Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/619995
ByJanieHar The Associated Press OAKLAND A Southwest Airlines flight made what appeared to be a normal landing Wednesday after circling for several hours over the Oakland airport due to possible landing gear problems. TV helicopter video showed Southwest flight 2547 landing at Oakland International Airport with a puff of smoke from its tires. The Chicago-bound flight took off from Oak- land at about 6 a.m. and landed just over four hours later. There were 139 pas- sengers on the plane. No injuries were reported, but some passengers were panicking at the end of the ordeal. "People were holding hands. Everyone was on their phones, I'm sure sending messages to loved ones," passenger Ashley Stasio, 34, told The Asso- ciated Press. "I don't mean to sound dramatic, but it was scary." KRON-TV reported a front tire on the landing gear had blown out. Stasio, of San Francisco, said the captain reported soon after takeoff that there were issues with the plane. Later, he told pas- sengers that the plane would not be going to Chi- cago and would burn fuel over Oakland for about an hour. Ninety minutes later, he said 6,000 more pounds of fuel had to be burned. He did not explain further until the plane was ready to land, and by that time passengers were watch- ing the news online, Sta- sio said. It was a smooth land- ing, she said. A short statement from Southwest Airlines said the captain returned to Oakland because of a re- ported maintenance is- sue. It did not elaborate. Airport spokeswoman Keonnis Taylor declined to comment on the in- cident, except to say the plane landed safely with- out injuries. The airport expects more than 600,000 pas- sengers this holiday sea- son. EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS Southwestflightmakesemergency landing at Oakland airport ANDACHU—BAYAREANEWSGROUP Southwest Airlines Flight 2547makes an emergency landing a er circling for several hours at Oakland International Airport in Oakland on Wednesday. The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The op- erator of a tour bus that crashed in San Fran- cisco and injured 20 peo- ple failed a surprise post- accident inspection and could be shut down if problems persist, author- ities said Wednesday. The audit of City Sight- seeing found 61 violations, including 29 for equip- ment problems on six buses that were inspected, the San Francisco Chron- icle reported. (http://sfg. ly/1Sbx0RE). State inspectors imme- diately ordered four of the six buses to be taken out of service for having in- operable emergency exits, faulty brake lamps and in one case, a potentially se- rious fuel leak. One of the failed buses also had a steering prob- lem that could have led to a loss of control of the ve- hicle, the newspaper re- ported. The audit prompted the Motor Carrier Safety Unit of the California Highway Patrol to threaten City Sightseeing with license revocation and even crim- inal prosecution if it does not act on the problems within 120 days. Officials have said the double-decker bus that slammed into scaffolding on Nov. 13 at a construc- tion site in Union Square apparently suffered me- chanical failure. It had not been inspected by the CHP, and state regulators say it had not been regis- tered as required by law. The company's chief ex- ecutive officer, Christian Watts, said it had received the inspection report and fixed most of the identi- fied problems on the day of the inspection. "The remaining issues in the report are related to past paperwork pro- cedures," Watts said in a statement. "As a result, we have instituted opera- tional changes to our in- ternal processes to ensure future compliance." Meanwhile, Watts said, the company is awaiting word from the CHP and police about the investi- gation and analysis of the crash. "We continue to coop- erate fully with the inves- tigators to help them find the answers they — and we — seek," he said. SAN FRANCISCO Audit a er bus crash finds violations among other vehicles By Elliot Spagat The Associated Press SANDIEGO Nearly 100 Mex- icans have sought to return to the U.S. by Wednesday's deadline under the settle- ment of a class-action law- suit that accused federal im- migration officials in South- ern California of failing to advise people of their rights. The American Civil Lib- erties Union sued the De- partment of Homeland Se- curity in 2013 over the use of a procedure to expel peo- ple from the country known as a voluntary return. Under the procedure, people surrender rights to appear before an immi- gration judge and can't le- gally return to the U.S. for up to 10 years. The lawsuit claimed authorities threat- ened people into accepting the terms. The government didn't acknowledge wrongdo- ing but agreed to changes in California that include a revised form that spells out the consequences and options of a voluntary re- turn, new training and pro- cedures and an information hotline for detainees seek- ing legal aid. The settlement reflects the agency's "commitment to ensuring foreign nation- als fully understand the im- plications of returning vol- untarily to Mexico," the department said in a state- ment. The government also agreed to let some Mexi- cans return to the U.S. to re- sume efforts to stay legally. The ACLU, which had es- timated thousands might be eligible for that chance, identified nearly 100 who might qualify to return to the U.S., said staff attorney Gabriela Rivera. Of those, the government has so far approved more than 20 to return and was reviewing other cases. The number reflects the high bar to qualify, Rivera said. The requirements in- clude being married to a U.S. citizen after entering the country legally, being in the country for at least 10 years and having a spouse, child or parent who relies on them, or being eligi- ble to be shielded from de- portation under President Barack Obama's 2012 exec- utive order. Applicants also must have accepted a voluntary return in Southern Califor- nia between 2009 and 2014. Lucy Sanchez, who came to California in 1996, was on a fishing boat in San Di- ego's Mission Bay in Octo- ber 2009 when authorities asked her legal status. She said they told her she might be jailed for months if she fought to stay and would be released immediately to Mexico if she agreed to