The California Beat News Service provides news and information updates for the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and the Metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area. Breaking news alerts and regional news headlines can be found when you follow our Twitter service @californiabeat.
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Some came dressed like Waldo, pirates, or the Super Mario Brothers.
Others came wearing nothing at all.
Tens of thousands of costumed revelers crowded sidewalks and streets Sunday morning for the 102nd annual running of the Bay to Breakers 12K footrace, a quintessentially San Francisco event that brought out fun, frivolity, and — despite an official ban on alcohol — booze-fueled partying on the streets.
After a brief respite from an onslaught of stormy weather Saturday morning, another powerful storm to moved into the Bay Area at night bringing with it more rain, wind and the prospect of flooding along two swollen rivers.
Heavy rain began falling during the evening hours Saturday. The brunt of the storm, the third in the past four days, will strike Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
A movie about the New Year’s Day 2009 shooting of BART passenger Oscar Grant by a police officer has been selected to compete for best dramatic film in the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, festival organizers announced Wednesday.
“Fruitvale” depicts the hours before Grant’s slaying by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland. The shooting was captured on numerous cameras by witnesses and immediately went viral on the internet.
The California Highway Patrol and local police agencies reported at least a dozen traffic deaths on Northern California roadways over the Thanksgiving holiday, marking a bloody increase in the number of fatalities during one of the busiest periods for travel each year.
One of the deadliest crashes happened Saturday evening when a 2004 Toyota Prius crossed the center line and slammed head-on into a van on Highway 50 east of Placerville.
Four killings and at least seven non-fatal shootings were reported throughout Oakland over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, police said Sunday.
The latest killings occurred at 6 a.m. Sunday on the 3900 block of Brookdale Avenue near Minna Street in East Oakland where two women were found with gunshot wounds. Both were taken to Highland Hospital where they were pronounced dead.
Memorial services have been scheduled for Saturday for Rory Park-Pettiford, the man killed by two armed robbers during a carjacking attempt outside a San Jose 7-11 convenience store Friday night.
Police said Park-Pettiford, 22, of San Jose became the innocent victim of a robbery rampage targeting four businesses committed by Jonathan Wilbanks and a 15 year-old boy who was arrested in Concord Friday.
Three teenagers who allegedly used a replica handgun to rob two women of their cell phones in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood were arrested by police Monday evening.
Police said the three teens stole a cell phone at gunpoint from a woman on the 4400 block of Webster St. at 7:50 p.m. The trio robbed another woman five minutes later on the 4800 block of Shafter Ave.
(11/21) — 0745 PST UPDATE — OAKLAND, CALIF. – Oakland firefighters and divers from the Alameda County Search and Rescue team recovered the body of a man who fell at least 100 feet into a water-filled rock quarry while looking for his pet cat early Wednesday morning.
The quarry is located adjacent to the Rockridge Shopping Center off of Pleasant Valley Dr. near Montgomery St. at the Oakland-Piedmont city line, authorities said.
The co-host of the Discovery Channel TV program Mythbusters said Monday someone broke into his car in Downtown San Francisco and stole a distinctive and valuable designer bag.
“Car was robbed downtown on Saturday eve,” Adam Savage tweeted. “Stolen: my awesome Tom Sachs bag. Reward for its return.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will decide Tuesday on whether to ban public nudity, an unprecedented maneuver to fight the blossoming popularity of urban nakedness in the city.
The proposed ordinance put forth by Supervisor Scott Wiener will likely gain enough votes to pass, but it follows a series of protests by naked men and women on the steps of City Hall, including a march last Wednesday around the building and in front of thousands of high schoolers on a field trip to the San Francisco Opera across the street.
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