An unfortunate series of events, including the police impounding a man's car last night for a speeding violation, led to the death of another man by the side of a road near Oakland Airport early this morning. The man was struck by car along a remote, unlit stretch of Doolittle Drive around 6 a.m. while he was trying to walk home from San Leandro with three friends. more ›

According to the Chronicle, "Reports of lasers being shined at aircraft nearly doubled last year across the country, with the Bay Area being among the worst regions when it comes to the dangerous prank." With 201 reports of laser shinings at Bay Area airports in 2010, Bay Area incidents, according to the FAA, "made up more than 7 percent of the 2,800 laser shinings reported nationally." Pranksters (or merely the bored soul carrying a laser pen) "can be charged with federal as well as state crimes." Last year, a Massachusetts man was sentenced to three years in Federal prison for egregious laser pointing. [Chon] more ›

We've been seeing something like this coming, but apparently BART's plan to use $70M in stimulus funds to build that Oakland Airport tram has just hit another snag. The Federal Transit Administration sent BART a strongly worded letter on January 15th saying they are in danger of losing their $70M earmark if they don't submit, really soon, a new report documenting that the project does not discriminate against low-income Oakland residents. Whatever report BART did file, in order to be in compliance with federal code, was evidently not good enough. Unfortunately if BART loses the money, there's a good chance it will be spent outside the Bay Area — even though there are probably more worthy projects this could be spent on, like, say, building a train to Marin, but today's Marin voters would probably kill that idea just like they did in the 70s. more ›

So, this is sort of a math problem: Take a $130 million project; sit it on it and discuss for many years; watch costs rise to about $500 million; receive a $70 million chunk in transportation funds from the federal government; apply for $150 million more in federal transportation loans; figure that you can charge riders $12 round trip on top of their BART fare; decide that in a flagging economy it is better to go into deeper debt and add 13,000 jobs; wait five more years, give or take -- and what do you get? An AirTrain-like solution connecting the Coliseum BART station with Oakland Airport. more ›

Southwest Airlines, the cattle-car service of affordable air transportation, resumed flights this morning after yesterday's maintenance SNAFU grounded "approximately 4 percent" on Tuesday night. It seems that many of their airplanes failed to have safety checks last year, which resulted in yesterday's Southwest Airlines schedule meltdown and a drop in their stock price. But today, Thursday, "the majority of the planes removed from service have been returned" spokeswoman Christi Day tells CBS 5. more ›

Hey, remember angry Sarah Nome, the lady who refused to move out of the Kaiser hospital in Marin for over a year, and ran up a $1.4 million bill? Well, Kaiser's 1) gotten ownership of her house in San Anselmo and 2) will be auctioning it off to pay off her tab. Kaiser was awarded the house after Nome was put in the care of the state (after her daughter refused to take her in), and has been paying the mortgage while their case against Nome was pending -- even though they haven't actually been given access to the place. The house isn't in the best of shape -- it's apparently been hit by falling trees and Nome was in a fight with her insurance to get them to pay for it -- but given the real estate market in Marin, we're guessing it'll probably move fairly quickly. more ›

Marines returning home from Iraq were beaten to death with puppies and aborted fetuses by Oakland Airport officials on 9/27. At least that's how some conservative blogs and other outlets have spun it, more or less. (Because the Oakland Airport has nothing better to do than come up with ineffective political statements.) more ›

-- 19-year-old lad from Felton -- a fascinating, frightening place -- calls cops after his weed gets pinched. Which he was trying to sell in downtown Santa Cruz. And doesn't get arrested. [Chron] more ›

Well, it won't be destroyed so much as it will be sent into space. And then vaporized, or zapped, or something. more ›

Just some random news items on the wire: more ›

In artist Paul Madonna's weekly comic series All Over Coffee, San Francisco architecture—and coffee—seem to be the main characters. Beautifully technical drawings of SF scenes, combined with disembodied voices that almost feel like the city's collective consciousness, give an ethereal quality to the pieces. You can catch All Over Coffee every Sunday in the Pink section of the Chronicle, and it's archived online as well. Paul also updates his web site every Monday with a new free cartoon. This month, there are several ways you can get to know Paul and his work a little better. • Tonight from 7 to 10 pm at 312 Valencia @ 14th street, there is a Book Release Party for Paul's collection of past to present work from All Over Coffee. You can also buy the book at a discounted price from City Lights Books. more ›

An Alaska airlines plane has been evacuated at the Oakland Airport for suspicion of an explosive device on board. It's probably nothing as it's usually nothing but it's still kind of exciting. more ›

We hope you weren't coming or going from Oakland Airport today as there was a bit of a security scare there today after somebody ran through the security checkpoints. As a result, the entire airport had to be cleared as they looked for the guy responsible. more ›

-Watch out for those government benefit programs. -York disses Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana with his Santa Clara announcement. You wouldn't want to see Ronnie Lott angry. more ›

--Love the San Jose public library -- just don't the San Jose public library. more ›

For once, a BART delay not caused by "switching problems" at Millbrae -- those of you trying to cross the Bay this morning probably heard the repeated announcements about "police activity" at the West Oakland station, and the subsequent crawling-rate of the trains as a result. (We had a weekly with us through the stop-and-go, so tomorrow's We Read The Weeklies will be unusually thorough as a result.) more ›

It sure is hard to review a San Francisco-based coffee joint when you're not in San Francisco. more ›

We're going to let you in on a little holiday travelling secret... Don't Do It. Seriously. Wait for teleportation or, say, February. But if you must go somewhere during the holiday season, the three local airports have some tips for you. more ›