What a care- and crime-free life SF is living right now,right? And we don't believe any of it. According to local media outlets, SF is safe and sound. But according to a few SFist tipsters: - "Okay, that sure sounded like three gunshots at Alamo Square park, at the northwest corner, around 9:21pm. Anyone concur?" - "Heard four more gunshot-like explosions at 10:49 in the same area. Saw four cops heading east on Fulton......

While Oakland received tons of press over the weekend for its recent spate of murder, this Mission murder, which happened near 25th and South Van Ness (be careful, Phone Booth patrons!), went all but unnoticed. Around 6:45 p.m. last Friday, two men approached 21-year-old Jose Reynoso and shot him in the head and chest. He was taken to SF General Hospital where he died the following day. Police have "sketchy descriptions of the killers"......

This morning at around 3:20 a.m., smack-dab in our old neighborhood of 23rd Street and Treat, SFPD found four gunshot victims, one of whom was pronounced dead at SF General Hospital. "Police have no suspect information in that shooting." Yet. So start singing, witnesses. ...

Earlier this year, a fight broke out over the placement of a helipad at SF General. In short, proponents of the plan say it could save lives but opponents of the plan say it's not necessary and damn, those helicopters are loud. They also point out that those helicopters occasionally crash. Good thing there'll be a helipad nearby. Recently, the battle has flared anew with a proposed helipad at UCSF. SF General UCSF has been......

...And that's not even the curviest part! A car chase that started in Marin County around 3:00 a.m. Monday morning ended abruptly when the driver, speeding at around 75 mph over the Golden Gate Bridge, overshot the turn from Doyle Drive onto Lombard Street and flipped over. A open fifth of Hennessey was found in the car, and the passengers are in SF General with non-fatal injuries. Your SF Labor Day weekend homicide count: 3.......

Who doesn't love free movies? Comcast and cable channel IFC are sponsoring three nights of free movies starting today through Thursday in Union Square, to celebrate the awesomeness of indie film. Plus: free! They're screening Raising Arizona tonight, and Napoleon Dynamite on Thursday, but the one we're guessing will have the entire town crammed onto that little concrete plaza outside Macy's is tomorrow's screening of every single human being in the world's favorite movie, The......

It's time for the San Francisco crime mid-year report card, and we're not doing so great -- homicide rates are up 20% from last year. The SFPD reports that drug-related homicides are up (15 for the year so far, compared to only 13 all year in 2006), spontaneous violence is up, and fatal stabbings are up (10 for the year so far, as opposed to 8 all last year). On the bright side, gang-related homicides......

A man was shot to death in the Mission last night around 2:00 a.m., by 18th and San Carlos. The victim was shot six times in the back and died of his injuries at SF General. There was also a one-alarm fire by Fifth Street and Market around 6:00 a.m. One person was hospitalized. Picture of the crime scene in the Mission from KTVU.......

Here's a weird tale of yet another car-on-bike hit-and-run at perennial danger spot Octavia and Market, off ABC 7. (More details at CBS 5 too, plus a video clip.) Last night, around 11 p.m., a car coming off the freeway making the now-standard illegal right turn onto the Octavia Street freeway ramp hit a biker. [edit per CBS 5 story.] Alas, that's not the weird part. So the driver was about halfway up the onramp......

It wasn't just that shooting in Western Addition this morning -- it's been kind of a violent 24 hours there and in the Mission. At around 5:40 p.m. yesterday, there was a stabbing at Capp and 17th -- a guy was stabbed with an ice pick after getting out of a car. The stabber then jumped into another car and tried to run the victim down, and then jumped out of the car and stabbed......

Hey kid. An SFist editor would like to have some words with you. A 16-year-old from Belmont was arrested for planting those bombs around SF General yesterday. He was caught with another explosive device in his house, and they think he might have planted some bombs near SF General last month too. And yeah, you may have heard -- it turns out they were actual bombs. A student at Berkeley High and her date were......

Hey! Free clothes! No, it's not the Rapture -- it's SwapSF's clothing swap event this Saturday! SwapSF is a fun freecycling group where people can embrace new things without spending a lot of money to get them -- so bring your gently-used clothes to the Phritzery from 12-3 p.m. on 170-173 Clara Street (between 4th and 5th, and Folsom and Harrison) this Saturday and trade for other people's! Don't bring anything that you wouldn't take......

See what happens when you brag too much? A woman in Scotts Valley was jumping up and down in the parking lot of a Safeway, with a scratch-and-win lottery ticket worth $5000, shouting, "I won!" when a man on a bicycle whizzed by and stole the ticket out of her hand. We're sure local anti-bike activist (scroll halfway down) Rob Anderson will be able to turn this anecdote to his advantage as well. Let's be......

