A.M. Splash: Alameda DA Changes Deportation Policy; Prof. Says Sandy Could Happen Here; Jobless Rate Falls in Calif.; Parade Cost a Mystery

In a new strategy to stop minor crimes from triggering deportations, Alameda County's district attorney has instructed prosecutors to allow some immigrants to avoid convictions that could get them expelled from the country. District Attorney Nancy O'Malley's new policy makes Alameda one of a handful of counties in the nation, including Santa Clara, where prosecutors are openly considering the threat of deportation in evaluating how they seek guilty pleas for low-level crimes.

A geology professor at the University of California, Davis, is warning that the San Francisco Bay Area could be blasted by a storm just like Sandy – and that businesses in the region are ill-prepared for this hazard. Sandy has crippled the Northeast, caused billions of dollars in damage and killed more than 70 people. Jeffrey Mount, a geology professor who is founding director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis, wrote Monday on a university blog that the Bay Area business community “should be taking notes” on Sandy. Why? Because the same “trifecta of high tides, storm surge and intense rain” that pounded the Northeast could devastate the Bay Area, according to Mount.

The net number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits for the week ended Oct. 27 fell by 9,000 from the previous week’s revised total, to 363,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday. The four-week moving average for initial jobless claims fell by 1,500, to 368,750, according to a news release from the Labor Department.

So just how much does it cost to throw a World Series parade in San Francisco? Try, "we'll get back to you." That was pretty much the answer from Mayor Ed Lee's office. Lee himself said Tuesday he expected the cost to be similar to city expenses for the 2010 championship parade. So how much was that? Lee's spokeswoman, Christine Falvey, said she didn't know the amount.

The tenants who live aboard boats at Pete's Harbor in Redwood City were trying to figure out Wednesday what to do next, after their attempt to halt a big development that would force them to move was turned down by the city's Planning Commission. The commission voted unanimously late Tuesday to approve a 411-unit condominium development at the landmark marina. Unless they win an appeal to the City Council or a possible public vote, more than 50 people who live in floating homes will have to clear out by mid-January.

San Francisco police on Wednesday released a video of suspects believed to be responsible for the arson of a Municipal Railway bus after the Giants' World Series victory on Sunday and are asking for the public's help in identifying them. The 8X-Bayshore Express Muni bus was torched and vandalized at about 12:30 a.m. Monday at Market and Third streets. The video, recorded by a witness, appears to show two suspects lighting the bus on fire after it had stopped on Market Street. Eight passengers and the driver had been on board the bus but got out before the vandalism started.

Sergio Romo's 'illegal' shirt a showstopper at San Francisco Giants paradeForget the World Series trophy and caravan of luxury convertibles. The biggest showstopper at the San Francisco Giants' victory parade might have been lovable relief pitcher Sergio Romo's T-shirt. Or more precisely, the message on the front: "I just look illegal." Already lionized for his Sunday performance closing out the Giants' Series clincher against the Detroit Tigers, the 29-year-old won even more attention Wednesday as he sported the provocative message while parading through the streets of San Francisco.

Nathan Burris, who admittedly killed two people at the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in 2009, wants his death penalty trial to "hurry up" so he can "go watch basketball." The 49-year-old Richmond man, who is acting as his own attorney in his ongoing Contra Costa County Superior Court trial, has indicated several times that he wishes to plead guilty. But he hasn't. "When I said I did it, I did it. So what," Burris said after the prosecution rested Wednesday. "What are we wasting time for?"

Public support for Gov. Jerry Brown's initiative to raise taxes remains below 50 percent, but the measure no longer appears to be on a downward trajectory, leaving Brown within striking distance one week before Election Day, according to a new Field Poll. Likely voters favor the initiative 48 percent to 38 percent, with 14 percent undecided, according to the poll.

It wasn't until surfer Scott Stephens punched the shark on the side of its head that it relented and let go, seconds after biting him and pulling him underwater off the North Jetty. Stephens sat upright today, smiling and joking as he recounted the harrowing attack that landed him at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka on Tuesday. With family and doctors in attendance, the 25-year-old Manila resident and avid surfer told reporters that he was lucky to be able to talk about the incident.