Features

Sex offender info to be made available in 13 languages 

SAN JOSE — Public information on registered sex offenders now will be available in 13 languages and will be updated daily, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Friday. 

Law enforcement agencies will be able to obtain and give daily updates of Megan’s Law information by accessing a Department of Justice databasa via a secure Intranet connection. The new Web-enabled application replaces a CD-ROM produced by the attorney general’s office and distributed monthly to law enforcement. 

In addition to English the information will be available in Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. 

Suspect in Oakland shooting connected to another homicide 

SAN FRANCISCO — A man critically wounded by San Francisco police is a suspect in the killings of seven people, including a witness shot six days after testifying in a gang homicide case, police said Thursday. 

Ramon Sapp, 24, was shot at least six times Wednesday and was in critical condition Thursday night. 

San Francisco police believe Sapp has ties to a drug gang in the city’s Western Addition neighborhood. Sapp is also a suspect in the January 2001 shooting death of Dustin Thomas. 

Albany schools to layoff teachers to reduce $1.5m shortfall 

ALBANY — The Albany Unified School District will lay off teachers and administrators, and reduce the number of class periods, to slash $1.5 million from its budget. 

School officials say an array of reasons — from a fluctuating enrollment during the past several years to overly optimistic salary settlements with various unions last year — have forced them to take these steps. 

“The way school districts work, you’re supposed to keep a 3 percent reserve,” said Albany school board member Marsha Skinner. “This year, we’re going down into our reserve, even with cuts we’ve already made.”