The Governor: Gov. stumps for propositions in Marina + Shriver stays mum on Nov. 8 election (CCT) So, will she or won't she? One of the state's most prominent Democrats, first lady Maria Shriver, has been noticeably mum this year as her husband, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, pushes a controversial Nov. 8 special election and four "top props" that are anathema to many Democrats.
Special election: Daniel Weintraub: Prop. 76 would tweak school spending formulas (SBee) It was probably inevitable that the debate over Proposition 76 on the Nov. 8 ballot would come down to the measure's effect on public schools. While the proposition seeks to do a lot of other important things, schools are what sells, so the people trying to stop the initiative were always going to focus on that issue down the stretch + Other view: Yes on Prop. 78 (SBee) On their surface, the two prescription drug initiatives on the special election ballot, Propositions 78 and 79, would seem to be similar. There are, however, critical differences between these two measures that make Proposition 78 the clear choice for enacting a real drug discount program to help millions of Californians + Prop. 77 inspires odd alliances (SJM) Support opposition are both bipartisan. Gov. stumped for his redistricting measure in San Jose on Monday, touting a concept he hopes has an intrinsic appeal: Allowing presumably neutral judges to draw political boundaries instead of entrenched lawmakers + 2 Drug Discount Measures in a Duel
Prosper runs for attorney general post (SBee) A former Bush administration official has taken out papers to challenge state Sen. Charles Poochigian for the Republican nomination for state attorney general, a spokeswoman for the new candidate said Monday.
Lungren raises double what Matsui pulls in (SBee) Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, was the Sacramento area's lead fundraiser over the past three months, raising more than twice what Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, took in during the same period
Dan Walters: If economy slows, chronic state deficits could become full crisis (SBee) California has been unable to balance its state budget for five years, running up tens of billions of dollars in official and unofficial debt to cover its deficits
First for CalPERS: Runoff required (SBee) Longtime trustee Charles Valdes fell a hair short of winning a sixth term on the board of the mammoth California Public Employees' Retirement System, triggering the fund's first runoff election.
Health firms' high pay plan is under fire (SBee) Accusing health-care executives of "fleecing the share owners," trustees of the California Public Employees' Retirement System on Monday urged PacifiCare Health Systems and UnitedHealth Group to rework an executive pay plan before moving forward with their proposed $8.1 billion merger
Deadly truck crashes on the rise in California
FPPC Quits 225 Cases
O.C. Official Gets State Public Health Post
Indian tribes: A campus and a culture--Sole tribal college in state battles for survival + Fresno: Tribe takes casino plans to Board of Supervisors + San Manuel head takes aim at Hesperia, Barstow casinos + Poll Shows Residents Don't Want Casino along Highway 99
HOW LOW
THE LAW GOES....
CALIFORNIA BREAKING LAW NEWS...
