News you don't want to miss for April 21:

1. Those who suffer the effects of poor air quality are at greater risk of complications associated with the coronavirus, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.…

News you don't want to miss for April 22:

1. Oakland is looking at a potentially historic $80 million budget shortfall over the next year, Bay City News reports.…

News you don't want to miss for April 23:

1. BART learned on Thursday that $250 million in recent federal relief funds will allow it to balance its budget for this fiscal year, with $78 million remaining, BART Board Director Rebecca Saltzman said.…

News you don't want to miss for April 24:

1. San Francisco Mayor London Breed provided a hint on Friday that the city's shelter in place order will be extended past May 4, possibly weeks or a month, KPIX reports.…

News you don't want to miss for April 27:

1. Alameda County, along with five other Bay Area counties, announced the shelter in place order will be extended through the end of May, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.…

News you don't want to miss for April 28:

1. The upcoming school year could open early, maybe in July, Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Tuesday, the East Bay Times reports.…

Coronavirus Journal: Virus hitting unincorporated areas in Alameda County hard. The forecast for Alameda County's short-term fiscal health will come into focus this week and it could be sobering news for those who depend greatly on the county's safety net services. County supervisors will learn at a budget workshop session on Thursday the extent of the damage caused by COVID-19 on the local economy.…

Plus, the Alameda County Sheriff's Department updates it budget request. Body-camera video of the fatal shooting of Steven Taylor by San Leandro Police last Saturday shows the officer and the victim were face-to-face just moments before he was shot in the chest. The San Leandro Police Department released what they called a "critical incident video" last week.…

The news media requires financial assistance, which should follow these guidelines. If the coronavirus crisis has taught us anything, it is that the work of journalists and photojournalists is essential. Without it how would we know how our communities are being affected?…

News you don't want to miss for April 29:

1. Alameda County and five other Bay Area counties issued a revised shelter in place order on Wednesday that will allow for some outdoor activities to resume, such as, construction work, landscaping, gardening, golf and tennis, SFGate reports.…

News you don't want to miss for April 30:

1. The five fired Oakland police officers involved in the shooting of Joshua Pawlik in 2018 were reinstated after it was found the Oakland Police Commission violated the Brown Act, the state law for transparency in public meetings, KPIX reports.…

News you don't want to miss for May 1:

1. Oakland's lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL over the team's relocation to Las Vegas was dismissed by a federal court judge on Thursday, according to Bleacher Report.…

News you don't want to miss for May 4:

1. Businesses such as bookstores, florists, clothing retailers, among others, can begin to reopen on Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced, according to the Associated Press.…

To celebrate National Nurses' Week, Ike's Love & Sandwiches is offering all healthcare workers with ID 50 percent off the price of their in-store takeout orders tomorrow, May 6.

Boasting over seventy locations in five states — including locations in Berkeley and Oakland — the cult-favorite San Francisco-based sandwich outfit is also donating hundreds of sandwiches throughout the next seven days to healthcare facilities throughout California and Arizona.…

News you don't want to miss for May 5:

1. "UC Berkeley is in negotiations to purchase — and then potentially tear down — a 111-year-old rent-controlled apartment building on Walnut Street where some residents have lived for more than 25 years," Berkeleyside reports.…

East Bay governments plan for revenue declines and budget cuts while bemoaning lack of federal assistance The massive $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act set aside $339.8 billion in federal aid for state and local governments affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic.…

News you don't want to miss for May 6:

1. Former Oakland Chief of Police Anne Kirkpatrick filed a lawsuit alleging the Oakland Police Commission, which fired her earlier this year, did so as retaliation for Kirkpatrick blowing the whistle on their own wrongdoing, including seeking personal favors, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.…

News you don't want to miss for May 7:

Just a few months ago, California was sitting on an overflowing reserve fund. After covid-19, the state is now reconciling with a massive $54.3 billion deficit over the next fiscal year, Calmatters reports.…

News you don't want to miss for May 8-10:

1. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf warned she may consider closing some city parks, including Lake Merritt, if social distancing rules are not followed, KTVU reports.…

A method includes embedding clothing with at least one sensor and at least one control unit; a power unit powering on the at least one sensor and the at least one control unit; the at least one sensor monitoring a sensed condition; the at least one control unit conducting a heat prediction based on the sensed condition; and the at least one control unit controlling threads within the clothing based on the heat prediction to actively adjust properties of the clothing.

