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Denver -- As Bill Clinton and Joe Biden dominated center stage Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was presiding over "Unconventional '08," a street party held in an artsy warehouse corner of the city featuring indie bands and a knot of people young enough to be Biden's grandchildren. There, mingling beneath an art gallery facade full of iconic images of Sen. Barack Obama was the evening's host - the former Sen. Hillary Clinton delegate Newsom. Four years ago, Newsom was a pariah at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Democrats were angry that he had...

A man was arrested tonight after he verbally abused and then allegedly slashed the face of a Barack Obama campaigner in downtown San Francisco, police said. The 6 p.m. attack on the unidentified 35-year-old male campaign activist occurred as he was working at 5th and Market streets, police said. The campaigner had a permit and officers nearby witnessed what happened next. According to police, the unidentified suspect approached and began to shout slurs and insults at the campaigner, who listened, thanked the man for his views and asked him to leave.

The gap between those who support and those who oppose same-sex marriage is closing, and a poll indicates that backing for a proposition to ban such marriages is lagging. Those were two of the main findings of a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California and released Wednesday. The wide-ranging poll found that 60 percent of those surveyed favor bringing home troops in Iraq, that President Bush's approval rating is 24 percent and that 63 percent of likely California voters favor universal health care. However, the biggest concern among Californians today is the economy, the poll found. The...

State Senate officials told Sen. Carole Migden's Capitol staff to go home for the week Thursday after the combustible San Francisco Democrat was overheard berating them. Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, was in the hallway when she heard Migden screaming at the staff, according to a witness to the event. The source said Hidalgo later entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights. Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden's office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told staff members to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A suspected illegal immigrant - free after being shielded from deportation by San Francisco officials despite committing two gang-related assaults as a juvenile - is now facing charges that he tried to stab a man to death in San Mateo County, authorities say. The case of Eric Antonio Uc-Cahun, now 19, is the second in which a youth offender protected from deportation in San Francisco has gone on to be arrested for a violent crime as an adult. The San Mateo County stabbing was especially vicious, authorities said - a top prosecutor said the victim had been...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is shaping the inner circle of his campaign for governor, naming veteran Democratic strategist Garry South as a top adviser. Newsom, a Democrat who announced he was exploring a run for governor in 2010 last month, is also tapping veterans of the Obama and Clinton presidential campaigns for polling and day-to-day campaign operations. His longtime political adviser, San Francisco-based consultant Eric Jaye, will serve as campaign director. But the key new addition is South, who served as chief strategist for Gov. Gray Davis' two successful campaigns in 1998 and 2002. In 2006, South was the...

A San Francisco city commission has taken a defiant stand against Mayor Gavin Newsom's directive on young immigrant felons by urging officials to permit the offenders to remain in the city and help pay for their housing, job placement services and immigration lawyers. (snip)

Residents of the Castro are watching with growing concern as their neighborhood becomes a regular attraction on the sightseeing tour of the city. In the last three months, large tour buses have begun to park in the area on Thursday and Sunday afternoons, opening their doors and sending hundreds of tourists out to gawk and snap photos of the exotic sight of two men holding hands. For gay and lesbian residents, who are doing nothing more remarkable than, say, walking over to Cliff's Hardware Store, the idea that as many as six tour buses could turn up at once seems...

In early June, a handwritten note appeared on the front door of Bing Ling Zeng's San Francisco apartment, written in a language she couldn't understand. "You will be needing to vacate this property soon," it said. The following month, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut off the power. The food in the refrigerator spoiled, forcing Zeng to go out several times a day to buy groceries and milk for her three young children. Her 62-year-old mother-in-law couldn't recharge her electric wheelchair. Zeng and the other Chinese family sharing the space hadn't fallen behind in their rent or bills. The only...

The San Francisco Democratic Party has veered dramatically to the left, telling voters that on Nov. 4 they should elect a raft of ultra-liberal supervisorial candidates, decriminalize prostitution, boot JROTC from public schools, embrace public power and reject Mayor Gavin Newsom's special court in the Tenderloin. That's just what some party members feared after Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Chris Daly and Jake McGoldrick along with others who billed themselves as "The Hope Slate" were elected to the Democratic County Central Committee in June. The powerful, 34-member panel worked late into Wednesday night deciding endorsements that could play a big role in...

African Americans are leaving San Francisco because of substandard schools, a lack of affordable housing and the dearth of jobs and black culture, according to a report by a committee looking into the exodus. The African American Out-migration Task Force, put together by the mayor's office last year to figure out what can be done to preserve the city's remaining black population and cultivate new residents, presented its findings at a public hearing Thursday called by Supervisor Chris Daly. San Francisco's black population has dropped faster than any other large U.S. city's. It went from 13.4 percent in 1970 to...

