SAN FRANCISCO – The city has approved a program to provide identification cards to illegal immigrants, transgender people and other residents who may be unable or unwilling to get a state-issued driver's license.
The identification card program was modeled after one launched this summer in New Haven, Conn., and is designed to help residents without IDs to access services and feel safe dealing with police. The city's Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 to approve their program late Tuesday. It directed the city clerk to start issuing the ID cards within nine months.
Associated Press
Crew of cargo ship mum about oil spill
SAN FRANCISCO – Chinese crew members of the cargo ship that caused the San Francisco Bay oil spill are refusing to speak with federal investigators and apparently had their drug and alcohol tests mishandled in the incident's aftermath, authorities said.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard, which has been criticized for its handling of the incident, said yesterday it has replaced the commander overseeing the response to last week's spill.
And miles of beaches remained closed a week after the Hong Kong-based Cosco Busan struck the Bay Bridge Nov. 7, spilling 58,000 gallons of oil into the bay. Hundreds of birds have been killed, and the region's commercial and sport fisheries temporarily shut down because of the fuel spilled from the freighter's tank.
Associated Press
Boy, 10, won't face charges over fire
LOS ANGELES – A 10-year-old boy who admitted starting a 38,000-acre fire last month that destroyed 21 homes in northern Los Angeles County will not be charged, according to prosecutors.
There was no evidence of intent by the boy who accidentally ignited brush outside his home by playing with matches, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Associated Press
