California, San Francisco | featured news

Suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge and on Caltrain tracks in the Bay Area are on pace to set records. The question is what is prompting them.

Ed Lee will announce today that he is running for a full four-year term as San Francisco mayor, vaulting himself to the top of a crowded field of candidates while breaking a promise not to run that sealed his appointment as interim mayor seven months ago."I've changed my mind," Lee told The Chronicle in an interview Sunday. "I know it might be hard for people to understand that change ... but my change of mind in seeking this office has everything to do with wanting what's best for this city."

San Francisco residents will not be voting on whether male circumcisions should be banned in the city this fall.

“Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek says he snapped his Achilles tendon while running after a burglar who had stolen cash, a bracelet and other items from his San Francisco hotel room. The 71-year-old Trebek tells KGO-TV that he also injured his other leg while falling down during the chase early Wednesday. He was on crutches later Wednesday when he hosted the National Geographic World Championship at Google headquarters in Mountain View.

A federal district judge in San Francisco has scheduled a hearing Monday over whether the retired federal judge who struck down California's ban on same-sex marriage should have his ruling wiped from the legal record because of his relationship with a man.

Activists are promoting circumcision bans for minors in San Francisco and Santa Monica, and Jewish groups see a real threat, likening the measures to bans in Soviet-era Russia and Eastern Europe.

Alameda, California, has immediately changed its policies after first responders watched a man drown in San Francisco Bay and did nothing to rescue him.

A group seeking to ban the circumcision of male children in San Francisco has succeeded in getting their controversial measure on the November ballot, meaning voters will be asked to weigh in on what until now has been a private family matter....

The city would continue its environmental initiatives by forbidding phone-book distributors from delivering the Yellow Pages without obtaining prior consent from homes and businesses.

San Francisco welcomed its first Asian-American leader Tuesday, as City Administrator Edwin Lee was sworn in as interim mayor before a crowd of hundreds. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Lee to fill the remainder of Mayor Gavin Newsom's term. Newsom was sworn in Monday as California's lieutenant governor.