In a setback for opponents of gay marriage, a Sacramento judge Friday left intact a ballot title that states Proposition 8 eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry. Sponsors of the proposal had argued Attorney General Jerry Brown was prejudicial when he changed the ballot title – "Limit on Marriage" – that was on petitions circulated last year to qualify the Nov. 4 ballot measure. But Sacramento County Judge Timothy Frawley, who heard arguments in the case on Thursday, disagreed. "Petitioner has failed to explain why the term 'eliminates' is inherently argumentative, while the term 'limit' is not," Frawley...

A ballot label that declares Proposition 8 "eliminates (the) right of same-sex couples to marry" will remain intact after a Sacramento County judge today dismissed a challenge by supporters of the measure. Sponsors of the Nov. 4 ballot measure had argued that Attorney General Jerry Brown's formal title and summary of the measure were prejudicial. But Sacramento County Judge Timothy Frawley disagreed that Brown acted in favor of opponents of the measure when he changed the ballot title -- "Limit on Marriage" -- that was on petitions circulated last year to qualify the ballot measure. "Petitioner has failed to explain...

Nude men engaged in multiple instances of public sex on a municipal street while police officers, on foot and bicycle, congregated nearby making no attempt to enforce public indecency regulations, according to a report on the latest homosexual-fest in San Francisco. The behavior was documented in photographs of an event called "Up Your Alley," which is sponsored by the same group that organizes the city's fall "gay"-fest, the Folsom Street Fair, on which WND has reported. "Consider how liberal government authorities like Mayor [Gavin] Newsom have corrupted the men in blue by stipulating that police not prosecute public nudity and...

San Bernardino, CA (AP) -- The California attorney general is being asked to help get a 12-month tally of San Francisco juvenile offenders placed in San Bernardino County group homes. . . . In June, five suspected illegal immigrant drug dealers from Honduras were shipped by San Francisco without notification to a Yucaipa group home where they escaped.

Did you help put America's worst prez into power? Time to make amends - Sure, you could start with an open-palmed apology, a profoundly contrite on-your-knees sort of thing, maybe an open letter in your local paper or a heartfelt speech at your next dinner party whereby you stumble though some sort of "I don't know what the hell I was thinking" or "I must've been blind" or "Wow, that mescaline sure was potent" type of defense for your unfortunate and reprehensible choices. But the fact is, that's not really gonna cut it. Of course, you could do the obvious...

WASHINGTON — On her first day in office, Rep. Jackie Speier criticized the Iraq war and John McCain, eliciting boos from Republicans. By her own count, three committee chairmen have chastised her for her questions during recent hearings. And her first bill won national attention with its effort to mandate lower speed limits to save gas. At 58, Speier, a San Mateo County Democrat who replaced the late Tom Lantos in April, is not your average new member of Congress. By speaking bluntly, rocking the boat and not shying away from controversy, she has established a higher profile in three...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- A bill honoring a gay political icon in California has been sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The legislation proclaims a "day of significance" each May 22, the birthday of former San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk. It would not be a state holiday. Milk became the nation's first openly gay man to hold a prominent political office...

If voters approve a November ballot measure banning same-sex marriages in California, thousands of gay and lesbian weddings conducted since the state Supreme Court legalized the unions on May 15 will probably remain valid, Attorney General Jerry Brown said today. The potential effect of Proposition 8 on existing same-sex marriages is already being debated among legal scholars and opposing sides in the Nov. 4 ballot measure campaign. Brown's position is significant because his office will represent the state in lawsuits over Prop. 8's validity and meaning if it passes. The measure would amend the state Constitution to declare that "only...

Is Democratic San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom already putting together his team for that 2010 gubernatorial run? The newlywed mayor and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, were spotted in Malibu Saturday, honeymooning deep in lengthy conservation over frappucinos -- with Democratic uber-political consultant Garry South. We heard the whole story from blogger Zuma Dogg, who caught the scene on video and on camera, and posted it on his own LA Daily blog link at his website, zumatimes.com. Little problem for the environmentally-hip SF mayor at the usually star-laden Starbucks, the blogger reports. "His Yukon was parked in the fire lane,"...

Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city the first in the country to ban the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies such as Walgreens and Rite Aid. And that's only the city's latest effort to make us all healthier. The supervisors also voted to require chain restaurants to post nutritional information, including calories and fat content, on menus. This follows the creation of a program to recognize restaurants that don't use trans fats and an idea by Mayor Gavin Newsom to levy a fee on retailers of sugary sodas. The board is also taking up...

