In sports “helmet cams” offer a unique, first-person perspective of events as they happen on the racetrack or the football field.

Now, the San Jose police department is set to become the first in the nation to test out a similar – though much smaller – technology to help officers collect evidence and protect themselves from false allegations of misconduct.

Last week, a few dozen officers attended a demonstration of the cameras, which will be integrated into their uniform, and worn over their ear like a bluetooth. Some cops found the headsets cumbersome, and i tried on several for a stand-up before finding a way to make one fit correctly (lots of napkins stuffed behind my hair to make it snug!). We thought rank and file cops might be opposed to recording their every move in the field. But when so much of what they do is called into question later, and it’s just their word against someone else’s – many officers said they’d welcome the technology as evidence to support their account of events. Right now the department has no set policy about when the cameras must be turned on, though they expect to have very clear guidelines set once this test period is over. I suspect the department will require the cameras be used more often than not, and seriously question those officers who don’t hit “record,” when the action starts.

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Few assignments are as fun as those about food trends, and when I was given a story about the boom in “cupcakeries”,  I knew I had the sweetest story of the day.  Cupcakes are more than a fad. Sure, they’re a niche market, but the low prices & high demand are helping gourmet cupcake shops thrive. Most cities today have at least one, with lines of hungry customers that go out the door. Sales reportedly rose nearly 9 % last year, and chains like Sprinkles in LA and Crumbs in New York have dozens of locations. Employing hundreds of people and smaller boutiques are doing well, too in tiny Mill Valley, California, right outside San Francico, Frosting Bake Shop is holding it’s own against the gelato store and Baskin Robbins down the street.

In fact business is going so well, the owner is opening a second, bigger shop, which means a dozen new jobs, from the bakers to drivers to clerks & more taxes for the local economy. This store is one of 600,000 small businesses that opened last year. All told, there are more than 29-million small businesses in the U.S., accounting for more than “half”  of all private sector jobs. In fact, small businesses like Frosting Bake Shop have created 60% of new jobs over the last 15 years.

Now, cupcakes are expanding beyond the specialty gourmet retail shop. The Ritz-Carlton hotel in New York offers a “Cupcake Tea” for $25 dollars. Many restaurants now offer cupcakes on dessert menus and fast food restaurants may be next.  According to some reports, Taco Bell is test-marketing red velvet cupcakes in some Southern California locations!

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With their whiskers, distinctive barks, and carefree attitudes, sea lions are really adorable and we’re fortunate in San Francisco to have places along fisherman’s wharf where we can see these animals in the wild, for free.  But as these half ton carnivores overrun working docks and public beaches, they’ve become more of a pest than an attraction.

After an especially strong breeding season, and with plenty of food available, sea lions are thriving … and getting way too close to swimmers like Sarah McCuskey. She showed us where one bit her little toe, and actually laughed about the experience. But fishermen aren’t laughing – sea lion are blocking access to their boats and damaging their docks. These animals can be aggressive and my crew and i kept a safe distance during our LIVE reports. The port of San Francisco plans to install 200-feet of rubber mesh barricade to keep the sea lions off the harbor’s docks, and if that doesn’t work, they’ll blast the animals with loud music, bright lights, and maybe high-pressure hoses.

Crab season starts soon, and scientists say the arrival of more boats, noise and dockside activity may persuade the sun-loving sea lions to leave on their own. No one wants to hurt these wild animals – and they are protected under federal law – but in situations like this, where they really are getting in people’s way, the animals can be “strongly encouraged” to move somewhere else … Maybe over to pier 39 where the sea lions are a huge and highly valued draw for tourists.

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Industry experts say card sales have dropped 80% from over a billion dollars in the early 90’s to about $200-million dollars last year. The trend has caused most card makers to shut down, and where there were once 5-thousand card shops in the u-s, today there are fewer than 500. I spoke to industry insiders, retailers, distributors, and collectors to try to figure out what is causing the slide, and lots of factors play into it. Traditional collectors got into the hobby for love of the game, then, over the years, came those who saw it purely as an investment which drove up demand and prices. Half a dozen card companies produced huge quantities – which people bought up as a kind of gamble. But for most, it didn’t pay off. The weak economy, player strikes, and the steroid scandal have all driven down interest and value. A Barry Bonds card once worth 50 or 60 dollars is barely worth $15 now.

