Host Dan Ashley provides an exclusive, behind-the-scenes sneak peek into San Francisco's new Exploratorium!

For Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, there's a definite change in his psyche working with first-year coach Jay Gruden and new offensive coordinator Sean McVay.

The NFL will suspend Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for the first two games of this season, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino confirmed Thursday morning that the team and ace Jon Lester have agreed to table contract negotiations until after the season.

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Justin Blackmon has been arrested a third time, this time in Edmond, Oklahoma, where police have charged him with possession of marijuana.

You think the TSA is difficult? Try covering a departure of Air Force One from San Francisco International Airport.

More than 36,000 PG&E customers were without power in San Francisco early Wednesday morning, according to PG&E officials. The outage, impacting 36,895 PG&E customers began late Tuesday night, according to PG&E officials.

AC Transit and its bus drivers and other employees avoided a potential Wednesday strike when the two sides reached a tentative deal on a three-year contract. Officials with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192 and the bus system agreed to the deal shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, less than two hours before 1,625 drivers, mechanics, dispatchers, clerical and other workers had said they would walk off the job. AC Transit also wanted workers to begin paying a portion of their health care premiums.

Court questions decision to remove Grant from train [...] the courts and the public have placed the responsibility for Oscar Grant's death entirely on the BART police officer who shot the unarmed passenger on an Oakland train platform. [...] a federal appeals court ruling could shift some of the blame to the officer's supervisor and perhaps the transit system itself. Former Officer Johannes Mehserle, who fired the shot that killed Grant on Jan. 1, 2009, served 11 months in prison for involuntary manslaughter, and is also a defendant in the damage suit by Grant's father and four of his friends. [...] he said, an employer "shouldn't be responsible for the actions of a rogue employee, but for negligent supervision." BART has paid $2.8 million in settlements to Grant's mother and daughter, and could be assessed additional damages in the suits by Grant's father and the four friends, who spent hours in handcuffs at the transit agency's police station after the shooting.

Critics of a regional plan to encourage development and growth in areas with easy access to mass transit filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court on Tuesday. The petitioner, a group called Bay Area Citizens that says the plan will hurt their property values, is being represented in court by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento conservative organization. The lawsuit alleges that Plan Bay Area violates the California Environmental Quality Act by omitting alternatives to its plan to steer 77 percent of future growth near "priority development areas," including places like Mission Bay in San Francisco, Oakland's Jack London Square and downtown San Rafael, Walnut Creek and Fairfield.

AC Transit also wants workers to begin paying a portion of their health care premiums. A bus operator's base salary is $55,000, but health and other benefits bring total compensation to about $103,000, Johnson said. The agency also originally wanted workers to contribute 10 percent to their health care premiums before switching to an agreement based on flat rates.

A car belonging to a missing Oakland woman has been found, but the whereabouts of the criminal defense investigator remain unknown, police said Tuesday. Coke, 50, who is a death penalty expert, works as an investigator for the federal public defender's office in Sacramento, helping government lawyers defend indigent clients accused of federal crimes. Family members are wondering whether she met with someone who purported to know where her dog was, or whether she met with foul play with someone connected to her work at the public defender's office.

Carl Crawford hit an RBI triple to back Hyun-Jin Ryu?s third straight victory, and the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers completed a sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 4-3 victory Sunday night.

Saul scored in the fifth round of penalty kicks to lift Spanish League champion Atletico Madrid past Major League Soccer?s San Jose Earthquakes after they played to a scoreless tie Sunday in the final sporting event at Candlestick Park.

John Jaso drove in three runs, helping Scott Kazmir and the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 9-3 Sunday night.

Two former Oakland Athletic ball club members were inducted into the baseball?s Hall of Fame.

Seven runners from Gaza competed in the San Francisco Marathon Sunday.

A two-alarm electrical fire gutted a San Leandro hair salon and sent a firefighter to the hospital Sunday morning, a fire spokeswoman said.

