State Senator Leland Yee introduced a bill in the State Legislature this morning that, if passed, would see traffic fines double for violations occurring along the deadly strip of San Francisco road known as 19th Avenue. (Shudder.) Over the past few years, 19th Avenue -- which connects San Mateo County with San Francisco and pierces commercial and residential sections of the city rife with foot traffic -- has played host to numerous traffic accidents......

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation dotted the eyes and crossed the tees for Sir Richard Branson's airline, Virgin America, to begin flying out of SFO, which will actually be its home base. Huzzah, more local jobs! The company is planning a mid-summer launch....

We may occasionally bag on BART, but we have to say that in the most cases, we are more than happy with it. Mainly because it's not MUNI but that's a whole other story. We also think everyone else feels the same way because they keep on talking about extending it all over the area. Just look at those BART maps in stations-- there's all sorts of dotted lines representing proposed lines. Well, one of those proposed lines is getting closer to happening as a whole bunch of money was thrown BART's way to extend BART to Santa Clara and San Jose. Like $364 million dollars worth of money. ...

Folks -- we want to encourage you to keep the questions coming. The best ones for us to answer are those with specific details. If questions don't hav enough detail, we are forced to simply snark (see question #1); if they are too open-ended, you'll see us blather on and on and on and on (see question #2)....

Whether or not you enjoy Barbara Boxer's senatorial antics, there's no denying she's a master of making grandiose gestures without actually committing to any specific action. Fer instance, she sent out some emails to constituents the other day about how she's eager to reduce our dependence on oil and improve mass transit and stuff. She offers a "summary of steps necessary," without actually explaining how she's going to make any of these things happen:......

The people who have entertained us with screw-top wine and housed one of our favorite places is taking over additional Bay Area territory with the announcement that a new airline, Virgin American, will be based at SFO. If approved, Virgin'll be the only major airline based in California, and will have the potential to create as many as 2,000 local jobs, with an eventual additional 20,000-30,000 indirect jobs across the country. Once approved by......

SFist first brought this story to you last week...Bay Area bridge costs are way over budget. We aren't talking a few hundred or thousand dollars here. The San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge is "reportedly" $2.54 billion over budget. Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger said the Bay Area is to blame for the Bay Bridge costs, and that residents should foot the bill. This doesn't include any state money, even though the bridge IS part of the interstate highway......