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The man was swimming in Manzanita Lake on June 25 when he was bitten by a female river otter, park spokesman Kevin Sweeney told The Times on Tuesday. The man was hospitalized with “significant injuries,” including scratches and puncture wounds that caused bleeding, but they did not appear to be life threatening, Sweeney said. It is unclear what prompted the incident, but officials believe that the man may have gotten too close to the female otter’s kittens, prompting her to aggressively react.

CHP estimated between 40 and 50 students, from kindergarten to 5th grade, were on the bus when it was stopped. Officials said it was one of those children who called 911 to report Ray’s driving through the Diablo Grande neighborhood. Ray was charged with DUI and child endangerment, according to KTXL. CHP won't know what type of substance they believe Ray was under the influence of until tests results come back. The Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District said Ray works as a subcontractor for First Student Transportation. That company declined to comment on her arrest. It’s unclear whether Ray will...

PLEASANTON — What birthday would be complete without a song? And to help celebrate 100 years of the Boy Scouts of America, hundreds of packs and troops obliged Friday with their own version. Scouts from throughout Northern California kicked off the Northern California 100th Anniversary Jamboree opening ceremony with their own chant at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Members from as far south as Yosemite to as far north as the Oregon border belted out: "We got spirit, yes we do. We got spirit, how about you?" The chant grew in volume and enthusiasm as it snaked its way from one...

PLACERVILLE (CBS 5 / AP) ― Police shot and killed a woman who stole an ambulance and led them on a chase before ramming three patrol cars. Placerville Police Chief George Nielsen says she was posing a danger to officers because she was using the ambulance as a weapon. He says it began Sunday when the woman, who was about 40 and wearing hospital gown, left Marshall Hospital through an emergency room entrance and drove away in an ambulance.

Just had a sudden sharp quake here

We want to thank you for visiting our website! We plan on bringing some of the most prolific and beautiful warbird / air racer vintage aircraft to Petaluma to be hosted by the sponsors on Sunday Nov 11 between 8:30 A.M. and 2 P.M. The sponsors are cordially invited to view aircraft up close and personal. You will have a chance to meet active test pilots, air racers, airshow performers, and veterans who have served our country to preserve freedom. Between 1-2 P.M. you will have a chance to see these beautiful aircraft take to the skies for formation fly...

Charges dropped against ex-San Jose Mayor Gonzales, aide GuerraBy Rodney Foo and Barry Witt Mercury News Article Launched: 06/12/2007 02:35:32 PM PDT All charges against former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his aide Joe Guerra were dropped by a Santa Clara County District Court judge. The charges, including bribery, stemmed from a deal with trash hauler NorCal Waste Systems Inc. Charges against Norcal were also thrown out. Judge John Herlihy signed an order Monday dismissing the charges. In the order, Herlihy cited errors given to the grand jury as grounds for throwing out the entire indictment against Gonzales and...

Any other Freepers in the Bay Area just feel the small earthquake. According to early reports, it was a 3.4 on the Richter Scale. I'm in Berkerkely and felt a quick jolt but nothing too bad (considering I'm from LA).

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James C. Emerson today ordered the release of more than 2,500 pages of transcribed testimony given over several months this year to the grand jury that indicted San Jose's mayor on six criminal felony counts. Fifty-five pages of the transcripts were sealed, including the testimony of Mayor Ron Gonzales and his chief aide, Joe Guerra. The release of the transcripts represents the latest chapter in a yearlong scandal that has roiled San Jose City Hall during a mayoral election year. The issue has generated two major investigations, an unprecedented censure of the mayor by...

As much as 17 percent of the grand jury testimony that led to the criminal indictment of Mayor Ron Gonzales, his top aide and Norcal Waste Systems should remain under seal because it could prejudice potential jurors or be inadmissible at trial, lawyers for the defendants say. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Emerson was set to hear the lawyers' request to keep portions of the testimony secret Thursday. While lawyers for Gonzales and his aide, Joe Guerra, submitted an identical list of transcript sections they want sealed that amounts to about seven full pages, Norcal's attorneys asked that...

The Teamsters union on Thursday defended the $11 million garbage contract that led to the indictment of Mayor Ron Gonzales. Gonzales is accused of pressuring Norcal Waste Systems Inc., into using the Teamsters - instead of a lower-paid union - at a recycling plant. Prosecutors allege he then secretly agreed to help the trash contractor recoup the extra labor expenses at a taxpayer expense. Union officials said at a news conference on Thursday that there was never a "secret" deal. "How can I be in a secret deal when I went and testified before the entire city council and we...

