31 Cars Involved in Fog-Related Crashes Near Vallejo

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Bay City News Service

Thirty-one cars were involved in 11 separate crashes in heavy fog along a one-mile stretch of eastbound state Highway 37 near Highway 121 in Sonoma County this morning, California Highway Patrol Sgt. Diana McDermott said.

The fog was a significant factor in the collisions, she said.

Several people were transported to hospitals with minor injuries, including a motorcycle rider, McDermott said.

The CHP reopened eastbound state Highway 37 at 10:52 a.m.

Supes Approve Paper Bag Fee, Expand Plastic Bag Ban

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Creative Commons/Anca Mosoiu

A proposal to institute a fee for each paper bag provided at a store in San Francisco and also expand the city's ban on plastic bags was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday.

Starting this October, the legislation will institute a 10-cent fee for each bag provided by any retail establishment to customers. Restaurants will also be required to charge the fee starting in October 2013.

The city's 2007 ban on supermarkets and chain store pharmacies providing single-use, non-compostable plastic bags is expanding as well to include all retail stores in October, then restaurants the following year.

The businesses charging the fee will keep the money to use how they see fit, and the plastic bag ban will include certain exemptions, such as "doggy bags" used to take home leftover food from restaurants.

Before supervisors voted on the ordinance, board President David Chiu introduced an amendment to provide additional exemptions that will allow the use of plastic bags for various delicate or heavy items, and another to require further outreach by the city's Department of the Environment.

"All of us have heard that we still have to do more" to educate residents and merchants about the new law, Chiu said.

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America's Cup Construction Drawing Protests in Italy

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PUPIA Campania

Fishermen and others protest America's Cup-related construction in Naples, Italy

Preparations for the America’s Cup are causing political ripples in San Francisco — but in in the Italian city of Naples, where warm-up regattas are planned, they are drawing high-profile protests.

Waterfront construction began this week in Naples, where 45-foot catamarans will race in America’s Cup World Series events this April and in May 2013.

But construction crews were met by a picket line of protesters who said the work would prevent fishermen from taking to the water and keep foot-traffic away from local merchants. They also said public funds would be better spent on other environmental programs and other priorities.

Some protesters reportedly dumped rocks at a construction site to prevent work from moving forward.

Andrea Santoro, a city council member, complained in a letter to the mayor of Naples that fishing boats would be moved to accomodate racing yachts, which would reduce the incomes of fishermen whom he described as "breadwinners" who reflect the city's history and traditions, ANSA English reported.

Ian Murray, the America’s Cup regatta director, on Tuesday told The Bay Citizen that event staff members are talking to officials in Italy.

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Oakland's Police Chief Talks Guns, Crime and Anonymous

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Shoshana Walter/The Bay Citizen

In his first press conference as the newly minted Oakland police chief, Howard Jordan acknowledged a recent spate of shootings in the city, and said he needed the community to help stop crime. 

Standing alongside a table strewn with illegal guns his officers had confiscated, Jordan blamed much of the violence on conflict between two rival groups in West Oakland and two additional groups from other parts of the city. But Jordan would not identify the groups or provide any information about the conflicts.

He said in a week, the city has seen 20 shootings, five of them homicides, and that there have been 14 homicides, two more than at this time last year. 

“Quite simply, that is unacceptable,” he said. “I want to make Oakland one of the safer large cities in California. The department cannot do it alone."

The chief described numerous efforts the department has made to prevent more violence, including deploying police to hot spots, partnering with the U.S. Marshals Service to track down fugitives and with federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to confiscate and trace illegal guns.

Jordan said the department's two new tools are Shotspotter, which detects the location of gunshots, and a gun tip hotline. People can call the number at 510-517-8793 to leave anonymous tips about illegal gun sales. Jordan said the department would soon release information about the department's most-wanted murder suspects.

