In San Francisco, when someone says a bear crashed a graduation party, they're probably talking about a student's dad.But down south in Bakersfield, when a bear crashes a party, it's actually a terrifying experience.
A black bear reportedly interrupted a graduation ceremony in Bakersfield when it made its way over a fence and onto an adjacent playground at school at Ramon Garza Elementary. The 200-pound bear was then seen wandering around the parking lot; it walked right past the school administration offices and made its way to the graduation ceremony at the adjacent Sierra
Middle School. Some 600 parents watched in awe as the beast made its way through a chain-link
fence.
Officials confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the black bear was "not an invited guest."
"He felt like he was unwelcome, so he left," said Kim Rodriguez with Kern County Animal Control.
It's that time of the year -- bonfires at the beach, beer flights at the Beach Chalet, and road closures along the Great Highway.
It happens every year -- the high winds in San Francisco create sand buildup along key points of the highway, forcing the city to close the road while crews work to "redistribute the sand" along the promenade.
That means starting June 4 the southbound lanes of the Great Highway from Lincoln Way to Sloat Boulevard will be closed to cars from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. The maintenance work will continue through June 8, according to the Department of Public Works.
Here's another good reason to quit smoking.
Police say that three men were robbed last night -- two at knife point -- in separate incidents where the victims were distracted by a conversation over cigarettes.
According to police reports, two men were walking along Hyde and O'Farrell at about 10:45 p.m. when three men approached them and asked the victims for a cigarette. As they talked about smokes, two other men came up behind the victims, placed knives to their necks, and robbed them of their cash.
In that crime, the suspects were described as black men between the ages of 35 and 45.
(Update 12:50 p.m.): Eliana Lopez responds to the video release. Read after the jump:
The Chronicle has obtained the incriminating video that everyone has been waiting for -- the one Eliana Lopez made the day after her husband, Sheriff-in-limbo Ross Mirkarimi, bruised her arm in a domestic dispute.
The 45-second video, taken by Lopez's neighbor Ivory Madison, shows Lopez crying and explaining how she got the bruise on her arm and how "this is the second time this is happening."
The video was obtained by police with a search warrant, and has become the key evidence in the case against Mirkarimi, who pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment in connection to the Dec. 31 domestic dispute. The video has been hidden from the public until now.
Men with Confederate flag decals reading "Never Forget" on their gun-rack-equipped pickups and a fondness for "states' rights" don't seem like the likely demographic to support same-sex marriage.
Following today's unanimous ruling by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, however, they may have to be -- or risk ideological hypocrisy.
Despite the hot-button issue of same-sex marriage, today's ruling actually trotted out a favorite conservative hobby horse. In narrowly deciding that states that allow same-sex marriage cannot be subsequently undermined by the federal government, the three-judge panel made a classic states' right argument.
"The decision says states should determine what marriage is, and the federal government should then accord states that dignity instead of saying, 'No, you can't do this,'" says Michael Zamperini, a constitutional law professor at Golden Gate University.
Besides living in Oakland (where things are really happening), we're too lazy to bar-hop anywhere on any day of the week. So we're rather thankful to read this review of SceneTap's unpopular facial-detection technology from a true professional who could give us the rundown on how effective the controversial cameras have been at San Francisco bars.
The Verge went on an experimental bar crawl with Mike Smooth, a local "dating coach" who teaches dudes how to pick up chicks. If anyone could use this technology, it's Smooth, which is why we trust him.
Smooth's first stop on Wednesday night was The Wreck Room, a pub in the city's Russian Hill neighborhood. SceneTap uses its facial detection technology to collect general yet anonymous information about patrons. It uses that data to broadcast a bar's "happeningness" level with a color-coded system of pins on a Google map. A green pin indicates the bar is "lively," while a blue pin signals it's a "chill" night at the venue.
When Smooth arrived at The Wreck Room, SceneTap said it was "lively," with 35 percent women, average age 23, and 65 percent men,
average age 32, according to The Verge.
A few weeks ago the kids over at Sun Valley School in San Rafael marked Crayola as not-so-environmentally friendly company, and asked it to start a recycle program for its millions of plastic markers. The kids even circulated a petition, garnering some 74,000 signatures and counting.
The company was touched, but not convinced that caring for the environment would work for its business model. Crayola publicly said it was a great idea, but that creating a take-back program for its plastic markers would be "too hard."
Well, Crayola might be giving up, but the kids aren't. That public declaration only inspired the partially toothless bunch to create this well-executed video asking Crayola to make its mark -- on the environment.
California State Assembly Bill 1993, introduced by San Francisco Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, would prohibit police officers from impounding or towing an unlicensed person's car if the car can be parked nearby or if a licensed driver can come and pick it up.
Prior to the four-alarm fire next door, the coffee shop behind the nameless awning and signless storefront at 208 Valencia St. was notable not for what was behind the white door opposite the barista -- a medical marijuana dispensary -- but for the dispensary's flouting of federal law.
Exactly how 208 Valencia Caregivers landed on U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag's radar is unclear, but the notice her office mailed to the dispensary's landlord Feb. 21 was clear: Shut down the dispensary, or face property forfeiture and stiff jail sentences.
Or not. It was business as usual at the dispensary until the May 6 fire next door at Valencia Street and Duboce Avenue -- and business will continue as soon as the building can be cleaned up and electricity turned back on, according to the dispensary's Facebook page.
