San Francisco

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Prop. 8 'Architect' Set to Take Over as SF Archbishop

Gay Catholics reeling

(Newser) - Critics are calling it "bombshell by the Bay." The pope has sent a strong message to his Left Coast faithful by naming a key backer of Proposition 8 against gay marriage as the new archbishop of San Francisco. Salvatore Cordileone, who officially takes charge next week, is considered...

America's Richest, Poorest Cities

San Jose is No. 1 in terms of income; poorest is Detroit

(Newser) - Of the country's 25 most populated cities, San Jose has the highest median household income: near $77,000, compared to the national median of $51,000. San Jose's success is thanks in part to its high-tech culture. MarketWatch lists the five richest, with median incomes:
  • San Jose, $77,
...

Flower Power Icon, Singer Scott McKenzie Dead at 73

'Wear Flowers in Your Hair' defined hippie era

(Newser) - Singer Scott McKenzie, best known for his song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," died Saturday at the age of 73, reports the BBC . Released in 1967, "San Francisco" became one of the most iconic songs of the hippie era, helping define the...

SF Escalators Jammed With ... Poop

Homeless people use them as restrooms

(Newser) - San Francisco workers were greeted with an unpleasant sight when they opened a broken subway escalator: a vast quantity of human waste—enough to require a hazardous materials team on the scene. It seems that homeless people frequently use BART stairwells as nighttime toilets; indeed, the poop came as no...

SF Library Offers 'Privacy Screens' to Block Porn

But some patrons say the screens don't work

(Newser) - Apparently, running down to the public library to stream a little porn is a lot of people's idea of a rockin' good time, so San Francisco is responding by installing plastic "privacy screens" over computers, reports KTVU . The screens are meant to shield images from passing patrons who...

Alleged Identity Thief Serves Prison Time as Victim

Gregory Harville wanted health care benefits

(Newser) - San Francisco police collared a man this week for allegedly stealing an old friend's identity and using it to get a job and health benefits. The twist: Gregory Harville, 58, also paid traffic tickets and served time in state prison under the victim's name, SF Weekly reports. The...

Couple Buys, Destroys $4.2M Home to Improve View

 Couple Buys, Destroys 
 $4.2M Home to Improve View 
in case you missed it
Jun 30, 2012 7:00 PM CDT

Couple Buys, Destroys $4.2M Home to Improve View

House was blocking San Francisco skyline

(Newser) - A California couple bought and demolished a home that was standing between their $19 million home and spectacular views of the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate Bridge. Money manager Clark Winslow and his wife, who bought their Marin County home in 2008, purchased the neighboring home at auction...

To Curb Panhandling, San Francisco Tries ... Puppies

It will pay panhandlers a stipend to care for shelter's pooches

(Newser) - San Francisco is taking a novel approach in its never-ending fight to limit panhandling in the city: In a word, puppies. As the Chronicle explains, the city will soon start a program in which panhandlers get paid a small stipend, say $50 a week, to forgo their begging and instead...

Golden Gate Turns 75 in Shadow of Near-Collapse

300K people packed bridge on 50th, but engineers not worried

(Newser) - Twenty-five years ago, 300,000 people swarmed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge to celebrate the landmark's 50th anniversary. Urban legend has long held there were so many people on the bridge that day, it nearly collapsed. "Then it got kind of scary, because we realized we were...

San Francisco Official Turns to Ouija Board Before Vote

... and says the spirit of Harvey Milk responded

(Newser) - This probably falls under the only-in-San-Francisco department: A city supervisor says he consulted a Ouija board before voting on a measure to honor slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk , reports the San Francisco Chronicle . What's more, John Avalos swears Milk responded and guided him through the message, "Good...

SF Woman Blames Car Crash on Eclipse

She says she was blinded by glare when she hit pedestrians

(Newser) - A San Francisco driver blamed the moon moving in front of the sun for preventing her from spotting the pedestrians moving in front of her vehicle. The 26-year-old woman told cops that she had looked at the "ring of fire" annular eclipse and had been temporarily blinded by its...

Yacht Racing Off SF Coast Suspended

Races rerouted after 5 sailors killed

(Newser) - The Coast Guard has called a temporary halt to ocean-going races in the San Francisco area following the deaths of five sailors during a race earlier this month. A race due to take place Saturday has been rerouted, and authorities are working to find a new route for another race...

Protesters Crash Wells Fargo Meeting

Shareholding activists demand end to foreclosures

(Newser) - Some 15 shareholders were arrested for disrupting Wells Fargo's annual shareholder meeting in San Francisco yesterday. The protesters—allowed in because they own Wells Fargo shares—were ejected after shouting over CEO John Stumpf's presentation about the bank's $15.9 billion profit in 2011, reports the San ...

Search Ends for 4 Missing in SF Yacht Tragedy

Monster waves hit boat mid-race

(Newser) - The Coast Guard has called off its search after two days hunting for four sailors— three men and a woman —missing from a 38-foot sailboat that crashed during a race that started in San Francisco Bay. A fifth sailor's body has been recovered, and three were rescued from...

SF Mass Murder Suspect Dodged Deportation

Vietnam refused to take Binh Thai Luc back in 2006

(Newser) - The man accused of the brutal murder of five people in San Francisco was only in America because his native Vietnam refused to take him back, the San Francisco Chronicle finds. After Binh Thai Luc served nearly a decade in prison for the 1996 robbery of a Chinese restaurant in...

Suspect Held in Gruesome San Francisco Murders

Binh Thai Luc arrested after grim scene discovered

(Newser) - San Francisco police have arrested a 35-year-old man in the murders of three women and two men. The bodies were found at a home in the city amid a crime scene police called particularly grisly—and so "complex" that police couldn't say at first whether it was a...

SF Sheriff Gets Probation in Domestic Violence

'I'm ashamed and deeply sorry,' says Ross Mirkarimi

(Newser) - San Francisco's top sheriff has been sentenced to a day in jail and three years probation after he was charged with beating his wife black and blue. Ross Mirkarimi, who pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment, must also attend a year-long domestic violence intervention program....

Fighters Intercept Pot Plane in Obama Airspace

Cessna strays too close as Obama heads to LAX

(Newser) - What were they smoking? A four-seater Cessna plane hauling marijuana yesterday strayed into restricted airspace designed to protect President Obama, who was flying on Marine One; the small plane was intercepted by fighter jets. The incident occurred as the president was traveling in the helicopter from Orange County to Los...

SF Audit Finds Massive Flaws in Foreclosures

SF study of 400 foreclosures could point to huge violations nationwide

(Newser) - Pervasive problems have been uncovered in home foreclosures in a detailed audit in San Francisco that could indicate similar wide-scale national issues. Almost every one of the recent 400 foreclosures studied involved either violations or suspicious documentation, according to officials. Some 84% of the foreclosures involved what appeared to be...

28 Pounds of Cocaine Seized on Cruise Ship in SF

Customs officers bust three on Australia-bound liner

(Newser) - It was supposed to be the cruise of a lifetime—around the Caribbean to Hawaii and onward to Australia. But three passengers who didn't make it past San Francisco look set to spend a big chunk of their lifetimes in jail. Customs officials seized close to 28 pounds of...

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