Officials reported Saturday they were “cautiously optimistic” that the worst was over after a serious fire broke out Thursday afternoon that destroyed many of the Vistra warehouse facility in Moss Landing.

About 80% of the power and the lithium batteries it housed were consumed by the fireplace, North Monterey County Fire Department Chief Joel Mendoza said Monday Press conference on Saturday. Located across from Moss Landing Harbor on the location of a former PG&E power plant, the power houses tens of hundreds of lithium batteries. Such battery fires are notoriously difficult to extinguish, can burn at high temperatures and release toxic gases that may cause respiration problems, skin burns and eye irritation.

By 2 p.m. Saturday, the flames had died down and the smoke had subsided, however the heat remained contained in the constructing. And since it's normal for battery fires particularly to re-intensify, first responders continued to maintain U.S. Highway 1 closed in each directions between Highway 183 and Struve Road, officials said. There isn’t any estimated time for the reopening of Highway 1.

“The last thing we need is for the public to hinder emergency services from doing their job,” said Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto.

Federal officials are monitoring air quality along with Vistra's roaming air quality monitoring efforts, said Olivia Trombadore, on-site coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency deployed nine air quality monitors the primary night after the fireplace began to examine the fireplace scene and evacuation area and surrounding areas for hydrogen fluoride and particulate matter, two pollutants that may pose a health risk. Their models suggested it was hydrogen fluoride, an acidic gas dangerous if inhaledwould have been destroyed in a hearth of that size, she said.

“We have not detected levels of these two contaminants that would pose a risk to the public,” she said.

The majority of residents living near the Vistra storage facility in Moss Landing returned home Friday evening, officials said, just hours after an evacuation order was lifted.

Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli said the precise variety of residents returning is unclear. In an update Friday evening, the Monterey County Emergency Management Agency said air quality monitoring confirmed that “there is no threat to human health.”

The wildfire raises questions on the protection of a technology — battery storage — considered essential to long-term support of expanded use of solar and wind energy in California. In recent years, the state has increasingly relied on massive battery storage facilities to capture electricity in the course of the day and release it to the grid at night to cut back the danger of blackouts during hot, high-demand summer months.

County Executive Glenn Church and Rep. Dawn Addis called on Vistra to offer the general public with greater safety guarantees in terms of its roughly $1 billion battery storage facility.

“We need to make sure that when we say to a community, 'We're working on climate solutions,' we're not saying, 'We're doing this, but it's on the basis of your health and safety,” Addis called for a full investigation into the fireplace.

“We will use the best technology and the best human minds to ensure we have the greatest possible chance of something like this not happening again,” said Brad Watson, senior director of community affairs at Vistra.

The fire was reported on Thursday afternoon as alarming clouds of black smoke rose from certainly one of the world's largest battery storage plants. The event closed Highway 1 and evacuated residents in northern Monterey County, from areas from Moss Landing south of Elkhorn Slough, north of Molera Road and Monterey Dunes Way and west of Castroville Boulevard and Elkhorn Road to the ocean.

The fire department didn’t fight the fireplace but allowed it to burn out by itself. The flames continued to burn throughout Thursday and continued to smolder into Friday. Evacuation orders were lifted around 6 p.m. Friday evening, with officials advising returning residents to remain indoors, limit outdoor exposure and switch off their ventilation systems.

Monterey officials said Friday they were misled by Vistra, the Texas-based energy giant that built the 750-megawatt power plant in 2020.

Mendoza said Vistra's fire suppression system, which had worked in previous situations, was inadequate and the fireplace engulfed the system. He added that air quality monitors arrange by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials had not detected hydrogen fluoride gas, certainly one of the most important hazardous substances that may arise from burning batteries.

In addition, a county hotline has been arrange at 831-769-8700 for residents to call officials in the event that they have questions on air quality and safety best practices, Pasculli said.

Originally published: January 18, 2025 at 5:39 pm PST

SAN FRANCISCO – At 4:19 p.m., Klay Thompson walked into the Chase Center together with his teammates and about ran 400 Warriors employees Form a tunnel and placed on captain's hats.

Thompson had downplayed the importance of the night, saying his first game against the team with which he spent the primary 13 years of his profession was just one other game. But at that moment it hit him as cameras shot into his face. He put his hands together as an indication of gratitude.

