Is there something about the Macarthur Maze that makes it easily flammable? There's a one to two hour delay basically in all directions after another fire closed down the onramps to the westbound Bay Bridge. Sounds like today's fire broke out in the joints of the bridge, though, so it's not another truck careening out of control and slamming into a pole, at least. No injuries reported either, which we're also glad to hear. They......

Tomorrow BART celebrates 35 years of hauling your asses around. Revenue service began on 9/11 in 1972. Since then, according to BART Board President Lynette Sweet, BART has continued to "carry the Bay Area through good times and bad...[w]e were there to keep the economy moving when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake knocked out the Bay Bridge, and most recently when the MacArthur Maze connector collapsed." But most important of all, BART has also......

Was it just us, or did you also think, as soon as the Bay Bridge closed, that the only things you wanted to do over Labor Day Weekend were on the other side of the bay? Well, all those days are now nothing but a hazy memory, with the bridge reopening a full 11 hours earlier than planned (at around 6 p.m. last night) and traffic flowing relatively normally (i.e., jammed, but no more......

The envelope, please! Here's your list of the 10 worst commutes in the Bay Area, compiled by the Metropolitan Transit Commission. 1. I-80 W to the Bay Bridge, in the a.m. 2. E-580 from 680 to Dublin in the p.m. 3. 580 around Livermore in the a.m. 4. Marin 101 S from Napa/Sonoma to 580 in the a.m. 5. 101 into San Francisco to the Bay Bridge in the p.m. 6. 92 in Alameda......

--They took away the hazmat license of the company whose truck blew up the Macarthur Maze. We can't really disagree with that. --Oh no! Puddles the hippo has died. He leaves his bereaved partner, Cuddles, and 16 children. --There's a lot of geek conventions in town this weekend. --And speaking of which, check out this Star Wars post office in Marin. --Two-alarm fire in the Richmond this afternoon. --The Gap's still having problems. --Condoleeza Rice......

Have you guys seen all those "Click It Or Ticket" signs they've had up on the LED signs on the highway about how they're enforcing the seat belt laws this month? Well, Oakland City Attorney John Russo didn't, and got nabbed on Piedmont Avenue for going beltless. We pretty much always wear a seat belt now because that dinging noise that the dashboard makes if you don't have it on drives us mad. Russo says......

--They reopened the Macarthur Maze! And of course, now the bridge is backed up. --TiVo is getting a lot of angry emails after the triumphant conclusion of American Idol was cut off by recorders not padded with extra time. Always pad your live shows, people! --Left In SF notes that no one sees Tapioca Ed Jew in either his Sunset house or his Burlingame house. --There's a hilarious picture of Al Gore at his reading......

Pssst! See that black strip on your BART card? Does that maybe remind you of anything? They are very similar to the black strip on all those hard little plastic cards you carry in your wallet right? Like credit cards. Debit cards. Some supermarket membership cards. And we know the implications of those things -- keep them away from magnetic stuff; keep them away from extreme heat, or the information may be compromised. So, back to your BART card -- ever occur to you that the same principles may apply? Geez, people! Think! ...

--Meet Tapioca Ed's "consultant" friend. --They're raising water rates in the city. Guess who doesn't care about that? --The Macarthur Maze is set to reopen tomorrow. --15 goats (used to reduce fire risk) were shot in the Oakland Hills. A reward is being offered for information. --There's fallout from the Santa Clara DA's decision not to prosecute a group of DeAnza students for a possible attempted gang rape. --More information about the woman who died......

--They are going to reopen the Macarthur Maze by Memorial Day weekend! That construction company totally deserves their $5 million bonus. --We know why Chris Daly interrupted Newsom's meeting with the Venezuelan ambassador! To tell Gavin there's another Daly on the way! Congratulations, Chris and Sarah! --Someone died at Bay to Breakers. --The city may try to move Halloween to behind AT&T Park. --They're going to try and get Wi-Fi on BART. --Condoleeza Rice is......

--What is going on in this town? There was a mob-style shooting near the 5th and Harrison 80 off-ramp this afternoon. Someone shot 17 bullets into a rented blue Dodge Charger around 1 p.m. today, as both cars were getting off the highway and stopped at a light. The shooters sped off up Fifth Street in a green minivan, which hit another car in the getaway. The victim suffered life-threatening injuries but is as......

Guess who's back talking about MUNI for the ABC 7 I-Team?????? (4:33 on the video). Since Gavin hasn't done anything outrageous lately, Dan Noyes turns his attention to the perennial favorite of complaining about MUNI -- this time discovering the name of the driver who's gotten the most citizen complaints (for ignoring a beating at the back of the bus, refusing to call the police on pickpockets, and swearing at passengers, to name a few.)......

Is anyone else deeply enjoying the tonal shift from hysteria to sulky that the Chron's bumper-to-bumper traffic coverage of the MacArthur Maze collapse has taken? From the "Monday Morning Commute Will Be Terrible!!!!" to "Morning Commute Okay, But Evening Commute Will Be Terrible!" to "Monday Commute Okay, But What About Tuesday????" to sulkily kicking the ground and being like, "Wednesday Commute Continues To Be Okay." We love it. Well, the Chron continues their slightly-let-down......

Gavin Newsom, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums tried to out-macho each other last night at the MacArthur Maze. ...

East Bay Eater SFist Julie reports in from the other side of the MacArthur Maze! To tell you the truth, we were hesitant to share this restaurant review with you, because we were worried that you would swarm our favorite neighborhood breakfast place and extend our wait for corned beef hash, but now, with the collapse of the 80/580 interchange, we have nothing to worry about. So here goes... There are many good and great......

Update: 11:45 a.m.: Here's your roads: W-80 to S-880 is closed (from Berkeley to the Oakland airport). E-80 to E-580 is closed (from SF to Lake Merritt and Piedmont). Alternate routes: BART or AC Transit. From SF, you could take S-880, surface streets to downtown Oakland and get on W-980 to get onto the intact sections of S-580. Or you could just take BART or AC Transit. Did we mention you should take BART......

Okay, we're still freaking out about the Macarthur Maze collapsing, but here's the other news we were trying to compile when we found out about it this morning. --Civic Center SFMike went to check out Impeach Beach and caught this picture of an adorable doggie! Thanks for letting us use it, Mike! --Bevan Dufty said something mean about Gavin Newsom. He's since called to apologize. --Biotech's moving to San Francisco. --Liveblogging the baby eagle......