• Environmental review kicks off for the Silver Lake Reservoir Master Plan (Urbanize LA)
• OakDOT distributes 500 prepaid ($150) debit cards to East Oakland residents and employees for purchasing trips or passes on public transit, bike-share, and scooter-share. (NBCBayArea)
• Houston bike-share looking to expand into underserved communities of color (Houston Public Media)
• Wired argues Build Back Better needs to offer more breaks for e-bikes and invest more in active transportation.
• State education officials seek to accelerate addition of 10,000 school mental health counselors. (LAT)
• Ed Yong’s look at what Omicron is doing to the health care system (The Atlantic)
• Hotel housekeepers are reporting the pandemic has made their job more strenuous and subjected them to worse conditions (LAT)
• Bee-keeping goes corporate (Bloomberg)
• Wall Street Is Using Tech Firms Like Zillow to Eat Up Starter Homes (Bloomberg)
• Metro Cancels In-Person Enrollment for Discounted Fares (NBC4)… but plans to move ahead with front door boarding and fare collection on buses. (ACT-LA tweets)
• Sugar cane burns pollute communities of color in Florida, but big sugar companies say they are safe and can’t be stopped without economic harm. Yet Brazil show there is another way. (ProPublica)
• Lithium mining under new scrutiny: The outgoing government of Pres. Sebastián Piñera had invited bids from private companies to expand lithium production to 400,000 metric tons a year. (NYT) Lithium is essential for the transition to green energy, but the extraction costs are high (NYT)
• For the first time in over 30 years, the EPA adds to its list of hazardous air pollutants – by one. (WaPo) Meanwhile, 2022 crucial year for Biden’s climate agenda. (WaPo)
• Two weeks after her death, the mayor finally speaks on the killing of 14yo Valentina Orellana Peralta. Says tactics will be examined and that he’s learned not to prejudge. (LAT)
• Sentencing for the three men convicted in the case of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery is underway. They face life in prison. (NPR)

Find more state headlines at Streetsblog California

• California to extend indoor mask mandate until mid-February (AP)
• The Guardian tags along with London cyclist/YouTuber Cycling Mikey as he documents distracted drivers.
• Coastal residents sue L.A. over Hyperion sewage spill in Santa Monica Bay (LAT)
• More than 1,000 police officers, firefighters and paramedics in the Los Angeles region were ill or at home quarantining on Tuesday after testing positive for the coronavirus,(LAT); meanwhile a shortage of ambulances means L.A. County Fire will now be allowed to transport some to the hospital (CBS2); meanwhile a man physically assaulted workers at a vaccine clinic in Orange County, calling them murderers. (LAT) So what is Flurona, you ask? (WaPo)
• An off-duty Sheriff’s deputy was recently ordered to stand trial on murder charges in the death of Ashley Wells. Daniel Auner had been driving (and possibly racing) at ~116mph when he crashed into a pole on Crenshaw and 190th, killing Wells and injuring two other passengers in 2020.
  • Wells’ mother wants DUI added to the charge, and claims Torrance PD gave him special treatment by not administering a field sobriety test; his BAC was not tested until two hours after the crash, at which point it was just under the legal limit. (CBS2)
• Bicyclist killed in Chatsworth hit-and-run identified as 58-year-old Matthew Zink, a father of four, and a female friend in her thirties, who a friend says was a mother of three and pregnant with her fourth child. (NBC4)
• Where did all this rain leave us with regard to the drought? (LAT)
• More on the Hyperion Bridge lamp posts: City says 22 have been stolen and that it is removing the rest for safekeeping. (LAT)
• CM Cedillo blames unspecified “supply chain issues” on delay in MacArthur Park redevelopment. (L.A. Taco)
• An interview with Sheriff candidate Cecil Rhambo (KNOCK-LA)
• Displaced from an encampment after a sweep, a 73-year-old woman was alone and trapped when her tent collapsed on her in the snow (WaPo)
• Urbanize L.A. looks at the Metro Board’s wish list for state surplus funds; meanwhile Metro reminds you that they will restart fare collection on buses Jan. 10. (The Source)

Find more headlines at Streetsblog California

• As the anniversary of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol nears, an L.A. Times photographer’s never-seen-before helmet cam footage of the moments leading up to the breach. (LAT)
• Meanwhile, VA Senator Tim Kaine is among the many, many, many people stranded overnight on I-95 after crashes, snow bring traffic to a halt. (NBC, NYT, WaPo, live updates on CNN); Why was the storm so severe? (WaPo)
• An intergenerational group of Pueblo women lead the way on water policy along the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico. (High Country News)
• Solar and green jobs in a Kentucky coal county? (NYT)
• The constructive value of anger in fighting climate inaction. (LAT Op Ed)
• A history of plastics and their role in climate change (The Atlantic)
• Beaches reopen after spill from 60-year-old failed sewer line that was near replacement. (LAT, LAist)
• The COVID numbers health officials are watching (NPR); L.A. County school safety guidelines (LAist); Meanwhile, with 1 million cases in one day, the U.S. sets new global record (L.A. Daily News/AP)
• Who will fill the big shoes of California’s longest serving auditor? (LAT)
• San Ramon police unleash K9 on Uber driver who missed payments. (SF Chronicle, SFist)
• How much progress did the LAX makeover make last year? (Urbanize L.A.)
• L.A. won’t allow rent hikes for most tenants until 2023 (LAT)
• Let street vendors thrive (LAT)
• City crews removed historic lampposts from Glendale-Hyperion bridge to discourage theft (Eastsider)

Find more headlines at Streetsblog CA