Mayor Lee sidesteps criticizing his housing director, UC Berkeley law student pleads guilty in bird decapitation, San Jose extends its search for a police chief, more.
- Mayor Ed Lee, reacting to a negative federal audit of the housing authority, said he wasn’t happy with the agency’s performance but declined to speak specifically about its troubled director, Henry Alvarez. Chronicle
- As a federal judge prepares to appoint a compliance director to oversee Oakland police, there’s no consensus between Oakland and opposing attorneys as to who to recommend. Oakland Tribune
- A five-foot caiman that police first misidentified as an alligator when they discovered it in a Castro Valley home during a drug seizure, and which was badly neglected, died at Oakland Zoo’s veterinary hospital. Mercury News
- One of two UC Berkeley law students accused of decapitating an exotic bird at a Las Vegas hotel pleaded guilty to an animal cruelty charge. AP
- California has hit a solar energy milestone, with regulators announcing that more than 1 gigawatt—or 1,000 megawatts—of solar power has been installed as part of the California Solar Initiative. Mercury News
- Parents of a South Bay girl sexually abused by her soccer coach sued a youth soccer organization and its local affiliate, alleging that they didn’t do an adequate background check on the coach. Mercury News
- In a sign of dissatisfaction with the applicants for the job so far, San Jose officials said they are indefinitely extending the search for a police chief to replace the soon-retiring Chris Moore. Mercury News
