With a fresh banner outside CNET headquarters proclaiming it as one of the best places to work in the universe, ever--according to Business Week, anyway--CBS Corporation just made it a little better for the folks who work there. Well, hopefully. CBS decided to purchase the "premier destination for tech product reviews, tech news, daily videos, free downloads, and podcasts" for for $1.8 billion in cash. CNET--famous for tech reviews, news, and more--has hosts a......

Even if a tip doesn't lead to the conviction of a murder suspect, the Richmond Police Department just started offering $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of homicide suspects. While cash-for-information leading to a conviction can take up to several years, or in some cases a decade or more, to receive, now witnesses will be able to claim their reward "even if it doesn't lead to a conviction," according to Richmond Police......

A small protest was held at City Hall yesterday by 400-plus pissed off Tibetan immigrants, honoring the 49th anniversary of Tibet's uprising against China, but also San Francisco's hosting of the Olympic torch. Just a preface of what will happen in the city next month, San Francisco will be the focus of a major protest since it's the only US city hosting the Olympic torch relay in the 2008 Beijing games. According to CBS......

Alas, it was not a good weekend for cyclists of the Bay Area. The sheriff's deputy that accidentally crashed into three cyclists in Cupertinio over the weekend -- a collision that killed Olympic hopeful 31-year-old Kristy Gough of Oakland (the third-fastest, non-professional women's triathlete in the world); and 30-year-old Matt Peterson of San Francisco -- has been identified as 27-year-old James Council. A deputy at the West Valley Patrol Division of Santa Clara County,......

It looks like Mayor Gavin Newsom will take a stab at running for Governor of California in 2010. In addition to the gaggle of Democratic hopefuls looking to succeed Gov. Schwarzenegger after his reign comes to an end -- which include former governor Jerry Brown, former state controller Steve Westley, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, just to name a few -- San Francisco's very own mayor wants the title as well. And seeing......

535 San Francisco Unified School District teachers will receive layoff notices this morning due to state cuts in education funding. Today's pink slip handouts stem from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget '09, which will see San Francisco schools losing around $40 million. According to CBS 5, Mayor Newsom is doing what he can, even if it's a Band-Aid solution to a longterm problem. Mayor Gavin Newsom has said he plans to ask the Board of......

Offices in Capitol Hill received a manila envelope with a letter claiming responsibility for today's bombing of a landmark military recruiting station in Times Square, NYC. Our parent site, Gothamist, tells us that "WNBC reports that the letters, which arrived today, included a photo of the Army recruiting center 'before it was bombed and...the words 'We did it.'" Which group is claiming responsibility, exactly, remains to be known. According to the AP, Senator Dianne......

Chauncey Bailey, former editor of the Oakland Post who was murdered last August while investigating Your Black Muslim Bakery and the Muslim splinter group's shady dealings, received the prestigious George Polk Award last week for local journalism. Congrats, Bailey! His alleged killer, Your Black Muslim Bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, was also interviewed by 60 Minutes, which aired last night. According to CBS 5: In the interview, Broussard repeated his claim that he was coerced......

At first, before reading this story, we were ready to shake our finger at the Vespa rider in question. Lord knows we worry about you kids. But it seems she wasn't at fault. You see, last night a 24-year-old San Francisco woman was put in the hospital with life-threatening injuries while riding a Vespa on South Van Ness Avenue. It seems that "a 1994 Honda Accord, which was traveling southbound, tried to make a......

The Palme d'Or-robbed gem The Silent Scream landed a confused and sick Milpitas' Russell Middle School teacher in the fiery hot waters of bureaucratic hell after he recently screened this anti-abortion film in his chemistry class. According to CBS 5: The film was shown on January 23, after students in all five of Randy Yang's chemistry classes finished taking a test. The first year teacher reportedly asked his students if they wanted to watch......

