News you don’t want to miss for May 18:
1. Alameda County will allow retail stores to reopen with curbside pickup on Friday, the East Bay Times reports. The county and several other counties in the Bay Area waited a few weeks while other parts of the state entered Stage 2 of the economy’s reopening. $$
2. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday said the state, in general, is nearing Stage 3 sometime in June, SFGate reports. That means the possibility that sports franchises can begin returning to the field (sans spectators), in addition, to gyms, barber shops and salons reopening with new social distancing protocols.
3. Bay Area businesses have issued plans for up to 114,000 layoffs since the pandemic started in mid-March, the East Bay Times reports. The largest being Tesla’s furlough of 11,500 employees.
4. Republicans in Congress fear additional covid-19 relief funding for local cities will go to pay pension costs for union public employees, the Sacramento Bee reports. The issue is quite sensitive in the East Bay where a number of municipalities, like Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, have his levels of unfunded pension liabilities. $$
5. Alameda will close its school year six days earlier because of covid-19 and a belief the extra time will be better served on training teachers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Alameda schools will close on May 29, instead of June 8. $$
6. An expanded hiring freeze has U.C. Berkeley lecturers on edge, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
7. “Alameda County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a 42-year-old man who authorities said shot at them from the second-floor balcony of a motel in unincorporated San Leandro on Friday evening,” the East Bay Times reports. The suspect was alleged to be involved in a homicide this year in Oakland. $$
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