"I cannot begin to express the shock and sadness we feel this evening," Santa Cruz Mayor Hillary Bryant said. "Two of our most beloved officers were killed in the line of duty and this has rocked the community to our absolute foundation."

The two slain officers are identified as Detective Sergeant Loran "Butch" Baker, a 28-year veteran of the department and 10-year veteran Detective Elizabeth Butler. Police Chief Kevin Vogel describes Baker as a longtime friend and mentor. Detective Baker leaves behind a wife, two daughters, and a son who works as a Community Services Officer for Santa Cruz police. Detective Butler is survived by her partner and two young sons, Vogel says.

"It was with deep, deep sadness that I stand before you this evening to talk about the death of my two officers today," Chief Vogel said. "We at the Santa Cruz police department are like family. I've known both of these officers for a long, long time and there just aren't words to describe how I feel personally about this and about how my department is reacting to this horrific, horrific tragedy."

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak's department will lead the investigation. He says it appears the two plain clothes detectives went to Goulet's home on Banciforte as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. Based on physical evidence and witness accounts, Wowak says Goulet opened fire on the detectives. The two officers and witnesses called for help.

When authorities arrived on the scene they say they found the two detectives dead outside the home and Goulet missing. A multi-agency team then locked down the neighborhood which includes three schools and a busy Whole Foods supermarket.

Within minutes of setting up the search, Sheriff Wowak says officers encountered Goulet. A short chase ensued and then gunfire was exchanged, he says. Goulet was shot and killed at the scene.

Even after Goulet's death, officers continued a house by house, "closet-by-closet" search of the neighborhood to determine if there were additional suspects. Sheriff Wowak says it is his belief the public is now out of harm's way.

Students at the three schools were taken by bus to the nearby Government Center where they were re-united with their families.

Authorities are praising nearby law agencies including deputies from San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey County sheriffs departments and police officers from Scott's Valley, Capitola, and Watsonville who just showed up on the scene to offer their help.

Wowak says the California Department of Justice, the FBI, and the regional law agencies will all assist in the investigation. He says it could be weeks before we know all of the details of what happened and why.

Stay tuned to KRON 4 and KRON4.com for comprehensive coverage of the investigation into the shootings and the community's mourning of the two slain officers.

(Copyright 2013, KRON 4, All rights reserved.)

SAN JOSE (BCN) -- Police are investigating the death of a pedestrian who was fatally struck in a hit-and-run collision in San  Jose early Tuesday morning, officers said.      Shortly after 1 a.m., police received a report of a traffic collision at the intersection of Monterey Road and Bellevue Avenue.      Upon arrival, police determined that a vehicle had struck a woman and the driver had fled before police arrived on scene.      The victim was transported to a local hospital and treated for life-threatening injuries. She succumbed to her injuries at 1:50 a.m., police said.      Preliminary police investigation into the incident revealed that the victim was crossing the street when a dark-colored vehicle struck her.  The vehicle did not stop and continued southbound on Monterey Road, police said.      Neither the driver nor the vehicle has been located and the incident remains under investigation, according to police.      The victim's identity is being withheld pending notification to next of kin, police said.      Anyone with information regarding the incident or about the suspect vehicle is asked to contact local authorities.(Copyright 2013, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)

(BCN) The U.S. Coast Guard has called off its search for a man, woman and two children who reportedly abandoned ship off the coast of Monterey County on Sunday afternoon saying that the report could have been a hoax.The search was suspended at about 9:40 a.m. Tuesday. Coast Guard boats and aircraft had been scouring the waters about 65 miles off the Monterey coast since about 4:20 p.m. Sunday, when the family made a distress call to Coast Guard Sector San Francisco.The caller said he was on a boat, possibly named "Charmblow," with his wife, their 4-year-old son and the boy's young cousin.The man told the Coast Guard that the vessel's electronics system was failing, and then said over a choppy radio connection that the family had decided to abandon ship, according to the Coast Guard. Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz said it is not clear how many life rafts the family had with them, but that there was no life raft. In the last dispatch from the boat at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the man said the family was trying to string together a cooler and a life ring to cling to. Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Bena said there have been no missing-persons reports that would help identify the family. Lutz said the Coast Guard has checked local marinas for information about a boat named "Charmblow" or something similar, to no avail.However, although the search has been called off, the Coast Guard is still treating the incident as a legitimate distress call, Lutz said.(Copyright 2013, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)

