Four commercial fishermen were rescued today after their 35-foot commercial fishing boat, christened "Reward," capsized 50 yards off of Pier 45 today. Fortunately, as a response boat from the Coast Guard Station was performing "training evolutions" in the Bay, they noticed the boat sinking, went into action, and rescued the four fishermen. No injuries were sustains. However, the boat, carrying a possible 300 gallons of diesel fuel, is currently submerged under the Bay. Check......

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water: Initial reports indicated that a very minimal amount of the substance, now confirmed to be Toluene, was able to reach the San Pablo Bay. However, upon further investigation workers discovered that an unknown quantity of the chemical was able to seep into the surrounding marsh and wash into the Bay. The chemical that has reached the San Pablo Bay is expected......

According to Marin County officials, about "1,500 gallons of raw sewage" was dumped into the San Francisco Bay today near Point San Quentin. Grody. According to the Gate: Deartment of Corrections officials have taken action to contain the spill, and are also conducting water testing in the area, authorities said. The public should not go in the water near San Quentin until the area is deemed safe, authorities said. Warning signs will be posted......

Oh shit. After an alert system SNAFU failed to notify workers at a Marin County treatment facility about a sewage overflow on Thursday night, the San Francisco Bay is now the proud recipient of 2.7 million gallons of both "raw and treated" sewage. Lovely. Although sunbathers are few and far between this time of year, signs are posted all over Crissy Field, Baker Beach, Aquatic Park, and China Beach to keep people from swimming......

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......

The first of what will soon be many Cosco Busan reports...

Cosco Busan Update: ...

According to the Coast Guard, "a barge has hit the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge" around 6 p.m. this evening. Yikes! The barge, reportedly carrying 63,000 barrels of heavy black oil, hit the east piling of the west span. So far there are no reports of any injuries or leakage. Ah, a light day. Anyway, according to ABC 7, this isn't the first time that a barge has smacked the bridge in question. It seems that......

Wee: Yellow Cab slip 'n' slide. [WhatImSeeing] The Glas Kat returns this week! (Death Guild fans of Walnut Creek the Bay Area, rejoice!) [Eater] Kill 'em with kindness. [BeyondChron] Novelists are smarter than you. [SFGate] One Ecker's early reveal care of the storm. [Curbed] Desktop of the now. So do it. Now. [Nature abhors a vacuum] An estimated 50 gallons of oil spills into San Francisco Bay after today's crane pratfall. [Examiner] 14,000 PG&E......

The Busan is free to leave....

Never having to drive through this again? Sob. The East Bay and South Bay (more or less) are vying to be one of the destination points that will send travelers from SF to LA in 2½ hours. (Can you imagine? You're watch HSM and HSM2 on your iPhone and -- poof! -- you're kicking it in LA!) Over 700 miles of track would be devoted to getting you from SF to LA in record......

Although ABC 7's Cheryl Jennings -- who we find kicky and whimsical -- told us that a cleaning solvent spilled into the bay this morning, we're getting conflicting reports as to whether or not the spill actually hit precious, precious SF waters. See, after a blaze at an Oakland warehouse today, it was originally reported that "an unknown amount of chemical -- possibly isopropyl alcohol -- may have spilled into a drainage system that......

Although her contract ends in 2009, former SF Mayoral candidate and current San Francisco Public Utilities Commission chief Susan Leal might get the ax, according to Cecilia M. Vega over at the Chronicle. Her removal could kickoff a bloodbath of staff cuts by Newsom. And although her dismissal would need approval by committee, this seems like a done deal. According to the article: Leal received a telephone call Friday evening from Newsom's chief of......

Like the bad ass she is, occasional San Francisco resident and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has written to the "Homeland Security Department's inspector general requesting an investigation of preparation for and response to last month's oil spill in San Francisco Bay," according to CBS 5. In a wordy missive to Inspector General Skinner, she fired off over a dozen issues she wants taken care of right-quick. A couple of points she needs to......

Earlier this month we mentioned that The Decemberists' five-night engagement at the Fillmore was canceled. It was going to be the highlight of our week, but we guess tofurkey will just have to do. This week, our picks are Travis who are playing with Maximo Park at the Fillmore tomorrow night. Friday night at the Fillmore, The Drones (listen to "Shark Fin Blues" here) are opening for Band of Horses, an indie-rock band based......

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did......

Photo of a San Francisco leopard shark...

Photo and discussion of new reusable plastic shopping bags offered for sale at local stores...

