Top of the morning’s news
- The House passed a spending bill that excludes funding for California’s high speed rail project for the 2012 fiscal year, with the Senate expected to follow suit, casting doubts on the ultimate scope of the project that is to begin construction in the Central Valley next year. Chronicle
- Commuter Times, the tabloid distributed mainly for ferry passengers and that has been dormant since August, is resuming publication under new ownership. Marin IJ
- Mitt Romney holds a 27 to 20 percent lead over Herman Cain among California Republicans, according to a USC/LA Times poll. Political Blotter
- Herman Cain will soon have a U. S. Secret Service detail, which would make him the first GOP presidential candidate with such a level of protection. LA Times
“He made comments worthy of exploring.”-- LA County sheriff Lee Baca, referring to the captain of the boat Natalie Wood was on when she drowned off Catalina Island in 1981, and why an investigation into her death is being reopened.
Other news
- A veteran Vallejo police officer was shot and killed by a bank robbery suspect after a chase. Chronicle
- Classrooms were empty at Cal State East Bay Thursday as hundreds of faculty rallied over a pay dispute, budget cuts and the Cal State system’s leadership. Mercury News
- BART announced plans to start replacing cloth seats on trains with easier to clean Vinyl ones next spring. The Bay Citizen
- Also, BART is moving ahead with plans to run buses between stations after midnight in lieu of trains to expand service. Contra Costa Times
- The family of slain nursing student Michelle Le, who worked for months to keep her in the public eye, has formed an organization aimed at helping find other people who have disappeared. Hayward Daily Review
- A fugitive who allegedly rigged a robot dog with a bomb that killed a San Jose college student a decade ago has been arrested in Venezuela and faces extradition on murder charges that could carry the death penalty. Mercury News
- Death row inmate Brandon Wilson, 33, who senselessly killed 9-year-old Matthew Cecchi of Oroville in a park restroom in 1998, committed suicide at San Quentin. AP
- A Stockton schoolteacher accused of maintaining a pornographic website from her school-issued laptop was suspended from her job. AP