Trial Date Set for Terror Group Operating Out of Prisons
Pamela Vitale murder case: (AP) Only Questions in Murder of Attorney's Wife + (Contra Costa Times Reg) Vitale badly beaten + (OakTrib Reg) Horowitz's clients some of society's most despicable + (SFC) Husband says slain wife 'fought like hell' for life. Sheriff's investigators interview 'dozens of people,' rule out no one as a suspect + (SJM) TV legal analyst thrust into high-profile mystery + (NBC 11) Many Had Access To Horowitz Property
Suit over nuclear waste site. States, groups want dump shut until terror risk studied (SFC) Anti-nuclear and environmental activists, backed by California and three other states, asked a federal appeals court on Monday to shut down a new storage facility for nuclear waste at Pacific Gas and Electric's Diablo Canyon plant
Attorneys to argue over Laci’s insurance (SFEx) Almost a year after Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Laci and unborn son, his attorney and his former mother-in-law’s attorney will be back in court arguing over money
Lawyers file suit to demand visas for immigrant crime victims
Sacramento & north: Sacramento: Detectives Look For Other Gamblers In Christie Wilson Case + Man questioned in disappearance has crime record (SBee) Alameda County records show that an Auburn man - described as a "person of interest" in the Oct. 5 disappearance of a Sacramento woman - was arrested on felony charges of rape and battery in 1979 + Officials name capital homicide victim (SBee) The woman who apparently was killed by her boyfriend in a murder-suicide Sunday has been identified as Sacramento resident Xochitl Miriam Martinez + Chico Man Dead After Tangling with Police + Oroville: Drugged driver gets two years for crash + Oroville: Siblings get prison for mother's killing
San Francisco, San Mateo: BALCO founder Conte gets eight months + SF: Officer hurt being dragged by car carrying suspect (SFC) A San Francisco police officer suffered minor injuries Monday when he was dragged a short distance by a car carrying a fleeing suspect who was involved in a fistfight on Market Street
Alameda: Oakland man slain in home (OakTrib) A man who dreamed of a music career was fatally shot early Monday in his West Oakland home, where three other people, including his 13-year-old son, were wounded, police said + Judge rules city legally closed store (OakTrib) An Alameda County Superior Court judge has dismissed a $1 million lawsuit filed by the owner of Al's Liquors against the city of Oakland, ruling officials properly shut it down + Pleasanton: Innocent plea (OakTrib) A Hayward man pleaded innocent Monday to charges he slept with a 15-year-old Pleasanton girl and forced another to prostitute herself + Union City: Police nab four in rash of robberies (Argus) Three men and a teenage boy were arrested Monday morning in connection with a series of violent robberies that have occurred in the Tri-City area since the end of August + Testimony a blow to defense (Argus) A Newark man admitted he shot and killed a San Leandro police officer because he feared the officer would find two guns he was carrying, a female friend testified Monday + Oakland: 4 shot — 1 dead — inside home (SFC) Four people were shot, one fatally, in a West Oakland residence overnight, police said Monday. The shootings occurred about 12:15 a.m. on the 1460 block of 34th Street
Santa Clara: Trial for drug agent accused of killing set to start (SJM) For the first time in California history, a Department of Justice drug agent will go on trial this week in San Jose for killing someone in the line of duty -- a case that could pit local police against state narcotics agents + Police looking into fatal fall (SJM) San Mateo County sheriff's detectives are looking for witnesses to shed light on how a woman fell to her death Sunday from a steep cliff off Highway 1 near San Gregorio Beach, south of Half Moon Bay + Town police to get Tasers (SJM) On a unanimous vote, the Los Gatos Town Council on Monday approved the purchase of 41 electro-muscular disruption devices -- better known as Taser stun guns -- for the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Police Department
Marin: Man held in attack on 11 cars in Sausalito (MIJ) Richard Grem was arrested shortly before 3 p.m., when police received a report of a man breaking out car windows in the City Hall parking lot at 420 Litho St
Sonoma: Petaluma: Officers who shot molestation suspect 27 times return to work + Sheriff's official quits amid allegations (SRPD) Sonoma County Assistant Sheriff Mike Costa has resigned amid what sources described as allegations of sexual harassment involving a female jail employee
Napa: Scum bags who testified against the Beer Lady
