- Now Google/Alphabet is laying off 12,000 workers, joining other big tech companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon in feeling the squeeze. The layoff represents about 6% of Alphabet's workforce, after it hired an additional 68,000 people during the pandemic. [Associated Press]
- A compromise has been reached between pickleball players and tennis players over courts being rebuilt at Stern Grove. The two tennis courts there will be rebuilt, and Rec and Parks says it will create two dedicated pickleball courts at nearby Larsen Park. [KTVU]
- Contra Costa County health officials are urging people to avoid hospitals if they're experiencing just common cold symptoms, as they are still overwhelmed with COVID, RSV, and flu patients. [KRON4]
- A 3.6M earthquake struck at 5:18 p.m. Thursday with an epicenter at Lake Sonoma in Sonoma County. [KRON4]
- California is urging everyone who got a "Middle Class Tax Refund" via debit card to withdraw the money ASAP. [Chronicle]
- A second show has been added at the Chase Center for Madonna's Celebration Tour, on October 5. [NBC Bay Area]
- The Southern California winner of that $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot back in November has yet to come forward, but they have a full year to claim the prize. [KRON4]
- Pizza Hut just cooked up the world's largest pizza, seeking to take the Guinness World Record in a stunt at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday, producing a 14,100-square-foot pie to promote the return of its Big New Yorker pizza. [KABC]
Photo: Vladimir Kudinov
