Talk about a bad hangover. After GOP State Sen. Roy Ashburn’s DUI arrest, rumors are swirling about his sexual orientation following a report that he allegedly visited a gay nightclub.

Ashburn, 55, a father of four, represents the 18th district, which includes Kern, Tulare and Inyo counties. According to reports, police pulled him and an unidentified male passenger over in Sacramento around 2 a.m. Wednesday. Ashburn’s blood alcohol level was .14 percent, .06 percent above the legal limit, say authorities. He was arrested for drunken driving, booked and released; the man in the car with Ashburn was not arrested. The state-issued car Ashburn was driving at the time of his arrest has been impounded.

[Read the DA complaint against Ashburn, courtesy of KMJ News]

Ashburn issued this statement:

“I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did. I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me — my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate.”

But then CBS13 released this doozie: Its sources said Ashburn was at Faces, a gay bar in Sacto, just before cops busted him.

Faces officials could not confirm seeing Ashburn. A blogger for Talking Points Memo asked manager Laurie Bonifield about the alleged sighting the evening it held its “Miss Gay Latina Sacramento” contest. “Tuesday nights are a very, very huge Latin crowd. We don’t see a lot of white guys here on a Tuesday night. A white guy would stick out like a sore thumb.” CFO Mike Johnston said neither the managers nor staff saw him.

Noel Libang, an Ashburn spokesman, said: “We have no information about the accusations made.”

The unsubstantiated report left some bloggers giddy. TMP announced Ashburn was “Entering the Larry Craig Pantheon,” while Gawker dredged up “scandalous” photos. The allegation also left everyone wondering: Is Ashburn gay?

After hearing various rumors, The Bakersfield Californian attempted to ask Ashburn that very question — once in 2004 and once last year — according to columnist Lois Henry. Ashburn’s answers were vague. You can read his response here. Meanwhile, West Sacto’s openly gay mayor, Christopher Cabaldon, called him a hypocrite, claiming he has spotted Ashburn at gay clubs, including Badlands. Cabaldon blasted Ashburn in a message he posted to Facebook a few months ago: “It wouldn’t bother me so bad to see Roy Ashburn at Badlands with a boy if he didn’t have such a bad voting record on gay rights.”

As Cabaldon suggests, Ashburn voting record on gay issues is less than stellar. The Bakersfield Californian reports he voted no an anti-discrimination bill, legislation on out-of-state same sex marriages, Harvey Milk Day, and a resolution declaring the Senate’s opposition to Proposition 8. The Bakersfield Californian has more about his voting record.

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SACRAMENTO - Forward Andres Nocioni won’t be appearing in the next two Sacramento Kings games.

The National Basketball Association has suspended Nocioni after the player plead no contest to charges of driving under the influence.

Nocioni was pulled over in the early morning hours of November 6th following a Kings’ game. Officers arrested Nocioni on suspicion of DUI.

According to The Sacramento Bee, as part of his no contest plea, Nocioni must pay a $480 fine, enroll in a alcohol awareness class and serve three years probation time.

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A prominent Kaiser Permanente surgeon was charged with DUI following a Napa, California, area crash that sent five people to the hospital.

The accident occurred early Sunday morning on HIghway 221. California Highway Patrol responded to the scene to find Dr. Michael Meehan, 61, seriously injured. Meehan is an orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser’s Vallejo Medical Center. Investigators believe he had been driving on the wrong side of the road prior to the collision. He hit a small Oldsmobile sedan, sending all four of its occupants to the hospital.

Meehan reportedly broke both of his legs in the incident. All of the passengers involved were young, under the age of 23. Some suffered major injuries, but none were life threatening. The victims are expected to survive and make a full recovery.

Meehan may face disciplinary action in his place of employment as a result of the accident in addition to the criminal charges against him. A full investigation is likely to lead to more serious charges since the accident resulted in multiple injuries.

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Sacramento Kings forward Andres Nocioni has pleaded no contest to drunken driving and will serve two days of community service.

Attorney William Portanova entered the misdemeanor plea Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court on behalf of Nocioni, who was not present.

Nocioni was arrested about 2 a.m. Nov. 5 when a police officer noticed his car weaving in downtown Sacramento, hours after the Kings had lost a home game to the Atlanta Hawks.

Portanova says his client wants to “take his medicine and move on.”

As part of his sentence, Nocioni will serve two days in a work program operated by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. He also must complete a three-month alcohol class, pay a $480 fine and court penalties and serve three years’ probation.

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Last year, 24,000 cars were impounded at California checkpoints for the maximum of 30 days and critics say the practice is done to raise revenue for local governments. Statewide, the checkpoints collected last year an estimated $40 million in towing fees and police fines statewide. The article raises the question whether the seizure of property is fair and legal. Later this year, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will consider a challenge to the constitutionality of California’s 30-day impound law.

More from NYT

A California investigation has found that sobriety checkpoints have caught more unlicensed motorists than drunks, creating a cash cow for local police departments that impound vehicles — mostly from minority drivers and often from illegal immigrants. But the 30-day seizures may be illegal.

