Immigrant Children May Get Free Legal Help

State Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking private law firms to provide free legal help to the wave of Central American children pouring into the state. Officials tell us that nine out of 10 children who appear at immigration hearings without a lawyer are sent home - while only about half of those who have an attorney are deported. Just two months after voters overwhelmingly said "no wall on the waterfront," developers of a proposed $100 million housing and office development at Pier 70 have scored the key endorsement of the Sierra Club in their bid to exceed height limits in the area. Out-of-state and international students are an attractive commodity for UC, because they pay $22,878 annually on top of the in-state tuition of $12,972. Former mayor and current Chronicle columnist Willie Brown is being paid $100,000 to represent developers in their fight to roll back the special tax assessment for the new downtown Transbay Transit Center, according filings with the city Ethics Commission. Boston Properties and a half-dozen other developers are paying Brown to try to cut the estimated $1.4 billion assessment they're being asked to pay on the project, thanks to skyrocketing property values.