No injuries reported in two-car collision in Lodi
LODI — Two vehicles collided at Emerson Park in Lodi at approximately 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, with no injuries reported, according to Officer Kristopher Valencia of the Lodi Police Department.
A white Volvo was traveling east on West Elm Street toward North California Street when a gray Chevrolet traveling south on North California Street stopped at a stop sign before continuing through the intersection.
The Chevrolet failed to see the oncoming Volvo, Valencia said, and the two vehicles collided, knocking over a stop sign and continuing over the curb into Emerson Park, where they came to a stop with substantial damage to both vehicles. — John Bays
Lodi police arrest suspect for multiple charges
LODI — Officers from the Lodi Police Department initiated a traffic stop on the 1000 block of South Mills Avenue at approximately 4:40 p.m. Monday after locating a car that had been reported stolen, according to Lt. Shad Canestrino.
Officers contacted Robert Guerrero, 31, who was driving the car, and found him in possession of a switchblade knife, shaved car keys frequently used in auto thefts and a small quantity of methamphetamine, Canestrino said.
Guerrero was arrested without incident on suspicion of vehicle theft, possession of burglary tools, possession of a vehicle master key, possession of a switchblade and possession of drugs. — John Bays
Victim struck by gunfire at Stockton crime hot spot
STOCKTON — Police were in the vicinity of a known north Stockton crime hot spot Saturday night when they heard gunshots, checked the area and found a person who had been shot.
The victim was discovered with a gunshot wound about 11:25 p.m. at Acapulco Way and Ponce De Leon Avenue, about two blocks east of Lower Sacramento Road, according to a report.
The victim, who was not identified, was transported to an area hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. The victim’s condition was not reported.
Police are looking for a man in his 30s in connection with the shooting. No motive was provided in the report.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Stockton Police Department at 209-937-8377 or Crime Stoppers at 209-946-0600. Crime Stoppers pays cash rewards up to $10,000. Callers can remain anonymous. — Stockton Record
State officials: Elk Grove gator sighting was a hoax
ELK GROVE — Rumors and a photo of an alligator swimming through Camden Lake drew crowds to Elk Grove over the weekend, but state officials say people who swamped the nearby residential neighborhood were chasing a reptile thousands of miles away.
A Shutterstock video surfaced over the weekend with images identical to the viral shot posted to Facebook by Elk Grove resident Karen Keeslar last Thursday. Keeslar’s post, captioned “I think an alligator is swimming in the lake in my neighborhood park,” appears to have been deleted as of Monday morning.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife agents searched the area around Camden Lake and set traps for the elusive reptile, spokeswoman Kirstin Macintyre said. In the end, they determined the reports were “a hoax.”
Phone numbers listed under Keeslar’s name appeared to be outdated. She told Fox40 that she stood by her original picture despite the similarities, and that her neighbors had seen the animal as well.
Alligators are not native to California, though one popped up on a Delta riverbank in 2007. A Southern California man was arrested last July after a raid of his home turned over dozens of illegally owned gators, cobras and other reptiles.
Vallejo’s Six Flags park mourns sea lion Kai
VALLEJO — Six Flags Discovery Kingdom staff is mourning the death of the park’s 22-year-old male California Sea Lion, Kai, a park spokeswoman said.
The animal died Sunday after developing an illness several days ago, park officials said.
“An incredibly sad day as our beloved Kai passed away today after an illness, despite the efforts to save him by top veterinarians from throughout California,” they said on Facebook “For more than 20 years, Kai has been a fixture at the park, as (he) taught millions of people how truly amazing sea lions are.”
California sea lions are in the pinniped family of creatures, which includes seals and walruses. They have a lifespan of 20 to 30 years.
Kai came to the park as a juvenile via a Moss Landing Marine Laboratories sea lion program. After a serious shoulder injury that occurred while participating in this program and having already bonded with humans, he was nonreleasable. — Vallejo Times-Herald
Project unearths whale skulls, giant shark teeth
MILPITAS — For the past five years, construction workers building a new 220foot-high dam in the remote canyons east of Milpitas and Fremont have been slowly discovering a longago, not-quite-tropical world of buried treasures — from giant shark teeth to whale skulls to pieces of ancient palm trees. Now the huge haul of fossils beneath the Calaveras Reservoir is heading for a permanent new home at UC Berkeley.
What began with a few shells has steadily grown into one of the most significant fossil discoveries in the Bay Area in decades, scientists say, painting a picture of the region roughly 15 to 20 million years ago, when large areas were submerged under a vast, shallow, inland sea that stretched to Bakersfield.
Construction crews have blasted and dug roughly 500 feet down to construct the new dam as part of an $823 million seismic upgrade project at the 1920s-era reservoir, scheduled for completion next year. So far, they have found more than 1,500 fossils — and are still finding them.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which owns the reservoir that is part of its Hetch Hetchy water system, has agreed to provide $500,000 to the UC Museum of Paleontology to set up a new lab for the fossils and assemble a team to work on the collection for the next two years. — San Jose Mercury News