickly became my favorite places in the city. Lined with homes and storefronts that opened up directly into the street, these alleyways were filled with scooter parking, lush potted trees, craft workshops, shrines wafting with incense smoke, and baskets of various things for sale. Cars, still a rarity in this city, occasionally snagged parking at alley entrances when they could. In these alleyways, where the vast majority of residents live, the division between one’s own property and the street is more of a suggestion rather than a rule. Life spills out of the home and onto the streets, where … [Read more...] about What Vietnam’s alleyways can teach the Bay Area about bureaucracy and community

Federal park officials have ignored environmental laws for aircraft overflights and allowed commercial planes to fly too low and too loudly over four national parks in the Bay Area, advocates said in a new court filing. The parks are the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco and Marin counties; Point Reyes National Seashore; Muir Woods in Mill Valley, and the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park at Fisherman’s Wharf. Despite a court order requiring plans to minimize airborne noise and other disturbances in national parks with 50 or more commercial overflights a year, the environmental advocates said, rules submitted in January by the National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration allow flights over the parks to continue at their same number — as many as 2,548 a year — and the same volume. “The air tour management plan for San Francisco’s national parks is a disgrace and should be rescinded,” said Paula Dinerstein, attorney for Public … [Read more...] about Planes fly too loudly and too low over Bay Area national parks, lawsuit claims

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 4 Downtown Berkeley, more than any spot in the Bay Area, shows how statewide housing policies could soon alter the scale of our local cities — for better or worse. Six buildings of 16 to 28 stories are proposed in the central core, a setting where only one structure above 13 stories has been built since 1971. An eclectic two-block-wide corridor of buildings of various dimensions and architectural styles would be joined by chunky structures of a much different scale, three at heights that rival UC-Berkeley’s Campanile. One reason for the shift is that more Berkeley residents – and those in other Bay Area cities – now accept that the region needs to provide homes for all types of people. But there’s another factor at work: Legislators in Sacramento have passed a raft of bills to make it easier for developers to build residential buildings, meaning that cities like Berkeley have … [Read more...] about Housing towers are coming to downtown Berkeley — whether the city wants them or not

It’s difficult to fathom how the Colorado River could possibly carve the mile-deep chasm that is the Grand Canyon. But if one thinks of the river as a flume of liquid sandpaper rubbing the land over millions of years, it begins to make sense. “The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools,” Henry David Thoreau wrote, “but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.” In 1963, humans stopped time, when the brand new Glen Canyon Dam on the Utah-Arizona border cut off the reddish sediment that naturally eroded the Grand Canyon. Today the river runs vodka clear from the base of the dam. A map showing how Lake Powell has shrunk since 2000. North 5 miles Colorado River Glen Canyon Dam Page Lake Powell’s current level Water level in 2000 Lake Powell Arizona Utah Calif. Nev. Utah Colo. Lake Powell Navajo Mountain N.M. Ariz. San … [Read more...] about Giant Mud Glaciers Are on the Move