A.M. Splash: SF Sues Fed Agency to Force More Pipeline Regulation; S. Clara Approves 49ers Stadium Plan; SJ Delays Action on Sales Tax Vote

The city of San Francisco took the unusual step Tuesday of asking a judge to force federal natural-gas safety regulators to step up efforts in California, saying the government "abjectly failed" to enforce pipeline laws before and after the 2010 explosion that devastated a San Bruno neighborhood.

Santa Clara leaders approved plans Tuesday night for a new 49ers stadium by the 2014 season, finalizing the team's exit from San Francisco sooner than expected. The City Council voted 5-1 to support an $878.6 million contract that calls for kicking off construction on the 68,500-seat stadium in July, about six months earlier than anticipated, and finishing by August 2014, in time for the exhibition season.

After discussing the results of an annual poll of San Jose residents about city services -- including what appears to be residents' growing support of a sales tax to help solve San Jose's chronic budget woes -- the City Council on Tuesday decided they need two more weeks to discuss timing and strategies for a potential June sales tax vote.

Neither of two dueling proposals to change San Francisco's ranked-choice voting system will go on the June ballot, the city's Board of Supervisors decided today.

...According to estimates from the California attorney general's office, homeowners in the nine-county Bay Area are due to split $3.1 billion of the $18 billion to be distributed statewide. Alameda County is down to get the most - $757 million - followed by Contra Costa County ($651 million) and Santa

Mayor Ed Lee backed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's plan to install thousands of new meters in the northeast Mission, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch and Mission Bay neighborhoods - a proposal recently put on hold amid strong opposition from residents and business owners in those neighborhoods.

Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer, wife of California Treasurer Bill Lockyer, said Tuesday that she's in rehabilitation for a substance-abuse problem after an extramarital affair culminated in a beating by her ex-lover. The announcement marked a sharp turn in the career of a woman who at 40 had been seen as a rising star in California politics. The scandal is also an ugly footnote on her husband's nearly four-decade-long career, which made him one of California's most influential politicians.

Standard & Poor's improved California's bond outlook from stable to positive Tuesday, a signal that the deficit-ridden state could be in line for a ratings bump. The state's A-minus rating is S&P's lowest among U.S. states.

If the Golden State Warriors want a new stadium in San Francisco, Mayor Ed Lee has two words for the team: private financing. The basketball franchise that once played in The City now makes its home in Oakland’s aging Oracle Arena, the NBA’s oldest functioning facility. But the Warriors are considering options for a new stadium in 2017 when its Oakland lease runs out, and the team has been in discussions with the Mayor’s Office and the Giants about a new home near AT&T Park.