Full containment on N. Calif. wildfires delayed, but hopes rise with rainy fo...
Friday, October 20, 2017
The first of the deadly Northern California wildfires to spark up nearly two weeks ago was fully contained by firefighters Thursday, who welcomed cooler temperatures throughout the disaster zones and the region’s first rain since the blazes began. A light dousing hit parts of the Bay Area on Thur... .. read more..
Chaos over vote to strip Justin Herman’s name from plaza
Friday, October 20, 2017
San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission thought it voted Thursday to strip Justin Herman’s name from the plaza next to the city’s Embarcadero Center — then found out later that it hadn’t. In a confusing series of events, the commission’s vote to rechristen the iconic public space was initi... .. read more..
Garrett Paiz, a spirited man who died doing what he loved — fighting fires
Friday, October 20, 2017
His nickname was “Taco” for all the times he came to California during summers to fight wildfires and enjoy the taco stands here. And his ready grin and quick quips lifted the spirits of everyone around him. Those are the memories Garrett Paiz’s friends and family held dear this week as they reme... .. read more..
Sudden oak death likely exacerbated deadly Northern California wildfires
Friday, October 20, 2017
A dramatic increase this year in the number of oaks, manzanita and native plants infected by the tree-killing disease known as sudden oak death likely helped spread the massive fires that raged through the North Bay, a UC Berkeley forest ecologist said Thursday. Dead and dying oak trees make wild... .. read more..
SMART Train hits bicyclist who cops say was on his cellphone
Friday, October 20, 2017
The North Bay’s new commuter train smacked into a bicyclist Thursday afternoon as he was pedaling across the tracks in Santa Rosa, talking on his cellphone and not paying attention to the onrushing rail cars, police said. The rail crossing arms were lowered at about 3:55 p.m. where West Steele La... .. read more..
National Park Service kills proposed new rules for dog access in GGNRA
Friday, October 20, 2017
The National Park Service pulled the plug Thursday on a 14-year-long process for restricting dog access in the 80,000-acre Golden Gate National Recreation Area, 10 months after revelations emerged that agency officials had improperly corresponded about the process from their personal email accoun... .. read more..
State lawmaker has grim task of identifying constituents who died in fires
Friday, October 20, 2017
Since the deadly and devastating Tubbs and Redwood Valley fires broke out in distant parts of his district late Oct. 8, Assemblyman Jim Wood has been scurrying from meeting to briefing, viewing damage, consoling people who’ve lost homes and family members, and directing them to where they can see... .. read more..
Pedestrian fatally struck by Caltrain at SF crossing
Friday, October 20, 2017
A pedestrian was fatally hit by a Caltrain on Thursday afternoon while trying to cross the tracks near the 16th Street crossing in San Francisco, officials said. The northbound No. 151 train hit the person around 2:29 p.m at 16th and Mississippi streets at a railroad crossing under an elevated se... .. read more..
SMART train collides with bicyclist talking on cellphone in Santa Rosa
Friday, October 20, 2017
A SMART train collided with a bicyclist Thursday on the tracks at West Steele Lane in Santa Rosa, police said. .. read more..
SF landlord will pay $1 million to residents of burned-out illegal units
Friday, October 20, 2017
A landlord has agreed to pay more than $1 million to tenants who were evicted after a fire swept through their illegal apartments in a warehouse space in the Inner Mission District in 2014, the first legal settlement related to the rash of fires that have displaced residents in the neighborhood o... .. read more..
Veteran Oakland firefighter chosen to lead city Fire Department
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Darin White, the interim chief who has been leading the Oakland Fire Department for the past nine months, was appointed to the permanent post Thursday. Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth’s selection of White as Oakland’s fire chief comes five months after Chief Teresa Delo... .. read more..
Marilyn Ress, who died in Wine Country fire, remembered as ‘angel on Earth’
Thursday, October 19, 2017
During the holidays at the Mayette Apartments in Santa Rosa, Marilyn Ress went door-to-door to find out which of her fellow residents had no place to go for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. She’d bring the list to her best friend, Cynthia Conners, who would start cooking. Then when the day came... .. read more..
AT&T reaches $2.75 million settlement over employees’ owed overtime wages
Thursday, October 19, 2017
A federal judge in San Francisco has tentatively approved a $2.75 million nationwide settlement for about 400 AT&T employees who serve as teachers and trainers for the phone company’s field workers and have been denied overtime pay because they were classified as managers. U.S. District Judge Vin... .. read more..
Spam snatchings put Hawaii retailers on alert
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Last month in the Pearl City community on Oahu, Safeway customer Arlene Sua watched as a man suddenly grabbed eight cases of Spam and head for the door. She thought “’OK, this isn’t real. No, he’s not going to take it, no, no,” she told KHON TV. But it was real. The man took off with the Spam and... .. read more..
Cornelia Bailey, champion of African-rooted culture, dies at 72
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Cornelia Bailey, a vivid storyteller who fought to protect a vanishing slice of African-American culture on Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia, died on Sunday in Brunswick, Georgia. She was 72. Inez Grovner, president of the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, which Bailey hel... .. read more..
Suspect arrested after SFPD officer on bike is hit, critically injured
Thursday, October 19, 2017
A San Francisco police officer on bicycle patrol three blocks from City Hall was critically injured Wednesday by a suspect in a gun-related case who ran him down in a sport utility vehicle and then drove off before being arrested several hours later, officials said. The officer was struck about 1... .. read more..
‘Like a blowtorch’: Powerful winds fueled tornadoes of flame in Tubbs Fire
Thursday, October 19, 2017
The Tubbs Fire that raged through Santa Rosa last week unleashed a series of fiery tornadoes powerful enough to flip cars, yank trees out of the ground and rip homes apart, fire scientists said Wednesday. Gusts of up to 78 mph were recorded at the weather stations after the fires broke out Oct. 8... .. read more..
Empty wheelchair hints of fire’s drama in Santa Rosa
Thursday, October 19, 2017
No one knew what had happened to the woman in the wheelchair on Keoke Court. For more than a week, the chair sat charred and crumpled at the end of the driveway where she lived with four other women in a residential care home. Nearby were two walkers, their owners also vanished. To residents and ... .. read more..
Firefighters expect full containment on Wine Country wildfires by Friday
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Firefighters have finally managed to dig, burn and bulldoze containment lines around nearly all the North Bay fires, and smiles were at last beginning to appear Wednesday on faces of the people holding the hoses and shovels. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal ... .. read more..
San Francisco sues PG&E over work it claims led to destructive landslide
Thursday, October 19, 2017
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed a lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. on Wednesday accusing the utility of causing a January 2016 landslide that destroyed or damaged six homes near Mount Davidson and has cost the city nearly $8 million. The suit, filed in San Francisco S... .. read more..