At the heart of Mayor Jean Quan's 100 Blocks crime-fighting plan is the notion that 90 percent of shootings and homicides in Oakland occur in just 100 blocks and that increased policing and services in those blocks will reduce crime citywide.

But the nonprofit Urban Strategies Council challenged that premise Monday, releasing a study that found shootings and homicides are far more dispersed than the city suggests.

New cases of cancer among adults in California are declining, but rates of childhood cancers are increasing, according to a new study by a statewide health organization.

Construction crews are working up to 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to finish the $321 million makeover of Memorial Stadium before Cal's home football opener Sept. 1.

One subcontractor on the job, who spoke on the condition that he not be named, told us he'd be "very surprised" if the stadium is done on time.

A man who was punched and hit his head on the ground in Golden Gate Park after last month's Bay to Breakers race has died after being taken off life support, authorities said Monday.

"We're seeing a significant growth in the number of San Franciscans who are utilizing websites to share their homes, apartments or couches with visitors from around the world," said San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who has been meeting with stakeholders before introducing legislation to address the trend. "We need to protect scarce rental housing, make sure visitors are respectful within buildings and neighborhoods, and make sure these practices take into account planning, safety and quality-of-life concerns...."

Spokespeople for tenants, neighborhood associations and landlords, groups that rarely, if ever, find common ground in San Francisco, agree that the lodging websites are causing problems.

A year after a last-minute bailout saved broke Caltrain from shutting down half its stations and trains, the commuter line is so flush with cash that for the first time in four years it is adding service and keeping most fares intact.

In medieval Europe, people tracked boars and stags with packs of hounds. Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Washington owned hunting dogs.

But simply because something is an old tradition doesn't mean it should continue, say animal-rights groups, whose efforts to ban the use of dogs to hunt bears and bobcats is gaining momentum in the California Legislature.

The City Council will consider revoking the use permits of two Berkeley massage parlors that are suspected of operating as prostitution houses, and a third has relinquished its permit after the Zoning Adjustments Board recommended in late April that the Council scrutinize the establishments’ operations.