Is there something about the Macarthur Maze that makes it easily flammable? There's a one to two hour delay basically in all directions after another fire closed down the onramps to the westbound Bay Bridge. Sounds like today's fire broke out in the joints of the bridge, though, so it's not another truck careening out of control and slamming into a pole, at least. No injuries reported either, which we're also glad to hear. They......

Republican (it goes without saying) Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon wants to slice off more than $3 million in state funding from Berkeley for their stance against Marine recruiting. He will introduce legislation to "withhold state transportation money until Berkeley rescinds its 'war on the U.S. Marine Corps.'" Jesus. In a move that will ideally hurt his political career -- since it's a waste of time, a symbolic prick move, and has little......

Chez Panisse mafia don Alice Waters speaks to Charlie Rose. [Eater]Your alt weekly lawsuit word count. [Guardian 796, SF Weekly 1,559]SFPD deputy chief demoted. [SFGate]Minor earthquake grooves Pacifica. [Examiner]CBS 5 done got themselves a blog, they did. [CBS5]Tablehopper does Playboy? [Tablehopper]......

The closing of Ginger's Trois makes us want to go on a shooting rampage, but alternatives might very well exist to the beloved, downtown, homosexually-inclined bar? [Yelp]And yet another setback to having genital herpes. [SFGate]Oops. [Eater]Napa fire claims the lives of two adults and two kids. [CBS 5]What the candidates like to eat, and what makes them want to vomit. (Also, rib-eye steak on the grill? Shut up, Mike Huckabee.) [CHOW]Oh, we're extending the......

Programming note: Last week's "Project Runway" was a rerun, so there will be no Locals recap this week. But take note: This Thursday at 8 p.m. on CBS is the premiere of "Survivor: Micronesia - Fans Vs. Favorites," which brings local legend Yau-Man Chan back to the game. Next Monday we'll see how both our local boys did. We found it difficult to tear ourselves away from the "Puppy Bowl" and turn the channel to......

As if the DMV weren't annoying in and of itself, now you can add sexual molestation to the list of ways that the Department of Motor Vehicles makes your life miserable. (...and what's up with airline food, huh, folks?) Four women claiming that they were touched inappropriately by former DMV instructor Calvin Hoang Cat will split $450,000 in a lawsuit settlement with the state of California. According to CBS 5: They say Cat would......

Due to a gasoline tanker truck accident -- which resulted in an eco-unfriendly dousing of over "26 gallons" (?) of gasoline, or so said CBS 5's Judge Judy breaking-news interruption -- all northbound and southbound lanes on Highway 101 in Redwood City are closed. That? Blows. It seems that a 26,000 gallon gasoline tanker big rig overturned just north of Maple Street near Woodside. According to ABC 7, a "Coast Guard crew is heading......

At around 11:30 a.m. today at Digital Pre-Press International (DPI), located at Mariposa and Minnesota, a woman died while on the clock. It seems she "became enmeshed in the massive piece of equipment" at the San Francisco-based printing press. SFFD Lt. Ken Smith told CBS 5 that although his crew was successful "extricating her from the machine," she failed to recover from injuries sustained in the accident. As of now it is unclear as......

This morning's brief Oakland standoff between police and an old-fashion robbery suspect ended today with neither fuss nor muss. (That is to say, no bloodshed. Good for you, Oakland.) The robber surrendered outside of a studio apartment near 32nd and Telegraph avenues around 11:30 a.m. this morning, located in the cutely named "Pill Hill" district. Causing all of this commotion? It seems that 45-year-old Ken Stanley allegedly robbed a donut store on 44th and......

The man suspected of mowing people down during a hit-and-run spree in August 2006 , Omeed Aziz Popal, 30, pleaded not guilty today in San Francisco Superior Court. Really. For those of you who don't remember, Popal allegedly went after 16 pedestrians with his SUV during a 15-minute death span on the streets and sidewalks of northern San Francisco. Accused of a whopping 16 counts of attempted murder--including the murder of 54-year-old Stephen Jay......

