• A large elephant seal was wrangled from a parking lot on Point Reyes. Two park employees showed up yesterday to guide the large marine mammal (that was in danger of being hit by cars) to safety. [Twitter]
  • Betty White has died at 99 years old. Just weeks before the trailblazing actress was to celebrate her 100th birthday, White passed away — "I'm having the time of my life, and the fact that I'm still working, how lucky can you get?" she said in a 2012 Huffington Post article. [CNN]
  • With 2021 soon to fold, here's hoping the restaurant industry in the Bay Area will continue to rebound in 2022—and that the gastronomy grows to be more diverse and increasingly representative of BIPOC communities. [Eater SF]
  • The mural at Treat Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets that was once faded is getting restored. [Mission Local]
  • As contentious as they are, San Francisco and Santa Cruz have adopted the CDC's shorter quarantine protocols. [KPIX]
  • One person has been reportedly shot at Sunvalley Mall in Concord; police are still on-scene to assess the situation. [ABC7]
  • Some 600 homes have already been destroyed in Colorado as wildfires continue ravaging the state. [ABC7]
  • 2021 was a year where tropical forests were featured more prominently in global headlines—mainly because they became a touchstone when addressing the state of the climate crisis. [Mongabay]
  • Amid surges of Covid-19 cases, New Year's Eve at Times Square in New York City this year will be less spectacular and include a  far less crowded experience as attendance has been significantly cut. [Associated Press]
  • New peer-reviewed studies are showing that the Omicron variant is less damaging to the respiratory system than past Variants of Concern (VOCs), but it is still unclear how the mutated pathogen will play in "long Covid-19" cases. [New York Times]

Photo: Getty Images/GMA