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ter.
• But the river of money flowing through this 1,800-square-mile peninsula, stretching from south of San Francisco to San Jose, has also driven housing costs to double in the past five years while wages for low- and middle-skilled workers are stagnant. Nurses, preschool teachers, security guards and landscapers commute for hours from less-expensive inland suburbs.
• Now the widening income gap between the wealthy and those left behind is sparking debate, anger and sporadic protests.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The perfect score will again be 1,600. What's more, the essay will be optional, students will no longer be penalized for wrong answers and the vocabulary is shifting to do away with some high-sounding words such as "prevaricator" and "sagacious."
• The SAT college entrance exam is undergoing a sweeping revision.
• College Board officials said Wednesday the update -- the first since 2005 -- is needed to make the exam more representative of what students study in high school and the skills they need to succeed in college and afterward. The test should offer "worthy challenges, not artificial obstacles," said College Board President David Coleman at an event in Austin, Texas.
• The new exam will be rolled out in 2016, so this year's ninth-graders will be the first to take it, in their junior year. The new SAT will continue to test reading, writing and math skills, with an emphasis on analysis. With the 1,600-point scale, which had been used until 2004, there will be a separate score for the optional essay. Some complicated vocabulary words will be replaced by words more widely used in classroom and work settings.
• For the first time, students will have the option of taking the test on computers.
• ___

• SINGAPORE (AP) -- The CEO of a virtual currency exchange was found dead in her home in Singapore.
• A police spokesman said Thursday that initial investigations indicated there was

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