Merry Martin Luther King Jr. Day. [Examiner, Nature abhors a vacuum, SF Bay View, Beyond Chron]The TLDR spat between SF Bay Guardian and SF Weekly continues at a steady, confusing pace. [SFBG, Weekly]Voter registration deadline is tomorrow, kids. [SF Gate]Metallica's Kirk Hammett's Divisadero Street manse is still for sale. [Examiner]Facebook will get an executive chef, but workers might have to pay for their meals. How devastating. [Valleyvag]Temperatures drop . As does some snow. [Mercury......

Poor BVHP. Can't they get a break? It seems that today's hazardous material spill snafu was due to a leaking drum at a Bayview-Hunter's Point city corporation yard. The spill "prompted a shelter in place warning." That tis to say, it's time time to go inside, close doors and windows, turn off air conditioning or heating systems, and flip on the radio or TV for further info if you're near 2121 Evans Street. According......

According to CBS 5, "San Francisco police and fire crews are at the scene of an apparent chemical spill at 2121 Evans Street. Ambulances have responded to the scene and streets in the area are closed." Gross. And quite possibly very scary. We'll update as soon as we know more. [Sourcee: CBS 5]......

Marin County coroner's office identified that the body found atop Mt. Tam this past Sunday afternoon as female and, yes, Veronica Ruiz. It seems that she "the Internal Revenue Service agent's service weapon was found at her side and her U.S. Treasury Department photo identification was found in her purse at the place of her death," according to a report on CBS 5. (IRS agents have issued arms? Huh.) It appears that she died......

A body turned up on Mount Tamalpais this Sunday afternoon, and authorities (as well as your favorite rabid media outlets) are wondering: is this the body of distraught Mill Valley resident and IRS investigator, 25-year-old Veronica Ruiz? If you recall, Ruiz went missing in early December, reportedly "despondent" after a recent break-up with her boyfriend. A massive search for her ensued, but was called off since it produced no results. Until this week, according......

(Look at us, getting all PETA on you with that headline. Gross.) While two snow leopards at the San Francisco Zoo were in the process of being moved from their pen to another location "for routine maintenance," one of the male snow leopards, Gurja, almost escaped. Gulp. According to CBS 5: The unidentified source told KCBS Radio the male leopard, named Gurja, had its head and front leg through the hole when the zookeeper......

Well, not "all," per se, but on Monday night Paul Dahliwal, one of the three people involved in the Christmastime tiger attack at the SF Zoo, telephoned Carlos Sousa Jr.'s mother, Marilza, to tell her that he and his chums were "dancing, talking, and laughing" moments before the attack. (Doing the Turkey Lurkey dance, no doubt.) It seems that Paul also told her that they were not taunting the tiger, something that has been......

In a Spearsian like maneuver, looking to trump both the recent storm and the Dhaliwal brothers, oil spill made a comeback this morning. It seems that a crane fell off of a san Francisco pier a little before 10 a.m. this morning, spilling "an unknown amount" of oil into the Bay. According to the Gate, "[t]he crane was on a sliding rail system at a dry dock at Pier 70 when it suddenly tilted......

While not on par with Christmas Day tsunamis, this storm is pretty nifty, huh? Golden Gate transit buses have stopped, power has been knocked out to hundreds -- yes, hundreds! - of thousands of people, and surely snow is falling really hard atop a mountain somewhere. But what must actually suck is this morning's nightmare traffic caused by the raindrops falling on our heads. Ahem: Marin/Contra Costa County: E-580, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge closed due......

Another mauling, y'all. This time in San Jose. A toddler, 20-month-old Anna Leigh Cinco, and her grandmother, 48-year-old Elizabeth Cinco, were sent to the hospital with serious wounds after being mauled by the family dog. A pitbull (according to the Gate, via AP) or a boxer-mix (according to CBS 5) attacked the infant on her chin, and left bite marks on the neck, ear and right leg of the grandmother. Ouchie. It seems that......