Earthquake last night:

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake was widely felt as it rattled Northern California last night, breaking dishes and shaking mirrors off walls. The good news is that there were no immediate reports of injury or serious damage.  The quake struck at 8:47 p.m. and was centered near Greenville which is about 25 miles southwest of Susanville in northern California. There have been several aftershocks overnight ranging from 2.6-to-4.9-magnitude. Thousands reported feeling the quake, as far away as the Bay area and across the Oregon border.

Boy Scouts vote to end ban on gay members:

The Boy Scouts of America decided  to break 103 years of tradition yesterday by allowing openly gay members into its ranks. The controversial move was approved by more than 60 percent of the approximate 1,400 votes cast by the organization's national council. According to the new resolution, beginning Jan. 1, 2014, "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.” Lifting the organization’s ban on gay adult volunteer leaders and paid staff was not considered yesterday and still remains in place.

Work to begin to replace bolts on new Bay Bridge span:

Caltrans has begun work on the site of the broken bolts on the new Bay Bridge and crews say it could definitely delay the opening of the span on Labor Day weekend.  Caltrans has begun chipping away at the concrete underneath the new eastern span. They are also drilling into it, preparing to thread high strength steel wires across and around. Those wires will be the cinch for the steel saddles. An engineer for Cal Trans explains that because the bolts are no longer useful, they’re putting a U-shaped saddle that goes over the top and pulls the whole shear key base right down and holds it nice and tight in exactly the same way the bolts would have held it down. As you know, in March, 32 rods broke when tensioned inside a block of concrete around a shear key and bearing. Those are seismic features that help the road bed sway, prevent them from breaking in an earthquake.

SFO worker accused of stealing from luggage:

A San Francisco International Airport baggage handler accused of stealing dozens of items from airline passengers' checked bags appeared in a Redwood City courtroom this week.  45 year old George Reyes of San Francisco, came under scrutiny after United Airlines received more than 50 complaints from passengers that property was stolen from their luggage. In a sting operation on Tuesday, police placed GPS tracking devices on iPads and purses and put the decoy items in checked luggage. The items were taken from the luggage, and the GPS devices tracked the stolen goods to Reyes' car as he drove home from work. Reyes has been charged with having stolen property and two counts of embezzlement.

Women say 1 in 5 men are high-maitenance partners:

According to a new study, one in five women says their man is ‘high-maintenance'. Researchers blame it on the rise of the ‘metrosexual’. Spending a long time on their looks, wanting to be told ‘I love you’ several times a day and not leaving the house without their hair immaculately styled, were among the list of high-maintenance traits in the modern men. Also on the list: Demanding instant replies to text messages and spending longer in the bathroom than the women do.

Man stops robbery in Safeway:

A man went to his local Safeway store last weekend to pick up some ice cream for his daughter when he heard someone yelling "Help me help me I'm being robbed!" inside the store! It was the pharmacist yelling as a man was trying to steal vials of Vicodin from the pharmacy. The dad saw the man run by the aisle that he was in and he ran and tackled the guy by one of the checkstands.The dad said he plays hockey so he has some experience with "fights". The cops were called and arrested the 20 year old robber. Safeway let the dad take the ice cream home for free. The man said when he went home to his daughter, she asked him what took so long and he said he had stopped a robbery at the store. She said "Sure dad" and that was that.

American tourists get stuck on iceberg:

Search and rescue teams were called the other night to rescue 4 American tourists in Iceland who were stranded on a floating iceberg on a lake. The tourists were observing the lake and decided to jump on a floating iceberg that was (at that point), close to land. But....the iceberg quickly began floating out to the middle of the lake, the water was literally freezing and they were trapped. One of the tourists managed to jump to land before the iceberg got too far away and went and called the search and rescue teams who came and saved the group.

