A.M. Splash: Emails Show UCB Chancellor Didn't Question Use of Batons on Protesters; Activist Says He Lied to Obtain Climate Papers

E-mails have surfaced that for the first time reveal UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau was informed on Nov. 9 while traveling that police used batons to forcibly remove an encampment involving hundreds of student Occupy protesters, yet did not call a halt to their use.

A group of criminal justice leaders are preparing to fight a plan by Gov. Jerry Brown to entirely phase out the state's Division of Juvenile Justice over the next three years and return the most violent and troubled youths to county facilities, despite support for the proposal by some experts.

A prominent environmental researcher, activist and blogger from California admitted Monday night that he had deceitfully obtained and distributed confidential internal materials from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian group based in Chicago devoted in part to questioning the reality of global warming. Peter H. Gleick, founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment and Security, wrote in a statement published on The Huffington Post that he had posed as someone else to get the materials, which include fund-raising and strategy documents intended only for the board and top executives of the group.

...(T)he burgeoning number of proposed initiatives -- and the hundreds of thousands of dollars the cash-strapped state spends each year reviewing them all -- has led to a lively Capitol debate on whether it's time to do something to stop frivolous initiatives. And, boy, are some of them wacky.

Boundaries have been redrawn for the Santa Clara County Board of Education, resulting in two trustees who will have to run against each other if they want to try to retain their seats. The changes also create a district with no incumbent when the seat comes up for election in 2014. The lines, approved last week by the little-known Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization, draws electoral districts for the seven countywide trustees.

Belt-tightening at the Marin Civic Center has kept the county payroll in check for the first time in years, thanks to cutbacks in staffing as well as judicious use of overtime. The tab for regular payroll, overtime and other pay perks hit about $173.7 million last fiscal year, up $2.4 million from $171.3 million four years ago, with the overall tab rising primarily due to promotions and pay "step" increases handed out in line with union contracts.

Sonoma County prosecutors are seeking a court order to remove two videos posted on the Internet that appear to show a Santa Rosa police officer pummeling a West County artist during an arrest.

The A's agreed to terms with free-agent designated hitter Manny Ramirez on a minor league contract Monday, tying themselves to one of baseball's most productive -- and controversial -- sluggers of all time. The deal is pending a physical, but Ramirez is expected to report to spring training by the end of this week. He must serve a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy for a second time, meaning he would become eligible for a May 30 game at Minnesota, on his 40th birthday.