Minorities are not well-represented on San Francisco’s civil grand jury, to the detriment of their communities, a committee of Superior Court judges said Tuesday.
The overwhelming majority of applicants to the volunteer civilian watchdog group are white, with Asian, black, Hispanic and American Indian candidates numbering only a handful, according to the court.
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Mayor Ed Lee and other city officials joined developers and homeless advocates Monday at a ceremony marking what Lee promised would be the first of many affordable-housing developments for the homeless and poor in The City.The eight-story, 120-unit apartment building at Folsom and Essex streets, one of the first affordable-housing developments in the South of Market redevelopment area where the new Transbay Transit Center will be built, is expected to be completed in September 2013.
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Two people died in an early-morning fire Sunday that swept through and destroyed a Pacifica home.The victims are believed to be a 13-year-old boy and his 93-year-old grandfather, Red Cross spokesman Patricia Peper said.The fire at the a two-story, single-family home at 552 Inverness Drive was reported at 5:54 a.m., North County Fire Authority spokesman Matt Lucett said. Firefighters arrived to find flames pouring out of the house, he said.
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Ross Mirkarimi’s challenge of Mayor Ed Lee’s suspension of him as sheriff will be heard by Judge Harold Kahn on April 18. Mirkarimi’s attorney filed a writ this week to overturn the suspension after Mirkarimi’s guilty plea for falsely imprisoning his wife. Lawyer David Waggoner says public officials can’t be removed for official misconduct unless their crimes occurred while they were in office. Mirkarimi took office one week after the incident. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor March 12.
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An agreement has been reached to build a major new California Pacific Medical Center hospital on Cathedral Hill, Mayor Ed Lee and hospital officials announced Wednesday.
The deal, struck after several months of negotiations between The City and the medical center, will create a $1.9 billion, 555-bed hospital at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street.
Also, St. Luke’s Hospital, an aging facility that serves poorer patients in the Mission, will receive a seismic rebuild costing about $300 million.
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District Attorney George Gascón’s office has charged a San Francisco man with murdering a family of five at an Ingleside home late last week.Binh Thai Luc, 35, should be arraigned Wednesday on five counts of murder with a special-circumstances allegation of multiple murders. If convicted, he could face the death penalty or life in prison. Prosecutors were evaluating late Tuesday whether to add other charges, District Attorney’s Office spokesman Omid Talai said.
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A federal judge on Monday sentenced a former San Francisco Giants payroll manager who embezzled $2.2 million from the team and its players to 21 months in prison.Robin O’Connor, of American Canyon, was fired by the team last July after it was discovered she had been transferring team funds to her personal bank accounts over the prior year. Prosecutors said she used some of the money to pay off debts, but also toward a second home in San Diego, spa visits, pet grooming, home improvements and travel.
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A former San Francisco Giants payroll manager who embezzled $2.2 million from the team should qualify for probation and not federal prison due to health and marital problems, massive debt and having to care for a young special needs child, her attorney argues.Robin O’Connor siphoned money from the team and its employees and transferred it to her own bank accounts between June 2010 and June 2011, prosecutors said. The team discovered the embezzlement and fired O’Connor on July 6. She pleaded guilty in November to one count of wire fraud.
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A man was killed Sunday morning after being struck by a Muni bus in the Alamo Square area, police said.The man was hit and pinned underneath a 21-Hayes bus near Hayes and Fillmore streets at 10:47 a.m., police spokesman Sgt. Daryl Fong said. “Witnesses stated that the pedestrian victim stepped out from between vehicles and stepped in front of the bus,” Fong said.Responding police officers did CPR on the man at the scene, according to Fong. The man was then taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m.
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A man was killed Sunday morning after being struck by a Muni bus in the Alamo Square area, police said.The man was hit and pinned underneath a 21-Hayes bus near Hayes and Fillmore streets at 10:47 a.m., police spokesman Sgt. Daryl Fong said.“Witnesses stated that the pedestrian victim stepped out from between vehicles and stepped in front of the bus,” Fong said.Responding police officers did CPR on the man at the scene, according to Fong. The man was then taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:15 a.m.
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Attorneys for triple-murder suspect Edwin Ramos on Thursday began a challenge to the only eyewitness to the 2008 slayings of the Bologna family, the son who survived and testified that he was sure Ramos was the gunman.Ramos, 25, is accused of the June 22, 2008 drive-by shootings of Anthony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, in the Excelsior district.
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Public Defender Jeff Adachi on Thursday began the first of many possible challenges to driving under the influence convictions, based on the San Francisco Police Department’s failure to properly test its preliminary alcohol screening devices for the past several years.The department has pulled off the street and is retesting its 20 PAS devices — sometimes used to test drivers’ alcohol consumption in the field, prior to breathalyzer or blood tests. Local prosecutors are no longer using evidence from the devices to prove DUI cases.
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A judge has imposed strict sanctions against two Tenderloin markets that police and city officials had accused of maintaining “safe havens” for drug dealers and traffickers in stolen goods.Judge Harold Kahn earlier this month ordered Razan Deli at 391 Ellis St. closed for a year and imposed an $80,000 fine. City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the closure would provide “a measure of relief” for local residents.
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DNA evidence has linked a man arrested with the ATM card of a Mission district man found dead on a sidewalk in February to the man’s murder.Roland Pouncy, 42, of San Francisco was charged on Tuesday with Richard Sprague’s robbery and strangling murder, after lab tests reportedly confirmed the presence of his DNA on Sprague’s neck, a source close to the case said.Sprague, 47, was found dead on Julian Avenue near 15th Street, several blocks from his home, early in the morning of Feb. 19.
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Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said he was “ashamed and deeply sorry” and vowed to become “a better public servant,” after a judge sentenced him Monday for his role in a domestic violence incident against his wife.Mirkarimi is on probation for three years, must undergo 52 weeks of domestic violence batterer’s classes, 100 hours of community service and parenting counseling, and won’t be able to carry a gun while a stay-away order from his wife remains in effect. But he gave no indication that he was considering stepping down.
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