• There was another small earthquake early Thursday on the Hayward Fault in the East Bay. Following another 2.9M quake on the fault on Sunday, there was a 2.9M quake centered near the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley at 2:41 a.m. this morning. [Chronicle]
  • A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that COVID vaccine effectiveness dropped significantly during the Omicron subvariant waves. Even with a third shot or booster dose, effectiveness waned with three to four months by 50% during the BA.1 - BA.2 wave, and 46.8% during the BA.4 - BA.5 wave. [New England Journal of Medicine]
  • Four SFPD vehicles had their catalytic converters stolen in one fell swoop, likely early Monday morning. The brazen theft happened outside the department's Special Operations Bureau at 17th and DeHaro, and an SFPD source called the crime "ballsy." [Mission Local]
  • Governor Gavin Newsom signed the CARE court legislation — known as the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Act — into law on Wednesday. [KTVU]
  • Multiple coyote sightings in San Rafael has led to concerns that there may be a coyote den nearby. [KTVU]
  • The state's energy authority, California's Independent System Operator, says that messaging — in particular the statewide text alert that went out last Tuesday — helped avoid cascading blackouts. [KRON4]
  • A new report by The Lancet's COVID-19 commission — formed to seek lessons to inform the response to future pandemics — found that the death toll from COVID worldwide was "both a profound tragedy and a massive global failure at multiple levels." [The Lancet]
  • Infectious disease experts are ringing the alarm about this year's flu season, because after two years of relatively low flu spread, the population has less natural immunity and there's more room for the flu to do some damage. [KRON4]
  • A freight railroad worker strike has been averted with a tentative agreement, and Amtrak is now scrambling to restore longer-route trips it had canceled ahead of the strike — including the Coast Starlight and California Zephyr trains. [New York Times]

Photo: Oxana Melis