By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Bay Area briefs
Placeholder Image

SF WAX MUSEUM CLOSING DOORS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco tourist attraction that drew some 12 million is shutting its doors.

The San Francisco Chronicle says the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf will close tonight.

The family-owned museum opened in 1963 and passed through three generations. Museum president Rodney Fong says it had more than 12 million visitors.

The museum has more than 200 hand-crafted figures, ranging from Miley Cyrus to Jesus in the Last Supper.

Fong says the collection will be sold but details of the ongoing negotiations are secret.

Fisherman's Wharf won't be waxless forever, though. Fong says he'll lease the space for a Madame Tussauds wax museum, which is expected to open next summer.

MAN’S CHARGE UPPED TO MURDER AFTER TWEETS: PLEASANTON  (AP) — Police and prosecutors in California say an 18-year-old accused of killing a bicyclist with his car has had a vehicular manslaughter charge upgraded to murder in part because he boasted about speeding on Twitter.

The San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune report that Cody Hall, of Pleasanton, is being held without bail after he was charged Wednesday with the murder of 58-year-old Diana Hersevoort.

Authorities say Hall hit Hersevoort and her husband along a busy boulevard in Dublin on June 9.

Prosecutors say an analysis of Hall's driving record, along with Twitter posts in which he discussed how fast he liked to drive, persuaded them to change the charge to murder.

THIEVES RAM GLASS DOORS AT TIFFANY STORE: WALNUT CREEK (AP) — Police say thieves drove a pickup truck through the glass doors of a iffany and Co. store in a brazen early-morning burglary.

The burglary occurred around 5:45 a.m. Thursday in Walnut Creek. Police say the driver of the stolen pickup truck repeatedly rammed the store's front doors.

Four men then got out and tried to smash display cases.

Walnut Creek Police Lt. Steve Gorski says they didn't get close to the store's more expensive items, which are locked up overnight. They only made off with a few relatively inexpensive things.

2 MEN GET DECADES TO LIFE FOR GANG RAPE: MARTINEZ  (AP) — One man has been sentenced to 33 years to life in prison and a second man sentenced to 29 years to life for their roles in the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl outside a Northern California school dance.

A Contra Costa County judge gave the longer sentence to 22-year-old Jose Montano and the shorter sentence to 20-year-old Marcelles Peter because Peter was a minor at the time of the crime.

A jury last month found the two men guilty of forcible rape, sexual penetration and forced oral copulation for the October 2009 assault outside a homecoming dance at Richmond High School.

Six men have been charged in the attack. Two had already pleaded guilty and were sentenced to about 30 years apiece in prison. Two others are awaiting trial.

DUKE ENERGY BUYS SAN FRANCISCO SOLAR PROJECT: CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Duke Energy has bought a San Francisco solar project from developer Recurrent Energy.

The deal between Recurrent Energy and Duke's commercial business division, Duke Energy Renewables, is for the Sunset Reservoir solar power project, the biggest solar generation facility in San Francisco. The solar power system includes nearly 24,000 solar panels mounted on top of the Sunset Reservoir. The facility provides electricity for San Francisco's municipal services and facilities.

.