Results tagged “news”

One hundred and fifty firefighters from around Solano County and CalFire are on the scene battling a six-alarm fire west of Vacaville near the Lagoon Valley Regional Park this morning. Flames were first spotted around 1:30 a.m. in the area of Pleasant Valley and Cherry Glen Roads, near I-80. Four hundred acres had burned by 5 a.m., and 50 percent of the fire was contained by 6:45 a.m. Full containment is expected later today. No one has been injured, and evacuations are not expected. The Cherry Glen Road off-ramp of I-80 has been closed indefinitely to accommodate responding fire crews and equipment.

UPDATE: BART announced at 7 p.m. today that they have come to a temporary agreement with the Amalgamated Transit Union, and tomorrow's strike has been canceled. The following terms will remain in effect until a new contract agreement is reached:

We received an alert from the handy AlertSF.org (where were you, Emergency_In_SF?!) that there was another underground fire that occurred several hours ago in the Civic Center area, on Polk Street between Grove and McAllister, which has been closed to traffic. PG&E might need to cut power while authorities investigate. The air reportedly smelled like burned plastic, but there was no visible smoke. A hot dog vendor at Civic Center Plaza reported seeing smoke coming from a manhole, but he didn't hear an explosion.

SFist reported yesterday that Gay Pride Grand Marshall National Guard Lt. Dan Choi faced being discharged from the service, and a military review panel later confirmed this recommendation. The recommendation must be approved by the First Army commander and the chief of the National Guard Bureau, which could take weeks or up to a year. Choi, who is an Arabic translator, will continue to drill with the National Guard until then.

The iconic Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks was set on fire by possible vandals at around 5 a.m. this morning, damaging a 25-by-30 foot area. The fire was extinguished thirty minutes later. Arson investigators are still trying to determine the cause. Mark Leno told CBS5 (video) that this isn't the first time it's happened, and that it will be repaired in time for next year's pride weekend. As Leno explained, the Pink Triangle is highly visible and vulnerable. In CBS5's video report about the incident, a resident mentions that there are lots of rare plants on Twin Peaks that were likely damaged. On a side note, some of NBC Bay Area's commenters are ignoramuses.

City Nights (or whatever it's called) web-log writer Rich Lieberman came up with a (definitive?) list of the top-ten Bay Area newscasters. While they are "in no particular order," he lists the anchors in convenient 1 - 10 numerical sequence. They are as listed: #10, Tom Sinkovitz, NBC11/Bay Area (crusty but benign; no nonsense, goddamnit); #9, Ken Wayne, KTVU/FOX2 (an "avid traveler"); #8, Dana King, KPIX/CBS5 (paltry English language words cannot describe our love for la King); #7, Ken Bastida, KPIX/CBS5 (allowed the privilege and honor of sitting next to la King); #6, Julie Haener, KTVU/FOX2 ("blonde, gorgeous, and beautiful," climaxes Lieberman); #5, Frank Somerville, KTVU/FOX2 (we saw someone who looked just like him at the Daly City In-N-Out recently); #4, Jessica Aguirre, NBC11/Bay Area (jumped ship at KGO/ABC7 before moving to San Jose); #3, Dan Ashley, KGO/ABC7 (calm under pressure, suspected redhead); #2, Carolyn Johnson, KGO/ABC7 ("no 'look at me' aura," claims Vinney), and #1 goes to.... well, you'll have to check out Lieberman's post to find out Moore. But what say you, readers? What with a glaring lack of CBS 5's Wendy Tokuda and the KRON 4 Morning Team, is there any on-air anchor talent you think should have made his list?

NBC Bay Area reports that Rochelle Harrison, who has been openly gay since the age of thirteen, was ridiculed on a daily basis by teachers and staffmembers at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo, who would say such nonsense as: "You'll never get a job," "You're going to hell," "You're so ignorant. You don't even know whether you're a boy or a girl." (Uh, what millennium are we in again?!)

The murder of Ivarene Lett, Oakland's oldest homicide victim in history, in a secure, high-rise apartment building in the Lake Merritt neighborhood earlier this week, not to mention the recent, notorious Lovelle Mixon incident, has become the last straw for many Oakland residents, especially the elderly. Mayor Dellums' proposal to cut city funding of 140 police officers to help close a $100 million budget gap isn't helping matters either. [Update] Apparently, the mainstream media has been misleading the public about the proposal. The federal government would be using stimulus money to pay for those 140 officers. Many residents will no longer consider risking a stroll around the lake after dark, and there have been recent incidents of brazen daytime robberies by gang-members and the homeless. Male black commenters on SFGate also noted increased racial tension from their suspicious white neighbors. With crime likely to increase in the impending summer months, Dellums has his work cut out for him.

