A 12-year-old girl whose mother was found dead in their native Virginia earlier this week turned up in San Francisco today.
Brittany Mae Smith was spotted in a Richmond District store. Her mother's boyfriend, Jeffrey Scott Easley, is in custody. He is suspected of abducting the child -- and of killing her mother.
While passing the Caltrain station earlier this week, one of the men we'd interviewed for our story on homeless sex offenders last year flagged us down. He'd said no one had seen Thomas Craig, another one of our sources in the story, for several weeks. Now the Ford Windstar that Craig slept in parked on Bluxome Street had been gathering parking tickets, and our informant speculated the worst: "I think he died in there. I told the fire department, but they just laughed it off."
The consequences of Jessica's Law have been sinister to Craig and others to say the least: Since the law mandates that sex offenders must live 2,000 feet away from a park or school, in San Francisco, their only option is to not have a residence at all. The parole department currently mandates that they remain homeless.
Bent out of shape by the alleged actions of chiropractor Benjamin Altadonna, the state of California has filed suit, claiming the health practitioner is deeply crooked.
In a case filed in Alameda County Superior Court, the state claims the Danville chiropractor fraudulently pedaled the futuristic-sounding DRX-9000 spinal decompression device and other ephemera to health practitioners statewide. Specifically, the suit claims, Altadonna said the DRX-9000 was a "proven" cash generator; scientifically tested to relieve herniated disc and lower back pain by 86 percent; able to increase doctors' profits by $50,000 a month or more; approved by the Food and Drug Administration; and recommended by NASA.
Those claims, as readers may have guessed by now, are dead on arrival.
How was your 2010? For the cannabis community, it was a wild flip of the calendar, with dispensaries opening and closing, police raiding, a medical cannabis luminary thrown in jail for meth charges -- and we vaguely remember something about a legalization ballot measure.
There's still time yet before 2011 -- who knows what the next few weeks will bring?. In any event, here's your recap of the Year in Pot (to date).
Regulated Edibles Means Hidden Cookies
The year opened with ambitious rule changes from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, which oversees the city's medical cannabis regulations. The city passed strict rules regarding dispensaries manufacturing and selling of medical cannabis edibles -- requiring food-handling courses and kitchen inspections for the folks cooking butter and baking brownies. New rules on labels were also passed: All edibles now come with a "made-on date" stamped on their wrappers -- which are now required to be opaque (as in not see-through), as to not attract children. Is your brownie rotten? Only one way to find out -- open it up and take a sniff. But that's what kids are for, right?
During a lengthy Wednesday hearing regarding the America's Cup -- which was far less thrilling than a yachting race and had far more nautically themed public comment -- the city's budget analyst made an emphatic point.
Based on the "Northern Waterfront Alternative" plan which is currently en vogue, Harvey Rose warned that billionaire yachtsman Larry Ellison's "Event Authority could end up paying nothing -- nothing -- for infrastructure improvements." Bluntly, $55 million in city money would be siphoned from the general fund and into the kitty of companies controlled by one of the world's wealthiest men.
How would this happen? In not one but two ways.
Two San Francisco defense attorneys are asking that their clients' rape cases be dismissed because of a DNA sample mix-up -- and its subsequent concealment -- at the San Francisco Police Department crime lab in 2008.
The cases may be the first to be directly affected by the latest lab scandal, which erupted last week in response to mistakes at the lab's DNA section first reported by SF Weekly. The attorneys argue in court papers that their clients' constitutional rights were violated by the District Attorney's failure to turn over records about the sample switch.
Got some cyclists on your holiday gift list? Well, you're in luck -- San Francisco's ever-expanding bike mania means that you've got a ton of great shopping options. We've put together this handy gift guide for your last-minute holiday needs, based on input from experts, recommendations from shops, and our own hope that someone will buy these things for us.
"What's a good gift for cyclists?" we asked Nate over at Mike's Bikes. "That's a big question every year," he said. It's hard to buy for cyclists, since their needs are so individualized and particular. Nate suggested starting with lights, which at $15 can make a good Secret-Santa item. Or you can go for the $500 model -- yes, that's right, five hundred -- which puts out almost as many lumens as a car headlight. (A lot.) Just try not to paralyze any deer.
SF Weekly readers may recall a charming story about a transgender woman getting a drivers license with her new female name at the San Francisco DMV -- and also getting a most unwelcome letter, purportedly from a DMV employee, telling her she was goin' to hell.
Funny thing about signing your name to a harassing letter -- you can get sued. And that's just what may happene. Amber Yust, the 23-year-old transgender woman in question, has taken the first step toward suing the DMV.
John Toomey, the fired 20-year Macy's Santa, would never have gone on The Tonight Show if he hadn't told a bad joke. Same with Jay Leno, right?
Toomey, dressed in full St. Nick regalia, appeared during the show's monologue last night. He informed Leno he was no longer permitted to say "ho, ho, ho" -- now it's "working girl, working girl, working girl." He also noted he's not giving out any Macy's gift certificates. To be honest, Toomey delivered his lines exceedingly competently, but to limited laughter. But, hey, those people waited in line to see Jay Leno.
Meanwhile, today, a 3 p.m. parade of Luxor cab drivers motoring antique fire engines in support of Toomey will roll right past Macy's and head to the Santa's new workshop -- Lefty O'Doul's.
