The saga of Ross Mirkarimi and the ongoing domestic abuse trial involving his Venezuelan-born wife Eliana Lopez continues this week with Lopez hiring her own lawyer for the upcoming trial, and another hearing scheduled Wednesday to discuss overturning the stay-away order to allow Mirkarimi visitation rights with his two-year-old son, whom he has not seen since January 13. A judge refused to lift the order last week, but agreed to a new hearing this week. Lopez, meanwhile, has retained Paula Canny, one of the lawyers who represented Barry Bonds in his perjury case. more ›

Yikes. The skeletons in Ross Mirkarimi's closet are starting to pile up in the case against the sheriff accused of domestic violence. In a late breaking report from KTVU yesterday evening, the news team brings word that a third woman is expected to step forward with even more accusations of physical abuse. According to KTVU's source the latest Mirkarimi ex allegedly went out with the former city supervisor several years ago. more ›

While the comment sections of local Internet news outlets and one noted anti-progressive former mayor continue to call for Ross Mirkarimi to step down from his post, it turns out Ed Lee could oust the sheriff—at least temporarily—if he were so inclined. Mirkarimi's trial, which just added a new witness, got an official start date Monday, the accused domestic abuser will have his day in court starting on February 24th — just a hair over a month away. As the Examiner's Melissa Griffin points out, Mayor Lee has the authority to remove the sheriff for up to 35 days. more ›

Whoa. Things just got worse for Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi as SF Weekly's Erin Sherbert breaks the news that an ex-girlfriend has come forward with similar accusations to those that Ross Mirkarimi is already set to stand trial for. The unnamed woman claims that Mirkarimi "went into a rage about something, grabbed her arms, shook her, and pinned her against the wall," leaving bruises not unlike those observed by neighbor Ivory Madison on Mirkarimi's wife, Eliana Lopez, on New Year's Eve. Furthermore, it seems she stayed with then Supervisor Mirkarimi until he admitted to her that he had been seeing Lopez at the same time, and had gotten her pregnant. more ›

A female prosecutor was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of domestic violence, and we can't help but wonder to what degree this was happy revenge for Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. Assistant District Attorney Sanaz Nikaein, age 34, was arrested and released on bail Saturday after an undisclosed incident. more ›

Ross Mirkarimi, who is in court this afternoon for his arraignment on three misdemeanor charges, has pled not guilty to the three counts of domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. more ›

Embattled San Francisco sheriff Ross Mirkarimi will appear in court today to face misdemeanor charges of domestic abuse against wife Eliana Lopez. Lopez continues to deny any complaint against her husband, but District Attorney George Gascon decided to go ahead with charges based on the videotaped evidence of neighbor Ivory Madison, and information from Madison and another neighbor suggesting at least one earlier incident of violence. During the arraignment today, Mirkarimi's lawyer Robert Waggener is expected to ask for a "speedy trial," and Lopez's attorney may ask to have the protective order lifted so that Mirkarimi can have contact with his son. more ›

As Ross Mirkarimi awaits his arraignment on three misdemeanor charges of domestic violence, new details regarding a crucial piece of evidence have emerged in a late breaking Chronicle report this afternoon. The videotape obtained by police as part of the District Attorney's investigation allegedly shows Mirkarimi's wife, Eliana Lopez pointing to bruises and explaining that such violence had occurred "two times in 2011, and [the New Year's Eve incident] is the second time this is happening." more ›

The San Francisco Domestic Violence Consortium called a press conference on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, calling for Sheriff Mirkarimi to "step aside" while the investigation in to his possible domestic violence is going on. Adding to the drama surrounding the whole ordeal, several reporters and photographers who were on the scene this afternoon claim to have spotted Mirkarimi's wife Eliana Lopez in the crowd at the event, which was announced as a press conference earlier today. more ›

In a passionate editorial in the Examiner, local journalist and one half of local web series Necessary Conversation Melissa Griffin writes that newly sworn in Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi handled the recent domestic-abuse allegations against him about as poorly as he possibly could have. Rather than coming out firmly against domestic violence and agreeing to cooperate fully with the investigation, he's tried to write it all off as the work of his political enemies, and called it just a 'private matter, a family matter." more ›

Ross Mirkarimi was quietly sworn in Saturday night as San Francisco Sheriff in a private ceremony just a day after news broke of an investigation into a New Year's Eve domestic violence incident involving Mirkarimi and his wife. The judge asked to administer the oath of office to Mirkarimi refused to do so, however, citing the possibility of a conflict down the line should Mirkarimi's abuse case come before her court. more ›

Sheriff-elect Ross Mirkarimi, who's being sworn in to his new post Sunday, is currently under investigation by the SFPD after an incident of alleged domestic abuse involving his wife over New Year's weekend. Mirkarimi's wife, former Venezuelan telenovela star Eliana Lopez, reportedly hid out in a neighbor's apartment after a physical fight with Mirkarimi, and the neighbor subsequently called police, according to Matier and Ross. Police have now interviewed the neighbor, but Mirkarimi and Lopez are maintaining that this has all been blown out of proportion. Lopez made an official statement last night saying, "I have absolutely no complaint against my husband. My husband has never been abusive to me. Ross and I are committed to our marriage, our son and our family." more ›

In another tense decision, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi currently leads the race for the Sheriff's seat with just a hair over 38% of the votes. As with the the mayor's race, no clear majority here means this decision will go back to the Department of Elections to tally up the second and third-choice votes. more ›