You might ask yourself: Could the illegal alien sanctuary debacle in San Francisco get any worse? Any worse than the triple murder of an innocent father and his two sons at the hands of an illegal alien sanctuary beneficiary? Any worse than the callousness with which San Francisco government officials have treated the grieving, devastated widow of the murder victims who would be alive today if not for the city’s bloody open-borders policies? Any worse than the taxpayer-funded, law-undermining illegal alien shuttle service the felonious city was running for young Honduran illegal alien crack dealers? Any worse than the illegal...

If Mayor Gavin Newsom is serious about tightening up San Francisco's sanctuary laws, he might want to take a look at the case of Marco Martinez - a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been arrested by police five times in the past year and a half for allegedly selling crack cocaine but has never wound up in the feds' hands. According to police records, Martinez first appeared on the radar here Oct. 6, 2006, when he sold crack to an undercover officer in United Nations Plaza. He was booked into jail, but quickly posted $35,000 bail and...

As San Francisco's juvenile justice system shielded young illegal immigrant felons from possible deportation, Mayor Gavin Newsom's office gave grants totaling more than $650,000 to nonprofit agencies to provide the underage offenders with free services - everything from immigration attorneys to housing assistance to "arts and cultural affirmation activities," city records show. Newsom has said the city began its policy of not referring young immigrant offenders to federal authorities for deportation under previous mayors, and that he reversed the practice after he became aware of it this year. However, in 2006, the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice - a community...

Pause TV show, order that actor's shoes, car, breasts. It's retail nirvana! This is my dream. It is but a humble vision, completely reasonable, also very, very American in its blatant love of large amounts of unnecessary crap combined with a screaming disregard for anything resembling tact or humility or the simple act of, let's say, tasteful restraint. It unfolds thusly: I stroll the city streets, enter humbly into a cafe, or maybe a bookstore, boutique, log cabin, museum, dog kennel, crematorium. It does not matter, for wherever I happen to be, I will surely see something I want. Perhaps...

Garbage collectors would inspect San Francisco residents' trash to make sure pizza crusts aren't mixed in with chip bags or wine bottles under a proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom. And if residents or businesses don't separate the coffee grounds from the newspapers, they would face fines of up to $1,000 and eventually could have their garbage service stopped. The plan to require proper sorting of refuse would be the nation's first mandatory recycling and composting law. It would direct garbage collectors to inspect the trash to make sure it is put into the right blue, black or green bin, according...

Tom Sepa would rather not be called homeless. "That word is loaded," he said. "I prefer 'urban outdoorsman.' " It is true that Sepa has a lot of things that aren't generally associated with the stereotypical San Francisco homeless person - like a full-time job. A telemarketer, Sepa hits the phones at 7 a.m., working out of Zephyr Cafe in the Richmond District. He uses his laptop and a cell phone headset to make over 100 cold calls each morning. Currently, he's trying to get companies to take a meeting with a software firm he's representing. He gets paid via...

SAN FRANCISCO -- About a dozen members of the Minutemen, a group that patrols the U.S.-Mexican border in an effort to keep illegal immigrants out, stood on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall today to decry the city's sanctuary policy and demand that Mayor Gavin Newsom resign. They waved signs calling Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris and William Siffermann, head of the city's Juvenile Probation Department, "accessories to murder" for the city's now-reversed policy of not turning over illegal immigrant youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities for possible deportation. One Salvadoran immigrant who benefited from the policy, Edwin...

San Francisco -- A member of a notoriously violent street gang was arrested and booked Wednesday on three counts of murder in the shootings of a San Francisco father and two sons in the city's Excelsior district that police believe stemmed from a minor traffic incident, authorities said. Edwin Ramos, 21, of El Sobrante was arrested at 12:05 a.m. at his home on the 4300 block of Hilltop Drive in the Sunday slayings of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, authorities said. At 5 p.m., he was booked on the murder charges. Police recovered a...

Love 'em or hate 'em, the American land yacht is rumbling into the sunset. Rejoice? Let us, first and foremost, be perfectly clear: it ain't over yet. Millions of dinosaurs still roam the Earth, the giant meteor of merciful annihilation has yet to strike, complete and total upheaval is still merely pending. But it's coming fast. You can sense the shadow, the darkening, the imminent and oily doom. The dinosaurs are trembling, scribbling out their wills as fast as possible. They know the end is near, the signs are all in place, as that giant $63K Toyota Land Cruiser V8...

