A leptospirosis outbreak at Berkeley's Harrison Street encampment—a tropical disease rarely seen in the developed world—exposed how federal court injunctions kept the city blocked from cleaning up the site for 16 months, even after rats tested positive and the city's public health officer filed an emergency declaration. Meanwhile, Berkeley is at the center of two broader California fights: a faculty-backed push to restore SAT requirements after archival footage revealed UC Regents knew in 2020 they were ignoring their own data, and a proposed wealth tax championed by UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich that critics say would devastate the state's tech sector.
Leptospirosis, common in underdeveloped countries, spread through Berkeley's Harrison encampment—and courts continued to prevent cleanup efforts.
Robert Reich earns $13,000/hour to denounce capitalism while blocking affordable housing in his own backyard. Now he's pushing a tech-killing wealth tax.
Archival footage reveals the 2020 board meeting where Regents admitted they were ignoring faculty data to appease one woman.