-- the Chronicle ran an interesting set of articles yesterday detailing the problems that San Francisco-based families face when trying to stay in the city. more ›

SFist interviews Get Mortified's Scott Lifton more ›

Those of you who've been vociferously participating in our ongoing debates about Falun Gong, Mormonism, and Scientology will be pleased to hear that we spent tonight steeped in Mozart's Catholic Mass in C minor at Symphony Hall. Begin the transsubstantiation debates in the comments.... now! more ›

So some group that supports Mrs. Ma mailed out a flyer recently and let drop some info sure to raise the blood pressure of your average SF Soccer Mom and SF Progressive-type, that the Reilly's send their daughter to a "an exclusive private school." Quelle horreur! How can the Reilly's claim to be down with the common folk if they send their children to a private school! Well, it turns out that the eldest Reilly daughter goes to not just any private school, but a Catholic one. So in retaliation, Reilly supporters stepped up and took it to the next level-- Ma hates the Catholics. It's oh so simple, actually: Ma attacks Reilly for sending children to a private school, private school is Catholic, so Ma is really an anti-Papist bigot who thinks the Janet Reilly will call the Pope before every major vote, wants to burn heretics at the stake, and sings "Every Sperm is Sacred" every night before dinner. Says a mailer handed out after mass on Sunday: "All of us hoped that this anti-Catholic attitude ended in 1960 with the election of President John F. Kennedy. It is appalling that it still exists here in San Francisco in 2006." As far as we know, the flyer was not ripped off from somebody else. more ›

Good morning, class! Today's the first day of the school year for the San Francisco public schools. Mmmm, smell the chalk in the air! Test scores are up, Ackerman's raise was approved by a trial court, things are good over at the SFUSD. One problem, though -- some union workers are staging a one-day sickout over their labor negotiations for raises. The school district wouldn't say how many people were out today, but volunteers will be staffing the principal's office at Malcolm X Elementary and there may not be hot lunches today if enough people are out (though the schools will give out sandwiches). This is not an officially union-sanctioned action, though the union is taking the position that if people are sick, they're sick. Also in honor of today, the Chron's got an article that follows three kids who went to the same preschool, didn't do so well in the school lottery system, and are now at three different elementary schools -- a public school teacher who's sending her child to an expensive private school, the Protestant family who's enrolled at a Catholic school after they decided the public school wasn't working for their child, and one who's thrilled with their public school despite its middling-level test scores. The article's fascinating -- we hope the Chron keeps following these kids throughout the year. How'd you take the first day of school as a kid? What's your thoughts about the SFUSD? Share with the class! more ›