a voluntary return. "They didn't even let me read it, they just said sign here," said Sanchez, 35, a wife and mother of U.S. cit- izens. Sanchez lived in Tijuana, Mexico, for six years with her daughter, now 7, and was among a small group of Mexicans allowed to re- turn to the U.S. in August to plead her case before an immigration judge. She has a court date in April. The ACLU spearheaded an extensive campaign on both sides of the border that included workshops, bill- boards and television ad- vertising to reach the esti- mated 200,000 people who accepted voluntary returns in Southern California dur- ing the period covered by the settlement. The settlement applies only to the Border Patrol's San Diego sector and Im- migration and Customs Enforcement's Los Ange- les and San Diego field of- fices, and the requirements on the agencies to change the form and its practices expire in August 2017. The agencies have lim- ited changes to Southern California and made no commitment to keep them in place after 2017. The number of volun- tary returns has dropped sharply in recent years to less than 9,000 nationwide in fiscal 2015, the federal agency said. IMMIGRATION Nearly 100 Mexicans seek return to US under legal settlement By Amanda Lee Myers The Associated Press LOS ANGELES South- ern California Gas Co. on Wednesday agreed to speed up the relocation of residents affected by a now 2-month-old gas leak in Los Angeles. Under an agreement ap- proved by a county judge, the utility has agreed to pay for up to three retired judges to oversee the on- going relocation and for security to protect resi- dents' empty homes. The agreement comes after the city attorney's office sought a court or- der to accelerate the relo- cation process. The leak was discov- ered Oct. 23 at a South- ern California gas facility in the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles. It already has forced the company to relocate thousands of resi- dents who said the stench made them sick. The well is spewing an estimated 1,200 tons of methane each day, or about a quarter of the state's total output of cli- mate-changing methane. Forty-six residents have filed complaints about the relocation process, said Chief Deputy City Attor- ney Jim Clark. Some of the residents say they've waited for weeks to be moved, while others have reported in- adequate accommoda- tions, including a fam- ily with an autistic son placed in a hotel room with one bed, Clark said. He said an estimated 2,000 people still need to be relocated. "Essentially, they (Southern California Gas) needed their feet held to the fire," Clark said. A message left for a Southern California spokeswoman was not immediately returned Wednesday. The company has said it will take three to four months to drill a secondary well that will be used to stop the gas leak. "SoCalGas has the same urgency and our highest priority is to safely stop the leak as quickly as safety will allow, support the affected customers, and reduce the amount of natural gas emitting into the environment during this unfortunate situa- tion," company spokes- man Javier Mendoza said in a statement earlier this month. On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown wrote Southern California Gas to note that the utility's efforts to stop the leak had been insufficient and to say that he had directed state agencies to work with the California attorney gen- eral in investigating the causes of the leak, accord- ing to a copy of the letter released by the governor's office. Public health officials have said the leak is not a threat to public health, but hundreds of residents have complained of nau- sea, headaches, bloody noses and other maladies. The company and state officials say illnesses are caused by the foul-smell- ing additive that makes odorless natural gas de- tectable. Los Angeles County and the city's school board de- clared a state of emer- gency over the leak, with the board deciding to move students out of two schools in the affected neighborhood. The move begins after winter break and could last until June. LOS ANGELES Utility agrees to faster resident relocation amid gas leak The Associated Press CLAREMONT For the last eightyears,aSouthernCali- fornia church has hosted an artist's socially provocative Nativity scenes addressing issues such as homelessness and immigration. But Claremont United Methodist Church could not agree with artist John Zachary this year about his vision for a manger scene criticizing gun violence, and ended up scrapping a Nativity display altogether. Instead, the church posted a banner calling for peace. Zachary, who is a mem- ber ofthe church eastofLos Angeles, proposed erecting a steel manger with guns and a sign reading "What will it take to stop gun vio- lence?" to focus the public's attention on the 2012 shoot- ing at Sandy Hook Elemen- tary School in Connecticut, the Inland Valley Daily Bul- letin reported Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1J4x3wy ). The church's pastor, Rev. Mark Wylie, said a church committee was concerned the display could draw pro- tests. After a 2013 display depicted a bleeding Tray- von Martin, the Florida teen who was shot to death, the church was flooded with calls and emails. "If we're going to do something so in your face, would we do security and what would that look like?" Wylie told the newspaper. "What we learned is that if it's going to go viral, we need to be prepared for that." SOCIAL SCENES Church, artist can't agree on gun protest Nativity Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. THANKYOUFORSUPPORTING N EWS D AILY REDBLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N TY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 NEWSPAPERS NIE • Dignity Health St. Elizabeth Community Hospital • Dr. Asato & Dr. Martin • Fidelity National Title Co. • Dolling Insurance • Gumm's Optical Shoppe • Olive City Quick Lube • Walmart • Tehama Co. Dept. Of Ed. • John Wheeler Logging, Inc. • Dudley's Excavating, Inc. • Etzler Financial & Insurance • Olive City Tax Professionals • Placer Title Company • Airport Auto Repair • Greenwaste Of Tehama • North Main Automotive • QRC • Red Bluff Vision Center • Steve's Backhoe Service • School House Market • Wing Solar & Wood Energy | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2015 4 B