District Attorney (and former SFPD Chief) George Gascón announced today that, according to The Chronicle, "The misconduct investigation into a San Francisco police unit of undercover officers will force prosecutors to drop another 42 criminal cases." This morning, as reported on SFist, the tally was at 13. The total number has since jumped to 57.
42 More Cases Dropped Due To SFPD Surveillance Video Scandal (FOOTAGE)
East Bay High Schoolers Use Sex Appeal to Sell Car Washing Skills?
The kids at Northgate High School in Walnut Creek had a money-making scheme this past weekend. One that, for better or for worse, involved the school's water polo team wearing only regulation Speedos, standing on a street corner, and luring passersby.
Civil Rights Groups Ask Ninth Circuit to Reconsider Denial of Asylum to Gay Guatemalan
After allegedly being beaten, sexually assaulted, threatened by a Guatemalan congressman, and chronically harassed by Guatemalan police, gay Bay Area resident Saul Martinez fled to the United States in 1992. Now, after years of living in the U.S., the Feds are trying to send him back to his country of origin. According to the National Center for Lesbian Rights:
Fourth of July Gets Even More Dull: Fireworks Sales Defused
While only nine cities in the Bay Area allowed to sell "safe and sane" fireworks (i.e., sparklers, fountains, snakes, and flowers [psst, you can totally turn the latter into a mini bottle rocket by drilling a small hole in the end of the cylinder]), one of those cities, Watsonville, might curb their fiery Fourth of July fun. According to the Merc, a ban on the sale of fireworks in Watsonville might take place since the area has, well, pretty much been on ablaze for the last month or so.
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.
It's Official: SF Required to Issue ID Cards to Immigrants
Yesterday, Mayor Newsom signed into action the Tommy Ammiano-introduced legislation that requires the city to handout ID cards to undocumented immigrants and other residents who either can't or just won't apply for driver's licenses. The good news is that these IDs will help (formerly) undocumented residents gain access to the wonderful world of banking, a sense of peace before calling the fuzz, as well as "health services at city-run clinics, public library privileges, and resident discounts at museums and other cultural institutions." (Entry fee discounts at the Exploratorium: the American dream realized.)

