SAN FRANCISCO -- Calling a proposed oil pipeline across the nation's midsection a threat to public health in California, more than 1,000 nurses streamed across the Golden Gate Bridge on Thursday to urge that President Obama block its construction. It might not have seemed like an obvious target for nurses who had gathered for a convention in San Francisco, but the protesters - clad in red scrubs - said the connection between health problems and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline was real. The proposed 1,700-mile-long pipeline, which would carry oil from the tar sands oil fields in Canada to refineries in Texas, is a public health risk to all, even those a thousand miles away in San Francisco, said members of the group National Nurses United.

As both a mom and a nurse, Katy Roemer worries about the health risks posed by the Keystone XL pipeline -- from the chemicals leaching into waterways where the tar sands oil is extracted, to toxins spewing from stacks where the resource is refined. "We are already seeing people in our communities facing record levels of asthma and other impacts from pollution," said Roemer, who works at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., and lives near refineries already processing the heavy, molasses-like Canadian oil. "The pipeline has the potential to exacerbate those impacts, and the impacts of global warming," she added.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday challenged his allies in the nation's largest nurses union to look beyond their own immediate concerns and help organize a movement to address global climate change. The Democratic governor enjoyed an enthusiastic reception from a packed room of nurses wearing red shirts at the National Nurses United conference in San Francisco. The union was a strong supporter of Brown in his 2010 gubernatorial race and helped him win voter support for his initiative raising the state's sales and income taxes last year. "You're a hell of a lot more radical, and forward and progressive than I am," the governor said. "I can't push you. You got to push me, but together we'll push our country to a much better place."

CASTRO VALLEY -- Hopes that San Leandro Hospital will remain open as an acute care facility got a little brighter Wednesday night, with the Eden Township Healthcare District board of directors pledging up to $20 million in support. Eden, a grant-giving public agency without a hospital, had been petitioned for hefty financial support by various officials, a tall order given Eden's strapped budget, Eden officials have said. Still, on a 3-1 vote with one abstention, the district approved a motion to direct staff to "work collaboratively with Alameda Health System and the Alameda County Health Department to raise $20 million to support the second year of operation of San Leandro Hospital."

On Thursday, San Francisco billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is launching a new online campaign Thursday in Washington, D.C. to turn up the heat on his friend President Obama to do more to take on climate change — starting with urging him again to oppose the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Called “We Love Our Land,” it will run at least 10 weeks and be based largely on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and later, Change.org. If some street demonstrations grow out of this, fine, organizers said, but that’s not the point. It is an argument aimed squarely at Obama supporters who are disappointed that he hasn’t done more on climate change.

Nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital represented by the California Nurses Association have approved a labor agreement with St. Joseph Health, which runs the hospital, the union said. The deal gives nurses pay raises of 2 percent a year for three years but also reduces their stand-by pay, a St. Joseph's official said. The CNA represents about about 170 nurses at Petaluma Valley Hospital. The union contract also was approved by more than 900 union nurses at two other St. Joseph hospitals, St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley.

APPLE VALLEY • After more than six months of negotiations, registered nurses at St. Joseph, St. Mary ratified a new collective bargaining agreement Wednesday, according to a news release from the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United. Local nurses joined others at the Eureka and Petaluma locations in the St. Joseph Health system in ratifying the deal after a preliminary agreement was reached earlier this month. “We are extremely pleased that the bargaining teams for the CNA union and our hospital have reached agreement on a new contract with our valued nurses,” said St. Joseph Health, St. Mary spokesman Randy Bevilacqua in a written statement after the preliminary deal. “As always, the focus of our clinical teams continues to be on providing high-quality, safe, compassionate care and service to our patients at all times.”