On top of that, industry analysts say the future looks bleak because of competition from other card-based games. My son bypasses the sports cards and heads directly for the “magic” and “Pokemon” cards. If he’s interested in knowing more about the giants or a’s or a particular player’s stats – he goes online.
It’s not that the card makers, like tops and upper deck, aren’t trying. We saw some very interesting boxes that hearken back to the days of the old tobacco baseball trading cards, using today’s players on nostalgic backdrops. A box cost about a hundred dollars, which the store manager says isn’t a bad price – problem is, he said, the companies aren’t marketing their product well enough to let people know it’s out there. Others debate that point, saying in a shrinking market, mainstream marketing dollars are increasingly hard to come by.

The good news is – collectors are still out there – just not as many, and they’re not buying as often. We met a young man who began collecting cards with his father, and now specializes in “relic” cards that may feature a players autograph, jersey swatch, or chip of bat they’d used in a game. But there are more sellers than buyers these days, and the store, filled floor to ceiling with dusty trading cards and comic books, was mostly empty. As one collector told me, “I think we’re going to see the cards fade away. I hate to say that, but 20 years from now, people may not know what a baseball card is.”

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I have to wonder what it must be like for Sharon Murch to watch dozens of investigators scour the property of Phil and Nancy Garrido in Antioch, California.  Police are looking for any clues that coule tie the Garrido’s to the kidnapping of her daughter, Michaela Garecht, and the disappearance of another Bay Area girl, Ilene Misheloff — Two adorable children who vanished without a trace two decades ago.  Like Jaycee Dugard, Michaela has a long blonde hair and blue eyes …  she was 9-years old when she was snatched outside a supermarket in the Bay Area city of Hayward in 1988. The following year, 13-year-old Micheloff went missing from Dublin, a Bay Area city not far from Antioch. In all three cases, the girls were snatched in broad daylight … from a public place … they were whisked away in an older model Sedan that, according to eye-witness reports, was driven by a white man, and matches the description of a metallic-colored vehicle recently towed away from Phil Garrido’s house. The timing fits, too.  Phil Garrido had just been released on parole a few months before michaela & ilene disappeared, and police believe he was living in the bay area at the time. But the most startling similarity is the police artist sketch of michaela’s abductor, done in 1988. To me, and to police, it bears a striking resemblance to photos of phil garrido from about that same time, from the long hair, to the deep set eyes.. add it all up, it’s giving new hope to michaela’s mother who visited the garrido property yesterday. A purposeful woman who admits she’d given up hope before, sharon murch says garrido’s arrest, and jaycee’s safe return to her mother, is leaving her cautiously optimistic that her daughter can be found, too. With the cops dusting off old files, murch is getting in front of reporters and promoting her website dedicated to finding her daughter. We all want to hope with her, even as we know that garrido’s home has been empty since august, and there’s been no sign of michaela in two decades. It’s possible the garrido’s, or even jaycee, knows something that could help, but it’s unclear how much information they’ve provided, if any. In the meantime, investigators dig up garrido’s so-called “house of horrors,” with desperate mom’s like sharon murch waiting and hoping for any sign that their long nightmare might be over.

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I am standing at a real House of Horrors – a place where things are alleged to have happened that are hard to fathom – a young girl kidnapped and turned into a sex slave, kept totally isolated in a hidden backyard campground along with the two children she eventually bore, fathered – police say – by her abductor. To think this poor girl had her first child when she was just 14 makes my skin crawl. To think of that man delivering the babies himself makes my skin crawl. To think she and her children were kept in sheds with sound proofed walls and only opening from the outside makes my skin crawl. The whole thing is so sad and deplorable …  And it unfolded here, police say, behind the rather ordinary facade of a grey-blue house that looks like most of the others on this rural, quiet street. Only now – the story here could get even worse. Late Friday afternoon, the house was sealed up as a new crime scene, as police from nearby Pittsburg, Ca, searched for evidence in the murders of several prostitutes. Turns out, some of the bodies were found near an indstrial park where Phillp Garrido had worked in the 1990’s. I can see police executing the search warrant, not saying a word about what, if anything, they’ve found. But one thing is clear: even though the Garrido’s are behind bars, and even though Jaycee Dugard has been reunited with her family, this story is far from over.

