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SAN FRANCISCO
New $2 billion terminal shuts down
San Francisco officials shut down the city's $2.2 billion transit terminal Tuesday after discovering a crack in a support beam under a public roof garden.
The Salesforce Transbay Terminal opened in August after eight years of construction.
The transit hub spans three city blocks and includes a bus deck, a towering sky-lit central entrance hall and a rooftop park with an outdoor amphitheater.
Officials said Tuesday the Salesforce Transit Center will remain closed while engineers assess the damage and inspect other beams. Buses have been rerouted to a temporary terminal eight blocks away.
The terminal is managed by the Transbay Joints Power Authority. Executive director Mark Zabaneh said no other damage is suspected.
— LOS ANGELES
Deputy wounded, suspect killed in shooting
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was shot and wounded and a suspect was killed when an altercation erupted during an investigation of a suspicious vehicle in East Los Angeles.
The Sheriff's Department says three people were in the vehicle when two deputies approached around 11:26 p.m. Monday. One occupant began fighting with a deputy and pulled out a handgun.
The department says that as the two fought over the gun, the other deputy fired. The suspect was struck in the torso and died at the scene.
The deputy involved in the fight was wounded in the right forearm and was hospitalized in stable condition.
The other two occupants of the vehicle were detained.
Last week, two deputies were wounded in an East LA gunbattle with a gang member. —
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE
Ex-lake Tahoe Humane Society boss guilty of embezzlement
The former executive director of the Lake Tahoe Humane Society has pleaded guilty to embezzling money from the nonprofit based in South Lake Tahoe.
El Dorado County prosecutors say 50-year-old Nichola “Nikki” Congero pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement as part of a plea deal that will see her serve six months in the county jail followed by four years' probation.
Prosecutors say she also agreed to repay $59,664 she allegedly took from the group to spend on herself.
The Tahoe Daily Tribune reports among other things she bought airline tickets and furniture for her home.
She was arrested in July in Knoxville, Tennessee following an 18-month investigation. She's been ordered to abstain from all forms of gambling and will be banned from working with any business that requires her to handle money. Formal sentencing is set for Oct. 5. —
SAN RAMON
Two arrested for fires that injured Two firefighters
Authorities say they have arrested two people suspected of starting four vegetation fires in the San Francisco Bay Area that injured two firefighters.
The San Ramon Police Department said Tuesday that 39-year-old William Priest is suspected of starting two separate blazes on Sunday and Monday in the hills of San Ramon.
Police says a witness saw Priest fleeing the fire area on Monday and that detectives with several agencies worked together to identify and arrest him. That blaze injured a firefighter.
San Ramon Valley interim Fire Marshal Stephen Healy tells the East Bay Times that another person was arrested on Sept. 16 for setting a small fire and that the same person was arrested Aug. 29 on suspicion of setting a blaze in Danville that injured a firefighter.