A.M. Splash: Netflix Fights Hostile Takeover; Fewer Inmates Eligible for Transfer; 800,000 in Bay Area Have Voted; Tesla Says It's On Track

As California struggles to meet a court-ordered reduction of its prison population, newly released figures show corrections officials overstated the number of low-level offenders eligible to be diverted to local jurisdictions as part of Gov. Jerry Brown's public safety realignment plan. At issue are inmates who were being sent to state prisons for parole and other technical violations and became eligible to serve their sentences in county jails after Oct. 1, 2011.

Less than a week after activist investor Carl Icahn announced a 10 percent stake in Netflix, the online video company is moving to protect itself against hostile takeovers. The Los Gatos, Calif., company said Monday that it has adopted a shareholder rights plan. Icahn disclosed his stake in Netflix Wednesday.

Tesla Motors posted a wider quarterly loss Monday as the car company ramps up production of the all-electric Model S sedan. However, the company assured Wall Street that it remains on track to deliver 2,500 to 3,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter and maintained its 2012 revenue outlook of between $400 and $440 million. Tesla posted a third-quarter loss of $110.8 million, or $1.05 a share, compared with a loss of $105.6 million and $1 a share in the second quarter.

Election Day may be just hours away, but more than 800,000 Bay Area voters won't be showing up at the polls Tuesday: They have already voted, as Californians in record numbers are trading the ballot box for the mailbox. It's as if the entire city of San Francisco held the election early. Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and in this presidential election year, they may still be mobbed -- especially considering California now has a record 18.2 million registered voters, up by more than 940,000 from this time four years ago.

The Oakland city attorney's race took a surprise turn Sunday when council member Jane Brunner, who has long been on the offensive against her opponent, Barbara Parker, announced that she will sue Parker for libel over a last-minute mailer. Parker's campaign piece, which arrived in mailboxes Friday, stated that Brunner "has been suspended from practicing law by California State Bar." Brunner, who joined the bar in 1988, lost her eligibility to practice law in July, 1995, for not taking required continuing education classes. She regained it in January 1997.

Turns out San Francisco's insurance policy doesn't cover torching of buses - which is why Muni is on the hook for replacing that $700,000 coach that went up in a fireball during the vandalism after the Giants' World Series win. To add insult, the city had just spent $300,000 refurbishing the bus last year.

Apple says it sold 3 million iPads of all kinds in the first three days it sold the new Mini model. Apple started selling the Mini on Friday, starting at $329. It's a third smaller than the full-size iPad. The sales figure compares with 1.5 million iPads sold in the first three days after Apple launched the third-generation iPad in March and cut the price of the iPad 2.

Times have been tough for a police force depleted by budget cuts, retirements and departures. But with 44 cadets going through the paces of the San Jose Police Department's first academy in nearly three years, department veterans are glad to see some relief coming. The new recruits are expected be on the street by July at the earliest.

Most of the Bay Area is expected to see record-setting temperatures today, including Redwood City (expected high of 84, previous high 81) and Oakland (81 at the airport, previous high of 78). Other coastal locations are expected to see temperatures approaching 90 degrees. Santa Cruz is predicted to see a high of 89 today, which would fall 1 degree short of the record set in 1976. A temperature of 88 degrees is predicted in Gilroy, which would fall short of the record 89 in 2010. The summer conditions are as much as 20 degrees higher than normal for this time of year, according to the weather service.

Sonoma County is at the forefront of the charter school movement in California with 11 new schools opening this year, second only to massive Los Angeles County Unified with its nearly 660,000 students. Nearly a quarter -- 23 percent -- of Sonoma County's 70,700 kindergarten-through-12th graders are enrolled in charter schools. Just two years ago, 13 percent of Sonoma County students were in charter schools. Today, there are 56 campuses working under 51 state-issued charters. Fifteen years ago, there were two charter schools in the county.