The Marin Medical Alliance, which was founded in 1990 as the Hemp Renaissance Council of West Marin and opened at 6 School Street in Fairfax in 1996, was forced to close over the weekend following an eviction notice from their landlord. The dispensary is one of several in Marin County being forced to close under the recent federal crackdown on the medical marijuana trade in California, and the "School Street" address is the best clue as to why the DOJ went after this particular law-abiding, two-decade-old cannabis club. more ›

In the North Bay, a chimney fire in the Main House of George Lucas' bucolic retreat sparked three alarms after it became too much to handle for the Star Wars director's private Skywalker fire crew yesterday afternoon. (What? You don't have a private fire crew on staff?) Responding firefighters from Marin County eventually had to call in additional backup from San Rafael to contain the smokey blaze. more ›

On Thursday, Marin authorities eradicated an estimated 13,000 baby marijuana plants found on Bolinas Ridge near Kent Lake. Marin Municipal Water District, National Park Service, California Department of Justice and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration all took part in the operation. Lt. Barry Heying explained why to CBS, saying, "These types of criminal enterprises result in erosion damage created by the clear-cutting of indigenous plants as well as hazardous trash left behind by the lawless operators." Well then. [CBS] more ›

When we first got wind that former San Francisco Mayor / current Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom moved to Marin, our first thought was, "Oh God, which town?" Everything in Marin, you see, hinges upon which town one dwells. Corte Madera is middle class by Marin standards. Tiburon is new money. Mill Valley is for Beth Spotswood. Novato is the black sheep. Sausalito is for glass beach art. San Rafael is where the county jail is. And Strawberry Village is where one can find a Strawberry shake at In-N-Out. So, where does someone as chiseled and powerful as Newsom call home? According to Matier & Ross, Newsom and his clan have moved to the city of Ross. more ›

After a dining hall riot broke out at San Quentin on Sunday, four prisoners were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. The minor melee involved at least 200 convicts. No idea what, exactly, prompted the fisticuffs. However, the Examiner reports that "[t]he men ended up with stab and slash wounds after the riot erupted around 6:50 p.m." and no staff members were injured. more ›

Diarrhea, vomiting — just your typical school field trip, right? CBS is reporting a sickening wave of flu-like illness amongst 50 Bay Area students and adults on a five-day educational trip at Walker Creek Ranch in Marin. more ›

Pizza Orgasmica opened a new shop in San Rafael recently. In an ode to Brazil's soccer team, they used garish yellow and green paint for the exterior. This, it seems, didn't sit well with Marin's tender aesthetic sensibilities. "The board on Wednesday asked city planners to work with Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Co. owners Taylor Maia and Gina Gochez on a plan to soften the yellow and green tones, reduce the paint's reflectivity, improve its finish and restore the building's accents," reports Marin Independent Journal. "It also suggested adding a third paint color to the front and limiting the use of bright yellow in the rear." Well then. more ›

Ticklefight found this irie license place in Marin County. (Thanks goes out to Allan Hough for sending this our way.) more ›

by Amy Crocker How does a girl from Marin County end up with a role in American Pie? According to Beth Behrs, with lots of luck. A graduate of the UCLA School of Film and Television, the Bay Area native is living and auditioning in Los Angeles - carving out a career in acting. Though she is a trained singer, her first film role is as the star of American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, which came out on DVD last Tuesday. SFist spoke with Behrs to get an insider’s perspective on the Hollywood ladder, American Pie, and of course, her run in with the cast of Twilight. more ›

Get ready for the ninth circle of Hell, persons in charge of the Milo Foundation Shelter in San Rafael. Because you screwed up. It seems, according to CBS 5, the North Bay animal shelter was shut down due to horrible conditions after a Thursday morning surprise inspection. more ›

The woman who was found shot shot to death in Tiburon yesterday morning, making it the city's first homicide in a decade, has been identified as 75-year-old Joan Rosenthal. According to police, there was no sign of a break in and nothing from Rosenthal's residence was stolen. Rosenthal, described as a "a wonderful member of the community," held a "a contemporary fiction book group with Tiburon Mayor Alice Fredericks since 1997." Anyone with information as to who did this should call the Marin County Sheriff's Department at 415-499-7265. more ›

