As we pass Monday’s 67th anniversary of the U.S.’s dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, let us renew our commitment to work for peace in our world. More than 220,000 Japanese people were killed and gravely injured by the atomic bomb blasts in Hiroshima and later Nagasaki. Many others suffered cancers caused by the radiation fallout. Read More

As a former Bay Area resident, I read with interest your coverage of the Board of Supervisors’ decision to send a gross receipts tax to the November ballot in place of the existing 1.5 percent business payroll tax (“Business tax reform compromise set for ballot,” July, 31). No doubt the payroll tax harms hiring and business growth, but I must warn my former neighbors that replacing it with a gross receipts tax is exchanging a bad tax for a worse one. Read More

As a biologist studying sharks and a leader in the shark conservation movement, I can cite numerous studies countering the attorney for Chinatown Neighborhood Association and Asian Americans for Political Advancement’s claims that shark populations are exploding (“Editorial had facts wrong on shark fins,” Letters, July 26). Although some populations off the U.S. coastline are recovering after being overfished, in general shark populations are crashing worldwide. Read More

I am shocked and concerned over your completely unfair editorial (“Soup ban about overfishing, not culture attack.” July 24). Both you and Gov. Jerry Brown seem to have swallowed hook, line and sinker the untruth and distortion put forth by AB 376’s sponsors concerning the need for a shark fin ban. In fact, the reality is that virtually all experts in the field agree that there is no need for such a ban because federal law since 2000 has made shark finning illegal. Read More