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San Francisco police are investigating several non-fatal and apparently unrelated shootings and stabbings that occurred in the city over the weekend. The first shooting was reported just before 5 a.m. Saturday near Church and Market streets, where one person was shot in the stomach, police said. The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital and treated for non life-threatening injuries. Police said the suspect escaped on foot. At 6 p.m. Saturday, a 15 year-old boy was stabbed in the eye and in his hands while standing at Excelsior Avenue and Lisbon Street in the Mission Terrace District, police reported....

The standoff between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and embattled Supervisor Ed Jew shot up another notch this weekend with the mayor asking the city attorney to draw up charges that could lead to Jew's forced removal if he does not resign. According to sources close to the case, the paperwork is being drawn up today and will likely be ready sometime this week."It's not a position I want to be in," Newsom said late Saturday after Jew didn't return repeated phone calls. "But I'm compelled to move because this is just the type of situation that the City Charter...

With respect to sexual orientation, it must be said that the Episcopal Church is the main refuge for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people who are seeking to lead a Christian life. These people are primarily not natives of the Bay Area, they come from all over the United States and indeed the world. They have come to San Francisco and the Bay Area seeking a life where they are not subjected to discrimination and violence, where they can lead normal lives, and in some cases, Christian lives. It is my responsibility to provide a context for this search for...

The only local monument to a heroic flight attendant from San Francisco killed in the Sept. 11 attacks six years ago is a North Beach mural that vandals have defaced almost beyond recognition. Betty Ong, 45, who grew up in Chinatown and North Beach, was a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane hijacked by the terrorists. Just minutes before the plane smashed into the World Trade Center, she quietly contacted authorities and gave a detailed description of the hijackers. Ong is one of several Chinatown natives depicted in a 200-foot-long, 7-foot-tall mural dedicated to Chinese contributions...

San Francisco -- Saying he wants to start his second term with a clean slate, Mayor Gavin Newsom today asked all city department heads and anybody he has appointed to serve on a city commission or board to hand in their letters of resignation. On Friday, Newsom also told all senior staffers in his office to do the same. Newsom told department heads at his regular Monday department head meeting that he wanted each of them to turn in letters of resignation, but didn't say how many resignations he ultimately would accept, according to Mitch Katz, director of the city's...

A San Francisco State student was found naked and stabbed to death in a vacant lot near campus, two hours after friends dropped him at his house a few blocks away. Later on Labor Day, a Visitacion Valley man was shot to death walking home with a burrito he had just bought for his girlfriend. Police say he was an unintended victim caught in gang retaliatory violence. The two slayings were among six in the past week that pushed the city's total for the year to 79, a pace that has San Francisco on track to end 2007 with its...

Country Joe McDonald sang a new song and probably echoed the central thought of the day for most of the huge crowd at the 40th anniversary Summer of Love concert in Golden Gate Park on Sunday: "I wish I was back in the Summer of Love." And for a moment, Speedway Meadow - in the sea of tie-dye with the aroma of marijuana wafting everywhere - almost seemed to feel like another time. Except for the portable ATMs dotting the landscape and all those cell phones. A crowed estimated at more than 50,000 people, spanning multiple generations, filled the meadow...

A man who was stopped for speeding was arrested after three gallons of the "date-rape drug" GHB were found in his car, enough for 20,000 doses, authorities said. Daniel Gertz, 37, of Los Angeles, was taken into custody on multiple felony charges including possession and transportation of a narcotic for sale, according to the California Highway Patrol. GHB, which stands for gamma-hydroxybutyrate, creates a euphoric, drunken feeling in low doses and can knock people out in higher amounts. Authorities said Gertz was transporting the drug to a party in San Francisco when he was stopped Wednesday for driving 88 mph...

Ron Mallia wants to build eight apartments and condominiums on an empty parking lot next to his Mission District auto shop and rent some of the apartments to his mechanics. ..."They don't want any development at all in the Mission because any development makes the area better. ... They don't want that because they believe that by improving the area, the cost of housing might go up," said Mallia, who has owned gas stations and car repair shops in the Mission for 25 years. ...More than 50 pending projects were halted in April 2006, when the Anti-Displacement Coalition persuaded the...