A nursing cover for a user, the nursing cover including a closed loop band having a front portion and a top opening through which the user is allowed to penetrate and a plurality of flexible boning supports disposed on the front portion. The plurality of flexible boning supports provides structural integrity while the user nurses an infant underneath the front portion to prevent the nursing cover from interfering with the infant being nursed by the user, to allow better circulation of airflow for the infant underneath the nursing cover and to provide a better line of sight for the nursing mother to view her infant underneath the nursing cover.

A system and method for identifying areas of a processing plant in which a glove is damaged. The system includes utilizing color-coded sets of gloves in different areas or processing steps within the plant. All the gloves used in a particular plant are provided with a unique identifier. If a piece of a glove is located in the product within the plant, the color of that piece indicates the area or process of the plant in which the glove was used. If a piece of a damaged glove is located in the product at a remote destination, the unique identifier in that piece is matched with a registry to determine the plant in which the glove was used. The color of the piece then helps the plant to identify where the damaged glove was used. The system and method are particularly helpful in the food processing industry, especially meat processing.

A head guard is provided which has a fabric layer and a padding layer. The padding layer can be attached to the fabric layer. The head guard is stretchable between a relaxed configuration and an expanded configuration. The expanding configuration has a convex shape such that it can conform to a head of a wearer. The head guard can be worn by a wearer in combination with a helmet.

An integral helmet, in particular a so-called full-face helmet, that is preferably designed with a shell construction, comprising a helmet upper-shell unit with an integrated neck unit and a chin protection unit with a jaw clamp, wherein the chin protection unit is detachably connectable to the helmet upper-shell unit so as to form the integral helmet, wherein the chin protection unit is designed for connection to the neck unit as an open chin bar unit with end areas that are separated from one another at a distance so that, in the assembled state, the end areas form a completely closed unit together with the neck unit. Also, a method for connecting and/or disconnecting, without the use of tools, a chin protection unit having a jaw clamp to, or from, a helmet upper-shell unit having an integrated neck unit, so as to form an integral helmet, in particular an integral helmet.

A protective glove including a cable joined with a spool that is joined with the glove. At least one protective pad can be joined with the hand portion to protect the cable and a wearer's hand. The spool can include a rotatable dial to wind and/or unwind the cable onto or off from the spool to increase and/or decrease the tension applied to the cable. In turn, this adjusts at least one of a lateral dimension and a longitudinal dimension of the hand portion of the glove to custom fit the wearer's hand.

Provided is a shirt garment,—a short-sleeved, or long-sleeved, waist-length, hip-length, or tunic-length—shirt, which is made of material that is a relatively non-absorbent or hydrophobic substance able to wick perspiration off of the wearer's body, and which also contains an integrated section on the front of the shirt, and at the bottom one-third, to bottom one-half of the front of the shirt, but which may extend beyond this region, which is made of a relatively absorbent or hydrophilic substance, which, when grasped by the wearer, and lifted upward by the wearer and towards the wearer's face, is capable of wiping off the sweat from the wearer's face, eyes, eyebrows, and forehead, thereby absorbing sweat from this area, all the while the wearer continues to engage in his or her physical activity. In a second scenario, and using these same principles, the absorbent layer is detachable, and while detached, is used by the wearer to wipe sweat away from the wearer's face, brow and neck. It is then re-attached all the while the wearer continues to pursue the physical activity.

A swimsuit (1) has an outer shell (2) made of a flexible stretchable fabric and forms a tubular trunk portion (6) and two tubular thigh portions (7), the swimsuit (1) comprising two back stiffening lines (8) continuously connected to the outer shell (2) and extending each in a generally longitudinal direction of a one of the thigh portions (7) from a rear region (9) of the thigh portion (7) across a rear region of the trunk portion (6), in which said back stiffening lines (8) have a tensile stiffness greater than a tensile stiffness of said outer shell (2).

Clothing articles (e.g., aquatic “board” shorts) are generally comprised of at least one unitary woven fabric panel having multiple seamlessly adjacent different fabric weave sections. These seamlessly adjacent different fabric weave sections may be selected from plain fabric weaves, twill fabric weaves and/or Dobby fabric weaves. Aquatic activity shorts are provided which include a one piece rear fabric panel providing a seamless back rise.

