BART UNIONS SUE TRANSITY AGENCY OVER CONTRACTS: OAKLAND (AP) — San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit's two largest unions are suing the agency, claiming its board of directors broke state law when they approved a contract without a key provision.Members of ATU Local 1555 and SEIU 1021 filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court. The lawsuit will not affect train service. BART's board approved a new labor deal last month, but stripped a family medical leave provision that the unions want and the agency's top negotiators signed off during talks to end a second transit strike in October. The lawsuit says the board cannot change the contract without the unions' consent. BART in a statement called the lawsuit unnecessary.
LA-AREA MAN WHO FIRED ON COPS CHARGED: INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a gunman who fired several shots at Inglewood police officers, hitting one, and held two people hostage for nearly nine hours has been charged with attempted murder. City News Service reports 45-year-old Christopher Warsaw was charged Tuesday with 10 counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, kidnapping, criminal threats and other felonies. Authorities say Warsaw was arrested Nov. 27 after taking his girlfriend and her 14-year-old daughter hostage. They say he had fired at officers who responded to a family disturbance call. An officer suffered blunt force injuries after being shot in his bulletproof vest. He was held overnight at a hospital and released.
MYSTERY SURROUNDS HIATUS OF RADIO HOST: LOS ANGELES (AP) — The top-rated Spanish-language morning radio host known as "El Mandril" left the Los Angeles airwaves about a month ago, but it's still not clear why. Ricardo Sanchez's manager, Fernando Schiantarelli, says Sanchez was pulled from KLAX-FM because of negotiations over the radio personality's contract. But the Los Angeles Times reports the absence may also be because Sanchez's show is the subject of an investigation by research giant Nielsen into allegations of ratings tampering. Schiantarelli confirms the Nielsen probe, and adds that such investigations are not uncommon in the industry. Sanchez says he was told by his bosses at the Spanish Broadcasting System, which owns KLAX, that he was being taken off the air but wasn't given a specific reason why.
MAN PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN STEPSON’S DEATH: VISALIA (AP) — A Central California man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he killed his autistic teenage stepson, whose body was found days after he was reported missing. KFSN-TV reports that Miguel Angel Villegas Pacheco of Visalia, Calif., entered the plea on Monday to a first-degree murder charge during his arraignment in Tulare County Superior Court. His 14-year-old stepson, Dameian "Luke" Gulley, was reported missing after he failed to show up to middle school on Nov. 18. Authorities say Dameian's body was found partially covered in a trail in Sequoia National Park by a park employee on Nov. 21. It's not clear how he died or what led authorities to arrest the 32-year-old Pacheco.
LONG SHUTDOWN AFTER MAN JUMPS ON TO 101: VENTURA (AP) — Authorities say a man who jumped off an overpass on to U.S. 101 in Ventura was hit by at least four vehicles and killed. California Highway Patrol Officer Steve Reid tells the Ventura County Star that the pre-dawn jumper and subsequent investigation led to the shutdown of the freeway's northbound side for more than three hours on Tuesday morning. The name of the 23-year-old man has not been released. It was not immediately clear at what point in the incident he was killed.
AWARD-WINNING CHEF JUDY ROGERS DIES: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Judy Rodgers, the award-winning chef-owner of San Francisco's Zuni Cafe, has died. She was 57. Gilbert Pilgram, her business partner and longtime friend, said Rodgers died Monday after succumbing to cancer of the appendix. The James Beard Foundation named the Zuni Cafe 2003's Outstanding Restaurant in America. Rodgers won Beard's Outstanding Chef award a year later, beating out notable chef Mario Batali and others. Rodgers started cooking in the 1970s after being inspired by Alice Waters' Chez Panisse, where she met her business partner Pilgram. Pilgram says he'll continue to run Zuni's kitchen.
