News digest

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to punish stores caught selling cigarettes to minors by prohibiting all tobacco sales at those stores. The new law requires stores to get a county permit to sell tobacco products. The vote was unanimous, with Supervisor Ruben Barrales abstaining.

Caltrain fares will increase 5 percent July 1, while parking at Caltrain lots will increase from 50 cents to $1. Those decisions were made recently by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board. The board is also considering increasing the monthly parking permit from $5 to $7.50 or $10, but no decision has been made yet.

The Atherton Town Council has agreed unanimously to pay half the cost of mediation between Police Chief Steve Cader and Menlo-Atherton Principal Eric Hartwig. The other half of the $8,000 bill will be paid by the Sequoia Union High School District. An ongoing dispute between police and school officials over the reporting of crimes culminated in the principal asking an on-campus police officer to leave the school. According to City Manager Don Guluzzy, mediator Michael Gibeau has already met with the police chief and the principal separately.

Stanford full professors have higher salaries than all but their Harvard colleagues, according to a survey by the American Association of University Professors. The average salary for a Stanford full professor, not including those at the Medical School, is $111,000, while full professors at Harvard earn $116,800. Faculty salaries at Stanford increased 4.3 percent last year. Stanford was also second in the same survey last year.

Because of a record number of applications from would-be freshman, Stanford University has accepted for admission the lowest percentage of applicants in its history. Acceptance letters were mailed last week to 2,455 students, out of 18,888 total applicants, or just 13 percent of the applicants.

A Stanford University student has been named a Truman Scholar and will receive a $30,000 scholarship. Paul Bodnar, a junior majoring in political science, is a native of Hungary who came to Stanford from Cliffside Park, N.J. Truman Scholarships are awarded to students planning a career in government or public service.

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