Play ball!: The Giants home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates at 1:35 this afternoon comes with a bit of added suspense: whether or not predicted showers will put a damper on things.
News and Notes:
- Lightning struck a United Airlines plane en route from San Francisco to London last night, forcing it to return to SFO, where it landed safely. AP
- Officials broke ground on the $3.2-billion BART extension to East San Jose. Mercury News
- An aide to film director George Lucas says his decision to pull the plug on a new digital arts production facility in Marin County is final. Marin IJ
- The California High-Speed Rail Authority approved a massive, revised bullet train blueprint, leaving it to supporters, including Gov. Jerry Brown, to sell it politically. Mercury News
- Former President Bill Clinton, Gov. Jerry Brown and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will headline the Bay Area Council’s 2012 Outlook Conference in San Jose May 3. Political Blotter
- A dead bird in Pleasant Hill was found to have West Nile virus, health officials confirmed. Contra Costa Times
- His brother says the late painter Thomas Kinkade, who died last week at his home in the South Bay at age 54, battled alcoholism the last four years of his life. Mercury News
