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It's uncertain whether egg cells can likewise be created from male human skin cells, but scientists are already attempting to achieve this, so that two men could genetically create a child, for instance. (LifeSiteNews) – Scientists in Japan have successfully bred a mouse with two genetic fathers by turning a male skin cell into an egg cell, raising ethical concerns regarding the technique’s potential use on humans. Katsuhiko Hayashi, a biologist at the University of Osaka, announced last week that his team had helped conceive seven “healthy” mice pups using two genetic “fathers” in each case, marking the “first case...

California Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi says she's planning to run for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors seat vacated by Nadia Lockyer. Hayashi — who is on probation after pleading no contest in January to charges that she shoplifted from a Neiman Marcus store in San Francisco — has filed papers indicating her intent to run for supervisor in the November election. In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News the Democrat from Hayward told the newspaper that her opponents would try to use the shoplifting incident to what she termed "smear" her.

The East Bay Municipal Water District captures water from the Sierra snowpack in reservoirs on the Mokelumne River and sends it via sealed pipeline 90 miles to customers in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, saying it "assures that all customers get high-quality drinking water ..." One wonders, however, whether the East Bay's water is contaminated by a germ that compels its politicians to misbehave. While there's a long history of aberrant behavior in the region, it's been particularly evident recently. Within a few months, East Bay politicians were arrested on a shoplifting charge (Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi), resigned after becoming involved...

Maybe there's something about one of the Alameda County Board of Supervisor's five seats that attracts troubled Bay Area politicians. Less than a week after Nadia Lockyer resigned her seat on the board following weeks of scandalous revelations of drug abuse and a sexual affair with a meth adddict, disgraced Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, reportedly inquired about the post. Hayashi, who is termed out of the Legislature after this year, contacted three of the four remaining members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to gauge their interest in appointing her to fill out Lockyer's term until 2014, the Bay...

It’s hard to remember a time when so many public officials in the Bay Area were caught in embarrassing situations or accused of misdeeds at the same time. Indeed, demands for resignations, whether coming from the press or the public, seem to have reached an unprecedented level. But not every transgression is equal, of course (although many of them are depressing). So in an effort to sort out which public official has behaved the worst, the Express staff decided it was time to do some head-to-head comparisons. And to make it a bit more interesting, we decided to do it...

The San Francisco Police Department has released a booking photo of Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi from her arrest last month on a felony grand theft charge. The 45-year-old Castro Valley Democrat appears disheveled in the photo, a far cry from her fashionable appearance on the Assembly floor during her five years as a legislator. Hayashi has pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of stealing nearly $2,500 in clothing - leather pants, a black skirt and white blouse - from a San Francisco Neiman Marcus store last month. Hayashi is not expected to appear for further proceedings in San Francisco Superior...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi of Castro Valley was excused from appearing in a San Francisco courtroom Tuesday on charges she stole nearly $2,500 in clothing from Neiman Marcus, and she won't have to show up at her next court date either, a judge said. Hayashi, a Democrat . . .

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi has been charged with felony grand theft after allegedly being caught by security officers stealing nearly $2,500 in clothing from a San Francisco Neiman Marcus store. The 45-year-old Castro Valley Democrat, wife of a Bay Area judge, pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court and is free on $15,000 bail pending further proceedings Nov. 15. "The incident in San Francisco was a mistake and a misunderstanding," Singer said. "The assemblywoman strongly believes in the justice system and is hopeful that this matter will be cleared up soon."

Democratic Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi of Castro Valley has been charged with felony grand theft after being caught on video surveillance allegedly shoplifting more than $2,000 worth of merchandise from San Francisco’s Neiman Marcus store on Union Square, prosecutors say. Hayashi, 45, who has served in the Assembly since 2006 — and is married to Alameda Superior Court Judge Dennis Hayashi — was arraigned Thursday in San Francisco Superior Court. She had earlier posted $15,000 bail.

Voluntary Alternatives to Taxation Stuart K. Hayashi Most Americans believe paying taxes is a patriotic duty. Yet this very nation was founded upon people evading taxes in 1776. When individuals don’t pay taxes, the government goes after them with guns, even though they haven’t used force on anyone else. Thus, taxation is an initiation of physical force against the individual’s right to life, liberty and property. Because taxation is forcible extortion, it violates your right to property. If you don’t pay taxes, you can be jailed, hence depriving you the right to liberty. And if tax “evaders” fight tax...

A Credit to the Corporate Raider Stuart K. Hayashi The media's exploitation of the 2001 corporate scandals in its hysterical (and popular) campaign to defame businesspeople in general harkens back to another anti-capitalist witch hunt they conducted in the 1980s. That era is now pejoratively dubbed "the Decade of Greed," as it saw the proliferation of honest but controversial characters known as "corporate raiders." "Corporate raiders" are the mavericks who launch "hostile takeovers," trying to take over failing mega-corporations for themselves. (Successful companies have higher stock prices and are thus harder to buy out.) To do this in the...