BART Strike: San Francisco transit agency talks continue then Governor Jerry Brown steps (video)

SAN FRANCISCO - hundreds of thousands of travelers in the San Francisco Bay area have at least a temporary suspension of a massive transport strike when gov. Jerry Brown took part in a labor contract dispute.

Order 11th hour on Sunday night prevented the strike and the morning trip to continue normally, without widespread congestion trips that would have created a strike of Bay Area Rapid Transit, fifth largest railroad line of the nation, on the left.

In the order, Brown appointed a Board of researchers for an investigation of seven days in the dispute of the contract which had prepared to walk off the job at midnight on Sunday the unions.

The order issued Brown came under a law that allows the State's intervention if a strike significantly disrupt public transport services and endangering public health.

"For the sake of the people of the Bay area, urge you - in the strongest possible terms - parties to meet quickly and the time required to reach this dispute resolved," Brown said in the order.

Board will report its conclusions to the Governor, who can then petition the Court that calls for a 60-day cooling period, said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Brown. The report explains BART and positions of trade unions, but not to criticize or issue a recommendation.

In a statement, spokesman BART Rick Rice said that Chairman of the Board Tom Radulovich transit authority sent a letter to the Governor requesting their intervention and a 60-day cooling period. The Governor issued an order with considerably less time a week.

"The formal impartial investigation that accompanies the period of reflection will help to clarify the points of difference between the proposals," said the statement.

Union leaders issued a critical statement after the order, accusing the binding BART management negotiators until they stayed only a few hours before the strike would have started to provide alternative proposals on the basis of pay and benefits.

"Our hope is that Research Council of Governor will reveal how little time BART management has been on the negotiating table in the last 30 days, compared to how much time has passed to the media, the position", said the President of SEIU 1021 Roxanne Sánchez.

Spokesman BART Alicia Trost said Sunday afternoon that is "extremely frustrating" that unions were misrepresenting the proposals of improvements that have been received, including wage increases, and the transit authority was working all weekend despite allegations of absence.

"We have made several proposals this weekend and all going in one direction and was above, above, above," Trost said.

Bay Area Rapid Transit managers and Union leaders had returned to the negotiating table on Sunday in the hope of avoiding a strike that would have affected 400,000 travelers and created nightmares of traffic for the area of San Francisco for the second time in a month.

Representatives of the two largest unions of employees in the Agency and BART management negotiated for about 14 hours on Saturday and resumed Sunday morning trading as be seen a deadline of midnight. Brown's order came at around 22:30 on Sunday.

Remain large differences on key issues, including wages, pensions, safety of workers and health care costs.

Union train operators and agents of station average approximately $71,000 in wage base and $11,000 in time extra per year. They pay nothing toward their pensions and a flatrate of $92 per month for the health insurance, according to BART.

To weigh allegations of binding Sunday afternoon, previously in the weekend Union leaders expressed cautious hope for agreement and said progress was being made.

"The parties made some important but incremental moves yesterday, and I hope to reach an agreement," Josie Mooney, Chief negotiator for the Service Employees International Union 1021, said Sunday before heading to the negotiations. "If the parties work very hard, then it is certainly possible in the amount of time that we have."

"Definitely there was movement on both sides," Chief negotiator BART Thomas Hock said as he left the final negotiations Saturday night. "I hope that, if we are moving ahead, we will arrive at a proposal which both parties can agree."

Two of BART's largest unions issued a 72-hour notice on Thursday that employees outside of work if they do not reach agreement on a new contract by midnight Sunday.

"BART is the backbone of the network of transit. Any other transit agency has the ability to absorb the capacity of BART if there is a disruption, "said John Goodwin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

In the event of a strike, transit agencies had planned to add bus and ferry service, carpool lanes kept open throughout the day and even give coffee gift cards to encourage drivers to pick up riders. Also they were encouraging workers to avoid rush hour traffic or distance if possible.

When BART workers closed train service for four days at the beginning of July, the roads were packed and travelers waited in long queues for buses and ferries. Unions agreed to cancel that attack and extend their contracts until Sunday, while they continued negotiations.

Area of the Bay and State have been pressuring officials of BART and Union leaders to reach an agreement this weekend, saying that a strike would create hardship for working families and damage to the economy of the region.

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Mohajer reported from Los Angeles.

