BREAKING NEWS

Breaking news was Duffy Jennings’ bread and butter as a Chronicle reporter in the turbulent 1970s, when the Bay Area exploded with one major story after another. His assignments included political assassinations, serial murders, major fires, gangland crime, labor union strife, city government news and more.

Duffy’s front page coverage included the 1978 city hall killings, the shocking trial of Dan White, the Zebra murders, the Patty Hearst kidnap, taunting letters from the Zodiac killer, and life as an embedded reporter with fire fighters and homicide detectives.

2024-05-21T17:19:12-07:00

Dan White Trial

Mayor Dianne Feinstein, whose testimony at the trial reduced the stone-faced White to tears, greeted the verdicts with “disbelief.”

2024-05-22T08:51:59-07:00

Dan White Cover

The Chronicle’s front page from May 22, 1979, covers the verdict in the trial of Dan White, the former supervisor who shot dead two of the city’s top officials.