Solano: Mare Island: Owner suspicious of fire's origin + Inmates take on program to provide kitten foster care + Man facing murder charges has court date set + Victim of Saturday night crash identified + Vallejo Police Calls + Benicia Police Calls
Monterey: Man says he followed Mooren + Sex offender arrested + Man shot many times in legs by stranger
Central Valley: No bail decision made yet for Umer Hayat + Lodi dentist arrested again + Opening statements expected in Jenna Simons murder case (Tri-Valley) Stockton: Opening arguments are scheduled to begin this afternoon in the case of Michael Simons, the accused triggerman in the October 2002 shotgun death of Livermore teen Jenna Simons + Stockton woman, 19, faces charges in infant son's death (SFC) 19-year-old Stockton woman is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon on charges that she killed her newborn son + Autopsy set in Madera County 'homicide' case + Hearing begins for man accused in 6 rapes (MBee) A last-minute decision to stop at a south Modesto doughnut shop to get some orange juice began a night of terror for a woman who testified Monday in Stanislaus County Superior Court
Central Coast: Santa Cruz County sued over polling place access (SJM) California sued Santa Cruz County on Monday over what it says are polling places inaccessible to the disabled -- with stairs, steep ramps, poor lighting, inadequate railings and insufficient handicapped parking, to name just some of the problems cited in the suit
Southern California: Blake testifies there may have been witnesses to key alibi moment + Slain Wife's Letter Used to Aid Robert Blake's Defense in Lawsuit + San Fernando Valley: Sexual Assault of Winnetka Girl Resembles 2001 Crime, Police Say + Judge Suspends Drug Sentence for Actor Sizemore + Vista: Trial begins for accused cop killer + Local Kurds sue Saddam Hussein, 'Chemical Ali' in San Diego federal court + San Diego: Man arrested in infant death case
LOCAL NEWS: Toxic algae found in Delta (CCT) A highly toxic algae is now growing in the Delta, a drinking water source for 23 million Californians Scientists and health officials are studying the potentially carcinogenic algae -- the first toxic algae ever recorded in the Delta -- to determine whether it poses a serious threat to human health and to determine if it plays a role in the Delta's ongoing ecosystem crash + Court ruling says delta water plan flawed. Court says program for exports relied on inadequate data (SFC) A recent state court ruling could derail a program that would allow greater water exports from the delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers to Southern California farms and cities
Sacramento & north: Editorial: A parkway wig (SBee) In her ruling Monday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher has stymied the county's sad tradition of allowing big new homes too close to the American River bluff. The river has scored an important victory + In play: A cheaper plan to bolster Folsom Dam (SBee) A plan to add a second spillway to Folsom Dam drew cautious optimism Monday on Capitol Hill, where Sacramento flood control always is politically touchy + A watershed deal (SBee) Like theater-goers queuing up at the doors on opening night, chinook salmon are gathering at the mouth of the Cosumnes River in the Delta for their journey home + Rail riders fill Folsom extension (SBee) It was an urban mass-transit moment seldom if ever seen before in Sacramento: light-rail trains so packed that late-arriving boarders had to stand, holding overhead straps + Heavy equipment use sparks blaze north of Chico + Paradise: Gold Nugget Museum close to new lease + Princeton: Two workers die in rice silo accident
San Francisco, San Mateo: SF: Embarcadero plan moves to supes with iffy support (SFC) A San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee on Monday signaled that a recreation and retail project proposed for the Embarcadero may not get the political support it needs to be built. + SF: Fire chief rejects hydrant retrofit proposal. She prefers plan to hand out adapters during emergency (SFC) + San Francisco's fire chief flatly dismissed the idea Monday of retrofitting the city's 8,000 hydrants to be immediately accessible to out-of-city fire crews, saying she still prefers to pass out adapters SF: Meeting to discuss fires on Ocean Beach (SFC) The National Park Service is hosting a meeting tonight to get public comment on a proposed policy on fires at Ocean Beach, which could range from limits to a ban + SF: Area’s infrastructure graded a C-minus (SFC) Bay Area’s inner workings — its roads, sewer and water systems, parks, transit systems and bridges — received the less-than mediocre