Search

The San Francisco Fire Department issued two citations to a company in charge of a $30 million renovation of the shuttered Renoir Hotel near Civic Center for improperly removing sprinkler systems, a department spokeswoman said Friday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. must pay a record $1.4 billion in fines and other penalties for more than 3,700 violations of pipeline safety laws leading up to the deadly San Bruno natural-gas explosion, two administrative law judges said Tuesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline will pay a total of $105 million to more than 40 states to settle allegations that the company illegally promoted its asthma and antidepressant drugs. California will receive $7.1 million, the largest share, California Attorney General Kamala Harris said Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

State regulators fined BART $210,000 Thursday in connection with the deaths of two track workers who were hit by a train in October during a union strike, alleging that the transit agency deliberately violated safety rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A noted marine biologist who operates a whale-watching business has been sentenced to three years of probation for illegally feeding killer whales in a Monterey Bay marine sanctuary. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified Chevron on Tuesday that the company could face fines of $37,500 for every day it fails to rectify 62 regulatory violations the agency has identified since the smoky Richmond refinery fire last year. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state's political watchdog agency ramped up its enforcement efforts this year, issuing a record $1 million fine while filing 250 cases against lobbyists, lawmakers and the politically inclined. Behind the scenes, the Fair Political Practices Commission has been waging another fight - to force those they fine to pay up. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should pay a $6.75 million fine for delaying the disclosure of record-keeping flaws on a San Carlos gas pipeline that were "distressingly similar" to problems that contributed to the San Bruno gas line disaster of 2010, a regulatory judge ruled Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should pay a $6.75 million fine for delaying the disclosure of record-keeping flaws on a San Carlos gas pipeline that were "distressingly similar" to problems that contributed to the San Bruno gas line disaster of 2010, a regulatory judge ruled Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

- Two Arizona nonprofits have been ordered to pay a record $1 million fine for illegally funneling $11 million into two high-profile and contentious ballot-measure campaigns last year, the Fair Political Practices Commission announced Thursday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

- State investigators shed new light on so-called dark money Thursday after announcing a record $1 million fine against two Arizona nonprofits that attempted to secretly sway California voters in last year's election. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The flood of special interest money swamping American politics needs clarifying rules. Though federal laws remain lax, California is finding a way to answer the challenge by announcing a $1 million fine against two shadowy out-of-state political groups that subverted disclosure laws. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Valero Refining Co. has agreed to pay more than $300,000 for repeated air quality violations, including gas leaks, over the past few years, regulators announced Tuesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Safeway has agreed to reduce air pollution caused by its refrigeration equipment at 659 stores and pay a $600,000 fine as part of a settlement reached Wednesday in the federal court in San Francisco. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Catching undersize Dungeness crabs is a crime, and it's no defense to claim you didn't know they were too small. But it's not much of a crime, a San Francisco appellate panel said, and the penalty must be modest as well - not a fine that ate up a commercial fisherman's profit for the day. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Oakland may soon look a little spiffier thanks to a crackdown on people who toss old mattresses, couches, hamburger wrappers and other trash on the streets, the city attorney said Tuesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Walmart agreed Tuesday to pay $82 million after pleading guilty to criminal charges that the company improperly dumped hazardous waste at stores across California. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At least 19 San Francisco restaurant owners accused of misleading customers by charging diners more in employee health-care surcharges than they actually put aside for workers have settled cases with the city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

United Parcel Service will forfeit to the government $40 million that it collected from pharmacies over seven years for delivering drugs that were illegally purchased online without a prescription, federal prosecutors in San Francisco said Friday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Maximiliano Martinez should never have died alone in a hole in the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

