"On Tuesday evening, Sonoma State University President Mike Lee sent a campuswide message concerning an agreement with campus protesters," wrote California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia in a statement Wednesday. "That message was sent without the appropriate approvals."
Garcia said she and the board were "actively reviewing the matter," but that due to Lee's "insubordination," Lee had been placed on administrative leave.
Nathan Evans, deputy vice chancellor for academic and student affairs for the CSU system, has been made acting president of the school, Garcia said.
Lee sent a message Tuesday to faculty and students addressing the demands of the pro-Palestinian protesters on campus that had been in an encampment since late April in protest of the Hamas-Israel war. The group -- Students for Justice in Palestine -- had demanded that school divest and disclose any ties to Israel, carry out an academic boycott of Israel, recognize Palestinian identity and introduce historic curriculum, and officially support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
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A San Francisco federal court is host to a fight between a nonprofit enterprise with a mission to provide "Universal Access to All Knowledge," and a group of record companies that own the rights to songs recorded by the likes of Bing Crosby, Billie Holliday and Miles Davis.
In a Wednesday decision authored by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney, the record companies drew first blood.
The case began in New York in 2023 when seven record companies launched a copyright suit against Internet Archive, along with its founder and funder Brewster Kahle and his personal foundation, as well as George Blood LP a Philadelphia-based audio engineer that has digitized hundreds of thousands of recordings from old 78 rpm records.
Internet Archive, based in San Francisco, describes itself as "a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more."
The record companies -- including the familiar labels Capital, Universal, Arista, and Sony -- targeted a project of the Internet Archive called the "Great 78 Project," which has created a repository of digitized recordings of 78 rpm records.
The record companies hold the rights to thousands of the projects' recordings and they sued for infringement -- and requested damages and injunctive relief -- under multiple theories. They said that what the Internet Archive has done is a "massive" and "blatant" infringement of "hundreds of thousands of works by some of the greatest artists of the Twentieth Century."
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A pedestrian died after he was hit by a vehicle in a hit-and-run on Wednesday night in San Leandro, according to the California Highway Patrol.
At 9:21 p.m., officers were alerted to a pedestrian struck on Lewelling Boulevard west of Embers Way. First responders found a male lying on the roadway.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. The CHP said no involved vehicles remained in the area.
Authorities are searching for the hit-and-run suspect who is yet to be identified, the CHP said. Anyone who witnessed the crash or has information about it is asked to call the CHP Hayward-area office at (510) 489-1500.
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A man who died last Friday from injuries suffered when he was struck by a vehicle as he rode an e-bike in Hayward two days earlier was identified by the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau as Sai Ram Gollapalli, a 22-year-old resident of Hayward.
Gollapalli was a graduate student from India studying computer science at California State University East Bay, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his sister that was seeking to raise money to repatriate his body.
He was struck by a vehicle near the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Orchard Avenue at about 4:45 p.m. on May 8. Initial police reports said Gollapalli was riding a scooter, but his sister wrote that he was riding an e-bike when he was struck by the driver.
Police identified the driver as a 36-year-old Hayward man and said he remained at the scene and was cooperative with the investigation, which is ongoing. Intoxication is not believed to be a factor, police said.
Gollapalli's sister Shiva Krishna Konduri wrote in her fundraiser appeal that Gollapalli was on his way to visit her when he was struck. The GoFundMe campaign had surpassed its goal of $85,000 as of Thursday afternoon, raising about $127,000. Donations can be made at tinyurl.com/yv3sb6y8.
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Oakley-based Diablo Water District this week filed a protest against the state Department of Water Resources' request to add two water diversion points to the Delta Conveyance Project -- the controversial tunnel project known by several names over the decades.
The protest follows DWR's Feb. 22 petition to the State Water Resources Control Board to request changes to DWR's existing water rights. If granted, this change would allow for the addition of two screened intakes 2.3 miles apart along the lower Sacramento River between the unincorporated town of Freeport and Sutter Slough in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
DWR director Karla Nemeth stated in her February letter to the Water Board that the additional intakes are an important step forward in ensuring the continued reliability of State Water Project water supplies.
Dan Muelrath, Diablo Water District general manager, explained that Diablo Water District has opposed the overall project in its various forms over the years. But with regard to the addition of the intakes, he wasn't sure why they were needed and raised concerns that potential impacts weren't sufficiently studied.
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San Francisco pickleball and tennis players could soon be required to pay a $5 fee to reserve some courts around the city following a decision by the Recreation and Park Commission.
The commission voted Thursday to require a $5 per hour fee when people make an online reservation at 28 of the 66 locations overseen by the Recreation and Park Department. The remaining courts would continue to be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The fee plan will now go to the city's Board of Supervisors for final approval.
Courts that could soon require fees are Alice Marble, Balboa, Crocker Amazon, DuPont, Fulton, Hamilton, Helen Wills, J.P. Murphy, Jackson, Lafayette, McLaren, Minnie & Lovie Ward, Miraloma, Moscone, Mountain Lake, Parkside, Potrero Hill, Presidio Wall, Richmond, St. Mary's, Stern Grove, Sunset, and Upper Noe.
Courts with both reservable and walk-up courts would include Buena Vista, Dolores, Glen Canyon Park, Joe DiMaggio, and Rossi.
All other courts would be walk-up only.
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