A federal jury found former Page Street Gang member Dennis Cyrus guilty of drug racketeering and three counts of murder, including the killing of federal witness Ray Jimmerson in 2002. The Obama administration's Justice Department had recently taken over the case. which is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who opposes the death penalty but said he would "enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us," refused to accept a plea deal with Cyrus' defense attorneys in exchange for a life sentence. Next week, the jury will decide whether to give Cyrus the death penalty. This would be the first time a federal jury has given the death penalty here since 1948, when two Alcatraz inmates got the gas chamber for a deadly 1946 escape attempt.

Phil Bronstein wrote this morning about several senior cable car operators who are boycotting the upcoming Bell-Ringing Contest in Union Square, due to Muni's lack of respect for 36-year cable car veteran, Alben Chang's, retirement celebration. Chang, who had an unblemished conductor record, wanted to take one last memorial ride on both the Hyde and Powell lines with some of his fellow senior operators. Muni had at first said the operators could take the ride while clocked out, but on the day before the ride, Muni then refused to let them participate.

Governor Schwarzenegger attended a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for the repaving and repair of Interstate Highway 80 in Fairfield (between state Highway 12 and Air Base Parkway), which is the first California infrastructure project to be funded by federal stimulus money. The 50-year-old stretch of highway is used by over 200,000 vehicles per day, and the $13.5 million project is said to provide 200 construction jobs. Top Grade Construction of Livermore submitted the lowest bid, which was 40 percent lower than Caltrans' cost estimate. The governor's office said the savings will be used for other highway projects. The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year. California is expected to receive nearly $850 million in federal economic stimulus money this month for transportation projects.

The attorneys for former Bart police officer Johannes Mehserle, who killed Oscar Grant on New Years Day, are asking the Alameda County Superior Court judge to disqualify District Attorney Tom Orloff and his office from the case. The lawyers say that Orloff violated state and federal laws, State Bar ethics rules, and the Constitution when he sent two Oakland officers to question Mehserle in Nevada without his attorney present. Based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1964, these circumstances would ordinarily result in any evidence obtained in the illegal questioning being suppressed, but Mehserle had invoked his right to remain silent and refused to speak to the officers. Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor, told the Chronicle that removing an entire prosecutor's office from a case for a violation would be extreme. "I think most judges would have a stern talking-to with the prosecutor, but if there's no evidence to suppress, that would be the end of it." State Attorney General Jerry Brown would take over the prosecution if Orloff's office were to be removed.

Treehugger informed us of the breaking news that the EPA will be moving forward with plans to declare that carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases are harmful to our health and to the climate. This will enable the EPA to act on the Supreme Court's 2007 ruling that the Clean Air Act can be used to curb carbon pollution from cars, power plants, and other industrial sources. "Fortunately, [the plan] follows President Obama’s call for a low carbon economy and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This pollution problem has a solution - one that will create millions of green jobs and end our country’s dependence on foreign oil.”

Sunday school teacher Melissa Huckaby, a neighbor of the Cantu family, was arrested on suspicion of the kidnapping and murder of Sandra Cantu yesterday. The family had been under investigation during the past week, and Huckaby revealed enough information during questioning on Saturday that police had probable cause to book her. Huckaby had said earlier in the week that Cantu had stopped by her house to play with Huckaby's daughter but was turned away by Huckaby because her daughter still needed to "pick up her toys." Huckaby had reported that her suitcase had gone missing the same day Cantu disappeared and that she had later found a note with the words "suitcase" and "water." Surveillance footage showed Cantu turning toward Huckaby's house before her disappearance. According to the FBI, it's unusual for a woman to be involved in such a case.

SF Bay Guardian City Editor Steven T. Jones has us all aflutter. According to his Twitter messages, something big will go down in tomorrow's issue of SFBG. Something real big. He wrote the following two curiosity-inducing messages today.

We had seen a bus ad for some weird house raffle a few weeks ago and were quite puzzled. Then we promptly forgot about it. Since then, news outlets have confirmed it's legit. For $150 or more, you can help support Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, while entering to win a $2.4 million house in the Sunset, or $1.8 million in cash (in case you want to avoid paying out of your pocket for those crazy taxes on the house). There is no limit on entries, until they reach their 37,000 ticket maximum.

