At 9:35 a.m. this morning, a small 3.3 earthquake hit the Bay Area, just northwest of San Pablo, reports UCGS. The jolt, according to KRON 4, was felt in Berkeley, Oakland, and up in Marin. more ›

More vehicles were set ablaze in the recent string of car fire hitting the Bay Area. BCN reports, "The fires were reported at around 2:15 a.m. in the 2100 block of Vale Road near San Pablo Avenue, where two vehicles appear to have been set ablaze at the same location." No injuries were reported; no arrests. Over 20 cars have been torched in the last month. more ›

The carsonist -- or a copycat carsonist, or a copycat copycatting the copycat carsonist -- stuck three times in the Easy Bay last night. Three evening car fires hit San Pablo, and authorities are seeing if they're related to the recent string of auto immolation in El Sobrante. more ›

Two separate shootings in the city of Richmond took the lives of three men on Thursday night. more ›

Meet the Board of Pilot Commissioners For the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun more ›

S.F. files against the Cosco Busan more ›

Why, we've been so preoccupied with murder right down the street from SFist, we forgot that the rest of the Bay Area is also littered with shootings and bloody tomfoolery. Forgive us, won't you? Ahem: Two employees of Bill's Friendly were shot last night during a botched robbery attempt. One of the store's employees was killed, the other taken to a nearby hospital. (At right: the lone gunman's fierce image.) Another shooting in the... more ›

As already mentioned in Blotter's comments and in our tips section, Your Black Muslim Bakery on San Pablo Avenue (hot fish sandwiches -- mmm) was raided this morning, resulting in the arrests of over a dozen people. Police, bomb units, and SWAT teams came down on the bakery and several other "related locations" in North Oakland and Emeryville at 5 a.m. (Read Chron's article about it here, Examiner's here.) more ›

-- Temporary victory is ours: Giants 8, Brewers 0. [Chron, Examiner] more ›

This weekend we started our taxes, so we are now feeling particularly poor. In need of activities that that will suit our penny-pinching ways, while also distracting us from the cold hard reality of our financial state, we turn to Albany, a little town north of Berkeley. more ›

Here's todays stories from SFist more ›

-It looks like it's a bad time to try and fly east. -Taxi Commission hires a private dick. more ›

So many crime stories of note today that we're running an off-cycle SFist Blotter! more ›

Local bookstore chain, Cody's Books has just announced that it is selling itself to a Japanese chain. Current owner, Andy Ross, will stay on as President of Cody's. Meanwhile, the former flagship Cody's store on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley that closed recently, prompting much hand-wringing, 60s nostalgia, and debate amongst armchair urban planners is now one of those temporary Halloween superstores. We are holding our breath for the ironic next phase of vacant large storefronts - the discount and overstock book emporium featuring Szechuan cookbooks for $5.99 and calendars of corgis and tropical golf resorts. more ›

First, the quick and dirty: the Oakland Tribune reports: one dead, two injured, 3 alarm fire at a 6 story residential hotel in downtown Oakland early Friday morning . more ›

Over the last week in Oakland, shops have been laid waste, a store has burned to the ground, and a controversial religious organization has been implicated but denied its involvement. While our headline could be all too common, our personal experience makes the recent crimes all the more troubling. more ›

No kidding that SFist loves libraries. But libraries aren't just books you know, sometimes they're collections of other things. BASIL is the Bay Area Seed Interchange Library. Yes, seeds. Like, growing things seeds. more ›

Friend of SFist (full disclosure: this writer is both personal friends with Rafkin and several of her students, as well as a marketing consultant for her school, but we wouldn't be either if we didn't think they were great) Louise Rafkin is making us do something we hate: link to the Chron. But we urge you to check our her gorgeous piece on her unpleasant experiences with a lecherous driver's ed teacher, and her subsequent profession as a self defense instructor. She speaks most eloquently on the conundrum of teaching and learning self defense without making it an exercise in fear. more ›

Yesterday the Democratic Caucus of the California State Senate voted to replace termed-out senator John Burton [D-San Francisco] with Don Perata [D-Oakland] as the new President Pro-tempore of the senate. Considered the 'second most powerful' political position in Sacramento, Bay Area lawmakers breathed a sigh of relief - an appointment of his rival for the post, Martha Escutia of Whittier, would have signaled a complete shift in power to Southern California (sorry, LAist). Perata is a former teacher in Oakland's public schools, having earned his credentials at the University of California, Berkeley. Generally considered left-of-center even within the California Democratic Party, he has fought for gun regulation, improved funding for public schools and even has a pet-project website, OaklandSchools.com, set up for students, teachers and parents to report problems and lobby legislators on behalf of their beleaguered school district. He's currently working to oppose the huge new casino in nearby San Pablo. This appointment comes on the heels of allegations, investigated by the Chron, of improprieties during his campaign related to business relationships with his son, Nick Perata, and local businessman and college friend Timothy G. Staples. It's also interesting to note that Perata was Burton's pick, and coincides with a number of political moves that Burton has made as his stint in the State Senate draws to a close. EssEffist would like to point out that they don't call it the "Brown-Burton Machine" for nothing. more ›