We've been talking so much about the Chronicle and the SF Weekly lately that perhaps one of our best-known local pubs is feeling a bit ignored. Editor & Publisher Magazine has published a feature spotlighting "10 That Do It Right." E&P selects a new list every summer from the nation's daily and weekly newspapers. E&P says it's not a "Top 10" list, but rather "a hat tip to a variety of publications which have, through excellence or innovation, shown the way in one area or another, such as news coverage, circulation, design, diversity or online."...

SFist Nick forwarded along an unintentionally-hilarious article by professional provocateur Christopher Hitchens from earlier this week in Slate. In this article, Hitchens mostly complains about Conrad Black, the Canadian press tycoon recently convicted of corporate fraud, but check out this kicker at the end! Postscript: I am writing this from the San Francisco Bay Area, where all summer a local politician named Ed Jew has been in trouble over his filing of an allegedly bogus......

We’re standing on a giant slab of landfill in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Every residence in sight is a boxy triplex, and most of the cars appear to be about 15 years past their prime. Come to think of it, the block itself appears to be about 15 years past its prime. If it weren’t for the bay breezes and gulls aplenty, we could be cajoled into thinking we’re poking around the crusty outskirts of Stockton. But no, we’re much closer to home than that. We’re visiting San Francisco’s most marginalized subculture: Treasure Island....

Who knew that one of the five islands in San Francisco Bay was privately owned? Even stranger, "Red Rock Island" is now up for sale, for a paltry $10 million. The last time we remember one of our islands changing hands was way back in 1847, when Captain John C Fremont bought Alcatraz for $5000. Fremont was in town, as you no doubt remember, as the head of a surveying expedition. A man of......

--Here's today's mini-blotter: a family murder-suicide in Tilden Park; Man hit by a BART train at Balboa Park in the late morning today; a guy drove off the side of Mount Tam [Inside Bay Area, the EBX 92510, the Chron; CBS 5; Marin IJ]. --They're laying people off at the Merc News too? [SFBG Politics Blog]. --A blogger gets sued for defamation in small claims court by a journalist who didn't like, among other things,......

Well, isn't it interesting that this is happnening right after the Board of Supes votes to leave PG&E and pursue Community Choice Energy? Today, Gavin (Representing the City and County of San Francisco), PG&E, and Golden Gate Energy Company agreed to study harnessing the San Francisco Bay's tides for a greener kind of power. We're talking power that has zero-emmissions and is renewable. The study is slated to last a year and will examine envionmental impact, economic feasibility, and other issues regarding the practicality of harnessing energy from natural, highly predictable tide power....

Did anything happen at all in the San Francisco Bay Area today? All we've been doing is monitoring the Paris Hilton back to jail news! MOOOOOOM!!!!! --Beer and wine are okay for the North Beach Festival next week, but no hard alcohol. --More folks are getting laid off from the Chronicle. The Chron has launched a Portraits In Grief-like feature. --The Special Olympics are in Berkeley this weekend. --An old theater on Market Street (the......

There's been much ado about the rather large sea dwellers that have recently visited our general area. On KQED's blog, we saw that Amy Miller, a coordinating producer for QUEST, posted about a recent show about the smaller sea-dwelling visitors to our area....

Bright and early Wednesday morning, and searchers say it looks like the two hapless whales are nowhere to be seen. Did they swim out to the Pacific in the middle of the night? Or are they just wandering around lost somewhere else in San Francisco Bay? Don't put it past them! Update: As of 11 a.m., volunteers have started taking down the whale command center units, as more and more people become convinced that......

Aw, mean! Someone hacked into the telephone hotline that the whale rescuers set up for you to leave messages on how to help directionally-challenged Delta and Dawn get back to the Pacific Ocean, with a very mean prank. They left a fake voicemail message that the whales had been killed!!! THAT IS SO MEAN!!!! NO, the whales have NOT been killed. They're doing fine! They just got out from under the Richmond bridge and are......

And now once again, here's SFist_Richard; this time with a tale of whales and woe. Well, whales, at least. Could it be that our lost little whale pair have finally had their sonar set to rights? And wouldn't that be nice. Makes us hark back to 1914 when the brutal "golden era" of whaling finally ended and it was the whaling ships that were leaving instead of the whales. Incidentally, the very last whaling......

Every now and then, when the sand moves, you can see the remnants of shipwrecks on the shore of Ocean Beach -- and yesterday, folks enjoying the warm weather at low tide caught a glimpse of the remains of the King Philip clipper ship. A pirate ship? A tragic capsizing? What's the word? Well, the King Philip sailed in the mid 1800s, and primarily carried guano or lumber. On its final voyage, it (she? Is......