News Pix: Government Shutdown Kills Bay Area Fun; California Health Exchange Kicks Off

Pedestrians on San Francisco’s Russian Hill earlier this week, with Alcatraz in the distance. The former prison island, now a popular National Park Service destination, was one of many tourist sites across the country put off-limits by the government shutdown. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The government shutdown came to Fort Funston, in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, on Thursday. Some dog walkers entered the area using nearby trails, but the main parking lot was locked and off-limits. (Tom Prete/Ocean Beach Bulletin)

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee speaks to advocates and reporters in San Francisco Tuesday morning at the opening of the Covered California health exchange. “While Washington is talking about shutdown, we’re talking about startup,” said Lee, as he declared an end to the era of a punishing individual insurance market. (Angela Hart/KQED)

Brad Stevens has been uninsured for the past 30 years. He took care of himself and didn’t think too much about the various health care debates that have consumed the nation during those decades. Because of the health care law, Stevens will now qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, the federal program for low-income families and individuals. Before the health law, Medi-Cal was available only to children, pregnant women and the disabled. Now all low-income people in states that are expanding Medicaid will qualify. Stevens earns less than $15,000 a year in his struggling massage business. (Sarah Varney/Kaiser Health News)

Housing and tenant rights advocates say evictions are happening all over the city at an alarming rate and it’s driving some LGBT people into homelessness. The city’s most recent homeless count found that 29 percent are LGBT, and 9 percent said they were homeless because of an eviction. Tim Oviatt was forced to live in his car for more than eight months. A recent report by the city’s budget analyst found that the highest rates of no-fault evictions in the city were in the Castro and Bernal Heights. (Myleen Hollero/KQED)

Surfers and friends gathered at the north end of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, in the area known as Kelly’s Cove, Saturday, Sept. 28, for the ninth annual Kelly’s Cove Reunion and Memorial. Many at the reunion surfed Ocean Beach in the 1950s and ’60s, or even earlier, while others are the children of Ocean Beach surfing pioneers. (Tom Prete/Ocean Beach Bulletin)

For military veterans struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), medication and counseling can be a first line of defense. But now research by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and others is showing that relief for PTSD symptoms like depression, anxiety and anger can be found in the ancient practice of meditation. Simply slowing down the mind and carefully breathing can help — and that’s exactly the goal of Honoring the Path of the Warrior, a program sponsored by the San Francisco Zen Center. Ardrina Hoxey, who served in the Navy for over a decade was diagnosed with PTSD after leaving the service. She says that the program helped her find a sense of tranquility and peace. (Suzie Racho/KQED)

Kara Wong peruses the pear selection at K and J Orchards stand at the California Avenue Farmers’ Market in Palo Alto last Sunday. The stand is run by wife-and-husband team Kalayada and James, who have been working the same farm for over 17 years. (Chrissy Jones/Peninsula Press)

Debris lies piled in the street in front of a house on 18th Avenue in San Francisco’s Sunset District, where a man and his year-old daughter died in a house fire early on Sept. 27. Rescue efforts were hampered by an incorrect address reported to fire fighters and a metal security gate at the home. (Tom Prete/Ocean Beach Bulletin)