During a breakfast to celebrate a $412 million June-ballot bond to seismically retrofit a city buildings, San Francisco Police Chief George Gascón made a comment, according the SF Chronicle, about how the Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant "is susceptible not just to an earthquake, but also to members of the city's Middle Eastern community parking a van in front of it and blowing it up." more ›

According to CQ Politics, the FBI combed through customer data collected by SF and Bay Area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006. Why? To see what amount of Middle Eastern food products were purchased, with the hope of leading authorities to the sweet spot: Iranian terrorists. Of course! more ›

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here's a little theater company doing some pretty big plays 9th Street in downtown Oakland, AND offering dinner discounts at neighboring restaurants to ticket holders. more ›

This week's offerings represent the Bay Area's diversity. If that's too PC for you, go for the ones with a touch of taboo. more ›

We're not sure if we should be scared or skeptical here, folks -- first, the alleged terror cell in Lodi (terror cell! Terror! But the administration's record? Skeptical!) and now, Amtrak service and the Richmond-SF BART line have been shut down. So a man of Middle Eastern descent got on the Amtrak this morning in Sacto, going to Martinez. When he missed his stop, the conductor came by at the Richmond stop to let him know, and found him disoriented, distracted, and chanting in a foreign language. He became angry, identified himself as a Muslim and said, "The train is going to fall into the sea, the train is going to go away." The conductors did a search of the train and found four mysterious packages, one by the angry man's seat. The man was taken away by the Richmond PD, and the Walnut Creek bomb squad is "assessing its options" with the packages. Amtrak found that the man had another ticket going all the way to So Cal. So -- scared or skeptical? We're just going to rock back and forth in a liberal-who's-been-mugged dither of self-doubt now, thanks for asking. Picture of the Richmond Amtrak station from The Bus Stops Here more ›

Andrew Krucoff, who used to be Mr. Intervista at Gothamist, apparently has a fetish for Berkeley punk. Hence he's gone and provided the innerweb with free downloads of this sweet compilation tape [Thanks, BoingBoing]. more ›

Weekly roundup of theater worth checking out. This week, it's the black box edition, and an exhortation to see the current show at the Magic, which closes Sunday. more ›

A good, strong cup is always a priority -- but it's not always the whole story. more ›