Remember that couple we told you about that was stealing stuff from open houses? They got busted by the OnStar in their rental Hummer. Police won't reveal where they were, except to say they were "out of state." more ›

, is back in town to accept a $250,000 award from the Koret Foundation on behalf of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, and this time, we're going to take better care of him. more ›

We try to keep our new feature Day Around The Bay pretty short -- so these three longer items we found in our relentless scouring of local news sources have been relegated to their own separate post. more ›

Everyone's talking about the man in the SF DA's witness protection program that was shot outside a Bayview auto body shop yesterday, in broad daylight. He had testified against two murder suspects before a grand jury. DA Kamala Harris called it "horrific," but otherwise seemed remarkably unsympathetic about the situation, saying that he shouldn't have come back to the Bayview if he wanted protection. "The first and last rule in witness protection is, don't go back to your danger zone," she said. The suspects in yesterday's shooting remain at large. He's dropped the Li'l, and maybe now he should change his name to Pow-Pow -- two people were shot outside the HP Pavilion last night after the Bow Wow show. Bow Wow (no longer dating Ciara, if you care) was performing at Wild 94.9's Bomb 21 show, along with E-40, Federation, Rihanna, and Bubba Sparxxx. The two people's injuries are not considered life-threatening. And we can't tell if this is encouraging people to take public transportation or not: apparently people are now stealing gas from cars parked in BART parking lots in the East Bay. BART did warn everyone, but also doesn't plan on increasing security -- no doubt because they're like, "see? we told you it was better to take public transportation." The police say to buy a locking gas cap, or "buy a Prius." more ›

Well, we all knew it was going to happen -- SF DA Kamala Harris is bringing charges against Maureen Faibish for felony child endangerment. As Harris said at the press conference, "We are not in the business of vilifying parents, but in this city, we are also not in the business of allowing children to be placed in situations where they are killed when it is completely preventable." Sure. Meanwhile, a girl mauled by a pit bull in Santa Rosa the other day is recovering, and an elderly man successfully fled a pit bull attack in San Jose. The SFPD has released the 911 tapes (audio) of Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White's husband's subsequently-recanted tale of spousal abuse. "My wife is JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, THE FIRE CHIEF!!! Ow! No! Don't come near me again with that pint glass!! Don't hit me again! Aaaaaaaaagh!! Did I mention my wife is JOANNE HAYES-WHITE, THE FIRE CHIEF???" And the feds indicted 19 people in the medical marijuana enforcement action, or, what they're calling "Operation Urban Harvest." Kevin Ryan, the Bay Area's US Attorney, claims that the people busted were using medical marijuana stores as a front to sell $5 million of pot to healthy people. more ›

Nick Faibish's mauling continues to send shock waves across the city -- Gavin Newsom's announced that he's starting a panel to look into possible restrictions on pit bull ownership in San Francisco. Gavin has indicated that he may ask for advice from a certain Ms. K. Guifoyle-Hemmer, who, you may recall, was previously on the SF DA's animal law team before her move out East. The panel is not expected to recommend an all-out ban on pit bull ownership in the city, but avenues for increasing Animal Care and Control's budget, like enforcing license requirements, will be explored. (What, they're not getting any money off Animal Planet?) As for the Faibish family, they're reportedly going to ask that ACC put down Rex, the male dog that attacked Nick. You probably remember that Ella, their female dog, was shot by the SFPD on the day of the incident. Authorities are speculating that the mauling may have been caused by a number of stressors, including the fact that Ella was in heat; the family was moving and everything was getting packed up; and the dogs' primary owner (Nick's father) was away in Oregon setting up their new house. And tying up some other reports, ACC reports that they had previously held Rex not for viciousness or attacking behavior, but because he was stolen and subsequently found in an arrest (thanks to his microchip). Finally, the family of the boy in Richmond who was attacked by three pit bulls in 2001 has expressed their concern and sympathy for the Faibishes, and notes that they have started a foundation to help survivors of dog maul attacks. And C.W. Nevius recalls the 80-year-old woman who survived her attack by a pit bull (in the service of decrying pro pit-bull activists). more ›

Bay Area crime roundup more ›