SAN FRANCISCO -- A longtime oboist with the San Francisco Symphony remains hospitalized Monday after collapsing on stage Saturday night during a  performance at Davies Symphony Hall, a symphony spokesman said.      William Bennett, 56, the principal oboist, was performing Richard  Strauss' Oboe Concerto during an 8 p.m. performance at the hall, located at  201 Van Ness Ave., when he fell to the stage, spokesman Oliver Theil said.      The show was stopped and he was taken to a hospital, where it was determined that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage, Theil said.      He was still at the hospital this morning and was listed in guarded condition, according to Theil.      "We all think the world of Bill, and our thoughts and best wishes are with him and his family," Theil said.      Bennett has been a member of the symphony since 1979 and has been  the principal oboist since 1987.      There has been an outpouring of support for Bennett over social media, including by the New York Philharmonic, which sent well wishes in a  tweet this morning.(Copyright 2013, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)

(BCN) -- Family members and friends are worried about an Oakland couple who may have disappeared during a bike trip in South America last month.Garrett Hand, 25, and his girlfriend, Jamie Neal, left on their bike trip in late November, and at the end of January all communication stopped, Hand's sister Larkin McGowan said today.She said there has been no financial activity on the couple's bank accounts or credit cards since Jan. 25. "That's the big alarm," said McGowan, who lives in Concord.The couple, who McGowan described as avid bicyclists and well-traveled, have been documenting their trip online. Social media posts dropped off around the same time the financial activity stopped, she said. The last post on Neal's Facebook was on Jan. 23, when the pair arrived in Cusco, Peru.Hand, a commercial fisherman in the Bay Area, posted in Spanish on his Facebook page from Cusco on Jan. 25 that the next stop of the trip would be Pucallpa, Peru, if the couple could find a bus.Neal, who is in her 20s and works at the Pedaler Bike Shop in El Sobrante, had been in touch with her coworkers through the end of January, shop mechanic Mark Lindgren said.The shop has pooled together a $3,000 reward for any information that will help locate the couple.Lindgren said Neal had taken time off work for the trip, and that regular customers and colleagues are concerned.Donations for the couple's families can be made at any Mechanics Bank by mentioning Hand or Neal, Lindgren said.On Feb. 13, the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru, posted an emergency message warning of a potential kidnapping threat in the Cusco area."The Embassy has received information that members of a criminal organization may be planning to kidnap U.S. citizen tourists in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area," the message reads.The threat is listed as credible through the end of February.McGowan said the families are working with the U.S. Embassy and local authorities.Copyright 2013, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)

SAN JOSE (BCN) -- A third suspect in a 2010 homicide in San Jose is in custody after being arrested Friday afternoon as he was on his way to court, police said.       Carlos Ruiz Paz, 21, a San Jose resident, was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. as he was en route to an unrelated court case, police said.      The victim, 22-year-old Jose Antonio Vega Calderon, was found stabbed and shot at the corner of Willard Avenue and San Carlos Street at about 9:30 p.m. on April 21, 2010, police said.       He was taken to a hospital, where he died later that night.      The killing was later determined to be gang-related, according to police.      Jose Torres, 22, and Alvaro Ochoa, 22, were identified as suspects and arrested in connection with the murder. They have been in custody since their 2010 arrests, police said.(Copyright 2013, Bay City News, All rights reserved.)

A Northern California wildfire more than tripled in size Saturday, threatening vineyards and hundreds of homes, while a new blaze prompted evacuation of a community in Yosemite National Park.

