S.F. public defender detained outside court; office outraged // SF Gate
A San Francisco deputy public defender was handcuffed and arrested at the Hall of Justice after she objected to city police officers questioning her client outside a courtroom, an incident that her office called outrageous and police officials defended as appropriate.
The Tuesday afternoon arrest of attorney Jami Tillotson as she denied police officers’ attempts to take photos of her client without explanation raised questions about police intimidation and harassment, Public Defender Jeff Adachi said at a Wednesday news conference.
But police said the five officers, led by a plainclothes sergeant, were investigating a burglary case in which Tillotson’s client and his co-defendant were considered persons of interest. Tillotson was cited for misdemeanor resisting or delaying arrest because she obstructed a police investigation, officials said.
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3D printers to make human body parts? It's happening // San Jose Mercury
It sounds like something from a science fiction plot: so-called three-dimensional printers are being used to fashion prosthetic arms and hands, jaw bones, spinal-cord implants -- and one day perhaps even living human body parts.
While the parts printed for humans so far have been fashioned from plastic, metal and other inorganic materials, researchers in California and elsewhere also have begun printing living tissue, with the goal of eventually employing these "bioprinters" to create customized kidneys, livers and other organs for people needing transplants. What's particularly attractive about the technology, according to its proponents, is that 3D printers can produce body parts much quicker and cheaper than other methods.
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SFUSD urging students to get measles vaccinations amid statewide outbreak // SF Examiner
The San Francisco Unified School District is urging measles vaccinations for all students and plans to send a letter next week to parents who have opted not to have their child vaccinated.
The letter comes as at least 73 cases of measles have been reported in California as of Monday. They are primarily linked to an exposure at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim in December. Nine of those cases have been reported in the Bay Area, though none in San Francisco, health officials said.
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Nearly $1 million in S.F. bond money vanishes // SF Gate
The developer of a Rincon Hill luxury high-rise complex near the entrance to the Bay Bridge may have ended up with nearly $1 million in bond money that the city planned to spend on park and pedestrian improvements South of Market, according to public officials.
But exactly where the money ended up is something of a mystery, because a lawyer for the developer said it never received the money.
In a mystery that shines the spotlight on San Francisco’s complex world of impact fees — where builders agree to pay money to offset a development’s effect on everything from schools to traffic to housing costs — city staff members are baffled as to how $925,666 vanished from the South of Market Community Stabilization Fund.
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Poverty in perspective: 10,000 homeless households flood SF public-housing waitlist over six days // SF Examiner
The challenge San Francisco faces in its quest to end poverty recently came into stark focus.
More than 10,000 adults or families signed up for the Housing Authority's waitlist for public units when it was opened for homeless people during a recent six-day period. It had been closed for the past five years.
"The level of interest was extraordinary," said Rose Dennis, a spokeswoman for the Housing Authority.
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Toshio Hirano ‘retiring,’ will play second goodbye show // Capp Street Crap
It looks like those of us who hoped that Toshio Hirano’s goodbye announcement earlier this month only meant a long break may be out of luck. Turns out that the country crooner is retiring.
Hirano ... just announced a second goodbye show at Amnesia on Monday, Feb. 9 at 9 p.m. See him while you still can.
[And here’s a Julie Caine profile of Toshio from 2008!]