Morning Splash: Stow Beating Suspects to Be Arraigned Today; Parties Draw Up Rival Debt Plans

Two men suspected of beating San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium on Opening Day are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Louie Sanchez, 29, and Marvin Norwood, 30, both of Rialto, were arrested Thursday and charged Friday in connection with the March 31 attack. The two men, who are neighbors in Rialto, are each being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.

The House speaker, John A. Boehner, and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, were preparing separate backup plans to raise the nation’s debt ceiling on Sunday after they and the White House were unable to form a bipartisan plan that would end an increasingly grim standoff over the federal budget. The dueling plans emerged after Mr. Boehner walked away from negotiations with the White House on Friday, leading to a frustrating weekend of talks in heat-scorched Washington.

When a 19-year-old black man was shot to death in a firefight after allegedly firing at two police officers July 16, somebody collected much of the available evidence — and it wasn’t a cop. Video shows a young man in a gray striped hooded sweatshirt picking up an item that police call the gun of Kenneth Harding Jr. Police say Harding’s cellphone and several shell casings also disappeared. The missing evidence further complicates a shooting that has touched a raw nerve in the community.

Sen. Leland Yee is running for mayor in San Francisco, and the last thing he needs is to be labeled as the Big Tobacco candidate. So Yee found it especially irksome to find himself on a list of legislators who have taken money from tobacco interests. A report by the American Lung Association in California showed Yee as taking $4,300 from tobacco interests -- $3,300 of which came from Philip Morris, the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer.

California’s futuristic plans for 220-mph bullet trains linking the Bay Area with Los Angeles and beyond are facing a moment of truth. Prospects for a $19 billion federal infusion – covering more than 40 percent of a $43 billion system that would be the nation’s largest single investment in transportation infrastructure in decades – dim each day as Washington scrambles madly for trillions of dollars in savings to raise the national debt ceiling.

...(Jerry) Brown wants the state to produce 20,000 new megawatts of renewable electricity -- enough to power 20 cities the size of San Francisco and roughly one-third of the state's current peak use -- by 2020. That would nearly triple the amount of electricity that California currently gets from renewable sources. The plan includes the fast-tracking of large, utility-scale renewable power plants. But 12,000 megawatts are to come from "localized electricity," small systems located close to where energy is consumed that don't require new transmission lines. A variety of technologies, from biogas to wind, will play a role. But solar panels -- on the roofs of commercial buildings and along the banks of state highways -- will be a dominant element.

As NFL owners and players continue wrangling over the terms of a proposed contract, talk of a new Bay Area stadium has become a tale of two teams and three cities. Whenever a deal is finally inked, football backers are hoping it will include money to help build a new home for the 49ers and Raiders.

California's fiest-ever independent redistricting commission finished drawing 177 new congressional, legislative and Board of Equalization maps late Sunday after a rare conflict over racial issues. The new maps, which will be released to the public on Friday, are expected to generate a flurry of lawsuits and at least one referendum drive, all of which would, if successful, shift redistricting to the courts for final resolution before the 2012 elections.

Rent costs are on the rise in San Francisco and San Mateo County due to a sluggish homeownership market and housing demand from tech industry workers opting to rent instead of buy, according to new data compiled by Novato-based RealFacts. Compared to second-quarter data from 2010, rents rose 8.6 percent in San Francisco and 9.3 percent in San Mateo County, for monthly averages of $2,400 and $1,800 respectively.

The largest high-tech heist in Bay Area history -- with computer chips worth $37 million stolen by 15 people in a takeover armed robbery -- was an inside job, authorities said. Pierre Ramos, 28, and Leonardo Abriam, 31 -- two of nine Bay Area men arrested in connection with the Feb. 27 robbery at Unigen Corp. -- were employed at the Fremont tech company at the time of the crime, said Simon Ip, a Unigen spokesman.

A 46-year-old Santa Rosa woman seriously injured when her pickup was hit by a speeding CHP cruiser is suing the state, claiming the officer acted negligently in driving 104 mph in response to a report of teens with baggy clothing gathering outside the DMV. Cynthia Dempsey will ask jurors next month to award her damages for the Highway 12 crash involving Officer Blair Hardcastle that left her with memory loss, facial scarring and post-traumatic stress disorder, said her lawyer, Brendan Kunkle.

About 700 residents packed into the Richmond Auditorium to help convince lab representatives that this city is in the midst of a turnaround, and urge them to build their planned second campus here. The new campus, which is expected to accommodate more than 800 workers and generate more than $200 million in spending impacts, is the first project in recent memory to unite all corners of the city in support.

For years, San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood has been seen as gritty - more fit for drug dealers than chic storefronts. But developers and the city's Redevelopment Agency hope that food will clean up the district's image and attract new residents, turning this area from fringy to trendy.