“To be the guy that hangs four banners and does it in a way that captures the hearts of the fans,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said before the sport. “With Klay it's not just about the skills, it's not just the commitment to the organization, the desire to compete. He just has something, an aura, that immediately connected our fans with him. That's what it takes. It’s pretty rare for someone to do all that and have the impact that Klay had.”

About three hours later, the actual celebrations began.

A sellout crowd at Chase Center, all wearing white captain's hats, erupted in an uproar when the Warriors' announcer declared Thompson was returning. After 45 seconds they saluted with their caps Video montage plays and ends with a “Thanks, Klay” message. Both the players and coaches from the Warriors and Mavericks craned their necks to look at the tribute.

When it ended, Thompson, the four-time champion and Bay Area legend, felt the love. Warriors fans gave a loud standing ovation for a minimum of a minute.

Thompson, never one to cover his feelings, took a moment to himself within the back corner of the Chase Center court. He folded his hands above his head to thank the gang and threw a left-handed punch.

Steph Curry had planned to take the microphone and address the gang, but he and Thompson talked about it Monday night and concluded it wouldn't be mandatory.

Thompson has been at the middle of several emotional nights in Warriors history. Perhaps most memorable is his return to the sector in 2022 after being sidelined for 941 days as a consequence of injury.

“It was a welcome back,” Kerr said. “We knew there were a lot of good times ahead. In fact, there was a championship six months later. This is obviously more of a farewell. The first time we saw him… It's going to feel very strange, but it's going to be a different vibe, I think. More like a thank you and a goodbye.”

Andre Iguodala, Festus Ezeli and Zaza Pachulia were amongst Thompson's former teammates who were there to say goodbye. They were a few of greater than 18,000 people within the constructing who showered Thompson with gratitude.

Thompson left the Warriors in the summertime for a fresh start with the Mavericks, who won the West title last 12 months. Although he performed well for the Warriors after coming back from career-threatening injuries – helping them win the 2022 title and leading the league in 3s the next 12 months – Thompson was not the identical player he was before his hamstring and Cruciate ligament injuries and needed to cope with it mentally.

Kerr said several times last season that he was scuffling with his basketball mortality. The Warriors benched him for an prolonged period last 12 months and didn't guarantee him a starting spot if he desired to return.

“What he has overcome is almost unprecedented,” Kerr said. “It was devastating for him to have to miss two years in the prime of his career. I think in the last few years after his return he had a hard time balancing it all. I'm losing this peak season. We've all seen that. We saw him struggle emotionally. We saw him struggle to get his game back.”

“We wish this would be over forever and Klay would finish his career with us,” Kerr added. “But circumstances always dictate these things. Ultimately I think he made the right choice. I think he needed a fresh start. I think he needed a new environment. That was obvious last year. He wasn't happy, and that was hard to see. Because he deserves to be happy. “He’s a very happy person at heart, so it was hard to see him dealing with the consequences of these injuries.”

He seemed genuinely blissful on the reception. He got what everyone wanted.

Then, on the primary possession of the sport, he went straight at Curry within the midpost and caused two foul throws. Moments later, Curry hit a 3-pointer against Thompson's late tackle. Green then shot a corner 3 over his former teammate. Keep playing.

Originally published: November 12, 2024 at 7:27 pm PST

Led by a hiring boom within the South Bay, the Bay Area posted big job gains in May, banishing – a minimum of for now – the grim outlook of a weak labor market and job losses that plagued the region earlier within the 12 months.

The nine-county region added 7,000 latest jobs in May, the best number since December 2023, when 11,200 jobs were created within the region, the state employment agency said Friday.

The increase in Bay Area hiring in May got here despite massive layoffs within the region's technology industry, particularly within the San Francisco metropolitan area.

The South Bay saw job growth of three,300 positions, nearly half of all latest hires within the Bay Area in May, in accordance with the state Department of Employment Development.

In the San Francisco-San Mateo region, 1,000 jobs were created, the EDD reported.

In California, 43,700 latest jobs were created in May and the variety of non-farm jobs also reached a brand new record at over 18 million.