A majority of San Jose City Council members now say Mayor Ron Gonzales should resign his post and the council has scheduled a meeting for next week to discuss removing him from office or stripping him of power. And Councilman Chuck Reed this morning asked the council to rescind the $11.25 million contract amendment to Norcal Waste Systems that is at the root of the city's garbage scandal. Meanwhile the political fallout from Thursday's arrest of Gonzales and his budget aide, Joe Guerra, continued. Councilwoman Nancy Pyle joined five council colleagues in calling for Gonzales to step down. ``I will...

Mayor Ron Gonzales rejected calls to step down after he was booked on fraud, bribery and conspiracy charges from a grand jury probe into a secretly negotiated garbage contract. Gonzales, 55, was released on a $50,000 bond after being indicted on six counts Thursday for allegedly brokering a backroom deal that cost taxpayers more than $11 million. He refused to resign his post and continued to deny any wrongdoing in the scandal that has dogged him for nearly two years. "The people of San Jose elected me to be the mayor of this town, and I am going to be...

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his top budget aide Joe Guerra were arrested and released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's department this morning, according to Deputy Sheriff Serg Palanov. Although the grounds for arrest were not immediately known, it came amid a civil grand jury investigation related to the two men's behind-the-scenes actions from 2000 to 2005 to help Norcal Waste Systems get an $11.25 million contract amendment after it underbid the labor component of its winning bid to collect trash for 155,000 San Jose residents. Allen Ruby, a lawyer for Gonzales, did not immediately return a call...

Mayor Ron Gonzales was indicted by a county grand jury Thursday on six counts, his office said, but the allegations were not immediately clear. Prosecutors have said they were investigating whether Gonzales committed any crime for secretly negotiating a trash hauling contract with Norcal Waste Systems that cost taxpayers an additional $11.25 million in labor costs. Neither authorities nor Gonzales could immediately be reached for comment, but the mayor's office said he and aide Joe Guerra posted bail Thursday morning. Guerra's lawyer, Alan Lagod, hadn't seen an indictment, but said his client and the mayor "self-surrendered at the sheriff's department...

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his top budget aide Joe Guerra were arrested and released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's department this morning, according to Deputy Sheriff Serg Palanov. Although the grounds for arrest were not immediately known, it came amid a civil grand jury investigation related to the two men's behind-the-scenes actions from 2000 to 2005 to help Norcal Waste Systems get an $11.25 million contract amendment after it underbid the labor component of its winning bid to collect trash for 155,000 San Jose residents.

Any day now, San Jose citizens are expected to learn whether a civil grand jury or the county's top prosecutor believe any crime was committed when Mayor Ron Gonzales helped trash hauler Norcal Waste Systems secure an $11.25 million contract amendment in December 2004. --snip-- Although the grand jury operates in secrecy, it is widely understood that the group has been investigating whether Gonzales or others received any improper payments or campaign contributions, or committed other crimes in helping Norcal get the contract amendment to pay for unanticipated labor costs. Some of the subpoenas, for instance, included requests for any...

GUERNEVILLE, Calif. (AP) - Northern Californians focused Monday on cleaning up a mess of mud and debris swept into city streets and over roadways by two powerful winter storms as the heavy rain moved into Southern California, prompting flash flood watches for areas left blackened by recent wildfires. Initial estimates put the damage throughout Northern California at more that $100 million. Meanwhile, authorities continued to repair and monitor several levees that had either breached, cracked or overtopped from the San Francisco Bay area to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, causing flooding and evacuations of dozens of residents. The break in the...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The first in what is expected to be a series of drenching winter storms has prompted flood warnings and swelled Northern California rivers to their highest levels in seven years. Warnings went into effect across the northern half of the state after the first storm swept through Tuesday and Wednesday. Steady downpours and rising rivers led to an evacuation, scattered power outages, and flooded roads and parks. Water district officials in Sacramento closed a flood gate on the American River as a precaution. "It's been several years since we've had this widespread of flooding, and we're not...

San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales said he was trying to be a ``get-it-done kind of mayor'' when he failed to tell his colleagues on the City Council that there was a labor problem with a Norcal Waste Systems contract that ended up costing the city an extra $11.25 million. Gonzales made his comments today, his first attempt to explain his motives in the controversial Norcal matter, before the city council took up the issue of whether to level the city's first-ever censure of a mayor. ``I've always tried to carry myself as a get-it-done kind of mayor,'' said Gonzales in...