October 14, 2013

Couch-crashing in S.F. will cost you $1,075 a month

If ever you need reminders that San Francisco is the most jacked-up rental market in the U.S., peruse the city’s Craigslist ads.

A woman looking for someone to share her 600-square-foot studio posted an offer on the classifieds site to sublet her couch for $1,075 a month with $1,500 down – as long as the new roomie brings her own sleeping bag.

While the price may shock most of the nation, it’s pretty much the going rate for a studio share in S.F., where the median rent for a two-bedroom in the Mission or Potrero Hill takes five minimum-wage jobs to afford. And remember, that’s based on the city’s minimum wage rate of $10.55 an hour.

http://blog.sfgate.com/hottopics/2013/10/14/couch-crashing-in-s-f-will-cost-you-1075-a-month/

October 14, 2013

Radiation experts confirm polonium on Arafat clothing

Source: AFP

Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of polonium on clothing used by Yasser Arafat which "support the possibility" the veteran Palestinian leader was poisoned.

In a report published by The Lancet at the weekend, the team provide scientific details to media statements made in 2012 that they had found polonium on Arafat's belongings.

Arafat died in France on November 11 2004 at the age of 75, but doctors were unable to specify the cause of death. No autopsy was carried out at the time, in line with his widow's request.

His remains were exhumed in November 2012 and samples taken, partly to investigate whether he had been poisoned -- a suspicion that grew after the assassination of Russian ex-spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

That investigation is ongoing, conducted separately by teams in France, Switzerland and Russia.


Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20131014-radiation-experts-confirm-polonium-arafat-clothing

October 14, 2013

Have you heard of 9/11?

October 13, 2013

Cliff House reopens despite government shutdown (again), with federal permission

The Cliff House certainly has had an interesting past nine days. On October 3, the 150-year-old restaurant — located on federal land — was forced to close because of the government shutdown; the restaurant is a concessionaire of Golden Gate National Parks. On October 7, the restaurant defiantly reopened its doors, and then on October 9, the restaurant was forced to close again.

Today, October 12, it is open again. And this time, it’s with permission from the federal government.

Cliff House owners Dan and Mary Hountalas were told late Friday by park officials that the powers in DC had judged that the restaurant could officially reopen. According to the Hountalases, local park officials have been sympathetic to the plight of the seaside restaurant, which is privately owned and does not depend on any tax dollars or federal funding. They also say that most of the Cliff House’s 170 workers were furloughed during the closure; also, it’s estimated that the restaurant lost $70,000 during the seven days they were closed.

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2013/10/12/cliff-house-reopens-despite-government-shutdown-again-with-federal-permission/

October 12, 2013

For operations on U.S. land, it's not open and shut

The government shutdown is having a patchwork effect in the Bay Area, with some public areas open while others are closed - a confusing and complex situation that is causing economic hardship to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

For example, the historic Cliff House restaurant in San Francisco is closed because it is owned by the National Park Service and operated by a private concessionaire. But the luxurious Cavallo Point lodge, spa and restaurant on national parkland at Fort Baker in Marin County is open because it is leased to an operator under a different set of federal rules.

And while the vast Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which stretches from Tomales Bay to the Santa Cruz Mountains, is closed to the public, the Presidio of San Francisco surrounded by the recreation area operates under a separate federal law and is open.

Louis' Restaurant, a diner just up the street from the Cliff House, is on national parkland, has a lease and is still serving.

It's complicated.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/For-operations-on-U-S-land-it-s-not-open-and-4886119.php

In California - 45 percent of the state is owned by the federal government, including nine national parks and 15 national forests.

October 11, 2013

Rash of hash-oil lab blasts prompt warnings

Two explosions at makeshift hash oil labs in Santa Cruz in the past two weeks are the latest in a string of similar accidents in the Bay Area, authorities said Thursday as they warned of a growing trend that has led to injuries and deaths.

The blasts - reminiscent of the outbreak of methamphetamine lab explosions years ago - are linked to the production of hash oil, a thick, yellow-orange by-product of marijuana also known as honey oil, and the use of butane, a highly flammable gas that's used to extract the substance.

"This particular process has become more popular, and what I think is going on here is there's almost a playful attitude around it, like, 'I can handle it,' " said Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark. "They're finding that, well, you really can't handle it. They don't fully appreciate the dangers behind it."

The latest explosion in Santa Cruz happened about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, when a 29-year-old man was badly burned while making hash oil in the bathroom of his home on Walk Circle, Clark said.

