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Here’s an economic indicator you won’t see on the business pages – the big parties are back.

After a year when being ostentatious was out, bling is back in and the big names are busting out the tents and big-budget bashes for the holiday season.

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Gordon Getty pulled the plug last year on his annual combination birthday and Christmas party. This year, it’s on.

Dede Wilsey is readying the retractable roof of her home for her annual winter wonderland, and Ron Cowan has booked Teatro ZinZanni for a holiday party. In fact, there appears to be a solid month of parties ahead of us.

Some may resent the return of pre-meltdown parties, but remember – they’re a healthy boost to the hundreds of waiters, bartenders, caterers, entertainers, valet car parkers and everyone else who makes a living in the hospitality business in the city.

A business, I might add, that has taken a severe beating this past year.

At that big White House state dinner last week, Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan got a cold roll of the eyes when she asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if she was wearing Armani.

She would have been better off asking Nancy’s husband and personal shopper, Paul.

Nancy has no patience for selecting clothes. That’s Paul’s job – all she does is try them on.

Speaking of fashion, one look at the two reality TV players who crashed the party should have tipped the Secret Service that they didn’t belong there.

The woman was in a flowered dress that clearly was not of the designer level, and the guy was wearing an obviously rented tux.

Now for a bit of dish on who was at the state dinner – legitimately – and who got left out.

Hollywood moneybags David Geffen and Steven Spielberg and super agent Ari Emanuel were front and center, as were the host of black bluebloods from Chicago.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris was there. But I did not spot either of our U.S. senators, Barbara Boxer or Dianne Feinstein.

I don’t know what Barbara was up to, but on the afternoon of the dinner, Dianne was hosting a lunch for about 20 of her Stanford girlfriends at the Balboa Cafe on Fillmore.

Stefanie Coyote, who just got shown the door as San Francisco Film Commission executive director, is just the first to feel Mayor Gavin Newsom’s ax. There will be others joining her on the block in the weeks to come. Many others.

Abel Maldonado is a fine pick for lieutenant governor. Ideally suited for the job. A very fun guy who does not take himself too seriously.

I see he is already pushing his “farmworker” roots and making sure people know that his father arrived here from Mexico with nothing. Of course, not many farmworker stories end with the old man making so much money that he now flies around in a private jet.

Lawyer Steven Kay and I had dinner at Piperade with 49ers President Jed York and the delightful young woman York is dating these days.

In the interests of privacy I won’t print her name, but I will tell you that she teaches school out in the Bayview.

And people say York has no interest in San Francisco anymore.

I flew back to New York to play father and grandfather at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the one with all those giant balloons.

They’re the only things I’ve ever seen to match the egos of us politicians in the stands.

On the way back, I stopped over in Las Vegas and had lunch at Spago Caesars Palace.

A word to the wise: No matter where you are, shorts are out after Nov. 1.

And I’m out $100 on the slots.

Want to sound off? Send an e-mail to wbrown@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

A state appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Menlo Park jewelry store owner for hiring a man to kidnap, rape and murder an employee who refused to date him.

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The woman escaped and testified against Ricardo Zambrano, who was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison by a San Mateo County judge in January 2008. His accomplice, Alfonso Cuevas Gonzalez, was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 35 years to life.

Zambrano denied guilt and blamed Gonzalez.

Zambrano owned one jewelry store inside Mi Rancho Market in Menlo Park and another near his hometown of Fresno. The woman, who worked at the Menlo Park store, said he repeatedly pressed her to go out with him, and on one occasion in 2005 locked the doors of his car, took a gun from the glove compartment and told her she would be sorry if she refused.

Gonzalez kidnapped the woman off the street at gunpoint as she left work in June 2005 and drove her to Fresno, where Zambrano had persuaded a friend to let him use her basement, according to testimony cited by the First District Court of Appeal. That woman turned them away and called the police, the court said.

They proceeded to another home, where a woman met them and called the victim’s aunt, who picked her up. Gonzalez, who was overheard complaining that he hadn’t been paid, apologized to the victim and kissed her hand, the court said.

