Free Republic

The National Rifle Association has challenged San Francisco's ban on handguns in public housing, trying to capitalize on the U.S. Supreme Court's historic ruling this week which found a constitutional right to own guns for self-defense in the home. In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, lawyers for gun rights advocates are asking a federal judge to invalidate San Francisco's handgun law based on the Supreme Court's decision striking down a broader Washington, D.C., law forbidding residents to own handguns. The San Francisco challenge includes an anonymous plaintiff, identified as "Guy Montag Doe," a gay...

A powerful gun lobby group in the United States has filed legal challenges to handgun bans in San Francisco and Chicago. The lawsuits come a day after the US Supreme Court ruled that a ban on the private possession of handguns in Washington DC was unconstitutional. A National Rifle Association lawyer said the cases were necessary to expand the ruling to other states and cities. San Francisco's mayor says he plans to fight the NRA challenge. The San Francisco lawsuit challenges the city's handgun ban in public housing, while in Chicago it challenges a ruling that makes it illegal to...

(06-26) 19:20 PDT San Francisco -- San Francisco public high schools will no longer award physical education credit to students enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, the Board of Education voted today in a hastily scheduled meeting. The 4-to-1 vote will likely cripple the 90-year-old military education program that serves 1,200 students because most use it to satisfy their p.e. requirement. "If students really love the program, they'll take it anyway," said board president Mark Sanchez, who has led opposition to JROTC because of its ties to the military. Gregory Wing, who will be a sophomore at Lowell...

Gun-control advocates across the country reacted with shock and outrage at the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns today, saying the ruling would threaten gun-control measures in other states. If there was any doubt that other bans would be in peril, the National Rifle Association quickly put those questions to rest when it announced shortly after the ruling that it would file a flurry of lawsuits challenging restrictions in San Francisco, Chicago and several Chicago suburbs. The law in Washington, which spelled out rules for the storage of weapons and made it extremely...

SAN FRANCISCO: Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital, and a state, too. But President George W. Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom. prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. Not surprisingly, those Republicans in a city that voted 83 percent Democratic in 2004 are not thrilled with the idea

At 4:18pm PDT there was some kind of large explosion in the financial district here in San Francisco, people have come out of their buildings to see. Police have taped off the area south of Pine on California Street. Cable Cars have stopped running. More to follow...

After being assailed by the police officer whose satiric videos earned him and nearly two dozen others suspensions in 2005, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong acknowledged that she has gone years without taking the target practice required for officers who carry guns. Department rules require all police officers who carry guns to pass shooting range tests every six months... The issue of Fong's proficiency with a gun was raised last week by Officer Andrew Cohen. He wrote to Police Commission President Theresa Sparks that the chief had gone five years without being certified, which he called "an egregious matter...

After being assailed by the police officer whose satiric videos earned him and nearly two dozen others suspensions in 2005, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong acknowledged that she has gone years without taking the target practice required for officers who carry guns. The head of the city's Police Commission said today that the panel was likely to take disciplinary action against Fong, which could range from a letter of reprimand to something more severe. Department rules require all police officers who carry guns to pass shooting range tests every six months. Fong said in a statement this week that...

There must be a lot of SF fans here. Who are you favorite authors or books? What are you currently reading?I enjoy SF books that focus on character development over hard scifi themes. Robert Silverberg, IMO, is about the best there is. I also enjoy Gardner Duzois' short stories--some gut-wrenching stuff. Jack Vance's are also very entertaining. Orson Scott Card is pretty good too.I am currently reading Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan...it's kind of slow and hard to follow. Not likely to read his other novels.I have enjoyed some, but not all, of Niven and Pournelle's works.

With Thursday's California Supreme Court ruling regarding same sex marriage, we can expect a resurrection of one of the most shopworn political epiteths: San Francisco values. GOP Rep. Sam Graves unveiled an ad this week using the money phrase to disparage his Democratic challenger Kay Barnes, aka the "Big City Mayor" (formerly that is, of Kansas City.) Barnes' sin: She attended a fundraiser thrown by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and she shares Pelosi's "San Francisco Values." You know what that means. Or at least what it is supposed to mean. Nevertheless, you've GOT to see Graves' commercial only to check...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had barely been on the job a month back in 2004 when he ordered the city to issue marriages licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Thousands of same-sex partners flocked to City Hall to exchange vows. For four weeks, a steady stream of ceremonies stretched into the night, and lines of eager couples wrapped around the block. And as quickly as the couples could say, "I do," the scene of women marrying women and men marrying men sparked a nationwide uproar. Proponents called the move bold. Opponents called it defiant and blatantly illegal. People on...

