After some debate on the authenticity of Dolores Aguilar's obit in the Vallejo Times-Herald, which if you recall was shockingly brutal, we got to the bottom of it all. Turns out Aguilar's obit is real - mighty real, according to an anonymous editorial spokesperson at VHT. In order to publish the damning obit, the editor staff did something unprecedented. "We demanded to see Aguilar's death certificate brought in by a blood relative" before going......

Warms the heart, doesn't it? Above obit found in the Times-Herald Napa/Sonoma. Oh, and be sure to read the guestbook here. (Thanks Jameth!) UPDATE I: Cruel obit page pulled late Sunday afternoon. Huh. Fake obit at Vallejo Times-Herald? Change of heart? Trickery? Stay tuned. UPDATE II: It's real, folks. Read more about it here.......

An eight-year-old mother giraffe, one that recently gave birth in Febuary this year, died at the SF Zoo today. (Giraffes usually live anywhere from 15 and 20 years.) Gezi collapsed today a little after noontime, and succumbed to cardiac and respiratory arrest. If you recall, over four years ago two elephants died at the local zoo, and just last year a tiger named Tatiana was shot and killed after mauling a visitor. What leads us......

The article in yesterday's Chronicle is a snippet, a notice, a little bit of writing that doesn't do justice to the life of the late Ryan Jones. Ryan was an under-the-radar local hero. You may or may not have known him, but if you live here in San Francisco, Ryan probably made your life here more beautiful, more enjoyable, more memorable. Ryan worked for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's Site Stewardship program. He'd......

A San Francisco cyclist is "clinging to life" after they were hit by a pickup truck at a freeway off-ramp yesterday. In the heavy-traffic area of Bayshore Boulevard at the Cesar Chavez Street off-ramp, the unidentified bicyclist was hit while trying to cross several lanes of traffic at around 2:10 p.m. According to the Gate, he or she "is in critical condition with life-threatening head injuries at San Francisco General Hospital." The truck driver,......

Early this morning at 8:24 a.m., an "adult female" was struck a 60-foot 71-Haight-Noriega bus on Market and Sixth Streets. She was transported to SF General Hospital, where she later died. According to San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's press release:...

The name of the bicyclist killed yesterday has been released. He was Kirk Janes, founder of the American Flyer bike messenger service, and a well-known figure in the local bike messenger community. We like this quote from the Chronicle that describes the kind of guy he was: Janes had broken his hip while riding on Second Street last year and could have gone on disability from the state. Instead, he quit Speedway Delivery last......

Sadly, a bicyclist was hit by a vehicle this morning and killed. SFPD arrived at the scene at around 10:55 a.m. at Fulton and Steiner streets. The cyclist, whose name has yet to be released, was "pronounced dead at the scene."...

A young girl riding her tricycle in her Pittsburg neighborhood on the 1000 block of Muir Creek Drive was inadvertently run over by her own mother yesterday afternoon. According to the Gate, Rachel Lopez was struck by her mom's car at 4:30 p.m.. It seems her mother "realized she had run over something, got out and saw her daughter pinned under the right front tire." Yikes. The young girl later died at Sutter Delta......

Taking a cue from the East Bay's recent restaurant robberies, an armed gunman entered Valencia Street Italian eatery Beretta (formerly Last Supper Club/Radio Free Valencia) on Tuesday morning and robbed the joint. The restaurant was filled a with 10 patrons at the time....

24-year-old San Francisco resident Adrian Ruiz was killed by a tiger shark while surfing off the coast of Mexico yesterday, making this the second shark-related death in the past week....

Oakland, Monday: Two shootings that happened within minutes of one another--with one proving fatal--are being investigated by the fuzz. Last night at around 6 p.m., "a young man was shot and injured at the corner of Whitney and 59th Streets in a drive-by attack," according to the Chron. A "lime-green tuck" carrying the suspected shooter(s) then fled the scene. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital. His condition is "unknown." Then about 10......

While taking in the (allegedly) gorgeous weather yesterday, a 20-year-old Marin hiker fell from the cliffs above Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, and died. The unidentified woman, while walking with her hiking partner who was hurt during a "rescue attempt," was, according to SFGate, "hiking ahead of her partner when he heard her scream and saw rocks falling. The man hiked down the hillside to help her. It was unclear how he was......

Some of you may remember a couple of weeks ago, when we were on a Caltrain that struck and killed a woman near 22nd street. Well, we were on the train again this morning, and when we got on at mountain view, a very familiar voice came over the PA. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're sorry," said the voice. "But there has been a fatality involving a train ahead at Menlo Park, and we will be......

Before we dig into Bay Area mischief, here are your ladies of-a-certain-age who have been arrested for having sex with their underage male students. All three teachers were arrested in over the last two weeks in Tampa, Florida. Ta-da. Cheers, ladies! ...

Herb Peterson, inventor the the McDonald's Egg McMuffin, died this past Wednesday at the age of 89 in his Santa Barbra home. Peterson started his career with McDonald's as vice president of the fast food chain advertising firm, D'Arcy Advertising, where he came up with the questionable slogan, "Where Quality Starts Fresh Every Day."...

