Top of the morning’s news
- Police began moving in to clear the Occupy Oakland encampment early this morning, after three warnings over the weekend that the eviction was imminent. Oakland Tribune
- UC Berkeley’s police chief is interviewing witnesses and reviewing video to see if any officers should be disciplined for unwarranted use of force during last week’s efforts by Occupy Cal protesters to set up an encampment in Sproul Plaza. AP
- A Caltrans technician responsible for crucial tests to ensure the safety of the new Bay Bridge East Span is under investigation for falsifying test results on other projects, the Sacramento Bee reports.
- CNN is laying off about 50 editorial staffers, many of them at its Atlanta headquarters. PaidContent
- Journalists working for Chinese and Japanese media from San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York are not reporting on protests by worshipers of the Falun Gong sect at an economic forum in Honolulu out of fear of retaliation by their censors in China, the journalism site Honolulu Civil Beat says.
- Michele Bachman, who’s been stuck at about 4% in the polls, claimed media bias against her based on a CBS staffer’s email that suggested she wouldn’t get many questions at Saturday’s GOP debate because “she’s nearly off the charts.” LA Times
- Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Petaluma) is asking the GOP chairman of a powerful committee to drop a probe into alleged scientific misconduct by the National Park Service involving Marin County’s largest oyster farm. Marin IJ
"You hear the graphic allegations and we know that would have been something that's totally disrespectful of her as a woman. And I know the type of person he is. He totally respects women."-- Gloria Cain, wife of embattled presidential aspirant Herman Cain, in an interview to air today.
Other news
- Scott Olsen, the Iraq War veteran who suffered a serious head injury during the Oct. 25 police raid on Occupy Oakland protesters, was released from the hospital. AP
- BART will likely wait until 2013 to ask voters to approve a tax to replace aging train cars. Contra Costa Times
- An SFPD officer was slashed with a razor and another officer’s cheek was cut in a clash with Occupy San Francisco protesters Saturday. Contra Costa Times
- The woman who died after her Land Rover went off a steep embankment in Mount Diablo State Park Friday was identified as Loretta Hale, 58, of Danville, the Contra Costa coroner’s office said. Contra Costa Times
- It looks like doubters can stop wondering if the 49ers are for real after their 27-20 victory over the New York Giants left them 8-1 and atop the NFC West by five games with seven to play. AP
- A former UC Davis student is suing the university, saying officials ignored his complaints that he was sexually abused during a hazing at a campus fraternity. Chronicle
- After selling out last year for the first time, the annual Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert plans to sell tickets under a lottery system next year. AP
- Santa Rosa’s school board is moving forward with an application to open an online only high school next fall. Press Democrat
- A Half Moon Bay man was accused of brutally beating his 82-year-old grandmother because she was driving too slowly. Examiner
