• With this weekend's region-wide heatwave now upon us, the Bay Area Air District has issued a Spare the Air Alert for smog Saturday. Areas in the East Bay and Santa Clara Valley are currently experiencing air quality readings "unhealthy for sensitive groups," while San Francisco, North Bay, and the South Central Bay are showing "moderate" levels of air pollution. [baaqmd.gov]
• A 12-year-old girl was shot in Pittsburg allegedly during a road rage incident. The suspect has been arrested and the young victim was transported to a nearby hospital where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. [KTVU]
• UC Berkeley will require face masks for students who opted out of flu shots. UC Berkeley school officials haven't said why they adopted the flu mask requirement; there is no mask requirement for people not vaccinated against COVID. [Chronicle]
• FYI: "Monkeypox" will now be referred to as "MPX," which aligns with the CA Department of Public Health, by SFDPH to fit the stigmas associated with the former name. [Twitter]
• The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco is hosting one of its less common weekend outdoor performances today. [Hoodline]
• Commercial seaweed farming in the Philippines remains one of the country’s most significant aquaculture enterprises — supporting north of 200,000 coastal families — and, like with many means of plant or animal cultivation, the climate crisis threatens its role in the county as sea levels warm. [Mongabay]
• Serena Williams has officially moved toward retirement after yesterday's "heartbreaking three-set loss" to Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia. [New York Times]

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