Oakland police handed out more than 250 flyers Friday morning to  remind residents the department is still looking for leads in the hit-and-run  incident that killed 11-year-old Alana Williams on Oct. 16. Williams was a sixth grader at Frick Middle School when she was  killed nearby at a four-way stop at 64th Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

In protest of fee hikes approved by the UC Board of Regents on Thursday, students occupied buildings at both University of California  at Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz on Friday. A UC Berkeley spokesman said the students began occupying Wheeler  Hall, located just east of Sproul Plaza, between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.

Beginning in 2010, BART will offer free $50 tickets to active duty  military personnel who are in the Bay Area on leave from the wars in Iraq or  Afghanistan. BART is the first major transportation agency in the nation to  offer free tickets to members of the military on leave from fighting in  Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan,  according to agency officials.

The BART board of directors voted Thursday not to give any part of a  $2 million lighting improvement project for two stations to a longtime  associate of the troubled Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland. The BART board voted on Oct. 23 to have Nedir Bey and his firm,  Solar Eclipse, of Oakland, do lighting improvement work at the North Berkeley  station and have LINC Lighting & Electrical Group, of San Jose, do  improvement work at the 12th Street/Oakland City Center station.

A 19-year old Berkeley man is in jail facing charges in connection with the January murder of a Danville teenager. Walter Bell was arrested at the Santa Rita Jail as he was preparing to be released on unrelated charges.  He is being held without bail on murder and robbery charges in the death of 17-year old Rylan Fuchs.

Former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle's murder trial will take place in Los Angeles County. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson ordered the trial moved to L.A. Thursday.  He had earlier granted the defense's change of venue motion after hearing evidence that it would have been difficult to find an impartial jury in the Bay Area.

Fees for University of California students will be rising over the next two years.  The U.C. Board of Regents voted to approve a finance committee report calling for the fee increases despite loud protests from thousands of U.C. students across the state. The vote to approve the fee increase came after regents defeated a proposal to eliminate the hikes for graduate students.

Inmates at the Marsh Creek Detention Facility near Clayton have  been designing and handcrafting toys that will be given to children in Contra  Costa County this holiday season, Contra Costa County Sheriff's spokesman  Jimmy Lee said. About 115 student-inmates have participated in the project  throughout the year, designing and handcrafting more than 1,100 toys,  including 170 refurbished bicycles, Lee said.

A big rig carrying organic blood orange soda is back upright after overturning during the Thursday morning commute spilling the liquid onto the roadway. The overturn happened on an on-ramp to westbound I-80 at Buchanan in Albany.  While some crews worked to upright the vehicle, others put down sand to prevent the soda from flowing into storm drains that empty in the Bay.

A parole agent who oversaw the man accused of kidnapping and raping Jaycee Dugard has been transferred for the safety of him and his family. California corrections department spokesman Gordon Hinkle says the agent and his family were moved to a new location after he was publicly identified. His children had to be taken out of school because of threats, Hinkle said Wednesday.

Beginning in 2010, BART will offer free $50 tickets to active duty  military personnel who are in the Bay Area on leave from the wars in Iraq or  Afghanistan. BART is the first major transportation agency in the nation to  offer free tickets to members of the military on leave from fighting in  Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan,  according to agency officials.

A San Francisco defense attorney's private investigator has been arrested for witness intimidation for allegedly telling a shooting  victim and a lead prosecution witness in his attacker's case last month that  he would be arrested if he showed up to court to testify.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is asking the heads of all city  departments to trim their budgets by 20 percent, and prepare to cut an  additional 10 percent, after his office projected a $522.2 million general  fund deficit for the coming fiscal year. The news from the mayor's budget office means potentially severe  cutbacks to services, as well as layoffs, though Newsom today pledged to  protect public safety.

Talk about a freak - Tim Lincecum needed just 15 wins to bag another NL Cy Young Award. Yup, throw out those old baseball cards. Wins and losses don't mean much anymore when it comes time for voters to pick baseball's best pitchers. It's all about WHIP, FIP, BABIP and other lines of alphabet soup.

