MORGAN HILL MAN ALLEGEDLY RAN DOG TO DEATH: MORGAN HILL (AP) — Morgan Hill police say a man was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after he ran two dogs to the point of heat exhaustion.
One of the dogs later died.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that 36-year-old Antonio Palomarez was arrested on Friday after officers allegedly found him over a pit bull and a boxer, both of which had collapsed.
According to police, Palomarez said he was exercising the dogs to tire them out and had taken them on a seven-mile run without giving them water.
Police took both dogs to a veterinarian. The pit bull, Palomarez's dog, died. The boxer, a neighbor's dog, was given intravenous fluids and returned to its owner.
Santa Clara County prosecutors say they plan to review the case.
JUDGE BLOCKS RENT HIKE FOR SF LOW-INCOME TENANTS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A judge has blocked rent increases for 33 low-income tenants in San Francisco's Tenderloin area.
The San Francisco Chronicle says an injunction issued last Friday allows tenants of Geary Courtyard to remain in their apartments at their current rents while the city pursues a lawsuit against the owners.
San Francisco issued $18 million in tax-exempt bonds in 1988 to build the apartments. The owner agreed to reserve some units for low-income residents. However, Equity Residential paid off the bonds this year, argued the agreement had expired and told tenants their rents would go up 15 percent in July.
The city has sued, arguing the tenants are still protected.
An Equity spokesman, Marty McKenna, says the company disagrees with the Friday injunction but will abide by it.
SAN JOSE TO START STORING POSSESSIONS OF HOMELESS: SAN JOSE (AP) — San Jose officials will stop throwing away the personal possessions of homeless people under a new pilot program that requires the city to instead catalog and store them.
The San Jose Mercury News reported that the policy change occurred after Independent Police Auditor LaDoris Cordell reminded officials about an old, forgotten policy that barred discarding of possessions found at homeless encampments during sweeps.
Currently, the city and the Santa Clara Valley Water District spend $235,000 a year to clear encampments and throw found items away.
Police post fliers 72 hours before a sweep telling people to remove their possessions, and toss what is left behind. There are about 20-to-25 sweeps each month.
The city is working to find money so it can start cataloging and storing the property.
BARRICADED SUSPECT WHO SHOT AT OFFICERS SURRENDERS: OAKLAND (AP) — Authorities say a stolen car suspect who shot at an Alameda County sheriff's deputy and barricaded himself inside a house in east Oakland triggering a tense overnight standoff has surrendered.
Oakland Police Spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson says 41-year-old Tomas Orona surrendered peacefully to officers at around 3 a.m. Tuesday following a seven-hour standoff.
Authorities say a woman, her child and a male friend held hostage had been released earlier Monday.
No injuries were reported.
Alameda County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. J.D. Nelson said the incident began around 8 p.m. Monday after Orona allegedly opened fire on a deputy who pulled over a suspected stolen car.
SONOMA CO. RESIDENTS SEEK TO BLOCK INDIAN CASINO: ROHNERT PARK (AP) — Some Sonoma County residents are taking legal action to block the construction of a major Indian casino just outside Rohnert Park.
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports the group Stop the Casino 101 filed the lawsuit last month to halt the casino project proposed by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.
The state Legislature this month ratified an agreement that allows the tribe to begin work on the 3,000-slot machine casino. The U.S. Interior Department has until July 6 to approve it, reject it or allow it to take effect.
The plaintiffs are challenging the sovereign status of the 254-acre property the tribe bought to build the casino.
Tribal attorneys say the courts have already rejected those arguments.
Legal experts say the lawsuit could delay the project but is unlikely to stop it.
JUDGE PARTLY GRANTS REQUEST IN SF SHERIFF CASE: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A judge has ruled that some of San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi's phone records must be turned over to city officials as part of their effort to remove him from office following his domestic violence conviction.
A San Francisco judge said Tuesday that Mayor Ed Lee was entitled to a record of calls and text messages Mirkarimi and his wife, Eliana Lopez, sent and received from four people between Dec. 31, when Mirkarimi allegedly bruised Lopez's arm, and his arrest two weeks later. The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/Lo0Mvx) that the four people include Mirkarimi's campaign manager and a neighbor his wife allegedly confided in.
Lee had sought a record of all the calls and text messages Mirkarimi sent and received in that period. He believes they will show whether Mirkarimi tried to dissuade witnesses from cooperating with the domestic violence investigation.
Mirkarimi has denied doing that.
