Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The tentative contract agreement between BART management and the transit agency’s unions may unravel, the Chron reports. BART managers say they didn’t realize that the contract deal — which brought an end to last month’s strike — included a six-week family medical leave benefit for employees that they said could prove costly for the transit agency. As a result, the BART board may vote today to reject the deal. BART unions, meanwhile, contend that BART’s negotiating team knew full well that the family leave provision was in the contract. The unions have already approved the agreement, but if the BART board rejects it, it could result in yet another transit strike.
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2. UC Berkeley has allowed student athletes with C grades and low test scores admission to the university, the Chron reports, citing a new study. The lower academic standards for athletes may explain why Cal football and basketball players have one of the worst graduation rates in the nation.
3. The UC Board of Regents voted to freeze student tuition next year — for the third year in a row, the LA Times$ reports. But Governor Jerry Brown warned the regents that the state legislature is unlikely to approve more funding for the UC system.
4. The Berkeley City Council is moving forward with a plan to ban smoking in apartment buildings and condos, and Councilmember Jesse Arreguin wants to extend the ban to single-family homes, the Chron reports.
5. And the new fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel is expected to open this weekend, the CoCo Times reports.
