A.M. Splash: PG&E May Have "Junked" Pipe in System; Medical Marijuana - Tenderloin Clinic Probably to Close, Sacto Suspends Permit Process

State regulators have uncovered evidence that suggests Pacific Gas and Electric Co. installed "salvaged or junked transmission pipe" on its natural-gas system in the 1940s and '50s, raising fears that a problem like the one that caused the San Bruno disaster could be lurking undetected, officials said in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Cellphone service could still be shut down in BART stations — but only under extraordinary circumstances — if a policy resolution is approved next week by the agency’s board of directors.

As two San Francisco legislators denounced the Obama administration's attack on medical marijuana suppliers in California, the president of a Tenderloin district dispensary said Tuesday he will probably close shop in three weeks because of a threatening letter from the U.S. attorney. Charlie Pappas said the Divinity Tree Patients' Wellness Cooperative at 958 Geary St. is a nonprofit that supplies medical marijuana to almost 3,000 users and has followed state and local laws since it opened seven years ago.

The city of Sacramento, unnerved by a federal crackdown on marijuana dispensaries, has abruptly suspended its process for issuing permits to medical pot stores.

San Francisco’s plan to require wireless vendors to display posters about the possible health impacts of cellphone usage could be stalled for months if a federal judge sides today with a trade group suing The City.

As Oakland voters are deciding whether to approve a parcel tax that would give the city millions of dollars to hire more police officers, key city officials, including City Council members, business leaders and the police union have decided not to support the initiative.

Police Sgt. Derwin Longmire's investigation of journalist Chauncey Bailey's 2007 murder was so inadequate that a high-ranking commander said Longmire never should have been a homicide detective in the first place, according to a 2009 state Department of Justice report that was just released. The 66-page document, which police and city officials refused to release for more than two years, is now public as part of a federal lawsuit. It paints a sweeping picture of Longmire's colleagues' concerns that he "neglected to do ... just basic routine homicide 101" investigative steps on the Bailey case that were rote for other detectives.

A disgruntled security guard was arrested near the Nevada border this morning after an overnight spree where he got in a shootout with his supervisor at a Richmond apartment complex, but not before he unleashed a volley of shots into his neighbor's home in Concord, where he barely missed hitting a young child, police said.

...The tent city that has sprung up on the steps of Oakland City Hall has attracted a diverse range of people, many with competing ideologies and world views. Homeless people, ex-convicts, at least one registered sex offender, students, unemployed hotel workers, anarchists and reform-minded activists freely mingle together in what amounts to a democracy free-for-all.

...As communities across the East Bay gather this week to commemorate the victims of the 1991 Oakland hills fire that killed 25 people and destroyed more than 3,800 homes, they will also be remembering their own struggle to survive and learn from the fire.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer told lawmakers Wednesday that he continued to support a law that grants large tax breaks to alternative-energy companies — even though the bankrupt solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra was its first and largest recipient.