www.sfgate.com/news/baycitynews -> www.sfgate.com/news/baycitynews/
One victim was shot in the head and the other was shot in the chest. The victims are being uncooperative, according to police, who say they do not have any suspect information. About 40 same-sex couples will celebrate their relationships or marriages this weekend at a reception at First Congregational Church in Santa Cruz. The church, which credits itself as being "open and affirming'' to people of all races, ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientation, is providing the cake and flowers for the reception that will follow an interfaith blessing ceremony. Ministers from First Congregational Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, New United Methodist Church, United Christian Campus Ministry of the University of California, Santa Cruz and Temple Beth El all plan to participate. According to church leaders, the idea for the reception came from two members of the First Congregational Church Choir - a Santa Cruz couple that was married in San Francisco in February. In addition to the same-sex couples and congregation members, local notables like Santa Cruz Mayor Scott Kennedy and state Assemblyman John Laird are expected to attend along with other local leaders. A 24-year-man was killed and three people injured in what police say may have been a gang-related shooting at a birthday party in Salinas Friday night, according to Salinas police spokesman Vincent Maiorana. Abel Pimental was shot multiple times in the upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene. Gustavo Valtierra, 23, was shot in the stomach and legs, and Alejandro Diaz, 25, was shot in the right arm. Both were taken to Natividad Medical Center and are listed in stable condition, according to Maiorana. A 14-year-old who was hit by a bullet after it ricocheted was also taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries, police said. Arnold Schwarzenegger encouraged Israeli entrepreneurs to do business in California, and introduced five companies that have already agreed to do so. Four of the five companies are planning to relocate or expand in the Bay Area, and will create hundreds of new jobs as they do so, according to officials with the governor's office. The four companies are SANRAD, an Internet storage and networking company, Magal Security Systems, Netline Communications Technologies, and the Internet security firm ForeScout. Officials say that SANRAD will relocate its worldwide headquarters to Alameda, creating 300 new jobs for residents of the area. Magal will expand operations in Fremont, and will hire 250 state residents to make and sell its high-tech security monitors. Netline will partner with Santa Cruz-based Life Safety Systems to design equipment for soldiers that prevents bombs from being triggered remotely by cell phones, officials say. The partnership will bring 60 new jobs to Santa Cruz, according to the governor's office. ForeScout will be expanding operations in San Mateo, where 30 new employees will be hired to help build a service that stops Internet hackers. The fifth company, Israel's Arad Technologies, will partner with Sacramento-based USCL Corp. Officials say the partnership will bring 200 new jobs to the Sacramento area. In all, more than 800 new jobs will result from agreements with these five companies, officials say. Pleasanton police report they are investigating the death of an 18-month old girl who was found not breathing in her home Saturday morning. Saturday from an apartment in the 4000 block of Vineyard Avenue. Upon arrival at the apartment, police, personnel from the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department and American Medical Response paramedics attempted to revive the little girl, to no avail. The girl has been identified as Jasmine Vonghon by Alameda County Coroner Deputy Elizabeth Clark. Clark said an autopsy on Vonghon will be performed Sunday morning. Pleasanton police say they are looking into the circumstances surrounding Vonghon's death. Anyone with information or inquiries should contact Detective Sgt. A 21-year-old Emeryville man who was killed Saturday morning after his car crashed into a utility pole and careened into a ditch on Interstate Highway 880 near Oakland has been identified as Nicholas Daniel Butala, according to Alameda County Coroner's Investigator Norma Contreras. Butala was not wearing his seatbelt and alcohol may have been a factor in the crash, Contreras said. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, introduced legislation this week that would authorize the issuance of commemorative coins honoring the San Francisco Old Mint, the city's oldest stone structure. Pelosi introduced the San Francisco Old Mint Commemorative Coin Act, which would create the first coin to honor a United States Mint, according to a spokesman for Pelosi. The Granite Lady survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, and immediately afterward, was the only financial institution in San Francisco that was able to operate, according to officials. The San Francisco Old Mint is famous for having struck many rare, legendary issues, such as the 1870-S $3 coin, which today is worth more than $1 million, according to officials. Proceeds from the commemorative coin's issuance would support the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society's rehabilitation of the San Francisco Old Mint, officials say. The rehabilitation project includes a 40,000 square foot San Francisco History Museum, a 10,000 square foot Coin and Gold Rush Museum, the city's Official Visitor Center, a restaurant, shops, museum offices and an education center that will open in early 2007, according to officials. A Bakersfield man who has spent 18 years behind bars may soon see freedom again thanks to the efforts of a group of Santa Clara University law students and attorneys. Attorneys for the Northern California Innocence Project at SCU's School of Law are working to free John Andrew Stoll, who they believe was wrongly convicted of 17 counts of child molestation in 1984. According to the university, five witnesses who testified against Stoll in a Kern County courtroom when they were young boys have since recanted their stories that he had molested them while working as a building contractor. One witness reportedly said he has little memory of his childhood and no memory of Stoll molesting him. A sixth witness, Stoll's son, still contends he was molested by his father. The men took the stand in Kern County Superior Court in January to say their stories of sexual abuse were lies and that they had been coerced by law enforcement officials into making false allegation against Stoll. The Northern California Innocence Project and the California Innocence Project are representing Stoll and presenting the newly discovered evidence that they say supports his claim of innocence, according to SCU officials. Kern County Superior Court Judge John Kelley is expected to rule on the evidence next Friday. If Stoll is not released from prison, he will be eligible for parole in January 2005. The Northern California Innocence Project and the California Innocence Project are part of the National Innocence Network of similar projects nationwide. Innocence Project students work alongside practicing criminal defense lawyers to seek the release of convicted inmates who maintain their factual innocence. A bill designed to curb the number of pedestrian deaths on 19th Avenue in San Francisco may soon become law. Assembly Bill 2568 would designate a section of the avenue from Junipero Serra Boulevard to Lake Street as a double fine zone. San Francisco has the highest rate of pedestrian deaths of any county in California, according to Yee. From January 1990 through December 2001, there were more than 9,000 pedestrian injuries and more than 200 pedestrian deaths in San Francisco, according to Yee's office. Pedestrians comprise more than half of the traffic-related fatalities in San Francisco, while in other cities, pedestrian deaths on average account for 12 percent of such fatalities, according to officials. Yee indicated that he believed a double fine zone, combined with other safety improvements by the city, would significantly reduce the number of injuries and fatal collisions. The Bay Area is expected to be mostly sunny ...
|
http://csua.com/feed/