Free Republic

NEW YORK -- The Hearst Corp. today announced an effort to reverse the deepening operating losses of its San Francisco Chronicle by seeking near-term cost savings that would include "significant" cuts to both union and non-union staff. In a posted statement, Hearst said if the savings cannot be accomplished "quickly" the company will seek a buyer, and if none comes forward, it will close the Chronicle. The Chronicle lost more than $50 million in 2008 and is on a pace to lose more than that this year, Hearst said. Frank J. Vega, chairman and publisher of the Chronicle, said, "It's...

The Hearst Corp. said Tuesday that unless the San Francisco Chronicle can undertake "critical" cost cutting measures including job cuts within weeks, the company will be forced to sell or close the newspaper. Hearst said the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year and added that, "this year's losses to date are worse." The Chronicle has had major losses each year since 2001, Hearst said. The closely-held media company said cost reductions including an unspecified reduction in union and non-union employees are needed to restore the Chronicle to health.

San Francisco -- Hundreds of people who watched the Academy Awards from San Francisco's Castro Theatre on Sunday night gave polite applause to "Slumdog Millionaire" - which won best picture and seven other awards - but roared with foot-stomping standing ovations for "Milk" when it took the prizes for best original screenplay and best actor. "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns," Sean Penn told the academy upon accepting the best actor award for his portrayal of the slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights leader Harvey Milk. "I did not expect this, and I want it to be very clear...

21:28 PST Sausalito -- A southern Marin County sanitation district under federal orders to replace aging infrastructure will have spilled 300,000 gallons of bacteria-laden sewage into San Francisco Bay by noon today after a rupture in a sewage treatment plant pipeline.

Lawmakers and administration officials divulged Wednesday that the $789 billion economic stimulus bill being finalized behind closed doors in Congress includes $30 million for wetlands restoration that the Obama administration intends to spend in the San Francisco Bay Area to protect, among other things, the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi represents the city of San Francisco and has previously championed preserving the mouse's habitat in the Bay Area. The revelation immediately became a political football, as Republicans accused Democrats of reneging on a promise to keep so-called earmarks that fund lawmakers' favorite projects out of the...

January 29, 2009 Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/January/09-nsd-071.html Imprisoned Spy and His Son Indicted on Charges of Acting as Russian Agents and Money Laundering WASHINGTON -- A federal indictment was unsealed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon charging Harold James Nicholson, 58, of Sheridan, Ore., and Nathaniel James Nicholson, 24, of Eugene, Ore., with two counts of Conspiracy, one count of Acting as Agents of a Foreign Government, and four counts of Money Laundering. Both defendants are scheduled to appear today at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Janice M. Stewart for arraignment on...

San Francisco’s much maligned homicide clearance rate is in the spotlight as the French government has stepped into a cold case murder occurring in the city two years ago. The inquiry comes on the heels of the “unusual” case of a Jewish activist who managed to fall through to his death via a disabled elevator shaft. San Francisco’s 800 plus unsolved murders rate ranks as one of the highest in the nation.

Abortion foes march in SF The Associated Press Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched on this city's waterfront, vowing to continue to fight vehemently for their beliefs in spite of a new president who supports abortion rights. The protesters on Saturday spoke out against the 36-year-old Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion. Dolores Mehan, an organizer of the rally, says despite losing an ally in the White House in George W. Bush, her constituency is energized to take up the challenge. Anti-abortion marchers on Friday demonstrated on the National Mall...

The San Francisco Housing Authority has agreed to allow its residents to own guns in a settlement of a National Rifle Association lawsuit that followed last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the right to bear arms.

Washington -- Everywhere you go, a piece of San Francisco follows you, and that goes double for the inauguration of Barack Obama. I arrived here a couple of days early and booked myself into one of those new boutique hotels downtown. I went to check in and there was a big sign in the lobby: "Welcome Leather Daddies." Fun as it might have been to hang around with the guys, I had left my chaps at home. Besides, I thought it better to move closer to the political action. So the next day I moved over to the Westin near...

