While not on par with Christmas Day tsunamis, this storm is pretty nifty, huh? Golden Gate transit buses have stopped, power has been knocked out to hundreds -- yes, hundreds! - of thousands of people, and surely snow is falling really hard atop a mountain somewhere. But what must actually suck is this morning's nightmare traffic caused by the raindrops falling on our heads. Ahem: Marin/Contra Costa County: E-580, Richmond-San Rafael Bridge closed due......

Although he is "believed to be a good swimmer," 32-year-old Eric Wright's rescue search has now turned into a body recovery effort according to CBS 5. The Tracy resident was reported missing after Wright's father-in-law discovered his boat capsized this past Sunday in the Bethany Reservoir in Alameda County. Sheriff's deputies, park rangers, and CHP helicopters will still conduct "periodic checks for Wright on the shoreline and surrounding areas" along the the Bethany Reservoir......

Photos of Santarchy 2007...

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." ...

After a 10-month protest atop an oak grove next to Memorial Stadium, a judge ruled on Monday that UC Berkeley can now start removing up-in-a-tree protesters, as well as their ground support, even if police can't identify the protesters by name. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Keller amended his ruling from a month ago. At that time, his decree gave authorities the power to strip the environmental activists off of the UC-owned land,......

Hey, remember the Wikipedia scanner that tells you who's edited what page on the ol' Wikepedia? Well, we decided to have a little fun with it and see who's been playing with the entry for our beloved mayor. There's lots of fun to be seen: - Someone with an AT&T account deleted a Michael Moore reference because "[Moore] is not an SF voter. - A probable Republican (other edits to Reagan's funeral and the......

At the dewy-fresh hour of 6 a.m., Oakland police officers, Alameda County sheriff's deputies, and agents with the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI went on an Oakland-wide spree of busts for heroin trafficking (as well as "cocaine and marijuana, " at least according to this morning's Mornings On 2's.)...

After yesterday's Raiders game in the McAfee Coliseum parking lot, a man was shot in the leg and groin (ye-ouch!) after a non-football related argument," according Alameda County Sheriff Dept. Sgt. J.D. Nelson. Read more about stupid footballian fan behavior here. (Okay, we only brought this up because we rarely have the chance to talk about football, or more to our point, the stellar show that is 49ers Press Pass With Mike Nolan. It......

-- Alameda County judge tells Berkeley tree squatters, like the scrappy Ninjah and Stork here, to climb down. For good. [SFGate] -- Car crash on the 101 kills one, lands two in jail. [Examiner] -- And yet another death on the 101, this time by gunfire. Egads. [CBS5] -- Missing Sacto woman's cell traced to SF. "She drives a silver, small model Kia with the license plate 5WMU818," fyi. [KGO, via BCN] -- According......

Well, first the MediaNews conglomerate moves the Oakland Tribune from its iconic downtown Oakland tower (at left) and then they take away recognition of the Tribune's Newspaper Guild labor union. MediaNews claims they're doing this because when they consolidated their Alameda County newspaper holdings, it turns out union members are no longer a majority of their workers when you factor in all the people they employ at the non-union papers they own. (This doesn't affect......

The Chron, giving you the news from the animal point of view! They settled the Alameda County garbage strike lockout! After a nine-hour mediation, Oakland mayor Ron Dellums announced late yesterday night that all the parties had managed to resolve the four-week dispute. No one can disclose the details, but the union will vote on whether to accept the proposal this Saturday. If the union approves the deal, regular garbage pickup could resume as early......

-- Thousands -- thousands!! -- without power because of small rainfall. Sheesh. [KPIX] -- The Giants are best for bear bottoms: Cubs wipe up with us, 12-1. [the Chron] -- Bay Guardian dislikes big, corporate-chain retail stores? You don't say. [SFBG] -- Matt Stroud's final, fatal post at SF Weekly. [SFist] -- Transbay tube retrofit delayed. [the Chron, KGO] -- Alameda County woman loses her shit over garbage lockout; Darya Folsom excitedly watches on.......

An Alameda County judge has ordered Waste Management to start picking up the garbage again. The City of Oakland, who filed suit, says they're gratified by the ruling, since this means, you know, the garbage will get picked up. Waste Management says this doesn't mean anything because they were picking up the garbage already anyways. This doesn't end the lockout, though (the judge didn't have the authority to do that), so Waste Management says they're......

Today's news in refuse: Over in the East Bay, the city of Oakland's filed suit against Waste Management, the garbage company that's locked out the local workers for 11 days now, and is letting trash pile up all over Alameda County. The city wants a 90-day cooldown period where the union workers can work and they can talk about the contract; the company says they've already hired new people and everything is fine. Meanwhile, the......

Just some random news items on the wire: There was a three-alarm fire at Thurgood Marshall Alternative High in the Bayview this afternoon. School's out for the summer, so there weren't any students around, and the authorities think the fire was started by roofers working with tar. Some unscreened yutz snuck into Terminal 1 (the non-Southwest one) at Oakland Airport this morning, necessitating a two-hour search of the entire place as TSA tried in vain......

