A.M. Splash: Seattle Is New Same-Sex Marriage Capital; Cougar Deaths Raise Questions; BART May Raise Parking Fees

Same-sex couples began pronouncing their wedding vows Sunday morning at Seattle City Hall, ceremonies in front of volunteer judges that were for the newlyweds an affirming of personal love and a long overdue act of justice. The usually arid, modernistic building became a joyous place, decorated in roses and with a pianist playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata as the first newlyweds arrived at a cupcake reception for themselves and close family.

If game wardens had captured, not killed, two mountain lion cubs that were found recently hiding in a backyard on the edge of downtown, Joe Maynard would gladly have taken them. "We would have flown up there the next day and picked them up," said Maynard, who runs the Feline Conservation Center, a facility in the desert southeast of Bakersfield that breeds, rehabilitates and displays exotic cats.

With BART carrying record loads and parking lots filling fast at more and more stations, the transit system is considering whether it's time to boost parking charges, perhaps tripling them, and adjusting them by station based on demand. Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, said the district hasn't reviewed or revised its parking policies in several years, and it's trying to make sure it covers the costs of policing, cleaning and maintaining parking.

Yahoo and NBC Sports Group have announced they will integrate and promote each other's sports content on the Internet as well as on television in a move that would help both companies draw on their respective strengths across both mediums.The collaboration will increase NBC's digital presence as well as bolster its college and fantasy game coverage, while Sunnyvale-based Yahoo will gain access NBC's video content, live sports coverage and big name television personalities.

Henry A. Alvarez III, the embattled head of the San Francisco Housing Authority, has advanced his career for more than 20 years as a tough-minded reformer in the often dysfunctional world of public housing, leaving behind him a string of allegations of harassment, retaliation or discrimination in Oregon, Texas and now California, public records show. Nineteen years ago, Alvarez, then a top official at the Washington County Department of Housing Services near Portland, Ore., was one of 10 county employees sued by a housing inspector who claimed Alvarez had fired him in retaliation after the employee pursued a discrimination complaint and testified to federal housing authorities about civil rights problems, court records show.

The Associated Students of the University of California passed a bill opposing Salvation Army donation boxes on campus after a student accused the organization of homophobic practices.With the bill's passing, the ASUC officially opposed the Salvation Army and urged the university to ban the famous organization on campus.

Software company founder John McAfee said Sunday he wants to return to the United States and "settle down to whatever normal life" he can. In a live-stream Internet broadcast from the Guatemalan detention center where he is fighting a government order that he be returned to Belize, the 67-year-old said "I simply would like to live comfortably day by day, fish, swim, enjoy my declining years."

Jenni Rivera, the Mexican-American singer and reality television star known as the Diva of Banda, died early Sunday in a plane crash outside Monterrey, Mexico, after a performance there. She was 43. Ms. Rivera was one of the biggest stars of banda, a brassy, percussive form of Spanish-language pop music invented in northern Mexico and perfected in the American Southwest. She sold more than 15 million records, was nominated three times for a Latin Grammy Award, and developed a reputation for hard-hitting lyrics that addressed relationships between the sexes with a frankness similar to that of American country music: one of her albums, released in 2007, was titled “My Crazy Life.”

Colorado is expected to hire San Jose State's Mike MacIntyre as its next football coach, according to a source briefed on the situation. After missing out on hiring Cincinnati coach Butch Jones, Colorado re-focused its search and MacIntyre has emerged as the leading candidate. MacIntyre led San Jose State to a stunning turnaround this season, including a 10-2 record and spot in the Military Bowl on Dec. 27 in Washington, D.C.

Bright Red-and-Blue airplanes made from recycled plastic milk jugs, a purple plush "huggtopus" with eight legs and a 6-foot-long leopard-print shark puppet are some of the creative toys on sale this holiday season from companies based in Marin and the Bay Area.