A.M. Splash: Calif. Delta Tunnel Plan; Legislators Look to Remove Cougar Hunter From Fish and Game Commission

The amount of water pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta would significantly increase and some species would be harmed if massive tunnels are built to move water around the fragile ecosystem, according to thousands of pages of documents released by state officials Wednesday.

Democratic lawmakers may attempt to oust California Fish and Game Commission President Daniel Richards as early as next week following outrage over his legal killing of a mountain lion on a recent Idaho hunting trip.

About a hundred students have blocked entrance to the UC Santa Cruz campus this morning, not allowing vehicles to enter as part of and Occupy Education rally. Just after 8:30 a.m. a man driving an orange Ford Mustang drove up High Street and attempted to make a right turn onto campus. He revved his engine, but the crowd stopped him from entering. The driver then revved his engine again and sped through the crowd of demonstrators at the High Street entrance, striking several people and a bike.

With a long-standing federal deadline breathing down its neck, California's polarizing $100 billion bullet train suddenly got a much-needed reprieve Wednesday when the Obama administration eased the target date for starting construction. For years, state high-speed rail leaders aimed for a September 2012 groundbreaking to meet the assumed deadline for the federal stimulus program, which funded about one-third of the $6 billion first leg of track.

The first investigation into breakdowns that led to the pepper-spraying of students and others on the UC-Davis campus last November is expected to be unveiled at a campus meeting next Tuesday, the university announced this morning.

For a park that attracts thousands of San Francisco’s colorful and diverse characters on sunny days, it is no wonder the $11.7 million renovation of Mission Dolores Park has taken years and more than 50 community meetings. But the future look of the park has finally come into focus, after passionate debates among aficionados about where people go to play bike polo, tennis, lay around naked, strum a guitar, walk their dogs, drink beer in the sun or bring children to use the playground.

Supporters of a proposed initiative to repeal the death penalty in California plan to begin turning in more than 750,000 voter signatures today in hopes of qualifying for the November ballot. The initiative, which is backed by a group called California Taxpayers for Justice, would replace California's capital punishment with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Supporters say the change, which would apply to inmates currently on death row, would save the state millions.

When you hear "herbal remedies," do you think pot? That's part of what a Superior Court judge will consider Thursday during a hearing on whether Union City can shut down a medical marijuana dispensary. City officials say they told the dispensary that selling marijuana in the city was a no-go, but attorneys for Caring Hands Association counter that there is no written evidence of that and that the association said on its business license application it would be distributing "herbal remedies."

Are rich folks more likely to zoom their costly cars through crosswalks, cut off drivers, cheat on games of dice and take candy from the children's jar? They sure are, says Paul Piff, a UC Berkeley researcher who spent nearly two years learning how prone America's upper class is to unethical behavior.