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Caroline Manzo talks Teresa Giudice Legal scandal in ' watch what happens: Live' (VIDEO)

' Watch what happens: Live': Caroline Manzo does not tell much about Teresa Giudice Legal controversy

Caroline Manzo addressed the legal issues of the owners about their "Real Housewives of New Jersey" co-sta, Teresa Giudice during his visit to the headquarters of the Club in "watch what happens: live."

Giudice and her husband Joe, were charged last week by a federal grand jury of conspiracy to commit mail and fraud, wire bank fraud, making false statements in loan applications and bakruptcy fraud in a 39-count indictment. All told, the couple faces up to 50 years in prison.

"Even I can not wrap my head", said Caroline host Andy Cohen. "I think for me and the Manzo family, our position is going to be, rest assured, because it is too large and too serious for the peanut gallery. ''

Caroline said that he sent a message with Teresa on the day of the indictment, but that these texts remain private between them. Other stars of the "Real Housewives" franchise have had more to say about the scandal.

"Miami" Star Black Lea told People magazine, "Reality TV, I've always said-- brings out the best-- and worst of all over the world." The magazine also spoke with former "New York", Jill Zarin, housewife who said, "many stars of reality are naive if they think that everything you have done in the past not to examine. Be a star of the reality comes with good and evil. ""

Bethenny Frankel was not nearly so nice. She told Us Weekly, "[it] is curious how some people [as a] moth to a flame..." People who love to be in the limelight often have a lot of skeletons in their closet... sorry for them? No. Not so much, because the law was broken. You've broken the law and it went on television. That is not really so smart."

Despite his legal problems, Teresa still allegedly will participate in the meeting of the upcoming "Real Housewives of New Jersey".

In 'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' Teresa Giudice catch every Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo. The same network is transmitted "watch what happens: live" every Sunday to Thursday at 11 p.m. ET.

TV Replay through the vast landscape of television to find the most interesting, fun and, on a good day, incredible moments and delivers them to your browser.

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North Korea Proposes High-Level Talks With U.S.

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North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the US aimed at discussing nuclear weapons programmes and easing of tension on the peninsula, state media said.

"We propose high-level talks between the North and the US to secure peace and stability in the region and ease tension on the Korean peninsula," the North's powerful National Defense Commission said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

The North is willing to have "serious discussions on a wide range of issues, including the US goal to achieve the world free of nuclear arsenal", it said, urging the US to set the time and venue for the talks.

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Israel Cabinet to vote on the release of Palestinian prisoners before peace talks

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In April 1993, Omar Masoud and three accomplices broke into a European aid office in Gaza City, grabbed a young Israeli lawyer working there and stabbed him to death.

Israel arrested Masoud a month later and sentenced him to life, meaning he was doomed to die in prison one day for killing the lawyer in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small PLO faction.

Now Masoud, along with dozens of other long-term Palestinian prisoners, is up for release as part of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's attempt to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks after five years of diplomatic paralysis.

Israel's Cabinet is being asked to approve a prisoner release in principle on Sunday, as part of a Kerry-brokered deal to get the two sides back to the table.

The Cabinet vote would pave the way for a preliminary meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington on Tuesday, followed by up to nine months of talks in the region on setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Such a deal has eluded Israelis and Palestinians for two decades and they have low expectations.

The fate of those held in Israeli jails is an emotionally wrought issue for Palestinians, who view the prisoners as heroes who made personal sacrifices in the struggle for statehood.

A prisoner release – particularly of lifers with "blood their hands" – would go a long way toward giving Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a popular mandate to give talks another shot, even if many Palestinians believe Israel's hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is not serious about a deal.

Israelis tend to view the prisoners as cold-blooded terrorists, and early releases of security prisoners in previous swaps elicited vociferous objections from the public, including Supreme Court appeals.

For Israel's government, approving the release of prisoners it refused to free in the past – even if in stages and linked to progress in talks – poses the most difficult test so far of its professed willingness to reach a peace deal.

In a statement late Saturday, Netanyahu said that a decision to release prisoners is "painful to the bereaved families, painful to the people of Israel and very painful for me."

Yet, he said, prime ministers "are required from time to time to take decisions that are against public opinion - if it is important to the state," signaling he is pushing for Cabinet approval of the release.

Abbas, meanwhile, briefed reporters on the terms of the upcoming negotiations, based on what he said were Kerry's assurances to him. He said the American invitation would state that the talks will be about establishing a Palestinian state next to Israel, based on the 1967 borders and with mutually agreed upon land swaps.

