Bay briefs

Autopsy results showed the two 17-year-old boys died of blunt force trauma.

"There were no cuts to their bodies or slashes or any other marks to indicate anything was done to them with cutting instruments. There were no defense wounds to their hands," said Monterey County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Cassara Thursday. "Everything is consistent with falling from a cliff."

Cassara added that police believe the two students had been drinking.

United Airlines to layoff 900 flight attendants

Bankrupt United Airlines has announced the furlough of 900 additional flight attendants, many of whom are likely to be based in the Bay area.

The flight attendants are part of a 19,000-member union, and those relieved will be determined by seniority. According to Association of Flight Attendants spokeswoman Dawn Marie Bader, many of the local employees only have junior standing.

As part of the furlough program, senior flight attendants can bid to save a junior employee's job. For opting to do so, Bader said the attendant would get to keep their seniority in the event of a personnel recall.

Ownership of Bay area salt ponds transferred to public

Gov. Gray Davis, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Interior Secretary Gale Norton Thursday announced that title to 16,500 acres of salt ponds and salt-making rights has been officially transferred from Cargill Salt Co. to the Department of Fish and Game and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

The formal transfer of ownership to the public came 10 months after Gov. Davis and Sen. Feinstein announced a framework for the purchase last May.

"This is an historic and landmark day for the people of the San Francisco Bay Area and California," said Sen. Feinstein today.

Cargill will operate and maintain the salt ponds after close of escrow, until pond waters meet San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board standards for release into the Bay.<