Today and tomorrow only, Aquarium of the Bay at Pier 39 is playing host to a 25-foot-long, two-ton salmon called "Fin." It's part of the travelling road show by an organization called "Save Our Wild Salmon" that hopes to curtail the depletion of endangered salmon in the Northwest by building support to remove the four lower Snake River dams in Washington State. The road show, called "Extinction Stops Here!" has in recent days been in Marin, Vallejo, Oakland, and Berkeley....

In an effort to crack down on people riding in the carpool lane without being in an actual carpool, State Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) is asking you, the commuter, to pitch in and help. Mainly by snitching on people who are breaking the law, breaking the law. ...

The first weekend of the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments is in the books -- are you still alive in your office pool? Not if you took the Road to the Final Four less traveled.

If you went with the favorites, chances are you're sitting pretty. With the exception of the toothless male Badgers of Wisconsin, all first and second seeds in both tourneys advanced to the Sweet 16. That's not to say that a few high seeds didn't get a scare or that some middling seeds will never get a chance to germinate into full-blown Cinderellas, but overall, both tournaments are sticking to the script.

Huzzah everyone, the Iraq War is over. Yesterday, the Board of Supervisors passed the resolution calling on congress to end the war. Like now. The measure passed by a 7-1 vote with cranky Ed Jew being the only dissenter. Even the usually hesitant Michela Alioto-Pier hopped on board the resolution saying that all things considering, it's a good time to take a stand. ...

Who's that being spotted Hollywood clubbin' with Giants' curveballer Barry Zito? ...

-Stanford men lose to Washington State, Cal men lose to Washington. -Stanford women beats the snot out of Washington State, Cal women lose to Washington. Got that? -Bud Selig was in town yesterday to squirm uncomfortably whenever Barry Bonds' name comes up. -Relax, Giants fans-- Armando Benitez can't wait for the season to start. Actually, in really good news, Jon Miller re-upped for another six years. Say this for the Giants-- their broadcasting team is......

You know, we're having trouble rooting for the Saints mainly because it gives an excuse for too many sportswriters and broadcasters to make lazy comparisons between the football team and the city. So everybody feels happy that New Orleans is doing so well and coming back when the reality is far different. -Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-1. -Stanford gets by Number 22 ranked Washington State in overtime. Ray Ratto thinks it's a big win.......

Man, there's a lot of sports going on right now. First up, baseball. Angles 6, A's 2- There was no champagne spilled in Oakland last night as the A's were held to a mere four hits and two runs, all in the fifth. The rest of the game, they did bupkus. Don't worry, A's fans, it's normal for a team about to clinch to tighten up a bit. The players get so excited at the thought of ending the game by piling on top of each other that they get too nervous to actually get into position to jump on top of each other. Today is not only the last game against the Angels of this series, but the last home game for the A's. So if they don't win today, the A's will have to do it on the road. Go A's! ...

When we were a kid growing up in Seattle, we remember when Washington State tried to pass a law barring minors from purchasing music with Tipper Gore's infamous Parental Advisory stickers on them. Our grandmother, an honored member of the local ACLU chapter, even offered us up as a potential litigant in a class action suit if the law was passed -- we agreed, figuring we might get a free copy of "Straight Outta......

So whatever happened to those 135 people who ran for governor in the 2003 recall election? Well, a bunch are in the Bay Area news today! Cue up the end-of-the-movie montage movie music and let's go. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the guy who won, snuck back into San Francisco yesterday to give a speech to the newspaper publishers' convention. Never fear, the nurses, firefighters, and other state employees against the recall found out about it in time to send 100 protestors out to the Fairmont. You can tell he was upset about it because he made that same lame joke about seeing protests when he proposed to Maria Shriver. Tiii-red. Also, he's spending all day today apologizing for frightening his handlers by saying we should "close the borders" to Mexico. Oops! And how about that Scott Davis, the recall candidate from Palo Alto, running as an independent to promote organ donation? Yeah, we didn't remember him either -- until it was revealed today that he might be close to being arrested for a 1996 murder in Atlanta, of a guy who was dating Scott's ex-wife. In other, non Bay Area candidate updates: Mary Carey the porn star was arrested in a raid last week at a strip club in Washington State. (She came in 10th in the election). Gary Coleman's been attending the Michael Jackson trial. No word on what the ferret guy's been up to, though. ...