While we can't say for certain that this morning's most recent vehicular fire is the work of the carsonist -- the lunatic who immolated SF cars earlier this year -- they do have a lot in common. Last night, for example, "[a]uthorities responded to a car fire Tuesday morning in unincorporated Contra Costa County, close to where 3 vehicle fires were reported over the weekend and at least 10 were reported last week." more ›

Three more cars were torched Saturday, all of them being "less than a mile away from one another, and at about the same time." This comes on the heels of 12 vehicles getting charred crispy black in the East Bay last week. more ›

A whooping cough outbreak has affected over 20 students at East Bay Waldorf School in El Sobrante, effectively shutting it down. Whooping cough, an illness normally thought of as an infant's, hits its victims with "severe coughing spells that end in a 'whooping' sound when the person breathes in." more ›

Somehow this news story managed to slip past our radar last week, but the Gate published a story on how our wonderful state of California will be spraying the Bay Area with pesticides this summer. In an effort to eliminate the light brown apple moth (aww. Aren't they so cute?), an insect potentially disastrous for farming in California, the state agricultural department will be spraying an insecticide known as Checkmate over urban areas, according to the Chron. Cities that will be included in the spraydown are: San Francisco, Daly City, Colma, Oakland, Piedmont, Emeryville, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Tiburon and Belvedere. more ›

--N Judah Chronicles stops by the "Wagnerian opera" that was Friday's afternoon commute. His N-Judah-specific Notice Board is . more ›

This thing about the three-year-old who accidentally killed a family friend in Alameda is too weird. So the kid apparently found a gun in his house and started waving it around in the living room. As his parents tried to disarm him, the gun went off and killed a guy hanging out in the house. Turns out the gun is owned by the cousin of the man who was shot, who may or may not be a gang member, and who may or may not be fleeing to Mexico. They've also taken the child into protective custody because they're afraid the gang member might retaliate against him. Surely no one in the gang thinks it's the kid's fault, do they? Further freaking us out, it turns out the 3-year-old has already witnessed someone getting murdered before, when a cousin was shot in front of him in El Sobrante. Attack of the sea lion! The good folks at the Berkeley Marina have been reduced to shooting water hoses in the face of a surly sea lion on the dock, who attacked three people on Wednesday alone. Most dramatically, the 1,500 lb. male grabbed a woman by the ankle and tried to drag her into the water, in what a witness described as "a virtual tug of war." The sea lion also tried to eat someone's backpack, but decided it wasn't to his liking. And early this morning, the cops shot (non-fatally) a guy fleeing from the scene of an armed robbery at 14th and Belcher in Duboce Triangle. Cops found the car the robber was in, but the robber refused to stop. They chased the car into a dead end in SoMa, at which point the driver tried to ram the cops in reverse. The cops then fired, and the driver kept going in reverse until he hit a tree. The driver then took off (in drive) again but was ultimately stopped at Townsend and Second. more ›

The all-early a.m. Sunday edition A man was shot to death at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning inside club 1015 Folsom. The crowd was at capacity to hear DJ Paul Van Dyk's set. It's Hank Hill gone bad: a man in El Sobrante, wanted for threatening his brother with a hammer, was arrested after fending off the local authorities for about 7 hours early Sunday morning with a crossbow. When the cops finally busted into the house around 8 a.m., they were confronted by the man, who was wearing a motorcycle helmet and gas mask and waving around a lit propane tank. The cops, sensibly, retreated until firefighters came by. And while all this was going on: two guys stopped by a convenience store to buy beer around 2:30 a.m.. Apparently stores in California aren't allowed to sell alcohol after 2 a.m. When the guys were apprised of this fact, they pulled a gun on the clerk and grabbed a six-pack from the cooler. Get this, though -- they then paid for the beer, as well a couple of lottery scratcher cards. When asked, the SJPD said they didn't know if the lottery cards had won. "What if they did? They'd have to come back and collect. That'd be another story." more ›