Contra Costa County

15,000 Marijuana Plants Discovered in Cornfield

​A massive marijuana grow -- 15,000 plants worth an estimated $6 million -- was discovered in a Brentwood cornfield yesterday. This, once and for all, answers the questions "What's going on in Brentwood?" and "Do they grow corn there?"  The plants were uncovered in the 4600 block of Orwood Ro ... More >>

BART Votes To Change Station's Name -- But Not Pay For It

Cheers! Now let's go to the Centre...​Legions of future BART riders will misspell the name of the forthcoming Contra Costa Centre -- yes, Centre --  station following a vote by the transit agency's board of directors yesterday. The board voted 7-1, with only Carole Ward Allen objecting, to re ... More >>

Will BART Spend Big Bucks To Change Station's Name?

Take us to the 'Centre'! Tally-ho!​BART's board of directors is scheduled today to vote on whether the name of one of its stations should be made longer, more complicated -- and more expensive. At the behest of both municipal and corporate interests, BART may today opt to change the name of Pleasa ... More >>

Google Sued For Collecting Payload Data In Street View Debacle

You can trust Google, right? Right? ​Two more plaintiffs have filed yet another class action lawsuit against Google for collecting private data as its cars drove around photographing every corner in the country -- and several other countries as well -- for Google Street View. The British governmen ... More >>

Body Discovered on Ocean Beach

View Larger MapThe Medical Examiner's office reports it has just sent personnel to Ocean Beach after the body of a man believed to be in his 60s washed up there near Balboa Street. This follows a woman in her 50s washing up yesterday following a deadly sailing accident near the Cliff House. It is be ... More >>

Man Accused of Robbing, Beating Girlfriend, Hanging Her Puppy

Gerald Anthony Ortega is accused of hanging his girlfriend's dog, a Jack Russell terrier puppy like this one​A man charged with beating his girlfriend, breaking into her apartment, and hanging her Jack Russell terrier puppy will be arraigned today. Gerald Anthony Ortega, 25, has a court date today ... More >>

Federal Judge: California Cities Can Sue Wall Street

​A group of California cities and counties can proceed with a lawsuit alleging shenanigans by some of the world's largest financial institutions, a federal judge ruled today.In a decision delivered in federal court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Victor Marrero denied a motion to dism ... More >>

If You Thought a Carnitas Burrito Was Filling, Wait'll You Taste the Kalua Pork Version

The Hawaiian burrito: Just as lumpy-looking as the original.​There's a special place in the firmament for restaurants that do side-by-side cuisine: Not Chinese doughnuts, say, but Chinese Food and Donuts; not Burmese curry turkey sandwiches, but Burmese Kitchen and Larkin Deli. In the early part o ... More >>

Flavor over flash: Chilango breaks for authenticity

Turns Out San Francisco *Does* Participate in State's Sunken Boat Disposal Program. This Is Good, Because We'd Already Received, Spent the Money.

Courtesy of the Department of Boating and WaterwaysSome inconsiderate bastard left this boat to rot in the San Joaquin Delta​Last week we reported that the administrator of the California's Abandoned Watercraft Abatement Fund told us that San Francisco does not participate in the state program. Th ... More >>

S.F. Bay Guardian Tells Those Conservative Suburban Twits How To Vote

Well, Edna, if the Guardian says they're for Garamendi, I reckon we should be, too​The Bay Guardian loves to complain about a certain Chronicle columnist from Walnut Creek criticizing San Francisco policies. The Guardian essentially contends that suburbanites cannot be expected to understand t ... More >>

S.F. Cracks List of Nation's Three Fastest-Plummeting Housing Markets (We Took Bronze)

New statistics show you absolutely can't afford these houses, but they now likely cost 28 percent less than last year's ridiculous pricesWhat do Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Francisco have in common? Yep: sketchy nightclubs and plummeting housing prices. According to S&P data released today, San ... More >>

Class Action Lawsuit Sticks It To Kaiser For Allegedly Double Charging on Co-Pays

A Contra Costa County woman has filed a class action lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente in federal court in San Francisco, claiming the health care provider double-charged her co-pay in a case that her attorney says could affect "hundreds, potentially thousands" of policyholders who've reco ... More >>

Joe DiMaggio's Home City Honored by EPA -- and It's Not San Francisco

...Oozing with leadTo say that San Francisco is a city that treasures being in the vanguard of environmentally responsible behavior (or, skeptics might say, whatever will get people talking about how environmentally responsible we are) is an understatement.So it's interesting that today -- with an e ... More >>

Bougie Nights

Gangstas. Thugs. Knuckleheads. Baki Lepolo's bouncers have handled them all. But can they handle the VIP crowd?

Paper Chase

The Guild is up against a cost-cutting mogul and declining revenues, but the union continues to seek converts

Bones of Discontent - Andrew Galvan carves a unique, controversial role in relocating Native American skeletons

Gavin Newsom Can Help Cure Global Warming's Effects ... with High-Rises

Repertory Film Listings

Last Voyage of the Relentless

Friends and family of a well-known fishing captain are convinced he and his deckhand were victims of a maritime hit-and-run near the Golden Gate

Troubled Order

Faced with lingering sex abuse complaints, the Salesians of St. John Bosco take their lumps in court

Untouchable

Half of U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan's lawyers have quit. But as he remains bunkered against criticism, who's minding the shop?

Gentle Ribbing

A carnivorous odyssey around the Bay Area pinpoints three very different meats

Number Crunch

Is the school board solving its budget crisis or proving it's math-challenged? Take quiz, find out.

Fast Times at Marin Catholic High

A case that the Archdiocese of San Francisco apparently doesn't want you to know about

Wake Up, America!

Infiltrator works his way into an anti-immigration petition drive -- at a gun show

Democracy in Suburbia

The Economist asks: "Is California Back?" Contra Costa County wonders: "Were we gone?"

Capital Rap

From revolutionary rapper to stockbroker to rapper again -- the long, strange trip of Paris, aka Oscar Jackson Jr.

A Pug at the Heartstrings

At the 10th annual Pugtacular celebration, some people will do anything for a pug

News That Fits

Is shorter ever better? Yes, when it's on the front page of the Contra Costa Times.

Prosecutors' Patience Wears Thin With Levada, Mahony

Muni's Mack Daddy

James Robinson used to be a pimp. Now he's a transit union bigwig. And he's got higher ambitions.

SOUL Trainers

A nonprofit school known by the acronym SOUL is working to undermine The System with The System's own money. But does SOUL teach anti-capitalist subversion -- or how to sell out?

Contract Killings

How the state's contracts with crucial electric power providers actually encourage them to gouge us

Dog Bites

Burn Rate; Return of the Mission Yuppie Eradication Project

Make Room for Dot-Coms

Forget about live-work lofts. The newest fight for San Francisco's soul is over multimedia office space.

Panic or Attack?

Did this aspiring cover boy, who says he killed in a panic fit brought on by unwanted gay advances, get away with murder?

Letters

The Fairfield Wives

Dr. John Parkinson, a civic and religious leader in the perfectly suburban town of Fairfield, told women they needed pelvic exams. Long exams. Several times a week. For years. And they believed him.

Mecklin

Affirmative Reaction

Even with Proposition 209, there are proven ways to help minority kids get to college

Unspun

Riff Raff

Dog Bites

Dog Bites

Letters

Where Crime Pays

Is the DA's Office bungling the biggest pollution case in Bay Area history?

The Grid

Slap Shots

Foreign-Born Dog Soldiers

U.S. police departments, including the SFPD, shun American-bred recruits for their canine corps