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Silicon Valley Leaders: Prop. 13 Not Working Anymore

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The housing crisis that began in 2008 could have a crippling effect on California's ability to provide government services for a generation, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Silicon Valley Communtiy Foundation and Joint Venture Silicon Valley.

The problem: Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, essentially freezes property taxes on homes or businesses unless they change hands — meaning that today's low property values could mean reduced government revenues for years to come even after the recession ends and property values begin to rise.

"In 2008, the world changed,"said Emmett Carson, Ph.D., president and chief executive of the Silicon Valley Comunity Foundation. "Now we have to say either we are going to dramatically cut back services that we have become accustomed to to the level that will be sustainable, or we are going to have to rethink our whole system" of taxation.

Making matters worse, the groups said, is a provision in state law that allows property owners to petition to have their property reassessed if they think it has lost value. In the 2011-2012 tax year, the report shows, Santa Clara County reduced the assessed value of more than 124,000 properties by a total of $25.9 billion.

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Suspect Arrested in Shooting of Federal Agent

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Courtesy Richmond Confidential

Officers arrested a man Tuesday afternoon in connection with the shooting of an off-duty federal agent outside that agent's home in Newark, the Oakland Tribune reported.

The newspaper reported that the suspect is 61-year-old Dennis Bagwell of Piedmont. Bagwell does not have a criminal record, according to the Tribune.

The victim has not yet been identified.

At 5:53 a.m. police received a report of five shots heard in the area of Bettencourt Street and Mayhews Landing Road.

The suspect, described as a tall man with a pronounced limp, was seen getting into a white sedan and driving away after the shooting, police said.

Police responded to the neighborhood, where they found the federal agent suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was transported to Eden Medical Center for treatment.

Police said the investigation is ongoing, but that it appears the federal agent had a confrontation with the suspect. Investigators have not yet determined whether the agent also fired a weapon.

Newark police detectives are working with federal and local authorities to follow up on leads, police said.

Police have not released the name of the agent or his organization.

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Banana Sam: Be My Valentine?

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Courtesy San Francisco Zoo

Banana Sam, the squirrel monkey that San Francisco zoo officials say was stolen on Dec. 30, 2011, was returned on Dec. 31, 2011.

Zoo visitors who bring a valentine for Banana Sam get $1 off admission all weekend, and Banana Sam's keepers will give talks at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Zookeepers discovered the 17-year-old monkey missing from his enclosure the morning of Dec. 30. Someone had breached a perimeter gate overnight, climbed onto the roof of the squirrel monkey exhibit, and cut two holes into the mesh there.

An investigation was launched and a $5,000 reward was offered, and the next day, a man came forward with the monkey, claiming to have found Banana Sam in San Francisco's Stern Grove. The man told police he had lured the monkey into his backpack.

Police are checking out the man's story and continuing to investigate the disappearance. In the meantime, the reward money is being withheld.

Protect Coit Tower Committee's Signature Gathering a Success

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Sarah Rice for The Bay Citizen

Jon Golinger, the chair of the Protect Coit Tower Committee, shows some of the murals in need of repairs on the second floor of Coit Tower in San Francisco Monday. The murals were painted in 1934 as part of the WPA's pilot program. Twenty-six artists pa

"It's a symbol of the city. The murals, the building, the park," Jon Golinger, chair of the Protect Coit Tower Committee, said.

The proposed measure would strictly limit the number of commercial activities and private events at Coit Tower and prioritize the spending of any funds from the building's concession operations for preserving murals and maintaining the building, the resolution said.

Golinger said murals inside the tower have been damaged over the years and little, if any, money has been given to maintain the artwork. Coit Tower "has to stand at the back of the line with a cup out," he said.

The committee turned in 16,386 signatures to the Department of Elections at 4 p.m. To make sure the resolution made it on the ballot, the committee needed to gather 9,702 signatures of registered San Francisco voters.

The initiative, if approved, will be on the ballot for the June 5 election.