Top of the morning’s news
- A sudden explosion was likely responsible for the death of San Francisco firefighter Vincent Perez, 48, killed fighting a house fire Thursday in the Diamond Heights neighborhood. The Bay Citizen
- New York Times editor Bill Keller is stepping down Sept. 6 to become a writer at the newspaper and will be replaced by managing editor Jill Abramson. NYT
- KGO Radio talker Gene Burns, who’s had health problems lately, fell and was attended by paramedics while prepping for his show Wednesday night, but did the show anyway. Rich Lieberman
- Glenn Beck’s last day on Fox News will be June 30. Mediaite
- State Attorney General Kamala Harris named Larry Wallace, her former deputy chief of investigations in the San Francisco DA’s office, as the state Justice Department’s top cop. Political Blotter
- Jerry Brown says he’ll likely ask federal judges for more time to reduce the prison population by 30,000 inmates, as ordered by the Supreme Court. PolitiCal
- State Controller John Chiang says lawmakers will have to go without a paycheck after June 15 if they don’t pass a balanced budget within the next two weeks. Chronicle
- The Assembly passed, 42-1, a bill to impose rate regulation on health insurers after Republicans walked out of the chamber in protest. It goes to the Senate. Sac Bee
- Family and friends will hold a vigil from 7 to 9 tonight at the Hayward cul-de-sac where missing nursing student Michelle Le’s car was found shortly after she disappeared a week ago. Oakland Tribune
- In the aftermath of that controversial Jonestown memorial’s unveiling in Oakland, some Jonestown survivors are accusing others of reviving the late Jim Jones’ cult. The Bay Citizen
- The state’s pandering law applies to a pimp who tries to hire away a prostitute working for someone else, the state Supreme Court ruled. Chronicle
- Anthony Josef Norris, the founder and director of Kid Serve, a non-profit that provides art lessons to Bay Area children, was charged with possession of child pornography. Examiner
- Three Bay Area hospitals face fines of $50,000 each for medical errors that endangered patients. The Bay Citizen
- Pandora, the Oakland-based music streaming service, pegged the offer price of its planned IPO at between $7 and $9 a share, which would give it a valuation of at least $1.2 billion. SF Business Times
- Child acrobat and juggler Morgan Pinney, 12, of Mill Valley, starts a 7-week tour of New England with Vermont-based Circus Smirkus next week. Marin IJ
- Muni says it’s investigating why a light rail operator didn’t let people off the outbound K-T train after a passenger became ill and started vomiting. KTVU 2
- Chloe Veltman at The Bay Citizen says the musical adaptation of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” at American Conservatory Theater “presents a version of San Francisco steeped in tired nostalgia.”
- Contra Costa County DA Mark Peterson has scheduled a 2 o’clock news conference to announce a “major development” in the county’s ongoing police corruption probe. Contra Costa Times
