Morning Splash: More Rain, Violent Crime Drops in Richmond, Jennifer Newsom Pregnant

Tonight might not be the best time to hit the malls in search of after-Christmas sales. A storm system is expected to sweep through the South Bay tonight, with a possibility of heavy rain and windy conditions, according to the National Weather Service. Rain is expected to fall in the North Bay this afternoon, and then begin moving south into the evening, according to the weather service.

As stranded travelers thaw out from the blizzard that froze the East Coast and closed three major airports, San Francisco is preparing for weather-related flight delays and cancellations of its own. Though The City will not experience the extreme conditions that included 2 feet of snow and 60 mph winds along the eastern seaboard, heavy rains and fog starting today could make travel around San Francisco International Airport hectic.

The Ross Valley Sanitary District's emergency repair of a Larkspur sewage pipe that spewed 1.8 million gallons of raw sewage last week is working, but some district critics wonder how long it will last. The district is also continuing to inspect a pipeline in Kentfield where district officials say a blockage caused an 840,000-gallon spill on Dec. 17.

...Violent crime plunged this year in Richmond, a fact not lost on flatland residents long plagued by endemic gunfire. Causes of neighborhood violence remain, and city crime statistics tend to ping-pong from year to year. But community leaders like Alvarez have noticed steady improvement, from increased civic participation to smarter public policy that targets people and places involved.

Police are warning Craigslist users about a recent series of robberies -- some of which have turned violent -- related to ads for cars for sale posted on the popular website. The ads have lured more than half a dozen victims from all over Northern California offering incredible deals on expensive-model cars, Oakland police spokeswoman Holly Joshi said. E-mails are exchanged and meetings are set up in the early afternoon or evening in different Oakland neighborhoods -- such as the Dimond and Rockridge districts -- to presumably conclude the purchase. Instead, police said, the victim is robbed at gunpoint and, in at least two cases, physically attacked.

A new San Francisco law that forces construction contractors to hire locally is stoking a regional war that could be waged in courtrooms and in the state capitol. Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said Monday he has directed legislative analysts to investigate legal and lawmaking strategies to limit the regional impact of the new law.

Deepening his legal troubles, a Santa Clara police officer now faces federal criminal charges of supplying confidential information to a member of the Hells Angels to pay off a debt. In an indictment unsealed on Monday in federal court in San Jose, Clay H. Rojas, a five-year veteran of the Santa Clara Police Department, is charged in fraud and conspiracy counts with furnishing inside information to William "Billy" Bettencourt, a suspected member of the Hells Angels Santa Cruz chapter. Rojas, the indictment alleges, provided the confidential information, such as criminal and DMV records, to Bettencourt.

AT&T Inc. is expanding Wi-Fi access for its subscribers in New York and introducing it in San Francisco, adding data capacity in two cities with heavy wireless network use from the iPhone and other devices. The phone company is to announce today that it will expand Wi-Fi hot spots in New York's Times Square just ahead of New Year's revelers cramming there for the annual countdown to midnight. It is also deploying its first hot spots in a public, outdoor area of San Francisco, the Embarcadero waterfront district.

A “thrilled” Mayor Gavin Newsom has received warm wishes from across the state congratulating him and wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom on the news they are expecting their second child. The mayor and his actress wife are expecting a son in June, the mayor’s chief spokesman, Tony Winnicker, said Monday.

A pilot who posted YouTube videos criticizing security at San Francisco International Airport says he's shocked at the national uproar they've created. Chris Liu told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday that he wasn't aware so many people watch YouTube. He and his attorney, Don Werno, defended the footage as exposing a security lapse at the airport.

An appeals court extended its ban on the sale of 11 state buildings and office properties for at least a month Monday, rejecting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plea for swift action and handing the issue to Gov.-elect Jerry Brown unless California's high court intervenes. The Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose had blocked the $2.3 billion sale on Dec. 10 in response to a lawsuit claiming the transaction was an illegal gift of state funds to private investors. On Monday, the three-judge panel scheduled arguments Jan. 26 and left the sale on hold until then.

Henry Cisneros, the former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and current chairman of the commercial real estate firm CityView, on Monday disavowed his association with a mysterious consortium of investors who are poised to snap up 11 premier state office complexes, including San Francisco’s massive Civic Center.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma has apparently heard a lot of outcry since she introduced a bill last week that would make raves illegal in California. Most of that feedback has not been positive, and some of it has been downright nasty (we know, because some of those mean e-mails were sent to yours truly). Now, she's backing off.