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If the scene outside the Cow Palace in San Francisco Thursday morning was any indication, Season 8 of American Idol should offer a wealth of talent. We arrived at midnight for a shift that would last 12 hours… and include 38 live shots for Fox affiliates across the country.

By the time it was over, I could barely stand…but during the shift, I had a lot of fun interviewing some of the 7,000 would-be crooners who showed up to audition. Many were young teenagers, driven to the audition by their parents. Many contestants were more than happy to sing for me on camera, including 27-year old woman who said this was her 4th season of trying out to be on the show. Some told me they had quit their jobs to take a shot at stardom. We found contestants who’d traveled from as far away as Alaska, Connecticut, and Florida, knowing if they didn’t make it through this first cattle call, they could try out again. Seven other cities are holding auditions in the next few weeks.

One young man may need to try out again. During a live shot with me, he began singing strong, but quickly forgot the words. True, it was early in the morning and very cold outside, but I gently chided him, and reminded him he only had 30 seconds to convince the judges he should make it to the next round.

The first few thousand people to arrive basically camped out all night in the parking lot. They huddled in blankets and sleeping bags, trying to keep warm and protect their vocal chords from the chilly air. It was a long night for everyone, and a grueling work pace for us, as I reported for a different affiliate every 5 minutes– it was a lot of anchor names and cities to remember, and my producers Mike Waco and Michael Lundin were incredibly helpful, dealing with the stations and making me little post-it notes with the anchor names and cities for each of my reports. My cameraman Tom Whitaker was wonderful, panning his camera and working to keep up with me as I referenced various people behind me.

A highlight was the arrival, at around 6 am, of Season One Idol runner-up Justin Guarini, who was doing a bit of audition reporting himself, working for TV Guide’s cable channel. He jumped into half a dozen of my live reports, much to the enjoyment of viewers in Orlando, LA, and other cities, and was kind enough to pose for a picture with yours truly, one of Idol’s biggest fans. I was glad to hear he’s been keeping busy and just released a set of new songs. As he moved down the line with his own camera crew, he motivated the would-be Idols, and took time to sign autographs. Nice, nice guy.

As everyone was allowed into the Cow Palace, they left an unusual sight behind: Because the would-be Idols couldn’t take them inside, hundreds of blankets and sleeping bags were left draped over the police barricades, many looking pretty ratty and torn. It’s hard to know how many were eventually retrieved, but clearly, many owners felt these items were among the many sacrifices they’d have to make on the road to stardom.

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WildfIres are often the best and hardest stories to cover. Pictures of flames and fire crews, sirens, people evacuating, aerials of air tankers and pressers from command posts are assured to get you on the air. The hard part is getting to the flames, which are often in very remote areas. Getting a satellite to the flames poses more challenges, and then if the fire moves, which they tend to do, you can be stuck with no backdrop.

The past few days, I’ve been covering the aptly named Wild Fire – which started in Napa but quickly moved into rural canyons of Sonoma County and scorched more than 4,000 acres. Some 500 firefighters did an amazing job- especially considering many had come straight from fighting other fires sparked by dry lighting over the weekend. They had this one wrapped up in a matter of days… only to be sent off to another fire in Colusa County, about 3 hours away. Before the base camp packed up and moved out, we watched them all have breakfast, and what a spread! Eggs, bacon, bagels, coffee, cereal, danish… all cooked, laid out, and served by prison inmates, who often make up half of the firefighting force. They’re non-violent offenders who are easily identifiable by their orange jumpsuits, and who do lots of the heavy work on fires, fromloading equipment to building fire breaks out on the line.

State fire officials are amazed at the sheer number of blazes burning in Northern California – more than 800… not to mention fires that began earlier this month, like the huge Indian Fire in the Los Padres National Forest, now more than 57,000 acres big. They said it was hard to keep track of them all, and due to strapped resources, they simply had to ignore fires in which no life or property was threatened.