Pushed by 20 mph wind gusts, the so-called Sand Fire that began Friday in the Sierra Nevada foothills raced through more than 6 square miles of drought-stricken grasslands east of Sacramento.

The blaze, which has burned five homes and seven outbuildings, led to evacuation orders covering about 515 homes in and around the River Pines Estates community in Amador County.

"The fire's moving in and around homes in the area," said Lynn Tolmachoff, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "The leading edge is bumping up against residences as we speak."

Firefighters battled the flames through the day in triple-digit temperatures. At first, the fire moved away from vineyards in the Shenandoah Valley, but a mid-afternoon wind change caused the flames to split and some crossed fire lines and headed down into a section of the wine country, Tolmachoff said.

The wildfire burned within 200 yards of the Story Winery in Plymouth on Friday, and the business was closed Saturday.

"We've got CalFire guys using our tasting room as a lookout point," owner Rob Campbell told the Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/1rIoXjk ).

Sunset brought some relief, with slightly cooler and calmer weather.

"The wind has died down. It's definitely helping the firefighters out," Tolmachoff said. "We're not seeing the large flames. But now it's extremely smoky."

The fire was only 20 percent contained by nightfall despite efforts by 1,464 firefighters and aircraft that included a DC-10 air tanker.

CalFire says a vehicle that drove over dry vegetation started the fire, which has sent up huge plumes of smoke and worsened air quality in the Sacramento area.

Meanwhile, a 500-acre fire that began Saturday afternoon threatened homes and cabins in Yosemite. Evacuations were ordered in Foresta, a community of about 45 homes inside the park where many park employees live, spokeswoman Kari Cobb said.

An additional six homes outside the park also were evacuated, she said.

The area is well away from the heavily touristed Yosemite Valley, but road closures could add a half-hour to the drive in for park visitors, Cobb said.

About 300 firefighters were battling the blaze in an area scorched in a 2009 fire, Cobb said.

Wildfires also burned in other Western states. The nation's largest wildfire, the 618-square-mile Buzzard Complex in eastern Oregon, was 95 percent contained Saturday as crews also battled other fires in the state.

There was also progress on Washington's largest wildfire, the 390-square-mile Carlton Complex in north-central part of the state, which was almost 60 percent contained. Cooler weather and rain helped firefighters get a handle on the lightning-caused fire, but heat and wind picked up Saturday. Officials increased their estimate of burned homes from 150 to 300 Friday.

In Utah, evacuation orders for 200 homes in Summit County and 10 homes in Utah County were lifted. No homes burned and there were no injuries. One of the fires started early Saturday when two teenagers playing with fireworks ignited dry grass and brush, police said.

Other wildfires burned in Utah, Colorado and other states in the West.

A very special delivery came to two Bay Area families in quite an unusual way this weekend when two fathers delivered their sons on different parts of Northbound 101.

Hanna Sahourieh and his wife Naomi of San Bruno said they were headed to Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco on Friday morning, but their unborn son had other plans.

Sahourieh was forced to park his SUV on the split between 101 and Interstate 80 and deliver his son when his wife’s water broke and the couple was stuck in traffic.

“Right when I saw the head start to come out I just parked the car, jumped out, dodged traffic and started to get honked at,” he said.

Minutes later, Sahourieh delivered his son at 10:49 a.m. on the freeway.

“She pushed, (the baby) popped right out and he landed on my hand right there in the middle of the freeway in the car,” he said.

Mom said she was only focused on her baby and was glad to hear him cry.

“With my daughter, she didn’t cry at all,” Naomi said. “So when he came out and started crying, I was like, oh my gosh, he’s good, he’s healthy.”

Sahourieh drove his wife and son to Kaiser in San Francisco to make sure their nine pound, one ounce bundle of joy was okay. Doctors let dad cut the umbilical cord in the car.

