A.M. Splash: Gas Prices Set Record; Protesters Hit Oakland City Hall; Transit Handles Record SF Crowds; Taxi App Companies Ordered to Halt

As California gas prices hit new records Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown pushed an emergency production switch that could provide some relief for the bruising drivers are taking at the pump. Though the pace of increases slowed from the double digit hikes seen in the past few days, drivers in the Bay Area still saw a two to five-cent increase overnight for regular gas, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Prices in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Santa Cruz all posted new records.

Protesters smashed windows and threw paint at Oakland City Hall and at least a half-dozen other buildings, but there were no reports of arrests or injuries after a group of about 200 protesters moved through downtown Oakland on Sunday evening, police said. The protest was billed on Facebook as an anti-imperialist rally and march, timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

The buses were crowded and the streets were full of revelers, but gridlock did not suffocate San Francisco on a frenzied weekend of big crowds at events spread across the city. Muni managed to haul hundreds of thousands of extra passengers, and while some buses and streetcars were packed full or moved slowly, the transit agency's strategy of flooding key lines with extra service seemed to work. Muni estimated it carried 135,000 more passengers on Sunday, and 100,000 more on Saturday, than the typical 375,000 it hauls on an average weekend day. BART officials said they set a ridership record on Saturday, carrying 319,484 passengers. The previous weekend day record was 278,586, set on Sept. 1, 2007, when the Bay Bridge was closed and there were three major sporting events. Average ridership on Saturdays this year is 202,000. Sunday statistics were not yet available.

State regulators have issued cease-and-desist orders against two more firms that bill themselves as high-tech alternatives to the way taxi companies usually operate. The latest orders were issued in August by the California Public Utilities Commission and assert that the companies - SideCar and Lyft - lack the required charter party carrier permits that make sure drivers are properly licensed, screened and insured to carry commercial passengers.

Two of the biggest players in California's upcoming election are a brother and sister, who politically speaking have little in common other than their name and willingness to put tens of millions of dollars of their money into the causes they support. Civil rights lawyer Molly Munger is an outgoing independent who usually votes Democratic. Her quiet, bow-tie-wearing half brother, Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger Jr., is more out of the Libertarian mold.

Starbucks Corp. is testing a variety of toasty croissants and baked goods in nine San Francisco stores, with plans to eventually expand distribution nationally. Among the items being tested: a whole wheat spinach croissant, a ham and cheese croissant, and a tomato, cheese and herb croissant. There's also a blueberry yogurt muffin, raspberry passion fruit loaf cake and lemon vanilla loaf cake, which replaces the current lemon loaf cake. Many of the items are served warmed, unlike its current lineup of baked goods.

Joe Montana never did it. Neither did Steve Young or Y.A. Tittle. Even the architect of the West Coast offense, Bill Walsh, could only imagine such a massive mark. Of all the Hall of Fame quarterbacks and coaches in the history of the San Francisco 49ers, leave it to Alex Smith and Jim Harbaugh to set a new standard.

Mervyn Dymally, a one-time janitor who rose to become the first black to serve in the California Senate and as the state's lieutenant governor, has died at the age of 86. Dymally, whose health had been in decline, died Sunday in Los Angeles, his wife Alice Gueno Dymally said in a statement. "He lived a very extraordinary life and had no regrets," Mrs. Dymally said.

The Justice for Mercados Workers Campaign, a coalition of community groups, said Sunday it plans to launch a boycott of Mi Pueblo Foods today until the company rescinds its decision to participate in E-Verify and "until it sticks up for its employees instead of cooperating with an I-9 audit that cannot be stopped."