San Francisco

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SF Healthcare Tab Lands on Diners' Checks

Restaurateurs balk at measure to fund universal coverage

(Newser) - Sweeping new health care legislation requires all San Francisco businesses with more than 20 employees to contribute to their health insurance—and restaurant owners are suing over the new burden, the Los Angeles Times reports. Owners say the fees cut into already-low profit margins; diners, who are seeing some of...

Plastic Bags Getting the Sack Across US

San Francisco ban in effect; taxes, prohibition likely elsewhere

(Newser) - The party's over for plastic bags, USA Today reports. A San Francisco ban on petroleum-based bags already has imitators from coast to coast. Massachusetts is eyeing a bill that would "nudge" consumers with a 2-cent tax on each bag; Connecticut could slap retailers with a $1,000 fine for...

Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions
Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions

Wikipedia Weighs Big Questions

Site struggles with funding, charges of impropriety

(Newser) - Forget dot-com excesses: A piece of printer paper taped to the door and cut-price desks and chairs from eBay and Craigslist are all that distinguish the new San Francisco office of the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia. "We are about as unsophisticated as we could possibly be," its executive...

Calif. Court Considers Gay Marriage

Judges, who appear split, have 90 days to rule on ban

(Newser) - An overflow crowd and hundreds more outside a San Francisco courthouse listened yesterday as the California Supreme Court heard arguments on the state's gay marriage ban, the Los Angeles Times reports. The judges appeared split as lawyers argued for more than 3 1/2 hours. One judge asked if domestic partnership...

Fare War Breaks Out at LAX
Fare War Breaks Out at LAX

Fare War Breaks Out at LAX

Thanks to Virgin America, ticket prices dip as fuel prices soar

(Newser) - Even as fuel prices soar, Los Angeles airline passengers are enjoying an old-fashioned fare war sparked by newcomer Virgin America, the LA Times reports. Sir Richard Branson's brainchild has drawn United, Alaska, Southwest, and even longtime LAX holdout JetBlue into a feud that's seen one-way fares as low as $44....

Golden Gate Considers a Fence
Golden Gate Considers a Fence

Golden Gate Considers a Fence

As suicides mount, San Francisco considers changes to beloved landmark

(Newser) - San Francisco may finally be coming to grips with its Golden Gate suicide instrument, from which more than 1,300 people have thrown themselves, reports the Washington Post, making it America’s No. 1 self-annihilation destination. But for years the bridge’s guardians have resisted calls to erect a barrier,...

Judge Balks at Bonds Indictment
Judge Balks at Bonds Indictment

Judge Balks at Bonds Indictment

Feds told to revise charges after trying to jam multiple offenses into perjury counts

(Newser) - The government’s case against Barry Bonds hit a snag today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, with a judge ruling that it included multiple offenses in four of the counts of perjury in the indictment of baseball's home-run king. The feds must rewrite or re-file the indictment, Judge Susan Illston...

Nader Chooses Former SF Pol as Running Mate

Green Party stalwart Matt Gonzalez rounds out independent ticket

(Newser) - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader today selected Matt Gonzalez as his running mate, the San Francisco Business Times reports. Gonzalez, 42, was elected San Francisco supervisor on the Green Party ticket in 2000, with the famously hippy Haight-Ashbury neighborhood part of his district. A last-minute campaign for mayor in 2003...

One-Man Beer Outfits Take Brewing Micro Indeed

Super-small operations cater to niches in US niche markets

(Newser) - Some so-called “microbreweries” have grown much too large to use that sobriquet, but as certain outfits outgrow the label, others are just growing into it. Portfolio's Lew Bryson introduces the future of beer: one-man brewing. In a market where once-boutique names like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada now command...

Cities Ready Protest Blackout
Cities Ready Protest Blackout

Cities Ready Protest Blackout

World 'Earth Hour' aims to raise awareness about global warming

(Newser) - An hour of darkness will descend on cities from Australia to Denmark on March 29 as homes and business turn out the lights to raise awareness about global warming. The event began last year in Sydney, where 2.2 million people shut off the lights, AFP reports. Two dozen cities...