Not since Quentin Tarantino obliterated hat-fetishist/movie reviewer Jan Wahl has KRON 4 become THIS irrelevant. (Pam Moore aside. We love Pam Moore. Moore = relevance. Pam Moore = San Francisco.) Take, for example, how the struggling news network recently booked and then unbooked Charles Feldman and Howard Rosenberg, media critics behind No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-hour News Cycle, which they planned on promoting on the former NBC affiliate.

We didn't see or hear and lightening and thunder. Did you? And where is this pea-sized hail we've been promised? No signs of them at SFist HQ in SOMA. Sheesh. (Although there have been reports of an unidentified icy, fluffy, white substance found over in the East Bay.) Anyway, brace yourselves, because this most recent storm has prompted the California Highway Patrol to issue a warning drivers to... slow down. We will update with any further requests of vehicular sedentary states as the come in to us.

During a post-Thanksgiving dinner game of Apples to Apples -- which could very well be the best board game invented, ever -- the hostess turned to me and said, "You know who I'm really into right now? Gasia Mikaelian."

SFist has received scores of emails and a few comments today, Cathy-ing about the lack of ballots and alleged chaos at certain polling stations.

"A small plane has crashed into San Francisco Bay near the new Bay Bridge construction. There are reports at least two people may have been rescued," screams CBS 5's homepage. (For a live copper at the scene, go here.) According to the Gate, at 2 p.m. a "single-engine plane crashed into water off the Bay Bridge" 500 or so yards from the Emeryville shoreline.

More time is being wasted over in Berkeley over those damn oak trees. This time the Berkeley City Council voted last night that they it "will not seek a stay of a judge's order allowing UC Berkeley's athletic center project to proceed," according to CBS 5. Good. Also, many of the protesters, who awesomely are starting to view themselves as Christ-like figures as of late, held a small rally outside Berkeley City Hall last night. And this is our favorite quote from one of the pro-oak grovists:

After a judge ruled that the University of California can cut down those cumbersome old oak trees, the kids still stuck up in the grove aren't coming down. What else is new, right? But in the end, the protesters have no one to blame but themselves. The twee aesthetics the sitters used to save said trees turned off any fence sitters, and "Dumpster Muffin"'s dilettante-ish and affected temper tantrum earlier this month made some supporters eyes roll. But what the Save the Memorial Oak Grove did accomplished was having fun. They turned lemons into a festive, extended tree-fort playdate. Kudos, guys! But if any of you still want those oak trees to remain standing, there will be an Oak Grove Supporters Plan March at Berkeley City Hall tomorrow. Go here for more details.

One less reason to watch the MLB All-Star Game tonight – Giants’ pitcher Tim Lincecum will probably not appear for the National League team because he woke up this morning with "flulike symptoms."

• Gavin Newsom's stalker behind bars again. This time for aggravated assault. [BAR]
• Chatting with 'mo musicians Matmos. [SFBG]
• Save the 26-Valencia (AKA, the please-God-don't-make-us-ride-with-those-brown-skinned-people line)? [Mission Mission]

While police have tried to starve and cutoff supplies to the few remaining protesters up in the UCB oak grove, another tree-sitter was arrested yesterday afternoon at around 5 p.m. Performing yoga exercises on the median strip on Piedmont Avenue in front of the grove of trees, it seems, police arrested someone going by the moniker "Redwood." According to university spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the protester came along "very quietly."

UCB's plans to mow down an oak grove and put up a sports training facility were put on hold. It seems a judge halted the plans until "the university can prove the project would not violate state earthquake-safety laws, a judge ruled Wednesday," says the Gate. The university, though, thinks it's a rule in their favor, keeping "their plan alive, arguing that the center would not violate state law because it would not touch any fault lines."

The battle to save an oak grove on the UC-Berkeley campus turned even uglier yesterday. Protesters sang bizarre Native American-ish sounding songs (seriously, check this out) and threw buckets of urine at police and arborists (where "an acrid tang hung in the air afterward." Ew.)

Five remaining tree climbers over at the University of California at Berkeley -- you know, the ones who have been protesting the school's plan to tear down the Memorial Oak Grove to put in a shiny new ball-throwing stadium -- are being threatened to come down via 25 police officers and a cherry picker. According to UCB officials, the tree protesters might have to come down as early as today, Tuesday, or be removed by the long arm of the law. Literally.

Carlos Sousa Jr.'s autopsy report has just been released to the public. According to ABC 7's Dan Noyes, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office's report details the massive (and pretty graphic) injures Sousa suffered from Tatiana the tiger on Christmas Day 2007 at the San Francisco Zoo after a tiger escaped from her grotto.