Articles of apparel include: (a) a garment structure having one or more fabric elements structured and arranged to provide a close fit to at least one predetermined portion of a body (e.g., area(s) of the body for which enhanced position sensing and/or feedback are desired, such as the lower back, the arch of the foot, etc.); and (b) a body position feedback system engaged with or integrally formed as part of the garment structure. The body position feedback system may apply higher tensile or constricting forces to selected portions of the wearer's body, which can help stimulate or interact with nerves and deep tissue receptors located in various portions of the body. The increased forces at selected locations of the body give the wearer sensory feedback regarding the position or orientation of these parts of the body and can improve or accelerate development of “muscle memory.”

A garment worn on the upper body is disclosed having a right and left body portions that are joined at the front and rear by a corresponding fastening mechanism. This allows the right body portion and left body portion to separated from one another and interchanged with other body portions to vary the visual characteristics of the garment. The right and left body portions can have different visual characteristics.

A batting glove or sports glove includes a glove base configured to accommodate a users hand. In some embodiments, the glove base has an opening in a palmar region of the glove. Multiple palmar layers are attached to the glove base and positioned over the opening. In some embodiments, the palmar layers include a first layer of material positioned between a second layer of material and a third layer of material. The first layer of material has a lower coefficient of friction than one or both of the second and third layers of material such that the layers may slide relative to one another.

The present invention provides color-coded accessories such as wristbands, bibs, and other patient wearables, color-coded pillows and pillow cases, and a universal chart wherein the color code is associated with a specific medical diagnosis. These accessories alert healthcare providers to the medical diagnosis of the patient and enhance patient safety by reducing medical errors during administration of treatments and medicines to the patients. These accessories also provide protection to healthcare providers assisting them to identify diagnostic categories and alerting them to take proper precautions with patients, for example those with infectious diseases, thereby decreasing or preventing transmission of infectious diseases.

The invention relates to an absorbent garment inlay configured for attachment within an underarm portion of a shirt. The inlay includes an inner layer having a wicking material, configured to wick moisture therethrough, and an outer layer having an absorbent material. The outer layer is configured to absorb moisture wicked through the inner layer.

For a hairdressing cape, a round opening is formed at the center of an upper region of at least a front cloth and a back cloth, and a collar portion with an overlapping portion is formed which is sewn to a peripheral edge of the round opening by folding an edge portion. A clasp is mounted to an inner end portion at one side of the overlapping portion of the collar portion, and a ladder tape is mounted from near an end portion at the other side of the collar portion to an upper region of the back cloth. By making the clasp be caught and fastened in an arbitrary position of the ladder tape, the overlapping portion of the collar portion is fastened.

A fabric having moisture management properties is disclosed. The fabric can also be made to be fire resistant. The fabric is particularly well suited for being used as an inner lining in protective garments. The fabric contains first yarns and second yarns. The first yarns extend in a first direction and the second yarns extend in the second direction. The yarns are woven together such that the first yarns form a pattern of shapes. The pattern of shapes concentrate the FR cellulose fibers and provide channels for carrying away moisture and improving the moisture management properties of the fabric.

A mobile protection device for shielding parts of a person's body from bullets and other attack objects, comprising a normal hat, having a top and a sidewall, and at least one bullet-blocking plate, shaped to fit inside the hat and attachable to the top. Preferably the device further comprises a blast-resistant layer, lining the inner surface of the top of the hat and its sidewall, and a reinforcing layer, attached to the inner surface of the sidewall and designed to absorb momentum of a hitting bullet. Generally there is a plurality of plates, pivotally joined to form a shield while the plates are coplanar and foldable to be reversibly attachable to the top, the shield being reversibly attachable to a brim of the hat.

The invention relates to a protective clothing unit, in particular a protective clothing unit having fragment protection, preferably having a protective function against fragments created and/or released by detonation and/or explosion, comprising outerwear and/or underwear and possibly comprising separate head and/or face protection, neck protection, shoulder protection, arm protection, hand protection, trunk protection, torso protection, genital and/or anal protection, and/or leg protection, wherein the protective clothing unit has fragment protection elements, preferably textile fragment protection elements, which are specific and different from each other and which are associated with different body regions when worn and/or cover different body regions when worn, preferably having a protective function against fragments created and/or released by detonation and/or explosion.

