News
rs8738_img_2473.jpg

City College of San Francisco Gets 2 More Years to Fix Accreditation Issues

01.14.2015
|
By

By Dan Brekke, KQED News Fix
The agency in charge of certifying the state’s junior and community colleges has given City College of San Francisco two more years to comply with eligibility standards. For now, that decision — made last week and announced Wednesday — effectively ends a shutdown threat that has hung over the school for more than two years. The vote by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges to grant City College “restoration” status does not exactly amount to a clean bill of health. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix. 

News
dailyaltacalifornia18550620.jpg

Boomtown Real Estate Angst, 1855 Style

01.13.2015
|
By

By Dan Brekke, KQED News Fix
If you showed up in the Bay Area in the last three years or so, you know that you have moved into a world where rents and home prices appear to know no limits. The current “up” market has seen the median price of single-family homes sold in San Francisco hit $1 million. Million-dollar home sales have become commonplace in non-chic locales like Burlingame. Rents have blown through the roof, too, with the Bay Area average for all apartments topping $2,200 last summer (and $3,400 in San Francisco, the region’s most expensive market). Read the complete story at KQED News Fix. 

News
rs9378_img_1112-copy-lpr-e1421078781659.jpg

S.F. Building Boom Sparks Hiring Spree by City, State Agencies

01.12.2015
|
By

By Ted Goldberg, KQED News Fix
Three San Francisco government departments and the local office for a state agency are scrambling to hire staff to keep up with the city’s steady increase in construction projects. In recent years, several thousand buildings have been put up or substantially renovated throughout the city, leading San Francisco’s Planning Department, Department of Building Inspection and Fire Department along with California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, to fill positions, add jobs and recruit talent. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix. 
 

News
2220200687_2826039b4d_z.jpg

Why Obamacare Means One of the Most Complicated Tax Seasons Ever

01.08.2015
|
By

By April Dembosky/The California Report/State of Health
Most days in early January, tax preparation offices are dead. Most people will not get their W-2 or other tax documents until later this month. But at an H&R Block office I visited in San Francisco, office manager Sue Ellen Smith is expecting things to pick up fast. The IRS commissioner declared back in November that this tax season will be one of the most complicated ever. Why?

News
more-bins.jpg

Afternoon Report: Fancy Trash Cans in the Mission

01.07.2015
|
By

By Laura Wenus, Mission Local
You may have noticed these shiny, brightly colored new giants hanging around in pairs at the 16th Street BART plaza: The transit agency has recently installed seven two-part units of solar-powered trash and recycling bins near the station entrances and benches. Capp Street Crap first reported on the bins, some of which use solar power to detect when they are full and issue a notification to service workers. They also compact the waste they contain, so they need to be emptied less often. 
Read the complete story at Mission Local.

News
brt.jpg

Advocates Hope Oakland’s New Rapid Bus Line Will Help Seniors Age in Place

01.06.2015
|
By

By Laura McCamy, KQED News Fix/Oakland Local
As AC Transit begins construction on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on International Boulevard in Oakland, we wanted to take a moment to consider the impact of the new transit design on one population that relies heavily on the bus system: seniors, particularly low-income seniors, many of whom travel along this corridor. One commonly voiced fear about the new BRT line is that better transit will raise real estate prices in an area of historically lower-income residents. Low-income seniors living in rapidly changing neighborhoods are in gentrification’s crosshairs. Safe access to reliable transit is one of the most important factors that allows them to age in place and stay in Oakland. 
Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/Oakland Local. 

News
2440639040_cc0a16fc69_z.jpg

The Most Important New California Laws of 2015

01.05.2015
|
By

By KQED News Staff/The California Report
New year, new rules. More than 900 new laws are hitting the books in 2015. Here is our annual list of the most important and/or interesting, as picked by KQED news, science, health, and politics and government editors. For a more detailed look at health laws, check out KQED’s State of Health blog. Read the complete story at The California Report.