Two dogs were badly singed from the blast, which blew out doors and the front window of the home. Officers found a large quantity of marijuana and more than a dozen butane canisters in the bathroom, police said.

An earlier incident was even more destructive. On Sept. 29, three men were hurt while making hash oil in a storage room at an apartment complex at 707 Third St.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Rash-of-hash-oil-lab-blasts-prompt-warnings-4885920.php

October 11, 2013

Police say driver taking breath-test caused crash

Police say a man taking an alcohol breath-test while driving caused a three-car pileup in Poultney, Vt.

Vermont State Police say alcohol was not a factor in the crash Wednesday afternoon, but that Randy Lizotte was distracted because he was using an Intoxalock, a breath test device linked to an ignition trigger.

<snip>

The Rutland Herald reports that (http://bit.ly/184aB1D) the Intoxalock requires drivers to provide a breath sample before operating a vehicle and then give additional "rolling" samples while driving. The company says drivers have the option of pulling over if they feel unsafe submitting the sample while driving.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Police-say-driver-taking-breath-test-caused-crash-4887568.php

October 10, 2013

Colorado farmer harvests first US commercial hemp crop in 56 years

Colorado farmer Ryan Loflin made history last weekend by harvesting the nation's first commercial hemp crop in 56 years.

Hemp advocates said Loflin's harvest is a landmark event that could one day lead to larger-scale domestic farming of hemp for industrial uses such as food additives, cosmetics and building materials.

Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive substance that gets marijuana users high.

Loflin's 55-acre crop in southeastern Colorado's Baca County won't yield large amounts of hemp-seed oil and other by-products but is "quite significant symbolically," said Tom Murphy, national outreach coordinator for advocacy group Vote Hemp.

http://www.willitsnews.com/marijuananews/ci_24265917/colorado-farmer-harvests-first-us-commercial-hemp-crop

October 10, 2013

Mystery over body at SF General - patient missing 17 days found in stairwell.

Investigators are trying to figure out how a San Francisco General Hospital patient who vanished in the midst of treatment ended up in a rarely used stairwell behind a door that was fitted with an alarm - and why, even as the search for the woman spread across the city and the Internet, it took 17 days for someone to enter the stairwell and find her dead.

It was only when a member of the hospital's engineering staff did a routine quarterly check of the stairwell at 10 a.m. Tuesday that the body of Lynne Spalding was found on the fourth floor, officials at the city-owned hospital said Wednesday. As the woman's loved ones expressed outrage, the hospital called the death unprecedented and pledged to get to the bottom of what went wrong.

"What happened at our hospital is horrible," Dr. Todd May, the hospital's chief medical officer, said at a news conference at which officials declined to take questions from reporters. "We are here to take care of patients, to heal them, to keep them safe. This has shaken us to our core. Our staff is devastated. We don't know what happened to this woman."

The 57-year-old Spalding, who was being treated for complications related to an infection, was last seen in her hospital room at 10:15 a.m. Sept. 21. A nurse who checked on her again 15 minutes later discovered her bed empty, with her cell phone left behind.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Body-in-SF-General-stairwell-IDd-as-missing-4881978.php

October 10, 2013

USF honors a female graduate killed in combat in Afghanistan

Capt. Jennifer Moreno was an unassuming achiever with an infectious smile, a goofy prankster and an enthusiastic snowboarder. But above all, Moreno - her friends called her Jenny - was a dedicated, gifted nurse who was so eager to serve that from the first day she entered nursing school at the University of San Francisco, she planned to join the Army.

The 25-year-old San Diego resident lost her life Sunday during a nighttime foot patrol in Afghanistan's Kandahar province when an improvised bomb exploded. Three others died and 30 more were wounded.

Dozens gathered in a solemn ceremony at the San Francisco school's campus Tuesday to lower the U.S. flag to half staff and honor Moreno, who graduated with a nursing degree in 2010.

"I am sure she smiled every time she put on her protective gear and walked into that desert heat to serve her country," Dr. Susan Prion, an associate professor of nursing who was Moreno's academic adviser, told the gathering.

After serving as an Army nurse, Moreno volunteered for a special operations team that pulled her away from an Army hospital and into a "hostile and unforgiving war zone," Prion said.

Moreno and six other women were chosen from thousands of female Army officers and assigned to gather intelligence from Afghan women who, because of cultural practices, will not speak to male soldiers. It is one of the key ways women can serve in combat roles alongside Army Rangers and Green Berets, Prion said.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/USF-honors-a-graduate-killed-on-duty-in-4883565.php