MOUNT DIABLO STATE PARK REOPENS AFTER FIRE: CLAYTON (AP) — A San Francisco Bay Area wilderness park is open again after a wildfire there consumed nearly five square miles.
Mount Diablo State Park in Contra Costa County reopened on Monday, two days after the fire was fully contained.
Park officials tell the Contra Costa Times that visitors should avoid any burned areas.
Danita Rodriguez, district superintendent for the Diablo Valley District of the state park system, says there are plenty of other hiking trails available and people can still get to the mountain's summit.
The fire began on Sept. 8. Officials say it was sparked by target shooting. More than 75 homes were evacuated at one point.
HUMAN FOOT WASHES ASHORE AT SAN FRANCISCO BEACH: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities say a human foot in a running shoe has washed ashore on San Francisco's Ocean Beach with no sign of the rest of the body.
The National Park Service said a member of its beach patrol confirmed the report Sunday from a beachgoer.
Mark Powning, chief investigator of the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office, told The San Francisco Chronicle the foot still had tissue attached but appears to have been in the sea for a while.
The foot was inside a size 11 1/2 green-and-black-mesh Puma running shoe.
LOCOMOTIVE EXCURSION TRAINS TO ROLL IN FOLSOM: SACRAMENTO (AP) — Trains will roll again on a long-unused section of track in the hills of Sacramento County, under a plan pushed by Folsom rail enthusiasts and approved by officials.
A weekend excursion train, pulled by a 44-ton diesel locomotive, will trundle on a section of the Placerville & Sacramento Valley Railroad dating to 1856, billed as the oldest rail line west of the Rockies.
The trains will roll 3.5 miles to the south through open fields along the Sacramento and El Dorado county line before heading back. The rides will include commentary and could begin later this month.
Train buffs say they would like to extend the ride into the picturesque hills around Latrobe, and possibly to Shingle Springs, where the trains could link with an existing excursion line there.
UTILITY AGREES TO $1.8M WILDFIRE SETTLEMENT: FRESNO (AP) — Southern California Edison has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit over a 2007 wildfire that burned about two square miles of Sequoia National Forest land.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says the settlement was filed on Monday.
The fire began on April 29, 2007 in Kernville, about 50 miles northeast of Bakersfield. Prosecutors say poorly-maintained hardware on a power distribution line owner by Edison was to blame.
They say the equipment caused an electrical fault that ignited dry vegetation.
CREW WORKS TO CAP LA-AREA WELL SPEWING GAS: HAWTHORNE . (AP) — A crew on Friday appeared to stop water and methane gas that spewed for days from a Southern California well but 37 families were still staying away from their homes until experts could confirm the leak was plugged, authorities said.
A disused water well in this southwestern Los Angeles suburb was being capped on Thursday when water and methane began to pour from it, owner Golden State Water Co. said in a statement.
Boots & Coots, a company that specializes in dealing with oil, gas and water well work, injected water into the well on Monday to halt the outflow, Los Angeles County fire Capt. Brian Jordan said.