An apparatus includes a bathrobe having a vertically-extending placket extending along a front section of the bathrobe, and the vertically-extending placket is configured to allow the bathrobe to be put on or removed by a user. An elongated towel assembly is fixedly coupled to the bathrobe. The elongated towel assembly vertically hangs from and extends along any one of (A) a left-side vertically extending portion, (B) a right-side vertically extending portion, and (C) the left-side vertically extending portion and the right-side vertically extending portion of the bathrobe in such a way that the vertically-extending placket is available for usage by the user.

The invention is a glove having a palmar side panel and a dorsal side panel and a thumb stall and a plurality of finger stalls for receiving a thumb and fingers of a human hand. The invention further includes a finger or thumb stall having a transverse expansion zone and/or a longitudinal expansion zone comprised of expandable material for accommodating fingers of varying sizes.

A device with a stationary portion and a rotatable portion, wherein the rotatable portion is lifted to form a substantially L-shaped bracket. Device is configured to be disposed on the forehead of the wearer, preferably coupled with protective headgear. When the rotatable portion is lifted, the bracket is configured for receiving an edge of eyewear. When the eyewear is pulled upward and back due to forces exerted by straps disposed around a user's head, the bracket exerts an equal and opposite force on the edge of the eyewear, holding the eyewear in place. Bracket may include grips for easier use in inclement weather or when the user's hands are otherwise encumbered.

A mask coupling apparatus coupled to an outer surface of a helmet and couplings of a mask including an adjusting mechanism comprising a single elastic strap coupled to the mask at both ends via the couplings, where the ends of the elastic strap are free to adjust the length of the mask coupling apparatus.

A device to aid in the stabilization and preparation of food while protecting the user's fingers.

A batting pad comprising a body made from a cushioning material and having a ring portion adapted to fit over a batter's thumb and an appendage to cushion the palm area between a batter's thumb and index finger. The appendage has a thickness T at its thickest point located between the first end and the distant end, and the thickness T of the appendage is selected to optimize an angle of a bat in the batter's hand relative to a line parallel to the batter's forearm, the angle being determined by the thickness T of the appendage displacing the bat toward the tip of the batter's index finger and causing the bat to contact the palm of the batter's hand near the batter's little finger.

An article having an inner article layer and an outer article layer to be worn by a mammal comprising a thermally insulating layer of a reflective metalized polymeric insulation material having moisture vapour transference properties adjacent to at least one of the inner and outer article layers. An apparatus and method for producing a reflective metalized polymeric thermally insulating assembly having moisture vapour transference properties suitable for use in the article is also provided. The insulation material provides enhanced thermal retention.

“I am not a number. I am a free man!” I’m afraid not, you’re a number… when it comes to credit scoring anyway. The famous cry for help of the eponymous Prisoner from the cult 1960s TV show of the 1960, could have been written for today’s world of mass computer assessed finance.

An article may include a first polymeric material layer having a surface. A first conductive trace may form at least a portion of the first layer surface. The article may further include a second polymeric material layer. The second layer may have a first surface, a portion of the second layer first surface being bonded to a portion of the first layer surface. The second layer may have a portion of a channel defined therein, the channel at least partially coinciding with a portion of the first conductive trace. The article may also include a first patch interposed between the first layer surface and the second layer first surface. The first patch may span the channel and cover a portion of the first conductive trace.

The invention described herein is a self-cleaning footwear system comprising a sole, where a plurality of check valves are located within said sole. The plurality of check valves are preferably configured between an upper sole and a lower sole to allow debris to flow downwards but not upwards. The plurality of check valves preferably further comprise flap assemblies, where a length of flexible material preferably further comprises a semi-circular flap on one end. The flexible material is preferably a rubber-type material. The sole could be attached to normal footwear, as shown in a sandal. Alternately, the sole could be attached to any type of footwear.

A stretchable animal foot covering comprising an elongated body with a foot-receiving chamber on opposite ends of the elongated body that is formed from stretchable material that is at least partially closed at the ends to form the foot-receiving chambers.

A rigid foot orthotic for walking or running. The orthotic is designed to bend slightly at the heel and near the toes—or the front and back portions of a person's step. The middle guides the ankles slightly outward but gently guides the inner foot down to the toe for the “push off” or forward motion of the step.

A shoe having a bio foot pad, including a plurality of circumferential elastic fibers surrounded by a viscoelastic material; wherein said fibers impart a biphasic characteristic to said viscoelastic material; and wherein said fibers under compression develop a plurality of hoop stresses to facilitate load conversion and distribution of axial forces exerted against a heel area of a user.