A murder suspect who led officers on a high-speed chase with his dead girlfriend in the passenger seat is a central figure in the investigation of at least four killings, authorities said Wednesday. Efren Valdemoro, 38, was shot and killed by California Highway Patrol officers Tuesday night after refusing to drop a meat cleaver, CHP spokesman Sgt. Trent Cross said.

Calfire has now fully contained a small grassfire that motorists on I-80 could see near American Canyon. Firefighters got the call at 3:10 p.m. Wednesday from a resident on Palazo Way saying there was a fire burning behind his home.  About 100 firefighters worked on the blaze.  Authorities canceled a call for air tankers.  Crews will remain in the area overnight looking for hot spots.  No buildings were damaged

With light winds and warm temperatures predicted to linger throughout the Bay Area until the end of the week, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has declared Thursday another Spare the Air day, the fourth of the summer. Air quality officials believe that ground-level ozone pollution will continue to be unhealthy on Thursday and are asking Bay Area residents to consider making adjustments to their driving habits to help prevent producing more smog.

Four years ago, Hamed Mirabdal endured a violent attack that left him permanently injured.  In July, a piece of evidence from the attack was mailed back to his mother, and now police are hoping to find the sender and authenticate the item so it can be introduced at trial. On July 13, Mirabdal's mother received a manila envelope at her Orinda home with no return address.

AC Transit officials are proposing to cut weekend bus service nearly in half and make other reductions to improve the agency's bleak financial outlook. Agency officials will present their proposal at an AC Transit board of directors workshop Wednesday afternoon.

Concord police are asking for the public's help in identifying what appear to be several brass irrigation fixtures that were recovered Thursday at a local recycling center, Concord police Lt. Jim Lardieri said, According to police, the fixtures appear to be new and do not look like they have been installed anywhere, Lardieri said.

A Solano County judge Monday morning sentenced a man convicted of killing Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia to 50 years to life in prison.  Several of Garcia's family members and Fairfield Mayor Harry Price addressed the defendant, Henry Don Williams, in the Vallejo courtroom of Judge Robert Bowers at an emotional hearing that lasted about an hour.

San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey and immigration rights advocates are renewing their call to allow San Francisco to opt out of a new federal fingerprint reporting program aimed at criminals suspected of being in the country illegally. Federal immigration officials said they would consider the request.

A Nevada travel agent who sued United and Continental airlines to block their merger testified in federal court in San Francisco Wednesday that she joined the case because she feared higher fares and reduced flights. Jan Marie Brown of Carson City, Nev., is one of 49 people who filed an antitrust lawsuit in June seeking to stop the proposed combination of the nation's third- and fourth-largest airlines.

With light winds and warm temperatures predicted to linger throughout the Bay Area until the end of the week, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has declared Thursday another Spare the Air day, the fourth of the summer. Air quality officials believe that ground-level ozone pollution will continue to be unhealthy on Thursday and are asking Bay Area residents to consider making adjustments to their driving habits to help prevent producing more smog.

Apple Inc. announced a smaller, cheaper version of its Apple TV device for streaming movies and television shows over the Internet and into the living room. It also unveiled a new line of iPods, including a touch-screen Nano model.  The new Apple TV announced Wednesday will only let people rent, not buy, content.

A Qantas jet headed for Australia returned safely to San Francisco International Airport early Tuesday after a problem with one of the engines forced pilots to turn back.  Flight 74, carrying 212 passengers and a crew of 18, left San Francisco for Sydney at 11:05 p.m. PDT Monday and returned at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, San Francisco airport duty manager Carol Spear said.

The amount of raw sewage that spilled into the Redwood Shores Lagoon last week when an underground pipe ruptured is expected to be much greater than was initially estimated, a city spokesman said Monday.The pipe ruptured near Davit Lane and Anchor Circle at about 3 p.m. Wednesday and was not repaired until around 10 p.m. Thursday.

Warning signs are up at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica after witnesses report seeing a shark in the area. Pacifica police say several people reported seeing a large shark attacking a sea lion about 200 yards west of the Taco Bell Restaurant at about 1:00 p.m. Monday. Authorities say two men went up and down the coast in a boat after the sightings warning surfers and swimmers to get out of the water.