Get. Out. Of. The. Water. Why? Well, it seems that someone spotted a shark swimming along the coastline just off of Stinson Beach, prompting authorities to shut down the beach to the public. CBS5 reports, "Golden Gate National Recreation officials told CBS 5 that they received two 'reliable' shark sighting reports on Monday. As a result, officials said they made the determination to close the beach for 5 days." Although Great White Shark attacks are relatively common in the area, insofar as shark-to-human attacks go, it wasn't know what shark, exactly, was spotted. more ›

Earlier this week, a retired Daly City police officer witnessed an "elderly man" in his 60s talking to a 2-year-old girl at a McDonald's on Redwood Highway. Deciding something fishy was afoot, said officer "called for the deployment of uniformed personnel" (i.e., backup) to help nab the alleged McDonald's molester in action. This Chris Hansen moment, however, turned out to be something different, something all too innocent. According to 's Gary Klien, "Units arrived on scene, initiated an investigation, and determined there was negative suspicious activity, as the male subject was the juvenile party's grandfather. The elder party advised units that he had effected a conversation with the juvenile 'about nonsense' in order to 'keep her entertained.'" No arrests were made. The grandpa and granddaughter went on to enjoy their Happy Meals in peace, shock. more ›

A staple of the Sonoma-Marin Fair for 21 years, the World's Ugliest Dog Contest happened over the weekend. The winner? Pabst, this boxer-mix beauty, at right, with an extreme overunderbite. While the Chinese Crested breed has won the contest for more than seven years (they represented more than 50% of the entries this year), Pabst was easily the crowd favorite. According to the dog's owner, Miles Egstad from Citrus Heights, he was "given his name because he had a 'bitter beer face.'" Aw. What's more, Egstad took home $1,600 for "sweeping all three rounds ($100 for mutt class, $500 for runoff with the pedigree class winner, and $1,000 for World’s Ugliest Dog)," as well as an additional $1,000 and pupper jewelery that included "collars, leashes, and bowls plus a year-round modeling contract that Pabst signed with his paw." more ›

We came across this post on Facebook (published 13 hours ago), about a missing Marin girl: "INDIA CLOUD WAS SEEN 45min AGO ON HAIGHT ST NEAR AMOEBA IN SAN FRANCISCO!!!!! She has moved but can't have gone far. She was reported alone..." more ›

Two-time Academy Award winner and Marin resident Sean Penn filed for divorce from his wife, actress Robin Wright-Penn. Penn filed the papers on Friday. If you recall, Sean and Robin had planned on calling it quits back in December 2007, but reconciled. The thespianic couple, who have two children, starred in several movies together, including Hurlyburly (1998) and She’s So Lovely (1997). But the question remains, why are they breaking up? Who's to say. Maybe Penn and James Franco can finally be together? We can only hope. more ›

The first two cases of swine flu were just discovered last night. Two Marin residents, an unidentified 60-year-old woman and her 20-month-old granddaughter, just tested positive for swine flu. Both of them, it seems, had just returned from a trip to Mexico. According to SFGate, "The woman and child were described as having had a 'moderate' flu illness after their return from Mexico; the child has already recovered and her grandmother is now experiencing only mild symptoms, according to the Marin County officials. Other family members were tested and were receiving medication as a precaution." To find out more information on swine flu hitting the Bay Area, visit www.marinflu.org. (Swine flu fun fact: In Israel, the government officially renamed it "Mexico flu" because pigs aren't kosher.) more ›

Repairs to a faulty pipe that has leaked an estimated 300,000 gallons of shit, piss, and miscellaneous into the Bay will be fixed later today. According to KCBS, "A pipe that ruptured at the Fort Baker treatment plant has been pouring about 200 gallons of sewage into the waters off Sausalito since around 1 p.m. Tuesday, said the district’s general manager, Bob Simmons." He goes on to say that "rough surf may have contributed to the break." So, you know, stay out water along the Fort Baker shoreline until further notice. Ew. In related news, during a hearing today, investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board Wednesday that the Cosco Busan's pilot and captain had "poor communication" regarding the Cosco Busan crash. The Cosco Busan dumped 53,000 gallons of fuel oil into the San Francisco Bay in November 2007. more ›

