Bay Oil Spill:
Judge tries to speed up ship's crew's testimony -- A federal judge Monday moved to accelerate the return home of six Chinese crewmen stranded in San Francisco since last November's oil spill in the Bay, but it appears at least some of them will remain here well into the summer. Federal prosecutors have kept the six crewmen in San Francisco since early December, when they were branded "material witnesses" in the criminal investigation into the Cosco Busan's collision with the Bay Bridge. SJ Mercury 5/6/08
Ship crew members - witnesses in oil-spill case - can't leave U.S. -- They are not charged with any wrongdoing in November's collision. Their company continues to pay their salaries until the end of May, as well as a $50-a-day meal allowance. They stroll about Chinatown. Some have taken in museums. They are living in a nice apartment in one of the most spectacular neighborhoods in the country. SJ Mercury 5/4/08
Air travel:
*American latest to exit Oakland Airport -- In another blow to travelers using Oakland International Airport, American Airlines is discontinuing its service there in four months, the company confirmed Monday. Soaring fuel costs forced the Texas-based airline, the world's largest, to end its three, daily nonstop flights between Dallas and Oakland effective Sept. 3 as a cost-cutting measure. Those seeking to fly American can still do so out of San Francisco International Airport or San Jose International Airport. SFO has five or six such flights a day, San Jose seven. Oakland had three flights a day. SJ Mercury 5/5/08
Tourism:
Reno braces for an uncertain summer -- As the season in Reno and Lake Tahoe slowly changes toward summer, it signals the beginning of what traditionally is the most lucrative tourism period for the area. Yet Ellie Oppenheim anticipates a big change in the economic climate, too, which could bring ill winds to the northern Nevada resort industry. The area doesn't strictly rely on visitors from Northern California. A 2007 Convention & Visitors Authority survey shows that Reno-Tahoe's appeal is broadening. More tourists are flying into Reno-Tahoe from Los Angeles and Canada, according to the survey and data from the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. USA Today 5/6/08
For tourism, outback to the future -- The Nevada Passage Adventure Competition is an event aimed at putting some of the state’s remotest landscapes on millions of television screens. The 2008 version of the race, sponsored by the Nevada Commission on Tourism, is a chance to get Nevada on as many as 2 million television screens across the country for about $500,000, much less than it would cost to buy advertising. Las Vegas Review Journal 5/6/08
Two cities unite to promote tourism -- ‘Let Yourself Go' was the theme for this year's California Travel and Tourism Commission reception. More than 95 members from the San Francisco Bay Area-based media as well as select out-of-state media attended this exclusive event. Representing the South Santa Clara Valley Tourism Partnership at the media reception were Jane Howard, executive director of the Gilroy Visitors Bureau and Chris Bryant. Incorporating the tagline "Gateway to the Central Coast" this partnership has been formed to bring additional visitors to south Santa Clara County. Gilroy Dispatch 5/5/08
High Speed Rail:
Booming elsewhere, high-speed rail sees delays in US – Europe and Asia's impressive advances in train travel -- commercial bullet-trains there routinely hit 200 mph (320 kph) -- have begun to shine a glaring spotlight on the world's wealthiest nation. For decades US passenger trains have played poor cousin to planes and automobiles -- the twin towers of American transport. Most populous state California could soon be taking the first step towards a fully-dedicated high-speed route, planning a system from Sacramento in the north to San Diego in the south via San Francisco and Los Angeles, covering 683 miles (1,100 kilometers). AFP 5/4/08
Fiscal Emergency:
California may run out of cash by August -- California is facing a cash crisis this summer, putting pressure on elected officials to submit an on-time state budget or risk asking taxpayers to pay a premium on loans. Sacramento Bee 5/6/08
Coast Guard:
Crews To Assess Effects Of Richmond Chemical Spill -- Cleanup crews arrived Tuesday morning to the scene of a chemical spill in Richmond that leaked an unknown portion of 3,300 gallons of flammable liquid from a container into the San Pablo Bay, according to a U.S. Coast Guard official. The spill was fully contained by booms and absorbent pads but it is not known how much of the chemical seeped into the surrounding marsh and washed into the bay, the Coast Guard reported. CBS5 5/6/08
Transportation:
*Caltrain to mount cameras on trains -- Caltrain is turning to the latest in video technology — cameras mounted on the front and back of trains — to learn how and why people die on the tracks. Caltrain's board of directors today is expected to ask the state for $500,000 in Homeland Security funds to install the cameras on all 30 trains on the San Francisco-to-Gilroy line. The cameras would record suicides, which represent more than half of the fatalities each year, and other deaths in the same way police cameras record arrests for drunken driving. The 24-hour cameras would have the added benefit of recording the movements of anyone tampering with the trains or tracks. Inside Bay Area 5/4/08
Caltrans tries to reduce fatalities -- Catrans’ California Office of Traffic Safety, California Highway Patrol, and California State Association of Counties today announced a bold set of 152 actions designed to reduce serious injuries and fatalities of which 10 percent on California’s roadways by 2010. Actions were created with goals geared toward reducing head-on collisions and run-off-the-road crashes, improving safety at intersections and interchanges, and enhancing safety for pedestrians and bicycles. Bear Valley News 5/2/08
Ports:
*Port of Oakland completes $3M program replacing old trucks -- The Port of Oakland reached a milestone Wednesday in its efforts to reduce diesel-engine pollution, replacing its 80th older truck with a new model. The $3 million program was designed to remove 1990 and older truck models that provide goods transport in and out of the port area with new trucks that emit far less diesel particulate matter , which contributes to air pollution and greenhouse gases that most scientists blame for global warming. Bizjournals 5/2/08
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