SANTA CLARA  (AP) — The fight over a new $1billion stadium for the 49ers in Santa Clara appears headed to court after city officials rejected an attempt to put the project in front of voters again.

The Santa Clara City Council voted 5-2 on Tuesday against a second referendum on the stadium. The vote came a day after elections officials verified an opposition group's petition to put the project back on the ballot.

Councilman Pat Kolstad said voters had already spoken on the issue. Fifty-eight percent of city voters approved the stadium project in June 2010.

But opponents say city officials deceived them about the project's finances.

UC Davis students take

over vacant campus building

DAVIS (AP) — A small group of University of California students have taken over a vacant building on the Davis campus.

UC Davis spokeswoman Claudia Morain says the protesters entered the two-story building after a noon rally Tuesday and were still there Wednesday.

Morain says the small building was recently the home of the Cross Cultural Center and will soon house some student affairs programs.

Santa Cruz approves more

SANTA CRUZ  (AP) — A contract for a Santa Cruz seawater desalting plant's environmental report has been approved by the City Council.

Water Department director Bill Kocher says the $95,000 contract with a San Francisco-based consultant covers work on the project's Environmental Impact Report expected in April.

The cost is being shared with the Soquel Creek Water District, the city's desalination partner.

The city had previously approved nearly $1.5 million in contracts with the San Francisco consulting firm.

The proposed desalination plant would produce 2.5 million gallons of fresh water per day.

A $4 million pilot desalting plant produced 72,000 gallons a day.

Arrest in San Francisco

 tourist sex attack

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Police say a Southern California man has been arrested for sexually assaulting a teenage tourist in bushes near San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

Christopher Dutel, 18, has been booked for investigation of sexual assault and false imprisonment. Dutel's hometown in Southern California hasn't been released.

The girl, described only as a juvenile visiting from outside the United States, was found behind bushes with the suspect early Tuesday.

AG says DNA database

backlog eliminated

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California Attorney General Kamala Harris says a backlog for a DNA database has been eliminated and that will allow investigators to analyze evidence within 30 days.

Harris said Wednesday that a review of DNA crime scene evidence once took an average of three to four months, but new technology and shifting the caseload among the state's seven crime labs has improved efficiency.

For example, Harris says a new robotics technology allows investigators to analyze sexual assault evidence in two hours rather than two days.

The labs analyzed 5,400 evidence samples last year, compared to 4,800 in 2010.

The state's DNA database contains profiles of 1.8 million offenders and is the fourth largest in the world.