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Father convicted of child abuse

MARTINEZ — An Antioch man convicted of child abuse after beating his 11-year-old stepson with an electrical cord for eating the last hamburger at dinner was sentenced Thursday to seven years in state prison. 

After the beating, Joseph Buggs forced his stepson to bathe in salt and alcohol, said Contra Costa County prosecutor Molly Manoukian. Three days after the beating, school officials called police when they noticed the boy had a broken wrist and other injuries. 

Buggs must complete at least 85 percent of his sentence before being released, Manoukian said. He was charged with inflicting corporal injury to a child. 

His wife, Pamela Buggs, pleaded guilty last July to abusing and endangering the health of a child and was sentenced to 180 days in county jail and four years of probation. 

The child now lives with his father. 

Livermore lab director gets raise before quitting

LIVERMORE — The director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is getting a pay raise before he quits. 

Bruce Tarter announced last year he is stepping down as soon as a new director is found. 

University of California regents last week approved a 12 percent raise for Tarter, taking his salary to $315,700. That’s the same salary paid to John Browne, director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. UC runs Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos under contract to the Energy Department. 

Two years ago, regents didn’t give Tarter a raise following revelations of a $1 billion cost overrun at the National Ignition Facility project at Lawrence Livermore. The project is intended to some day allow scientists to simulate nuclear explosions. 

Since the bad news broke about the project, Tarter has reorganized lab management and hired new associate directors.