A group that bills itself as the Marin Breastfeeding Coalition has started an unusual campaign in Marin County to get women to breastfeed their babies. In the next coming weeks, life-sized cardboard cutouts of woman breastfeeding will be put up across the North Bay, with cutouts of the making their debut this week at The Village shopping center in Corte Madera. (To check out images of the ads, go here and here.) more ›

A Mill Valley woman has been banned from crap designer Abercrombie & Fitch's Corte Madera store after she urinated in the retail shop. It seems the rich bitch in question asked store employees if she could use the bathroom. They refused. So, after throwing a tizzy, said lady (and we use that term loosely) stole a "a 5-gallon pail from a display and adjourned to a changing room," dumped $300 worth of clothing (and we use that term loosely) into the bucket, and created a makeshift toilet of her very own. The woman -- described as tall, white, thin, blond and in her 40s -- returned to the story the following day, claiming ignorance of going No. 1. The store, however, refused to press charges. Ah, the secret underbelly of the North Bay. It is warm and sweet. more ›

During some sort of pre-meeting to see if maybe, perhaps, possibly Newsom wants to throw his hat into the California's Governor race, the San Francisco Mayor held a "beta meeting" at his alma mater, Redwood High School, in Larkspur. Prefaced by the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up," more than 100 Marin residents sat in Newsom's old school library to participate in the town hall-ish meeting. more ›

A body so badly decomposed that the coroner's office has yet to determine its sex, age, race, or how it bit it, washed up on the "northern edge of the beach beginning around 8:20 p.m." The body reared its hear yesterday much to the chagrin of sweltering beach goers. The Marin coroner's office, it seems, is trying to figure out the person's identity and the cause of death. Stay tuned! more ›

Did you know that Hells Angels is incorporated? Well, we didn't. Please excuse of woeful lack of Hells Angels' knowledge. We digress. more ›

Boing Boing's wonderful things camp up with this beauty. Antonio Patrinostro, 43, was busted by cops last week after "ramming three cars and causing minor injuries" while driving up in Marin. It seems Patrinostro was "on a mission for Area 51." Naturally. has the scoop: more ›

While taking in the (allegedly) gorgeous weather yesterday, a 20-year-old Marin hiker fell from the cliffs above Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, and died. The unidentified woman, while walking with her hiking partner who was hurt during a "rescue attempt," was, according to SFGate, "hiking ahead of her partner when he heard her scream and saw rocks falling. The man hiked down the hillside to help her. It was unclear how he was injured." more ›

Well, you can breathe a sigh of relief, citizen of the Bay Area. Tempestuous celebrity couple Sean Penn and Robin Wright-Penn have withdrawn their petition for a divorce. Apparently, the Oscar winning method actor took to the stage this past Monday night at some sort of Eddie Vedder cabaret revue and "reportedly dedicating a song to his wife." more ›

You know, we normally hate bus-line disruptions, but we can ALMOST make an exception for this weekend's: "On Saturday, March 15, San Francisco Little League Baseball will open the 2008 season with a parade from the Presidio to Marina Middle School." A parade! A cute little baseball parade! TOO ADORABLE! This makes us want to have a baby so we can raise it for 8 years and then buy it a little pinstripe costume and one of those big leather mittens and have it march down the street waving to all the enchanted onlookers. more ›

Oh shit. more ›

No more salmon in Muir Woods? more ›

Oh, those crazy hot-tubbing, wife-swapping, Al Qaeda-loving Marin County folk. It seems that now they're scalping their own children in an effort to tidy up the remaining Cosco Busan oil spill disaster. Students from Larkspur's Marin Primary and Middle School have willing lopped off locks of hair from their nubile heads, then donating said hair to Eco-Cuts, "a program designed by Marin Primary to help in the cleanup effort triggered by the Nov. 7 oil spill in the bay." Their dirty, dirty child hair will then go to Matter of Trust, a San Francisco-based environmental nonprofit that "weaves the hair into mats to soak up oil." According to the Marin Independent: more ›