Oh dear. The Oakland Raiders fired head coach Hue Jackson on Tuesday. Jackson, if you recall, coached for one season after the firing of brutish coach Tom Cable. "Jackson let the Raiders to an 8-8 record, the same record achieved during the 2010 season," reports CBS-SF. He also garnered unfavorable criticism "after the team led the league in penalties and penalty yards."
Raiders Fire Head Coach Hue Jackson
A's Fire Manager Bob Geren
Due to a "horrendous stretch of the season" where the Oakland A's lost nine straight games, team manager Bob Geren was fired today. "Geren's season took a turn for the worst last month when then closer Brian Fuentes criticized his manager for a lack of communication and inconsistent handling of the bullpen," reports the Chron. "The team's former closer, Huston Street, piled on, telling The Chronicle that Geren was one of the worst people he had encountered in the world of sports."
S.F. Union Square Macy's Fires Santa Claus
Sad news, kids. Christmas is canceled. The Union Square Macy's store has, sadly, fired John Toomey, known for 20 years at the store's "Santa John." Why? Well, according to the Chronicle, it all started with a humorous "adult" joke, one that's been told for years.
Carrie Prejean to Lose Miss California Crown Today
According to TMZ -- who has been on a relentless pursuit of all things anti-Prejean, ever since she slammed gay marriage on live TV -- the disgraced Miss California title winner lost her crown today because she's not doing her job."Sources connected with the pageant tell us even Donald Trump has now had it with Carrie, because she's violating her contract by not getting clearance to do her extracurricular stuff.," reports TMZ, who go on to say that Carrie "has been a no-show for appearances she was supposed to make for the pageant organization."
Alice Morning Radio Show's Sarah & Vinnie Together Again
Earlier in July, SFist reported that Alice 97.3's Morning Radio Show booted No Name (AKA Mike Nelson) from the (allegedly) popular morning program. Reason given for ridding Nelson from the zany morning team was that the show was going to move in a "different direction." And by "different" they meant "backwards," it seems. See, Vinnie (who used to be Sarah's partner before getting fired in 2002 for partying too hard with his pal Tina, thus forcing him into rehab) will return again. Wee. According to SF Weekly, "tomorrow listeners will hear a very familiar voice joining Sarah. That’s right, Vinnie’s back!" Read more about it here.
Alice Radio's "No Name" Booted Off Morning Show
Revealed by its competitor Live105 this morning, word is that Alice 97.3's Morning Radio Show just pruned part of its morning team, on-air personality No Name (AKA Mike Nelson). Alas. Together for six years on the radio, and a few weeks on television with an ill-advised spin-off of the show, Sarah and No Name have entertained the Bay Area masses every morning with, ahem, shocking banter and bon mots. (Or so we assume. We haven't listened to the radio since the advent of the talking picture box. But we have seen their mugs grace the sides of Muni buses now and then.)
Protesting Mayor Newsom's Shiny New Budget
Speaking of our fine mayor, Newsom's recently released budget plan, it seems, will "terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration," at least according to the folks over at something called the People's Budget Collaborative, brought to you by the loopy kids at the Coalition on Homelessness. They claim the following cuts will happen. Ahem:
Show Us Your Pink Slips: Newsom To Eliminate 450 City Employees From the Payroll
While he wouldn't say whether or not Cynthia Thompson will receive a much deserved ax, today Mayor Gavin Newsom did announce that he will hack away at some 1,000 city jobs as well as "limiting overtime costs and raising some city fees." Overall, 450 workers stand to lose their jobs. (And thus 450 sandwich artists are born.)
Mountain View's Uloop.com Illegally Fires Students for Unionizing?
College students, when will you ever learn? Never--never!-- try to to do the right thing by organizing a worker's union at your job. This is the quickest way to get wrongfully terminated. Case in point: Mountain View-based Uloop.com, a start-up online company that bills itself as "a marketplace for college students" (see also: Craigslist), fired two of their Cal Poly student workers allegedly for trying to unionize the company.
Melanie Morgan Gets the Boot
Politically-correct, conservative KSFO talk show host Melanie Morgan annonced yesterday that her contract would not be renewed due to financial issues over at KSFO's corporate parent, Citadel Broadcasting Corp. Co-host of the Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Show, Morgan is somewhat (in)famous for jump starting the Gov. Gray Davis recall, which has since left us with Gov. Schwarzenegger; and calling for the rape, murder, hair-pulling, and vivisection of editor Bill Keller. (Okay, not really, what she actually said was that if Bill Keller should be tried for treason, he should face the ultimate penalty, which is death. So..there you go.)
Leal Voted Out As SFPUC Chief, Receives $400K
Without providing an answer for firing San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal, the SFPUC officially sacked her this morning after a nine-minute closed door City Hall meeting. As part of her severance package, she will receive a delightful $400,000. The former city treasurer was asked to pack up and get the hell out last December as part of Newsom's second-term staff cuts.
Bernie Ward Officially Fired
Former Catholic priest and KGO 810 AM host Bernie Ward was finally fired, ending his working relationship with the station. This stems from last year's federal indictment of child pornography charges that befell the (now former) host of "the Bernie Ward Show" and "Godtalk." He was officially let go, it seems, at the end of 2007. According to Dan Noyes at KGO, Ward admitted to "downloading images from the internet and trading them with people he met on-line. His attorneys have said Ward was doing research for a book at the time." Hmm.
Susan Leal, Pink-Slipped?
Although her contract ends in 2009, former SF Mayoral candidate and current San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal might get the ax, according to Cecilia M. Vega over at the Chronicle. Her removal could kickoff a bloodbath of staff cuts by Newsom. And although her dismissal would need approval by committee, this seems like a done deal. According to the article: Leal received a telephone call Friday evening from Newsom's chief of...

