Bay Area briefs

Devin Smith, 42, and two accomplices allegedly stole an estimated $20 million worth of antique estate jewelry from Lang Estate and Jewelry in April 2003, the FBI said.

The suspects apparently entered the jewelry store by knocking a hole through the wall of a vacant restaurant next door, officials said. After waiting for store employees to arrive, they forced them to open the store's safe and retrieve jewelry at gunpoint. The three suspects then tied up the employees and fled.

A week later, San Francisco Police obtained arrest warrants for Smith and two others — Dino Smith and George Turner. All were charged with robbery, kidnapping, false imprisonment, second-degree burglary and conspiracy.

Dino Smith and Turner were later arrested, but Smith — who also goes by the alias Troy Smith — remains a fugitive, the FBI said.

He has also been charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

San Jose receives construction bond

SAN JOSE - A state agency has awarded $75 million in tax exempt, low-cost bond funds to help build affordable housing in one of the most expensive real estate markets nationwide.

The California Debt Limit Allocation Committee awarded the bond funds Monday to the San Jose Redevelopment Agency, which will use the infusion as low-cost loans to help build 13 new developments that will provide nearly 2,000 affordable housing units.

Families who earn 30 to 60 percent of the area's median income — $31,650 to $63,300 a year for a family of four — will be eligible to rent or purchase houses and apartments.

"This investment in affordable housing will help ease the crunch felt by San Jose families struggling to make ends meet," California State Treasurer Phil Angelides said.

Angelides and San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales announced the award at the 175-unit Oak Tree Village, an under-construction apartment complex funded with more than $25 million in tax-exempt bonds, including $1.75 million in proceeds from the newest award. The complex — located near public transportation, a park and a school — is similar to other projects that will get some new funding.

Gonzales, who has created 6,000 affordable housing units in the past five years, hopes to create an additional 6,000 units by 2009.

Shifting land creates housing confusion

BERKELEY - Three major landslides in Berkeley and Kensington have shifted some residents' homes, driveways or decks onto their neighbors' lands, creating a dilemma since property lines do not move, a newspaper reported.

Land movement has inflicted extensive damages to homes in the Berkeley Hills, cracking walls, wrecking home foundations and rupturing water lines. But its impact on property lines — and the dispute it ignites between neighbors — has been little studied.

"I'm surprised nobody figured this out earlier," Richard Pike of the U.S. Geological Survey told the San Francisco Chronicle. "As more people build in the hills, you're going to see this problem get bigger and bigger."

Some property-line disputes have already landed in court. In one case, an arbitrator ruled that, though land had moved, a couple of feet of the land in question belonged to the downhill neighbor because a survey determined ownership.

The land under Robert Mathews' home in the Berkeley Hills has slid about 20 feet since 1996, making it appear as if half of his house is sitting on his neighbor's land.

"I figure the property line runs right through the middle of the front doorway," Mathews said. "Now I'm worried. What is that going to do to my (home's) resale value?"

The three slides — the Keith Slide and the Thousand Oaks Slide in Berkeley, and the Blakemont Slide in Kensington — straddle the Hayward Fault. Experts say hundreds of homes are in the slide zones.

UC Berkeley scientists recently reported that large tracts of East Bay land usually move between 5 and 38 millimeters a year.

Santa Clara County cracking down on absenteeism in school

SAN JOSE - Santa Clara County school districts are cracking down on creeping absenteeism, sending threatening letters to parents whose students miss school or are 30 minutes late to class three or more times per semester.

The 31,000-student San Jose Unified—- the county's largest district — has sent 3,715 truancy letters this semester. At least 100 letters were sent to parents who excused children for orthodontist appointments, family vacations or other planned absences.

The letters warn that parents whose children don't reform may get a visit from Child Protective Services or even a lawsuit from the district attorney's office. The stern letters have prompted angry calls from dozens of parents, but officials say they're a wake-up call after 15 years of rising absenteeism countywide.