Zambrano was arrested in July 2005 after disclosing information about the kidnapping in a telephone conversation with the victim that police had arranged, the court said.

In appealing his convictions, Zambrano’s lawyer challenged the trial judge’s decision to let the victim testify that Gonzalez had told her Zambrano had given him his gun and promised to pay him $5,000 to take her to Fresno, where both men would rape and kill her. The defense lawyer argued that the evidence was inadmissible hearsay that tainted the verdict.

But in a 3-0 ruling Wednesday, the appeals court said the ban on hearsay evidence, reporting someone else’s out-of-court statements, doesn’t apply to statements by someone who conspired with the defendant to commit the crimes. Gonzalez’s disclosures were part of the conspiracy, the court said, because they frightened the victim and made her believe she could not escape.

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A – 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle

(11-26) 04:00 PST Rьesselsheim, Germany –

An Opel establish in Belgium faces an uncertain future as General Motors moves to restructure its European operations, a rush expected to cost some 9,000 jobs across the continent, a tip executive said Wednesday.

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Nick Reilly, the head of GM Europe, detailed GM’s plans to employee representatives from Opel and sister brand Vauxhall. He stressed that action is needed because “the competition in this industrial art is intense and getting fiercer every day.”

“Overall, we are going to convert into our capacity by around 20 percent, and we expect to abridge the number of people by approximately 9,000,” he told reporters behind the meeting at Opel’s headquarters.

Reilly did not give an exact breakdown of how many jobs might go where, but he afore~ that “probably between 50 and 60 percent” of the cuts would have ~ing made in Germany.

Opel employs around 45,000 people in Europe, surrounding 25,000 of them in Germany. Reilly made clear in meetings with German officials Tuesday and Wednesday that Opel’s four plants in the nation will remain open.

Chancellor Angela Merkel praised GM’s decision to guard all German plants open as positive, despite the job cuts.

“I try from General Motors that there are plans to restructure the German plants, boundary they will all have a good perspective” for the future, Merkel related after talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who too praised GM’s plan for giving a perspective to the point in Spain.

However, it is unclear whether the Antwerp, Belgium, put in the ground will survive.

“We have agreed to set up a work dispose on the Antwerp plant because the future of that plant is questionable,” Reilly said. “So we have agreed to consider and consult without interrupti~ alternatives for that plant.”

Reilly did not say what those alternatives efficacy be. Opel produces its Astra model in Antwerp, which also had been threatened under a now-abandoned plan for GM to sell a majority in Opel.

“It’s not religious times for us,” said Marc Schelkens, a worker at the Opel residence of factors in Antwerp. “The chances that we are really going to have existence building cars is really very small.”

Unions had hoped that the congregation would start making SUVs at the plant – but that now seems unlikely. The factory is currently operating only four days a week.

This particular appeared on page D – 4 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Google Inc. direction use viewer data from digital video recorder pioneer TiVo Inc. to refrain from measure audiences for its TV advertising business.

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The concede allows Google’s TV advertising unit to more accurately collect anonymous, second-by-second DVR viewing information, TiVo said Tuesday in a mention. The goal is to track ads sold on Google’s ~ sale-based system for TV commercials and determine how many viewers by-word a spot.

TiVo will provide national data from 1.58 very great number U.S. subscribers who receive broadcast and pay TV, said Todd Juenger, inexact manager of TiVo Audience Research & Measurement. TiVo will also provide figures during viewers who watch commercials on DVRs, he said. Google had been using given conditions from Dish Network Corp. to measure its ads.

“Those were tot~y satellite TV homes,” Juenger said. “We give them every form of household in terms of how TV is received. Time-shifting also hadn’t been character of their measurement to date.”

Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed. Google, based in Mountain View, is afflicting to expand sales beyond the ads that run next to its sift results.

The search-engine operator has ad-sales agreements to auction air time for broadcasters and cable channels.

Google TV Ads, which reaches as many as 96 million households, seeks to apply more of the measurement and data-tracking abilities on the Web to TV.

“Advertisers can use this data to understand which audiences and ads are principally effective, which we think will ultimately lead to more relevant ads in quest of viewers,” Mike Steib, Google’s director of emerging platforms, said in the mention.

