Menlo Park

SAN FRANCISCO - Mark Zuckerberg is the public face of one of the world's most prominent companies. But now it's his actions as a private citizen that are making him - and Facebook Inc. - a target of environmentalists and progressive activists, highlighting the pitfalls of political involvement at a level rarely attempted in Silicon Valley. The 28-year-old billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Facebook has funded a political advocacy group called Fwd.us that has come under fire for spending millions on television ads that support expansion of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

SAN FRANCISCO - Mark Zuckerberg is the public face of one of the world's most prominent companies. But now it's his actions as a private citizen that are making him - and Facebook Inc. - a target of environmentalists and progressive activists, highlighting the pitfalls of political involvement at a level rarely attempted in Silicon Valley. The 28-year-old billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Facebook has funded a political advocacy group called Fwd.us that has come under fire for spending millions on television ads that support expansion of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Facebook got a big thumbs up from the city of Menlo Park, Calif., which cleared the way for the company's headquarters there to expand. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to back an environmental impact report and development agreement that will let Facebook employ thousands more . Facebook will now be able to have about 6,600 workers on its Menlo Park campus, up from 3,600. It currently has about 2,200. It's paying Menlo Park millions of dollars over 10 years to cover the extra load on the city.

Two Silicon Valley men were sentenced Monday for a "sextortion" plot in which they tried to extort professional poker players with threats of publicizing naked photographs and other private information stolen from email accounts. Tyler Schrier, 23, of Menlo Park was sentenced to 42 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy, extortion and unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information. As part of the plea, Schrier admitted he also extorted $26,000 from professional poker players in another plot.

The city council in Menlo Park, Calif., is set to approve a deal that will let Facebook employ thousands more people at its headquarters there. Mayor Kirsten Keith says officials are expected to green light the environmental impact report and the development agreement at a meeting Tuesday night. City staff has recommended the city approve the deal. That means Facebook employees, currently numbering about 2,200 in Menlo Park, will soon be able to stretch out. If the deal is approved, Facebook will be able to employ about 6,600 workers in Menlo Park, up from its current limit of 3,600.

The big day for Facebook Inc. and Mark Zuckerberg has come. On Friday morning as the sun rose on the trading day in Menlo Park, Calif., about 2,000 Facebook workers were gathered at the campus preparing for the company's debut on the Nasdaq exchange.  Philz Coffee on the campus opened about 5 a.m., and the catering team handed out breakfast sandwiches to fuel the troops. Many had been up all night in a pre-IPO hackathon .  TV trucks swarmed the campus Friday morning.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Frank Gehry is about to update the status of Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook got the go-ahead this week for the architect to build a second campus there. The City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday night to allow the giant social network to proceed. "Where's the 'Like' button?" Mayor Peter Ohtaki told Facebook officials, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The second campus is on a 22-acre site on the other side of Bayfront Expressway from its current campus. The 430,000-plus-square-foot building will stretch a third of a mile long on a single floor with a parking garage underneath and a roof park on top. Gehry is keeping the project more low-key than the Guggenheim Museum in Spain or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles at the request of Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

The Valley Division commander of the Los Angeles City Fire Department has resigned to become chief of a firefighting unit serving three Northern California cities. Jack Bennett, 53, of Northridge said Tuesday he accepted the job of director of fire service for the Menlo Park Fire Protection District after spending 31 years in the Los Angeles department. Bennett said he will earn $65,000 a year under a two-year contract. His new duties, which start Aug.

Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced Monday that the U.S. Geological Survey would be allowed to keep its western regional headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., despite skyrocketing costs. The government scientific agency, which in August was told to find a cheaper home, said Monday that instead a new, 10-year deal had been struck for its existing site that would help cut millions of dollars in rent payments. "USGS' strong foundation in Menlo Park remains unshaken," said Rep. Anna G.

