Move afoot to repeal transgender law

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An effort to overturn a new law allowing transgender students to choose which school restrooms they use and whether to play boys or girls sports got a boost Friday when a major player in the passage of California's now-defunct same-sex marriage ban threw its support behind the campaign.

News from around the Bay Area

GIRL'S BLEEDING FROM SHOOTING MISTAKEN FOR PERIOD: HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) - Police say a Northern California family didn't call 911 for more than five hours after a 10-year-old girl was shot because they thought she had started menstruating.

Burglary suspect falls through ceiling in SF

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A burglar who tried to break into an ATM at a bank in San Francisco was arrested Friday after he hopped onto the roof of a nearby building to escape and fell into an apartment, police said. "There was a hole in the roof where he fell through just as we were ordering him to put his hands up," police Sgt. Wilfred Williams told reporters. "I've responded to several different silent ...

News from around california

PASTOR CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING PARISHIONERS: NORWALK (AP) - A Southern California churchman who claimed to have "healing hands" has been charged with sexually assaulting women parishioners.

Golden Gate Bridge may get safety median

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - After more than a decade of planning, the Golden Gate Bridge may soon have a median separating northbound and southbound traffic. Bridge officials are expected to approve the purchase of the $26.5 million barrier at meetings today. The bridge's Building and Operating Committee will vote on it on Thursday, and the full board will decide whether to accept their recommendation on Friday, bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie said. Opposing traffic on the ...

Man found stabbed to death in cemetery

SAN BERNARDINO (AP) - San Bernardino police say a man has been found stabbed to death at a cemetery where he apparently had been sleeping. Authorities say 33-year-old Moises Castrejon Jr. was found Thursday morning on the grass in Pioneer Cemetery. He'd been stabbed several times. Authorities believe Castrejon was homeless. Police say they don't have a motive for the killing and they're asking the public's help in finding the killer. <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in ...

Domestic spying goes too far

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Civil liberties groups released newly obtained documents Thursday that they say show innocent Americans being swept into a broad nationwide counterterrorism program.

CPUC adopts ride-hailing service regulations

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Web-based ride-hailing companies will have to make sure drivers undergo training and criminal background checks and have commercial liability insurance under rules approved Thursday by California regulators.

Jawbone of missing NorCal teen identified

EUREKA (AP) - Officials have identified a jawbone found at the mouth of the Klamath River as that of a teenage boy who disappeared in 2011 after fleeing a stolen vehicle. The Eureka Times-Standard says the Del Norte County Sheriff's Office identified the bone as belonging to 15-year-old Cody Conoboy. In January 2011, in what police said was a stolen car, Conoboy and three other juveniles led authorities on a chase on State Route 96. ...

Suspect booked in eviction shooting

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) - A man suspected of shooting a property manager during a bank repossession of his San Ramon home was an investment adviser facing financial trouble. Mike Ghoneim, 42, and his wife defaulted on a home loan and were fighting a bank over whether it had the right to evict them. The newspaper cited court documents that also showed Ghoneim's wife was behind on rent for her business. Authorities said Ghoneim shot ...

Deep reforms to environmental law prove difficult

Low carbon fuel standard upheld

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A panel of federal judges on Wednesday upheld California's first-in-the-nation mandate requiring fuel producers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

News from around the Bay Area

MAN SHOOTS, WOUNDS LOCKSMITH DURING EVICTION: SAN RAMON (AP) - Authorities have arrested a man on suspicion of shooting a locksmith in the leg when he and two Contra Costa County sheriff's deputies tried to serve an eviction notice. Sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said the man surrendered Wednesday after a four hour-long standoff in a gated community in San Ramon. Deputies knocked on the suspect's door around 2 p.m. but no one answered. Lee ...

Can gay jurors be taken off cases?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An appeals court gave little indication Wednesday whether a potential juror can be booted from a trial solely because of sexual orientation.

UC turns to social media to raise student aid

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Putting a technological spin on the adage that it takes a village to raise a child, the University of California launched a campaign on Wednesday to harness the power of social media to raise money for student scholarships. The six-week effort combines the old-school model of donors pledging funds toward a specific fundraising goal with the Internet-driven concept known as crowdsourcing. As part of the campaign, students, alumni, business executives, politicians ...

