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Latest Northern California news, sports, business and entertainment:(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Defense starts in Calif. train shooting trial LOS ANGELES (AP) _ A police officer has testified that a man who was killed by a Bay Area transit police officer last year had resisted arrest in 2006 and was shocked with a Taser stun gun. Sgt. Alex Hidas (HY-duhs) of the San Leandro Police Department was the first witness called by the defense Tuesday in the trial of former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer Johannes Mehserle. Mehserle, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to murdering 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who is black, on New Year's Day 2009 on an Oakland train platform. Bystander videos of the shooting flared racial tensions. Defense attorney Michael Rains called Hidas to testify to show Grant had resisted arrest before. Rains contends Mehserle struggled with Grant before his client mistakenly pulled out and fired his handgun, instead of his stun gun. FATAL DEPUTY STANDOFF Monterey Co man dead after 3-hour deputy standoff PRUNEDALE, Calif. (AP) _ A Monterey County man is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot during a three-hour standoff with authorities that began when he allegedly assaulted his grandfather. Sheriff's officials say 21-year-old Robert Barrera became angry Monday afternoon when his grandfather took away his keys to an all-terrain vehicle. He got a baseball bat, struck the 75-year-old man on the shoulder and ordered him to go inside the Prunedale house to open the safe. Officials say the elderly man instead ran inside a bar, locking doors behind him. Barrera then allegedly got a revolver and fired a round into the barn. The grandfather wasn't injured. After a three-hour standoff, authorities say Berrera set fire to the house, then shot himself. It took fire officials about an hour to contain the blaze, which destroyed the house. STATE SENATE ELECTION Special election may shift balance in Calif Senate SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ Another election is underway that could change the balance of power in the state Senate, just two weeks after California's primary. Republican Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee and former Democratic Assemblyman John Laird are vying to represent a Senate district that spans five counties along California's central coast. If Laird wins Tuesday's special election, he would bring Democrats within a single vote of the two-thirds majority needed to pass tax increases through the Senate. Blakeslee is trying to overcome his past as a former Exxon Mobil Corp. employee who supported expanding offshore oil drilling. Two lesser-known candidates are also in the running. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two will meet again in an Aug. 17 runoff. CALIFORNIA CLIMATE LAW Voters to decide on California global warming law SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ An initiative that seeks to suspend California's landmark global warming law until unemployment drops will appear on the November election ballot. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified the initiative on Tuesday. The California Jobs Initiative seeks to delay the state's global warming law until the unemployment rate falls from its current rate of 12.4 percent to 5.5 percent or lower and stays there for a year. The 2006 law, known as AB32, seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California and impose new requirements on utilities, manufacturers and other businesses. Oil companies funded the drive to put the initiative on the November ballot. It is backed by business groups who say the law could cost jobs and lead to higher energy prices. STATE BORROWING Calif certifies initiative to ban local fund raids SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ California's secretary of state has certified a ballot initiative to ban the state from raiding local funds even in a fiscal crisis. The Secretary of State's Office on Tuesday announced that a fifth question will appear on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. The initiative seeks to prohibit the state from taking or borrowing local government and transportation funds under any circumstances. Right now the state can take funds during a fiscal emergency if it agrees to pay them back. Despite earlier protections passed by voters under Proposition 1A, the state continues to raid local funds to help fill its budget gap. The League of California Cities and the California Transit Association are among the groups that back the initiative. SACRAMENTO POLICE Sacto Council votes to fund 30 police officers SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ The Sacramento City Council is aiming to put 30 new officers on the street with the approval of $6 million to fund more police. The council voted Tuesday to spend the money over the next three years to hire the new officers. Mayor Kevin Johnson said he had a goal of employing 2 police officers for every 1,000 city residents. He said the current number is 1.5 officers for every 1,000. City officials say the first $3.6 million to pay for new officers will come from parking fees and a refund on city-purchased land for which an arbitrator ruled the city overpaid. The city will have to find another way to raise $2.4 million after June 2012 to fund the remaining officers. ___ Information from: The Sacramento Bee, http://www.sacbee.com BUS STOP KILLING Man arrested in killing