The Woodland Hills semiconductor division of Los Angeles-based TRE Corp. has been sold to a group of four Menlo Park venture capital firms. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The former TRE division will be known as American Semiconductor Equipment Technologies, a company formed by the investment firms in December to execute the takeover. The new owners plan to keep the company's 100 employees, said Greg Reyes, the new president and chief executive of American Semiconductor.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Frank Gehry is about to update the status of Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook got the go-ahead this week for the architect to build a second campus there. The City Council voted 4-0 Tuesday night to allow the giant social network to proceed. "Where's the 'Like' button?" Mayor Peter Ohtaki told Facebook officials, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The second campus is on a 22-acre site on the other side of Bayfront Expressway from its current campus. The 430,000-plus-square-foot building will stretch a third of a mile long on a single floor with a parking garage underneath and a roof park on top. Gehry is keeping the project more low-key than the Guggenheim Museum in Spain or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles at the request of Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Android users may be about to get some good news from Facebook. The giant social network is holding an event at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters next week. The invitation simply reads: "Come see our new home on Android. " Could it be that Facebook is ready to show the world a new version of Android with loads of Facebook-friendly features? Is it possible that this new version will come on an HTC handset? A Facebook spokesman declined to comment. But it's quite possible -- even likely -- that Facebook is about to make a major product announcement, TechCrunch says . "Imagine Facebook's integration with iOS 6, but on steroids, and built by Facebook itself," TechCrunch writer Josh Constine said.

Facebook got a big thumbs up from the city of Menlo Park, Calif., which cleared the way for the company's headquarters there to expand. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to back an environmental impact report and development agreement that will let Facebook employ thousands more . Facebook will now be able to have about 6,600 workers on its Menlo Park campus, up from 3,600. It currently has about 2,200. It's paying Menlo Park millions of dollars over 10 years to cover the extra load on the city.

The city council in Menlo Park, Calif., is set to approve a deal that will let Facebook employ thousands more people at its headquarters there. Mayor Kirsten Keith says officials are expected to green light the environmental impact report and the development agreement at a meeting Tuesday night. City staff has recommended the city approve the deal. That means Facebook employees, currently numbering about 2,200 in Menlo Park, will soon be able to stretch out. If the deal is approved, Facebook will be able to employ about 6,600 workers in Menlo Park, up from its current limit of 3,600.

The big day for Facebook Inc. and Mark Zuckerberg has come. On Friday morning as the sun rose on the trading day in Menlo Park, Calif., about 2,000 Facebook workers were gathered at the campus preparing for the company's debut on the Nasdaq exchange.  Philz Coffee on the campus opened about 5 a.m., and the catering team handed out breakfast sandwiches to fuel the troops. Many had been up all night in a pre-IPO hackathon .  TV trucks swarmed the campus Friday morning.

Apple Inc. has 1 Infinite Loop and Genentech Inc. has 1 DNA Way. But Facebook Inc. now lays claim to Silicon Valley's premier vanity address: 1 Hacker Way. After journeying from a Harvard dorm room to a rented house in Palo Alto to a series of temporary corporate offices it quickly outgrew, the 8-year-old social networking giant has set down permanent roots just in time for its initial public offering. And its splashy new campus in Menlo Park has quickly become the envy of its Silicon Valley neighbors.

Equipment failure probably caused a fatal laboratory explosion involving cold fusion research, fire investigators said. The blast at SRI International that killed one researcher and injured three others occurred after an automatic pressure-release valve failed on a sealed canister, said Menlo Park Fire Capt. Jim Lichtenstein. "One of the experimenters tried to open it manually to release the pressure valve and that's when it blew up," Lichtenstein said.

Apple Inc. has 1 Infinite Loop and Genentech Inc. has 1 DNA Way. But Facebook Inc. now lays claim to Silicon Valley's premier vanity address: 1 Hacker Way. After journeying from a Harvard dorm room to a rented house in Palo Alto to a series of temporary corporate offices it quickly outgrew, the 8-year-old social networking giant has set down permanent roots just in time for its initial public offering. And its splashy new campus in Menlo Park has quickly become the envy of its Silicon Valley neighbors.

Facebook Inc. is moving its headquarters from Palo Alto to the nearby former home of Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park. David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer, announced the move Tuesday in a news conference at the 57-acre Menlo Park property. Facebook signed a 15-year lease for the Menlo Park campus with the option to buy it in five years, according to a company spokeswoman who asked that she not be named because she was not authorized to speak on the details of the lease.

AMERICANS disdain abstraction, but they adore practical genius. Hence the long and reverential infatuation with Thomas Edison. There is no shortage of Edison biographies, and at least 10 adult accounts of his life are in print, along with a nearly equal number of children's versions.