Pesky environmentalists gave the thumbs up to the Pacheco Pass route for the high-speed train that will whisk Californians from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in, like, five minutes. Or something like that. Wonderful news. An according to the California High Speed Rail Authority's recently released press release: The Authority concluded that the Pacheco Pass alignment was the fastest and most environmentally responsible option for the high-speed train system, minimizing impacts on wetlands......

Jorge Liderman, 50, music theory and composition professor at UC Berkeley, died on Sunday after being hit by a BART car at El Cerrito Plaza. At around 9:30 a.m., it seems, the BART train operator claims that as the car was about four or five feet from the station, Liderman hurled himself in front of it, killing him instantly. And although the word "suicide" is being tossed about, his cause of death is still......

Apparently 511 just installed new arrival-time screens at a kiosk somewhere around Embarcadero, but we're skeptical. (Surprise!) Muni has scrolling LEDs in all the subway stations, but most of the time they're just reminding you about Proof of Purchase. And BART has the same problem: info screens so cluttered with reminders about tickets and pickpockets that they almost never show arrival estimates, or even the current time. But hey, this is 511 we're talking......

The South Bay gets it. California's High Speed Rail Authority picked the Pacheco Pass as the future route for the 200-mph train that will help you get from SF to LA in record time. According to SFGate, "without a vote, the authority accepted its staff's recommendation last month to run trains from the San Joaquin Valley to the Bay Area over Pacheco Pass, east of Gilroy." Well then. After a four-hour meeting with Mayor......

Here's todays sports news...

Hey, look, it's back! It's "Ask a Muni Driver!" But we need help from you-- we need questions. So, if you got any, let us know at jon@sfist.com. ...

Similar to the fatal accident that happened in November, another pedestrian -- engrossed in a phone call, ignorant as to what was happening around him -- was stuck and killed by a train in San Leandro. According to the Chronicle, it seems that: The victim, a man who was not immediately identified, was struck at 12:30 p.m. by a northbound Capitol Corridor train at the Alvarado Street crossing, about 8 miles south of the......

The cold weather - and holiday festivities - descended upon Gothamist. The Rockefeller Christmas tree was lit, Broadway stagehand finally ended their strike, and NASCAR decided to run their victory lap through Times Square. There were disturbing photographs revealing the working conditions in which many city manholes are produced and ninjas were also a hot topic, either robbing homes or entering into alibis. But the city was really rocked by how Rudy Giuliani's visits......

The recently-released website post-consumer.com is addressed to “anyone who has played or attended an indie rock show in Santa Cruz between 1999-2004.” We did! We were there! We remember the tall, handsome fellow with incongruous Ugg boots and a microphone on a stick who recorded shows in every bar, basement, living room and attic during the golden years of Santa Cruz indie rock! And now you can be there, too – Nicholas Taplin’s hoard......

While preoccupied with his cell, Scott Slaughter, 31, was hit and killed by an Amtrak train Thursday morning. According to witnesses "Slaughter waited for one train to pass on a first set of tracks, then crossed onto the second set of tracks and was hit by a second train." ...

No, there was no collision involving a train. However, a garbage truck apparently struck a bridge in San Mateo, holding up all southbound traffic for about 20 minutes. At first, our weary-sounding conductor said that we would have to wait for a track inspection to determine when we could depart from San Francisco -- "if at all," he added ominously. We're now rolling south about 20-30 minutes behind schedule, pulling into Millbrae at the scheduled......

Three weeks ago, a Caltrain conductor told the San Jose Mercury News that "Trains stay on tracks and if you stay off the tracks, it's very easy not to get hit by a train" ("Family of Man Killed in Caltrain Accident Files Suit"). Let's hope that no one got hit today -- trains are running at least 20 minutes late in both directions. These folks are waiting at the Palo Alto train station at......

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

Why? Because a body has been found under one of the BART trains. How the body ended up there or its current condition is unknown at this time. But a medical examiner has been called onto the scene, so...sounds like a not-alive body to us. Sadly....

Don't do this. Ever. Seriously. At last! An informative guide -- tutoring both rookies and veterans riders alike -- on how the hell to ride the headache that is Muni and BART public transportation. Neighbors Project brings you this nifty and imperative guide, which will help us all get along that much better. The guide touches on everything from commuter checks, to smiling, to letting "people off the train before you get on" (we want......

We were at work, surfing the Web when we noticed that Wonkette just posted some crazy story that Sean Penn is offering Matt Gonzalez $5 million dollars to run against the Gavster. Apparently, Sean would give Matt the money if Matty G. switched to the Democratic Party. What, Sean doesn't think a naked guy and a man named Grasshopper are good enough candidates? ...

Hey, remember angry Sarah Nome, the lady who refused to move out of the Kaiser hospital in Marin for over a year, and ran up a $1.4 million bill? Well, Kaiser's 1) gotten ownership of her house in San Anselmo and 2) will be auctioning it off to pay off her tab. Kaiser was awarded the house after Nome was put in the care of the state (after her daughter refused to take her in),......

