Top of the morning’s news
- Occupy Oakland protesters, back in control of Frank Ogawa Plaza, were debating whether to organize a citywide general strike with the aim of shutting down the city Nov. 2. Oakland Tribune
- Mayor Jean Quan, whose role in connection with the protests has come under fire, shifted into damage control Thursday, asking hospitalized protestor Scott Olsen and other demonstrators to cooperate with police investigating Olsen’s head injury. Oakland Tribune
- Gov. Jerry Brown’s pension reform proposals would require public employees to pay more, cut benefits for those hired in the future and raise the retirement age for most new public workers from 55 to 67. LA Times
- Quick view of the particulars. LA Times
- KRON 4, Young Broadcasting’s flagship San Francisco TV station, has placed its 1001 Van Ness Avenue building on the sales block and hopes to move into smaller quarters elsewhere sometime next year. Rich Lieberman 415 Media; SF Business Times
- For the third time in eight days, San Francisco’s Ethics Commission raised the limit on the amount of money mayoral candidates and independent political groups can spend, to $1.77 million, with the cap likely to go even higher before Election Day. The Bay Citizen
“He was standing perfectly still, provoking no one.”-- Oakland filmmaker Raleigh Latham, describing 24-year-old Marine Scott Olsen, who was critically injured by a police projectile at 14th and Broadway during the Occupy Oakland protest Tuesday.
Other news
- A federal judge ruled Thursday that San Francisco’s ordinance requiring cell-phone dealers to warn customers about radiation from their products goes too far, and ordered the city to soften its message and stop requiring retailers to post it on their walls. Chronicle
- Mark Lugo, the New Jersey man caught on video with a stolen Pablo Picasso sketch from a Union Square gallery, pleaded guilty to the crime and was sentenced to 16 months in jail with credit for 256 days he has already been incarcerated. Chronicle
- A state audit released Thursday shows lax oversight has resulted in sex offenders living, working or being present in at least 39 California homes where foster children are also authorized to live, including several in the Bay Area. Chronicle
- Scientists have traced a tree fungus that has plagued the world’s forests to Monterey cypresses in California. The Bay Citizen
- The California Transportation Commission gave initial approval to authorizing 290 more miles of combined carpool lanes and toll lanes in the Bay Area. Contra Costa Times
- Defending West Coast Conference basketball co-champion St. Mary’s was picked to finish second behind Gonzaga this season in a preseason poll of conference coaches. BANG
- An apologetic Richmond city manager Bill Lindsay said he considers an embarrassing row in which city workers refused to cooperate with police investigating a gang fight at City Hall to be resolved. Contra Costa Times
