Caltrans just faxed the following info re: northbound I-238, which will be closed between I-880 and I-580 beginning midnight and until 4 a.m. Tuesday.

Detours for motorists traveling westbound on I-580 will exit at Strobridge Avenue; turn left onto Castro Valley Boulevard, heading west, make a right onto Mission Boulevard and heading north, turn left onto Lewelling to access I-880. Signs will also be in place to guide motorists to the detours.

Caltrans: The closure is necessary so contractors can install bridge joint seals on the several bridges along I-238. Motorists should expect minor delays and proceed with caution through construction work zones.

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for the Hayward area, meaning that nuisance flooding could occur. Not nearly as extreme as a flash flood watch. Regardless, we went down to take a look at San Lorenzo Creek in a number of spots and found it flowing rather rapidly.

Here it is near Foothill Boulevard and City Center Drive.

Here it is at the Grove Street Bridge.

Here it is behind the Meek Mansion.

Want to know how your surrounding area would fare in a 100-year-flood? Here’s a FEMA site where you can punch in your address and get an overview.

And here’s a Daily Review from the mid-1950s, before the San Lorenzo Creek was calmed by dams and culverts.

Let us know if you are aware of any particularly flood prone areas in the greater Hayward area that we should be keeping an eye on.

Speaking of Phil Long, the Castro Valley artist who made the Oakland police tribute in this year’s Day of the Dead exhibit, here’s a really neat video of him making his first such work out of leather. It honors his father, who was murdered off the coast of Mexico while trying to sail to Ireland. Long said it took more than 500 hours of cutting, gluing and stitching to make the piece.

There’s a baby two-headed snake down at the Reptile Room, 1223 A St. It’s on display for the curious public at least until this Saturday, when the owner expects a potential buyer from SoCal to come and take a gander. He says more than a hundred people have come by to check it out, and it’s worth it — there hasn’t been such a thing around these parts since a double-headed specimen at the California Academy of Sciences died some years back after a long run of freaking out field-trip kids.

THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: Motion failed 2-to-3 in an overflow meeting that involved a lot of heat, not just from audience members but between board members as well. Here’s our early version of the story, we will have a longer piece in tomorrow’s paper. A motion to approve a modified six-period schedule passed, although the HEA is challenging the validity of that schedule because it wasn’t bargained.

The Hayward Unified School District meeting on Wednesday is sure to produce some feelings of deja vu, as the board is slated to again address the high school block schedule. While the board voted in February to nix the schedule to save money, board member Luis Reynoso changed his mind and is bringing it back.

What do you think about Reynoso’s decision to revisit the issue? Is it a chance for a needed reprieve for a well-liked system, or is it time to accept the change as a budget-cutting casualty and move on?

Margarita Lacabe, whose husband is San Leandro school board President Mike Katz-Lacabe, wants sacred music to be removed from elementary school music studies or school programs. We’ve been getting lots of letters and calls. Sound off here.

The future of San Leandro Hospital is under consideration, and drop-in, urgent care centers are proposed as alternatives to full-service hospitals. What’s your opinion?

A parent apparently frustrated over an incident at Castro Valley High School that involved a lesbian guest speaker somehow managed to get a list of many school parents’ e-mails. The parent sent the following message in an e-mail:
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Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of schools, brought up the Hayward Unified School District in his annual State of Education address yesterday. He used the district as an example of how bad things are, financially speaking. Specifically, O’Connell pointed out that the district is considering eliminating the class-size reduction program and cutting 170 positions.

A dubious honor to be singled out, but at least we know he’s paying attention to HUSD. But lest we think we’re special:

“I hear these kind of stories all over the state,” he said. “As painful as these mid-year cuts are, we can expect worse over the next two years.”

The Hayward school board will vote on cuts at its next meeting, Feb. 11.

… but for a bit of a polar opposite, a somnambulist died of exposure in another Hayward, where wind chills are expected to bring the temp down to 50 below zero. According to the story, “Flesh can freeze in 10 minutes when the wind chill is 40 below or colder, the weather service noted.”

Around these parts, it’s expected to remain more than 100 degrees warmer than that, for the time being.