Can you help identify the man in a coma at SF General? The man, who appears to be in his 20s, was dropped off about a week ago, by someone who said he was a pastor or minister but who left the hospital before they could get any more information. 5'10, 190 pounds, short brown hair and brown eyes, and he has several tattoos (one of which pictured at left, because we couldn't bear to......

Two people are dead from gun shot wounds after shootings in SoMa, one at the hands of the police. ...

We saw this story about problems involving the building of a helipad for SF General and our first, initial thought was yawn. Then we digged around a bit (with help from SFist Jim) and realized, of course, this is San Francisco which means nothing is that easy and everyone goes around saying and doing silly things. In this case, we have NIMBYism, web sites, discussion of class issues, and guerilla art. Yes, guerrila art over a helipad. You can't say we don't have a sense of proportion over things here in San Francisco. Maybe there should be a mural done at Precita Eyes?...

If SFist were to have a dream job, it would be in one of those think tanks that puts together all those studies that are so amazingly obvious that even six year old children could figure out as true. Like all those studies saying that people talk a lot about the Super Bowl. Or that people spend way too much time on the Internet at work. Today, we get news on two studies of similar dimension....

Good news! San Francisco school board vice president Norman Yee is recovering nicely after being hit by a car the day after Christmas. The accident shattered his spine and crushed an artery in his neck. Turns out Norman Yee is an avid salsa dancer, and was crossing Bryant and 4th that Tuesday with the light in his favor to get to a local club (maybe the Glas Kat?). Yee doesn't remember much about the accident,......

As expected, the beating up of members of the Bakers Dozen acapella group is now a full blown story with all the breathless reporting and graphics that comes with it. It's even gone national with Drudge reporting that the singers were beaten up "after singing the Star Spangled Banner" as if we here in San Francisco are so anti-American that we'll beat anyone up who sings the National Anthem. ...

At around 10:50 p.m. tonight, there was a second earthquake almost in the exact same spot on the Hayward Fault (3 miles ESE of Berkeley) and at almost the same intensity (3.7) as the quake two days ago. We didn't feel the one on Wednesday ourselves (we were out drinking, which might have had something to do with it) but the one tonight definitely rattled our windows, and went on for a few seconds......

Special single-issue Blotter today -- there's a bad situation brewing in the Bay Point. On Wednesday afternoon, one of the owners of the store "Pop Ya Collar" was arrested for shooting a woman he suspected of shoplifting shoes. To be more specific, when the owner realized he'd been robbed by a group of five people, he grabbed his gun, ran outside, and fired shots into the window of the getaway car the group was driving......

Ohmeed Popal, the man who ran down 18 pedestrians last week, appeared in court today, dressed in the prison jumpsuit and looking "bewildered" at the proceedings. Popal first pled not guilty to the murder of the Fremont pedestrian who died, but his attorney quickly withdrew that plea pending a psychiatric examination. Popal, who is currently in custody at SF General's psychiatric ward, will return to court on Friday after the examination is completed. It was......

Up to eleven people have been seriously injured this afternoon by a man driving around town, deliberately running over pedestrians. At least one person is dead. Among other things: this is not going to help our stats for this year's Walk SF numbers at all. The police caught a driver in a black Honda SUV in Laurel Heights, at Laurel and California Streets, where he'd hit two people (one who died). A child was also......

They should really have more shows in art galleries -- as we walked into the Lab on Sunday night for the Mission Creek Music Fest ambient noise show Sunday night show, we saw not only a band setting up, but also a meticulously-obsessive installation by artist/medical student Anli Liu, memorializing all the patients she's seen at SF General. Meanwhile, in the back room, we had a very tasty sparkling grapefruit juice (Izze Juice -- remember......

We were recently contacted by friends of biker Spider Davila (also known as Joel Comford), who are seeking information about a hit-and-run that left Spider with a broken jaw and broken wrist. They also provided us with a picture of Spider in the hospital, at right. Spider was on his bike at the corner of 20th and Florida in the Mission at about 12:30 p.m. on December 17, making a cell phone, when a black SUV driven by a white or Hispanic man sped by him. Spider shouted out, "Nice way to drive your SUV." The SUV driver then stopped, put the car in reverse, hit and ran over Spider, and then fled the scene. Other people in the neighborhood say they've seen a black SUV driving dangerously around there too. Spider was rushed to SF General's intensive care unit, where he stayed for over a week. He was placed on a ventilator and then underwent a seven-hour surgery to repair his face. He now has five plates in his face and his jaw is wired shut. His friends are hoping he can come off the ventilator this week, at which point they want to take him home. There's a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the driver, and Spider's friends are taking up a collection to help him pay his medical bills. If you saw anything, call the police at 415-553-9179, ask for Inspector Krimsky, and the case is case no. 051413864. We wish Spider a full and speedy recovery and are keeping our fingers crossed that the SFPD will find the man responsible for his injuries. ...