of teen by police station OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) _ Oakland police have arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of fatally shooting a teenager at a bus stop just yards away from a police substation. Officer Jeff Thomason says 18-year-old Ricardo DePalm of Oakland was arrested after 17-year-old Damon Williams was fatally shot around 5 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of the Eastmont Mall. Thomason says the teenager was shot by one of three men during an argument at a bus stop. The men fled as Williams collapsed and died in the mall parking lot where the police department's Eastmont substation is also located. DePalm was arrested at his home on suspicion of murder after an officer spotted him running from the scene and a witness later identified him. Police are still looking for the other two suspects. ___ Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle RENTAL CAR DEATHS-LAWSUIT Jury awards $15M in rental car deaths lawsuit SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) _ An Alameda County jury has awarded $15 million in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Enterprise Rent-A-Car by the parents of two sisters who died in a crash involving one of the company's cars. The parents of 24-year-old Raechel Houck and her younger sister, Jacqueline, say Enterprise never completed repair work on the PT Cruiser that Raechel rented from a company office in Capitola. A recall notice from the manufacturer warned the power steering hose on the car could leak. Experts hired by the family concluded that Raechel lost the ability to steer and crashed into a big rig in October 2004 because of leaking power steering fluid. The sisters were traveling north on Highway 101 near Bradley. Enterprise acknowledged in May that it was negligent. The jury awarded the damages on June 9. ___ Information from: Santa Cruz Sentinel, http://www.santacruzsentinel.com RECYCLING AUDIT Audit: Calif. recycling program full of errors SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) _ California's state auditor has found trouble within the state's recycling program. In a report released Tuesday, state Auditor Elaine Howle found that the state's beverage container recycling program overstated its projected balance by $158 million in the governor's budget. In addition to miscalculations and ineffective management, the audit said the state has failed to investigate and aggressively pursue underpayments from beverage distributors. The fund is intended to encourage recycling of bottles and cans. The audit raises more doubts about a plan by Assembly Democrats. They have proposed borrowing billions using the recycling program as part of complex scheme to prevent deeper budget cuts. Attorney General Jerry Brown's office has questioned whether the plan passes legal muster because it appears to violate Proposition 58, the state's ban on budget borrowing. CELL PHONE RADIATION San Francisco supes pass cell phone radiation law SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has approved a new law requiring cell phone retailers to post the amount of radiation emitted from their phones. The board voted 10-1 Tuesday to approve a first-of-its-kind ordinance requiring stores to disclose the specific absorption rate, or SAR, of each phone they sell. The measure is backed by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is expected to sign it within 10 days. Opponents say the city is responding to unfounded concern over cell phone radiation. Whether or not the radiation produced by cell phones causes cancer or other health problems is still a matter of debate among scientists. Advocates say they hope the labels will dissuade consumers from buying higher-radiation phones until the science is clearer. ATT-IPHONE AVAILABILITY AT&T not selling iPhone 4 until June 29 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Apple stores will be carrying the iPhone 4 this Thursday, but you'll have to wait until next week if you want to buy it from its official U.S. wireless carrier, AT&T Inc. AT&T says that it will start selling the iPhone 4 on June 29 through its stores and website to anyone who wants to buy one but was not able to order on June 15 _ the first day that Apple and its partners took orders for the gadget. AT&T stopped taking orders the next day due to overwhelming demand. AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook said that because the number of early orders for the new iPhone were so high, the company "made it our priority to fulfill these orders first." PEOPLE-KINKADE Painter Kinkade pleads not guilty to DUI charge SALINAS, Calif. (AP) _ Painter Thomas Kinkade has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop in Carmel. The 52-year-old, charged under the name William Thomas Kinkade, was arrested June 11 during a routine traffic stop. California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Lehman said Kinkade smelled of alcohol and failed a field sobriety test. He was released from jail the next day after posting bail. Kinkade's lawyer entered the not guilty plea in Monterey County Superior Court on Tuesday on his client's behalf. Attorney John Coniglio asked the judge delay a pretrial hearing until July 29 to allow him to retest a blood sample taken from Kinkade the night of his arrest. The artist, famous for scenes of cottages, country gardens and churches in dewy morning light, was not present in court. ___ Information from: The Monterey County Herald, http://www.montereyherald.com (c) 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |