Latest SF Bridge Snafu Sparks Fear, Anger

(NEWSER) - An unexpected hiccup means the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will remain closed through tomorrow—and a potential nightmare commute for the 260,000 who use the span daily, the Contra Costa Times reports. The bridge was closed Thursday night so workers could replace a 300-foot section, but during the project they found a crack in a steel link, and needed to make the repair immediately. The bridge was scheduled to reopen at 5am tomorrow. More»

Oakland Tanker explosion and fire close busy freeway

(NEWSER) - A speeding 8,600-gallon gas tanker smashed into a guardrail early yesterday on a Bay Area highway, causing a fireball that melted an overpass above it. The driver sustained minor injuries, and no one else was hurt. But the collapsed overpass, which carried traffic eastbound from the Baby Bridge, closed I-880 and I-580 indefinitely. More»

Shaima Alawadi's family was in turmoil, Calif. records show

(NEWSER) - The brutal beating death of an Iraqi woman in California last month may not have been a hate crime at all, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune in a detailed look at search warrant records. Shaima Alawadi, 32, was planning to divorce husband Kassim Alhimidi and move to Texas, where her mother and siblings had moved recently. The records also show that 17-year-old daughter Fatima, who found her mother and called 911, was unhappy over an arranged marriage to a cousin. While being interviewed by police hours after the attack, someone sent Fatima a text message reading, "The detective will find out tell them (can’t) talk." More»

Let us keep feeling sorry for ourselves after earthquake: East Coasters

(NEWSER) - Dudes, get over yourselves. You East Coasters think you're all that with your 5.8 shakers, but we eat those for breakfast, man. Like, "welcome to our world," tweeted San Francisco traffic guy Sal Castaneda, representing a horde of more-earthquake-than-thou Californians. But as Gawker responded: "Hey, Californians: Shut up and let us wallow in our abject terror." Even more insufferable than Californians are seen-it-all Californians who have moved to the East Coast. More»

And hit to San Andreas or Cascadia faults could be even 'scarier'

(NEWSER) - Is what happened in Japan set to repeat itself in California? Author Simon Winchester thinks so. In an article for Newsweek that’s turning some heads , Winchester notes that though scientists aren’t sure why, major earthquakes have a tendency to happen in clusters, with a quake on one side of a plate followed by one on the other some weeks or months later. “It is as though the earth becomes like a great brass bell,” he writes. Strike it in one place, and the vibrations carry. More»