Morning Wrap: 3/17/10

Yelp's problems grow, Jamarcus Russell diets, Whitman by a whisker, protection for the red-legged frog and more after the jump.

• Mayor Newsom's idea of maybe changing the city charter to let voters choose his successor if he should win the lieutenant governor's race appears dead in the water. Chronicle
• A state appeals court ruled that a 15-year-old boy whose Web site was flooded with anti-gay slurs can sue a school-mate who sent him menacing messages. Chronicle
• That decoupling of a BART train in the Transbay Tube on Tuesday has BART officials scratching their heads. Chronicle
• Jamarcus Russell reports to the Raiders camp--slimmed down and in shape. Oakland Tribune
• A fake friar pleaded not guilty to molesting a Daly City boy. Santa Cruz Sentinel
• In an early Field Poll, Whitman trounces Poizner, edges Brown. Sacramento Bee 
• A judge awards a San Francisco attorney a rare $7,000 judgment in a case against an email spammer. Chronicle 
• After 10 years of wrangling, the feds designated 1.6 million acres in Northern California be set aside to protect the endangered red-legged frog. Sacramento Bee 
• A Fremont mom gives birth standing up in her bathroom with the help of two of her children. Oakland Tribune
• Yelp's troubles expanded as nine more plaintiffs, including several from the Bay Area, joined a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming misconduct by the online review site. SF Business Times 
• NPR and the Wall Street Journal are building iPad only Web sites. NYT