Keep Bailing

A new policy, set to start on June 1, will no longer require the San Francisco County Jail to detain illegal immigrants who have been arrested for petty crimes (i.e. shoplifting, disorderly conduct, drunk in public) until U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials come to take custody of them.

San Francisco will be the first county in California to implement this type of policy.

No laws are being broken with this policy as there are no requirements for local jails to hold illegal immigrants. Rather, it will be reinforcing San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance, which does not allow local officials to assist ICE unless Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO — The views must be breathtaking from atop the bay cities highest buildings. But I wouldn’t scale the outside of one just to find out.

However, that’s exactly what veteran “skyscraper climber” Dan Goodwin did. Using no ropes (just suction cups), he reached the top of the Millennium Tower right before 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The 645 foot building took about 3 hours to climb.

He ignored Read more »

Thomas Lennon, one of 90 drug defendants that was freed last week due to a San Francisco police crime lab drug scandal, managed to avoid prosecution in three separate methamphetamine cases. But according to police, a gang task force officer, named Dan Silver of the San Francisco Police Department, was waiting just outside the court building to arrest Lennon for a separate counterfeiting case. Lennon was in the company of his attorney, Ken Quigley.

While Silver handcuffed Lennon, Quigley reached into his client’s pocket and withdrew his wallet. The officer asked for the wallet back but the defense attorney refused, even when he was threatened with arrest.

Officer Silver arrested Quigley and confiscated the wallet. Two counterfeit $50 bills, each made out of five dollar bills, were allegedly inside it. Reportedly, they still even had Lincoln’s face on them. Quigley was arrested for a misdemeanor obstruction of justice and for concealing evidence.

The attorney later said Read more »

SAN FRANCISCO — The venerable Hall of Justice is a landmark, but its pre-earthquake code architecture has also made it a target for earthquake damage.  This news has prompted the local government to put a bond measure on the ballot that seeks funding for building upgrades, which voters have to approve. If the bond passes, design on a new Sixth Street jail could begin this year as part of a larger effort to replace the Hall.

As reported in the San Francisco Examiner, the measure will be on a June 8 ballot, and according to a draft of The City’s capital plan, will take 10 years to build. The remainder of the $435 million project would be funded with certificates of participation.

The two jails slated for replacement house Read more »