Gee, this is harrowing. Two fools who crashed into each other over the weekend were allegedly both drunk while riding their preferred modes. "Jose Luna, 40, of Redwood City was turning from northbound El Camino Real onto Berkshire Avenue in his Ford F-150 pickup truck when he struck bicyclist Alejandro Chavez, 31, of Redwood City at about 11 p.m. Saturday," reports SFGate. "Chavez, who had been riding against traffic while pedaling in a northbound lane, suffered a broken back and leg." Both were reportedly smashed, if you will, at the time of impact. Oy. [SFGate] more ›

Security has been "amplified" at the Redwood City Caltrain station after a man was brutal beaten by a group of people on Friday night. "Between nine and 15 suspects attacked a 47-year-old San Jose man in an attempt to rob him at about 7:30 p.m.," reports KTVU. "The man, who was waiting for a southbound train, was beaten and left on the ground after the attack. No weapons were seen during the scuffle." Anyone with information is asked to call San Mateo Country Transit Police at 650-363-4943.or Detective Victor Lopez at 650-622-8048. [KTVU] more ›

An allegedly frightened student at Selby Lane School in Atherton called 911 from the girls' bathroom after a teacher freaked out on his students and dropped/threw a desk. The 13-year-old girl, Maria Prado, claims her teacher, John Haynes, got mad and started swearing at students and "throwing furniture around." Police responded to the classroom, and after "investigating" they found that Haynes had only "dropped" a desk from a few inches above the ground, in order to get students' attention (we're picturing them tittering and texting), and the desk fell on its side. more ›

A little before noon today, a small plane crashed into a lagoon in Redwood Shores. At least one person, an unidentified woman, died. According to BCN (via CBS 5), "The plane had taken off from the nearby San Carlos Airport and was headed to San Martin, [Battalion Chief Dave Pucci] said. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the plane, a twin-engine Beech 65 Queen Air, crashed into the water about 30 seconds after taking off." more ›

Already basking in the glory of having a Chili's, two Targets, and a Krispy-Kreme, the Peninsula can go straight to hell after signing a deal to get another In-N-Out in their neck of the woods. Bah. The family-owned chain will drop a spore at 949 Veterans Boulevard in Redwood City, providing the South of San Francisco set with affordable, tasty food that's as California as surfing, "like," and oversized purses. San Francisco, as many of you know, has only one In-N-Out, located in the impenetrable Fisherman's Wharf area. [Biz Times, via Grub Street] more ›

A woman riding her bike this morning was stuck and killed by a dump truck in Redwood City. According to KTVU, the accident, reported at "7:51 a.m. at the intersection of Shoreway Road and Holly Street," was of the hit-and-run variety. Redwood City police Sgt. Kathy Anderson said "it appears that the driver may not even be aware that he struck anyone." Also, the cyclist died at the scene. more ›

And speaking of South Bay molesters, the Redwood City trial of psychiatrist William Ayres -- a prominent child psychiatrist who stands accused of molesting several of his male patients, not to be confused with Bill Ayres -- is winding down, and conviction seems pretty damn likely. While defense attorneys argued that no one can clearly remember things that happened to them when they were ten years old, prosecutors kept it simple. As ABC 7 reports, "[The prosecutor] began her closing arguments by asking the jurors why, if Ayres' physical exams were medically appropriate as he claims, he did not discuss them with the boys' parents, why he only examined boys and not girls, and why he didn't use gloves during the exams." Also, uh, why was a psychiatrist performing these "medically appropriate" genital exams at all? Yeah, that pretty much clinches it. For more details on Ayres hand-grabby therapeutic methods, see this Mercury News piece here. more ›

By cutting a hole in a fence at the Hillcrest Juvenile Hall in San Mateo, an 17-year-old murder suspect and alleged gang member escaped to sweet freedom this last night. Awaiting trial this May, he is accused of a murder three years ago in Redwood City. more ›

Due to a gasoline tanker truck accident -- which resulted in an eco-unfriendly dousing of over "26 gallons" (?) of gasoline, or so said CBS 5's Judge Judy breaking-news interruption -- all northbound and southbound lanes on Highway 101 in Redwood City are closed. That? Blows. more ›

You know we usually try to hoard up all the crime-type news for the Tuesday and Friday blotters, but there was enough vaguely unsettling news this weekend to warrant a post a little early, we thought. To wit: more ›

-- Norman Nsu to return to Redwood City. [ABC7] more ›

Wow, almost everything we've posted today on SFist (except for SFist Tonight) is transportation-themed. Well, we're sorry to have to continue the trend with this news item: there's been a bad accident on 101 near Redwood City, involving a big rig that hit the center divide and burst into flames. What's going on with all these trucks combusting around here these days? more ›

Belmont (the Utica to our Manhattan, if we may make such a daring analogy) is an on-the-go suburb, in love with its cars and asphalt, and with no time for such frivolities as . Mayor Coralin Feierbach is one of the only Bay Area mayors to refuse to sign the Sierra Club's Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement, objecting to the pledge to "reduce sprawl, preserve open space, and create compact, walkable urban communities." Those crazy Al Gore environmentalists want us to WALK? What next! more ›

Here's some good news- everyone involved in yesterday's bus stop/SUV accident is okay. All in all, thirteen kids were hospitalized for injury, as well as the driver, but most of the injuries were minor. Some of them were just hospitalized for anxiety and if we were involved, we'd be pretty frackin’ anxiety riddled ourselves. more ›

