A powerful wave swept four crew members off a sailboat during a race near San Francisco and the craft hit rocks attempting a rescue, leaving one person dead and four others missing, the Coast Guard said early Sunday.

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1 Dead, 4 Missing in Yacht Race Accident

Eileen Morrissey has always been independent. But at 91, she can no longer drive, which has made it hard for her to get to the grocery store. At least once a week, she calls SilverRide , a San Francisco transportation service that takes elderly clients on errands of their choosing. Read full article > >

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As America grays, businesses help seniors age in place

Score another victory for human rights. Last week, a federal district court judge in San Francisco ruled in favor of granting health insurance benefits to the same-sex spouse of a federal employee. Judge Jeffrey S. White, who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush, ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) “unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex married couples.” Read full article > >

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Judge finds DOMA discriminatory

The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco is designed to go with the flow if a major earthquake strikes.

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To Survive a Quake, New Bay Bridge Span Will Offer Least Resistance

After more than a decade in which San Francisco politics was partly defined by antidevelopment and historic preservation forces, a backlash has begun.

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The Bay Citizen: An Unlikely Group Rebels Against Preservation Districts

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Zoo officials are stepping up security after a male squirrel monkey was stolen from an exhibit. Two security guards were patrolling the 100-acre zoo on Thursday night when the monkey named Banana Sam was apparently taken. The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/rUqmH5) that security has been doubled this holiday weekend in case the thieves try to return. Read full article > >

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Security patrols at SF Zoo doubled after theft of monkey ‘Banana Sam’

Concern was growing Saturday for the welfare of a much-loved male squirrel monkey stolen from an enclosure at San Francisco Zoo in California.

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Thieves swipe primate from Calif. zoo

SAN FRANCISCO — Salvation Army volunteers around the nation have beaten the charitable organization’s 36-hour record for continuous hand bell ringing without food or sleep. And at least six of them, including a volunteer in San Francisco, were still ringing away next to their red kettles on Saturday morning — more than 12 hours after the record was broken. Read full article > >

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Salvation Army volunteers pass organization’s 36-hour bell-ringing record

“MythBusters,” a reality series we now know is a darling of conservative Republicans, decided this week to bust a few myths in the San Francisco Bay Area (that epicenter of liberalism) by firing a cannonball that crashed into a house, tore through an occupied bedroom, careened across a six-lane highway, skimmed another house and then attacked a minivan, which surrendered immediately. Read full article > >

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‘MythBusters’ misfires with cannonball stunt

The Washington Redskins will start Rex Grossman as quarterback today against the Miami Dolphins, a person with knowledge of the situation has confirmed. The move comes exactly a week after Coach Mike Shanahan said following Washington’s loss to San Francisco that John Beck would remain the starter. Read full article > >

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Rex Grossman to start against Miami Dolphins

Mexico’s Secretary of the Interior, Francisco Blake Mora, has died in a helicopter crash near Mexico City.

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VIDEO: Mexico minister dies in air crash

MEXICO CITY — The country’s top Cabinet secretary, Francisco Blake Mora, a key figure in Mexico’s battle with drug cartels, died in a helicopter crash Friday with seven others, including the pilot, the government said. The Presidency spokeswoman, Alejandra Sota, said authorities located the bodies of the secretary and seven others. They included Interior Undersecretary Felipe Zamora, said agency spokesman Jose Alfredo Garcia. Read full article > >

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Mexico’s president loses top Cabinet secretary in helicopter crash

Year after year, Carlos Rogers came close to making big interceptions for the Washington Redskins . He often dropped the ball, though, and in turn, the Redskins eventually chose to drop him. Now in his first season as a member of the San Francisco 49ers , Rogers enters Sunday’s game against his former team with three interceptions through seven games. The Redskins’ cornerbacks have a total of two this season. Rogers’s replacement, Josh Wilson, has none. Read full article > >

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Redskins pick Josh Wilson, but Carlos Rogers gets picks

She was a trust fund kid who moved to Paris in 1903 and made some very successful bets early in her career as an art collector and wannabe writer. Gertrude Stein, whose family prospered in the San Francisco real estate market and streetcar business late in the 19th century, used her money to buy paintings by Matisse and Picasso long before they became world-famous. She latched onto artists, celebrated their work, associated her name with them and, especially in the case of Picasso, used them to establish her own reputation as an astute connoisseur and observer of modern art. Read full article > >

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Gertrude Stein in full form at Portrait Gallery

Protesters from the ”Occupy Wall Street” movement heckled News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch during a speech at an education forum on Friday in San Francisco, California, accusing him of of trying to profit from public education.

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VIDEO: Murdoch speech is heckled in US