The couple named their son Jiries Hanna Sahourieh, but a family member nicknamed the newborn “Way-Way,” a nod to his freeway delivery. It’s a delivery his family will never forget.

“It’s just a blessing and he’s healthy so that’s all that matters,” Naomi said.

Although it is rare for families to have roadside deliveries, another father delivered his son on Saturday afternoon in Novato, also on Northbound 101 near the Olompali State Park exit with the help of a dispatcher from the Marin County Communications Center.

A truck spraying mosquito-killing insecticide will be driving around parts of San Mateo and Hillsborough Monday evening, in an effort to combat the spread of West Nile Virus.

According to the county Mosquito and Vector Control District, similar mosquito-fogging efforts took place on July 21 this year.

However, despite that effort, county officials report that mosquitoes have since tested positive for the virus.

In order to prevent any human cases, mosquito fogging is scheduled to take place beginning at 9 p.m. and concluding by 5 a.m. Tuesday.

The area to be treated is roughly bordered by Peninsula and Second avenues in San Mateo, and North Idaho Street and Severn Lane in Hillsborough.

In order to mitigate personal risk of infected mosquito bites, the vector control district recommends eliminating all sources of standing water on personal property, and wearing bug repellent containing the chemical DEET.

One of Liberia's most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, officials said Sunday, and an American physician was being treated for the deadly virus, highlighting the risks facing health workers trying to combat an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people in West Africa — the largest ever recorded.

A second American, a missionary working in the Liberian capital, was also taken ill and was being treated in isolation there, said the pastor of a North Carolina church that sponsored her work.

Dr. Samuel Brisbane, a top Liberian health official, was treating Ebola patients at the country's largest hospital, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia, when he fell ill. He died Saturday, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister. A Ugandan doctor died earlier this month.

The American physician, 33-year-old Dr. Kent Brantly, was in Liberia helping to respond to the outbreak that has killed 129 people nationwide when he fell ill, according to the North Carolina-based medical charity, Samaritan's Purse.

He was receiving intensive medical care in a Monrovia hospital and was in stable condition, according to a spokeswoman for the aid group, Melissa Strickland.

"We are hopeful, but he is certainly not out of the woods yet," she said.Early treatment improves a patient's chances of survival, and Brantly recognized his own symptoms and began receiving care immediately, Strickland said.

The American missionary, Nancy Writebol, was gravely ill and in isolation in Monrovia, her husband, David, told a church elder via Skype, according to the Rev. John Munro, pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, N.C.

Munro said the couple, who had been in Liberia for about a year, insisted on staying there despite the Ebola threat. "These are real heroes — people who do things quietly behind the scenes, people with a very strong vocation and very strong faith," Munro said.

There is no known cure for the highly contagious virus, which is one of the deadliest in the world. At least 1,201 people have been infected in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the World Health Organization, and 672 have died. Besides the Liberian fatalities, 319 people have died in Guinea and 224 in Sierra Leone.

Ominously, Nigerian authorities said Friday that a Liberian man died of Ebola after flying from Monrovia to Lagos via Lome, Togo. The case underscored the difficulty of preventing Ebola victims from traveling given weak screening systems and the fact that the initial symptoms of the disease — including fever and sore throat — resemble many other illnesses.

Health workers are among those at greatest risk of contracting the disease, which spreads through contact with bodily fluids.

Photos of Brantly working in Liberia show him swathed head-to-toe in white protective coveralls, gloves and a head-and-face mask that he wore for hours a day while treating Ebola patients.

Earlier this year, the American was quoted in a posting about the dangers facing health workers trying to contain the disease. "In past Ebola outbreaks, many of the casualties have been health care workers who contracted the disease through their work caring for infected individuals," he said.

There is no known cure for Ebola, which begins with symptoms including fever and sore throat and escalates to vomiting, diarrhea and internal and external bleeding.

The WHO says the disease is not contagious until a person begins to show symptoms. Brantly's wife and children had been living with him in Liberia but flew home to the U.S. about a week ago, before the doctor started showing any signs of illness, Strickland said.