A woman was arraigned in San Mateo county for throwing produce (apples and asparagus) at a gay couple walking down the street in Pacifica, while yelling slurs from a van driving past them. The police investigating the incident later found the woman, with a piece of asparagus in her purse. more ›

Here's a wrapup of today's news more ›

Here's a roundup of today's news more ›

Can you help identify the man in a coma at SF General? The man, who appears to be in his 20s, was dropped off about a week ago, by someone who said he was a pastor or minister but who left the hospital before they could get any more information. 5'10, 190 pounds, short brown hair and brown eyes, and he has several tattoos (one of which pictured at left, because we couldn't bear to use the picture of the man's face -- you can see that picture here.) If you have any information, call the hospital at (415) 206-8311. more ›

A recent wave of immigration sweeps (or, as Indy Bay calls it "Gestapo Immigration Raiders") is creating a bit of a fuss not only in San Francisco but throughout the Peninsula and East Bay. There's talk of protests, organizing, sending out nasty press releases, and even the creation of new laws. In Redwood City, there's talk of creating an "Immigration Sanctuary" in San Mateo County and in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors will debate a resolution tomorrow condemning the sweeps. That'll show them. Hell, even Gavin's jumped into the fray with his very own press release tut-tutting the raids. All of this has brought the Minutemen into the action as they held a rally in Castro Valley to call for closing the border. It wasn't until a few days ago when we realized the Minutemen were named after our Revolutionary soldiers and not their sexual dysfunctions, although one could probably explain the other. more ›

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro. Gary Singh infiltrates a ladies' drinking circle, while Chuck Reed goes drinking with the Merc News. Do note, Gavin Newsom, that Reed only drank two bottled waters the entire night. Cover article: Making Redwood City fun again (land use edition). Italian food in Los Gatos. Lemon trees in winter. Women chanters. A review of the Justin Timberlake show. And the Straight Dope: are the magnetic poles going to flip? more ›

Ahhh crap, 49er WR Antonio Bryant got nailed for DUI on Sunday night after the big win over the Seahawks. Bryant had two catches for 21 yards in the game. And later, 'round midnight, Mr. Reformed Hothead was clocked above 100 mph in a 2005 Lamborghini between Redwood City and San Mateo. Moron. more ›

In a horrific incident, an 3-year-old bouncing on a set of mattresses eight stories up fell to her death through a screen shielding an open window in the room. The 20-year-old babysitter, who was in charge of watching six or seven kids (including two of her own), had fallen asleep in another room. The babysitter was attacked by angry bystanders, and had to be rescued by authorities. The authorities have ruled the incident an accident, though an investigation is continuing. more ›

Firefighters in Redwood City had to call the humane society at the scene of a fire on Sunday, to rescue three snakes in a cage. One snake was saved but two died. Merriment (in a respectful way to the dead reptiles) ensues on the Chron's NWZCHIK blog. more ›

-The world's creepiest man, John Mark Karr, was brought in for questioning by the SFPD because on his way to a press conference announcing the dismissal of child pornography charges, he stopped his limo to go stare into the windows of an elementary school. more ›

Isn't everyone glad the Bay Bridge is reopened? Well, maybe not BART -- they're reporting a 13% increase in ridership over Labor Day weekend, including 10,200 riders who used the overnight service. Despite that promising-sounding 10,200, BART continues to say that it makes no financial sense to run BART 24 hours all the time; they say that it costs $300,000 to run the trains overnight, and they only made $30,000 on overnight fares this weekend. (They're making up the $270,000 from Caltrans.) Hey BART, we have a thought -- maybe if you had 24 hour service all the time, more people would use it and it wouldn't just be this weird one-off thing for one solitary weekend? more ›

We know you're totally dying to find out what happened with some of the stories we told you about from San Mateo County a week or so ago. Dying! more ›

What a week! more ›

The Redwood City Twirlers kids baton troupe (ages 9-14) has been told they will not be permitted to march in the city's annual July 4 parade because the kids walk too slow. more ›

Six orphaned ducklings are in foster care at the Walnut Creek Lindsay Wildlife Museum, after an errant left-turner failed to make way for their mother as she was crossing North Main and Parkside. It's very sad, yes, but this article is also kind of hilarious (and it spells "quack" without the c, which we think is kind of controversial). Also, we learned that If you're trying to attract ducks to your backyard pool, you should take out those inflatable swans and motorized boats, which scare them away. From small water creatures to large -- remember our buddy the angry sea lion in Berkeley? He's back! ....and a man in Redwood City had an odd stoplight experience -- just as he pulled up to the intersection of Whipple and Elwood, a 40 foot tree fell on his convertible. "The car was so full of branches we couldn't see him," said the Redwood City battalion fire chief. Making matters weirder, when the fire department got there, they found a nest of baby raccoons at the bottom of the tree. They extracted convertible man, and had the Peninsula Humane Society deal with the babies. The man wasn't injured. Picture of ducklings from ABC 7 more ›

Police are reporting that the man who caused the horrific Castro car fires last week may have suffered a seizure while driving down the Castro Street hill. He was still driving, even though he'd had a seizure three months earlier. That's really not good. Police haven't named him, but ID him as a 50-year old wine merchant from Paso Robles. more ›