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Michela Alioto-Pier and her family is proud to announce that the supervisor for District 2 gave birth to their third child, a healthy baby girl, last night. They don't have a name picked out yet because they thought the baby was going to be a boy. Seven pounds 11 oz., 20 inches long, born at 11:24 p.m. at Cal Pacific. Congratulations to the Alioto-Piers! ....and welcome back to work, Ms. Alioto-Pier! Neither the state nor local laws have any provisions granting elected women officials any time for maternity leave. And Alioto-Pier can't just call in sick for the next three months, either -- under the law, she must be physically present in order to vote. We think it's maybe not a coincidence that Alioto-Pier is the first elected San Franciscan to give birth while in office. Alioto-Pier has sponsored a charter amendment (.pdf) that would allow supervisors to vote by telephone if they're on pregnancy-related bed rest. (Guess you can't vote by telephone if you're just on a self-prescribed bed rest binge.) Voters will be asked to approve it for the Nov. 2006 election. One question, though: why didn't Alioto-Pier ask us to approve maternity leave for supervisor-moms in that bill too? Picture of Alioto-Pier and Newsom from the 2004 District 2 Town Hall Meeting. more ›

Well, we suppose you might need something to lift your flagging spirits in that circumstance -- three replacement workers hired by Sutter while the Cal Pacific workers remain on strike have just been fired after getting busted stealing Viagra from the hospital supply room. Speaking of union protests, so many firefighters, teachers, and nurses showed up to protest a fundraising dinner being thrown for the governor by a retired Dreyer's ice cream executive in Lafayette that Schwarzenegger didn't even show. Fifty protestors were expected but over 400 showed up for over 2 hours. Gosh, we hope the gov's baked Alaska didn't melt! ....and lawlessness. Lawlessness! Residents of Pac Heights and Cow Hollow resentfully hired security guards to protect their bazillion-dollar real estate investments from ski bum riffraff. They also complained that the valet service they were promised for their cars wasn't very good. "You changed my radio station!" Also -- is that MARIJUANA they smelled during the afternoon? Hooligans! Two skiiers also wiped out on the melting snow, requiring medical assistance, and a number of people suffered heat exhaustion as well. more ›

So what happened with all those stories we've been telling you about all week? Fret no more! Here's your answers! *Madison Nguyen beat Linda Nguyen, 62% to 37%, for the District 7 San Jose city council seat. (Apparently people liked Madison's prior political experience, and may have been turned off by the flyers accusing Madison of having affairs with married men.) *Barry Bonds hit an almost-home run in his first game back, which was ruled a ground-rule double due to fan interference. He hit a single last night. No Old Navy splashdowns yet -- but only five games back from first in the division. *A second shipment of animals from Louisiana arrived yesterday, and will be housed in Marin and the Peninsula Humane Society. Awwww. *And it's day two of the Sutter healthcare workers' strike at Cal Pacific. Picture of Madison Nguyen from her campaign website more ›

Where's Frank Chu these days? Maybe at one of these protests: Over 800 hospital workers walked off the job at Cal Pacific this morning, to protest their lack of input on appropriate patient staffing levels (and pensions and money for continuing education). SEIU had reached an agreement with the hospital's owner, Tenet Health, but Tenet backed out of the deal late last month. Unlike other recent hospital strikes in the area, this is not a one-day walkout and will continue until the outstanding issues are resolved. Cal Pacific says 600 "replacement workers" (cough scab cough) were hired and no medical procedures were rescheduled. At Civic Center on Saturday, "dozens" of Tibetans and Tibetan supporters protested outside the Asian Art Museum, over its cooperation with the Chinese government in presenting the Tibet: On The Roof Of The World exhibition, which ended last weekend. Protestors are particularly upset that the museum refused to display a picture of the Dalai Lama in the show. Picture on left from KGO 7, picture from right from the Times of Tibet. more ›