Man shot dead by FBI about to sign statement admitting to murder with Boston marathon suspect:

A man shot dead by an FBI agent in Florida yesterday was apparently "about to sign a statement" admitting to a role, along with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in an unsolved triple murder in Massachusetts in 2011. The man apparently pulled a knife during his interview with the FBI and stabbed an agent several times, forcing agents to shoot him. FBI agents and Massachusetts state police began to question the man after his name and phone number were recovered from the phone of the dead bombing suspect. The man was initially being questioned about any role in the marathon bombing when it emerged he had connections to the 2011 Massachusetts murder. There is no indication the man was tied to the bombing.

Man killed as pipe crashes through his windshield:

A 33 year old man was killed yesterday in a freak accident on Highway 580. A metal pipe came crashing through his windshield out of nowhere and basically impaled him. His car veered left into the center divider, went up an embankment and came to rest. The CHP arrived to find the driver deceased inside the vehicle and the engine still running. The pipe was about 2 feet in length and looks like it is the kind of pipe that is used to secure large loads on trucks.  No witnesses saw it bouncing down the road and the CHP said nobody's called in to say that they lost anything of this sort. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the CHP immediately.

CHP conducts surprise inspections on passenger vehicles yesterday:

Several passenger vehicle “surprise inspections” took place yesterday at SFO, an effort that was spear-headed by the CHP in the wake of the recent limo fire on the San Mateo bridge. The CHP says these are necessary because of the horrific consequences when businesses and drivers don't make safety their top priority. They were checking for vehicle defects, drivers with too many hours behind the wheel, and the proper permits and licenses. Some drivers were really upset by it saying it takes too much time while others understood the need for the inspections.  By 11 a.m., yesterday morning, the San Francisco Police Department and the CHP had already issued 14 citations.

San Francisco considering surcharge for major events:

San Francisco supervisor Scott Wiener has asked for a study of a proposal that would add a small surcharge to tickets for large-scale sports and entertainment events to help fund the city's public transit system.  He asked for the city controller's office to assess the economic impact of a fee between $1 and $3 that would go toward maintaining the San Francisco Municipal Railway system. The fee would apply to San Francisco Giants games, events at the proposed waterfront arena, as well as large outdoor festivals like Outside Lands in Golden Gate Park and the music festival on Treasure Island. He said the revenue from the surcharge, could create up to $22 million annually for Muni, which could be used to pay for four new light-rail vehicles per year or rehabilitate up to 18 vehicles already in the system.

Lucky cashier sells herself $1 million dollar Powerball ticket:

A 57-year-old divorced convenience store clerk and pharmacy technician won $1 million in last Saturday's $590 million Powerball jackpot on a ticket she sold herself! Her ex-husband had actually called her and said “You know, a winning Powerball ticket was purchased at the convenience store you work at.” She happened to own the store for 25 years before selling it seven years ago and is now working there as a weekend cashier. She said when she realized she won, (she was working at the store at the time) she stashed the ticket in her purse and went to a different convenience store to check the numbers and they confirmed she had won $1 million dollars. She said she’s going to take a trip to Hawaii and she’s going to buy her son a car because his car won’t start most mornings.

School bans “Mother’s Day” and “Father’s Day”:

An elementary school in Nova Scotia has made a decision to cancel Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations and to, instead, replace them with a more benign “Family Day” commemoration. The full name of the holiday the school has chosen to observe is the International Day of Families. While some parents say it takes political correctness too far, others like that it is more inclusive.

Pre-school bans super hero play:

A preschool in Philadelphia has banned Super Hero play at their school and some parents are really ticked off. The note that was sent home with students says that the imaginations of some of the kids are becoming “dangerously overactive” and kids are getting hurt. They also said that wrestling, super hero play and monster games are no longer permitted. And what really ticked off some of the parents was the part of the note that said parents need to monitor the media that their kids may view at home. The letter is kind of over the top…(oh and it’s full of grammatical errors too!). We have it posted on the DB show page at www.sf1037.com so you can see for yourself!

Oklahoma update:

In Oklahoma, we’re getting new numbers on the devastating impact of Monday’s tornado. Over 10,000 people were impacted, 2400 homes were destroyed and 24 people died. There is possibly up to $2 billion dollars in damage. The National Weather Service is now calling the tornado an EF5---that’s as big as they get. The twister traveled 17 miles and was 1 mile wide at one point. There have only been 58 EF5’s since 1950. Moore, OK is the only US city to be hit by one twice. (Remember you can make a donation to the victims in OK at www.sf1037.com on the DB show page).

