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. Be on the lookout for a nubile teen with clashing attire. It seems he was "last seen wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants." How tacky. We'll update......

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. It seems that a 26,000 gallon gasoline tanker big rig overturned just north of Maple Street near Woodside. According to ABC 7, a "Coast Guard crew is heading......

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: --Fernando Gonzalez, an 18-year-old Redwood City man, died after he fell into a vat of sulfuric acid. Gonzalez was working the early-morning shift at Coastal Circuits Factory this weekend, without a protective face mask, when he appeared......

-- Norman Nsu to return to Redwood City. [ABC7] -- Beth Spotswood writes in real-time about this year's Macy's Passport, with SFist aluma Eve Batey as the Virgil to her Dante. [Chron] -- Ed Jew trail delayed. [Examiner] -- Press conference of San Diego's mayor reversing his decision on same-sex marriage after his daughter comes out. Really, it's amazing footage. [CBS5] -- The U.S. (well, the South) keeping us safe from teens' exposed underwear.......

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? One report said that the cab of the big rig exploded with the......

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 parks and people and conserving water. 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,......

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. ...

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. A woman was caught trying to steal 52 packs of Kool-aid from a Fremont Food Maxx last weekend. So the woman loaded up a cart......

Here's a wrapup of today's news...

Here's a roundup of today's news...

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......

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. ...

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......

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....

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,......

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. Okay, here's the depressing news. The dead body of a San Francisco woman was found in a trash can in Oakland, there's a rapist doctor from Dublin on......

-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....

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.......

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! Who won that habanero burger contest? Electronic Arts, with 60 extra spicy pepper burgers consumed. Hot cha! What happened to those little majorette girls who were told they twirled too slowly to be in the Redwood City parade? They didn't perform. We're sure that extra three......

What a week! Monday we contemplated issues of mortality, as we mourned the passing of James Leo Dunn, celebrated the revival of the North Beach Jazz Festival, and resolved not to die in San Mateo. Tuesday was all about competition, what with the election, the World Cup, and of course the competition between Satan and the Lord for our souls. Wednesday we classed up the joint with a cool new way to comment, visits to......

You know what they need in Redwood City? A heart. 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. Officials decided they wouldn't invite the Redwood City Twirlers back because last year they created a three-minute gap, and people have noticed that they've slowed down the parade for the last five years.......

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...

Hey, where's Nedra Ruiz these days? 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. Angry young Yusef Bey IV of Your Black Muslim......

SFist on immigration protests in Atherton...

Caltrain service is delayed in both directions this morning after a suicidal man jumped in front of a northbound train at Mountain View around 7:15 a.m. today. As of around 9:30, Caltrain announced that it's got one track of service going around the scene; call 1-800-660-4287 for more information. What's the number (408) 850-6125 up there in the title of this post? That's the number for Contact Cares, the Silicon Valley suicide prevention hotline. Please, if you're feeling depressed, call the number and talk to someone about it. Not just because your life is important and valuable (which it is), but also because (selfishly) no one likes having their commute disrupted either. Do we really need to discuss whether Caltrain has to move to the Japanese model of charging bereaved families for suicide-related costs? Picture from CBS 5....

Commuters cannot get a break -- it's enough to make you answer those ads you see tacked up on telephone poles, "earn money while working at home." Today's traffic woes included a fatal six-car collision on S101 at 5:40 a.m. that tied up three lanes of traffic by Redwood City for 2-3 hours, the return of the dreaded computer problems on BART at about the same time (30 minute delays). There's also been a landslide on 84 by Fremont and Pleasanton. And yesterday, there was a five-car pileup on northbound 280 by Geneva Avenue. How was your commute today? ...

What is it with Bay Area kickers? Last year, a former Raider kicker shot out the windows at Siegfried and Roy's house, and now, ex-Niners kicker Ray Wersching has been indicted for federal insurance fraud. Wersching is alleged to have embezzled $8 million in premiums from 1997-2000. He claims that his business partner stole the money, not him. A nanny in Redwood City has pled not guilty to shaking the 2-year-old she was hired to watch. The baby was rushed to the hospital with multiple skull fractures and symptoms of shaken-baby syndrome. The nanny first claimed that the baby had rolled off a couch, but later confessed when they figured out that none of the injuries were consistent with the story. The baby's prognosis is uncertain at this time, but doctors are saying he might be blind and have problems developing motor skills. And the City of Berkeley is banning EXIT signs. Isn't that a Sartre play? The gas they use to light up the signs have low levels of radiation -- and you know how Berkeley's a nuclear-free zone. ...

Lots of accident-related news today. First off -- crank up "Livin' On A Prayer" because like Bon Jovi says, it's slippery when wet. A sudden downpour in Santa Clara led to 13 -- yes, that's 13, not a typo -- separate accidents in under an hour on three separate highways -- 280, 680, and 87. No one was seriously injured, but a few drivers were taken to the hospital, and traffic was a nightmare. CHP......

Submissions go to yvesdroppings - at - gmail - dot - com. Rough-looking woman to rough-looking guy, both of indeterminate age: "I'm not an exhibitionist, I'm an inhibitionist." -- On the 71 Haight bus/Submitted by Asatrex Mid-forties yuppie lady: “Well, he’s 70, but I’m telling you, he could PASS for 50.” -- Submitted by Genevra Old dude in wheelchair wearing purple velvet crown: “I’m telling you, man, love is the answer. My old lady’s kid?......

We really do feel pretty bad for the poor Berkeley high schooler who tried to throw a little house party while her parents were away and ended up with around 100 people at her place and a guy from another school stabbed to death over a skateboard. Her mistake? Putting up a post about the party on MySpace. (We heard that last bit on KRON 4 news but can't find it confirmed in print anywhere.) The Examiner starts running an online Police Blotter for the South Bay. So good. Items include: a man who called the cops to "arbitrate" a dispute at the South City Papa Joe's because he forgot his wallet and couldn't pay for his meal; a Redwood City woman cutting her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend with a car key, and the robbery of two bottles of Red Bull from a convenience store on Willow Road (the obligatory joke about it giving you wings was made as well.) And a car chase went bad last night, as a person fleeing the cops in a stolen VW Beetle lost control and spun into a Honda as he ran through a red light at Fifth and Brannan. The Honda plowed into the Golden Gate Tennis Club, and the Beetle ran into a fire hydrant, sending water pouring into the air. The cops caught the Beetle driver trying to hide in the tennis club. ...