Free Republic

Make room, Austin. Tesla is coming to town. The electric automaker will build a $1.1 billion assembly plant in Travis County, according to a press release from Gov. Greg Abbott. The factory – to be built on 2,100 acres off Texas 130 and Harold Green Road in southeastern Travis County – will employ 5,000 people with wages starting at $35,000 annually.

Tesla is restarting production today against Alameda County rules. I will be on the line with everyone else. If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.

San Francisco did a single-day count of homeless people back in January, part of an ongoing attempt to track whether the problem is improving or getting worse. The preliminary numbers were released today and the answer is that things are worse. In fact, the city has experienced a double-digit increase in homelessness. From the San Francisco Chronicle: Despite creating hundreds of new shelter beds and spending more than $300 million annually on homelessness, San Francisco has seen the number of homeless people in the city rise by 17% since 2017 — with a whopping amount of that increase coming...

A test flight in Alaska of a small launch vehicle by a stealthy startup company ended in failure in late November, the Federal Aviation Administration has revealed. In a speech Dec. 6 at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce space conference here discussing the agency's approach to commercial spaceflight safety, FAA Acting Administrator Dan Elwell mentioned a recent, but previously unreported, accident involving a launch taking place from Alaska one week ago. A launch license the FAA issued to Astra Space Inc. on Oct. 15, also available on the FAA website, authorized the company to perform a suborbital flight of its...

As BART’s ridership surged three years ago, along with the number of homeless people lingering inside its downtown San Francisco stations, the transit system doubled down on custodial work — and some of its janitors started cleaning up paywise. One system service worker, BART’s title for janitors, made a little more than $271,000 in 2015, with $162,050 of that in overtime. A year later, two other BART janitors joined him in collecting more than $100,000 in overtime pay in a year. Three years later — after the tale of the high-earning BART janitor became legend and the transit system, and...

A power outage Tuesday affecting west Alameda caused the cancellation of Fourth of July festivities at the USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum, according to the museum's Facebook page. The museum's post said: "Due to the continuing power outage that is affect the west side of Alameda, today's Fourth of July event has been canceled. Guests may receive a rain check from guest services during normal business hours or by contacting info@uss-hornet.org. We sincerely apologize for this unforeseen inconvenience." Earlier Tuesday, when the power went out, the museum evacuated guests as a safety precaution, the museum said. Among the...

Has anyone done the tour of the Hornet in Alameda. What did you think? Was it enjoyable? Would you recommend it? Thaks

Charles Edwards is a merry self-described hillbilly from Tennessee who knows much about Victorian-era railroads and not so much about political campaigning. But this year, the 77-year-old retired city gardener will be knocking on doors in Alameda to persuade voters of this maritime city on San Francisco Bay to support a citizen initiative to cap rent increases. Last June, the rent on his one-bedroom flat increased 24 percent to $1,300, leaving him $289 a month for utilities, food and other expenses. […] State legislation approved last week to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 is...

Constitutional Rights PAC Chairman Larry Ward today issued the following statement regarding Planned Parenthood harvesting the brain of a living baby: “The latest video released by the Center for Medical Progress further suggests that Planned Parenthood is a criminal organization, comfortable with ending life and breaking the law. “Constitutional Rights PAC calls on the San Jose, California Police Department to immediately investigate Planned Parenthood Mar Monte’s Alameda Clinic in response to the testimony of Holly O’Donnell who claims the clinic murdered and harvested the brain of a living baby after a failed abortion. “The taking of innocent human life is...

Sgt. 1st Class John Taffe might be the oldest person to graduate from basic combat training. Sgt. 1st Class John Taffe may be 55 years old, but he definitely doesn’t act his age. That’s because Taffe may possibly be the oldest person to graduate from basic combat training – tackling sit-ups, push-ups and barbed-wire low crawls like any other young soldier in his class. A resident of Alameda, Taffe graduated from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, Thursday after a demanding 2 1/2-month training. He’s a former sailor, having served 14 years with the U.S. Navy before being released from active duty...

Alameda County supervisors have really taken to heart the adage that government should run like a business — rewarding County Administrator Susan Muranishi with the Wall Street-like wage of $423,664 a year. For the rest of her life.

