San Francisco

The Zodiac, the hooded serial killer who menaced the Bay Area 40 years ago, has so fascinated the public that major motion pictures, books and blogs have been devoted to sifting through clues for his identity. Just when you thought every angle had been covered, along comes Deborah Perez, who announced at a raucous sidewalk news conference in San Francisco that the Zodiac was her dad and she rode in his car when he went out to kill.

Even here, in the capital of true believers in one thing or another, Paul Gillespie stands out. The veteran cabby and former president of the San Francisco Taxicab Commission is one of the reasons this city's taxi fleet is vying to be the most environmentally correct in the country. After years of advocating for hybrid taxis, Gillespie, who says he has "the carbon footprint of an Ethiopian child," now has proof that they are green in more ways than one.

The mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco joined gay rights groups Sunday in raising concerns about the Obama administration's defense of a federal law restricting same-sex marriage. "I think it's a big mistake," San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said shortly before he and his Los Angeles counterpart, Antonio Villaraigosa, kicked off the annual L.A. Pride parade in West Hollywood.

Leftovers from San Francisco Bay Area restaurants may soon help power the region. The East Bay Municipal Utility District has created a program, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, to generate electricity from the methane gas produced by food decomposition. Engineers have been testing and refining the process since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the utility $50,000 in 2006 to study it, and they plan to sell energy to the grid beginning next year.

Twelve years after a Silver Lake man died, his pharmacy receipts and medical bills sit in a Los Angeles archive with a hand-written message declaring: "The Cost of AIDS." In a San Francisco library, a massive photo collection capturing the exuberance of gay liberation in the 1970s and its tragic collision with AIDS fills many cartons.

In a sobering self-assessment of the response to last year's San Francisco Bay oil spill, a U.S. Coast Guard study released Monday conceded that the first crews on the scene dramatically underestimated the trouble and onshore commanders failed to properly alert the public and local officials. But the 130-page report on the aftermath of the Nov.

Artie Samish never ran for public office, but for decades he was one of the most powerful -- and colorful -- players in California politics. Before California had a full-time Legislature and when special interests could quietly give unlimited amounts of money to elect favored candidates, he was a consummate string-puller, a hired gun working for the highest pay.

Loyola Marymount defeated San Francisco, 72-67, on Monday at Los Angeles, sending Coach Eddie Sutton's team to defeat the game after a huge comeback earned him his 800th victory. Shawn Deadwiler scored 18 points for the Lions, 5-18 overall and 2-5 in the West Coast Conference. The Lions ended a four-game losing streak. Earlier in the day, Sutton became the winningest active coach in major men's college basketball with the resignation of Bob Knight from Texas Tech.

Where would San Francisco be without Miguel Migs? The Bay Area DJ-producer has been instrumental in putting the city on the global house music map, via years of stellar releases on labels like Naked Music and his own label, Salted. His latest, "Those Things," cements his reputation, with smooth-as-silk tracks like "So Far." Sunday at weekly house party Deep, he will be joined by another Bay Area icon, Mark Farina (pictured).