The last nail has been driven into the coffin of the once-mighty San Francisco law firm, Thelen LLP. The 85-year-old firm, which helped arrange the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge and the Hoover Dam filed for Chapter 7 liquidation last Thursday, after Citigroup, its chief... ... MORE

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and co-founder Martin Eberhard have kissed and made up. Which means the libel suit Eberhard had brought against the Musk is over. Terms are confidential, but we've been kindly allowed to use the following comments: "I'm glad that we could put this behind us and... ... MORE

Didn't take long for the food and drink lobby to weigh in on Gavin Newsom's soda tax proposal. "Consumer Group to Mayor Newsom: Citizens Don't Want Soda Taxes." A missive sent out by the Center for Consumer Freedom suggests: The tax code should not be used as a tool for social... ... MORE

Forget sugar cane, wood-chips and designer bugs. How about biofuel from plain old rubbish? It's all around us and easy to process, notes The Economist. As proof of concept, the magazine highlights Fulcrum BioEnergy in Pleasanton. Fulcrum is building a $100m plant near Reno, Nevada, to make... ... MORE

Wells Fargo's infamous Malibu beach house party-goer has been fired. "Our investigation concluded a single team member was responsible for violating our company policies, the San Francisco bank said in a statement. "As a result, employment of this individual has been terminated. "We deeply... ... MORE

San Ramon's Chevron Corp. announced today that the Gorgon gas field, one of the world's largest, will be developed off northwest Australia with export contracts already signed with China, India, Japan and South Korea. The deal, itemized in Sunday's column , is a huge win for Chevron, as S&P... ... MORE

This from the New York Times: A Federal District judge on Monday overturned a settlement between the Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission over bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives just before the bank took over Merrill last year. The $33 million settlement "does not... ... MORE

Just received this release from Wells Fargo. WELLS FARGO CONTINUES INVESTIGATION OF MALIBU BANK-OWNED PROPERTY Company policies clearly prohibit alleged activities LOS ANGELES - Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) said today that its internal policies, including those that govern team member... ... MORE

This from AP, via the L.A. Times: A Wells Fargo & Co. executive who oversees foreclosed properties hosted parties and spent long summer weekends in a $12 million Malibu beach house, moving into the home just after it had been surrendered to Wells Fargo to satisfy debts, neighbors said. Real... ... MORE

Spoke this morning with attorney Steven Williams of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy , who is handling the law firm's "deceptive advertising practices" suit against AT&T and Apple, which I itemized in today's column . The suit relates to the companies' long-promised and long-delayed MMS and data... ... MORE

Got a couple of e-mails from readers responding to Thursday's column on the SF Chamber of Commerce's "summit" on health care reform . Lavon Taback of San Franciso had little sympathy for CPMC CEO Warren Browner's observation that many procedures that have been targeted as candidates for cost... ... MORE

Purely coincidentally, my item in today's column on Nancy Pelosi's reaction to Sen. Olympia Snowe's public option "trigger" idea, coincided with sudden media attention to the honorable Republican's idea. According to the Wall Street Journal: The White House is holding intensive talks with... ... MORE

The Chronicle's Executive Vice President and Editor at Large, Phil Bronstein, in a recent op-ed dismissed the notion of a health care reform bill by the end of the year as "completely imaginary." Goldman Sachs, in a recent report to the firm's brokerage clients, predicts passage of a bill,... ... MORE

Thought it was something on my shoe when I first detected on Mission Street, outside the Chronicle mid-afternoon. Malodorous, excremental. It wafted through my car window, driving south on 280. Followed me up Chenery Street in Glen Park, then in Mollie Stone's parking lot at Twin Peaks. Thought... ... MORE

Oakland's Pandora Media has signed a five-year lease for 14,644 square feet in the Center 21 complex in the Lake Merritt district of downtown Oakland. "Expanding its operations to accommodate the growing demand for its personalized Internet music service." Press release from property company ... ... MORE

On top of the latest California jobless numbers comes this: The State Board of Equalization today announced that 337 letters have been sent to local finance directors explaining that declining state sales tax revenues have caused a reduction in expected local allocations for their August... ... MORE

California's unemployment rate reached 11.9% in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's an increase from 11.6% in June and considerably higher than the jobless rate of 7.3% a year ago. The state also led the country in the number of jobs lost in July with 35,800 lost jobs. ... ... MORE

Charles Schwab, the man himself, not the company, says he foresees "a blizzard of new proposed regulation and overzealous litigation poised to jeopardize the low-cost investing model that tens of millions of investors have enjoyed for decades." By "overzealous litigation," he's clearly referring... ... MORE

Not long after I posted Bennett Johnson's e-mail supporting the Whole Foods boycott campaign -- 483 Gate comments at last count -- I received an e-mail from Jamie Nessel, a Whole Foods employee who lives in Oakland. Ms. Nessel is not speaking for the company. Her views, below, are entirely her... ... MORE

A reader, Bennett Johnson of Mill Valley, e-mailed me his disagreement with my skeptical take on the Whole Foods boycott campaign, itemized in today's paper (2d item). Herewith (links added): I am a business man who loves Whole Foods (My family has shopped there for decades), but... ... MORE