"They have absolutely shown no symptoms," she said.

A woman who identified herself as Brantly's mother said the family was declining immediate comment when reached by phone in Indiana.

Besides Brantly and the two doctors in Liberia, Sierra Leone's top Ebola doctor and a doctor in Liberia's central Bong County have also fallen ill.

The situation "is getting more and more scary," said Nyenswah, the country's assistant health minister.

Meanwhile, the fact that a sick Liberian could board a flight to Nigeria raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa.

Nigeria's international airports were screening passengers arriving from foreign countries, and health officials were also working with ports and land borders to raise awareness of the disease. Togo's government also said it was on high alert.

Security analysts were skeptical about the usefulness of these measures.

"In Nigeria's case, the security set-up is currently bad, so I doubt it will help or have the minimum effectiveness they are hoping for," said Yan St. Pierre, CEO of the Berlin-based security consulting firm MOSECON.

An outbreak in Lagos, a megacity where many lived in cramped conditions, could be a major public health disaster.

The West Africa outbreak is believed to have begun as far back as January in southeast Guinea, though the first cases weren't confirmed until March.

Since then, officials have tried to contain the disease by isolating victims and educating populations on how to avoid transmission, though porous borders and widespread distrust of health workers have made the outbreak difficult to bring under control.

News of Brisbane's death first began circulating on Saturday, a national holiday marking Liberia's independence in 1847.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf used her Independence Day address to discuss a new taskforce to combat Ebola. Information Minister Lewis Brown said the taskforce would go "from community to community, from village to village, from town to town" to try to increase awareness.

In Sierra Leone, which has recorded the highest number of new cases in recent days, the first case originating in Freetown, the capital, came when a hairdresser, Saudata Koroma, fell ill. She was forcibly removed from a government hospital by her family, sparking a frantic search that ended Friday.

Kargbo, the chief medical officer, said Sunday that Koroma died while being transported to a treatment center in the east of the country.

A coroner's official says a 20-year-old man has died after lightning struck 14 people at popular Venice Beach in Los Angeles and Catalina Island.

Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Larry Dietz says the man was taken from the beach and pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday afternoon.

Dietz says he can't confirm whether the man was a swimmer who was pulled from the water and given CPR.

Thirteen people, including a 15-year-old boy, were jolted by lightning at the beach as rare summer thunderstorms hit Southern California.

Nine went to hospitals, including one who remains in critical condition.

Lightning also struck a 57-year-old man on a golf course on Santa Catalina Island but he was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

The story of a fallen Marine's mother being reunited with her son's tribute flag is picking up steam. 

As KPRC reports, a family in Hemphill, Texas found a flag at a flea market, and realized it was a tribute flag to a fallen marine. 

The flag was covered in messages of support for Patsy Maciel's son Fred, who was killed in Iraq in 2005. (Via KTRK)

The buyers of the flag, reportedly found Maciel through Facebook, and reached out to her to return the flag. (Via KHOU)

The story quickly spread on the internet before making it to national TV with The Today Show running the story on Sunday.

It's still not clear exactly how the flag ended up at the flea market but the KPRC reporter who worked on the story posted on Twitter that she heard the flea market's owner got the flag at an estate sale.

If this story sounds familiar, it's because using social media to reunite owners with lost items isn't uncommon. 

A quick look around the internet shows they seem to pop up all the time. (Via Daily Mail, Yahoo,The Huffington Post)

In fact, stories of Facebook-enabled reunions are so not uncommon, Buzzfeed even put together a compilation of reunion stories. 

From The Odyssey, thousands of years ago, to popular movies like Homeward Bound, people just seem to like hearing stories other people overcoming the odds to find their way home. (Via Jastrow / Public Domain, Buena Vista Pictures / 'Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey')

Maciel was reunited with the flag, which she called a part of her son, on Saturday at the cemetery where he is buried.