The Palestinians want to set up a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem – lands Israel captured in 1967. In previous negotiations, Abbas offered to trade 1.9 percent of West Bank land for the same amount of Israeli territory, a swap that would enable Israel to keep some of the dozens of Jewish settlements it has built since 1967.

Israeli officials have declined comment on the negotiations. Netanyahu refused in the past to accept the 1967 lines as a starting point, and it's not clear whether his position has changed.

Abbas said the situation would become clearer after Sunday's Cabinet meeting.

A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians would go to talks without Israel having agreed to a freeze of settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Nearly 600,000 Jews already live there, and thousands of homes are under construction.

In guidelines for the talks requested by the Palestinians, Kerry stipulated earlier this month that both sides have to refrain from unilateral steps, according to the Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a gag order the U.S. secretary of state slapped on the negotiators.

The Palestinians understand this to mean that Israel will slow down settlement construction and refrain from provocative steps, such as announcing new projects, the official said. The Palestinians, in turn, will suspend plans to seek further recognition at the U.N. General Assembly, which last year recognized a state of Palestine in the 1967 borders. Israel fears further international isolation as a result of Palestinian activity at the U.N.

Abbas has argued he would need either a settlement freeze or Israeli recognition of the 1967 lines as a baseline to be able to resume negotiations.

In Sunday's Cabinet meeting, ministers will be asked to vote on a number of fateful issues, an official in Netanyahu's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.

The ministers will be asked to authorize the resumption of talks with the Palestinians and appoint a team – reportedly the premier and three ministers – to oversee the negotiations.

They will be asked to approve an amended bill that would require a national referendum on any partition deal with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu's decision to fast-track the referendum bill has prompted contradictory speculation. Some say this shows the lifelong hawk is serious about a deal this time and wants to silence opposition by ultra-nationalists in his Likud party and his coalition from the outset. Others suspect he is trying to create new obstacles to any agreement.

The Cabinet ministers would also have to approve, in principle, a release of Palestinian prisoners who were arrested before the start of the so-called Oslo talks on interim peace deals in the early 1990s.

Abbas gave Kerry a list of 104 names, including that of Omar Masoud who is No. 77, ranked by seniority. The two longest-held at the top of the list are cousins Karim and Maher Younis, imprisoned since 1983 for kidnapping and killing an Israeli soldier, Palestinian officials said.

When Israeli media reported last week that Israel would only release 82 and that Palestinians from Israel and east Jerusalem would not be freed, Abbas asked Kerry for clarifications.

The U.S. diplomat gave Abbas to understand that all 104 would be freed, said a Palestinian official, also speaking anonymously to avoid violating Kerry's call for discretion. The prisoners are to be released in four stages over six months, beginning a month after the resumption of talks, the official said.

As of late June, nearly 5,000 Palestinians were being held by Israel.

Masoud's mother, 70-year-old Tamam, said she is optimistic.

"I hope everything will work out between Jews and Arabs," she said, speaking in her shack in the Shati refugee camp. Abbas "took a good step by talking about releasing prisoners," she said.

Omar Masoud's family was evasive when asked about the killing, portraying it as the rash act of an immature youth. A recent prison photo of him showed a balding middle-aged man who his mother says often cooks for other prisoners because of his work experience as a teenager in an Israeli restaurant.

Despite considerable opposition in Israel to prisoner releases, polls indicate a majority support a resumption of peace talks. Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet, expressed that ambivalence.

He noted that he opposed a 2011 swap in which Israel agreed to free some 1,000 Palestinians for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants, but that the upcoming round of talks may be the last chance for a deal.

"We need to understand that the negotiations cart is stuck in very, very deep mud," he told Israel TV's Channel 10 on Friday. "And there are some very painful things that will need to happen in order to get that cart out of the mud."

___

Associated Press writers Ian Deitch and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed reporting.

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Denise Richards Talks Dating, Marriage (VIDEO)

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Getting back into the dating game can be hard for anyone, but when your life is tabloid fodder and your ex is a Hollywood heavyweight, it can be even tougher.

That's the case for Denise Richards, who stopped by HuffPost Live on Tuesday and dished on dating post-split. Though the actress admitted that she's currently single, she said that she would like to get married again in the future -- but that she'll need a certain type of man.

"I have a U-Haul of baggage," she said. "It is going to take a very strong man to step into my life."

