Bay Area briefs

Regulators: PG&E higher-ups aware of snooping

State news briefs

TITLEHOLDER OF LONGEST WITH BULLET IN HEAD DIES: TURLOCK (AP) - The man who holds the Guinness World Record for living the longest with a bullet in his head has died in Central California at age 103.

Parents sue school over cheating policy

REDWOOD CITY (AP) - The parents of a Northern California high school sophomore are suing the school district for kicking the teenager out of an honors class because he cheated. When he started classes at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, the boy signed an Academy Honesty Pledge warning him that cheating is grounds for immediate removal from the advanced-level English class. ...

Callenbach, 'Ecotopia' author, dies at 83

Zynga reports 1Q net loss, higher revenue

Federal judge files for bankruptcy

LOS ANGELES (AP) - U.S. District Judge Otis Wright has been on the federal bench only five years and now is facing bankruptcy because he's unable to pay his existing debts. While Wright and other district judges are making roughly $174,000 annually, they are being outpaced by many other federal employees who are earning more than $200,000 each year, according to statistics ...

Sanctuary says killer elephant still welcome

Poll shows slim majority favor governor's tax hike ballot plan

Yacht accident survivor wants more focus on safety

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A survivor of the fatal grounding of a racing yacht on rocky islands west of San Francisco is calling on the sailing community to make safety a higher priority. In a lengthy letter posted online Tuesday, Bryan Chong, 38, offered a detailed account of what happened the day the sailboat Low Speed Chase wrecked during an April 14 ...

Marines discharge sergeant for Facebook posts critical of President Obama policies

Ruling undermines measure blocking lawmakers' pay

State news briefs

PERSON DIES AFTER SUV DANGLES FROM FREEWAY: SAN DIEGO (AP) - Authorities say a woman has died after five people were rescued from a wrecked SUV as it dangled off the side of a San Diego freeway.

Jane Goodall named grand marshal of Rose Parade

PASADENA (AP) - Chimpanzee expert and conservationist Jane Goodall was named Wednesday as grand marshal of the 2013 Tournament of Roses. The honor was announced outside the tournament's stately mansion headquarters, where Goodall greeted well-wishers with the kind of chimpanzee call she said can be heard in Tanzania's Gombe National Park. Goodall, 78, said she was startled when ...

Fireball remnants likely in California.

Bay Area briefs

Firm: Bay Bridge bolts made to exact specs

OAKLAND (AP) - An executive with an Ohio manufacturer has said steel bolts used on a troubled new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge were made exactly to specifications. Experts have spent the past two months trying to determine why 32 of 96 bolts broke after they were tightened in March. A report released on May 7 by Caltrans suggests the bridge design team ordered a type of steel that under some conditions could ...

Sherman Oaks teen takes supermodel to prom

SANTA MONICA (AP) - A Southern California teen turned heads at his prom when he showed up with a Sports Illustrated model as his date. Nina Agdal agreed to step in as Jake Davidson's date Thursday night after he got turned down for prom by supermodel Kate Upton. The Sherman Oaks teen appeared in a YouTube video that was viewed more than 2.5 million times asking Upton to be his date. After Upton declined because ...

SoCal school's ex-PTA head charged with theft

JURUPA VALLEY (AP) - The former president of a local Southern California PTA has been charged with grand theft for allegedly stealing $20,000 raised from children's candy bar sales. Patricia Gledhill pleaded not guilty earlier this month to two felony counts. Gledhill was PTA president last year for Stone Avenue Elementary School in Jurupa (huh-ROO'-puh) Valley. According to court records, Gledhill told authorities she took fundraising money to pay for food, rent, and the cost ...

State news briefs

SHUTTLE IS MAJOR DRAW AT CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER: LOS ANGELES (AP) - There was always been a special connection between space shuttle Endeavour and California, where it was built.

Damage reported from magnitude-5.7 quake

Court denies 2nd hearing on Medi-Cal rate cut

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Friday denied a second request by California doctors, pharmacists and hospitals seeking to undo the state's 10 percent provider rate cut for treating the poor.

PG&E calls $2.25B fine for deadly blast excessive

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The utility responsible for a deadly pipeline explosion in Northern California said Friday that the record $2.25 billion in fines being sought by state regulators is illegally excessive, but did not offer a specific dollar figure it considers reasonable. In a 103-page filing submitted just before the close of business, Pacific Gas & Electric said that it agrees with the California Public Utilities Commission's finding that a financial penalty is appropriate ...

Plastic ocean debris bill dies in committee

Bill would treat e-cigarettes like other tobacco

State Senate election might be headed to runoff in 16th district

LA sanitation ends plans for dump near Joshua Tree