State employment officials are seeking a $33 million grant from  the federal government to help thousands of workers who will likely lose  their jobs when the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont  closes next month. The state Employment Development Department is anticipating that  more than 4,700 auto workers employed at the NUMMI plant will lose their  jobs, as well as perhaps 24,000 others employed by direct and indirect  suppliers of the company.

California energy regulators say they will soon begin investigating new Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meters that some customers have blamed for higher energy bills. The California Public Utilities Commission said Monday it expects to name a consultant later this week to probe the accuracy of the meters. The digital SmartMeters send information about a household's gas and electric use to the company through wireless signals.

Replacement workers are providing health care services to inmates at Alameda County jails while 140 workers have walked off the job to demand a new contract. The members of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers say they will be off the job for just one day but it's unclear if they'll be welcome back on Wednesday.

Contra Costa County sheriff's detectives arrested four people over  the weekend in connection with the December homicide of 18-year-old Martinez  resident Eric Bean, sheriff's spokesman Jimmy Lee said Monday. A passerby found Bean's body on Dec. 21 along McEwen Road in a  remote area west of Martinez. He had been strangled and beaten on the head.

A four-month old girl remains on life support but her father already faces murder charges for allegedly shaking the child. 26-year old Jose Arevalo was arraigned Monday on murder charges in Hayward.  He remains in the Santa Rita jail without bail.

Oakland police say an eight-year old girl who claimed she was the victim of an attempted abduction made the whole thing up. The child told police she was standing in front of Eres Academy near Foothill Boulevard and 42nd Avenue when a man pulled up in a black van and tried to pull her into the vehicle.

PG&E workers are hoping to have all of the lanes of Ygnacio Valley Road in Walnut Creek open by late afternoon after an early morning accident knocked down a power pole. Authorities say a woman driving a sedan hit the pole at about 2:00 a.m. Monday.  She wasn't hurt.  Investigators say it does not appear she was intoxicated on alcohol or other drugs.

Nearly 50 Bay Area schools are on an incomplete list of poorly performing campuses in a new report from the California Department of Education. The list includes schools in the all nine Bay Area counties except Napa. The state is listing the schools as "persistently low-achieving."  That's defined using a complex formula.

Piedmont residents are asking police why a convicted sex offender is being allowed to live near an elementary school in the wealthy East Bay suburb. Piedmont Acting Police Chief John Hunt says 71-year-old James Donnelly registered with police shortly after his Feb. 2 release from federal prison after serving time for possession of child pornography.

The suspect in a Vallejo homicide who was arrested in Pennsylvania on Friday has been extradited back to the Bay Area and will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Solano County Superior Court. Ellis Gabriel Ross, 21, was booked into Solano County jail late Sunday. He is being held without bail for the murder of 36-year-old Marico Whitemon, of Vallejo, outside Parkway Liquors at 1601 Lewis Brown Road on Feb. 6.

A San Francisco supervisor is taking aim at the salaries of the city's public transit drivers. Sean Elsbernd has drafted a ballot proposal that would eliminate a provision in the city charter guaranteeing Municipal Transportation Agency drivers the second-highest salaries of any transit operators in the country. Elsbernd submitted it to the city attorney's office Monday for review.

California energy regulators say they will soon begin investigating new Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meters that some customers have blamed for higher energy bills. The California Public Utilities Commission said Monday it expects to name a consultant later this week to probe the accuracy of the meters. The digital SmartMeters send information about a household's gas and electric use to the company through wireless signals.

Caltrain service has returned to normal while police investigate the discovery of a body near the South San Francisco station. Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn says the remains were found between two Union Pacific freight cars on a siding next to the tracks.  It remains unclear if the victim was struck by a train or suffered any other trauma.

A runaway tow truck that had been unloading a car onto a steep, rain-soaked street damaged 10 parked cars and temporarily shut down San Francisco Municipal Railway service Monday morning in the city's Inner Sunset neighborhood. The incident took place at Third Avenue between Irving Street and Parnassus Avenue at about 10:30 a.m., police spokesman Officer Samson Chan said.

Nearly 50 Bay Area schools are on an incomplete list of poorly performing campuses in a new report from the California Department of Education. The list includes schools in the all nine Bay Area counties except Napa. The state is listing the schools as "persistently low-achieving."  That's defined using a complex formula.

A 37-year-old man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison in  accordance with a plea deal related to a series of robberies in San Mateo  County last year, including the robbery and sexual assault of a gas station  employee in San Bruno.

The San Francisco school board is set to vote on a new policy to address controversy over how students are assigned to public schools. The plan scheduled for a vote Tuesday is aimed at simplifying a complex system put in place in 2002 that attempts to increase school diversity by considering a student's family income, preschool experience and other socio-economic factors.

A fire caused about $400,000 in damage to a home in Menlo Park's Sharon Heights neighborhood Saturday afternoon, Menlo Park Fire Protection District Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said. The single-alarm blaze was reported at 4:35 p.m. at a home in the 900 block of Continental Drive, Schapelhouman said.

Contra Costa County prosecutors have charged three men in connection with the alleged kidnapping of two people and rape of one of them after they asked for a ride home from a San Francisco nightclub. Senior Deputy District Attorney Dara Cashman says Robert McNeally, Dameon Spragans and Derrick Ware are being held on $10 million bail after being charged with kidnapping, rape, gun enhancements and other counts Friday.

A federal magistrate is ordering several gay rights groups that campaigned against California's 2008 same-sex marriage ban to furnish some internal memos and e-mails to lawyers for the measure's sponsors. U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero issued the order Friday as part of the first federal trial to examine if the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from outlawing gay marriages.

