San Bruno

The charges against Robert Finnerty, 70, center on his role as the lawyer for Joseph Ruigomez, a Bay Area man who suffered devastating burns across most of his body in the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion.

Then came a school in San Bruno.

The department store chain JCPenney has plans to close eight stores by midyear, including one in San Bruno, Calif., the company said in a statement to The Times this week.

“The last-minute delay for Tom’s sentencing feels like a slap in the face,” said Kathy Ruigomez, who testified about how Girardi mishandled millions of dollars of a settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric after her son, Joseph, suffered severe burns in the San Bruno, Calif., gas explosion.

One afternoon shortly after the vote, members of the splinter group gathered outside of San Francisco, hiking through the chaparrals of the San Bruno hills, and plotted what to do next.