mark of C-minus on a report card issued Monday by an engineers + Waterfront project in troubled waters (SFEx) Financial health of proposal an issue. Backers of a hotly debated retail and sports complex proposed for the waterfront failed to prove its fiscal viability at a Board of Supervisors committee Monday, potentially placing it one step closer to being derailed + City fire chief proposes cheap fix for hydrants (SFEx) San Francisco’s fire chief on Monday questioned the need to spend $800,000 to permanently rig The City’s hydrants so they fit out-of-town hoses, suggesting a much cheaper plan could do the job + Assessor urges cash for reporting local tax cheats (SFEx) City residents and others could earn up to $500,000 by turning in tax evaders under a program proposed Monday by San Francisco Assessor Phil Ting + Hospital agreement inked (SFEx) Burlingame: The heads of the Mills-Peninsula Health Services and the Peninsula Health Care District linked arms Monday as they drank champagne and signed their “marriage contract”: an agreement to build a new hospital
Alameda: Berkeley cancels Veterans Day event (CCT) Berkeley's Veterans Day ceremony scheduled for Nov. 11 was abruptly canceled Monday because the volunteer organizing committee split over the political content + Neighbors aren't standing idle on diesel pollution (OakTrib) Wafaa Aborashed's San Leandro neighborhood shares a wall with Costco superstore, but that wall can't keep out the pollution from idling diesel delivery trucks that wafts across her yard from dawn + Livermore winery loses 'lots' in fire (Argus) Fenestra Winery of Livermore lost nearly 5,000 cases of wine in last week's large warehouse fire in Vallejo + Council to consider park plans (Tri-Valley) Dublin City Council will discuss several ongoing projects when it meets tonight, including the proposed recreation and aquatics complex at Emerald Glen Park and the planned Dublin
Santa Clara: Glitch taints glitz at City Hall (SJM) San Jose spent millions on all the latest technological gadgetry for its new City Hall, but when it came time to cut the ribbon on the building Saturday morning, it was apparent city officials had come up $125 short + Contractors' ideas for a police station are all over the map (SJM) Where should Palo Alto build a new police facility and its prisoner lockup? How about in a park, or maybe on a site just a few dozen feet from the shops and restaurants of University Avenue? + Top officials' clash prompts inquiry in East Palo Alto (SJM)
The East Palo Alto City Council has hired outside attorneys to investigate complaints of retaliation and a ``hostile work environment'' made by the city's chief planner against its top administrator. East Palo Alto is likely to fork out thousands of dollars to those lawyers find out the truth + Statue honors Olympic protesters
Contra Costa: Danville: Century-old Podva house to be transformed (CCT) A careworn but lovely old historic home will be reincarnated as office-retail space and may also receive preservation incentives, dependent upon the town council's decision tonight + PG&E blames delay in Richmond on threats (CCT) An early Saturday morning power outage lasted more than 24 hours in one section of Richmond because someone threatened utility workers, forcing them to interrupt work as a precaution + SBC looks to clear path for Walnut Creek services (CCT) SBC's plan to install Project Lightspeed in Walnut Creek -- offering enhanced video, voice and high-speed Internet services -- is moving more at a snail's pace than at the speed of light + Library makeover faces hurdles. Building needs work, but bond measure may be too pricey (SFC) Every time librarian Cindy Britain wants to add a new book to the collection at Walnut Creek's downtown library, she has to give away an old one to make space
Marin: San Rafael condo project stalled again (MIJ) A 36-condominium development proposed in San Rafael suffered yet another delay last night when the City Council unanimously agreed the project requires a full environmental impact report because of the property's historical significance. The council supported a recommendation by City Attorney Gary Ragghianti, who said part of the development at 1203-1211 Lincoln Ave + Real estate boom slowing in Marin (MIJ) Mike Metcalfe, a general contractor who lives in Mill Valley, has been looking for an investment property in Novato for six months, attending dozens of open houses and touring 10 homes before putting in an offer on a fixer-upper Saturday. Metcalfe says the real estate market is changing. "I've noticed that homes are staying on the market longer and prices are coming down," he said + Death row to get a hearing (MIJ) State lawmakers will