What better way to celebrate the new BART fare hikes than a 30 minute train delay on the first official day of work in 2008? It kind of threw the new train schedule a little out of whack too. We haven't been able to find anything officially reported on the delay yet, but from what we gleaned from the PA system, it sounded like a train got stuck at 24th Street with a jammed door.......

There's been ANOTHER shooting in broad daylight??? Police had to race to Market Street between 5th and 6th after a drive-by shooting this afternoon. You may know this area, as it's right by the cable car turnaround we send all the tourists to, right by the San Francisco Shopping Center, and right by the Powell Street BART and MUNI stop. (And the Forever 21, of course.) Oh, that's not going to make our visitors love......

--Gavin Newsom angrily denies Chris Daly's cocaine allegations, calls them "sleazy," and calls for everyone in the Board of Supes to condemn them. Tom Ammiano says he thought it was one of Daly's better speeches. [The Chron (and audio clip), CBS 5 (with video of Daly at the meeting and Newsom's denial), ABC 7 (also with video), Fog City, Beyond Chron, Examiner, SF Sentinel. Watch the video from SFGov here, around item 36.] --Your Two......

At first, we thought the lonely, empty feel of downtown Oakland after Five kind of depressed us. But no longer! Now we're happy to spend our happy hours (and extended happy hours) at Van Kleef's Bar on Telegraph between 16th and 17th, just close enough to the 19th Street Bart station to run and make the last BART home. ...

As we discussed earlier today, PG&E and ReadyMade magazine are co-sponsoring "Let's Green This City," which is aiming to raise environmental consciousness by putting sofas covered with grass around the city. Sure, why not? (Will Ross Mirkarimi be involved? And what's the Bay Guardian's public power-oriented stance on this?) As SFist Jim Herd saw, there's couches outside City Hall (and word is that Gavin Newsom braved grass stains on the back of his pants......

It's the reemergence of our "Tell SFist About Your SF Political Sighting" column! We love a good Chris Daly sighting story! A reader writes in to tell us that Chris Daly is at this very moment hanging out outside the 16th Street BART stop, collecting the requisite signatures for his supervisor reelection campaign. Our source states that Daly is wearing the trademark green beads of District 6 Pride, and furthermore, that the source was......

Lots of death and transit events to report today: Did you hear the helicopters whirring overhead in the Mission last night? The SFPD came in full force after reports of a serious shooting on Mission between 15th and 16th, right by the BART station, at about 10:30 last night. Shots were fired towards the station and four people were injured. Two are expected to live, one is fighting serious injuries, and one victim has died.......

And what are we to make of the news that Gavin occasionally goes all "Alias" and travels throughout his realm incognito to see how his public fares? That considering he's trying to bust some Cable Car Conductor thieving ring, maybe he's doing research for some sort of Private Eye/TV show thing? You know "Mayor by Day, Crime Solver by night." Or that with his newly single status, maybe it's his way of meeting someone cute and dating someone who might not be found in his usual Swigian soirees and upper-crust society balls for the hoity toity? You know, like it'll be a soon-to-be a major motion pictures starring Reese Witherspoon as a Starbucks barista and Mark Ruffalo as the newly divorced bachelor Mayor who falls in love with her while killing time during a public transportation break down. Was he the Marina-ite looking way out of place and nervous at Zeitgeist last weekend? Or was he the one who elbowed us out of the way while we were trying to get us some haggis at Burns Night at the Edinburgh? ...

-Developers planning to build new housing in the SOMA area encountered a new concern last week as drivers complained that a possible eight story building on Harrison between third and fourth might obstruct views of the city. From the freeway. Turns out it's city policy not to build something along the freeways that would create a "canyon" effect and not allow drivers to see where they are in the city. To which members of the Planning Department banged their heads against their tables and threw their hands up in surrender. ...

Thomas Hawk sends us pictures of a police action at the Montgomery Street BART station today. The details are still fuzzy, but apparently a 'mysterious package' was found and the station was closed. Turns out it was a lunchbox with a (presumably not deadly) ham and cheese sandwich. Sigh. The station was quickly reopened. Photos by Thomas Hawk.......