Despite all the horrible crises we read about every day (budget, education, etc.), Californians have much to be proud of -- the scenic beauty, the diverse culture, and get this: We aren't killing each other as much as we used to.
According to General Attorney Kamala Harris, the total number of homicides declined from 1,970 in 2009 to 1,809 in 2010, a 7.8 percent drop. Moreover, the number of homicide cases solved has increased for the fifth consecutive year, with a 63.8 percent clearance rate in 2010.
The report, titled "Homicide in California 2010" details information about murders and victims as well as the death penalty and the number of police officers killed in the line of duty.
According to the report, 80.3 percent of homicide victims were male, while 19.7 percent were female. Hispanics were murdered more than any other race, followed by blacks.
Other depressing statistics from the report:
It's been more than three months since former San Francisco Civil Service Commissioner Donald Casper was tragically killed while jogging on a rural road in Sonoma County -- and police have made no arrests, nor have they named a suspect.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, the cops have increased the reward to $50,000, hoping someone will come forward with good information.
"We have followed up on over 100 leads, but have no new information," said CHP Officer Jonathan Sloat. "We are hoping that this additional enticement will lead to someone speaking up. We know that someone out there has information."
Giselle Esteban, the 27-year-old Union City woman accused of killing her former high school friend, Michelle Le, is a new mother.
Esteban, who appeared in court today, but did not enter a plea, gave birth to a baby boy right before Thanksgiving, according to the Chron. A source told reporters that Esteban was taken to the hospital to give birth and then taken back to jail where she has been since her arrest on Sept. 7.
It's not known who is taking care of the boy.
A few weeks ago, we got a real kick out of the fact that Occupy Oakland deposited a $20,000 donation it received into Wells Fargo -- one of the many big banks the movement has been actively protesting since September. Say what you want about Occupy SF camp (it's dirty and filled with homeless people) -- at least protesters there are practicing what they preach.
Members of Occupy SF announced their ambitious plans to turn protesters into bankers by creating the People's Reserve Credit Union. According to Occupy SF's Facebook page:
The goal of this project is to encourage San Francisco residents, businesses, as well as nonprofit and city agencies to keep their money out of the big banks and to redistribute that money locally. Initial services will include micro-loans for the working poor and homeless, and subsidized student loans at low interest rates.
In June, your humble narrator traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles via public transportation. This journey, as explained in the ensuing cover story, was undertaken for the same reason George Mallory sought to climb Mount Everest: "Because it's there." Mallory's journey was fatal. Mine involved 32 hours spent largely on buses, trains, and subways.
In other words, it was far from traumatic -- but also far from a holiday. Yet one person's nerve-wracking assignment is another's vacation. I received this week a letter from a woman who, inspired by our article, retraced my steps -- and then some.
Adrienne Leifer is a 47-year-old computer programmer for the San Francisco Unified School District. Her reaction after reading of my two-day journey from downtown San Francisco to downtown L.A. was unusual -- "Darn it, I'm gonna do that." But instead of a 32-hour trip to L.A., Leifer plotted out a five-day public transit caravan to Pasadena, where she would join her family for Thanksgiving. Her plan was to walk up her sister's driveway at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 22. She left her home in Laurel Heights five days prior at 9 a.m.
Police did show up at Justin Herman Plaza last night, riot gear and all, but a raid on the Occupy SF camp never happened. Rather, police decided instead to erect metal barricades around the camp, which of course only incited protesters, who obviously didn't like the idea of being caged in.
Police put up the barricade shortly after 6 p.m., saying they were concerned about the safety at the plaza, where the camp has started to read more like a chapter from Lord of the Flies. A legion of protesters have made it clear that they won't leave the camp without a lot of kicking and screaming -- literally. At least one person was arrested on suspicion of kicking over part of the barricade and injuring a police officer.
The San Francisco Examiner closed out the month of November with a mix of good and bad news. The good -- actually great -- news is that readers will no longer have to swallow the evangelical dogma that was spewed by its former owner, Phil Anschutz. The bad news is the Ex will be delivering its more liberal paper with a much smaller staff.
Shortly after meeting with the Ex staff on Thursday, Todd Vogt, the new president and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, confirmed that the new owners, a consortium led by the Black Press Group, would indeed be making cuts at the paper as soon as next week. He couldn't say how many layoffs there would be, but said it would be nothing like the "magnitude of cuts other newsrooms have seen in the Bay Area" over the last few years.
"We want the paper to remain a quality product, but to do that, we have to remain in business," Vogt told us. "The core reporting staff will not be affected."
What are Mayor Ed Lee's excuses for gutting the Occupy SF camp?