This article appeared on page D – 5 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Housing developers in San Francisco and across the state appear to have won a major victory in the battle over whether they must provide affordable housing as part of new projects.

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Late last month, the California Supreme Court declined to review and therefore let stand a lower court decision precluding the city of Los Angeles from enforcing affordable housing rules on a new apartment development.

The ruling in the case, Palmer/Sixth Street Properties vs. City of Los Angeles, appears to mean that builders in California would prevail in challenges to local rules mandating that a percentage of units in new apartment buildings be rented at rates affordable to residents earning below the area median income.

It is unclear whether the court ruling also might apply to new condominium projects. It does not apply to developments that have received government support, such as grant funding.

Since 1992, San Francisco has created affordable housing laws to address the city’s chronic housing shortage and high housing costs.

In 2006, the city revised the rules, requiring developers to sell or rent 15 to 20 percent of new housing at affordable levels. Developers also can choose to pay a fee in lieu of building affordable housing.

Approximately 170 jurisdictions in California have some form of affordable housing laws, also known as “inclusionary” housing ordinances.

The definition of affordability varies depending on the housing costs and median incomes of a given area. San Francisco’s area median income for a family of three is $77,750 per year.

Depending on the size and type of a new development, the city requires builders to provide housing at different percentages of the median income.

Builders in San Francisco have long complained that the city’s affordability requirements make many projects impossible to build because they cut so deeply into the bottom line.

“This is a big deal,” said San Francisco developer Oz Erickson. “It appears that as far as rental projects go, it is illegal for the city to require affordable housing.”

Erickson said he did not know of a developer that had challenged San Francisco’s laws, but the poor economy has meant that few proposed projects are moving forward.

“In the short term, there is nothing under construction, so it won’t have an immediate impact, but in a normal market, it will be interesting to see if someone challenges the rules,” Erickson said.

The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office said it was analyzing the implications of the court ruling.

“We have been examining the case and are working with city departments on the effect of the case on the city’s inclusionary housing program,” said Deputy City Attorney Kate Stacy.

E-mail Robert Selna at rselna@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page DC – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

(11-26) 17:04 PST SAN FRANCISCO — The Coast Guard and Sonoma County Sheriff’s department pulled two bodies – possibly missing crab fishermen – from the waters off of Bodega Bay this afternoon.

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Two men launched their 20-foot boat from Bodega Harbor early this morning to go crab fishing and were missing, said Coast Guard spokesman Jeremy Pichette.

Pichette said the first body was discovered at 1:30 p.m. by a pedestrian walking along the shore, a mile south of Salmon Creek near Westside Regional Park. A second body was found in the same area at about 4:15 p.m.

Coast guard and National Park Service officials along with Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies searched the area for the fisherman. Pichette said waves were 10 to 12 feet high when the Coast Guard arrived on scene at 1:30 p.m.

E-mail Ryan Kim at rkim@sfchronicle.com.

(11-28) 18:37 PST Richmond, Ky. (AP) –

Pappa Oppong scored 21 points to be at the head of five players in double figures in an 81-67 win upward of Florida International on Saturday night.

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Justin Stommes scored 15 points, and Josh Taylor and Spencer Perrin every one had 14. Dayvon Ellis added 10 points off the bench.

The Colonels are 5-1 with respect to the first time since the 2006-07 season, the last time they earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Panthers (2-6), led 32-31 at halftime however the Colonels shot 63.6 percent (21-for-33) from the theatre of war in the second half to pull away. The Colonels led ~ dint of. as many as 16 points.

The Colonels fired 28 3-purpose shots and made 7 of 13 (58.1 percent) in the secondary half, and 42.9 percent (12-for-28) for the resolute.

Marvin Roberts led the Owls with 19 points. Marlon Gary added 13 points, J.C. Otero had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Phil Gary scored 10 points.

(11-28) 16:53 PST GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) –

Police fired rage gas and rubber bullets Saturday to separate violent demonstrators from a declare of a meeting of top world trade officials, but the cucullate “black bloc” activists were able to cause damage before 14 were arrested, spokesmen said.

