You get a very special blotter today. Alas. Carrying on San Francisco's lightning-hot crime wave, a drive-by shooting occurred on the Hayes Valley/Lower Haight nexus last night. At around 6:40 p.m. at Oak and Fillmore, "[a]s many as eight bullets rang out in rapid succession during," three of them hitting a Department of Public Works truck. Yikes. The vehicle is described as a "light-colored SUV" in hot pursuit of another car. Charming. Oh, and......

In a Spearsian like maneuver, looking to trump both the recent storm and the Dhaliwal brothers, oil spill made a comeback this morning. It seems that a crane fell off of a san Francisco pier a little before 10 a.m. this morning, spilling "an unknown amount" of oil into the Bay. According to the Gate, "[t]he crane was on a sliding rail system at a dry dock at Pier 70 when it suddenly tilted......

While not on par with Christmas Day tsunamis, this storm is pretty nifty, huh? Golden Gate transit buses have stopped, power has been knocked out to hundreds -- yes, hundreds! - of thousands of people, and surely snow is falling really hard atop a mountain somewhere. But what must actually suck is this morning's nightmare traffic caused by the raindrops falling on our heads. Ahem: Marin/Contra Costa County: E-580, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge closed due......

Gavin wants your fat. According to Renewable Energy Access, yesterday our dear Mayor implemented a new program that will collect fats, oil, and grease from the city restaurants free of charge.Why? So that they can be to turn into biofuel to power city-owned vehicles. The program is called SFGreasecycle. Ew. But: awesome. Said fat and oil, when poured down the drain, "solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes and sewer pipes, constricting water flow the......

Yesterday, Mayor Newsom signed into action the Tommy Ammiano-introduced legislation that requires the city to handout ID cards to undocumented immigrants and other residents who either can't or just won't apply for driver's licenses. The good news is that these IDs will help (formerly) undocumented residents gain access to the wonderful world of banking, a sense of peace before calling the fuzz, as well as "health services at city-run clinics, public library privileges, and resident discounts at museums and other cultural institutions." (Entry fee discounts at the Exploratorium: the American dream realized.) ...

Oh, Ed. Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed, Ed. This does not seem speedy like you promised. Then again, you promised a lot of things. Sigh. After yesterday's whopping indictment by a federal grand jury, "[s]uspended San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in the city today to expanded federal charges of mail fraud, bribery and extortion," according to the Examiner. Outside the Federal Building courthouse this morning, Jew's attorney said,......

Today, a little before noon, a suicide attempt occurred at Hastings Law School. We received the information via our Contribute section (which, by all means, do) and from Introducing Ashley. (Aw) She reports that a "female student had attempted to jump from the 21st floor. Luckily, her friends and local police were able to talk her back inside."...

San Francisco clothing retailer bebe has decided to drop real fuzzy-wuzzy fur from all of their designs come January, according to bebe CEO Gregory Scott. The company -- which made a name for itself with their beautiful yet momma's-little-whore designs -- only has about 3% fur-use ion their clothes now. Come next year, they will be proudly fur free. ...

What did we see parked in Union Square but a Cushamn-type three-wheel motorcycle parked amongst the scooters. It appears that somebody is using an auctioned-off parking patrol vehicle as personal transportation. Groovy customizations include a purple Muppet pelt seat cover and, of course, everybody's favorite undocumented botanist, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, who seems to have an injury even a glowing finger couldn't fix. Is this legal? Perhaps this is the start of an "auto rickshaw"......

New orchid display at the Conservatory of Flowers...

We suppose that sometimes you've got to laugh, otherwise you'll cry, when it comes to "Laughs for Life," an evening of comedy benefiting San Francsico Suicide Prevention. The SFSP hotline has run 24/7 for the last 44 years, but it don't run itself: we have a dedicated throng of volunteers, fundraisers, donors, and stand-up comedians to thank. The laughs start on April 19, 6:30pm, at Bimbo's 365, and include a light dinner, a DJ,......

We're thrilled to the gills that the dailies are learning about this cool new sex podcasting thing all the kids are doing with their computers. While we loved the SF Bay Guardian's podcasting piece last year, we felt kinda like the Chron needed a pat on the head and a cookie when they ran yet another lame duck piece on sex podcasting last weekend telling us for the second time that our friend Susie......