• California's Employment Development Department says that nearly all of the 345,000 disability claim payments it halted earlier this month are fraudulent. Most of the claims, the EDD says, are associated with 27,000 doctors it has deemed suspicious, but a few of the halted claims were victims of identity theft. [Associated Press]
  • CHP investigators have concluded that a big rig slammed into the back of a car on the Richmond Bridge on Wednesday night, causing a fiery scene and leading to the death of the car's driver. [CBS SF]
  • Moderna says it has entered a second phase of a clinical trial for a vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron variant. [NBC Bay Area]
  • The 700-acre wildfire that broke out a week ago near Big Sur has reached 75% containment. [KRON4]
  • A French bulldog stolen out of an East San Jose front yard on Wednesday night has been safely returned to her family. [KTVU]
  • There were 61 traffic fatalities in San Jose last year, including 23 pedestrians, marking an especially deadly year — and the city has seen eight traffic deaths in just the first three weeks of 2022 alone. [Mercury News]
  • Some 49er fans were headed out early today to gather in Los Angeles ahead of the team's big NFC Championship game on Sunday at SoFi Stadium. [KTVU]
  • The Bidens have welcomed a new cat to the White House, Willow — and it's the first cat in the White House since George W. Bush's cat India. [NPR]