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The protesters set fire to at least four cars, broke shop windows and committed other acts of violence Saturday, police spokesman Patrick Puhl reported.

Police Chief Monica Bonfati said officers arrested four looters in adding to the protesters. No injuries to police or protesters were reported, police afore~.

The clashes occurred during a march by demonstrators protesting a concourse of the World Trade Organization scheduled to start Monday, in which the United States, China and other commercial powers will spearhead a renovated attempt to find ways to revive world trade and drag the global dispensation out of recession.

Bonfati told Swiss television TSR that police were adroit at the beginning of the demonstration to identify about 200 members of the flagitious bloc — violent elements that join other demonstrations to cause damage. She said they were spread out along the route and police had to hold apart them from the other protesters.

Eric Grandjean, another police spokesman, said black bloc protesters threw fire bombs at police from the walk .

“They also damaged 12 businesses, including a bank at Place Bel-Air and a bijoutry shop and a hotel on the Quai des Bergues,” he uttered.

Besides the burned cars, 15 other vehicles, including three buses, were damaged, he said.

Police said the 3,000 protesters included three distinct groups of troublemakers who broke absent to attack cars and hotel and shop windows, then rejoined the progress, pretending to be peaceful. Organizers claimed there were about 5,000 protesters in mass.

The group Anti-WTO Coordination said it “regretted being unable to perfect the demonstration and deliver the planned speeches.”

It said a scarcely any protesters had used the demonstration for their own ends.

Nevertheless, it declared, “the international and local mobilization is a success” and it condemned “unreservedly everything police repression violating democratic rights.”

Much more serious clashes have occurred at preceding meetings of trade chiefs, but the coming session lacks the specific goals of previous meetings, when the World Trade Organization tried to conclude a of the present day trade deal. The last so-called ministerial was held in Hong Kong four years since. Others were in Cancun, Mexico, and Seattle.

WTO opponents claim the agreements produced through the body foster the growth of wealth among corporations at the expenditure of farmers, workers and others at the low end of the thrift.

Swiss officials refused entry at Geneva Airport on Friday evening to three South Koreans who wanted to approach into Geneva because Swiss security specialists judged them to be intelligent of violence, Puhl said, noting that other countries had previously barred the three beneficial to the same reason.

The WTO called the meeting of its 153 members to examine major issues at a time when global exports are falling swiftly and the WTO’s long-sought Doha liberalization round is limping into its ninth year.

Instead of perceptive tariff and subsidy negotiations, the conference running Monday through Wednesday order focus on the big picture — stabilizing and rejuvenating commerce in the face of increased protectionism, unemployment and exporting of jobs.

The WTO had hoped to withdraw from keep clear of the acrimony and the sometimes-violent protests that have plagued anterior ministerial conferences. Geneva police have taken a number of steps to ensure the security of the meeting place.

(11-27) 17:08 PST San Francisco, CA (AP) –

A high surf advisory has the Coast Guard warning people to stay away from Northern California beaches and other low-lying coastal areas during the holiday weekend.

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The National Weather Service has forecast breaking waves of 14 to 18 feet through 4 a.m. Saturday from Sonoma County south through Monterey County.

Coast Guard officials say the waves can quickly sweep even a strong swimmer into the frigid waters.

Boaters are also being advised to stay off the water. If they do need to be out, the Coast Guard says they should make sure all their safety equipment is in good condition.

(11-26) 18:55 PST Benicia, Calif. (AP) –

A Fremont man is facing charges after police say he led them on a Thanksgiving Day chase across five counties.

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The California Highway Patrol says the incident started around 2:15 p.m. Thursday when officers spotted three motorcyclists speeding near Truckee.

None of the motorcyclists stopped immediately for officers, though two eventually pulled over and were issued citations.

CHP Officer Marvin Williford says with the third motorcyclist hitting speeds of more than 100 mph, pursuing units backed off and let a helicopter track the motorcycle.

Williford says the chase ended when the motorcyclist stopped at a home in Benicia around 4 p.m.

He was taken into custody without incident.

The name of the man has not been released.

___

Information from: KCRA-TV