Portal:San Francisco Bay Area/Years/Current

Left to right: Ames scientists Michel Nuevo, Christopher Materese and Scott Sandford reproduce uracil, cytosine, and thymine, three key components of our hereditary material, in the laboratory

Apple Watch

2015

March
- Scientists (pictured) at the Ames Research Center announce they have synthesized "...uracil, cytosine, and thymine, all three components of RNA and DNA, non-biologically in a laboratory under conditions found in space." [1]
- Patrick Willis, linebacker for eight years with the San Francisco 49ers, retires at age 30 due to a foot injury
- Prime Healthcare Services rejects an offer to purchase Daly City's Seton Medical Center and San Jose's O'Connor Hospital from the Daughters of Charity Health System
- The U.S. Geological Survey report, "Third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast", estimates there is a 72 percent chance that a magnitude-6.7 or larger quake will strike the Bay Area before the year 2044 [2]
- The College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley unveils a 9' high 3D printed sculpture, entitled "Bloom", the first printed structure of its type.[3][4][5]
- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration more than doubles the size of the Cordell Bank and Gulf of the Farallones Marine Sanctuaries (underwater topography pictured)
- The San Francisco Police Department relocates its headquarters from the Hall of Justice to a new facility at Mission Bay (insignia pictured)
- Lawyer and Reddit executive Ellen Pao loses in a gender discrimination lawsuit against Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
April
- The Brookings Institution reports that San Francisco has the wealthiest people, in the top 5% of its population, of any major U.S. city, and the fastest growing income inequality[6]
- Governor Jerry Brown imposes mandatory water rationing for the first time in state history, requiring all local water supply agencies, including the Alameda County, Marin, Sonoma and Santa Clara Valley Water Districts, reduce water use by 25%, due to the ongoing drought in California [7]
- Author and community activist Eddy Zheng is pardoned by governor Brown, for crimes he committed at age 16 [8]
- Apple, Inc. introduces the Apple Watch (pictured)
- Over 100 prominent Bay Area Catholics sign a full page advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle appealing to Pope Francis to replace Salvatore Cordileone as archbishop of the San Francisco Archdiocese, for fostering “an atmosphere of division and intolerance.” [9]
- The World War II era aircraft carrier USS Independence (pictured) is rediscovered near the Farallon Islands by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [10]
- Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo closes [11]
- The San Francisco-based Heald College system shuts down, when its parent company, Corinthian Colleges, goes out of business
- Tesla Motors announces the Powerwall, a battery system for home use
May
- Golden State Warriors basketball player Stephen Curry (pictured) is awarded the 2015 NBA Most Valuable Player Award
- The San Mateo–Hayward Bridge closes to traffic, for the first time since opening in 1967, for resurfacing and maintenance [12][13]
- San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón orders a review of at least 3,000 arrests over the last 10 years, in response to evidence that some San Francisco Police Department officers may have shown racial bias, based on their having sent racist and homophobic text messages [14]
- San Francisco becomes the first city in the United States to ban chewing tobacco at sports venues, including AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants [15]
- The Regional Renewable Energy Procurement Project dedicates its first project, a future solar farm at Hayward's former landfill site [16]
- A dead Gray Whale washes ashore at Half Moon Bay, the third dead whale found on Bay Area beaches (and the sixth in Northern California) over a 5 week period [17]