A.M. Splash: OPD Acting Chief Sworn In; Parents Accuse Bernal Heights Principal of Abuse; Traffic Ticket Amnesty Planned; Gascon Double Dipping

Interim police Chief Howard Jordan was sworn into the office Thursday for the second time in less than three years. Jordan, a 23-year veteran of the Oakland Police Department, will replace outgoing Chief Anthony Batts, who announced his resignation Tuesday. Jordan had been the department's second-in-command for several years and previously served as interim chief in the seven months before Batts took office in October 2009.

About 20 parents rallied outside a Bernal Heights school Thursday, demanding the removal of its principal for an array of alleged actions that included physical punishment of students and restrictive bathroom policies. The parents allege that Sheila Sammon, who took over at Paul Revere K-8 School in 2010, discriminates against black and Hispanic families and has instituted a harsh discipline policy involving silent lunches and recesses in the school’s basement.

If you have an unpaid traffic ticket that's been gathering dust for three years or more, the state has a deal for you: Pay up during the first six months of 2012, and get 50 percent off.

While San Francisco's District Attorney George Gascón publicly supports pension reform, he is quietly receiving a sizable pension from the Los Angeles Police Department, The Bay Citizen has learned.

The family of a man who drowned off Crown Beach on Memorial Day as police and firefighters watched from the shore have filed claims against the city and county of Alameda, saying first responders were negligent because they should have done more to help him. The claims, which were filed Thursday, come just two days after the Alameda City Council reviewed the death of the 52-year-old Raymond Zack and steps that police and firefighters are taking to address public criticism for how they responded to the emergency,

...One meeting attendee asked Paul Henderson, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff on public safety, if Lee would draft a resolution supporting Occupy SF’s cause. Henderson said while he doesn’t speak for the mayor directly, he highly doubted a resolution will be drafted. He said without a clear message from Occupy SF, the mayor wouldn’t know what to support.

It's hailed by some as a way to cut California's 18 percent dropout rate, and condemned by others as the beginning of a two-tier education system that will limit poor students' futures and decimate art, music and foreign-language studies. A new law that enacts a seemingly small change, allowing students to count one vocational class as credit toward graduation, has both supporters and detractors predicting a major shift in high school education.

The institution enshrined in the Constitution is considering cuts that would once have been unthinkable, such as eliminating Saturday service and slowing delivery of first-class letters. Although many deride "snail mail," the Postal Service plays a vital role for Americans on the wrong side of the digital divide who lack access to email and online billing, and who rely on post offices for secure delivery of money and medicine.

Google announced another strong earnings quarter Thursday, as the Mountain View search giant handily beat Wall Street expectations for sales and profit based on continued strong advertising growth, and added nearly 30 million members to its fledgling social network, Google+.