Bill would prohibit ticket-buying software

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Music and sports fans would have one less obstacle in buying tickets to popular events under a bill advancing through the California Legislature. Legislation by Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento would prohibit the use of robotic ticket-buying software. Supporters of AB329 say scalpers use the software to bombard online box offices and then resell tickets at higher prices. Lawmakers previously deleted a provision that would have allowed transfers of paperless event ...

Professor assigns students to make ad for his campaign

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A San Francisco State University professor considering a run for Oakland mayor is drawing scrutiny for a class assignment that asked students to create a political campaign ad and gave them the option of developing it for him. Joe Tuman said he would use the ad if it were good, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday. But ethics experts said any such use of the students' work could run afoul ...

Bay Area briefs

SWALLOWS LAWSUIT MAY DELAY PETALUMA BRIDGE WORK : PETALUMA (AP) - A lawsuit accuses state and federal regulators of causing the death of dozens of migratory cliff swallows by placing nets on a Sonoma County bridge during a highway widening project.

State releases health reform plans, pricing

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 ...

State news briefs

LAST 2 MEN PULLED FROM LEVEECRASH ID'D: STOCKTON (AP) - Authorities have released the names of two more victims pulled from a Northern California waterway where an SUV crashed and killed five men.

Insurers sue over LA school abuse settlement

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Seven insurers have sued the Los Angeles school district to avoid paying a $30 million settlement to 58 alleged victims of child abuse at an elementary school. The insurers claim there was no relevant coverage under the policies, but the district said its general liability insurance should cover the costs, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday. Sean Rossall, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, called the move ...

Salmon experiment puts fish in river water

SACRAMENTO . (AP) - State fish and wildlife officials are studying a new way of transporting hatchery salmon that are intended to repopulate the Sacramento River system, a newspaper reported. About 100,000 Chinook salmon have been taken to San Francisco Bay, where they were released, in water actually from the Sacramento River, The San Mateo County Times reported this week. The theory being tested is that the fish will develop a memory of the water's ...

Capital News

ASSEMBLY BILL TO REGULATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA FAILS: SACRAMENTO (AP) - A bill to regulate the sale of medical marijuana in California has failed in the Assembly.

3 men held in alleged pot mail ring; allegedly sent 20 pounds at a time

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Three San Diego men have been arrested on suspicion of running a drug trafficking ring that mailed up to 20 pounds of marijuana to dozens of customers in at least eight states, authorities said. Chris Gillen, his brother, Kyle Gillen, and Matthew Schneider were arrested earlier this week at their homes and remain behind bars on $200,000 bail each. The bust crippled a drug distribution ring where vacuum sealed parcels were ...

State agency failed to collect $185M in pollution cleanup fees

Bay Area briefs

OAKLAND POLICE SHOOT, KILL SUSPECT: OAKLAND AP) - An Oakland police officer is on paid administrative leave after shooting and killing a suspect following a foot chase.

Assembly passes bill to raise minimum wage

State Senate sacks plan to ban plastic bags

Five bodies pulled from Delta waterway after crash of SUV

STOCKTON (AP) - Authorities investigating a deadly weekend SUV crash in a waterway in Northern California are being hampered by an uncooperative 911 caller and conflicting accounts from family members, a California Highway Patrol officer said on Thursday. Investigators believe they have now recovered the bodies of all five crash victims from the slough west of Stockton after two men were pulled out on Wednesday, Officer James Smith said. The men have not been identified, ...

State news briefs

ROSEVILLE MOM PLEADS NO CONTEST IN DAUGHTER DEATH: ROSEVILLE (AP) - A Northern California woman has pleaded no contest in the death of her 2-year-old daughter last year.

Capital News

AGENCY: REALIGNMENT LAW UNDERMINES ROLE OF JUDGES: SACRAMENTO (AP) - A state oversight agency says overcrowding in many county jails is forcing local sheriffs to assume the role traditionally held by judges in deciding who should make bail and how long convicts should serve behind bars.

Murder charged in dog pack mauling death

Officials to update repair work on Bay Bridge

OAKLAND (AP) - The new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge had another bolt problem involving the bicycle path, but it has since been fixed, a state transportation official said on Wednesday. Numerous bolts used to anchor the railing along the path failed because of improper welding, officials said. But Bay Bridge spokesman Andrew Gordon said the all the bolts that failed have been replaced. The news comes as officials overseeing construction of ...

Arrest made in Disneyland dry-ice blast

ANAHEIM. (AP) - Police arrested a Disneyland employee on suspicion of putting a so-called dry ice bomb in a theme park trash can where it exploded, authorities said Wednesday. No one was injured in the small blast, but Disneyland briefly evacuated the Mickey's Toontown section where the incident occurred Tuesday. The trash can did not blow up. Christian Barnes, 22, of Long Beach was arrested for investigation of possessing a destructive device, just hours after ...