Windy weather throughout the Bay Area overnight has knocked out power for tens of thousands of PG&E customers today and blown trees and debris into roadways.

The strong winds brought massive power outages with 55,000 PG&E customers initially losing power Thursday night, according to utility officials.

PG&E spokesman Jason King said as of 11 a.m., there were 13,000 customers throughout the Bay Area still without power.

The most heavily impacted areas are in the North Bay, as well as the East Bay cities of Berkeley, Oakland and Albany, King said.

Some 7,300 East Bay customers were still affected, while 3,400 customers in Sonoma County remained without power. -more-

BART service is resuming this morning after computer problems prevented trains from picking up any passengers for the first few hours of the morning commute, agency officials said.

Service was resuming at about half-capacity as of 7:15 a.m. with full service expected by 8:15 a.m., BART spokesman Jim Allison said.

Systemwide delays began shortly after midnight because the agency's computer systems were not communicating properly with track switches, Allison said. -more-

More than 17,500 PG&E customers remain without power in the Bay Area this morning as a result of strong winds in the region, a utility spokeswoman said.

As of 8 a.m., about 13,000 customers were without power in the East Bay, along with about 4,500 in the North Bay, 56 along the Peninsula, nine in the South Bay and five in San Francisco, PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris said.

More than 55,000 customers initially lost power overnight because of the windy conditions, PG&E officials said. -more-

There’s a rare Painted Redstart in a Berkeley backyard. But will it still be there on Sunday December 15^th? That’s one of the questions on the minds of San Francisco and East Bay residents who will be taking part this month in the 114^th Christmas Bird Count. -more-

AC Transit is at it again. After failing in 2010 to force their ill-conceived Bus Rapid Transit project on the citizens of Berkeley, now they are trying to damage Berkeley again. This time they want to:

1) Cut down mature trees on College Avenue 2) Remove a lot of badly-needed parking on University Avenue 3) Add new traffic lights that will speed up vehicles driving through residential neighborhoods 4) Make bike lanes significantly narrower and more dangerous 5) Move speeding buses closer to pedestrians and bicyclists 6) Move around or completely eliminate existing bus stops

Worst of all, these permanent disruptions to AC Transit riders and City of Berkeley residents don't seem to be motivated by any desire to increase ridership. I didn't see any projections in AC Transit's plan that even one car might be removed from the road.

AC Transit's plan seems to boil down to "if the bus doesn't have to stop to pick people up or drop them off, it can go faster." By that logic, the best way to improve service would be to remove all the bus stops so the buses could drive as fast as possible. Too bad that wouldn't leave any time for passengers to get on or off the bus! -more-

I suspect that the turtles once meant for the fountain are now the turtles that, appropriately enough I guess, decorate.... wait for it... -more-

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and President Obama deserve credit for reaching an accord limiting Iran’s nuclear enrichment program in return for easing crippling sanctions. It is encouraging that we are moving away from a strident confrontational approach and have softened our language to reach this accord. In contrast, Israel’s Prime Minister, Netanyahu are irked the US with his hyper-ventilating militaristic attitude attempting to drive a wedge between US lawmakers and the White House. It must be remembered that Netanyahu's hardline rhetoric is aimed at appeasing his right-wing coalition that helped him get elected as Prime Minister. -more-

Slacking off, using Thanksgiving as a excuse, I'm not creating a brand new issue this Friday. Some of our faithful correspondents have nonetheless sent in excellent pieces, so I'll just be posting them in this issue. -more-

Work begins on controversial Berkeley housing project

Berkeley to open rebuilt $7.5 million West Branch library
Berkeley Food Pantry feels bite from food stamp cutback
The Importance Of Special Admits In Cal Athletics
Welcome Back, Jesus

Alpha males, Sigma females: Jewish Greek life growing on Bay Area campuses

Lawrence Berkeley Lab Studies Find Methane Emissions in California and U.S. 1.5 Times More Than Expected

UC Berkeley Professor Sends Heartfelt Anti-Union E-mail To ... -more-

Recent polls made it clear that Americans are fed up with acrimony and gridlock in Washington. Voters may blame Republicans more than Democrats but they’re not happy with either Party. Some political observers believe that if we only had competitive elections throughout the country – if most congressional districts weren’t gerrymandered – then we would have more moderates in Congress and, therefore, less polarization. Think again. Polarization is the new normal. -more-

On November 19, 2013, the Berkeley City Council unanimously passed a resolution advising the Alameda County supervisors to adopt Laura’s Law. I urge Alameda County to do so. -more-

To say the least, the Affordable Care Act is off to a rocky start. Some Democratic congresspeople have been backing away from the law. We can’t let that happen; Progressives can’t let “Obamacare” fail. Affordable healthcare is a key component in our fight against inequality. -more-

There is a nationwide push toward giving more power to the mental health treatment systems, in states and counties across the US. The justification is, at some point, innocent people have been killed by consumers off their medication. Thus, in California we have "Laura's Law," and in New York we have "Kendra's Law." -more-

November’s Senior Power columns are about Dementia, Alzheimer’s (a form of dementia), their caregivers, and — this week — the very significant dementia-hearing relationship. -more-

Antipsychotic medication, over time, affects brain structure. When, like me, you have been on medication thirty years, (nearly all of my adult life) medication becomes a factor in how the brain develops. -more-