OC seeks state permission to charge for rescues

SANTA ANA (AP) - Orange County wants state permission to charge reckless people for the cost of rescuing them. The Orange County Register says county supervisors voted Tuesday to propose state legislation and Assemblyman Don Wagner has agreed to carry a bill. It would permit counties and cities to recover rescue costs for people who put themselves in ...

OC seeks state permission to charge for rescues

SANTA ANA (AP) - Orange County wants state permission to charge reckless people for the cost of rescuing them. The Orange County Register says county supervisors voted Tuesday to propose state legislation and Assemblyman Don Wagner has agreed to carry a bill. It would permit counties and cities to recover rescue costs for people who put themselves in ...

Injured volunteer seeks payment from lost hiker

SANTA ANA (AP) - A volunteer searcher who broke his back while looking for a teenager who was lost in Orange County wilderness says he deserves restitution if the teen is convicted on drug charges. Nick Papageorge, 20, said after Nic Cendoya's arraignment was postponed Wednesday that his medical bills could total $350,000, City News Service reported. Papageorge ...

6 plead not guilty in school embezzlement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Six current and former San Francisco school district employees have pleaded not guilty to charges that they embezzled $15 million in grant money from the school system. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the six women entered the pleas on Tuesday during their first court appearance. Prosecutors say they diverted federal and state grant ...

Driver impaled by metal rod on I-580 near Livermore.

LIVERMORE (AP) - The California Highway Patrol is looking for witnesses, as it investigates the death of a man who was impaled by a metal rod while driving on Interstate 580 around Livermore. The incident occurred around 8:11 a.m. Wednesday. The CHP says the 2 to 3-foot long rod went through the windshield of the westbound Volvo station wagon, penetrating the driver's ...

Snacking deputy's crash costs Santa Clara County $5M

SAN JOSE (AP) - Santa Clara County is on the hook for a $5 million settlement in a crash involving a sheriff's deputy who allegedly took his eyes off the road while eating a McDonald's hamburger, a newspaper reported. Deputy Greg Markovic smashed into Diem Van Lam's Honda in January in San Jose, leaving Van Lam with injuries including broken ribs and ...

Brown defends California's business climate

State news briefs

POSTAL WORKER SENTENCED IN MAIL THEFT: SAN CARLOS, Calif. (AP) - A San Francisco Bay area postal worker accused of stealing thousands of pieces of mail to obtain credit cards has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

State news briefs

LAWYER: TEEN USED 'MURDER KIT' ON GIRL'S PARENTS: LOS ANGELES (AP) - Prosecutors say a teenager accused of murdering his girlfriend's parents was equipped with a "murder kit" to kill the Compton couple.

Montana man dies in Yosemite climbing accident

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (AP) - A Montana man died in a rock climbing accident as he tried to climb to the top of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, authorities said. Mason Robison, 38, of Columbia Falls, Mont., was killed after a rock dislodged and severed his rope as he and a partner were about 2,300 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor, ...

Unclaimed veterans' remains laid to rest

DIXON (AP) - The unclaimed remains of 35 military veterans, including some from World War I, and two military wives have been given formal military burials in Northern California. The remains, some left unclaimed for decades, were escorted by 120 motorcycles from Santa Rosa to the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon on Monday. "One of the tragedies ...

Bay Area briefs

Bay Area briefs

SF OFFICIALS UPSET OVER ANTI-ISRAEL BUS ADS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Several San Francisco supervisors want the city transit agency to donate revenue from an anti-Israel bus ad campaign to the city's Human Rights Commission after the agency did the same for an ad campaign that targeted Muslims.

Dolphin finds 130-year-old torpedo off San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Navy says a trained dolphin has found a 130-year-old torpedo off the San Diego coast. The 19th-century Howell torpedo was found in March near Hotel del Coronado as the dolphin was being trained to find and mark the location of underwater mines. The torpedo's tail and midsection were found but not the warhead. ...

Man survives 220-foot jump off Golden Gate

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A man was rescued by a sailing crew after jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday in one of the rare cases of someone actually surviving the 220-foot plunge. Scott Walecka told the Santa Cruz Sentinel he was taking his 38-foot vessel to San Francisco around 2 p.m. when his daughter saw the unidentified man jump. They ...

SF, NY officials to meet over cellphone thefts

State news briefs

TACO BELL FIRING RIDGECREST EMPLOYEE FOR TACO LICKING: RIDGECREST. (AP) - Taco Bell is firing a California employee who was photographed licking a stack of taco shells.

Parole denied for Manson follower

CPUC enforcement division” ‘Time to throw book at PG&E’

Bay Area briefs

FORMER SANTA CLARA POLITICIAN FACING NEW CHARGE : SAN JOSE (AP) - A longtime California politician convicted of using campaign donations and taxpayer funds to fuel what he described as a gambling addiction has been charged in a separate case involving an illegal campaign flier, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Serial murder suspect interviews possible jurors

SAN RAFAEL (AP) - Addressing prospective jurors in his death penalty trial, defendant Joseph Naso on Monday mocked the prosecutor and asked odd questions. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the 79-year-old Naso, acting as his own lawyer, addressed a panel of 21 possible jurors in a selection process expected to take weeks. Naso flailed his hands, saying he was mimicking gestures made by Marin County prosecutor Rosemary Slote during her presentation. One female prospective ...

State news briefs

EX-UCI PROFESSOR PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN OC ARSONS: SANTA ANA (AP) - A former University of California, Irvine professor has pleaded not guilty to charges he set a series of fires at his son's high school and elsewhere after the boy committed suicide.

Humanists sue over monument with cross

Serial murder suspect interviews possible jurors

SAN RAFAEL (AP) - Addressing prospective jurors in his death penalty trial, defendant Joseph Naso on Monday mocked the prosecutor and asked odd questions. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the 79-year-old Naso, acting as his own lawyer, addressed a panel of 21 possible jurors in a selection process expected to take weeks. Naso flailed his hands, saying he was mimicking gestures made by Marin County prosecutor Rosemary Slote during her presentation. One female prospective ...

Firing of ex-LAPD officer Dorner justified

le poised for hiring spree in Silicon Valley

App

PG&E didn't spend $50M for safety

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Pacific Gas & Electric Co. did not use more than $50 million it collected from ratepayers that was meant to improve its gas pipeline network in the decade leading up to a deadly explosion in a San Francisco Bay Area suburb, an audit shows. From 1999 to 2010, the utility regularly failed to use all the money to fix and maintain small gas distribution lines that deliver natural gas to homes ...

Norcal News

DEFENSE SUGGESTS VICTIM FATALLY SHOT HIMSELF: SACRAMENTO (AP) - A defense lawyer suggested a man who was fatally shot at a Sacramento Sikh sports festival five years ago may have fired the fatal bullet himself.

Medi-Cal cuts will limit health access

Bay Area briefs

VETERAN RUNNER DIES DURING MT. DIABLO FOOTRACE: MARTINEZ (AP) - A veteran long-distance runner competing in a 50-kilometer footrace on Mount Diablo died during the competition.