Top of the morning’s news
- The governor signed the budget into law, but not before making line item veto cuts, including $234 million that was largely to be directed to high-speed rail, and that could also jeopardize BART’s project to replace aging rail cars. Chronicle
- Police and the family of missing nursing student Michele Le refuted as false a San Diego television station’s report that phone calls were made from her cell phone after her disappearance from a Hayward hospital parking garage during a class break. Oakland Tribune
- Staffers at New York’s Village Voice narrowly averted a strike after a last-minute, tentative agreement was reached last night. AP
- The tiff between Meg Whitman and former Utah governor and presidential aspirant John Huntsman continued, with a spokesman for Huntsman saying: “If I were advising Meg Whitman, I would recommend she not brag about losing elections.” Chronicle Politics Blog
Image: Santa Rosa Press-Democrat
- Daniel Walsh resigned as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa after a rocky decade in which the diocese has been embroiled in controversies related to priestly sex abuse. KTVU 2
- Mayor Jean Quan cast the deciding vote late last night and a divided Oakland City Council passed a budget that preserved libraries and fire stations while imposing furlough days on most city staffers. Oakland Tribune
- Golden Gate Ferry workers called off their intended one-day strike that had been scheduled today with little immediate explanation. BANG
- A hiker was killed and another was missing after they were swept away while trying to cross a bridge spanning a waterfall near Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite. Chronicle
- Sixty-seven San Jose police officers turned in their badges Thursday after being laid off due to budget cuts. AP
- A woman who jumped on the BART tracks at the Glen Park Station in an apparent suicide attempt survived when the train rolled over her as she lay between the rails. Chronicle
- In the wake of fresh budget cuts, the chancellor of the Cal State system will ask trustees to increase tuition by 12 percent. The Bay Citizen
- Oakland Police intend to change deployment to infuse more officers into East Oakland, the city’s highest crime area, The Bay Citizen reports.
- San Jose Assistant Police chief Dian Urban was named Hayward’s new police chief. Mercury News
- Thirteen cities and a half dozen special districts have sued Contra Costa County, saying the county is improperly making them repay taxes they never received to refund Chevron for over-assessing its Richmond refinery. BANG
- The NBA lockout officially began and the Chronicle’s Rusty Simmons says the Warriors’ plans for dealing with it are all over the map.