...oh no!! The whale's back! The whale that was previously beached in Half Moon Bay that just washed out to sea a few days ago has resurfaced -- floating on the waters right by Half Moon Bay's Ritz-Carlton hotel. "It doesn't smell like incense," says a marine biologist, no doubt rubbing his hands together with glee. Hotel management claims they haven't had any complaints yet, but the Merc notes that "gelatinous blobs of dead whale" will probably start washing ashore any minute now. Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks is under investigation for accepting kickbacks. Brooks was apparently funneling money through the daughter of her boyfriend, who was getting paid $5200/month while enrolled in college on the East Coast. Brooks, who it sounds like is not the most popular councilmember in the world, claims it's all a setup by Council President Ignacio de la Fuenta to get her out of office. And two shootings in SF last night -- one at 26th and Treat, one in Crocker Amazon Park. Both victims are at SF General and the shooters remain at large. ...

Aw, geez. Gang members are being charged with elder abuse for moving into the home of an elderly widow with dementia and using it as a base for drug crimes. They even ate her Meals on Wheels food (and complained about how bad it was). She had apparently been calling 911 since March, but kept hanging up once she got through. If you're making so much money selling crack on Mission and 19th, can't you at least splurge on a burrito or something? In other unfair to the elderly news, an 80-year-old tourist from Pennsylvania is recovering from stab wounds received inside his San Francisco hotel. The tourist and his wife were followed into the Ramada on Market Street, where the assailant tried to rob them. The man chased after the robber, but collapsed in a pool of blood in the lobby. The wife is okay, but the robber got away. Is there some kind of "sorry our city sucks" fund we can donate to for this guy? And the cops have named a "person of interest" in the murder of the SF General doctor last week -- the recently-paroled son of the doctor's assistant. The doctor's missing car was found in the parking lot of the place the son was staying. Hmmmmm. ...

Brian Rossiter, the owner of "the most famous hand in America," has begun lashing out at reporters, describing his life as "hell" since the news broke that he sold his severed finger to Anna Ayala and her husband Jaime Placensia for $50 to drop in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Rossiter's mood seems to have darkened from Wednesday, where he was reported to have gone to his favorite bar, waved his hand around, and got his buddies to buy him numerous shots of his favorite drink, Goldschlager. Goldschlager? A prominent doctor at SF General was found murdered in the doorway of his house in Diamond Heights. Police are focusing on cherry pits strewn around the house and outside in his yard as possible clues. And the police have a man in custody who set fire to a building across the street from the Old Mint in SoMA last night. The man was seen running out of the building with a jar filled with liquid and screaming that he was involved with the fire. The SF Fire Department rescued six residents in the building who were either trapped in their apartments or had fled to the roof. ...

Muy Bueno! (Like that one's never been come up with before.) Jennifer Bueno, the woman who was hit in the face by a folding chair at an A's game, finally filed suit against the Texas Ranger who pitched the lawn decor at her husband for his sassy mouth, and the Rangers' organization. One of the reports we heard said that her husband Craig was supposed to be at the press conference too, but he works at the fire house with the three guys who got in the accident and tied up traffic yesterday on the San Mateo Bridge. Police are baffled about the mysterious beating of a 13-year-old foreign student in South San Francisco last week, just blocks from his host family's home. Robbery wasn't a motive, since the boy had all his money and his mp3 player on him. The boy is in critical condition at SF General, and authorities are offering a $12,000 reward for information. And interestingly, remember how the City of Fremont decided not to enforce burglar alarms unless there was proof of an actual break-in? Well, they did a study to see what happened after they adopted the policy, and robberies in the city are actually down 9%. Burglar alarm associations say it's too soon to tell. ...

For an actor known for his want of privacy, Marin's own Sean Penn seems to be making a lot of news lately. Locally, Penn has thrown himself into the murky world of San Francisco politics by filming a very short film coming out against Proposition L. The thirty-second trailer will play in local theaters starting this weekend. Proposition L, which bills itself as the "Save our Theaters" initiative, calls for taking $10.5 million that's earmarked......