San Francisco started the year with a bang. Literally. 1/1: The title of First Murder of 2008 was snatched up just a few hours after midnight. An unidentified man was shot to death on the 300 block of 9th Street in SOMA yesterday morning at around 4:50 a.m. No suspects, no arrests. 1/1: Two non-fatal stabbings occurred at 2 a.m in Washington Square Park. No word yet at to whether or not a pizza......

If you remember way back last week, 15-year-old Ichinkhorloo Bayarsaikhan was shot and killed at Washington Park during a botched robbery attempt while kicking it with some friends. The group of boys responsible for her shooting escaped on a bus, but now it seems that some or all of them have been caught. We'll update in the arrests when we know more....

Okay, we're kind of scared to say anything about the Your Black Muslim Bakery now, so let's just leave it at the handyman confessed, Chauncey Bailey's source has come out, and the bakery didn't do so well in health inspections last year. Oh, and the handyman was arrested in SF for mugging someone on a MUNI on Halloween 2005, but was spared jail time (see comments for clarification) by the DA's office for lack of......

--Picture of a woman collecting bottles from people in the iPhone line by reader zombie. Thanks for sending them in, zombie! [ZombieTime.] --Four murders in San Francisco this weekend, 10 murders throughout the Bay Area. One guy was stabbed in the back at Columbus and Union (by Washington Square Park). [Chron.] --Spotted: Gavin Newsom and Jennifer Siebel on a dinner date at the Slanted Door last night. [from a reader!] --The Chron Sunday Styles......

--It's June 16, which means it's Bloomsday! Commemorate the day made famous in James Joyce's Ulysses with readings from the book, music, and a special Bloomsday feast at the Mechanics' Institute. 57 Post Street (x Market), $15, saloon opens 6:30, readings begin at 7:30. --LAist Zach is coming to town as part of the CalArtsf alumni art festival: dance, spoken word, world music, animation, paintings, and lots more artistic expression at Cowell Theater and the......

Since we wrote so much about the Great Booze Brouhaha of '06, we decided to check things out for ourselves. So we grabbed a few friends, watched the epic US/Italy game at Gino & Carlos, and then headed off to check out the Precious Cheese North Beach Festival. First off, we would like to report that getting booze was not a problem. Not a problem at all. We, in fact, quote a friend of ours who we ran into: "mumble...mumble...mumble...I'm so heated!" We can also report that the bars were buzzing, the liquor stores selling, and the drunks drinking. In fact, according to the Examiner, the liquor stores made out like bandits as everyone took the proposed liquor ban as an excuse to BYOB the thing (no link to the article due to excessive suckage on part of the Examiner's Web site). Which probably explains all the people drinking in places they supposedly weren't supposed to be drinking. But we can't really say that Gavin's Great Compromise really worked out. ...

Okay, so we admit to confusion on our end about all of this. Hell, we admit that everyone appears slightly confused about this too as every story we've read says different things. Regardless, the compromise that was reached to keep the North Beach Jazz Festival knee-deep in booze, or at least knee-deep in booze only in special sections, also includes this weekend's North Beach Festival. Err, we mean the Precious Cheese North Beach Festival as that is it's official name, being selected over other choices such as the "Precocious Cheese Festival," the "Better than the Average Bear Gnocchi Fest" and-- our fave-- the "Persnickety Garlic Romp." ...

It looks like there will be booze at the North Beach Jazz Festival. Which means there will be a North Beach Jazz Festival. Over the weekend, a compromise was reached in that people who wanted to drink booze inside Washington Square Park, where the music could be heard, can. It's just that they'll be cordoned off in a special "Booze Section" so the hoi polloi don't have to mix with all the drunks and alcoholics. ...

The possibility of booze free North Beach Fests (both neighborhood and jazz) came one step closer as San Francisco park and recreation commissioners voted yesterday to ban the selling of booze and liquor inside Washington Square Park. The organizers of the Jazz Fest will appeal the decision. ...

Yes, we know that technically it should be "to what Yvesdroppings refer." Whatever. Submissions go to yvesdroppings - at - gmail - dot - com. Girl on Phone: "He wants to move to Iraq and work as a security guard! He said he could make, like, a hundred K. And I was like, it would be better to stay in San Francisco and be a hooker." (Pause.) "I don't know how much they make. I......

With the sun finally appearing, it's time to think about our favorite springtime city activities. Like street fairs. Our favorite street fair? The North Beach Festival. Nothing we love more than hanging out in Washington Square Park, downing some brews, then drunkenly stumbling into the maelstrom for more food, booze, and White Boy Blues. Man, what fun. Oh wait, there's going to be no booze allowed this year? Nevermind. ...

Today is a stressful day for this SFist, made more stressful still by the prospect of getting to North Beach from the Mission in this nasty-a** weather. And then home. On Muni. Hell, we're considering walking to the BART and then walking all the way to Washington Square Park, in the rain, rather than get on the 9 and then the 15. For some reason, walking in the rain doesn't seem as bad as......

First the pit bulls rise against the humans -- and now it's the trees! A man sitting on a bench and minding his own business in North Beach's Washington Square Park was almost brained as a huge branch of the shade tree above him snapped off and fell. Fortunately, the branch just barely missed him. The tree will be humanely euthanized (i.e., cut down). Prurient brunchers have a new stop for eggs over easy: Sausalito is up in arms about reports of a nude swimmer sunning himself outside the windows of Spinnakers. To Sausalito's chagrin, he likes to flip over and do the backstroke. And Sonoma County Judge Elaine Rushing was sentenced to 10 days in jail and three years of probation for a DUI in June, when she was found with a .19 blood alcohol level, having driven her car with two flat tires into a wall. Because she was a judge in the county where she was arrested, the state attorney general's office handled the case. Cheap irony alert: Judge Rushing was noted in Sonoma County for the harsh sentences she handed down to drunk drivers. Rushing will perform community service in lieu of the clink. ...

If you're not going to HorrorFest, checking out the bands recommended by SFist Krissy like you should be or have tickets for Sleater-Kinney at the Warfield or Fischerspooner at the Fillmore, then here are some ideas: Tonight at the Metreon is the fourth annual "Global Sight and Sound" party, featuring two of SFist's favorite local DJs Dan the Automator and Cheb i Sabbah, among dozens of other awesome acts and artists. It's pricey --......

SFist stayed true to its pledge on Friday and drunk itself into submission on Saturday at the North Beach Jazz Fest. [Ed. Note - After sitting in a park drinking beer for four hours, don't head over to a nearby bar and have two martinis.] We're going to guess that among the revelers at Washington Square Park, none were planning to run the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday. At six Sunday morning, while SFist......

SFist has been told by our coworker that it is our sworn duty to end up passed out in a gutter tonight. We humbly accept this mission, and encourage everyone to do the same. We'd like to suggest some places where you can get liquored up enough to do just that on this beautiful Friday evening....