While doomsayers bemoan America's ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center may have turned up a brilliant silver lining. Thanks to desperate recruiting methods required to staff those wars, the U.S. Marines may be turning military service into a male sexual fantasy land, where recruits are paid actual money to cohabitate with drunk, stoned, horny teenage girls. UCSF scientists tested and surveyed 2,157 female U.S. Marine recruits -- out of 2,288 possible respondents -- with an average age of 19. Researchers found that the young women were more than twice...

When vandals covered the walls of the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church with swastikas and other graffiti last weekend, Gavin Newsom condemned the attack, as any mayor should. But according to some Catholics, the mayor (and the Board of Supervisors) is partly to blame for the vandalism. "Both Newsom and the board have shown nothing but contempt for the First Amendment rights of Catholics," said a statement released by the Catholic League the day after the graffiti was discovered. "When crucifixes are sold as sex toys and Catholic sensibilities are assaulted by naked men in the street at the annual...

01-04) 19:38 PST Oakland -- BART's police chief asked for patience from the public on Sunday after video footage surfaced showing one of his officers fatally shooting an unarmed man who was on the ground on a station platform on New Year's Day, and after an attorney for the dead man's family said he planned to sue the transit agency for $25 million.

President Bush once remarked at a White House party that in the famously liberal enclave of San Francisco, his supporters were so rare that "you could probably fit them all in one room." He wasn't exaggerating, and he would do little to alter his standing. He never once set foot in San Francisco during his two terms, and he was hardly much chummier with California as a whole, the nation's most populous state and the world's eighth-largest economy. The 43rd president's legacy in the Golden State, according to the unsparing assessment of Democratic consultant Phil Trounstine, is "zilch." "He regarded...

Vandals spray-painted swastikas on a Catholic church in San Francisco's Castro District Saturday night. It appears the vandals are upset about the Catholic church's support of Proposition 8, which made same-sex marriage illegal in California. But, the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church on Diamond Street is gay-friendly. Many parishioners voted against Prop 8 and they are upset their church was targeted. "We're very disturbed by the hierarchy's support of the Yes on Eight Campaign. We've been in conversation with the bishop, which is the way I think we need to handle it. I think Catholic teaching shows us we're all...

"Summary of Overnight Events, 03 January 2009"

SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco officials have taken a step to try to ensure that the city is reimbursed for $75,000 in medical bills incurred by one of two brothers mauled by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo last Christmas. In a filing this week in federal court, officials said the city wanted to be compensated for the cost of treating Kulbir Dhaliwal, now 24, at the city-run San Francisco General Hospital after the attack. The document, a medical reimbursement lien, was filed Wednesday in connection with proceedings in a federal lawsuit filed against the city and by Dhaliwal...

San Francisco, CA (LifeNews.com) -- The Walk for Life West Coast has grown since its inception and more than 25,000 people took part in the pro-life witness in one of the most pro-abortion cities in the nation. In preparation for the next walk on January 24, the group has sponsored a new billboard.The sign, advertising the Walk for Life West Coast's signature slogan "Abortion Hurts Women" is now displayed near the approach to one of the most traveled bridges in the U.S. The 20' x 60' billboard is easily visible to the more than 100,000 cars driving the freeway...

Associated Press - link only

A band of demonstrators, many wearing black masks, stormed a bustling San Francisco mall Saturday evening, upending garbage cans and foliage and damaging crystal merchandise at one kiosk. An estimated 50 to 75 people were involved in the disruption at Westfield San Francisco Centre, police said. "It felt like random, vague anarchy," said Sam Cantrell, who sells sunglasses at a kiosk near the escalators on the street level where the protesters gathered. "Everyone's yelling," he said. "Some people started running up the escalator the wrong way. People were grabbing their babies and running away in fear." The disruption began around...