If you are the primary caregiver for an ailing brother, sister, granddaughter, grandson, or your pesky in-laws, the guv basically says, Who Cares? Arnold has vetoed two bills that would have expanded the Family Leave Act, which allows employees of medium to large companies to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave or 6 weeks of paid leave to bond with babies, take care of sick spouses, domestic partners, children, or parents. Adding extended family......

Official friend of SFist Irene McGee-- ex dj at Free FM (KIFR 106.9) and, yes, "Real World" alum and recipient of "the Slap Heard 'Round the World"-- is having a benefit tonight at the Red Devil lounge to raise money for her after she lost pretty much everything (including one of her cats) in a fire. To help her raise money, she has some fairly heavy weights to help her out-- Exene Cervenka formerly of X and Ben Fong-Torres and Kitten on the Keys will be your emcee for the night. Show starts at 8 and tickets are $15. ...

Despite the, err, soap opera that happened at City Hall, Project Homeless Connect is still happening. Tomorrow, there'll be another one at the Bill Graham Civic Center, from 9-3 PM. We doubt this time around, we'll see photos of Gavin washing people's feet (sadly, we couldn't find a photo of it) or awkward meetings that get reported in breathless detail by the Chronicle. ...

In the wake of the horrible Walter Reed National Army Medical Center scandal in Washington, we asked ourselves what we could do to make a difference for wounded veterans here in San Francisco. Here's how: we've got Veterans Affairs hospitals of our own in the city....

Dear 511.org, We're friends, right? Yeah, sure we are. That's why we've got to have this little talk. Look, we love you, of course, but we can't just sit idly by and watch what you're doing to yourself. For crying out loud, you're just one green umbrella away from shaving your head and attacking your ex's car! Here's the thing. Back when you started pleading with us to be your friend, we felt bad......

Whether you knew him or were just moved by the Kim family tragedy this past December, the Kim family invites you to celebrate his life this Saturday in Golden Gate Park. The gathering is open to the public and people are encouraged to bring their children, a picnic, and warm clothes. The memorial will begin at 1pm with a celebration of Kim's life to follow at 2, complete with DJs, music and dancing. The......

Friend of SFist, Julie, sent us an e-mail this morning about yet another assault, this time in the Marina. Believe it or not, the cops weren't that much of a help in this case either and Julie says that not only did the cops not make an arrest but that it seems likely they didn't take suspect names in their police report. So since they weren't of much help, she turns to us to see if we could help her out. ...

San Francisco wasn't the only place moved by the Kim family tragedy. People around the world followed the tragic story with bated breath as the events unfolded. For most of us it's hard to feel anything but sadness after such an event. We turn off our computers, talk about how the search should have started earlier, wonder what would have happened if the road the family travelled on was locked as it should have been. But a rare group of us hear stories like the Kim's in the news and do something with the loss they feel. ...

Well, it's Friday and the weekend and as wel know, we're all working for the weekend so we got a little cuteness to throw your way before you head on home. It's a web cam for the SPCA Holiday Window display at Macy's. We've mentioned this before and we've even shown a picture of people looking at the puppies and the kitties, but the SPCA has set up web cams so you can look in and see the cute puppy action action....

We're just as taken with the shiny new mall downtown as you are, but once you're inside it you may as well be in Wayne, New Jersey. Charm your friends and family this holiday season with some gifts you can only get in our lovely city, and rest easy knowing that you're helping local businesses and crafters thrive. Don't know all the local talent San Francisco has to offer, or where to shop for it? We're here for you....

For those of you wondering just how the web can be for something other than downloading porn, goofing off at work, and playing fantasy football, there's a site out there that shows just how helpful the web can be. The site is by the Neighborhood Park Council and it's a place people can go to lodge complaints against things they see in our local parks. Now, people complaining about things are one of the main things the web does better than anything but this isn't one of those sites. In other words, it's not a place to say "Worst. Park. Ever" or "the parks here jumped the shark when Dolores Park got together with Jackson Playground and the show moved to college." No, it's real people with real complaints and when information is given, the people behind the site forward it off to the Parks and Rec. ...

