The Broad Brush: Your news in 60 seconds

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Broad Brush, your two-sentence news review. Here’s what happened this week.

Local environmentalists fear changes Alameda Municipal Power – which bills itself as “the greenest little utility in America” – plans to make to its solar program could bring an end to new solar installations on the Island. A final proposal for the new solar program, which could for the short term create tiered service for solar customers, could come before the Public Utilities Board in May.

The federal government plans to sue the state to reclaim ownership of a road that a developer who purchased federal property nearby needs to rekindle its home building plans, according to a letter obtained Monday by The Alamedan. In the letter, an official said the federal government was required to sell the property at auction to recoup its costs for downsizing the federal agency that had occupied it, and that this trumped the state and park district’s desire to obtain the land.

Readers had questions about the cash and land swap deal approved by the City Council, Board of Education and Housing Authority Board of Commissioners; here’s our FAQ.

A plan to use city money and borrowed funds to build a new Fire Station 3 was unveiled before the City Council on Tuesday night. More than half of the $5 million cost of a new fire station could come in the form of a loan from a bank that provides low cost loans to public agencies. We’ve got more from Tuesday’s meeting in this tweet by tweet.

Alameda’s ferry commuters will soon have more Main Street departures to choose from. A new weekday ferry scheduled set to take effect on April 28 shows additional ferry runs to and from San Francisco, and ferry officials …read more

Source: Alameda News From The Alamedan