Author, spiritual healer and "intuitive consultant" Simone, who presided over the weekend wedding of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and actress Jennifer Siebel, is predicting a very bright future for the city's first couple. Although Simone (who long ago professionally dispensed with her first name, Carol) says her psychic readings days are largely behind her, she has come up with a few predictions: On Newsom becoming governor: "I get a very positive energy about that. It's clear this is something he would like to do and he has a very strong personality, and I feel he'll get it." On Newsom...

The fatal shootings of a father and two sons in San Francisco's Excelsior district June 22 were not road-rage killings and instead were motivated by the killer's belief that his targets were in a rival gang, the head of the police homicide unit said Monday. "We know it is gang related," Lt. Mike Stasko told the Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee. Stasko said the victims, Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons, Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, were attacked because of their appearance. "Apparently, the people in the car were similar to Hispanic males, and they were targeted because of...

There is nothing that captures the yin and yang of San Francisco today like the inexorable pull of change in the neighborhoods. As young families and empty nesters move in, they push to raise the standard of living. And inevitably, there is pushback from those who like things the way they are. If there's a perfect test tube for that kind of neighborhood conflict, it is the Haight, where bong shops meet trendy new clothing shops. Longtime residents like to say that Haight has been a district in transition for years, but it seems that now it has reached critical...

New York City's famous Naked Cowboy was due in a San Francisco court on Monday after being arrested there Friday while singing in his underwear, the New York Post reported. Robert Burck, clad only in skin-tight underpants, cowboy boots and a hat, was busted on a sidewalk just outside of Union Square for performing his act in a restricted area. He said the West Coast cops didn't immediately recognize him as Times Square's most famous street performer — and mocked his familiar ensemble when they got him back to the station.

A mayor knows he's having a bad week when its saving grace comes in a jailhouse. Such was the case of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who found himself pleading with jailed tech whiz Terry Childs to give up the access codes to San Francisco's computer system. Childs did, and even some of Newsom's critics were crediting him with a heroic move in using his powers of persuasion to keep a Y2K from paralyzing the city's computer systems in 2008. It sure beats talking about Edwin Ramos or the city's sanctuary policy. Fairly or not, Newsom's chances in the 2010 governor's race...

SAN FRANCISCO — The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday called on Mayor Gavin Newsom to allow the federal agency full access to information about local inmates, saying the city should rescind its policy that prohibits ICE agents from reviewing jail logs and records. A letter sent to Newsom from ICE director Julie Myers urging more access to inmate records was the latest flare-up following accusations that a San Francisco policy to shield undocumented immigrants also caused the city to shelter felons charged with serious crimes. Eileen Hirst, chief of staff for San Francisco County Sheriff Michael Hennessey,...

How is it possible that chronic behavioral malcontent George Miley assaulted a female police officer three weeks ago, but only ended up spending four days in jail? After all, his July 6 attack on Officer Lisa Frazer was followed by his 106th arrest since 2001. Most everyone says the system for punishing quality-of-life crimes like public drunkenness and aggressive panhandling is broken in San Francisco, but Miley seems like an extraordinary case. How can he be on the streets today? The answer is both complicated and simple: Lenient San Francisco juries, clogged courts, and judges who are more willing to...

The mayor of San Francisco has obtained the password to the city's multimillion-dollar computer network password from a disgruntled employee during a secret jailhouse visit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. On Monday night, Mayor Gavin Newsom met Terry Childs, a Department of Telecommunications and Information Services employee charged with computer tampering, in a secret meeting and walked away with the password to the city's new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network), the Chronicle said. The system stores such records as officials' e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail bookings. Childs has been held since July 13 and had reportedly...

SAN FRANCISCO -- "The first thing I want you to know, Mr. Mayor, is that when you walk out of this room, you will have the computer codes." Those words - delivered to Mayor Gavin Newsom by imprisoned city computer tech Terry Childs in a small, fourth-floor room at city jail Monday - signaled the beginning of the end of the weeklong standoff in which San Francisco officials found themselves in the embarrassing position of being locked out of their own computer system. Childs - whom some have described as a friendly, hard worker at the city Technology Department, and...

The last illegal immigrant juvenile offender who had been in a $7,000-a-month group home as part of San Francisco's now-abandoned effort to shield young immigrants from deportation has bolted, authorities said Tuesday. The youth walked away from the unlocked center in Atascadero (San Luis Obispo County) on Sunday, bringing to 12 the number of illegal immigrant offenders in the past month who have walked away from youth homes hundreds of miles from the city. Ten of the 12, all of them from Honduras and all detained for dealing drugs, are still at large, including the youth who disappeared early Monday....

