Free Republic

San Francisco - As a shining light of The City's new Care Not Cash program, the All-Star Hotel has become a welcome home for dozens of hardened transients escaping drug-infested shelters and street corners. So it was a shock this week when residents of the Mission District facility, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, learned exactly what kind of "health clinic" would be opening in a retail space downstairs — a medical marijuana clinic. Resident manager Robert Williams said he only learned of the pot dispensary Friday when he smelled the telltale odor drifting up into his office. "The...

With a total of 4.2 million hotel guests in 2004, San Francisco's tourism market is gaining strength, while its share of business travelers still lags far behind the prosperous days of 1999. And, an increasing number of tourists say they are unhappy with The City's homeless problem. On Tuesday, just before the start of the annual San Francisco Hospitality Expo trade show at Moscone North, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau announced the results of its 2004 survey of 2,600 hotel guests staying at 51 hotels. More than 43 percent of those respondents listed homelessness as their top dislike...

SAN FRANCISCO - Conservation groups sued the Bush administration Wednesday for extending leases for oil and gas drilling off the central California coast, claiming that increased production would harm marine ecosystems and coastal residents. The groups challenge the U.S. Interior Department's conclusion that no environmental impact would result from the extension of 37 leases for drilling off the coasts of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Those leases have not been used to produce oil or natural gas. "Extending the leases would allow the companies to pursue development, which could have a tremendous impact to our marine and...

The David Project’s recent film “Columbia Unbecoming” has created a heated debate about the academic environment surrounding Israel at Columbia University. Moreover, as Gary Rosenblatt pointed out in his Feb. 11 column (“New Fronts In Campus Wars”), it has made us suddenly connect the dots and realize that the anti-Israel activity we have been seeing on college campuses is in fact spillover from what often is fomented in the classroom. As the campus coordinator for Caravan for Democracy, a program that fosters constructive dialogue about the Middle East, I can attest to the fact that this problem is not limited...

The Crawford family is crossing its fingers and holding its collective breath. Thirty-six-year-old Cpl. Curtis Crawford is scheduled to fly out of Baghdad tomorrow on the first leg of a 12-day journey home to his St. Helena family -- wife Priscilla and children, Jennifer, Cassy, Jordon, Cyler, Jagger and Dakota. "The kids are really excited," Priscilla Crawford said last week as she was working on homecoming details. "The older ones are kind of apprehensive. They're not sure if a good thing or bad thing. It's been a long time." Crawford, who had been in the Army for seven years until...

FAIRFIELD - Travis Air Force Base once again avoided getting a vernal pool critical habitat designation that some feared could hamper both routine base chores and expansions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday announced its decision to exclude Travis and various other lands in the state. It made the same ruling in 2003, but had to take another look at the issue following a lawsuit. "This is the service's final action," agency spokesman Al Donner said. Once land is designated critical habitat, federal agencies must consult with Fish and Wildlife before allowing anything that could harm areas essential...

Joe Rosenthal of Novato will be forever linked to a photograph he shot in a fraction of a second, 60 years ago today. His daughter, Anne, hopes he will be remembered for the times before and since he took what has been called the most memorable war photograph of all time. In an instant of time, Rosenthal focused his Speed Graphic camera on the image - five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima. The photograph won the 1945 Pulitzer Prize and eventually became the artistic inspiration for the Marine Corps War Memorial,...

San Francisco's homeless population plummeted by more than a quarter in the past two years, the city reported Monday, a dramatic change Mayor Gavin Newsom says is a credit to his policies of cutting cash assistance to street people and aggressively moving them into housing with counseling services. San Francisco's new figures are based on a one-night homeless count, taken between 8 p.m. Jan. 26 and about 8 a.m. the next morning. It showed the city now has 6,248 homeless people living on the streets or in jails, shelters, rehabilitation centers or other emergency facilities -- a 28 percent decline...

Mayor Gavin Newsom lobbed a direct-hit Tuesday night in a speech at Harvard University. "My name is Gavin Newsom, and I reelected George Bush," he said to laughter. "Just wanted to see if you were paying attention." It's true that because of his stance allowing gay weddings in the city exactly one year ago, Newsom has been blamed by fellow Democrats for helping Mr. Bush win reelection. But Newsom went further in the speech. "I can't stand my party right now," he said. "They offend me. I have no interest in the majority of the Democratic Party line that becomes...

