SUN-POWERED PLANE COMPLETES BAY AREA TEST FLIGHT: MOUNTAIN VIEW (AP) — A solar-powered plane that has wowed aviation fans in Europe took to the skies Friday over the San Francisco Bay area in a successful test flight.
Considered the world's most advanced sun-powered plane, the Solar Impulse took off from Moffett Field in Mountain View at first light for a two-hour practice run in advance of a planned multi-city, cross-country tour.
"That's a mythical step in aviation," André Borschberg, one of the plane's pilots and creators, said about flying cross-country. "We are something like between 1915 and 1920, compared to traditional aviation, when pioneers tried these non-stop flights."
He said a flight around the world could occur in two years.
The Solar Impulse is powered by about 12,000 photovoltaic cells that cover massive wings and charge its batteries, allowing it to fly day and night without jet fuel. It has the wing span of a commercial airplane but the weight of the average family car, making it vulnerable to bad weather.
SHERIFF'S DEPUTY HITS, KILLS PEDESTRIAN: HAYWARD (AP) — Authorities are looking into what caused an Alameda County Sheriff's deputy to hit two pedestrians, killing one of them during an early-morning accident.
Sgt. J.D. Nelson says the deputy was driving his patrol car in Hayward when he struck a man and a woman crossing a street shortly after 4:30 a.m. Friday.
The deputy's car then swerved and crashed into a parked car.
The man died at the scene and the woman was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries. It is not known if they had been walking in a crosswalk.
Nelson says the nine-year veteran deputy, whose name has not been released, was not injured. The deputy is expected to be put on administrative leave.
The California Highway Patrol is investigating the accident.
TV REPORTER ATTACKED WHILE FILMING IN BERKELEY: BERKELEY (AP) — Police say a television reporter was attacked in Berkeley while filming a segment called "People Behaving Badly" for KRON 4.
The Oakland Tribune reports that reporter Stanley Roberts was filming on Thursday outside Amoeba Music on Telegraph Ave. for a segment about the increase of panhandlers in the area.
Roberts said the men he was filming told him they did not want to be filmed, but the reporter insisted because they were in a public place.
Roberts says one of the men approached him aggressively, and then he was attacked from behind by another.
During the altercation, Roberts says he had his credentials stolen, and his $5,000 camera and a microphone damaged.
Berkeley police arrested the two men on suspicion of battery and felony vandalism.
SAN MATEO COUNTY FINDS 65 LOST BALLOTS: REDWOOD CITY (AP) — San Mateo County elections officials have found dozens of uncounted ballots from the Nov. 6 election inside a storage vault.
Mark Church, the county's chief elections officer, tells The Palo Alto Daily News that his office is investigating why the 65 ballots were misplaced.
Church said there were not nearly enough ballots to change the election results, but said an investigation is warranted because each vote is significant.
Workers found the ballots in a storage vault at the county's elections office in San Mateo.
Church says the ballots from Redwood City were in a sealed case in the vault that had been placed in a covered bin, preventing them from being seen.
Elections Manager David Tom says he suspects temporary workers put the ballots in the covered bin.
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