Oakland ends 82-year-old ban on dance marathons

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland residents can literally dance all night to celebrate the end of law dating back to the Great Depression.

Oakland's City Council voted last week to get rid of an 82-year-old law banning dance marathons. The events would last for weeks with people dancing nonstop for days with a 15 minute break every hour.

The dance marathons were among several endurance fads popular after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, including pole sitting and cross-country racing. But lawmakers intervened after the marathons went beyond just dancing —and into sex and drugs.

Oakland's move comes more than twenty years after California purged a similar law from state books in 1990.

Dance marathons are now a popular fundraising tool at colleges across the country.

Ex-Yahoo CEO becomes head of ShopRunner

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Recently ousted Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has landed a new job leading ShopRunner, an online service that provides two-day shipping from a variety of Internet retailers.

Monday's announcement of Thompson's appointment as ShopRunner's new CEO comes two months after his short-lived tenure at Yahoo Inc. came to a mortifying end.

Yahoo shoved aside Thompson, 54, after a dissident shareholder uncovered misinformation in his official biography filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bio listed a bachelor's degree in computer science that he never received, raising doubts about Thompson's integrity that led to his departure after just four months on the job.

Couple found shot to death in San Jose home

SAN JOSE  (AP) — A man and a woman have been shot to death in San Jose.

Neighbors called 911 to report gunfire shortly after 4 a.m. Monday and officers found the couple dead inside the home near the downtown area.

Homicide investigators haven't released the names of the victims.

Sgt. Jason Dwyer says the killings don't appear to be the result of a murder-suicide. Detectives say it appears to be a double homicide.

There was a brief search of the area but there are no arrests.

Dozens homeless after 4-alarm apartment fire

SAN JOSE  (AP) — Dozens of San Jose residents are homeless after a fast-moving four-alarm apartment house blaze.

Five people complained of minor smoke inhalation. Two of them were taken to a hospital with chest pains.

It  took 76 firefighters, including help from Santa Clara city and county departments, to extinguish the Sunday night blaze in the two-story building.

The fire fight lasted about 90 minutes.

Investigators say the cause of the fire and an estimate of damage haven't been determined.

About 60 people lived in the building.