You've heard about this thing called "realignment," right? Because the Supreme Court ruled that California's prisons were too ridiculously overcrowded, prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes are getting "realigned" and sent back to city and county jails, and in essence getting paroled in a hurry. San Francisco's about to get a few busloads totaling 700 cons as of October 1, and at this week's Board of Supervisors meeting they introduced a piece of legislation that addresses just what the city and county are going to to do about this. more ›

We thought it a little odd that the day after the tragic accident at Octavia and Oak that took the life of a UCSF professor Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi made sure to praise Octavia Street as "a fabulous Boulevard." Mirkarimi may have been trying to head off the inevitable criticism that would follow such an accident, given the Board's two-decade-old push to ban freeway construction north of Market Street, which led to the Boulevard plan for Octavia and the creation of what is, arguably, a very high-speed zone of city streets with cars exiting the freeway and rapidly making their way to the western ends of town. more ›

The single fatality in yesterday's early morning collision at Octavia and Oak has been identified as 52-year-old UCSF professor Dr. Kevin Mack, a psychiatrist, who was on his way to work. Mack was ejected from the UCSF shuttle bus that was involved in the crash and landed underneath the big-rig vehicle transport. He was pronounced dead at the scene. more ›

OK, so, to be clear, we're all for having criminals do their time, regret their crimes, and we believe that many of them can be rehabilitated and return to society as respectable citizens who deserve a chance to prove themselves. That being said, California is about to face a major opening of the floodgates of paroled prisoners, per the Supreme Court, and everyone is understandably nervous that a few bad apples are likely to end up in the bushels that appear on our doorstep in the coming months. Enter Supervisor and sheriff candidate Ross Mirkarimi, darling of the Progressives, who along with a committee of law enforcement folks and legal advocates would like San Francisco to roll out a more welcoming welcome mat than the rest of the state, by protecting ex-cons from discrimination when they try to seek jobs and housing here. more ›

If you were to judge the race for San Francisco's next sheriff based purely on the gushing sounds coming from the Chronicle and the Bay Guardian after current Sheriff Mike Hennessey made his official endorsement yesterday, you'd think D5 supe Ross Mirkarimi already won. On the steps of City Hall yesterday, Hennessey made his announcement alongside a gaggle of other high-profile Mirkarimi supporters like Former Mayor Art Agnos and buddy-supes Eric Mar and David Campos. As the longest serving elected official in the history of San Francisco (31 years over eight elections), Hennessey's endorsement obviously carries a lot of weight, and the sheriff said he's putting it behind Mirkarimi because the supervisor hasn't shied away from prickly criminal justice issues. more ›

You know that not-so crazy plastic bag ban spearheaded by San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi? Well, openly Republican (heh) Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger now also supports the eco-intelligent ban. So, you know, kudos to you, Mirkarimi. more ›

While plastic bags in San Francisco aren't really banned -- look no further than Chinatown or any independently-owned liquor store to find a bag of crinkly delight -- San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said "he wants the city bag ban to expand throughout the Bay Area and beyond and that the plastic industry has stalled legislation." (An aside: we fully support the chutzpah of any and all SF supes who want to wield their power outside their districts... and their city.) Mirkarimi goes one step further, saying he wants to introduce an ordinance "to strengthen the city's ban to require that grocers pay a refund to customers who bring in their own canvas bags and to eventually include a ban on paper bags as well." This comes on the heels of Save the Bay revealing the top-ten plastic bag hot spots in the Bay Area. more ›

Thanks to loyal SFist contributing photog Steve Rhodes, we have these pictures of the sizable protest that went down in Union Square last night, in which activists, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and local Iranian-Americans gathered to voice their support for the post-election protests in Tehran and to ask President Obama to support reform leader Mir Hussein Moussavi. more ›

The ordinance that Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi introduced to temporarily ban new head shops on Haight Street passed committee on Monday, which means that no more stoner shacks can open on the street famous for its psychedelic roots. While the ban won't hurt current head shops or pot dispensaries, the ban "would prohibit the opening of any new businesses that sell tobacco and marijuana smoking paraphernalia for a period of three years," according to reports. (And with 14 of them open for business right now, Haight Street has a pornographically large amount of them already.) In addition to bongs, rolling paper, and pot leaf decals, head shops also sell convenient cocaine bullets and glass pipes in which you can puff crystal meth or/and crack. On June 23, the plan will be heard before the entire board. And if it passes, you will only have 14 options left where you can perfect your stoniness. more ›

Not learning the lesson Chicago had to after it attempted to / failed at banning (delicious) foie gras, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi told SFGate about a new legislative idea dimly blinking in his noggin. Ahem: more ›

San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi spoke to Matier & Ross about the new Bay to Breakers rules, telling them that "there is no reason to go this far ... Nudity and floats are part of the spirit of the race." (Does this mean we will get to see Mirkarimi unleashing his stuff come May? One can only hope so.) Mirkarimi district includes much of the B2B route. And while he's pro-nudity, Mirkarimi tells M&R that the booze ban is "probably here to stay." An anti-Bay 2 Breakers rally is scheduled to shake up the squares at City Hall on Thursday at noon 11:30 a.m. more ›

(By Travis Jensen) more ›

Honestly, we don't know if we really want to live in a San Francisco without pink plastic bags. While they still live on, today they moved closer to obsolescence. Today plastic bags were outlawed in chain drug stores and pharmacies. Nice. (Although we buy some embarrassing items at Walgreens now and then, so it's a bittersweet victory.) more ›