-- Augie March: Australia band, crooners of the catchy "One Crowded Hour," will be playing at 8:30 p.m. at Slim's; $15. -- The Go-Go's: Saccharine '80s LA girl rock. Gravy Train!!! opens. Music starts at 9 p.m. at the Independent; $65. -- Poetry & Pizza: D.A. Powell & Ryan Courtwright highlight this first-of-the-month poetry reading pizza party. Escape from New York Pizza, 333 Bush; benefits Larkin Street Project.......

According to the Chronicle, while trying to catch a train at the Embarcadero station Tuesday night at around 6 p.m., a man got his hand trapped in the door of an L-line and was dragged along the platform. As he was seconds away from a fatal encounter with the approaching wall, a passenger inside the car pulled the little red emergency release par and the car stopped. The man being dragged was fine. The......

Last week's winner, the deceptive SF Weekly. Letters abound, either outraged by the fake Barry Bonds story or entertained by the elk. Why don't the negative letters have the names of the authors? Are you now questioning all the journalism you read in the Weekly now, or did you just think it was a good joke? Matt Smith says Gavin Newsom is supporting a cult. No, not the cult of Gavin, though no doubt Gavin......

If you're unlucky enough to be a regular Muni rider, you may have followed the ongoing ridiculousness involving the NextMuni displays at Church Street Station. As you can see above, the display now shows information. True to form, that information manages to be both wrong and useless. As we noted when MUNI pretended to take public comment on the location of these displays, it makes no sense to put arrival information after you've already......

> -- Today's tale about Richmond's campers for peace. [Oakland Tribune] -- Ahmad Rahimi, a 16-year-old Hayward teen, killed by an Amtrak train. [Chron] -- Same-sex marriage stuff. [Examiner] -- Harvey Milk Club gives it up for Mecke. [BeyondChron] -- Getting all crankypants over Jew's real replacement. [SFBG] -- Stiletto stabbers receive a dose of vigilantism over the Internets. Watch out, ladies! [The Snitch] -- Spotswood on other possible Jew replacements. [Culture Blog] -- Case......

Here's todays sports news...

The SF Symphony returned from its trip to Europe and kicks off its 2007-08 season tonight, with a sold out opening night gala featuring MTT and Renée Fleming. We find it ironic that they will play Aaron Copland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man" -- a piece riddled with leftist political overtones -- to SF’s high society. Well then, it looks like the SF symphony is more subversive than we give them credit for this time.......

If you're like us, you noticed that MUNI put up these little paintings in several stations a few weeks ago. The one pictured above is at the Church Street station, right when you come down the escalator. We started wondering what exactly these little paintings were supposed to do. Are we supposed to comment about them? Is MUNI asking us if there's a better place in the station to put an LCD display? We......

Do you have any information? A Fremont family is trying to get some answers about the circumstances of their father's mysterious death. The father suffered a heart attack at Van Ness and Market on June 5, and died five days later without ever regaining consciousness. The mystery is that they cannot find the car their father drove into the city that day. They have a garage parking ticket they found in his pocket, but it......

Tomorrow BART celebrates 35 years of hauling your asses around. Revenue service began on 9/11 in 1972. Since then, according to BART Board President Lynette Sweet, BART has continued to "carry the Bay Area through good times and bad...[w]e were there to keep the economy moving when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake knocked out the Bay Bridge, and most recently when the MacArthur Maze connector collapsed." But most important of all, BART has also......

-- 19-year-old lad from Felton -- a fascinating, frightening place -- calls cops after his weed gets pinched. Which he was trying to sell in downtown Santa Cruz. And doesn't get arrested. [Chron] -- Same-sex marriage bill OK'd, ready to be TKO'd by Arnold. [Chron] -- Obama in SF! [Examiner, via BCN] -- Boom! Bomb threat forces Southwest Airlines jet back to Oakland Airport. [CBS5] -- Hsu caught, in hospital after falling down on...train......

That's a yearly total of $704,990.44ish (we don't have numbers for January). Will we break a million in 2007? Oh the suspense. There's only three claims being paid off this month, none of which are particularly tantalizing. Some Muni person dropped something on someone's foot, and they're getting $15,000 -- that sort of thing. The one interesting detail is the bizarre writing style employed by one of the lawyers: Victor Lipovesky, Esq, of Velan......

We’re thrilled when our commute ends up boring rather than late or, say, riddled with crushed pedestrians and such. It turns out that this commute, well, it’s the stuff that dreams are made of: kids' fantasies. Apparently, CalTrain is so dreamy and hot that it's now a center spread in the newly released Timmy and Tammie’s Train of Thought. TTTT, for short. Other local trains featured in the book include MUNI's F-line and the......