Both the California and Bay Area figures have been adjusted for seasonal volatility.

“The labor market in California and the Bay Area firmed in May after a series of disappointing employment reports, rekindling expectations for a soft landing for the Bay Area economy after two years of higher interest rates and rapid inflation,” said Scott Anderson, chief U.S. economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The national unemployment rate was 5.2% in May, an improvement from 5.3% in April.

The improvement marked the primary decline within the national unemployment rate in nearly two years. In August 2022, the national unemployment rate reached a record low of three.8%. It had been steadily worsening until the advance in May.

“The labor market trend has been good enough to calm nerves in Sacramento and increase the chances that expansion in the Bay Area will continue to be sluggish in the coming months,” Anderson said.

Here's how some key industries within the Bay Area fared in May, in accordance with seasonally adjusted numbers that Beacon Economics derived from the EDD's official report:

— Technology corporations cut their jobs by 2,100. The San Francisco-San Mateo region lost 2,200 jobs and the South Bay lost one other 400. The East Bay added 600 jobs.

— In the Bay Area, 1,300 latest jobs were created within the hospitality sector. In San Francisco-San Mateo, 800 jobs were created, and within the South Bay, 400.

— Financial services added 1,700 jobs within the Bay Area, primarily resulting from a rise of 1,000 within the greater San Francisco area and 600 within the East Bay. This sector includes banks and other financial firms, insurance firms and real estate firms.

— Health care corporations added 1,200 jobs within the Bay Area in May. The South Bay added 1,000 latest health care jobs last month, in accordance with the Beacon estimate.

“In the Bay Area, the volatile technology and information sectors are still negative, with growth concentrated in hospitality, healthcare and government,” said Jeffrey Michael, executive director of the Stockton-based Center for Business and Policy Research on the University of the Pacific.

It has change into clear that the Bay Area's post-coronavirus recovery is lagging behind that of California as a complete.

In May, the state had a complete of 18.03 million wage and salary jobs, up 1.2 percent from February 2020, the last month before government-imposed business closures to contain the spread of coronavirus went into effect.

Yet employment within the Bay Area and its three major urban centers are all below their pre-COVID levels.

Here's what this news organization's evaluation of the EDD report shows regarding the Bay Area's post-coronavirus employment recovery. The numbers compare May 2024 numbers to February 2020 levels:

– The Bay Area is 1.3% below February 2020 levels, meaning there’s an employment deficit of 53,300.

– The South Bay is 0.2% below pre-COVID levels, or 1,800 jobs missing.

– The East Bay is 0.3% below, which corresponds to a niche of three,200 jobs.

– The San Francisco-San Mateo region is 3.7% below its pre-coronavirus total, representing a staggering deficit of 44,300 jobs.

Over the past 12 months through May, jobs within the East Bay increased 0.9 percent, while jobs within the South Bay and the Bay Area increased 0.5 percent.

In contrast, the whole variety of jobs in San Francisco-San Mateo fell by 0.5% over the identical period.

According to Michael, the San Francisco-San Mateo metropolitan area is “the only one of California’s 29 metropolitan areas that has lost jobs in the past 12 months.”

In the primary five months of 2024, 6,400 jobs were lost within the San Francisco metropolitan area. Until the May increases, the San Francisco region had lost jobs every month this 12 months.

The Bay Area's massive net hiring of seven,000 staff in May provided a hopeful counterpoint to the gloomy trends of the primary 4 months of the 12 months.

The Bay Area lost 600 jobs from January to April, but May's rebound means the Bay Area added 6,400 latest jobs in the primary five months of 2024.

During the identical five-month period, 3,600 latest jobs were created in East Bay.

However, the South Bay is the foremost driver of the Bay Area job market in 2024. In the primary five months of the 12 months, the South Bay added 7,500 jobs and lost jobs in only one month, February.

According to Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a San Jose-based think tank, the assorted trends suggest that the South Bay maintains its top-notch status as a job engine despite the tech sector's well-known boom-and-bust cycles.

“May's job growth is consistent with our long-standing understanding of Silicon Valley,” Hancock said. “We are an innovation-based ecosystem that creates new products, new services, new business models and even new industries. There will always be cycles, and the bottom of the cycle brings painful adjustments.”