Remember how the city is supposedly facing yet more budget problems? Well, that hasn't stopped the Gavster from doing some spending. Budgets shmudgets....

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. ...

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

Duane Baughman, you're our big winner! The political consultant is getting $15,000 to resolve the lawsuit that Supervisor (and newly-announced candidate for assessor/recorder, courtesy of the Sentinel) Gerardo Sandoval filed against him for those anonymous flyers sent out in the 2004 supervisors' race. Sandoval also, through gritted teeth, issued the following statement:

I regret pursuing this matter against Democratic political consultant Duane Baughman in the courts, and for any personal and professional trouble this may have caused him. We have settled the matter, and I consider it closed.

This settlement is proof that this was never about money. It was always about vindication in a public arena. Supervisor Sandoval has expressed his sincere regret to me personally about this entire matter. I consider the matter now closed, and I am happy to get back to the business of electing Democrats around the country.

Our super-secret SFist sources have notified us that Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, repping the eleven for the Excelsior, is holding a rally today at noon, on the steps of City Hall. Why's he holding a rally?, you ask. Is he that worked up about line-item veto power over the MUNI budget? Well, no. So when Sandoval was running for reelection to the Board of Supes, someone anonymously started putting out flyers calling him anti-Semitic. (Sandoval made some unfortunate statements back in 2001.) Sandoval handily won District 11, but was so upset about the anonymous mailers that he sued. Funny, that First Amendment. So Duane Baughman, the political consultant whose clients put out the flyers (and who's now working with Mayor Bloomberg in NY), claimed that Sandoval's lawsuit inpinged on his First Amendment rights to call anyone a Nazi that he wants -- and he won. So, under California law, Sandoval is now on the hook for Baughman's legal fees, to the tune of $143K. Sandoval is now saying he might have to sell his house to pay. So Sandoval's holding a rally today to bring people's attention to the issue of anonymous mailers -- he's never figured out who paid for the flyers, but he suspects it's Don Fisher from the Gap -- and to protest the fees being assessed against him. It sounds like the whole progressive gang's gonna be there! And -- dare we hope? Maybe even Chris Daly? Oh, you better believe we're checking this one out. ...

That's right, with all the crazy purchases, consolidation and boost in VC capital in the tech sector, a lot of folks are wondering if the boom is back. Of course, at SFist, this can only mean one thing -- a wave of BizDev and Marketing types who know nothing about tech flooding the city in another gold-rush disaster. Yeesh. Hopefully this time, the nerds can keep ahold of the reins, and keep pushing the......

So as it rains so hard, we stare out the window and we wonder, with a little sigh in the heart -- what is our plucky broken-hearted former first lady Kimberly Guilfoyle doing these days? Is she happy? Is she sad? Is she bundled up in a parka in the cold, cold city of New York? Well! Ask and ye shall receive. Making like a Gawker again, we turn to the Post's Page Six -- which reports that the soon-to-be-former Mrs. Newsom was making some heavy-duty eye contact and lingering into the night with a certain special someone! At a Court TV party for Catherine Crier's book about Scott Peterson, no less! So who could it be? Mayor Bloomberg? Mark Geragos? Robert Blake? Gothamist's adorable publisher Jake? No! You guessed wrong! It's MICHAEL BOLTON!!! ....maybe it's the hair? (Hey Kimberly: if he says he loves you -- he lied.) ...

After being blamed for the re-election of W., made a virtual pariah in the Democratic Party, and befriended by Angelina Jolie all for letting a few gay people marry, you would think that the Gavster would go quietly into that good night on the issue. After all, there’s nothing the Democratic Party hates more than some Democrat standing on principles and scaring off all those Red State types. Turns out he’s not going quietly. In fact, he has been pumping up both the jams and the volume on the issue. In the past week, he gave a speech at Harvard where he called out his fellow Democrats and yesterday, totally dissed New York Mayor Bloomberg over Hizzoner’s little problem with the issue....

You might not have been able to tell but we here at SFist have some mixed feelings about the Newsom breakup. On the one hand, there's been an increase in single female staff members showing up at SFist's headquarters with hopeful expressions. On the other, what are we going to do without Kimber? Those lips, that horsey smile. Dreamy. It seems like it was just yesterday she stood on the steps of City Hall,......