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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The ABC7 I-Team has the inside story of what lead up to the arrest of popular talk-radio host, Bernie Ward, on federal child pornography charges. It's an investigation you'll see Only On 7. We warn you that some of the information is graphic. Bernie Ward got indicted in December and got fired from his job at KGO Radio, effective at the end of last year. Now, police reports just obtained by the I-Team tell us who blew the whistle on Ward, and how he came to send the woman child porn, by his own admission. The...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters Life!) - The Grateful Dead, the San Francisco cult rock band that has played at political events since the 1960s, will reunite on Monday for the first time in four years to rally support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a spokesman said on Friday. Band leader Jerry Garcia died in 1995. Surviving members have played together occasionally since then, most recently in 2004. On Monday, original members Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will play at a San Francisco theater a day before California's primary. "They have agreed to reunite for this one-time-only event in...

San Francisco To Vote On Alcatraz As Peace Center SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ― It would literally take an act of Congress before a city ballot proposal to turn Alcatraz into a global peace center could become reality. The measure's purely symbolic, given that the legislative branch would have to formally switch the island prison from federal to city hands, and that the proposal faces a host of other obstacles, including a lack of funding or legal force. That doesn't meant the measure on Tuesday's ballot hasn't gotten attention - much of it negative. "VOTE NO ON THIS RIDICULOUS PROPOSAL," the...

S.F. police investigation into tiger attack "suspended" due to lack of evidence of taunting Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, January 29, 2008 (01-29) 16:16 PST San Francisco - -- The San Francisco police investigation into the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo has been "suspended" after a search earlier this month failed to turn up evidence that the victims taunted the animal or committed other crimes, police said Tuesday. The case is being shelved "pending new witnesses being interviewed and/or new evidence being produced," according to a Police Department statement about the Christmas Day mauling that killed...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Former radio talk show host Bernie Ward was given a date of June 9 in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday for a trial on charges of receiving and distributing child pornography on his computer. The trial date was set by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who also scheduled a hearing on pretrial motions for April 24. Ward, 56, a former host on KGO radio in San Francisco, is accused of three counts of receiving child pornography, knowingly distributing it and attempting to distribute it in December 2004 and January 2005. His defense attorney, Doron Weinberg,...

CA APPEALS COURT RULES UNANIMOUSLY IN FAVOR OF SAF LAWSUIT For Immediate Release: 1/9/2008 In a unanimous decision today, the California Court of Appeals ruled that the City of San Francisco’s handgun ban is illegal under state law, upholding a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and several other groups. “This is a great day for gun owners and civil rights in California,” said SAF Founder Alan M. Gottlieb. “This is the second time we successfully fought a gun ban in San Francisco, and what this demonstrates is that the city’s leadership is as horribly out of touch with...

Thousands march against abortion in S.F. Thousands of abortion protesters marched along San Francisco's waterfront Saturday, hectored by a smaller band of abortion rights supporters, as both sides marked the impending anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that established those rights 35 years ago. Although passions ran high in both camps, the event - what is becoming an annual trek by the anti-abortion movement into what they consider the heart of abortion rights territory - was peaceful. At least 10,000 abortion opponents were bused into the city from all over California, and from outside the state, for a morning rally...

S.F. Zoo mauling investigation winding down Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, January 19, 2008 The police investigation into the tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo will soon be reclassified as "inactive" after a search failed to turn up evidence that the victims taunted the animal or committed other crimes, authorities said Friday. Sources close to the case said the investigation into the Christmas Day attack could be shelved as soon as next week and will not be reopened unless new information comes to light. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to...

Withdraw from Iraq immediately. Eliminate the No Child Left Behind law. Legalize marijuana. Those were just some of the goals stated by candidates at the Green Party presidential debate Sunday in San Francisco. About 800 people of varying ages, economic backgrounds and political parties attended the "Presidential Debate that Matters" at the Herbst Theatre, where the five Green presidential hopefuls spent more time agreeing with one another than actually debating. "We're not so much against each other as we are for each other," said one of the candidates, Kent Mesplay, an environmental engineer who also ran for the Green Party...

San Francisco median home prices continue hovering between $750,000 and $800,000 and as yet are relatively undamaged by the national housing market slowdown. So it comes as little surprise that private developers remain willing to brave The City’s daunting permit bureaucracy in hopes of constructing new high-end units. And in order to build, would-be developers are generally required by City Hall to include an assigned percentage of lower-income units priced at approximately $200,000 to $250,000. But this trade-off leaves out of the equation something absolutely essential to San Francisco’s future economic and social well-being — badly needed additional middle-income residences...

