Burlingame News

Ed Jew, the former San Francisco supervisor who resigned from office in January after state and federal prosecutors charged him with corruption, pleaded guilty Tuesday in state court to felony perjury for lying about living in the district he represented.

Even though the College of San Mateo football team won’t be playing in its Bulldog Bowl on Saturday, some members of the coaching staff and school’s administration will still be there to watch Coast Conference champion Monterey Peninsula (10-0) and Golden Valley champion Shasta (8-2) do battle. They still want to put on a first-rate show.

Marie C. Baca/Daily Journal Harout Salatian, of Mario's Shoe Repair on San Mateo's 25th Avenue, repairs a shoe for a customer.

The financial sector may be in shambles, but the owner of Mario’s Shoe Repair is far more concerned about the state of a certain brown pump.

Made in China, of course,” said Harout Salatian, inspecting the heel. “What do you expect when you pay twenty dollars for a pair of shoes? Of course it’s going to need repair.”

Photo Credit: eschipul

San Mateo County is joining other counties and cities statewide asking that Proposition 8, the controversial measure banning same-sex marriage, be overturned as unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

The Board of Supervisors decided in closed session Tuesday to join the city and county of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties and the city of Los Angeles in their petitions to the California Supreme Court.

Potential candidates for a rare open seat on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors anxiously waiting to hear whether the board will appoint a replacement for outgoing Supervisor Jerry Hill or hold a special election will have to wait a little longer.

Photo Credit: JAF88

Desperate for space to accommodate future students, the city's elementary school district is seeking alternatives to avoid overcrowding.

One way is to bring in temporary or permanent classroom spaces in any of the schools within the district.

The other is to buy the former Hoover School at 2220 Summit Dr.

San Mateo County's only cemetery with an ocean view may be sold in the not-too-distant future amid uncertain economic times, staff members at Skylawn Memorial Park were told in a surprise announcement earlier this month.

Skylawn has been the crown jewel of the Lifemark Group, a Hayward-based collection of cemeteries, funeral homes and mausoleums around the Bay Area, ever since Lifemark was acquired by Texas-based Capital Southwest Corp. in 1969.

Imagine Shakespeare’s classic A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but with bellbottoms, psychedelic colors and peace signs. This weekend, the Burlingame High School drama department will make this hippie dream a reality.

Beginning Thursday, the drama department will perform a “Summer of Love” interpretation of A Midsummer’s Night Dream, complete with 1960s costumes and sets. The script, however, retains the Shakespearean language. The juxtaposition of olde English and hippie attire makes the play a unique experience for audiences as well as actors.

The beginning of crab season Saturday was as bad — or worse — than fishermen expected.

Fishermen were returning to harbor with an average of one to three crabs per pot Saturday. In normal seasons, fishermen haul in approximately 15 crabs per pot. The haul confirms what everyone was already fearing — that in a common occurrence, crab did not settle in the area this year, said Duncan MacLean, president of the Half Moon Bay Fishermen’s Marketing Association.

Photo Credit: daveparker01

It's that time of year: Family events are soon approaching and the spirit of lending a helping hand overcomes.

There are a number of organizations in the county — large and small — that could use donations and volunteers this holiday season. Additionally, local groups are gathering food, gifts, toys, gift cards in more for a variety of causes. Whether you are looking to give time or donation this list will offer a wide range of ideas for this holiday season.

Photo Credit: sterlingpr

The downtown San Mateo post office once held office space for Leo Ryan before he was a congressman.

The post office was officially renamed in his honor yesterday, 30 years after he was shot to death on a Guyana tarmac and more than 900 followers of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple committed suicide nearby.

It will be a year of basics not luxuries for Burlingame, which faces a tough financial future, new Mayor Ann Keighran said in some of her first words as mayor.

We will meet adversity and multiple challenges over the coming year. ... We are not completely immune to the economic problems other cities are facing,” Keighran said.

Two weeks before Michael Mitchell joined the Peace Corps, his best friend told him to forget about packing clothes.

Just bring soccer balls," he was told. Mitchell took the advice and left for Niger with 15 balls in 1983. "And why not? You have a soccer ball underneath your arm, and they come around you like a magnet of good energy, not terror, fear or violence."

Now that California voters have approved $10 billion in bonds to help pay for a new high-speed passenger rail line, Peninsula officials are trying to sort out what its impact will be on their communities and how it will affect area transit service.

Caltrain has taken particular interest in the passage of Proposition 1A, the Nov. 4 ballot measure that authorized funding for the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco portion of the $45 billion, 800-mile project.

The trial of two young men from Hayward charged in the apparent road-rage death of a Walnut Creek man on Highway 101 in Burlingame began Monday with the appointment of San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Karesh to preside over the trial.

Photo Credit: JAF88

Seconds after becoming the new mayor, Councilwoman Ann Keighran warned Monday that the city will brace itself for a tough year ahead.

She found it unnecessary to sugarcoat the fact that Burlingame is not immune to the economic challenges that have faced numerous cities on the Peninsula.

Patience and our will, will be tested," said Keighran, who is in her first term as councilwoman and officially serves as mayor in December. "We will meet adversity and multiple challenges."

Photo Credit: JAF88

In honor of Joe Putnam as the premier peninsula leader in the auto industry for more than 40 years, the Mayor declares Monday, November 17, 2008, as Joe Putnam Day in Burlingame. Joe Putnam will be honored at the City Council meeting today at 7 p.m. at Burlingame City Hall.

"I'm 28 years old, and I am about to die." I was curled up behind the wheel of an airplane on a jungle airstrip in Guyana, South America.

I was curled up behind the wheel of an airplane on a jungle airstrip in Guyana, South America. This isn't what I expected when I signed on to work for a United States congressman. Our fact-finding trip to investigate the Peoples Temple in Jonestown had gone horribly wrong.

The images shocked the world: Hundreds of dead, bloated bodies, looking as if they had washed ashore in the Peoples Temple settlement of Jonestown, Guyana.

With 918 dead in the largest mass-murder-suicide in history, the sheer loss of life would be filtered through the American subconscious into a pop culture warning against blind obedience: “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”

College of San Mateo finished the 2008 football season on a high note, rolling past host Diablo Valley College, 42-23, in Pleasant Hill. CSM, which started the season 4-0, finally broke a frustrating five-game losing streak (two in overtime) against the current top 5-ranked teams in Northern California (among the 35 region teams). That was, arguably, the toughest 5-game JC schedule in the country.