A big ol' sinkhole broke out today on First Street between Mission and Howard due to a water main rupture, resulting in the closure of a major artery out of SF and onto the Bay Bridge. Traffic around the area is backed up all sorts of bad. Sorry, dear East Bayers. But look on the bright side: you get to stay in the city of San Francisco that much longer. Yay, you! more ›

Boom! The San Jose federal building was evacuated for three hours yesterday afternoon after a federal employee found a suspicious-looking backpack-like object outside the building near South First Street with a note on it that said "boom." The bomb squad detonated the bag, which contained a metal box that made a loud crack (audio of the crack! Go Merc News!) heard through downtown. more ›

Man, today's not the VTA's day. The San Jose light rail was shut down for about an hour and a half to clear out the carcass of a truck making an illegal left that turned directly into the path of the train on East Capitol Avenue in E. San Jose. The truck flipped on its side, landed under the train, and was dragged for about 150 feet. The three guys in the truck were sent to the hospital with major injuries but no one on the train was injured -- in part because there were only 8 people on the train. They really gotta do something about public transportation in the South Bay. What's more, this wasn't even the only accident on the VTA today -- someone else this morning also tried to make an illegal left from Plumeria onto South First Street, and also got hit by a train. Minor injuries only in that one, at least. Picture by Joanne Ho-Young Lee for the Merc News more ›

The Chron today does a feature on the biggest architectural eyesores in San Francisco. more ›