A.M. Splash: Free Muni For Kids Clears Hurdle; Muni Approves Sunday Meter Enforcement

Low-income youths could soon ride San Francisco's Muni for free, while drivers who park in the city on Sundays might have to pay up. Those controversial proposals were approved Tuesday by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Board of Directors, which unanimously passed the budget for Muni, parking, traffic and taxis over the next two years. (T)he budget still has to clear several hurdles that include gaining the Board of Supervisors' approval.

Sunday parking meter enforcement finally became a reality in The City, and once again religious leaders came out to blast the plan that was first proposed in 2010. Starting Jan. 1, on-street parking meters will be enforced from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.

The state's top analyst on Tuesday urged lawmakers to slam the brakes on California's $68 billion bullet train, cautioning that the newly overhauled plan simply isn't "strong enough" and relies on "highly speculative" funding sources. The report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office is especially significant as the state Senate and Assembly on Wednesday begin a debate on whether to start building the high-speed rail line, a decision officials revealed Tuesday will likely be delayed into the summer. The report could give a divided Legislature the political cover it needs to halt the biggest public works project in California history; otherwise, lawmakers would have to go against the advice of their own experts.

The number of non-Californians accepted as freshmen to the state's premier public university has nearly doubled in just two years, the University of California reported Tuesday... Nonresidents pay nearly three times the tuition and fees of in-state students - about $36,000 compared with $13,000 - a tantalizing prospect for a university that has seen its budget cut by about a billion dollars during the last few years.

An Assembly committee Tuesday passed a bill to create state oversight for pot businesses, as its chairman implored the Legislature to act to stave off federal raids on medical marijuana providers.

Two accomplished, articulate and professional women with many similar policy views want to be your next Contra Costa supervisor, but it is their split on social issues that is generating the most fireworks. Candace Andersen and Tomi Van de Brooke, who are vying to succeed retiring Supervisor Gayle Uilkema of Lafayette, oppose expanding the county's urban growth line into the Tassajara Valley, reject the proposal for a peripheral pipeline around the Delta and agree that taming the budget and protecting public safety are top priorities.

In a region known in the Bay Area for its high-profile IPOs and high-tech wealth, the competition for real estate is so intense that some homebuyers and sellers are opting for off-market sales. This is all happening in a recovering market, which some Silicon Valley real estate agents say is causing a flurry of activity these days.

California will test an HIV-prevention pill in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease in the state, researchers announced Tuesday. The pill, which is already used to treat HIV patients, will be prescribed to 700 gay and bisexual men and transgender women in Los Angeles, San Diego and Long Beach who are high-risk but not infected.

Season tickets for the 49ers' new stadium are selling like hotcakes, even though we're not talking about IHOP pricing. The most expensive 1,000 seats in No Name Yet Stadium will cost $375 per game - plus $80,000 for a life-of-the-stadium license to buy that one seat. Those 1,000 seats are nearly sold out.