Around the Glen Park/Twin Peaks/Diamond Heights area, residents have found cooked poisonous meatballs around the area, with at least one dog being rushed to the emergency room after consuming the meat. Animal Internal Medicine and Specialty Service believes the pooch likely consumed strychnine found in the meatballs.

AIMSS reports: "[The dog's] owner found the following baited meatballs in her neighborhood and we have confirmed that they are what this poor pup has eaten. She lives in Twin Peaks/Diamond Heights. His owner has gathered all the meatballs she could find (they look like the one pictured here), but there is no way to know if she got them all. "

Dr. Carrie Jurney of AIMSS goes on to suggest, "We don't know why the person who did this spread the bait. It is something that is occasionally used in a misguided attempt to control wildlife populations (coyotes, skunks, gophers, etc)." Symptoms include "agitation, over-reaction to sound/light/touch, seizures, hyperthermia and trouble breathing."

San Francisco police are now warning the public to be on the lookout for poisoned treats. If you think your dog has eaten one of the meatballs, please bring them to your nearest vet or animal care facility as soon as possible.

[KRON]

Please be advised that there will be a Public Safety Exercise taking place in the Civic Center area starting at around 10:30am Friday morning. "There will be emergency vehicles in the area and potential traffic delays. This exercise should last less than 60 minutes," notes AlertSF.

This is only an exercise. Repeat: this is only an exercise.

This just in: a tornado warning has been issued for the San Mateo County Coast. Cool! (Can we say that?) San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services send out the following alerts at around 11:15 a.m.: "The Callifornia Weather Service has issued a Tornado Warning for the San Mateo County Coast. Tornado Approaching San Mateo County Coast. Please be alert and seek shelter."

We'll up date as soon as we know more. Heads up, Pacifica and Half Moon Bay residents.

Update: SFGate reports: "The service issued the warning at 11:02 a.m. for areas including San Mateo, San Carlos, Redwood City, Millbrae, Foster City, Burlingame and Belmont. A twister was spotted in Belmont at about 11:11 a.m., moving northeast at 40 mph, the weather service said."

Update II: Warning expired.

Oh oh. A suspicious looking package was discovered at 15th Street and San Bruno this afternoon -- well, 550 15th Street to be exact -- prompting the bomb squad to investigate. SFist reader Sean Manchester sent in the image of the squad in action. (We pray to God nothing happens to the Audi.)

SFist will update if we hear anything further details and/or a loud boom.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) sounded the alarm today, warning "consumers not to eat Santa Cruz County sport-harvested shellfish because the clams, mussels, scallops or oysters may be contaminated with domoic acid, a dangerous toxin that is harmful to people."

Domoic acid can lead to amnesic shellfish poisoning, which can lead to explosive diarrhea, coma, or death.

Today's announcement, however, the CDPH goes on to say, doesn't mean you should eschew commercially sold clams, mussels, scallops or oysters in the area. See, California state law only allows the selling and consumption of shellfish by state-certified commercial shellfish harvesters or dealers because "shellfish sold by certified harvesters and dealers are subject to frequent mandatory testing."

But don't stress it. This is just a precautionary measure. We're going to assume most of you don't catch your own shellfish. But If you're nutting over the scallops sitting in your fridge, feel free to call CDPH's “shellfish information line” at 800-553-4133.

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist -- oh hush, yous -- a tsunami warning has been issued for the California and Oregon coasts. We're not buying it. But still, check it.

Tsunami Advisory

Statement as of 3:02 PM PDT on September 29, 2009

... A tsunami advisory is in effect which includes the coastal areas of California and Oregon from the California-Mexico border to the Oregon-Washington border...

Persons in tsunami advisory areas should move out of the water... off the beach and out of harbors and marinas.

Tsunami advisories mean that a tsunami capable of producing strong currents or waves dangerous to persons in or very near water is imminent of expected. Significant widespread inundation is not expected for areas in an advisory. Tsunamis are a series of
waves potentially dangerous several hours after initial arrival time. Estimated times of initial wave arrival for selected sites in the advisory are provided below.

Santa Barbara-CA 2103 PDT Sep 29 San Francisco-CA 2125 PDT Sep 29
La Jolla-CA 2107 PDT Sep 29 Charleston-or 2128 PDT Sep 29
Crescent City-CA 2116 PDT Sep 29 seaside-or 2201 PDT Sep 29
for arrival times at additional locations see
wcatwc.Arh.NOAA.Gov

Update: Fabulous news. AP says that a tsunami will not hit the West Coast. (And AP is never wrong!) Seems the advisory was issued after a 8.3 earthquake hit Samoa. Anyway, stay tuned. Or, you know, kick with your legs.

Update II: Alert SF says "At 10:48 am an 8.0 earthquake was registered off the coast of American Samoa. At 1502 hours a Tsunami Advisory was issued for the coast of California. The tsunami is expected to generate a wave amplitude of less than 50 cm for San Francisco. This may cause currents that can be hazardous for boaters and swimmers, but it is not expected to do damage to the coastline. The first waves are expected to hit SF at approximately 2125 hours and last for a few hours. We are advising the public to please avoid swimming and boating this evening."

Get. Out. Of. The. Water. Why? Well, it seems that someone spotted a shark swimming along the coastline just off of Stinson Beach, prompting authorities to shut down the beach to the public. CBS5 reports, "Golden Gate National Recreation officials told CBS 5 that they received two 'reliable' shark sighting reports on Monday. As a result, officials said they made the determination to close the beach for 5 days." Although Great White Shark attacks are relatively common in the area, insofar as shark-to-human attacks go, it wasn't know what shark, exactly, was spotted.