Strikes Northern California

Registered nurses at 54 Kaiser Permanente medical facilities began a two-day strike Wednesday, leaving hospitals from Fresno to Sacramento scrambling to find beds for patients amid a nasty flu season. "The number of people filling beds hasn't been this high since 1981," said Nathan Nayman, regional vice president for the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California.

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurred off the coast of Eureka in Northern California on Sunday night, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The temblor hit at 10:18 p.m. 50 miles west of Eureka in Humboldt County. According to the USGS, the earthquake was felt over a large swath of the North Coast as well as other parts of Northern California. There were no immediate reports of injuries or tsunami warnings. [Updated, 10:49 p.m. PST March 9: According to the USGS, the quake was felt over a large swath of the North Coast as well as other parts of Northern California.

A two-day strike by registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente in Central and Northern California ends today--but only because it was planned that way. Very little, if anything, has been resolved between Kaiser management and the California Nurses Assn. since thousands of RNs walked off the job early Wednesday. "It's disappointing, but it's not surprising," said Chantay Allmond, a home-care case manager who picketed Thursday outside one of Kaiser's San Francisco facilities.

Three minor earthquakes rolled through Northern California on Monday, a day after a larger 4.3 magnitude temblor rattled Santa Rosa. San Francisco was jolted about 2:15 p.m. by a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.4, the U.S. Geological Survey said. At 3:01 a.m., San Jose was hit by a quake with preliminary magnitude of 3.8. Within the hour, a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.7 hit six miles outside Madera. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

Supermarket Workers Strike in Northern California: United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 870 spokesman Len Konecny said 15,000 meat cutters, food clerks and baggers walked off their jobs at more than 200 Safeway stores shortly after midnight Wednesday. Pickets went up at Safeway stores from Fresno to the Oregon border.

The earthquake near Eureka, Calif., this afternoon -- a reported magnitude 6.5 -- snapped power lines, toppled televisions and shook up local stores, but so far no injuries have been reported. The quake struck at 4:27 p.m. and was centered under the Pacific Ocean, about 25 miles southwest of Eureka. A tsunami was not expected, according to the National Weather Service. About 25,000 customers were without power, according to Jeff Smith, spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. "We've got some downed power lines as well as some other damage to other equipment," he said.

As more than 1,000 fires continued to burn in California, flames advanced toward more homes near Big Sur on Sunday, but firefighters said they had made progress in protecting an isolated Buddhist retreat in Los Padres National Forest. Fire officials advised residents of Palo Colorado Canyon, a hamlet of about 250 homes north of Big Sur, to evacuate as the Basin Complex fire continued its advance.

It's no comfort to the people of Weaverville, where a fire charred 1,680 acres and destroyed 13 residences last week, but 2001 has been a curiously mild year for California wildfires. So far. Since January, fire has consumed 45,000 acres of wild land statewide, 10,000 fewer than at this time last year--and 27,000 fewer than the five-year average for late August.

Aided by cooler temperatures, less wind and progress in cutting new fire lines, officials expressed "cautious optimism" Wednesday about the dozen or so lightning-sparked wildfires still burning in Trinity County. "Things are looking pretty optimistic right now," said Mel Ingeroi, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Land Management in Hayfork. Other officials said the feeling along most fire lines, where 4,559 firefighters have been battling the blazes, is "confident but not complacent."

The increasingly critical national shortage of nurses, a serious teacher shortage, the recent rash of nurses' strikes in Northern California and teacher strikes in Chicago, Detroit and other cities combine to pose a riddle: Why are both nurses and teachers so poorly paid, considering the urgent need for more of them, their high education levels, their heavy responsibilities and the usually stressful, difficult nature of their jobs?

A two-day strike by registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente in Central and Northern California ends today--but only because it was planned that way. Very little, if anything, has been resolved between Kaiser management and the California Nurses Assn. since thousands of RNs walked off the job early Wednesday. "It's disappointing, but it's not surprising," said Chantay Allmond, a home-care case manager who picketed Thursday outside one of Kaiser's San Francisco facilities.

Registered nurses at 54 Kaiser Permanente medical facilities began a two-day strike Wednesday, leaving hospitals from Fresno to Sacramento scrambling to find beds for patients amid a nasty flu season. "The number of people filling beds hasn't been this high since 1981," said Nathan Nayman, regional vice president for the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California.

Supermarket Workers Strike in Northern California: United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 870 spokesman Len Konecny said 15,000 meat cutters, food clerks and baggers walked off their jobs at more than 200 Safeway stores shortly after midnight Wednesday. Pickets went up at Safeway stores from Fresno to the Oregon border.