(Update, 5:30 p.m.): Santa Clara County sheriffs have taken their search for Sierra LaMar to local waters. They sent divers into the Chesbro Reservoir this evening after a sonar picked up irregularities at the bottom of the waterway.
(Original story, 8:45 a.m.) It's now been a month since 15-year-old Sierra LaMar was last seen, and her family has launched a new website, hoping to keep the word out there about the missing Morgan Hill teen.
The site, findsierralamar.com, was created this week, and includes more photos as well as close-up images of the clues police have discovered since her March 16 disappearance. It also has a blog, news updates, and resources so volunteers can continue helping in the search for Sierra. her family is offering a $10,000 reward for her safe return.
According to the site:
Sierra is a loving friend, sister, daughter and inspiration to everyone who has gotten the chance to meet her. She is a confident teenager who stands up for not only herself but others as well. At times she may put on the tough girl act but really she is a very compassionate andmotivated young girl. She likes to help those in need and isn't afraid to branch out of her inner circle. She loves to dance and cheer making everyone who watches her smile. Most of all, Sierra can make almost anyone laugh and loves being a goof. She is a sophomore in high school and still has so much to contribute to this world, so let's bring her
home!!!
Anyone who's ever waited 20 minutes for a drink refill or extra sauce understands the frustration of having an overworked waiter. Usually the server takes the brunt of the teeth-grinding, and somebody at the table says something like, "Jeez, where is he at?" or "I guess he doesn't want a good tip."
We've given you much to consider in the days about human feces and how it's managed in San Francisco. But here's something else you might posit: Would you wipe your mouth on a paper napkin that's been recycled from used toilet paper?
C'mon, aren't you an environmentalist?
Well, now you'll know for sure just how far you are willing to go to save the planet. Applied Clean Tech, an Israeli environmental company, is taking soiled, poopy toilet paper from the water treatment plants, cleaning it, sterilizing it, and pressing it into a clean piece of paper ready for you to write your next love letter. The company uses matter that is at least 60 percent cellulose to
maintain enough elasticity to convert the matter into a new solid
compound.
According to Gizmodo, the result looks much
like particle board, and could support up to 10 percent of
the world's paper needs while reducing the amount of sludge waste
reaching landfills by 75 percent.
The federal appeals court withdrew its decision to excuse a California Highway Patrol officer for shooting a woman 12 times, killing her instantly.
The San Francisco Federal Appeals Court ordered the plaintiffs -- both daughters of the victim -- and the defendant to submit briefs addressing a number of issues, including whether the court should give regard to the jury's decision that the officer used deadly force with the intention to harm her without legitimate reasons related to enforcing the law. And if so, how might this change the officer's immunity in this case?
Readers might recall the story of Karen Eklund, who, in 2006, led police on a high-speed chase through the streets of San Francisco after she was spotted in a stolen car near Antioch. Eklund violently rammed her car into a
police cruiser three times before crashing into a cul-de-sac in the
Mission Terrace neighborhood.
Authorities have finally identified the man who was killed by a Muni bus while walking through Hayes Valley last month as 42-year-old Joel Lambert.
Lambert was hit by the 21-Hayes bus near Fillmore and Hayes streets around 10:45 a.m. on March 25 after he walked out from between two parked cars, according to police. He was pinned and stuck under the bus, and was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he later died.
However, Lambert, a San Francisco resident, had not been carrying identification at the time of the accident, and the county coroner was unable to identify him. Earlier this week, authorities released a sketch of Lambert, asking if anyone knew him.
If you haven't yet noticed that it's coyote season in San Francisco, you will as soon as you cross paths with one in Golden Gate Park.
The County's Animal Care and Control Department informed us that it's coyote
mating season, which means these canines will be doing it like bunnies all summer long. And that's why we are here to tell you how not to get eaten alive by one of those horny dogs.
First, you should know that coyotes tend to be more aggressive during mating season, which starts now and ends in August. Second, you should know they have no qualms about making you and your pup feel unwelcome. So avoid their dens at all cost -- give the prairie wolves some privacy during this time of prolific procreation.
And if you do cross a coyote, DO NOT FEED IT.
Among the many, many changes happening over at the fledgling Bay Citizen, the news outlet announced this week it will sever its special relationship with the New York Times on April 29.
The news isn't so surprising after the paper announced it would merge with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a move that was officially approved this week by the California Attorney General.
But from what we hear, the breakup has been nothing but amicable.
Robert Rosenthal, executive director for the CIR, confirmed the relationship has run its course and the new media outlet doesn't want to be tied down by the Grey Lady once the merger is complete. The Bay Citizen's stories are published twice a week in editions of the Times distributed in the San Francisco area.
"We want the opportunity to have multiple media partners in the Bay Area and not be in an exclusive relationship with, really, anyone," Rosenthal told Poynter.
It took some doing, but Mayor Ed Lee at last gave medical marijuana the lip service it had been seeking for months with a statement where Lee dubbed state-legal medical cannabis "legitimate," and expressed "concern" over more city-licensed dispensaries risking federal closure from the United States Justice Department.
This came after Lee's office referred to medical marijuana dispensaries as "'nuisance' retail" in a document released last year by the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, which is being used by the Planning Department as reason to deny a permit to a pot club proposed for a vacant building in an alley off of Sixth Street.
Yesterday's Chris Roberts piece on cleaning human dung from the streets of the Tenderloin was so intriguing, it deserves not just one follow-up but a second.
So, yes, this is follow-up No. 2.
Department of Public Works spokeswoman Gloria Chan tells us the DPW responded to 2,500 calls between July of 2011 and the present day to scrub the Tenderloin's streets of human waste. We wondered -- how, exactly, is the department keeping track of this? Is it filing these calls under "E" for "Excrement, Human"? Or maybe "F" for "Feces, Human"? (Actually, the "human" is redundant; Chan says that, in the eyes of DPW, "fecal matter is fecal matter.")
If it's not categorized alphabetically, is there some sort of numerical code for excrement extraction, like traffic or parking violations? "Not another Code 72!" a frustrated DPW worker might intone.
Well, it's neither of these. But, for fans of feces-related double-entendres, the DPW's actual solution is even better.
