BART and regional rail providers are pushing forward with pursuing a second transbay crossing, unveiling a new plan Wednesday despite ridership ravaged by the pandemic. BART and the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority released a new website introducing Link21, a rail improvement program, to bring together intercity, commuter and high-speed rail. The goal is to connect what’s called the Northern California “mega region” covering 21 counties.
Northern California: Link21 Megaproject Unveiled Written by Bill Wilson, Engineering Editor; and Editor-in-Chief, Railway Track & Structures
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) and Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA) have embarked on Link21, described as “a transformational improvement program” that will connect BART with the region’s intercity, commuter and high-speed passenger rail systems while also “connecting people sustainably to employment opportunities and affordable housing throughout the 21-county Northern California Megaregion.”
The northern California Megaregion is a 21-county area covering the Sacramento, San Francisco Bay, Northern San Joaquin Valley and the Monterey Bay areas.
Link21, formerly known as the New Transbay Rail Crossing, is a program of various projects that “will provide more services, faster connections and better access to jobs for the Megaregion’s tra
The Department of Labor announced Jan. 12 that it has finalized a rule that would raise the four mandatory wage levels for H-1B workers, in an attempt to prevent abuse of the program by employers.
The new rule, which goes into effect 60 days after it is entered into the Federal Register, also applies to EB-2 and EB-3 visa applicants, H1B1 workers from Singapore and Chile, and E-3 visa holders from Australia. The majority of H-1B visas are held by highly-skilled workers from India.
âThe U.S. Department of Labor is taking these steps to strengthen wage protections, address abuses in visa programs, and protect American workers from being undercut by cheaper foreign labor,â said Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia in a press statement.
Pandemic creates “weird boom time” for some Bay Area remote workers [The Cupertino Courier, Calif.]
Jan. 10 Millions of California workers have faced at least one of two gut-wrenching situations this past year: losing their jobs or risking their lives by showing up in person at work during a pandemic.
But for the others the “work-from-home” contingent things have been, well, mostly fine.
“My career, knock on wood, is taking off,” said Penny Bailey, a recruiter at a San Francisco-based startup that builds software for online teamwork. Bailey got her new job and a raise three months into the pandemic. “I feel really good about my income, and that’s new for me. That contrast isn’t lost on me. I feel this weird guilt.”
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01/07/2021 11:56 AM EST
As of this writing, the United States of America is still under attack from within, as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol building at the instruction of the outgoing U.S. President. One of the many nonsensical banners on display, this one photographed by POLITICO s Gavin Bade, reads: Uphold the law or commit CCP treason.