Supporters of Eric Swalwell, the Democratic insurgent who’s challenging Rep. Pete Stark, D-Fremont, are up in arms about a recent Stark mailer which depicts Swalwell in a cup of tea – a la the Tea Party. Here are some excerpts: “Who is really behind Eric Swalwell? On the doorstep, at meetings, driving this rookie city councilman’s campaign? Tea Party supporters. They’ve given money, given energy and given life to the Swalwell campaign – and they’ll succeed unless we stop them.” “Campaign finance reports show that over $86,000 of Eric Swalwell’s contributions come from Republicans. Swalwell claims he’s no conservative, but...

Drones aren't something most residents worry about on a day-to-day basis. But they may be flying over the skies of Alameda County soon if Sheriff Gregory Ahern gets his way. Ahern is looking at buying a surveillance drone, an unmanned aircraft system, for search and rescue missions, bomb threats, SWAT operations, marijuana grows, fires and natural disasters. But the proposal has already drummed up backlash from privacy advocates worried that drone technology is outpacing safeguards.

Former Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer, estranged wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, faces drug and child-endangerment charges after her arrest last week in Orange County. Police went to the Orange home where Lockyer, 41, and her 9-year-old son, Diego, were visiting a relative on Aug. 28 after a caller tipped them that she might have drugs there, said Farrah Emami, spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office. Officers found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia -- tubular aluminum foil with a burned end -- at the house. "When they later contacted the defendant, she showed objective signs of being under...

The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation has filed what could become a “warning shot" federal case against California’s Alameda County over what looks suspiciously like an exercise in social bigotry against a perfectly legal business enterprise because it would be a gun shop. It's a case with national implications, said an attorney involved in the lawsuit. For those in Washington with dreams of the Evergreen State going the way of California where gun regulation is concerned, this lawsuit might raise a red flag about making gun hatred an official government policy. Bring a lawyer, because SAF is turning the filing of...

OAKLAND -- Eight candidates are vying to replace disgraced ex-Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer including three veteran city politicians and Lockyer's predecessor Gail Steele. The major names in addition to Steele are Union City Mayor Mark Green, who also is running for State Assembly; former Union City Councilman Richard Valle, who also is running to be that city's mayor; and Newark Councilwoman Ana Apodaca, who lost a mayoral bid last year. County supervisors next month are scheduled to appoint Lockyer's successor, who will serve through the November general election, when voters in Hayward, Union City, Newark, Sunol and north Fremont...

Remember when First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by Alameda a few months back, to participate in a commissioning ceremony for a new Coast Guard cutter she sponsored? Well, it turns out the brand-new, half-billion dollar cutter has sprung a few leaks. The Associated Press is reporting that the Dorothy Stratton, one of three massive national security vessels homeported in Alameda, has a trio of “pinholes” and a fourth hole that’s about the size of a golf ball in its hull.

The ex-lover whom former Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer had accused of attacking her Feb. 3 in a Newark hotel room won't face criminal charges, the state Justice Department announced Friday. Communications director Shum Preston said the department "has thoroughly reviewed the matter referred to us by the Alameda County District Attorney's office regarding the Feb. 3 incident at a Newark hotel involving Nadia Lockyer. After reviewing the evidence, the department has determined that it will not file charges." No further details were available, Preston said. Nadia Lockyer resigned her supervisorial seat last week, months after the Feb. 3 brought...

It's easy to dismiss the dramatic fall of Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer as the failings of an addict. But it was much more than that. A system - our political system - created her. Our political system allows one person, like state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, to run for a statewide office, collect millions of dollars in donations and then bestow those funds like a kingmaker in lower-level races - like a county supervisor's race. Our system here in Alameda County allows one party - the Democratic Party - to declare for the rest of us who should be in...

Last month, we told you about the sex/drugs/beating/cheating/porning scandal surrounding the daughter of Santa Ana community activism royalty and wife of California Democratic politics royalty. This weekend, it was not only reported that the scandal led to Nadia Maria Davis-Lockyer's resignation as an Alameda County supervisor but an eye-opening interview where the 41-year-old claimed state Treasurer Bill Lockyer angrily told her to "go ahead and commit suicide" and her rehab lover "bashed my head into the stone floor."The seventh child of the late Wallace R. Davis, one of Santa Ana's first Latino lawyers to stand up for immigrants, Nadia Maria...