California health officials fined two San Francisco hospitals - UCSF and St. Mary's Medical Center - for two violations each as part of the state's efforts to penalize hospitals for errors serious enough to cause major injury or put patients' lives at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The $1 million fine proposed by Cal/OSHA against Chevron is an insufficient penalty for the damage caused by a fire that broke out at the oil giant's Richmond refinery last August. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chevron ignored potentially life-threatening dangers to workers at its Richmond refinery and should pay a record fine of nearly $1 million stemming from the fire there in August, state regulators said Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chevron has agreed to pay $145,600 to settle more than two dozen air-quality regulatory violations at its Richmond refinery, including citations for exceeding pollution limits and failing to inspect for leaks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday fined Uber, Lyft and SideCar $20,000 each for illegally operating their high-tech taxi and limousine hailing services without the required permits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ratepayer groups and the city of San Bruno on Wednesday denounced the "unilateral" appointment of former Sen. George Mitchell to mediate talks over how much Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should be fined for safety violations in the 2010 pipeline disaster that killed eight people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Six Bay Area hospitals were among the 14 California hospitals fined Thursday by the state Department of Public Health for violations serious enough to severely injure or kill patients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state has fined Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks $400 because she failed to file campaign disclosure reports in 2011 as required by law. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A former city employee let his San Francisco renters live with raw sewage spills, flooding, extensive mold and mildew, buckled floors, rodent infestations, crumbling walls and ceilings, and dry-rotted stairs for more than a decade. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Vanguard has removed its back-end fees on 19 stock-index funds and 14 actively managed funds, effective Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. may face fines after one of its former executives was caught spying on critics of the utility's SmartMeters in 2010, California regulators reported Wednesday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The state Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a pair of fines Thursday totaling nearly $20 million against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for failing to check for gas-line leaks in seven East Bay communities and for missing a deadline to turn over pipeline safety records. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A federal judge has ordered a Sunnyvale restaurant to pay $404,000 to 32 employees after the company withheld their wages and did not pay them overtime for working as many as 72 hours in a week. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Just days after state regulators proposed a $16.8 million fine against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for failing to conduct required gas leak surveys on 14 miles of pipeline in Contra Costa County, the company said Wednesday that it had found the same problem on nearly 10 more miles of pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A South San Francisco meat-processing plant has agreed to pay millions of dollars to overhaul its refrigeration system and implement safety measures after two ammonia leaks sickened dozens of people, according to a settlement agreement announced today by federal investigators. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s failure to conduct required gas leak surveys on nearly 14 miles of its distribution system in eastern Contra Costa County - including one Danville neighborhood ignored for two decades - prompted state regulators on Friday to levy $16.8 million in fines against the utility. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. admitted Tuesday that it had lost track of development around more than 300 miles of its gas-transmission lines - nearly twice as much as the company earlier estimated - a violation of federal law that could result in still more fines being imposed on the company. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. broke numerous state and federal safety laws leading up to the San Bruno gas-pipeline disaster, including failing to inspect the line for flaws after twice spiking the pipe's gas level beyond the legal limit, state regulators said Thursday. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The California Public Utilities Commission approved a record $38 million fine Thursday against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for a string of safety violations that led up to a Christmas Eve 2008 explosion outside Sacramento that killed a homeowner. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Oakland plans to stop its controversial practice of placing prospective liens on properties that the city's building inspectors deem as blighted, a decision that comes three months after a civil grand jury criticized the city for its code enforcement practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Linda Votaw moved into her house on Potrero Hill in 1998. There was a tree in front, which she liked, except that the roots were cracking the sidewalk. So she fixed the sidewalk. Ten years later the roots were back, cracking the sidewalk. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Regulators have fined oil giant Tesoro $500,000 for more than 40 air-quality violations at its East Bay refinery between 2006 and 2009. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

California energy regulators announced two new investigations of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Friday and, in one of the cases, proposed that the troubled utility pay a $7.1 million fine. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

State health officials cited three hospitals in the Bay Area, and nine others statewide, Thursday for violations serious enough to injure or kill patients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A San Francisco man who apparently overdosed on medical-marijuana cookies has been sentenced to five years' probation for pulling down his pants on an airline flight and otherwise interfering with the crew, authorities say. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The California Public Utilities Commission will take a critical vote on Thursday. It has to decide whether to move forward with a recommendation to fine Pacific Gas & Electric for failing to provide documentation on safe pressure levels for its gas transmission lines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]