SF Voters Nix Plan to Tear Down Alcatraz

Motion to transform island prison site into peace center fails

(Newser) - Alcatraz Island shouldn't be transformed into a global peace center, San Franciscan voters decided in rejecting a measure on Tuesday's ballot. Only 28% backed the non-binding proposal to convert the one-time penitentiary and tourist hotspot into a peace dome, the New York Times reports. But DaVid, the measure's main sponsor,...

Superbug Strikes Gay Men
Superbug Strikes Gay Men

Superbug Strikes Gay Men

Resistant new strain of MRSA spreading fast

(Newser) - A new strain of the "flesh-eating" bacteria MRSA is spreading rapidly among gay men in Boston and San Francisco and there are warnings it could extend to a larger population, the New York Times reports. The drug-resistant strain seems to be spreading largely by sexual contact, but it can...

Surfers Dare Mavericks' Waves
Surfers Dare Mavericks' Waves

Surfers Dare Mavericks' Waves

Dangerous contest is a crowd-pleaser

(Newser) - Hordes of international surfers descended on the rocky shores and treacherous waves of Mavericks beach near San Francisco yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reports. The competition was called 24 hours before the air horn went off—enough time for surfers to fly from Brazil and South Africa, and for thousands...

Data Centers Ahoy!
Data Centers Ahoy!

Data Centers Ahoy!

SF startup will fill cargo holds with computer networks

(Newser) - This spring will see the debut of a curious new green tech innovation: the floating data center. As an alternative to typical off-site computer backups, a startup plans to build its server networks inside shipping containers stored on cargo ships. International Data Security will open the first at San Francisco’...

Lawyer: Tiger Area Couldn't Hold a Tabby

Mauled brothers' rep has claws out for San Francisco Zoo

(Newser) - The lawyer for two brothers mauled in the Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo has gone on the attack, the Chronicle reports. Mark Geragos yesterday slammed the zoo's "character assassination" of the brothers, claiming an employee warned the zoo that the moat around the tiger grotto...

SF Tiger Attack Survivors Made Silence Pact

Brothers vowed in ambulance not to talk to police, report says

(Newser) - In the ambulance to the hospital just after a tiger mauled 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. to death, paramedics heard Sousa's two friends make a pact of silence about "what we did," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The two brothers, accused by one witness of taunting the tiger before...

SoCal Braces for Fierce Storm
SoCal Braces for Fierce Storm

SoCal Braces for Fierce Storm

Canyon residents ordered to leave for fear of mudslides

(Newser) - A storm that battered Northern California and knocked out power for more a million people today is drenching Los Angeles tonight, sparking evacuation calls for an estimated 3,000 people, the Los Angeles Times reports. Torrential rain is expected and residents of canyon areas scorched by the October wildfires have...

SF Cops Examine Rock, Branch in Tiger Taunt Probe

Witness reports seeing two victims harassing lions

(Newser) - Police are examining a large rock and tree branch found inside a tiger enclosure at  the San Francisco Zoo to determine if they may have been part of an attack or taunting of the animal that leaped out to kill a teenager last month, reports CNN. A witness reported seeing...

Tiger Survivors' Lawyer Ready to Pounce

Hotshot attorney Mark Geragos slams 'deficient' SF Zoo

(Newser) - Two brothers who survived an attack from an escaped tiger at San Francisco Zoo have hired hotshot lawyer Mark Geragos, ABC News reports. Geragos, whose high-profile clients have included Michael Jackson and wife-killer Scott Peterson, seems to be getting ready to give the zoo a mauling with a major lawsuit....

Police Logs Detail Chaotic Response to Escaped Tiger

Skeptical first report slowed response

(Newser) - The first chaotic hour after an escaped tiger at the San Francisco Zoo killed a 17-year-old man on Christmas is revealed in riveting detail in the transcript of the police log released by authorities yesterday. The report shows that zoo employees first thought the injured man who reported the escaped...

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