Remember how years ago, everyone was running around yelling "Free Tibet?" Well, Africa is the Tibet and has been for a while. There's Darfur and the rush of Hollywood celebrities stealing babies and whatever Bono is prattling about but there's also a need for help in the Congo. To help the Congo, local Executive Coach and Keynote Speaker Fran Zone (that's what the bio says) is having World of Good Holiday Auction. It's online and ends Thursday, November 30th. ...

We get a lot of e-mails about various events for good causes and most of them we'll list in our events posts but some of them, the one's that look really fun, we'll do a big post on. This one is definately deserving of a big post-- Dine Around. The basic gist of which is that if you eat at a selected restaurants in the Castro, Noe Valley, Mission, Potrero Hill, and Soma-- in other words, prime eating areas-- Wednesday night, money will be raised for the Aids Emergency Fund (AEF) and the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund (BCEF). And there's some great restaurants listed too like Foreign Cinema and la Mediterranee and Firefly and, well, just check out the list yourself. A raffle will also be held to help raise money. How could this not be a great thing as for the most part, all you need to do to support something is eat. We like eating. ...

A hotel that's been set up as housing for homeless people is running into a problem-- there's no internet access. And yes, this is a big problem because as we all know, being internet-less can be a hindrance in life these days and the whole point of the program the people are in is to help them become less hindered. Having the internet helps one find a job, connect with other people, and get casual encounters. Hell, how can they even know what's going on in this city without the ability to check out SFist! ...

We here at SFist would like to think we're more than snark and Gavin gossip, so with that in mind, we'd like let y'all know that tomorrow will be a San Francisco National Public Lands Day volunteer event at Crissy Field. What does this entail? Cleaning up beaches, do trail maintenance, habitat restoration, and much much others. Do good deeds, meet new people, and earn some good old-fashioned karma points (a much important things as some of us head towards our day of atonement). And if that's not enough, there's free lunch and a shopping party at the Sports Basement. Anyone who wants to go, just show up at Crissy Field by 9 and they will assign your task and place to do such task. For more information on National Public Lands Day, go to here. For more information on all of our volunteer programs in the Golden Gate National Parks, go here. ...

Ok, so perhaps SFist's own Donor's Choose challenge isn't going to break any records (and we're not the best promoter's are we?). But that doesn't mean there's a flaw in the system... well not a flaw in the Donor's Choose system anyway, don't even get us started on flaws in the public school system. So from now until September 30, Donor's Choose is trying to raise $250,000 for California school proposals and half of......

News of this organization came across our now very sleepy Cares desk last week and we thought it interesting and helpful and stuff but then got stopped dead by one line of their press release: This fall 3,700 Bay Area/Northern California disadvantaged youngsters, many of whom have never owned their own book, will take part in an innovative literacy program featuring a cast of centuries-old characters from halfway around the world. ...screeeeetch What?! Never......

We don't want to sound naive or anything but can you believe things are still a complete frickin' mess down in the gulf region and hurricane seasons starts for serious next month? I mean, people are probably still up in trees and shit. It isn't right. Luckily, while we've been working on our tan other people have been working on more important things. Our inbox contains an email from one of our readers who's......

Hey two-wheelers! The AIDS/LifeCycle is coming up and one of the locals riding it sent us a message about a bike/moped/scooter wash this Sunday 11am-4pm on Market & Sanchez to raise money for the ride. Besides the suds, "2 Wheels, 1 Heart" promises music, drinks and prizes from Huf, Timbuk2 and more. If you're in town for the weekend and your wheels are dirty check it out! As an aside, when you do image......