Zoo safety questioned again after leopard, polar bear nearly escape Saturday, January 12, 2008 (01-11) 13:38 PST San Francisco -- Revelations that a polar bear and a snow leopard came close to escaping from their enclosures at the San Francisco Zoo over the past week renewed questions Friday about the safety of visitors and workers at the facility, several zookeepers said. ***** The zookeepers said the latest incidents made them fearful for their safety and called into question whether visitors are safe. ***** Zoo officials acknowledged Friday morning that a 100-pound male snow leopard named Ghurka ripped a 4-inch hole...

Tiger Victim's Mom Talks to Survivor 5 hours ago SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — The mother of the teen killed by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo says one of two friends injured in the attack told her that none of them had done anything to taunt the animal. Marilza Sousa spoke with Paul Dhaliwal by phone on Monday — their first conversation since the Christmas Day attack, the San Jose Mercury News reported Thursday. Sousa said Dhaliwal, 19, told her the tiger jumped over the fence while the trio was talking and tore a long gash in his...

Police can't enter a home without a warrant just because they see someone inside smoking marijuana, a state appeals court ruled today. In overturning a Pacifica man's conviction, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said officers are entitled to enter someone's home to preserve evidence of a crime - but only if the crime is punishable by jail or prison.

San Francisco Zoo in new animal escape alert: reports 1 hour ago SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — A leopard and a polar bear came close to escaping from enclosures at San Francisco Zoo, reports said Friday, less than three weeks after a visitor was mauled to death by a tiger at the facility. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on its website that zookeepers told the paper a female polar bear climbed the wall of its enclosure on January 3 while a snow leopard chewed through a temporary enclosure on Thursday. The incidents come after the Christmas Day escape of a Siberian...

Gavin Newsom, the divorced San Francisco mayor who provoked a constitutional crisis in 2004 by granting marriage licenses to 4,000 same-sex couples, has chosen the historic Mission Dolores Basilica for a family Mass on the occasion of his inauguration to a second term. Newsom and his family are scheduled to attend Mass at Mission Dolores tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 8, in what his press office is calling a “low-key” second inauguration. Following the Mass, his father, William Newsom, a retired state appellate judge, will administer the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony at San Francisco City Hall. Given his record,...

Sam Singer Biography Mercury News Article Launched: 01/06/2008 02:24:24 AM PST On his desk: A "Ten Ways Dick Cheney Can Kill You" mouse pad On his bookshelf: Political and newspaper mementos, books by his mother, the late Margaret Singer, a University of California-Berkeley psychologist and cult expert. Politics: Democrat. When he was 10, he participated in a local campaign for Bobby Kennedy. Volunteers washed car windshields, then added a flier reading: "Now that you can see clearly, vote Kennedy for president."

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco's controversial handgun ban, approved by city voters in 2005, suffered another legal setback Wednesday when it was overturned by a state appeals court panel that ruled it conflicted with state law. Appeals Court Justice Ignazio Ruvolo was critical of the measure, known as Proposition H, in the unanimous 3-0 decision. Ruvolo wrote for the court that "local governments are well advised to tread lightly" when regulating firearms. The justice wrote further that the state laws were intended to balance the "interest of the general public to be protected from the criminal misuse of firearms" and...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Siebel, became engaged in Hawaii over the weekend, knowledgeable sources said Monday. One of Newsom's closest friends, high society party planner Stanlee Gatti, confirmed the engagement. The mayor's spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said the mayor popped the question on Saturday. "Jennifer told me (about it). She was on the phone first, and then he got on the phone," said Gatti, reached in Raton, N.M., where he was on vacation. Gatti had no details about the proposal, other than that Newsom spoke with his girlfriend's father first and then proposed marriage. No...

ZOO THOUGHT TIGER ATTACK WAS FAKE By EMMETT BERG in San Francisco and JAMES FANELLIin New York San Francisco An employee barricaded in the zoo's Terrace Café made the first 911 call at 5:07 p.m., saying that zoo patron Amritpal "Paul" Dhaliwal, 19, was frantically screaming outside. The employee told the dispatcher that Dhaliwal claimed a lone man "was bitten by an exotic animal." The dispatcher relaying the call added, "They do not see any animal missing." Police were immediately dispatched, but subsequent police logs and fire logs showed skepticism over the attack. "Zoo personnel dispatch now say there are...

First zoo worker to report victims' tiger claim didn't believe him By Kim Vo and Mike Swift Mercury News Article Launched: 12/28/2007 04:45:20 PM PST Zoo officials initially thought a San Jose man was "making something up" when he told them a tiger was on the loose and had bitten him, according to a transcript of police dispatch report released Friday afternoon. *** According to the new documents, the 911 call came at 5:08 p.m. Tuesday: "A very agitated male is claiming he was bitten by an animal," the dispatcher said, relaying a call from a cafe worker. "They do...