California lawmakers want to put a plug in the earsplitting roar from modified motorcycles. The state Senate on Monday voted 21-16 to pass SB435. The bill makes it a crime to operate a motorcycle manufactured after Jan. 1, 2013, that fails to meet federal noise-emission control standards. Motorcyclists whose vehicles lack the proper U.S. Environmental Protection Agency label would be subject to a fine.

Police are investigating a suspicious fire that appears to have caused a woman to jump out a window of a Tenderloin apartment and sent a man to the hospital with serious burns early Sunday morning. Fire officials believe the two-alarm fire started on a mattress in an apartment on that floor.

With light winds and warm temperatures predicted to linger throughout the Bay Area until the end of the week, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has declared Thursday another Spare the Air day, the fourth of the summer. Air quality officials believe that ground-level ozone pollution will continue to be unhealthy on Thursday and are asking Bay Area residents to consider making adjustments to their driving habits to help prevent producing more smog.

The suspect in a robbery at an Exchange Bank branch in Santa Rosa last week surrendered to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office on Monday night, Santa Rosa police said. Darrell Stafford, 49, turned himself in at about 10 p.m. Monday and was arrested for the Aug. 23 robbery, Sgt. Steve Fraga said.

The widow of slain custom guitar maker Taku Sakashita described in Sonoma County Superior Court Monday afternoon her search for her missing husband at his workplace and area hospitals in February.  Kavuko Sakashita's testimony came at the trial of 29-year-old Joshua Begley, who is charged with murdering Taku Sakashita, 43, during a robbery and burglary. Begley is also charged with burglary, robbery, evading police and resisting arrest.

Coast Guard officials say three people were transported to the hospital after being rescued from their disabled fishing boat off Point Reyes. Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read says four people reported being stranded Sunday night after a wave struck their 42-foot boat, breaking a window and causing electrical problems.

With light winds and warm temperatures predicted to linger throughout the Bay Area until the end of the week, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has declared Thursday another Spare the Air day, the fourth of the summer. Air quality officials believe that ground-level ozone pollution will continue to be unhealthy on Thursday and are asking Bay Area residents to consider making adjustments to their driving habits to help prevent producing more smog.

A public meeting will be held Wednesday night by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority to hear the community's opinions on the process of the BART extension to San Jose. The meeting is an opportunity for the community to comment on changes to the design and implementation of the project, which will bring BART to downtown San Jose from its current end point in Fremont.

Apple Inc. announced a smaller, cheaper version of its Apple TV device for streaming movies and television shows over the Internet and into the living room. It also unveiled a new line of iPods, including a touch-screen Nano model.  The new Apple TV announced Wednesday will only let people rent, not buy, content.

Police are investigating a home invasion robbery in Palo Alto on Friday in which a 78-year-old man was attacked and tied up. The robbery was reported at about 3:30 p.m. at a single-story house in the 3100 block of Morris Avenue, Brown said. The victim answered a knock on his door and was confronted by three men, said Lt. Sandra Brown.

Police arrested a man in connection with the April attack and robbery of a woman at the Gilroy Premium Outlets after he turned himself in last week on an unrelated burglary warrant. Jaime Baldenegro, a 31-year-old Gilroy resident, turned himself in at the Police Department on Thursday, police said. The following day, a warrant was issued for his arrest at Santa Clara County's main jail after detectives linked him to a robbery on April 21, police said.

Food and Drug Administration investigators have found rodents, seeping manure and even maggots at the Iowa egg farms believed to be responsible for as many as 1,500 cases of salmonella poisoning. FDA officials released their initial observations of the investigations at Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms on Monday.

Police investigating a shoot-out in a parking lot found two men dead, with shots in the head, and one woman injured. Investigators say it's too early to say whether the late-Saturday shooting in San Jose was gang-related. It appears the altercation happened when two groups ran into each other at a complex parking area.

Police have arrested a 25-year-old San Jose man in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman in the city Friday night. Gannon Crediford was taken into custody overnight as a suspect in the shooting death of a 28-year-old woman in the 1000 block of Morris Court, San Jose police Sgt. Ronnie Lopez said.

Firefighters responded to a one-alarm fire in a home in South San Jose Sunday morning and uncovered a marijuana grow operation, a fire captain said. Units went to the 4000 block of Plainfield Court where fire had been reported in the garage of a split-level home at around 6:45 a.m., San Jose fire Capt. Chuck Rangel said.