REDWOOD CITY (BCN) -- Jury selection should be complete today in the case of Daly City woman accused of sexually abusing her 7-year-old son. Nenita Galas Dioso, 42, is charged with 10 counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 for allegedly kissing the boy's genitals on multiple occasions and making the boy kiss her breasts. In October 2002, the boy complained to his father as he came to pick the boy up from Dioso's home. Dioso's defense claims that she had no sexual intent in the touching but that she was performing a cultural ritual, from a small...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An animal rights group has been handing out dozens of fur coats today, to some homeless people living at a Washington, DC shelter. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals opposes the killing of animals for furs. Spokesman William Rivas-Rivas says the group doesn't want people to wear furs for vanity -- but that the city's neediest residents will wear them for warmth. One woman who was given a fur coat says she's never owned a fur before. Tuesday Brown -- who's lived in the shelter some 18 months -- picked a long brown coat to wear...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Users of the Golden Gate Bridge could see yet another toll increase under a plan by the Golden Gate Bridge District to help the agency climb out of debt. The district already has cut its deficit -- which once was $454 million -- in part by raising cash tolls from $3 to $5 in 2002. Officials now say the toll hike wasn't enough, and have proposed raising it to $6 in July 2006. Bicyclists and pedestrians also might face tolls under the new plan. "We are looking at a combination of things, but we will probably...

A former Black Panther convicted of murdering a Point Reyes National Seashore ranger 31 years ago is set to be released from prison in two weeks, raising the ire of law enforcement officers. Ranger Kenneth Patrick was the first U.S. park ranger murdered in the line of duty when he was shot by deer poachers in the Point Reyes National Seashore in August 1973. Veronza Bowers was convicted of the murder in April 1974. Bowers and two other men went to Point Reyes to hunt deer with a crossbow and when Patrick, 40, shined his flashlight into their car, he...

Editor's Note: In the Philippines, a heady mix of Catholicism and Hollywood schlock reaches its culmination on Valentine's Day.MANILA--Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if teenage boys ran it? And if every day was Valentine's Day? Spend a little time in the Philippines and you'll have your answer. This island-nation's enduring love for double-dosed syrupy machismo romance can be blamed on its two colonizers -- Spain and America. "Discovered" by the Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the Islands were colonized by Spain in 1565, and ruled for 333 years in almost equal parts by the Spanish Crown...

When Wendell Gee goes Israeli folk dancing, he leaves part of his shy Clark Kent personality behind. He leaps around the room to the latest Israeli pop hits, holding hands with other dancers in a tightly packed circle. He asks women to dance, quivering with anxiety and excitement as he leads his partners through the set. Gee, who is Chinese and of slight build, doesn’t do any other form of social dancing. He started Israeli dancing as a form of religious expression, and he occasionally wears a kippah — one of the only men in the dance group to do...

The 10-year fight to bring the battleship USS Iowa to San Francisco's waterfront is heating up once more, with an East Bay congressman offering some competition and The City set to instate a policy for historic ships at the port. A handful of veterans and naval enthusiasts have long fought to bring the 48,000-pound ship, or one of its sister vessels, to the San Francisco Bay. In 1996, The City lost its bid, supported by then-Mayor Willie Brown and the port, to house the USS Missouri. On Tuesday, the Port Commission is considering a policy that would set out requirements...

When the Greenlining Institute made its foray into Berkeley politics last year it was seeking to add to the city’s storied tradition as a national springboard for political innovation. Since the city made waves in 1979 by divesting from South Africa, revolutionaries with a dollar and a dream have determined that if they can’t make it in Berkeley, they probably won’t make it anywhere else. “Things get started in Berkeley. It’s an activist town,” said Robyn Few, director of the Sex Workers Outreach Project, which saw voters trounce its proposal to decriminalize prostitution in November. Other political drives have been...

In 2001, Danish economist Bjorn Lomborg enraged the environmental community by publishing his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist," which claims the planet is not in as dire a condition as many would have us believe. With the Kyoto Protocol aimed at curbing global warming set to take effect next week, Lomborg spoke with Examiner reporter Josh Wein to discuss his views on the world's problems. His new book, "Global Crises, Global Solutions," argues there are other, more pressing issues that deserve the world's resources. EXAMINER: With Kyoto set to take effect next week, we've seen a number of global warming headlines...

I'm intrigued. I must infiltrate. The ultraconservative civilian think tank known as the Patriot Defenders Network sponsors meetings every month under the banner of Town Hall (www.townhall.com), in cities around the country. The purpose: to discuss how to make America a better place, free from wacko liberals. Yes, it's time to get inside this little tea party and hear the Mad Hatter rally the pissed-off citizens who call right-wing talk radio shows. My Persona: Drake Sutherland -- American! Disguise: American flag tie. Patriotic stars and stripes jacket (stolen while infiltrating the state Republican convention) that reads "Re-elect President Bush." Accessory:...

At an hour when many of their friends are sitting down to Sunday brunch, the congregates of Berkeley’s New Spirit Community Church hunt for spiritual nourishment. With the choir pumping out upbeat songs and the casually dressed congregates bouncing along, the hour-and-a-half service stylistically resembles those of other small upstart Protestant denominations leading a nationwide religious revival. But New Spirit is a different breed. Many of those swaying arm-in-arm to the songs are same-sex couples. One lesbian pair slow danced in the aisle as the pianist played “From A Distance,” a song made famous by Bette Midler. “The whole point...