Fees for University of California students will be rising over the next two years.  The U.C. Board of Regents voted to approve a finance committee report calling for the fee increases despite loud protests from thousands of U.C. students across the state. The vote to approve the fee increase came after regents defeated a proposal to eliminate the hikes for graduate students.

Caltrain will operate on a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving and run  a modified Saturday schedule the day after, traditionally one of the busiest  shopping days of the year. On Thanksgiving, Caltrain will run 28 trains between San Francisco  and San Jose, with shuttle service to the Tamien station in San Jose, agency  spokeswoman Christine Dunn said. Caltrains will not operate south of San Jose on Thanksgiving, she  said.

Students, faculty and staff at City College of San Francisco  participated in a lunchtime rally Wednesday, protesting ongoing cuts to classes,  including major reductions in summer school classes. Administrators and organizers estimated about 200 people turned  out for the noon rally at Conlan Hall at the Ocean Beach campus.

A federal lawyer who was prevented from enrolling his same-sex spouse in his government-sponsored health plan must be reimbursed the cost of outside insurance and other medical expenses, a California judge ruled Tuesday. Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stephen Reinhardt said Brad Levenson, a public defender in Los Angeles, is entitled to the money because the Office of Personnel Management refused to authorize health coverage for Levenson's husband of 16 months.

The entrances to U.C. Santa Cruz are back open after hundreds of students and staff members blocked the roadways leading to the campus as part of a series of  protests against proposed tuition and fee hikes. KRON 4's Rob Fladeboe says about 300 picketers blocked both primary entrances to the campuses. Police monitored the protests but no arrests were made. .

State inspectors say an oil spill that sent hundreds of gallons of bunker oil into San Francisco Bay was caused by a fuel tank that overflowed during a morning refueling stop. In investigating the Oct. 30 spill from the Dubai Star, officials with the California Office of Spill Prevention also determined that crew members didn't notice the tank was overflowing until the oil had already leaked into the bay.

The board of the Vallejo City Unified School District is postponing a decision on which schools must be closed because of  declining enrollment and loss of revenue from reduced state funding until December 16th. The announcement of the postponement came at the third community  forum on the issue attended by several hundred people Thursday night at Hogan  High School where a decision was expected.

The Tiburon Town Council on Wednesday night unanimously approved  the installation of still cameras that will photograph the license plates of  vehicles at the town's two entry points. Police Chief Michael Cronin has said the cameras will serve as an  investigative tool for solving crimes. He spoke in favor of them again during  the 80-minute discussion last night, Town Manager Peggy Curran said.

Fees for University of California students will be rising over the next two years.  The U.C. Board of Regents voted to approve a finance committee report calling for the fee increases despite loud protests from thousands of U.C. students across the state. The vote to approve the fee increase came after regents defeated a proposal to eliminate the hikes for graduate students.

The second of two men charged with shooting toward a crowded bus  stop in March 2006, injuring two teens, pleaded no contest Thursday in Sonoma  County Superior Court to attempted murder. Luis Guerrero-Lopez, 22, also pleaded no contest to assault with a  deadly weapon and being a member of a street gang, and agreed to a prison  term of 23 years. He will be sentenced in January.

The entrances to U.C. Santa Cruz are back open after hundreds of students and staff members blocked the roadways leading to the campus as part of a series of  protests against proposed tuition and fee hikes. KRON 4's Rob Fladeboe says about 300 picketers blocked both primary entrances to the campuses. Police monitored the protests but no arrests were made. .

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Office arrested a Sebastopol man  Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of sexually assaulting his female neighbor  Monday. AuThe woman was attacked near her residence in the area of state  Highway 116 South and Cooper Road in Sebastopol around 2:30 p.m., Sgt. Cecile  Focha said. The woman fought off her assailant and screamed.

The crane that collapsed onto a northwest Santa Rosa house during  a tree removal operation Monday afternoon was removed from the residence  around 3 p.m. Tuesday. The crane will remain on Molly Court for a day or two until it's  deemed safe to move but two other cranes that were used in the removal  operation are leaving the residential neighborhood, said Santa Rosa Fire Department Battalion Chief Andy Pforsich.