KUSI reporter Rod Luck has been placed on an extended leave of absence after his recent arrest. He was arrested Friday in San Francisco on misdemeanor domestic violence and battery charges. Luck is accused of punching his girlfriend in the mouth while staying at a hotel. KUSI News Director Steve Cohen says there's no timeline for the leave of absence. Luck is a live reporter for Good Morning San Diego and Inside San Diego. He's been at KUSI since 1990.

(05-08) 18:49 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Bernie Ward, the most prominent liberal voice on Bay Area talk radio for more than two decades, admitted Thursday to distribution of child pornography by e-mail in a plea deal that will send him to federal prison for at least five years. Ward, 57, a former Roman Catholic priest, was a fixture on KGO-AM 810 for three hours every weeknight, known in recent years for his fervent denunciations of President Bush and the war in Iraq during his news talk show. He also hosted "God Talk," a Sunday morning program on religion, and was...

SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - San Francisco would become the first city in the nation to ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies if legislation that was quietly introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom is approved. If the Board of Supervisors adopts the legislation, hundreds of pharmacies in The City would have to stop selling tobacco products — including cigarettes, cigars, pipes and chewing tobacco — as soon as October. “This is a sensible measure to deal with health problems before they start, and it’s consistent with our prevention-focused efforts such as Healthy San Francisco and Shape Up SF,” Newsom said....

On April 6, 2008, Barack Obama visited the San Francisco region, zipping from event to event all day long, from one end of the Bay Area to the other. What? you might ask. How did I miss that? If only I had known, I would have gone to see him. Well, there's a reason you didn't know about it. Obama didn't want you to know about it. Because the events he was attending weren't for people like you. They were for people with lots and lots of money, who use that money to gain access and influence with politicians --...

A Tibetan supporter, right, argues with a Chinese supporter at a rally for China's Olympic torch at the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 9, 2008. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) I love these "peaceful" liberals out in San Fran. DO AS I SAY CHINESE WOMAN! I KNOW MORE ABOUT TIBET THAN YOU DO! I AM FROM SAN FRANCISCO!!

SAN FRANCISCO - Officials say the planned closing ceremony for the Olympic torch at the San Francisco Bay waterfront is canceled and another one will take place at an undisclosed location. The ceremony had been slated to take place Wednesday at Justin Herman Plaza, where thousands had gathered to support and protest the Beijing-bound flame's visit to the city. Just before the relay began, the torch was rerouted about a mile away from the demonstrators and spectators. Officials say they changed the path because of security concerns. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom tells The Associated Press that a closing ceremony...

S.F. ban on handguns dealt a final defeat Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, April 9, 2008 (04-09) 17:19 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The state Supreme Court dealt a final blow Wednesday to San Francisco's voter-approved ban on handguns, rejecting the city's appeal of a lower-court ruling that sharply limited the ability of localities to regulate firearms. The court's unanimous order was a victory for the National Rifle Association, which sued on behalf of gun owners, advocates and dealers a day after the measure passed with 58 percent of the vote in November 2005. The initiative has never taken effect....

Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco Formed to Honor George W. Bush Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant." Genius. The local grassroots movement, helmed by "Wayne Pickering," is proposing an ordinance initiative for the November 2008 San Francisco ballot in order to get the poop/pee/vomit plant's title changed. Why? To...

Lance Farber, the fire-starting, tomato-tossing boyfriend of new San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim, is out of jail - but only after the city took him to the cleaners. Farber, who had been sitting in jail for almost six weeks on $1 million bail, pleaded guilty last week to one count of unlawfully and recklessly starting a fire and one count of vandalism with over $400 in damage. The 47-year-old New Age chiropractor was accused of setting a bed on fire and tossing an open can of tomatoes through the city's historic fire chief's house - staining the walls -...