Superbowl 50 goes to the 49ers!

You probably heard the great news yesterday, the San Francisco 49ers have been selected to host the 2016 Super Bowl at their new stadium in Santa Clara. The decision was announced late yesterday morning after a vote by 32 NFL team owners. Dozens of people gathered at Santa Clara's City Hall to watch live coverage of the NFL's decision. When the news was announced, the room filled with cheers as fans waved red rally rags bearing the 49ers logo. One thing that city officials are really excited about is that it is estimated that a Super Bowl brings between $300 and $500 million in economic benefits to the surrounding region. By the way, it was also announced yesterday that Houston will host the Super Bowl in 2017.

Apple CEO faces Senate questions on taxes:

The Senate grilled Apple CEO Tim Cook yesterday over allegations that its Irish subsidiaries help the company avoid billions in U.S. taxes. Cook took a bit of a defensive tone, stressing the 600,000 jobs that the company supports while adding that Apple is the nation's largest corporate taxpayer.  He said that Apple pays every single dollar in taxes that they owe and he stated that the Irish subsidiaries don't reduce the company's U.S. taxes at all. Apple uses five companies located in Ireland to carry out its tax strategy. The companies are located at the same address in Ireland, and they share members of their boards of directors. While all five companies were incorporated in Ireland, only two of them also have tax residency in that country. That means the other three aren't legally required to pay taxes in Ireland because they aren't managed or controlled in that country (in Apple's view).  Apple's enormous, iPhone-fueled profits mean that it has more cash stashed overseas than any other company: $102 billion.

Search continues for man who went missing after Bay To Breakers:

Search teams continued looking for a 27 year old man today who disappeared after the Bay To Breakers when he went down to the water at Ocean Beach on Sunday. Beau Rasmussen of Emeryville left his hat, pants, cellphone and passport on the shore. His friends and family are convinced that after Bay To Breakers, he probably went into the water for a swim. His family said he is the kind of guy who feels like your best friend just minutes after meeting him. Police are asking anyone who may have seen anything on Sunday at the beach to contact them immediately with any details.

FDNY rescues NYPD officer trying to rescue cat from tree:

An entire unit of firefighters rescued an NYPD cop who got trapped in a tree after he climbed up a tree to save a cat. Once the police officer was 30 feet in the air, he called off the chase for the cat and then to his partner that he couldn’t get back down. He was stuck in the tree that he had tried to rescue the cat from! So the police department had to call the NY fire department where, as you can imagine, they had a field day with the poor guy. As the police officer's colleague put it:  “They didn’t go straight to helping him...They took their time just crowding around and laughing at him." Then they rescued him AND the cat. Besides the police officer's ego being bruised, he and the cat are doing just fine.

Woman busted with DUI while celebrating end of her previous DUI:

I don't know if this woman is unlucky or just a dummy but a woman from Illinois (hopefully not a relative of mine) was arrested for driving under the influence while she was drinking (and apparently driving) to celebrate the fact that she was getting her driver’s license back after a previous DUI arrest. The 58-year-old woman failed multiple sobriety tests and was placed into custody. And it wasn't like she was a little bit over the limit....she blew a .15 which, you probably know, is almost twice the legal limit. The police chief in the town that she was arrested in said he is going to propose that she lose her driving privileges for 10 years, that her vehicle be confiscated and a that she serves a mandatory seven-year sentence upon conviction since she is a repeat offender.

Airline passengers would rather sit next to a crying baby than a smelly adult:

Let's see if you agree with this thought. According to a new survey, airline passengers say they'd rather sit next to a crying baby than a smelly adult.  That's just one of the findings in a new poll that looks at how fliers who take at least one trip a year feel about certain perks and annoyances when traveling. And.....39% of those surveyed say it'd would be preferable to let a stranger fall asleep on their shoulder during a flight than to have to pay the airline a fee for carry-on bags.