A Novato man missing since last week has been found dead on a Marin County beach. Golden Gate National Recreation Area spokeswoman Ozola Cody says the body of David Allan Scott was found around 8 a.m. Monday on a stretch of rocky shoreline near Muir Beach.

The heads of California's public university systems say they need more money from the state - a lot more. University of California President Mark Yudof says the 10-campus system needs a $913 million increase in state funding next year. Meanwhile, California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed is recommending asking for an increase of $884 million for 2010-11.

Three men were arrested last week after they allegedly beat a victim with beer bottles until he was knocked unconscious at a party in Petaluma on  Oct. 9, according to police. On Tuesday, police arrested Nicholas Pandolfi, 19, at his home in  Petaluma. At about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, police arrested Petaluma residents  Bradford Fowler, 19, and Michael Fowler, 18, at separate locations near  downtown Petaluma.

In protest of fee hikes approved by the UC Board of Regents on Thursday, students occupied buildings at both University of California  at Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz on Friday. A UC Berkeley spokesman said the students began occupying Wheeler  Hall, located just east of Sproul Plaza, between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.

San Jose officials have ordered a review of about 200 police department cases to determine if officers have used excessive force while attempting to make arrests. The review by the city manager, independent police auditor and the city auditor was unanimously approved on Thursday by the Public Safety Committee. It comes on the recommendation of Mayor Chuck Reed and in response to growing concerns about the use of force by San Jose police.

A 20-year-old man was killed in an apparent drive-by shooting in  East Palo Alto Thursday afternoon, according to police. Officers went to 2524 Illinois Avenue at about 4:50 p.m. after the  Police Department's Shotspotter system notified them of gunshots in the area,  according to police.

A 35-year-old man who was shot in the face while sitting in the  front seat of a parked car in East Palo Alto last week remains hospitalized  in critical condition. The shooting at about 5:50 p.m. Nov. 12 in the 2100 block of  Lincoln Street also injure hospital the following day. The  other victim, who was initially listed in grave condition, has since  undergone surgery and remains critical, according to Sanchez.

San Jose city and transit officials are dreaming of a more  bike-friendly city that could become reality for residents as soon as next  spring.  City Council members adopted a comprehensive bicycle plan this  week that within the decade aims to reduce car lanes and expand bike lanes  from 300 to 500 miles, increase the percentage of commute trips from 1 to 5  percent, reduce bike collisions by 50 percent and add 5,000 bike parking  spaces.

Education leaders gathered in San Jose Thursday with the singular  message that further budget cuts could have perilous effects on California's  classrooms. "While other states are celebrating American Education Week, we're  here grasping at final straws of funding in California," said Scott  Shulimson, a former fourth-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School and  president of the Franklin-McKinley Education Association.

Fees for University of California students will be rising over the next two years.  The U.C. Board of Regents voted to approve a finance committee report calling for the fee increases despite loud protests from thousands of U.C. students across the state. The vote to approve the fee increase came after regents defeated a proposal to eliminate the hikes for graduate students.

Two homeless men have been arrested for allegedly raping and robbing a 13-year-old girl whom they met in a Gilroy park. Police say the victim met 29-year-old Cresencio Blas and 49-year-old Benancio Leon at Christmas Hill Park and spent several hours talking to them while using various intoxicants Wednesday evening.

Caltrain will operate on a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving and run  a modified Saturday schedule the day after, traditionally one of the busiest  shopping days of the year. On Thanksgiving, Caltrain will run 28 trains between San Francisco  and San Jose, with shuttle service to the Tamien station in San Jose, agency  spokeswoman Christine Dunn said. Caltrains will not operate south of San Jose on Thanksgiving, she  said.

The entrances to U.C. Santa Cruz are back open after hundreds of students and staff members blocked the roadways leading to the campus as part of a series of  protests against proposed tuition and fee hikes. KRON 4's Rob Fladeboe says about 300 picketers blocked both primary entrances to the campuses. Police monitored the protests but no arrests were made. .