RED CROSS USES GUERRILLA TACTICS TO URGE EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS First they handed out empty bottles of water that read: "Try living on this for three days." They parked mobile billboards in San Francisco that made it look as if a major earthquake had just rocked downtown. They even posted housing ads on craigslist for heavily damaged flats near the Presidio that exclaimed "Available immediately!" And now the American Red Cross - frustrated with its findings that a whopping 83 percent of Bay Area residents remain unprepared for the Big One - is unveiling its latest guerrilla marketing tactic today:...

San Francisco's skies are safe for the Blue Angels. A Board of Supervisors committee Monday rejected a measure that would have called for a permanent end to the high-flying, aerobatic show that happens yearly during Fleet Week. The committee voted 2-1 to table the measure, authored by Supervisor Chris Daly, effectively killing it. But Daly, who cited public safety and noise concerns as his reasons for proposing the ban, promised to continue pushing it. "We've been lucky here in San Francisco," Daly said, noting that 26 crew members have died in incidents since 1946 when the Navy formed the flight...

Board of Supervisors 021415[Commend President Hugo Chavez]Supervisor Daly Resolution commending the administration of President Hugo Chavez for its commitment to democracy. Supervisor Leno, seconded by Supervisor McGoldrick, moved that this Resolution be ADOPTED. The motion carried by the following vote: Ayes: 11 - Ammiano, Daly, Gonzalez, Hall, Leno, Maxwell, McGoldrick, Newsom, Peskin, Sandoval, Yee http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=13564

I was listening to Laura Ingraham this morning and on the air she asked her assistants to try to get a hold of SF Supervisor Sandoval who is part of a SF City/County resolution to condem Michael Savage for his saying that illegal immigrants who were on a hunger strike to get free college should "starve [themsevles] to death". For details about the controversy (does not include the bit about Laura)see http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57130

Great Gavin Newsom Graphic - Worth the look! San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom joined fellow Californicator Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and endorsed Hillary's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

A city hit hard by gun violence should not have gun sales at its back door, said Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is expected to announce today that The City is seeking state legislation to end gun shows at the Cow Palace. While the exhibition hall is technically located in Daly City, it is just blocks away from San Francisco’s Sunnydale Housing Project, one of many neighborhoods in The City plagued by gun violence. Although the gun shows are legal, Newsom said numerous illegal gun transactions occur in the parking lot during the show, which will take place Saturday and Sunday....

Everyone agrees Robert Rawson is a chronic drunk and a public nuisance. So why can't we get him off the street? Rawson camps out in the Golden Gate Park Panhandle, and often drinks much of the day. San Francisco police Capt. John Ehrlich of Park Station says Rawson was arrested in December for being drunk at 9:40 in the morning and following a 15-year-old girl into a bus shelter. On Christmas Day, police found him drunk and having sex with a woman on a park bench at Haight and Masonic. And then there is the long list of times he's...

ABC has scheduled Masters of Science Fiction for Saturdays at 10:00 ET beginning August 4. Six episodes were produced but apparently ABC is showing only four of them. Hopefully, the other episodes will be online. The series host is Professor Stephen Hawking. It looks like the show has good production values. Official site (includes clips)ABC site for the seriesA review from Reuters that criticizes ABCIMDb info

The law also makes it illegal to possess or sell firearms on city and county property and ... The measure's co-sponsors concede that it will have little effect on the proliferation of illegal firearms. The prohibition of guns on county property does not apply to Housing Authority sites, and the ban on selling guns on county property does not apply to the annual gun show at the Cow Palace.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2007 – Deployment to a war zone can exact a unique toll on not only those in imminent danger but also their loved ones back home. One group, however, is working to lessen these effects. “We build a safe space, a community for veterans and their families to come together and share their stories, struggles and accomplishments,” said Dr. Joseph Bobrow, director of the “Coming Home Project.” “Our programs address the mental, emotional, spiritual and relationship challenges faced by veterans and families before, during and after deployment.” The San Francisco organization, which is devoted to providing...

Matt Gonzalez, the former San Francisco supervisor who was city progressives' last hope for a big-name candidate to challenge Mayor Gavin Newsom in his re-election quest, said Monday he will not run for mayor this fall. The decision follows weeks of serious consideration by Gonzalez, who narrowly lost to Newsom in 2003, and paves the way for the mayor to run for re-election in November without facing serious opposition. In an interview with The Chronicle Monday, Gonzalez said polling showed voters seem to be complacent about the problems the city faces and do not hold Newsom accountable for those ills...