Democrats are preparing next year to lift the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gays in the military, an uneasy culture-war compromise instituted under the last Democratic administration, should Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the Walnut Creek Democrat, said a hearing Wednesday by a House Armed Services subcommittee is aimed at educating Congress and the public in preparation for a full-scale push to end the policy, first imposed in 1993 under President Bill Clinton, in the next Congress. By then, Democrats expect to have won the White House and to have expanded their House and Senate...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco computer engineer accused of withholding access codes to the city's network surrendered the password during an unusual jailhouse visit by Mayor Gavin Newsom, authorities said Tuesday. Newsom came away with the access codes Monday night after talking with Terry Childs, 43, of Pittsburg, who has been held since July 13 on four felony counts stemming from what prosecutors describe as an effort to block administrative access to the network that handles 60 percent of the city's information, including sensitive law enforcement, payroll and jail booking records. Childs had given officials what turned out to...

San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy - as it was implemented until recently - put the welfare of juvenile gang-bangers and drug dealers, who also were illegal immigrants, before the safety of law-abiding residents who are victimized by gangs and thugs. As The Chronicle reported Sunday in a story by reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken, one beneficiary of that policy is Edwin Ramos, 21, who is charged with killing Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16 in a spectacularly senseless shooting spree on June 22. If Ramos is guilty, San Francisco political correctness and a federal immigration screw-up...

On July 6, SFPD Officer Lisa Frazer responded to several calls about a homeless man named George Miley, who has a long history of terrorizing neighbors at 18th and Diamond in the Castro. But when Frazer tried to serve Miley with a citation for loitering, he became obstreperous and then violent. Frazer only had time to call for backup before he charged her. "He came at me," she said. "He grabbed my microphone and severed the cord so I couldn't call. He ripped my shirt, he scratched me with his fingernails." Luckily, support arrived quickly. It took three officers to...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A reputed gang member - who moved out of San Francisco after beating a murder charge when the star witness against him was slain - was ambushed and shot to death Saturday night when he returned to the city for work at a construction site in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, authorities said. Daniel "Dango" Dennard, 23, of Antioch was attacked as he was stopped on his motorcycle at a red light on Bayshore Boulevard at Industrial Street, a busy roadway near the intersection of Highway 101 and Interstate 280. San Francisco homicide Inspector John Cleary said Sunday...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The attorney for a reputed gang member charged with murdering a San Francisco man and his two sons said today he will seek a gag order in the case, claiming media coverage has damaged his client's right to a fair trial. The comments by defense attorney Robert Amparan came after he appeared with his client, Edwin Ramos, during a brief court appearance in connection with the June 22 triple slaying."False information is being placed out there, his rights are being violated - in terms of the disclosure of alleged juvenile records" said Amparan. On Sunday, The Chronicle...

The man charged with killing a father and two sons on a San Francisco street last month was one of the youths who benefited from the city's long-standing practice of shielding illegal immigrant juveniles who committed felonies from possible deportation, The Chronicle has learned. Edwin Ramos, now 21, is being held on three counts of murder in the June 22 deaths of Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16. They were shot near their home in the Excelsior district when Tony Bologna, driving home from a family picnic, briefly blocked the gunman's car from completing a...

Bush lifts drilling ban, oil execs leer, nation cringes, Obama sighs I admit to bafflement. I admit to a bit of total confusion mixed with a certain level of stupefied awe and teeth-rattling frustration as to why anyone with the mental acuity of more than a housefly would think that stabbing more holes into Alaska and the eastern seaboard in the search for a few remaining precious drops of oil is a good idea, would solve anything at all, is anything more than the equivalent of hurling matches at the devil. Perhaps I'm missing something. Perhaps there's some dark, secret...

Fifty-one percent of likely voters in the state oppose Proposition 8 on the November ballot, a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage by defining marriage as only between a man and woman, according to a Field Poll released today. The poll shows voters are divided by where they live, their age, gender and political party. For Prop. 8: "I see nothing wrong with gay marriage. It's only controversial to narrow-minded people. ... I think the opposition (to same-sex marriage) has to do with being close-minded about homosexuality. Or maybe people are afraid of it."

San Francisco voters will be asked to decide whether to name a city sewage plant in honor of President Bush, after a satiric measure qualified for the November ballot today. Backers of the measure, who for several months circulated a petition to place the measure on the ballot, turned in more than 12,000 signatures on July 7, said organizer Brian McConnell. The Department of Elections today informed those supporters, the self-proclaimed Presidential Memorial Commission, that they had enough valid signatures - a minimum of 7,168 registered San Francisco voters - to qualify for the November ballot, he said. McConnell, who...