Reported by S.F.Gate

"10-17) 18:12 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Mervyns, the 59-year-old department store chain based in Hayward, is closing up shop.

The ailing retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July and planned to close 26 stores, said Friday it now plans to liquidate its remaining 149 locations and shutter the business after the holiday season."

-- Federal offices and courts will be closed Monday for Columbus Day, one of 10 federal holidays.

-- There will be no home mail delivered Monday, except Express Mail.

By JESSE McKINLEY - October 10, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — After decades of debate, and unknown numbers of lost lives, the board that controls the Golden Gate Bridge took a major step toward building a suicide barrier on Friday, voting to erect a net under the span.

The 14-to-1 vote came after several failed efforts over the years to support a physical barrier on the Golden Gate, where troubled souls have long leapt to their deaths.

By Bruce Newman - Mercury News


The Northern California fire season, which appeared to be all but over after a full day of rain last weekend and a recent run of chilly nights, suddenly got run back up the flagpole Friday. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning — the highest level of fire danger short of actual flames — for all of the Bay Area and the Big Sur coastal region that was devasted by the Basin Fire in July.

By JUDY LIN

WILLIAMS, Calif. (AP) -- A charter bus traveling to a casino overturned in north-central California on Sunday, killing 10 people and injuring several others.

FORT HUNTER LIGGETT (AP) ¯ More than 1,300 firefighters were trying Saturday to contain a wildfire that had burned nearly 12,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest along the California coast.

Fire officials said the 19-square-mile blaze burning about 20 miles south of King City in Monterey County was 22 percent cintained.

Full containment was not expected until mid-October.


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By Syantani Chatterjee

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California and Florida cities top the list of those under the risk of future plummeting home prices in the next two years, a report said Wednesday.

According to the PMI Fall 2008 U.S.

Sept 11, 2008
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Silverstone Communities has completed the development of Park Broadway, a 96-residence condominium property located 15 miles south of San Francisco in Millbrae, part of California's upscale San Mateo County.

The concept behind Park Broadway adheres to Silverstone's basic corporate tenet, which is to provide relatively reasonably priced, newly constructed homes with the same upscale tenor found at neighboring properties.

Fairfield police are asking members of the community to help find those responsible for the murder of Matt Garcia, a 22-year-old city councilman who was shot in the back of the head while visiting a friend Monday night.

“Obviously this is a case that hits home for us,” said Fairfield Police Corporal Catherine Skerrit. “…there’s lots of information to follow-up on, but with any investigation it doesn’t happen over night.”

According to Skerrit, police and detectives have been working overtime on this case and hope to have some answers soon.

Continues here: »www.kcbs.com/Police-Ask-Communit···2909357

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

The president of the San Francisco chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club was shot and killed Tuesday night on a Mission District street, police said Wednesday.

Mark "Papa" Guardado, 45, was shot at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday near 24th Street and Treat Avenue, about a mile from the group's clubhouse where he lived. He died at San Francisco General Hospital.

Continues here: »www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c···TL&tsp=1

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Three suspects in a rash of takeover robberies that has plagued Oakland restaurants and other businesses for weeks appeared in court today and were charged with numerous felonies.

Leon Luster, 22, Rashaan Lamonthe, 30, and Shante Bostic, 20, were taken in together in Alameda County Superior Court. They listened as Judge John True read the charges against them in connection with the robberies of an East Oakland nail salon, a Dimond district Chinese restaurant and a North Oakland cafe.

Continues here: »www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c···TL&tsp=1

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ¯ A 23-member Bay Area search and rescue team will leave Monday afternoon to pick up additional team members in San Diego before flying to Atlanta in response to Hurricane Gustav, according to the Menlo Park Fire Protection District.

The fire district sponsors the California Urban Search and Rescue Task Force Three, which is deploying firefighters from the Central County, San Mateo, South San Francisco, Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Jose fire departments; a doctor from San Francisco General Hospital; NASA team members; a San Francisco structural engineer and dog handlers as part of the hurricane response, fire district Chief Harold Schapelhouman said.

The 23 members of the Bay Area team will leave from San Francisco International Airport around 4 p.m. today and pick up another 22-member team from San Diego before flying to Atlanta on a charter flight, Schapelhouman said.

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San Francisco Business Times - by Eric Young

Transit ridership in San Francisco has increased 6.5 percent in the past year, boosted in part by rising gas prices.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said Tuesday that ridership on MUNI rose by 13.5 million to about 220 million boardings in fiscal year 2008, which ended June 30.

Erin McCormick, Chronicle Staff Writer

09-01) 19:15 PDT -- A drug-crazed man runs up behind a woman in San Francisco's Marina district and pulls her to the street as he tries to wrestle her purse away.

A group of young men surrounds a commuter on a Muni bus at Fifth and Market streets; they point a gun at him and demand his iPod.

Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer

American incomes rose modestly between 2006 and 2007, but in California, the typical household lost ground slightly, according to census data released Tuesday, one of several economic indicators that may be a cause for worry as the economy takes another dip, some analysts say

"I think we should be concerned," said Stanford University economics Professor John Taylor, who is a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution. "California has been hit by the financial and housing crisis more than most states, that's for sure, and the unemployment rate has risen over the last year and a half."

In fact, the median household income in California in 2007, adjusted for inflation, was lower than at its peak in 2000, noted Jean Ross, director of the liberal California Budget Project in Sacramento.

"This is bad news for California," Ross said. "You would expect that at the end of a six-year expansion, incomes would have moved higher. Instead, we're going into the next downturn from a lower point than where we started at the beginning of the decade."


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By Slash Lane

The Santa Clara County Fire Department said it received reports of smoke billowing out of 20605 Valley Green Drive at around 10:00 p.m. More than 60 firefighters arrived on the scene, including those from neighboring San Jose Fire Department.

The building, also known as Valley Green Six, is believed to be one of the most famous buildings on the Apple campus, as it has been known to house a number of hardware-based research and development projects in the past.

Full article and video: »www.appleinsider.com/articles/08···pus.html

By BEN BROWN The Daily Journal

"The Fort Bragg Police Department is offering a reward to anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of people responsible for 40 acts of vandalism that occurred early this week.

According to police reports, several structures, including the restrooms at Bainbridge Park, a local church and some private property were vandalized on Monday. Much of the graffiti was red and appeared to be gang related, according to police reports.................Anyone with information is asked to contact FBPD Officer Oscar Lopez at 707-961-2800, extension 165."


Full story at »www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_10124062

By Conan Knoll and Genevieve Bookwalter

Firebombs were intentionally set on a porch and in a car belonging to two UC Santa Cruz researchers in separate incidents early Saturday in what police have classified as acts of domestic terrorism.

Police are calling one of the bombings an attempted homicide.

The wildfire near Yosemite National Park is still burning out of control and nowhere near being contained.

Gov.

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO—A stretch of Interstate 5 that runs through downtown Sacramento has reopened after nearly two months of road construction.
The project was just a few days late, despite delays prompted by high temperatures that slowed resurfacing work and pavement that was thicker than expected in some stretches.

Sections of the freeway that are used by more than 200,000 vehicles each day were closed for 10-day intervals since early June.

The $40 million project was needed to fix a section of the freeway known as "the boat," which sits below the level of the Sacramento River and suffered drainage problems.


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