A San Mateo County Superior Court judge will decide Monday morning whether a 26-year-old man who murdered East Palo Alto police Officer Richard May in 2006 will receive the death penalty or life in prison without the chance for parole. On Dec. 22, 2009, jurors in Redwood City recommended the death penalty for Alberto Alvarez after convicting him Nov. 25, 2009, of first-degree murder with the special circumstance of killing a peace officer for fatally shooting May. The judge imposed a sentence of death by lethal injection on 26-year-old Alberto Alvarez, found guilty of first degree murder with special circumstances for the 2006 slaying of Officer Richard May. (Read More...)

T he father of one of two Vallejo teenagers arrested for the brutal beating of a city worker last week was shot to death outside his Fairgrounds Drive home overnight. Police called to the 400 block of Fairgrounds Drive above Interstate 80 around 12:30 a.m. suffering a gunshot wound to the head. Matthew Allen Hicks, 42, of Vallejo was found shot in the head outside his girlfriend's house on the 400 block of Fairgrounds Drive shortly before 12:50 a.m., police and relatives said. (Read More...)

A San Francisco Municipal Railway bus struck a fire hydrant Sunday evening and caused flooding to at least one nearby building after an incident in which a customer was injured after falling from the extended wheelchair lift of the vehicle, a Muni spokesman said. At about 5:45 p.m., a customer was exiting from an electric trolley bus traveling south on the 22-Fillmore line after the vehicle had stopped at the intersection of Fillmore and Haight streets, spokesman Judson True said. While Muni has not issued any comment or service alerts either to the media nor via 511, AlertSF says that as of 6:55 PM, there will be a " Traffic disruption for the next 2 hours at Fillmore and Haight. (Read More...)

T he report, obtained through the state Public Records Act, alleges that Mercury Insurance Group may have violated Proposition 103, the landmark consumer protection law approved by voters in 1988. The measure limited the cost of policies and made civil rights and antitrust laws apply to the insurance industry. The documents, which cover the firm's practices from the mid-1990s to 2004, are the state's most recent completed investigation of the company. (Read More...)

T he San Francisco nightclub near Fisherman's Wharf, where a 19-year-old man was shot and killed early Sunday morning has been shut down by the city. A San Francisco police spokesman tells KCBS it wasn't a department decision, but confirmed that the Suede Nightclub and Lounge on Bay Street is shuttered. An armed security guard who serves as a member of the San Francisco Special Patrol fired the shot that killed Hall, police said. (Read More...)

A SuperLotto Plus ticket purchased in San Jose is worth $20 million from Saturday night's draw, according to California State Lottery officials. The ticket was purchased at a 7-Eleven at 1335 S. Bascom Ave. Its winning numbers are 19, 29, 36, 37 and 41, and the Mega number is 20. Tickets worth $600 or more cannot be claimed at the retailer where purchased and must be submitted with a claim form either by mail or lottery headquarters or in person at any lottery district office. (Read More...)

A common indoor air chemical reacts with residues of tobacco smoke clinging to clothing, skin and surfaces to form potent carcinogens, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory reported in a study published Monday. A few years ago, researchers began paying closer attention to the potential health effects of "thirdhand smoke," which is a thin layer of toxic substances from tobacco smoke that settles on surfaces long after cigarettes have been extinguished. The study released Monday by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that third-hand smoke is especially dangerous when nicotine comes into contact with a common indoor pollutant typically found in household gas appliances. (Read More...)

D aly City police are investigating a fatal hit-and-run in which a man was intentionally struck by a sport utility vehicle after a fight outside a pizza restaurant late Sunday, a police sergeant said. At about 8 p.m., a fight began at a Little Caesar's Pizza restaurant near the intersection of King Drive and Callan Boulevard, Daly City police Sgt. David Mackriss said. The fight, involving two pairs of people, moved out into the street where a SUV struck one of the combatants and killed him. (Read More...)

T his weekend, the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame will host the Twilight Convention Tour, based on the popular teenage vampire love story. Some of the highlights of the three-day event, which begins Friday, include on-stage appearances by celebrities from the films, panel discussions, themed parties, a vampire ball, musical performances, costume and trivia competitions, auctions and autograph and photo opportunities. The three-day event will feature some stars from the hit movies (namely Dr. Carlisle Cullen) but none of the actors who signal the onset of puberty for so many young girls. (Read More...)

L ocal Teamsters are playing the "transit first" card on 7,000 downtown parking spots that are owned by Caltrans. According to the union president, the daily cost of one of those spots is less than a roundtrip BART ticket, which ends up encouraging driving - so those parking lots should be used for tree farms or public art instead. The Teamsters Union is calling for the closure of more than a dozen downtown parking lots it claims have cost the city $7 million in lost revenue that is supposed to support Muni. (Read More...)

