VALLEJO (AP) — Authorities say heavy fog is to blame for a messy highway pileup near Vallejo that involved at least 31 vehicles.
The California Highway Patrol reports 11 separate crashes on Highway 37 during Wednesday morning's rush hour. The first crash happened just before 8 a.m.
CHP Officer John Perez says one car swerved off the road and into nearby water. That driver wasn't hurt, but two others suffered minor injuries in other crashes.
Perez says the chain-reaction crashes were caused by low visibility through the fog.
Judge allows SF sheriff to see his toddler son
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A family court judge ruled Wednesday that the embattled San Francisco sheriff can see his toddler son as he fights domestic violence charges.
Judge Ronald Albers modified a protective order to allow Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to see his 2-year-old son Theo for two hours on weekdays and up to six hours on Saturday and Sunday.
Mirkarimi said after the two-hour hearing that he was grateful and excited and planned to see his son later in the day. He called the separation a "tortuous process."
"I'm just so hungry to see my son that I'm going to gobble him up," Mirkarimi said, adding he had brought him books and a small toy fire engine.
Mirkarimi, however, is still not allowed to see his wife, Eliana Lopez. The sheriff was charged on Jan. 13 with misdemeanor domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness after an alleged domestic violence incident at their home on New Year's Eve.
Court: Stanford student on 'no-fly list' can sue
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court says a Stanford University student can sue the Department of Homeland Security over her erroneous placement on the government's "no-fly list."
Rahinah Ibrahim flew from San Francisco to Malaysia for a Stanford-sponsored conference in January 2005. Ibrahim since has been prevented from returning to the U.S. to complete her doctoral studies because she's on the government's terrorist watch list.
A lower court threw out her lawsuit claiming her constitutional rights were violated because she was living in Malaysia when she filed.
But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision Wednesday, saying Ibrahim had sufficiently deep connections to the U.S. to pursue the claim.
Stanford University nets $6.2B in 5-year campaign
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stanford University said Wednesday its latest five-year fundraising drive netted $6.2 billion, one of the largest amounts ever collected in a higher-education campaign.
Money raised by the Stanford Challenge is being used to fund an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research on areas such as education, environment, human health and international affairs, school officials said.
"We've undertaken a new model in higher education, with experts from different fields joining together," Stanford President John Hennessy said in a statement. "This kind of collaboration has enabled Stanford to assume a larger role in addressing global problems."
The money is providing funding for more than 160 endowed faculty positions, 360 graduate student fellowships, the construction or renovation of 38 campus buildings, $27 million in seed grants for innovative research and more than $250 million for need-based undergraduate scholarships.
