Odds and Ends 

Postmates reveals plans to cover medical costs for couriers as part of COVID-19 response

Postmates said that it will be creating a fund to cover the costs for doctor appointments and medical expenses related to the COVID-19 outbreak for its delivery fleet, and, for merchants, Postmates will waive commission fees for stores in impacted markets. The goal, the company said, is to give small business owners access to on-demand delivery at no additional cost. Postmates said it would launch the initiatives this week. As the company noted, more than half of Americans are unable to afford a $400 unexpected expense, so the Postmates Fleet…

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Self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski files motion to force Uber into arbitration

Anthony Levandowski, the star self-driving car engineer who was at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit, has filed a motion to compel Uber into arbitration in the hopes that his former employee will have to shoulder the cost of at least part of the $179 million judgment against him. The motion to compel arbitration filed this week is part of Levandowski’s bankruptcy proceedings. It’s the latest chapter in a long and winding legal saga that has entangled Uber and Waymo, the former Google self-driving project that is now a…

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Headlines 

‘This is a miracle’: California couple found alive after getting lost on Valentine’s Day hike

Rescuers searched with drones and dogs but had given up hope after Carol Kiparsky and Ian Irwin went missing near Inverness Two academics who got lost during a Valentines Day hike in the woods of northern California were found on Saturday by rescuers who spent almost a week searching and had given up hopes of finding them alive. Carol Kiparsky, 77, and Ian Irwin, 72, were found in a densely forested area near Tomales Bay, a narrow inlet about 30 miles north of San Francisco, and were airlifted to a…

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Virgin Galactic relocates SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity to its spaceport for preparations ahead of commercial flights

Virgin Galactic is one crucial step closer to actually flying paying customers to space: The space tourism company just relocated its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, the VSS Unity, from its Mojave, California manufacturing facility to Spaceport America in New Mexico, where it will begin flights with a goal of at least sending company founder Richard Branson to space during the year of his 70th birthday. VSS Unity made the trip attached to the carrier aircraft that will bring it up to its launch altitude, where it’ll detach from the plane (named ‘VMS…

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Wear your helmet, concludes new study showing electronic scooter injuries have nearly tripled in the last four years

Taking a ride on an electronic scooter soon? Wear your helmet! According to a recent study published in JAMA Surgery, not wearing headgear or taking other precautions while riding is increasingly sending young people to the hospital — leading to more than 40,000 broken bones, head wounds and other injuries. Unfortunately, less than 5% of riders in the study were found to be wearing their helmet, leading to nearly one-third of patients having a head injury. That’s more than double the rate of head injuries experienced by bicyclists. The rise…

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Homeless Oakland Moms Cut Deal to Buy House They Squatted In

A group of homeless mothers evicted and arrested after squatting in an empty Oakland residence have reached an agreement to buy the home in a radical conclusion to a struggle that shone a renewed spotlight on the Bay Areas dire housing shortage. The women, known collectively as Moms 4 Housing, occupied a house in West Oakland from November until Alameda County Sheriffs deputies removed them in a said Dominique Walker, one of the mothers who was living in the home. The house, owned by the Southern California real estate company…

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Discount student tickets available for TC Sessions: Mobility 2020

“Revolutionary” may be an over-used adjective, but how else to describe the rapid evolution in mobility technology? Join us in San Jose, Calif., on May 14 for TC Sessions: Mobility 2020. Our second annual day-long conference cuts through the hype and explores the current and future state of the technology and its social, regulatory and economic impact. If you’re a student with a passion for mobility and transportation tech, listen up. We can’t talk about the future if we’re not willing to invest in the next generation of mobility visionaries.…

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Headlines 

California’s wildfire risk keeps getting worse. Now a decade of blackouts lie ahead

The states 2019 fire season was relatively mild, but included nine public safety power shutoffs. Is it making the system safer? In 2019, millions of Californians experienced a wildfire safety blackout, some for nearly a week at a time, as the troubled utility company Pacific Gas & Electric and other investor-owned utilities grappled with replacing one devastating disaster with another, comparatively manageable one. 2019 was not an anomaly, but the beginning of a new way of life for many California residents. While de-energization for fire safety has been state policy…

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Headlines 

Golden Globes: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler follow Ricky Gervais as hosts

Poehler poses as NBC publicist to make announcement after British comedian caused controversy with monologue Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jan/11/golden-globes-tina-fey-amy-poehler-ricky-gervais-hosts

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