California health exchange upholds policy cancelations

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - The board overseeing California's health insurance exchange voted unanimously Thursday to stick with its current year-end deadline of phasing out more than 1 million individual health insurance policies that fail to meet requirements of the federal health care overhaul, turning aside a plea by President Barack Obama to let those policies continue. <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; ...

Transit agency OKs deal without key provision

OAKLAND (AP) - The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit board approved a tentative labor contract Thursday after stripping out a disputed family medical leave provision that officials with its two largest unions have said they want included.

New chemical flame retardant rules adopted

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California on Thursday adopted new flammability standards for furniture and other products that would allow manufacturers to stop using chemical flame retardants. Gov. Jerry Brown said the new standards were a badly needed update to nearly 40-year-old rules that led to the widespread use of chemicals known as PBDEs to treat the foam found inside furniture. Current rules require furniture filling to withstand exposure to an open flame, like a candle, for ...

3 charged with hate crime after San Jose State dorm harassment

SAN JOSE (AP) - Three white students at San Jose State University face misdemeanor hate-crime and battery charges after authorities say they harassed a black roommate by outfitting their dormitory suite with a Confederate flag, barricading him in his room, and fastening a bicycle lock around his neck and claiming they lost the key. Santa Clara County prosecutors filed the charges late Wednesday against Logan Beaschler and Colin Warren, both 18, and Joseph Bomgardner, 19. ...

Latinos help carry Alvarez to runoff

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The city's burgeoning Latino population helped propel a native son and child of Mexican immigrants into a mayoral runoff against a fellow city councilman to replace the disgraced Bob Filner, who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

News from around california

COSTCO APOLOGIZES FOR CALIFORNIA BIBLE FLAP : SIMI VALLEY (AP) - A Costco store in Southern California drew some unwanted attention this week after labeling some of its Bibles as fiction.

SF bans tour buses around 'Full House' homes

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco officials have banned tour buses in a neighborhood that has become a major tourist draw for a set of Victorian homes featured in the opening credits to the 1980s and '90s television show, "Full House." The Municipal Transportation Agency's Board of Directors voted 5-0 on Tuesday to ban the buses from a 25-square-block area around and including Alamo Square Park, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The park is across ...

Brown threw rock through mom's car window

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge ordered Chris Brown on Wednesday to spend three months in rehab after reading a report that said a facility discharged the R&B singer because he threw a rock through his mother's car window.

George W. Bush shows off paintings with Jay Leno

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Former President George W. Bush showed off his painting and his granddaughter and poked fun of his post-White House years on the "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno on Tuesday. The 43rd president said that he was inspired to take up painting after reading a Winston Churchill essay. When he hired an instructor for weekly lessons, he said he told her "There's a Rembrandt trapped in this body. Your job is ...

'Batkid' caper cost San Francisco taxpayers $105K

News from around the Bay Area

State may have $10B surplus by 2017

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's independent legislative analyst on Wednesday offered a rosier financial forecast for the state than in the last several years, projecting annual operating surpluses approaching $10 billion a year by the 2017-18 fiscal year if current spending and revenue policies continue.

Patent office opening in San Jose

SAN JOSE (AP) - The U.S. Commerce Department has announced plans to open a long-awaited patent office in Silicon Valley, the world's top region for patent filers.

News from around california

MAN CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY ASSAULTING DOG: LONG BEACH (AP) - A Southern California man has been charged with felony animal cruelty for an alleged sexual assault on his neighbor's dog that was caught on video.

Lesbian teacher files discrimination suit against district

SAN BERNARDINO (AP) - A lesbian teacher filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Hesperia Unified School District that alleges unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation because of her sexual orientation. Lambda Legal filed the 109-page lawsuit in San Bernardino County Superior Court on behalf of Julia Frost, who taught as a probationary English teacher at Sultana High from August 2011 through May 2013. The suit alleges that administrators created a hostile environment for Frost and gay students, ...