News Roundup From 3/7 to 3/11

Here's everything you missed:

Friday

• Most of the Bay Area was not directly affected today by a deadly tsunami that hit Japan Thursday night, despite concerns that residual waves crashing onto the California coastline could cause damage or injuries. A tsunami warning was issued early Friday morning in the region after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan led to a tsunami that killed hundreds of people. Local damage was restricted mainly to the Santa Cruz Harbor, but precautions were taken across the Bay Area - including evacuation plans, transit cancellations and school closures - due to wave swells expected just before 8 a.m.

• The Windsor High School student who survived a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge Thursday morning said he "did it for kicks," the surfer who pulled him from the water said this morning. Frederic Lecouturier, 55, of San Rafael, said he was beneath the east side of the bridge looking up toward the west when he saw the teen's body fall into the ocean about 25 yards away.

• A Richmond man accused of a 2009 San Rafael homicide made his first court appearance in Marin County Superior Court at 1:30 p.m. today. Michael Powell, Jr., 19, was arrested in Glendale, Ariz. on Feb. 17 on suspicion of murdering 22-year-old Donald Espinoza-Ordonez outside his apartment on Nov. 30, 2009. Ordonez was the only homicide victim in 2009. 
• San Rafael police officers are looking for suspects in a shooting at 400 Canal St. on March 10. Police officers responded to shots fired at 400 Canal St. at 9:23 p.m. where they found a victim of a single gunshot wound to the buttocks. He was taken to Marin General Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. A second victim was slashed with a knife in the chest, but was not injured, according to Sgt. Jim Correa. 

Thursday

• A Novato man who listed his occupation as a ballet dancer was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of participating in a strong-armed robbery of a man who was sleeping in his car, according to San Rafael police. Benjamin Phillip Andre, 21, was arrested by San Rafael police at his home in the Lanham Village section of Hamilton at 8:24 a.m. after being identified by the robbery victim through police department photos, said Margo Rohrbacher, a police spokeswoman.

Wednesday

• Alaina Yoakum, a San Rafael resident, who co-owns Marin Running Company in San Anselmo with her husband, delivered her sister’s baby via C-section – with her husband, her kids, her sister, her sister’s husband and her parents in tow. Yoakum is serving as a surrogate for her sister, Heidi Sanders, after Sanders was forced to have a hysterectomy to combat cervical cancer. Sanders, who is ten years younger than Yoakum, was diagnosed with cervical cancer nearly three years ago. The cancer was more aggressive than initially thought and she had to have a hysterectomy.

Tuesday

• Figures released Tuesday from the 2010 Census show that San Rafael's population grew by approximately 3 percent over the decade from 2000 to 2010. Overall, the city's population is 57,713, an increase of 1,650 residents compared with 2000.

Monday

• City council members unanimously approved a 45-day moratorium on all unlicensed group homes despite threats of a legal challenge from an attorney representing two sober living facilities.