conduct a public hearing in Marin next week on the planned new death row at San Quentin State Prison. The hearing, before members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Oct. 26 in Room 330 of the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael, said Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael + Fund-raisers ask schools to detail plans for money (MIJ) Organizers of a successful concert fund-raiser to benefit Novato public schools say each of the district's 16 schools will get its fair share of the more than $100,000 raised. The first $70,000 is "guaranteed" to schools and will be distributed proportionally based on student enrollment, as was done in previous years, said district parent Doug Pickford, who is also finance commissioner of the California State PTA
Sonoma: Petaluma City workers stay home in benefits spat + SAT scores improving (SRPD) Sonoma County's college-bound seniors have steadily increased their scores for a key entrance exam over the past five years, outpacing the growth for surrounding counties and the state + City OKs police pay hikes (SRPD) The Petaluma City Council ratified a new labor agreement Monday that provides a 30 percent raise over three years for Petaluma police officers + Anatomy of a $100 million deal (SRPD) The three businessmen who sold land next to Rohnert Park for an Indian casino appear to have made a profit of $90 million, almost nine times what they paid for the property
Napa: Big garbage snafu when franchise turned over
Solano: Developer asks Suisun City for more time + Humphrey's return turns out to be ‘a whale tale' + Solano logs one of its cleanest smog years + Vallejo: High rise work OK'd + Benicia: Educators footing the breakfast bill + Vallejo schools move to put intervention programs in all grades + Local News Briefs + State senator to stop in Vallejo + Political Notes
Monterey: Otter 327 gets a taste of freedom, Elkhorn Slough + Gov. stumps for propositions in Marina + Lab boat named after librarian + Your Town
Central Valley: COG offers $2M loan to help jump-start Mexican airline at Stockton airport + Group wants more greenbelts surrounding Stockton + Stockton asked to curb urban sprawl + Church must pay rent to Manteca Unified + County targets dumpers (MBee) Through August of this year, Stanislaus County Honor Farm crews had picked up 3,033 discarded tires, 86 refrigerators and other appliances along the sides of rural roads and in residential alleys $76M MID plant to open in Ripon (MBee) Ripon: The Modesto Irrigation District's new $76.5 million "peaking" power plant here soon will begin final testing. It was about 75 percent complete Monday + Bay's water grab tough to swallow (MBee) San Francisco wants more water
Central Coast: Metro strike enters fourth week: Drivers, district to meet again today (SCS) Negotiations continue today between striking bus drivers and a transit district bargaining team after Monday’s session failed to result in a contract agreement + Family farm at heart of Watsonville annexation bid (SCS) Farmland will be lost with no guarantee that business will come.
Southern California: Phone service, including 911, out in several SoCal cities + Deal struck over luxury LA hotel plan + LA: Luxury Lofts Rising in Westside + Is a Busway the Valley Way? + S. Laguna Resort Revises Project + Mayor Brokers Hotel Deal + Controversial development proposed for SoCal's Salton Sea + San Bernardino: Officials differ on surplus land report + San Bernardino: Mayoral candidate Penman laughs in face of death threats + Fallbrook avocado farm ready for its close-up + Huntington Beach: Council Postpones Vote on Desalination Plant + San Diego County says it has refunded $480K in property taxes + San Diego won't pay for Murphy, councilmen's defense + San Diego: Pension board member resigns + Oceanside: Report: Millions needed to improve fire dept response times + Temecula: Most of the day laborers on Butterfield Stage have relocated, officials and neighbors say + Palm Springs: Planning Commission to vote on rezoning for new condo-apartment complex + Desert Hot Springs: City calls in FBI to help sort out its books
School days: School violence defies simple explanations + Teachers' union official visits schools in Chico + Tough race for board seats (SBee) Davis school board President B.J. Kline is unusual among the four candidates running for three seats on the Davis Board of Education this year + Palomar College firefighter program has doubled in size + Ex-Galt principal questioned over stadium rental + Vallejo schools move to put intervention programs in all grades + Fewer San Joaquin students college-bound + Antelope Valley: Pregnant Teens, Moms Back in Regular Classes