Morning Wrap: 5/6/11

Experts sound alarm on SF pension reform lobbying, a $2 billion surge in tax receipts, molester priest sentenced for a “spiritual massage,” a little dog emerges from the rubble of a fire-ravaged SoMa hotel, plus more inside.

• Accused serial murderer Joseph Naso told a Marin judge that he wants to represent himself at trial so as not to go broke paying for an attorney. Contra Costa Times
• The broker who put together the naming rights deal for Oakland’s coliseum stands to make more money--$375,000—in the first year of the deal than the city itself. The Bay Citizen
• California’s high speed rail authority delayed until June 2 considering a plan to abandon building elevated tracks through the peninsula in favor of integrating the project into the existing Caltrain system. KQED News
• State officials are reporting an unexpected surge of $2 billion in tax receipts, which may complicate Gov. Jerry Brown’s approach to solving the remaining $15 billion budget deficit. L. A. Times
• The Bay Citizen reports that in a push to get a pension-reform measure on the ballot this fall San Francisco’s public employee unions are lobbying for a change in accounting procedures that experts say could cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars.
• A Salinas priest was sentenced to a year in jail for molesting a teenage boy during a so-called “spiritual massage.” Monterey Herald
• Saint Mary’s College broke ground on a new baseball stadium to be tied in with a future center for aquatics and other sports and which is to be named for alum and late San Francisco mayor Joseph Alioto. Contra Costa Times
• Scientists are expressing concern that sea levels, which have fallen on the West Coast in recent years, could surge in coming years because ocean levels appear to be entering a new phase in a long-term cycle. The Bay Citizen
• California counties and school districts could have broad authority to impose their own income taxes and other taxes under a bill that moved through a state Senate committee Wednesday. Chronicle
• Out of the rubble and surviving a fire that destroyed the four-story residential Park Hotel in the SoMa district: a frightened Chihuahua. Chronicle
• San Francisco-based Gap fired its head clothing designer, Patrick Robinson, in a bid to reverse the brand’s weak sales. SF Business Times
• State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) is pushing a bill to give San Francisco and Daly City more control over what events take place at the state-owned Cow Palace. Examiner
• A blue ribbon panel of biologists, engineers and others criticized a draft plan for a peripheral canal for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as poorly conceived and lacking scientific rigor. Chronicle
• The president of Modesto Junior College is resigning after posting racy song lyrics on his personal website, including a line comparing a trip on Amtrak to a train ride to Auschwitz. AP
• DNA evidence links the 1981 murders of a Santa Barbara County couple to a serial killer and rapist who terrorized several rape victims in Contra Costa County and who was never caught, officials say. Contra Costa Times
• Chronicle parent Hearst reached a deal with Apple to sell subscriptions to a range of its magazines through iTunes. Wall Street Journal
• About 200 family members, friends and colleagues gathered at Oakland Police Headquarters Thursday to pay tribute to the 51 Oakland police officers who have died in the line of duty since 1867. Oakland Tribune
• The Warriors’ Stephen Curry won the Joe Dumars Trophy presented to the NBA player who best exemplifies sportsmanship. AP