Richards may be alluding to her messy, public divorce from Charlie Sheen, which was finalized in November 2006. The former pair have since become friends and co-parent their two daughters amicably.

Watch the clip above to hear more of what Richards had to say about her love life (and check out the entire segment here), then click through the slideshow below for more celebrity co-parents.

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Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth were married for 11 years before their split in April 2012. Facinelli opened up about co-parenting the couple's three daughters to People in October 2012: "Co-parenting takes two great parents to put their differences aside and focus on the children."

Reese Witherspoon has spoken out about co-parenting with her ex-husband Ryan Phillippe, with whom she has two children. The pair, who were married for seven years before calling it quits in October 2007, have remained in close contact through co-parenting. "My ex-husband is very involved in raising our beautiful children," she told Parade in 2008. "We're on the same page that way. When we're with our children, we're very good about checking ourselves."

Pete Wentz has had nothing but good things to say about his ex-wife Ashlee Simpson, with whom he co-parents their son, Bronx. In April 2013, Wentz told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live," "I feel like we both realize that we're parents and we're in it for our kid. That's made it really easy. She's an awesome mom and we get along really well when it comes to our kid now." The pair split in February 2011 after two-and-a-half years together.

"The Office'" actress Angela Kinsey was married to writer/producer Warren Lieberstein for 10 years before filing for divorce in June 2010, though the couple continues to remain close for the sake of their daughter. In January 2013, Kinsey told HuffPost Live, "I'm really fortunate because my ex and I are very good friends and I talk to him every day. Our daughter is growing up seeing two people who care about each other. And I see her really flourishing because she sees two people treating each other with respect."

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis are one of the most amicable divorced couples in Hollywood -- they even won an award for co-parenting in 2008. The pair, who were married for 13 years before splitting in October 2000, continue to co-parent their three daughters, Rumor, Scout and Tallulah. "We get so much from being able to share holidays and spend time with all of us together," Moore said in March 2008. "The kids don't have to choose. They're getting double the support, double the love, double the encouragement."

Kate Hudson has spoken publicly about her co-parenting relationship with ex-husband Chris Robinson, the father of her son Ryder. The actress has even said that she doesn't consider herself a single parent, telling InStyle UK in 2009, "Being a single parent can be difficult, but I don't feel I am one. Chris and I are co-parenting." Robinson and Hudson divorced in October 2007.

Debra Messing and Daniel Zelman have remained close friends despite splitting up in December 2011. Messing told More magazine in June 2013, "Every thought is dictated by what's best for our son. We are completely on the same page in that regard. We are dear friends."

After divorcing in November 2006, Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen have remained civil in order to co-parent their two daughters. Richards told Celebrity Baby Scoop in December 2011, "I think it's best to stay friendly whether it's the holidays or not. Keep it about the kids and keep the peace."

Jennifer Lopez frequently speaks about her nontraditional family with pride. She told Britain's OK! magazine in January 2003 that her twins with ex-husband Marc Anthony, whom she divorced in September 2011, always come first. "We need to make sure that we are what they need us to be first. Our feelings and our struggles come second," she said."The love that we share in common for those kids comes first."

Kate Winslet and director Sam Mendes split in March 2010, but have been peacefully co-parenting their son Jack ever since. Winslet, who also has a daughter from a previous marriage, spoke to Harper's Bazaar in October 2011 about her relationship with Mendes, saying: "We have a child together who we both love -- and raising him together, jointly and without any conflict, is absolutely key."

David Arquette and Courteney Cox have one of the most enviable co-parenting relationships Hollywood. The pair was married for 11 years before announcing their separation in October 2010, and have one daughter together. Arquette opened up about parenting to OK magazine in October 2012, saying, "It's important for kids to stay grounded. It's crazy growing up in Hollywood, so we just try to keep her connected, real, human and honest."

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver may have called it quits in July 2011 after 25 years together, but they remain close in order to co-parent their four children. "We work together even though we're going through a divorce... we make sure that the kids grow up to be really good human beings," Schwarzenegger told "Entertainment Tonight" in May 2012.

Will Smith's first wife Sheree Fletcher has stressed the importance of seeing an ex from the kid's perspective when co-parenting. Fletcher, who was married to Smith for three years and has one son with the star, wrote in a blog post for The Huffington Post in July 2012, "Whenever I introduced Trey's dad, I never said, 'This is my ex,' but rather, 'This is Trey's dad.' Your identity now has to align with your child versus your ex."

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