Top of the morning’s news
- The Senate unanimously passed a pipeline safety bill late Monday after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) lifted a hold that had blocked the legislation for weeks. Chronicle
- Hearst, whose numerous properties include the Chronicle, plans to open an office in Beijing to tap into China’s magazine market. SF Business Times
- The Pac 12 conference, headquartered in Walnut Creek, is in talks to move its new television and marketing division, Pacific-12 Enterprises—to San Francisco. SF Business Times
- Gannett Co., which publishes USA Today and is the nation’s largest newspaper chain, reported a severe decline in quarterly ad revenue. Chicago Tribune
- Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi is crafting a San Francisco law to be introduced today that would give employers a tax break for hiring convicted felons. Chronicle
- Some Bay Area House members are having trouble raising reelection money. Oakland Tribune
- At least 65 Palo Alto residents were sent vote-by-mail ballots for San Jose by mistake. Mercury News
- The founder and director of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana has joined a Libertarian Party-backed effort to place a November 2012 initiative on the ballot that would enable marijuana to be regulated like wine. Marin IJ
- President Obama nominated former federal prosecutor Paul Watford, 44, of Pasadena, a Cal alumnus, to serve on the 9th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Oakland Tribune
“No, I think there’s no reason for an apology. Apologies always seem to me like excuses.”-- 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, on Monday, when asked about “the handshake” that almost triggered a melee after the team’s win at Detroit Sunday.
- Scott Ostler says, “Politeness is poisoning sport. Jim Harbaugh is the antidote.” Chronicle
- The three former UC Berkeley hikers held captive in Iran made an appearance before anti-Wall Street protesters in Oakland. Chronicle
- Three days after a gang brawl left blood all over a Richmond city office, police can’t identify the suspects because their city co-workers won’t cooperate with the investigation. Contra Costa Times
- Wells Fargo & Co. reported a 21 percent increase in third-quarter earnings, with net income of $4.1 billion. SF Business Times
- Once again, California ranks near the bottom—at 46th—on per capita K-12 education spending among states. California Watch
- Three alleged marijuana growers were arrested in the shooting death of a man in Healdsburg. Chronicle
- Tri Delta Transit, a public bus company in East Contra Costa County, sent eight of its 11 board members plus three staffers to New Orleans for a conference and billed $21,250 to taxpayers. One board member paid her own way. Contra Costa Times
- More than 1.7 million passengers rode the Capitol Corridor inter-city trains in the last year, shattering ridership and revenue records. Sac Bee
