- Governor Gavin Newsom announced some property tax relief for businesses and homeowners today. Businesses are getting an extension until May 31 to pay property taxes, and homeowners and small businesses will be able to avoid penalties on late taxes until May 2021. [Chronicle]
- Bay Area health officers, whose latest shelter-in-place order took effect on Monday, clarified that despite Newsom's comments today about easing some restrictions, the six Bay Area counties under this order will not be doing any of that yet. There will be no non-essential curbside pickup of retail items around the Bay, but San Francisco says these businesses may be able to operate starting May 18. [KRON4 / Hoodline]
- Virgin Hotels is suing the owners of the building it occupied, the new hotel on Fourth Street in SoMa, claiming the owners improperly ended a management contract with Virgin due to the pandemic shutdown. [SF Business Times]
- According to a state report, 30 California cities shrank in population last year, and the inner Bay Area only grew about 0.3 percent. [Mercury News]
- California is reopening 25 DMV field offices on Friday. [LA Times]
- Moderna, the Massachusetts-based biotech company, has gotten the OK to begin a larger clinical trial of its fast-tracked coronavirus vaccine. [New York Times]
- Mission clothing shop Azalea is closing its doors for good, and it's closing its spinoff men's store in Hayes Valley, Welcome Stranger. [Hoodline]
- San Rafael firefighters think they may have an arsonist to deal with after several small fires broke out early this morning near the yacht harbor. [Bay City News]
- Amazon has just inked a deal for a new 250,000-square-foot warehouse in unincorporated Sonoma County, near Schelville. [SF Business Times]
- Uber just announced $2.9 billion in first-quarter losses, and it will be dumping its scooter and bicycle businesses. [Associated Press]
Photo: Darwin Bell