California energy regulators say they will soon begin investigating new Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meters that some customers have blamed for higher energy bills. The California Public Utilities Commission said Monday it expects to name a consultant later this week to probe the accuracy of the meters. The digital SmartMeters send information about a household's gas and electric use to the company through wireless signals.

A Santa Rosa man with 13 previous DUI convictions, seven of them  felonies, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison Monday in  Sonoma County Superior Court for his latest offense. Robert James Feenan, 50, was arrested Nov. 20 after his vehicle  collided with another vehicle on state Highway 12 and Stony Point Road, the  Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said.

Nearly 50 Bay Area schools are on an incomplete list of poorly performing campuses in a new report from the California Department of Education. The list includes schools in the all nine Bay Area counties except Napa. The state is listing the schools as "persistently low-achieving."  That's defined using a complex formula.

Officials at a wild animal preserve in Santa Rosa are celebrating the birth of a baby giraffe at the preserve. Officials at Safari West say the calf was more than 6 feet tall and weighed abut 130 pounds when it was born Thursday. Staff members say the baby Masai giraffe, named "Stretch McCovey," was up and walking within an hour after being born.

The suspect in a Vallejo homicide who was arrested in Pennsylvania on Friday has been extradited back to the Bay Area and will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon in Solano County Superior Court. Ellis Gabriel Ross, 21, was booked into Solano County jail late Sunday. He is being held without bail for the murder of 36-year-old Marico Whitemon, of Vallejo, outside Parkway Liquors at 1601 Lewis Brown Road on Feb. 6.

A 25-year-old Santa Rosa man was arrested for animal cruelty Saturday night after allegedly beating a dog with a stick, according to police. Police said witnesses heard Todd L. Naus strike the animal, causing head and eye trauma and possibly fracturing its jaw. At about 10:30 p.m., police were notified of someone beating a dog in the 700 block of Wilson Street, according to Santa Rosa police.

Vacaville police say three suspects have been arrested in connection with an apparently gang-related shooting Friday night that left a 17-year-old boy dead and a 15-year-old boy seriously injured. Vacaville police Sgt. Jeff King said callers told police that a group of young men armed with handguns fired multiple shots on a group of people in the 100 block of Meadows Drive.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Bay Area cities will get $1.7 million in grants aimed at fighting gang violence. Schwarzenegger said a total of more than $9.2 million is being awarded to 24 cities throughout the state under his California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention initiative.

The U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is announcing that  California will receive $83.9 million in stimulus funds for transit  improvements. In the Bay Area, the biggest recipients of the funds are the San  Francisco Municipal Railway, which will receive $18.2 million to rebuild and  perform preventive maintenance on light rail vehicles, and BART, which will  get $17 million for railcar and station equipment improvements.

Stanford University is looking into bringing back the Reserve Officer Training Corps nearly 40 years after the the program was forced off campus. University officials say a faculty committee will study the possibility of inviting the ROTC back to Stanford. The ROTC was phased out at Stanford in 1970 after the Vietnam War sparked student protests against the military and the draft.

State employment officials are seeking a $33 million grant from  the federal government to help thousands of workers who will likely lose  their jobs when the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont  closes next month. The state Employment Development Department is anticipating that  more than 4,700 auto workers employed at the NUMMI plant will lose their  jobs, as well as perhaps 24,000 others employed by direct and indirect  suppliers of the company.

California energy regulators say they will soon begin investigating new Pacific Gas and Electric Co. meters that some customers have blamed for higher energy bills. The California Public Utilities Commission said Monday it expects to name a consultant later this week to probe the accuracy of the meters. The digital SmartMeters send information about a household's gas and electric use to the company through wireless signals.

Caltrain service has returned to normal while police investigate the discovery of a body near the South San Francisco station. Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn says the remains were found between two Union Pacific freight cars on a siding next to the tracks.  It remains unclear if the victim was struck by a train or suffered any other trauma.

Nearly 50 Bay Area schools are on an incomplete list of poorly performing campuses in a new report from the California Department of Education. The list includes schools in the all nine Bay Area counties except Napa. The state is listing the schools as "persistently low-achieving."  That's defined using a complex formula.

Santa Cruz police are warning residents about questionable  door-to-door soliciting practices that have been occurring recently in the  city. In the past two weeks, the Police Department has been alerted to  multiple instances of male solicitors going door-to-door asking for money to  fund a sponsored photography trip or communications study to Europe.

Fire officials no longer consider a fatal fire in a San Jose home Friday night to be suspicious. San Jose fire Capt. Robert Culbertson says an 87-year-old woman was found dead after an explosion in her single-story home around 6:40 p.m. Friday. Culbertson says fire investigators are trying to find the cause of what he termed was a "significant explosion" but don't think the blast was intentionally set.

Los Gatos school officials are hoping voters will cast their ballots in favor of a bond measure to help pay for a new school and make improvements to other schools. With enrollment in the Los Gatos Union School District expected to grow by 21 percent over the next six years, the district's board of trustees voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of placing the $30.9 million bond measure on the June 8 ballot.

The man who opened fire in front of the Pentagon had a history of mental illness and had become so erratic that his parents reached out to local authorities weeks ago and warned them that their son was unstable and might have a gun, authorities said Friday. It's still unclear why John Patrick Bedell opened fire Thursday at the Pentagon entrance and shot and wounded two police officers before he was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that Bay Area cities will get $1.7 million in grants aimed at fighting gang violence. Schwarzenegger said a total of more than $9.2 million is being awarded to 24 cities throughout the state under his California Gang Reduction, Intervention and Prevention initiative.