My guess is- if they have to get into a firefight, crews would like all fires to be like the Wild Fire: No serious injuries, no homes lost, and only one outbuilding, a barn, burned

Now it’s on to the next one, and given California’s bone-dry conditions, it’s likely going to be a long summer for firefighters…. and reporters who cover their efforts.

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After covering a big Pro-Tibet rally all day Tuesday (and getting a rare sit-down interview with Hollywood’s most famous Buddhist, Richard Gere) we were rather surprised yesterday morning to see the all well-organized Chinese and Chinese Americans who turned out in much larger numbers to welcome the Olympic Torch, and celebrate China’s emergence as an economic and political power.

For all the talk about protesters, the Pro-China groups had remained fairly silent — until yesterday, when they gathered at Justin Herman Plaza with banners and bullhorns and prepared performances. Some were there as part of the city-sponsored closing ceremonies for the Eternal Flame.. but here’s how it ended: They threw a party … and the guest of honor didn’t show up. It was confusing when officials changed the relay route at the last minute … and unnerving to stand in the middle of the crowd, not very happy to hear me report that the whole event been moved several miles away.

Many were angry, many were heartbroken, and with good reason. But for some lucky city slickers who happened to be walking along San Francisco’s Marina Green … they saw an historic sight, free from protests and politics: A torch, held high by Americans… runners chosen for excellent reasons… celebrating the Olympic spirit.

(PHOTO: AP, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch, over San Francisco torch relay rally)

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I cover Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii, but have been sent as far as Jerusalem to report for Fox News Channel.

Our bureau in San Francisco is small — just me, my producer Miranda Coykendall and our videographer / editor Tom Whittaker, which makes for a tight, streamlined crew that gets the job done fast and efficiently. We’ve had many interesting assignments, from features like the rise in popularity of miniature cattle, to breaking news like forest fires and floods.

We mainly cover “fair and balanced” stories, which in San Francisco, include recent efforts to reduce the presence of the U.S. military in public schools, and opposition to turning the historic battleship USS Iowa into a floating museum, to a year-long demonstration at UC Berkeley by a group of “tree sitters” to block the construction of a new sports facility on campus. We cover many legal stories, from the Scott Peterson trial, to the Michael Jackson case, to the scandal surrounding disgraced Democratic fundraiser, Norman Hsu.

I would say that one of my favorite memories working at FOX came during the time I was covering the Scott Peterson trial. I was doing nightly reports for “On The Record,” usually as the lead story. When Greta took vacation time, she supported the idea to have me fill in for her, which I did, and that was a thrill.

I treated the New York-based crew to an after party and enjoyed the moment.

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I’m no medical expert, but by all accounts Morgellons Disease sounds like a nightmare. Those who say they’re afflicted report having itchy, open sores, the feeling of bugs crawling under their skin, and even mysterious blue and red fibers sprouting from their body. It sounds totally bizarre – but enough people are now reporting symptoms that there’s now a major Bay Area study underway by the Centers For Disease Control.

The real surprise to me was finding a doctor willing to sit down with me on camera to discuss Morgellons. My own dermatologist refused, even over the phone. That gives you an idea of how controversial this ailment is. I finally found one respected physician affiliated with UC Davis … who told me he’d received death threats after telling patients that instead of a real skin disorder, they were suffering from a mental illness.

I learned the most common diagnosis is, in fact, a brain disorder called delusional parasitosis. Dr. Peter Lynch told me the only reason he was willing to go on the record was because he’s semi-retired. The stories he told were heartbreaking: He said patients were using needles – even knives- to dig out their perceived invaders to try to convince their doctors they’re not crazy. He said some have became so despondent, they killed themselves. He said others killed their pets after becoming convinced their “bugs” were coming from the family dog and cat. He said many patients were adamant about having a real disease … and flatly refused to take psychotic medications that might help.

Patients say they’ve heard all of this before and are tired of being dismissed by doctors as having a mental illness. Many have turned to the Internet for support, and to find doctors sympathetic to their conditions.

Now, in what’s amounted to the medical version of a Mexican standoff, patients and doctors alike are awaiting the results of the CDC’s study. No one argues these people are suffering from something. But whether it’s a physiological, or psychiatric disorder, is what the CDC intends to find out. Right now they’re still lining up people to participate in the study, and hope to have answers as early as next year.

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