Alameda County board chooses Lockyer's replacement
OAKLAND (AP) — The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has finally agreed on a replacement for Nadia Lockyer, who resigned amid admissions of drug abuse and infidelity.
The board unanimously voted Monday to appoint Richard Valle to fill the opening left by the disgraced former supervisor, the wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer.
If the board had not picked a replacement by June 19, the task would have gone to Gov. Jerry Brown.
The Oakland Tribune reports that Valle was running to become mayor of Union City but indicated he would drop out of that race if appointed to the county board. He had been working at his not-for-profit Tri-CED Community
Lockyer resigned in April following a string of bizarre public incidents that she blamed on her own chemical dependency.
SF expects traffic woes as subway project begins
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco commuters should prepare for headaches as construction crews begin preparing to dig a 1.6-mile subway tunnel through the heart of the city.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that transportation officials are still waiting for finalization of federal funding for the project, but that preparations are nonetheless beginning that will affect traffic greatly.
On Tuesday crews will start digging up a block of Fourth Street between Bryant and Harrison, and have already begun building a series of 100-foot-deep walls that will span Fourth Street.
The new subway line will link Chinatown to the city's main train station in the South of Market area.
The city believes a federal funding guarantee worth $942 million will be approved this month, which will cover much of the project's $1.6 billion cost.
CHP says woman killed when car drifts in Milpitas
MILPITAS (AP) — The California Highway Patrol says a woman has been killed in a freeway crash on Interstate 880 in Milpitas.
CHP Officer Marc Johnston tells the Contra Costa Times that the 28-year-old woman's car drifted into the right hand shoulder of the freeway and ran into the back of a big-rig.
He says the crash occurred just after midnight Monday.
Johnston says the woman's car was pinned between the big rig and a sound wall.
Her name has not been released.
Police recover stolen Picasso lithograph
NOVATO (AP) — Police have found a Pablo Picasso lithograph that was taken from the northern California mansion of imprisoned former Ukranian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko.
The Marin Independent Journal reported that the piece worth an estimated $30,000 was found Sunday propped up against a fence.
Novato police Sgt. Eric Riddell said it appeared someone intended for it to be found after media reports that it had been stolen.
The piece was reported missing May 28 after police said a group of more than 100 teenagers held a party and ransacked the 19,500-square-foot mansion. Novato is north of San Francisco.
Lazarenko is serving time in a federal prison after being convicted of hiding money he pocketed illegally while serving as prime minister.