The San Francisco Police Department are on the hunt for someone who robbed and then beat to death a 72-year-old man in SOMA at Mission and Mary Streets. The murder occurred at around 1:40 a.m. today, and was witness by a security guard across the street. A security guard from across the street witnessed what happened and tried to discourage the attacker. According to the Gate, the guard "saw the man going through the......

Your optimistic San Francisco Chronicle has decided that the best way for you to imagine how many murders take place in Oakland each year (and where) is to plot them out on a Google map mashup. Each marker, once clicked, shows the victim's name, date they were killed, age and cause. On some, there are links to the corresponding news story. We're not sure about you, but we think this is a morbid mix of......

Yesterday afternoon, A man was shot and killed in the Bayview District. After reporting to call of gunfire at the "the unit block of Navy Road," police officers found the body of a 37-year-old man lying in the street suffering from a gunshot wound. He was rushed to SF General where he lated died. No arrests have been made in this most recent killing in one of San Francisco's most notorious neighborhoods. This brings......

After last night's fire in the Mission displaced over 50 San Franciscans, an early morning East Oakland blaze at 2640 74th Avenue proved fatal, killing two men. It seems that the two died during a botched rescue attempt. The first victim "fled the fire along with other occupants of the house. But the man apparently rushed back into the house in an attempt to rescue the other man," Oakland Police Sgt. Barry Donelan tells......

For your viewing pleasure, more Pelli Clarke Pelli Transit Bay Terminal renderings -- now with birdies! [Curbed]More Milk memories. [WhatImSeeing]Alt-Weekly Death Watch explains it all. Also: ouch. [AWDW]Cyclists mourned. [SFGate]Technical difficulties: Burger Joint opens, then closes...temporarily. [Eater]Lemons have loads of disease-causing bacteria? We feel more like Julianne Moore in Safe each day. [SFoodie]More blasted Berkeley tree tomfoolery. [Daily Clog] Porn thespian Michael Lucas labeled "NeoCon Kingpin of gay porn" by New Republic. So, so......

A little before midnight on Sunday, at the notoriously dangerous Octavia and Market Street intersection, a driver plowed into a 27-year-old bicyclist, injuring her and killing her dog "who was either being carried or riding in a bike basket," according to San Francisco police Sgt. Neville Gittens. Tom Moulas, 40, turned himself in at 2 a.m. this morning, a couple of hours after he fled the scene, and was booked on suspicion of felony......

In the Tenderloin on Saturday night, three men were heatedly arguing in an apartment building over on the 400 block of Jones Street (at Ellis). During the fight, one man died after he suspiciously fell down an elevator shaft, landing on an elevator car several floor sbelow. So far the details are sketchy. Although the deceased is still unidentified (as well as the two men arrested in connection), he's described as being "in his......

Yet another to skip the sauteing and hit the Salt House, CHOW's Joyce Slaton has word that an Anderson, South Carolina man died this week after he stabbed himself while cooking. According to Slaton: Michael Downing first burned himself on some noodles he was cutting up in a pan on the stove, and then accidentally stabbed himself in the chest with the knife when he jerked his hand away. Authorities say the steak knife......

Laughing Squid broke the news that game designer Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons (1974)/co-founder of Tactical Studies Rules, died today at the ripe age of 69. According to LS, his death was announced on the Troll Lord Games forum. Steve (AKA the High Lord, Coburg the Undying, he who sits on the elephants back of the Castle and Crusade Society) had this to say on the forums: It is almost too much......

Since we'd hate to give this year's most alarmist story its own post, for fear the pandemonium will spread, we'll just stick up a nifty little shot of a python and tell you this: it's coming for you.......

The death of two horses found at a Solano County ranch last Saturday has been ruled accidental. It seems that they "died after they collided, breaking their spinal cords," and not because of any foul play. According to Marisa Lagos over at the Gate: The horses were found Saturday at Peterson Ranch on Lewis Road east of Vacaville. Authorities initially thought they may have been shot to death. The animals were taken to UC......

50-year-old Chiu Chun Wong of San Lorenzo was killed yesterday after a 15-ton section of concrete came toppling down on him. Ouch. According to the Gate, the fatal workplace incident occurred at "J.C. Steel Fabrication at 220 Michelle Court shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday." It seems that while Wong and another worker were putting a chain "around the bottom of the 20-foot-by-12-foot wall," the chuck of cement slipped, fell, and struck Wong, killing him......

The Coachella 2008 line-up was announced last night. The reason you didn't hear anything about it was because they announced it in Mexico City, something to do with creating international ties. “This is really a way for us to get closer to our fans throughout Latin America who have been supportive of Coachella for the past 10 years,” says Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett. Super; we just care about the line-up. We instantly checked to see who......

N Judah Chronicles' Greg Dewar will not be pleased. And neither will the rest of you. Just weeks after colliding with a 90-year-old woman on the corner of 9th Avenue and Irving Street, an inbound N Judah stuck a man at 31st Avenue, dragging him to 28th, killing him in the process. Overhead news helicopters, a Judah Street closure, and a police investigation followed suit. What's more, according to the Gate: The incident was the......