• The state of California is handing out half a billion dollars in grants through the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program. The application process opened at 6 a.m. this morning for $500 million in California small business grants, and you can apply for one here. The grants are as large as $25,000, and the window closes January 8, 2020, but a second application window will open at a date TBD. [Sacramento Business Journal]
  • A noontime shooting on 101 southbound backed up traffic for hours today in South San Francisco. US-101 southbound traffic was shut down briefly, and then badly snarled in the southbound direction, as a freeway shooting caused a multiple-car accident. CHP suspects the shots were fired from off the highway, but the investigation is still underway, and the extent of injuries is unknown. [KTVU]
  • An independent New England Journal of Medicine confirmed that yes indeedy, the Moderna vaccine is in fact 95% effective. The nation fell dismally short of our goal of vaccinating 20 million American by the end of the year, for as it stands, a mere 2.1 million have received the shot. But the post-Trump outlook may be optimistic, as the New England Journal of Medicine just dropped a study confirming the 95% effectiveness that Moderna promised. [NEJM]  
  • City Hall will be lit gold to ring in 2021 for both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as seen above. They don’t want you congregating there, but you can catch a glimpse on CastroCam which updates a still shot of the structure every 20 minutes or so. [CastroCam]
  • Speaking of unwanted New Year’s congregations, Tenderloin bar 680 Jones was nailed with a DPH violation for promoting a New Year’s Eve outdoor dining party that very clearly ran afoul of current public health guidelines. [Hoodline]
  • A UC Berkeley lab has created a free robotext program intended to lift your lonely spirits during shelter-in-place with messages like “You are a wonderful human doing the best you can in a difficult situation. What are three things you are grateful for?" [KGO]
  • Draymond Green returns to the maybe-ascendant Warriors for tomorrow night’s game against the Trailblazers, hopefully helping the team return to pretty good-ness. [NBC Sports]