A 49-year-old man who hospital workers described as "disturbed and disoriented" charged into the emergency room at Children's Hospital Oakland on 52nd Street early this morning, running past a security guard, grabbing a female hospital worker and briefly holding the gun on her before being subdued by police, hospital spokeswoman Erin Goldsmith said.

The man later was identified as Cottriel Broadnax, of Oakland, an ex-con with a lengthy criminal record including convictions for burglary, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

The incident began about 3:15 a.m., ending about eight minutes later, Goldsmith said.

From bar brawls to carousing cougars, legendary San Jose eatery/drinkery calling it quits

From the moment it opened, the Cardinal Coffee Shop and Lounge was San Jose's irreplaceable "third place," a haven of Jack shots and patty melts, where customers could hang out when it was too late to go home and too early for work.

The Cardinal was a place where rumpots and rectors met and mingled over boilermakers and breakfast. It opened in 1990,

a year after the idea of a "third place" as a zone of comfort between home and work was popularized in a book. For many people in the valley, the Cardinal's round-the-clock restaurant and adjoining saloon made it their third and fourth places.

But in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, just before 2 a.m., the bartender at the Cardinal lounge will give last call - and this time he will mean it, permanently. Then people will exit into the bright light of the restaurant and eat one final pre-dawn breakfast. "When the last customer leaves, I'll lock the doors," says owner Ana Koutoulas, who was unable to negotiate a new lease with her landlord, the Hacienda Gardens Shopping Center.

Read Bruce Newman's San Jose Mercury News article at MercuryNews.com.

Daly City teacher wins all-star teaching award after dying of cancer

Jefferson High School teacher Zachary Swan continues to leave a big impression after passing away recently from a rare form of cancer.

"He tried to live life to the fullest," said John Falabella, a fellow teacher at the Daly City school, "and the kids admired him for that. They really looked up to him."

Swan's passion for life and teaching garnered him the 2010 All-Star Teacher Award from the broadcasting network Comcast SportsNet.

The $10,000 award will go to Jefferson High, and the school plans to establish a scholarship in Swan's name.

Bay Area's chilly summer not its coldest

This has been the summer of our discontent. Not only has the economy been lousy, but the summer fog has also hung around day and night, like a houseguest that won't leave.

Everybody's noticed it.

"This has to be the coldest July ever," noted Latitude 38, the sailing magazine.

Restaurateurs in the upper Napa Valley set up space heaters for outdoor diners this week, unheard of in July.

The temperature in Sacramento at 7 a.m. Thursday was only 53 degrees, colder than the temperature at the same time in Anchorage, Alaska. San Jose, which normally bakes while San Francisco shivers, is having one of the coolest summers in years, the S.F. Chronicle said Friday.

Read more here.

Sensors will help bikers trip green lights at Marin intersections

Bicyclists who find themselves stuck at red lights will soon get relief as Marin County crews install cameras and sensors to detect them.

The county is installing the traffic signal bicycle detection project throughout Marin at 31 intersections at a cost of $322,335.

The program focuses on improvements at signalized intersections countywide where the highest bicycle usage occurs. Work is expected to be completed this summer.

Road work in Benicia to close Military West on Saturday

Military West will be closed between Drolette Way and Southampton Road from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday for street repairs, city officials have announced.

Through traffic will be diverted to West Seventh Street. Denfield Avenue residents will be granted access on West 10th Street. Access to Benicia High School, Plaza De Oro and Monte Vista Court will be provided by way of West N Street and West 13th Street.

Check in weekday afternoons for the P.M. Bay Area Buzz, a summary of news from Bay Area News Group staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact George Kelly at 925-323-8318. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/allaboutgeorge.

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