37-year-old Jennifer Lynn Dickerson, who was convicted for robbery in November, tried jumping bail by running away during a court recess. She was awaiting sentencing for robbing a San Carlos home two years earlier -- she stole a laptop and a Lexus -- but she wasn't going to sit still for that! more ›

Five new lawsuits were brought against PG&E in San Mateo County Superior Court yesterday, with five families affected by the September 9 inferno suing the utility for unspecified damages as well as the removal of the gas pipeline from the neighborhood. These are not the first suits to reach court, with the first class action suit arriving swiftly on September 17, and another earlier this month, demanding that PG&E turn over control of its $100 million victims' fund to an independent body. more ›

Yes, yes, this very likely isn't the same carsonist who kept us on our toes for much of last year (or this recent string of 12 arsons in Berkeley), but just on the off chance... Six cars were torched last night in the long-term parking lot at SFO, with a seventh damaged from the heat of the multiple blazes. more ›

We're a little late to this story, in part because we spent all day yesterday trying to separate out the hilarious comments from the offensive ones on SFGate.com (it looks like the homophobic ones have already been taken out as of today) -- but in a nutshell, last Friday, Lance Farber, the 47-year-old boyfriend of the city's new planning director John Rahaim trashed their temporary apartment, which the city put them up in and which is located in the ceremonial fire chief's house in downtown SF. more ›

State Senator Leland Yee introduced a bill in the State Legislature this morning that, if passed, would see traffic fines double for violations occurring along the deadly strip of San Francisco road known as 19th Avenue. (Shudder.) more ›

Making her move at juuust the right time, Jackie Speier is a shoo-in to fill Tom Lantos' seat by April 8 if she gathers a majority of votes in a special, pre-primary election. But first, according to the Merc: more ›

Congressman Tom Lantos died this morning from esophageal cancer at the age of 80. He represented most of the Sunset, as well as a big chunk of San Mateo County. He was the only survivor of the Holocaust to be elected to Congress, and worked for years on human rights issues. That said, he ticked off quite a few people locally by supporting the Iraq war, although he had recently been pretty critical of the way things were going Over There. Before he died, he endorsed State Sen. Jackie Speier as his successor - no word yet on whether the Governator will decide to hold a special election (that would be our fourth of the year if he does) to replace him. more ›

Photos from this year's Maverick's surf contest. more ›

Denied. more ›

News from the non-Nancy Pelosi side of the San Francisco House of Representatives delegation -- Tom Lantos, the fourteen-term representative for the Sunset, along with northern San Mateo County, has announced that he will not be seeking reelection, because he's been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Jackie "Jonestown survivor" Speier is considered the early favorite to fill Lantos's seat, and reliable object of fun Leland Yee is reported to be considering a run as well. more ›

Other than hawking some of the cheapest yet most breakable electronics around, we simply refuse to believe that Walgreen's can do wrong. Just walking thought their aisles of colorful and affordable products makes us giddy. Well, at least we thought that they were affordable. more ›

The Mavericks surf contest waiting period will start soon more ›

Oil Spill Volunteer Training 2nite. more ›

Photo from last year's Halloween in the Castro more ›

Fundraiser, five-head sufferer, and possible one-time kidnapping victim Norman Hsu skipped his San Mateo County Superior Court appearance this morning and is now the lam! He is wanted for a 15-year-old felony warrant for grand theft. Some fear that since he was supposed to return his passport this morning, but failed to do so, he might be en route to Antarctica, or somewhere, by now. more ›

There aren't a lot of reviews out there for Lol Tun Restaurant, on Folsom betw. 19th & 20th streets. The folks participating on Yelp generally say the food is good and cheap, but the restaurant is loud and slow. The police, on the other hand, aren't so concerned with the restaurant's food, but the 3.8 pounds of heroin, 5 oz. of ice, and 1 ounce of cocaine hydrochloride they confiscated. more ›

--Picture of a woman collecting bottles from people in the iPhone line by reader zombie. Thanks for sending them in, zombie! [ZombieTime.] more ›

This story about the Berkeley family killed in Tilden Park by the husband over business problems is so sad. Friends of the family describe the husband, Kevin Morrissey, as "brittle," "desperate," and as having a "very controlling side," though by all accounts deeply in love with his wife. The wife, Mamiko Kawai, is described as a wonderful doctor and the two girls as adorable. The CIA will neither confirm nor deny the husband's claims that he worked for them (hey, let's ask Bob Novak!). The husband bought the gun two months ago and complied with the mandatory waiting-period provisions before taking it home. more ›

What's Ed Jew doing today, now that he's been excused from jury duty? This has got to be the first time anyone's been to get San Francisco jury duty, ever. more ›

Photo of Sutro Tower in the fog more ›

A realtor called Chris Iverson was commenting on the "death of the newspaper industry" over at the 3 Oceans real estate blog. You may think "who the hell is this guy" to comment on the state of ink media. We'll tell you: He's one of the guys that pays (or perhaps used to pay, based on the entry) for ads in the classified sections of newspapers more ›

Well, some pretty good news for teachers in Ravenswood City School District: their union has managed to get them a little more scratch. more ›

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You know how they say, "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?" And you know how it's mainly true? Well, it is, for the most part, except, of course, when you're involved in a police sweep. At a brothel. And you're a cop. more ›

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. more ›

A Stanford graduate student missing for five days was found dead in the trunk of her car in Santa Rosa, in what authorities are saying looks like a suicide. She was an PhD candidate in electrical engineering with two degrees from MIT and held several patents in the field of digital imaging. Her grieving parents only learned of her death when reporters contacted them. more ›

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian. And ... whoa! Pictures of Margaret Cho's burlesque performance online (probably NSFW, but not really hardcore or anything). Make Gavin Newsom tell us what he does all day. Aaron Peskin on some kind of shenanigans with a City College building in North Beach. And -- this is weird -- so the Guardian is sort of mad at (or at least puzzled by) Chris Daly on Sophie Maxwell's housing plan, but Matt Smith over at the Weekly is begrudgingly okay with him about that Hastings protest where he got arrested. This is totally blowing our mind! Is it opposite day? Open the library on Sundays! Skipping a long and difficult-to-read two page comic-strip advertisement. Annalee Newitz on the debates over the feminist science fiction entry on Wikipedia. Cover: have a nice winter holiday. More music and club lists. The Guardian congratulates itself on opposing the war in Iraq in a full-page ad. And new A's DH Mike Piazza's horoscope: the stars see fear and illusion masquerading as truth and necessity for him. more ›

There's a developing story hitting the peninsula today and that is an outbreak of a virus that's starting to infect a bunch of people. The virus is called Norovirus (virus for virus and Noro for we have no fricking clue) and is a gastrointestinal virus and for those who have had one of those things, they plain old suck. And this one sounds particularly nasty, one of those things where for a few days, everything comes out of everywhere and we don't think we need to go any further in the description. So far, the virus has infected a bunch of people at a Belmont senior living center and is thought to have also shown up at three medical facilities in San Mateo County. Upwards of forty-five people are said to have it. more ›

Photos of Southern sea otters found in the Monterey area. more ›

Around the Bay Area, especially with mountain bikers, the name Skeggs is spoken in the hushed, reverent tones usually reserved for a place of worship, which is fitting, because Skeggs is a church of nature that provides sanctuary and solace from the ever-encroaching anxiety of the modern world.