Companies are getting into blogging, why not non-profits? They are catching on and one of the organizations we talked about last year, DonorsChoose, is starting up a new "power of the blogs" campaign called, unsurprisingly, BloggersChoose. DonorsChoose allows teachers to submit proposals for classroom supplies or initiatives they want to accomplish but can't afford (shocking news - schools aren't well-funded, like, anywhere) and donors pick the ones they want to fund, in part or......

Who wants to volunteer to ask the critical question: gel or mousse? Better yet: blow dry or air dry? We want to know and you could get the chance to ask it. This week, rock dwellers, is National Volunteer Week and to help celebrate it, and encourage people to keep or start volunteering The Volunteer Center is holding a contest. The winner of this content (there will be three people picked) will get a......

Fess up, readers. One of you was at the Princess Project dress giveaway on April 1st and started opening your big mouth about SFist. Who was it? Fess! Because we kiss you, big mouth reader! Thanks to your blabbering we were contacted by Girls, Inc. of Alameda County who we've now come to love almost as much as we not-so-secretly love you. Why do we love them? It's right there on the home page:......

Caltrain service is delayed in both directions this morning after a suicidal man jumped in front of a northbound train at Mountain View around 7:15 a.m. today. As of around 9:30, Caltrain announced that it's got one track of service going around the scene; call 1-800-660-4287 for more information. What's the number (408) 850-6125 up there in the title of this post? That's the number for Contact Cares, the Silicon Valley suicide prevention hotline. Please, if you're feeling depressed, call the number and talk to someone about it. Not just because your life is important and valuable (which it is), but also because (selfishly) no one likes having their commute disrupted either. Do we really need to discuss whether Caltrain has to move to the Japanese model of charging bereaved families for suicide-related costs? Picture from CBS 5....

The SFist offices are jazzed about the season finale of Project Runway tonight. Some of that is because this season was pretty lame compared to last, so we're just happy it's coming to a close and we can move on and forget. What we think would liven it all up would be better challenges, like this one: Take a box of donated thrift store clothes and make something beautiful out of them. Oh snap!......

Despite our snippy attitude, we here at SFist are really softies at heart which is why we love volunteers. All kinds really, it doesn't matter. Whenever someone takes some of their own spare time to spend helping others, well, we're just big fans of that. While we celebrate volunteers all year 'round, National Volunteer Week is officially April 23-29th. As part of this, The Volunteer Center will host its annual awards event "Hat's Off:......

After we got back home from our Christmas vacation, we found we had ourselves a problem. We just couldn't find any space in our closet for the new, beautiful, hand-knit Christmas sweater we got from our elderly aunt. No question, this sweater is a keeper (reindeer were hot on the fall runways in Milan last year) so our only choice is a judicious weeding of the current contents of our tiny closet. Just our......

Putting together Cares for more than a year now we've learned about the breadth of "helping" organizations in the bay area - from environmental groups to people helping people (and animals) and everything in between. We've cajoled you to give time and clothes and, our all-time, number-one favorite, cash. And now, we're asking you for something else. If you watch any late night television you may have seen a series of commercials jointly produced......

Am I the only one who found 2005 to be one of the fastest years on record? I can't even believe it's over - I remember it just starting. I didn't even get everything on my list done! Here's a more leisurely 2006! Politics - Voters rejecting the Governor was awesome but I'm still waiting for something, anything, to take down Bush. What the hell will it take?! Federal Government Department - We know......

We all know someone who's been affected by a medical problem of some kind, but it's a bit trickier giving a gift related to that interest than some of the others we've profiled. These issues tend to be much more personal and even the most philanthropic-minded friend might not want to be reminded of it during the holiday season. Still, there are some worthwhile charities you can consider and it's easy to find the......

Last week we gave you some ideas for what to get the animal lover on your gift list. This week, we're going international -- looking at various international aid organizations that you might purchase a charitable gift from this holiday season. We first heard about microfinance a few years ago and have been fascinated by it ever since. It's so DIY and personal and operates on the level that we can really see making......