From the New York Times: Given hardening Republican opposition to Congressional health care proposals, Democrats now say they see little chance of the minority's cooperation in approving any overhaul, and are increasingly focused on drawing support for a final plan from within their own ranks. ... ... MORE

What corporate practice does "nothing for the economy -- and a lot for CEOs receiving stock-based compensation?" Stock buybacks, says William Lazonick , director of the Center for Industrial Competitiveness at the University of Massachusetts. A public company's repurchasing of its share... ... MORE

Got word that Tesla Motors is going to build a powertrain assembly facility in Palo Alto, at the Stanford Research Park. Tesla's also moving its corporate headquarters from San Carlos, with its engineering and R&D departments, to the Stanford Research Park -- which, the company reminds us, "has... ... MORE

As he said he would, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sued Charles Schwab Corp. accused the San Francisco discount brokerage of fraud in the sales and marketing of auction-rate securities that became illiquid. Claiming the firm misled customers about the safety of the securities --... ... MORE

Best reported piece I've seen so far on the latest instance of the paranoid style in American politics is in today's New York Times. Death panels started out, according to the Times, soon after Obama's election, in the mainstream Washington Times, where an editorial likened the... ... MORE

With a pay package topping out at a mere $557 million, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison is no longer the world's #1 paid executive, a jersey we thought he had retired. The honor has been passed to Blackstone Group chief Stephen Schwarzman, 62, with a haul of $702 million last year, according to the ... ... MORE

Now I know why I've been seeing less people walking around clutching their water bottles as if they were exiles in the desert. "Sales of bottled water have fallen for the first time in at least five years, assailed by wrathful environmentalists and budget-conscious consumers who have discovered... ... MORE

Speaking of celebrities' money issues , M.C. Hammer, contrary to stories that he's in "serious financial trouble" says he doesn't owe $671,000 ( reportedly owed in back taxes to the IRS and the state of California. Says he's paid "100 percent of the IRS claim" on a 15-year-old case, and... ... MORE

Not just for Betty Draper, and Joan, and Peggy Olson, whose return to AMC this Sunday we fervently await. Or for the show's costume designer Janie Bryant , highlighted in last Sunday's Chronicle by the paper's former fashion editor, Sylvia Rubin. I mean the show's writers, seven of whom (out... ... MORE

We know that Obama's antitrust chief, Christine Varney, has been ruffling big corporation feathers with the apparent zeal she's bringing to the job . So, it seems, does Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, some of whose corporate constituents have come under Varney's gaze. "If the Bush administration... ... MORE

Gov. Schwarzenegger's "free digital textbook initiative" took a step forward this morning with the release of the state education department's evaluation of submissions designed for high school math and science classes. San Mateo-based CK-12 Foundation , the front runner we mentioned in today's... ... MORE

Bloomberg notes an American Bankruptcy Institute report forecasting 1.4 million bankruptcies by the end of the year, "as jobs are lost and loans are harder to get." Among those filing Chapter 11 last month: Alec Baldwin's movie actor brother, Stephen , after lenders began foreclosure... ... MORE

This from AP: One of California's top lawmakers says he will file a lawsuit next week against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over what he considers illegal vetoes. Senate leader Darrell Steinberg on Friday said he will challenge the governor's decision to cut an additional $489 million from... ... MORE

CNN, Fox et al: Current TV channel journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, pardoned by North Korea after Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong Il. Reportedly will fly home with Clinton. ... MORE

Just heard Schwarzenegger has blue-penciled an additional $37.6 million out of the In-Home Supportive Services budget. It means more recipients will lose more services . According to the County Welfare Directors Association of California , $28.9 million of these latest cuts "effectively... ... MORE

We received this from North Carolina this morning: Two lawyers representing victims of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme spent several hours interviewing him Tuesday morning at the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina. Joseph W. Cotchett and Nancy Fineman of the California firm of Cotchett,... ... MORE

Bloomberg: Ritz Camera Centers Inc., the largest U.S. camera-store chain when it entered bankruptcy, won court approval to sell virtually all of its assets to a group led by Chief Executive Officer David Ritz for about $24 million. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Walrath today granted Ritz Camera... ... MORE

This just in: The Board of Equalization announced it will accept State-issued registered warrants, or IOUs, as payment of taxes due from certain vendors doing business with the State of California. If a taxpayer chooses to make their payment due with an IOU issued by the Controller, they must... ... MORE

This from Reuters: Golden Gate Capital (based in San Francisco) won an auction for the assets of Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. with an all-cash bid of $286 million, the bankrupt outdoor apparel retailer said Friday. Eddie Bauer said Golden Gate will retain the majority of the company's 370 stores... ... MORE

This from MarketWatch : Cisco Systems Inc. is laying off 600 to 700 employees at its Silicon Valley headquarters as part of a previously announced restructuring, a source familiar with the move said Thursday. The company released a statement acknowledging the cuts, saying "this limited... ... MORE