Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. The amount of toxic chemicals — including flame retardants and pesticides — in San Francisco Bay is increasing, according to a new study, the Chron reports. The chemicals mostly come from everyday uses in homes and businesses and are nearing a level of “high concern,” according to the report from the Regional Monitoring Program. The report states that more monitoring and regulation is necessary to prevent the bay from becoming too polluted. The report also warns that scientists have yet to do a full inventory of all the pollutants.
3. Low-paid garment workers who make distressed-looking jeans for major American companies, like Levi Strauss and the Gap, are still using dangerous sandblasting methods that are harmful to human health — despite supposed bans established by the companies, the Mercury News reports, citing a recent labor study.
4. Governor Jerry Brown signed a pact with the governors of Oregon and Washington and the premiere of British Columbia to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Mercury News reports. However, demonstrators protested Brown at the signing ceremony because of his recent decision to greatly expand fracking in California — a move that is expected to cause a new boom in oil and natural gas extraction in the state.
5. And Alameda’s former fire chief, who lost his job after getting caught using a city gas pump to fill up his BMW, was ordered to pay the city $260,000 in legal costs resulting from the unsuccessful wrongful termination suit he filed, the Trib reports.
Correction: The original version of this post misstated the levels of toxic chemicals in the bay.