More local briefs

Couple pleads guilty in Wendy's finger case

SAN JOSE — A Nevada couple pleaded guilty Friday to all charges related to planting a human finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili in a scheme to extort money from the fast food restaurant chain.

Anna Ayala, 39, and Jaime Placencia, 43, pleaded guilty in Santa Clara County Superior Court to conspiring to file a false claim and attempted grand theft from the Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy's International Inc., which claimed it lost $2.5 million in sales because of bad publicity.

"Thankfully, law enforcement thwarted their successful efforts at theft," said Deputy District Attorney David Boyd.

Ayala also pleaded guilty to defrauding a woman by selling a motor home she didn't own, and Placencia also pleaded guilty to failing to pay child support.

Ayala faces up to nearly 10 years in state prison when sentenced Nov. 2. Her husband faces up to 13 years behind bars.

Bay Area likely to compete to host the 2016 Olympics

SAN FRANCISCO — Regional leaders said there is a "strong likelihood" that the San Francisco Bay area will formally compete to host the 2016 Summer Games.

"I just can't imagine a better place for the summer Olympics," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Three years ago, the Bay Area made a bid to host the 2012 Summer Games. New York City eventually won the contest as the United States' candidate city, but London beat out New York to host the world sporting event.

The mayor said regional civic and business leaders will decide whether to compete after the U.S. Olympic Committee's board of directors meets Saturday, when they will determine the criteria for bidding.

City officials in Los Angeles, which hosted the Summer Games in 1984, announced this week they will vie for the 2016 Games. Organizers in New York City, Chicago, the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore region and San Diego may also compete.

Al Gore blasts Bush; personally airlifted Katrina victims

SAN FRANCISCO — Former Vice President Al Gore urged Americans on Friday to hold the Bush administration accountable for failing to adequately prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina.

"When the corpses of American citizens are floating in toxic flood waters five days after a hurricane struck, it is time not only to respond directly to the victims of the catastrophe, but to hold ... the leaders of our nation accountable," Gore told environmentalists at the Sierra Club's national convention.

Gore had been scheduled to give a speech to state insurance commissioners in New Orleans this weekend about the likelihood that global warming will spawn increasingly deadly hurricanes.

He decided to take his speech to San Francisco after that conference was canceled.

"The warnings about global warming have been extremely clear for a long time," Gore said.