• LEAKS ON NEW BAY BRIDGE WON’T SPUR FURTHER COSTS: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California transportation official says leaks found on the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that are allowing rainwater to seep into the structure should not result in more maintenance costs.
Department of Transportation toll bridge program manager Tony Anziano on Tuesday said the leaks were expected, not a defect.
Anziano says minor surface rust has appeared inside the new bridge because of the leaks, but that the bridge contractor is required to remove it, and to repaint and seal problem areas before the project is complete.
He says the leaks will not cause more in maintenance costs over the 150-year life of the span, and do not pose safety concerns.
• MAN FACING FEDERAL CHARGES FOUND DEAD: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Marin County man facing fraud, money laundering and other criminal charges was found dead after his car plummeted off a cliff.
Developer Bijan Madjlessi was discovered Tuesday afternoon some 400 feet down an embankment along Highway 1 just outside of Mill Valley. The 58-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
His family reported him missing on Sunday. An autopsy is scheduled.
Madjlessi and three others were indicted in April. They are accused of conspiring to defraud Sonoma Valley Bank, which collapsed in 2010.
The newspaper says if he would have been found guilty, he would have faced nearly $8 million in fines and decades in prison. He was scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing this week.
His lawyer says Madjlessi was innocent.
• WOMAN AWARDED $14M IN CALIFORNIA TRANSIT SUIT: SAN PABLO (AP) — A San Francisco Bay Area jury has ordered a public transit agency to pay a woman more than $14 million after she broke her back when a bus went over a speed bump.
Jurors reached the verdict against the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District on Tuesday. Maria Francisco sued the agency after she said she suffered a fractured vertebra while riding an AC Transit bus in August 2011.
Francisco’s lawyers alleged the bus driver went over a speed bump in a school zone in San Pablo at 30 mph — twice the legal limit — and then berated the then-20-year-old Francisco after she cried out in pain from her injury.
• CHARGE AGAINST TRANSGENDER TEENAGER DROPPED: MARTINEZ (AP) — A judge in Northern California has dismissed a battery charge against a transgender teenager whose prosecution had been questioned by supporters from across the country.
The Contra Costa Times reports ((http://bit.ly/QfG0IE) ) that a juvenile court judge dropped the misdemeanor charge earlier this month after 16-year-old Jewlyes Gutierrez completed a conflict resolution program.
The charge stemmed from a November fight at Hercules High School that was caught on video and went viral. Jewlyes’ case attracted the attention of LGBT advocacy groups, who questioned why she was the only student to face criminal penalties when the girls she fought with had been taunting her.
Jewlyes tells the Times the conflict resolution program helped her resolve her problems with classmates. She says she can relax now that the charge is behind her.
• ALL-CLEAR GIVEN AFTER SAN FRANCISCO HOSPITAL SCARE: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A major hospital in San Francisco was briefly put under lockdown Wednesday after a loud noise was mistakenly reported as gunfire, police said.
Three buildings at San Francisco General Hospital were evacuated as dozens of law enforcement officers swarmed the area shortly before 1 p.m., said officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman.
Police officers and sheriff’s deputies searched the campus after they received a report from a hospital staffer of a shot fired and a person running away from the hospital, Esparza said. The staff member reported the noise in an outbuilding.
Authorities determined there was no evidence of a shooting, and the hospital was given an all-clear and reopened shortly before 2 p.m., Esparza said.
• SUSPECT ARRESTED IN SHOOTING OF CALIFORNIA DEPUTY: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A bulletproof vest is being credited with saving the life of Northern California sheriff’s deputy who was shot after a suspect allegedly opened fire on him during an eviction attempt, officials said Wednesday.
William Lloyd Nelson, 55, faces attempted murder charges after his arrest early Wednesday for the shooting of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputy, Lt. Steve Knight said. The deputy was shot in the chest after he and a sergeant attempted to serve a court-ordered eviction notice at Nelson’s home in Shelter Cove around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday.
