BART negotiations stuck in traffic, Katy Tang pushes for a massage parlor crackdown, Union Square’s high-end retail boom, more.
Top of the news
BART negotiations showed no demonstrable progress yesterday ahead of a deadline to avert a shutdown Monday. Mercury News
Russia granted National Security Administration leaker Edward Snowden temporary refugee status for one-year, and his lawyer confirmed that he had left the transit zone of Moscow’s airport. NYT
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper apologized profusely after a video posted online caught him using a racial slur during a bar altercation. AP
Politics and government
Supervisor Katy Tang, who helped craft legislation to curb prostitution and human trafficking involving massage parlors while an aide to former Supervisor Carmen Chu, says the law doesn’t go far enough and is proposing tougher sanctions against culpable massage parlor owners. Chronicle
A majority of California voters remain opposed to new offshore drilling and to expanding hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, according to a new Public Policy Institute of California poll. Mercury News
Try to get your head around this: Gov. Jerry Brown has 223 times as much money for his re-election campaign as does his closest GOP challenger for 2014, former Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado. Mercury News
Other news and items of interest
First for the bad transportation news: More than half of Bay Area commuters drive solo to work. The good news: That’s still better than the 2 in 3 commuters statewide who do so. Chronicle
A federal judge ruled in favor of the family of 9-year-old Troy Nunley, who was killed when a trailside retaining wall collapsed on him at Lassen Volcanic National Park, rejecting the National Park Service’s claim that it was within its discretion whether to repair or maintain the wall. Chronicle
Ouch. Starting this month, the average residential garbage bill in San Francisco will rise from $28 to $34. Chronicle
Levi’s opens its new Market Street store today after a 600-person party to mark the event last night. SF Business Times
On a somewhat related note, San Francisco Business Times updates the slew of high-end retailers who have or plan to open new stores at red-hot Union Square.
The lineups were announced for the 2013 Treasure Island Music Festival scheduled for October. Mercury News