In mounting such operations, police officers also racked up tens of millions of dollars in overtime pay.

The investigation, by California Watch and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California-Berkeley, says that last year, local police earned about $40 million from fines and towing fees, which cities split with tow companies. And cops collected $30 million in overtime — paid for by the federal government — for staffing the DUI checkpoints.

Other findings:

• Sobriety checkpoints frequently screen traffic in or near Latino neighborhoods. In cities with majority Latino populations, police are seizing cars at three times the rate of cities with small minority populations.

• Impounds appear to defy a 2005 federal appellate court ruling that police cannot seize vehicles just because the driver is unlicensed. More than 24,000 cars and trucks were impounded at checkpoints last year, even though only 3,200 motorists were arrested for drunken driving.

• Police departments frequently overstaff checkpoints with officers, all of whom earn overtime.

Locate a California DUI Attorney

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A man whose first driving under the influence-related offense involved the death of a Sacramento motorcyclist in 1988 has been sentenced to six years in state prison for a sixth DUI conviction, says the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.

In sentencing Peter Joseph Farrell, 43, of Oregon, Placer County Superior Court Judge Mark S. Curry said it appeared “he has not learned his lesson, adding, “he continues to commit crimes that jeopardize the public’s safety.”

Besides the Sacramento DUI-related involuntary manslaughter conviction which sent Farrell to prison for 32 months, he had DUI offenses in Oregon in 1998, 1999, 2003 and 2005.

Farrell’s blood alcohol level measured .22 — .08 is considered legally drunk — when he was pulled over on Highway 65 in Lincoln in July, 2009, according to the prosecution.

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The driver who was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and felony hit-and-run on Jan. 31, had her bail amount increased to $175,000 and was released from custody on Monday.

Sacramento State graduate student Sanjay Patel was identified as the victim of the crash on Folsom Boulevard near the south side of campus. Patel was taken to the UC Davis Medical Center immediately after the crash and is now in fair condition.

The driver, Amira Fakira, is being charged with four felony charges, including two counts of driving under the influence and two counts of hit-and-run where a person is injured. Fakira was also charged with two misdemeanors for hit-and-run where property is damaged and a dangerous drug offense.

Patel, an international electrical engineering graduate student, was riding his bicycle when the suspected driver allegedly weaved across two lanes of traffic into the bike lane, hitting Patel and dragging him a quarter mile.

“The guy was under the vehicle. He was looking back, his bike split in half. He couldn’t do anything,” said Johnathan Hobson, a bystander who stopped Fakira at a red light by reaching in an open window and grabbing her keys.

Hobson and his wife, Lupe Zavala, received a certificate of commendation Feb. 3 at the California Highway Patrol area office in Rancho Cordova, according to News 10.

“I thought he was dead,” Zavala said of the accident scene. “He wasn’t moving. I came closer and I heard him trying to talk.”

Preetham Kumar, interim graduate coordinator of the engineering department, visited Patel at the hospital last week. He said Patel has already had back surgery and will be undergoing surgery on one of his legs.

“We were very happy he was able to make it,” Kumar said. “I was really shocked. The nature of the accident was pretty bad.”

Kumar said Patel’s family in India were notified of the accident by the Office of Global Education at Sac State. Some of his family members are expected to visit him soon.

The next hearing for Fakira will be on March 15 the Sacramento County Courthouse.

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A former Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy who is facing charges in connection with a September auto crash in which she plowed through a Natomas Starbucks and injured a woman was arrested again Saturday afternoon on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Lisa Gargano, a nine-year veteran with the Sheriff’s Department before her termination Jan. 30, was involved in an early afternoon minor collision in the parking lot of a Natomas shopping center, according to Sacramento Police Sgt. Norm Leong.

No one was injured, and Gargano, 37, was alone in her car.

She was arrested on suspicion of two misdemeanor offenses, including driving under the influence.

Gargano was assigned to a Sheriff’s Department patrol station in the Foothill Farms area and was off duty when she drove her car into the Starbucks in September.

An elderly woman suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, but she was sent to a hospital.

At the time, Gargano was arrested on felony charges of driving under the influence. Court records show she will return to court March 4 in that case.

After the crash, law enforcement sources and her own neighbors detailed to The Bee Gargano’s long ordeal with prescription painkillers – which she took because of work injuries – and at least one attempt at drug rehabilitation.

In October 2005, Gargano reported that a man had broken into her Carmichael home and attempted to sexually assault her, which prompted a full-scale department response: K9 units, detectives, patrol units, a helicopter and then-Undersheriff John McGinness.

No suspects were found, and after an investigation Gargano confessed the attack could have been a drug-induced hallucination.

The department dismissed the incident as a medical issue, and Gargano was not disciplined.

After Gargano’s arrest in September, McGinness said that deputies with substance-abuse issues related to alcohol or prescribed drugs who are able to perform their duties can remain employed if they go into rehabilitation and submit to random testing.

If they fail to complete rehabilitation, they can be fired.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Curran confirmed that Gargano was fired Jan. 30.

She was still in jail Saturday night and unavailable for comment.

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