F rench nuclear company Areva announced Monday it is acquiring Ausra, a Mountain View-based concentrated solar thermal startup backed by several Silicon Valley venture capitalists. The deal effectively launches Areva's first foray into the often volatile solar energy business, which has been hampered recently by the credit squeeze and the high cost of financing utility scale projects. Areva, which is owned by the French government, is already heavily invested in offshore wind, biomass and hydrogen storage and had been actively shopping for a solar partner. (Read More...)

U .S. Rep. John Murtha, an influential critic of the Iraq War whose congressional career was shadowed by questions about his ethics, died Monday. In 1974 Murtha, then an officer in the Marine Reserves, became the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress. One of Congress' most hawkish Democrats, he wielded considerable clout for two decades as the ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee that oversees Pentagon spending. (Read More...)

A 21-year-old male UC Santa Cruz student was found dead in a shallow ditch next to the railroad tracks near Almar Avenue on Sunday morning. The student apparently died from a severe head wound suffered when he slipped down the gravel embankment and struck his head, Santa Cruz police said. A concrete culvert runs under the tracks where the man was found, and there was blood on the rocks and culvert. (Read More...)

A drunken Super Bowl bet led to an argument late Sunday that ended with a man dead from a gunshot wound to the head, police said. An autopsy has ruled out foul play in the death of Guadalupe Jose Becerra Jr., 28, of Antioch, but investigators said it remains unclear how he was shot. Police were called to a home in the 900 block of San Carlos Drive about 10:45 p.m. and found Becerra dead out front, Lt. Leonard Orman said. (Read More...)

T he first killing was reported at 7:23 p.m. Sunday on the 850 block of Mead Avenue in West Oakland, said Officer Jeff Thomason, a Police Department spokesman. When officers arrived, they found the victim lying on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound, Thomason said. Emergency medical personnel responded to the scene and the victim was transported to a local hospital, where he died from his wounds. (Read More...)

T he Santa Clara City Council Tuesday is poised to finalize a June ballot measure for the proposed $937 million stadium for the San Francisco 49ers, but backers of the stadium campaign would like to draw up a new play first. City staffers have proposed a multi-layered question for the voters that asks whether the city should approve the stadium deal, a final stage in getting the measure on the June 8 ballot. A new poll indicates a majority of Santa Clara residents are opposed to using public money to pay for part of the cost of building a new 49ers stadium. (Read More...)

T he woman, whose name has not been released, was found by her daughter on the floor of a detached garage on the 300 block of Driftwood Lane about 10:50 p.m. Sunday, police Lt. Bill Scott said. Police are treating as suspicious the death of an 87-year-old woman, who patrol officers found Sunday night dead on the floor of her garage. Patrol officers visited the residence in the 300 block of Driftwood Lane, which is near the Bay Farm Island Bridge that links Alameda with Oakland, about 10:49 p.m. after the woman's daughter reported she had not spoken with her mother for some time and was concerned about her welfare.

F irefighters this afternoon battled a huge warehouse fire in East San Jose that sent towering plumes of smoke into the air that could seen throughout much of the South Bay. More than 90 firefighters from the San Jose and Santa Clara County fire departments were called in to fight the four-alarm blaze, which destroyed an abandoned, graffiti-scarred warehouse at Dobbin Street and North King Road. In addition to the huge plumes of smoke, flames from the blaze shot up 20 to 30 feet, Kouns said. (Read More...)

T he U.S. Maritime Administration knew in 1997 that paint falling off its obsolete ships anchored in Suisun Bay could cause toxic pollution, yet took no action for more than a decade while denying a problem existed, according to federal documents. Cleanup was called "essential" in a 1997 memo that stated, "Environmental precautions must be recognized to the fullest extent". An unsigned, internal memo recently obtained by the Contra Costa Times said in 1997 that cleanup of the ships was "essential". (Read More...)

T he California State Auditor's Office today pushed back Friday's deadline to apply for a seat on the new Citizens Redistricting Commission because of increased interest during the past two weeks. "The recent surge in applications leads me to believe that many more Californians who may want to take advantage of the opportunity are just now tuning into the opportunity," state Auditor Elaine Howle said in a prepared statement this morning. The auditor's office will select 60 people - 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans and 20 nonpartisan voters - from which the 14 members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission will be selected. (Read More...)

A 53-year-old Santa Rosa man was arrested Sunday after resisting arrest and striking a police officer in the face with a tree branch, police said. Gregory Allen Berg was arrested following the incident, which began about 11:55 a.m. when officers responded to the city's Doyle Park, located off of Doyle Park Drive, after a report of a suspicious subject, according to police. After contacting Berg, the officer tried to detain him in handcuffs, but Berg became combative, police said. (Read More...)

S ays Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, "There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view". In any event, though no brouhaha over Walker's orientation is likely to explode over this Chron piece, you can bet that if the Prop 8 proponents lose the federal case, Walker's homosexuality will be front and center in their arguments on appeal. Turns out 9th District Court of Appeals Judge Vaughn Walker, who is currently considering testimony in the closely watched marriage-rights case regarding the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, is himself gay. (Read More...)