Can you believe it's been fifteen years since the fire in the Oakland hills? On Sunday, October 20, 1991, a fire that had been smoldering near the Caldecott Tunnel burst out of control, jumping highway 24 (as pictured here) and burning down a swath of houses in Montclair, Rockridge, and the Berkeley hills, with fire-generated winds up to 50 mph. The fire burned right up to the famed Claremont Hotel, but the crews managed to get the fire controlled just in time to save the hotel. 25 people were killed, 150 people injured, and 3000 houses were destroyed. more ›

We find this latest spate of murder-suicides (his dentist????) too depressing to go into right now, and the Vitale murder just gets sadder and sadder -- so it's a Friday Blotter of Other Crime. Geraldo Rivera's brother Craig was arrested on a DUI in Walnut Creek. Craig Rivera was working with Mark Furhman on a story for his brother's new show, about the Pamela Vitale murder (of course). A jury sentenced Marques Lott to life in prison for the killing of a college student right outside the Rockridge BART station in 1997. The victim, Lisa Smith, was an English major at St. Mary's who was taking Chinese classes at Berkeley over the summer. Lott, who is schizophrenic, was off his medication and decided to kill someone coming home late at night. ....and care to try J. Lo's Glow? The SF Fire Department was called to Macy's yesterday afternoon after a number of patrons reported "very mild respiratory distress" from a mysterious odor. Macy's claims it wasn't coming from inside the store, but the SFFD couldn't tell either way. more ›