--Turns out rescuers totally missed the car of the missing Alameda County woman and her priest friend, even though they got exact directions from 911. [Chron.] --An Oakland Tribune sports columnist apologizes for calling the A's racist. [92510; read the original column cached on Google here.] --Come to California, Barack Obama! [Calitics.] --A pedestrian was hit by an SUV at Folsom and Main. [A reader, who requested that we give you the link to WalkSF,......

--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......

--A guy jumped onto the field to say hi to Barry Bonds yesterday. Arrested, drunk. [The Chron photo pool, the Snitch.] --They're looking on the Oregon coast now for the missing Alameda County woman and her friend the priest. It's been three weeks. [The Chron.] --Alamo Square was cordoned off this afternoon after gunfire on McAllister Street hit a motorist in the head. [ABC 7.] --There were also shootings at Webster and Rose and Div......

It's that time of the year again for San Francisco magazine's Best of the Bay party. The annual bash features lots of eats, drinks and chances to win prizes. Be prepared to fork over nearly a bill for your ticket here -- but as an added bonus it will also get you into the afterparty at Slide. San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th St. Come watch contenders for the Air Guitar championship title......

--Pride was fun! (Have you noticed we always have great weather for Pride?) [Chron, ABC 7, CBS 5.] --Who were the bloggers floating the Newsom coke rumors? We don't think it was us. [Chron.] --They're trying to apply the lessons from the Kim family search in looking for the Alameda County woman and her priest friend. [KTVU.] --Cal students getting hyphy. [Clog Blog.] --Don't try and fix the worst house in San Francisco yourself......

--The Dyke March was fun. [Chron.] --The Recall McGoldrick people didn't get enough signatures to get on the ballot. [From the SFist Tips line!] --It's the winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest! [ABC 7.] --Learn more about Chris Daly! [Chron.] --Can Yahoo be saved? [Merc News.] --Ha ha ha ha! Crazy animal races at the Alameda County Fair. Would a duck beat a pig? [Inside Bay Area.] --Remember that house that collapsed in Sunnyside?......

--Hey! Did you ever do coke with Gavin? [Fog City Journal.] --Chris Daly explains himself. [SFGov.org.] --What's fun doing for Pride Weekend? [SFPartyParty, Bay Area Reporter, SF Weekly's All Shook Down.] --They busted JT Leroy. [Chron, via the AP.] --No more bottled water for the City and County of SF. [CBS 5.] --That local kid who tried to blow up the UC Riverside graduation? It was so he wouldn't have to tell his mom......

--The SF Weekly writes us (us the site and you the readers!) a totally nice note about the mix-up over our dueling Day Around The Bay columns! Hugs! [The Snitch] --An ABC 7 blog doesn't think all this Chris Daly and Ed Jew stuff is funny! Of course it's funny! [ABC 7's The Kitchen Think.] --Thought today in the SFist comments were bad? It could always be worse. [Craigslist's SF Local Politics Discussion Forum.] --The......

Last week's winner: the East Bay Express: It's the Summer Guide Issue: how to raise chickens (like LE Leone in the Guardian!), Segway scooter polo (this should be a Metro article), berry picking in Co-Co County and agrotourism (we believe the correct spelling is agritourism). Hey, there's even fruit in the Express' new blotter column! Alameda County Undersheriff busted for using official vehicle in lieu of moving van. (Ed Jew joke omitted.) The firm that......

ith fare evasion and it's effect on MUNI's budget being one of last week's big stories, we thought we'd ask our MUNI driver what the what is about all things MUNI fares. And remember, if you have any questions you'd like answered, send them to editor@sfist.com ...

We hope you weren't coming or going from Oakland Airport today as there was a bit of a security scare there today after somebody ran through the security checkpoints. As a result, the entire airport had to be cleared as they looked for the guy responsible. ...

-Judge rules lethal injection in California a not very nice thing to do. -$1 billion bucks to go to easing congestion through Interstate 580 between Alameda County and the Altamont Pass....

Worst. Holiday. Ever. For. Eritreans Near and Far. We’re not joking about the sadness and confusion this Turkey Day crime has wreaked. The shell-shocked East African Eritrean Bay Area community, numbering 10,000 to 12,000 strong according to many reports, is still reeling from the Thanksgiving Day killings that left 3 members of the same family dead in an Oakland apartment shoot out. "This is the worst ightmare for Eritreans,"Yikaalo Gebreselassie of Alameda told the Chron, who said he was a friend of the victims. "We've never had this kind of experience before, and now we have three people dead." ...

--Dufty wants you out of the Castro by 10:30 on Tuesday. Also, he's dressing his daughter up as a pumpkin. --Middle school swing competition tonight in Pleasanton. Bevan Dufty hopes that ends at 10:30 too. --No garbage strike in Alameda County. --C.W. Nevius is bringing sexy back. --Two pedestrians hit by big rig turning right on Sixth Street yesterday. SFSOS blames Daly. --Vegetable delivery service for the Bayview/Hunters' Point. --Dilbert cartoonist loses, finds his voice.......

There's a lot of tastiness going on tonight on both sides of the bay. Here in SF, there's the "Tastes of the City" event for young philanthropists - we're just giddy thinking that some of the Hot 20 under 40 might be there. Aiming at opening the designer wallets and handbags to kick down to charity, this party features food and beverages from the Bay Area's top restaurants and beverage companies including: Frisson, Vignette,......