Results tagged “sacramento”

Mayor Gavin Newsom took his message about mandatory recycling programs to the Op-Ed page of the Sacramento Bee yesterday, aiming in particular at so-called "high temperature disposal technologies" which he calls "just glorified incineration" and not sustainable. Newsom also takes the opportunity to tout the new, large-scale, mandatory composting programs in San Francisco and Los Angeles. more ›

Obama's Justice Department may be loosening up about medical marijuana, but right on cue the DEA just busted a huge marijuana grow operation that was running out of dozens of half-million-dollar homes in the towns of Elk Grove, Lathrop, Modesto, Sacramento, Tracy, and Stockton. A total of 24,500 plants in 50 different homes-turned-grow-houses were seized, and the whole operation was estimated to have grossed about $100 million a year. Federal agents and the IRS had apparently been investigating some individuals at lower levels of the operations for several years, and the 18 people arrested in yesterday's raids were all low-level, gardener-type employees. The DEA has said that these houses were all being run by "a San Francisco-based organized crime syndicate." Who knew we had one of those? Anyway, here are pictures of the four dudes arrested in Elk Grove. more ›

Well, this stinks. Former NBA player and current Mayor of Sacramento Kevin Johnson was mugged robbed over the weekend while acting like a Boy Scout in San Francisco's Union Square. NBC Bay Area reports "The former NBA player was in the City for a conference with representatives at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. He was helping an elderly man get into a cab near Union Square when someone sneaked up behind him and ripped of his garment bag that was holding a suit, shoes and some toiletries, his blog notes." more ›

The July 2 issue of Sacramento News & Review, it seems, wasn't the most popular issue of SN&R. Why? Well, the cover story -- featuring a safe couple, Ben and Lonny Phillips-Lesenana, and the headline, "5 easy steps to marriage freedom" -- proved very unpopular with Sacto ilk. So much so that the paper's return rate that week was staggeringly high. more ›

While trolling over in Sacramento this past weekend at the Democratic convention, Mayor Gavin Newsom, according to Matier et Ross, threw a $100,000 block party. Would you expect anything less? Anyway, the possible future governor of California spared little expense, featuring 1,500 reusable aluminum water bottles, embossed with Gavin's name; plenty of nibbles and booze; and a performance by (the notoriously prickly) Wyclef Jean. Even Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson made an cameo to declare the"next governor of California." (Booze? block party? hip hop? How very urban of you, Gavin.) The bill, M&R go on to report, was collected from sponsors such as AT&T, PG&E., the California Teachers Association, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 6, and Greentech California. In related news, Siebel doesn't seem to be showing yet. more ›

With coverage on Oprah, followed by countless other media stories on the Third World-ish homeless camp, Sacramento's 'Tent Camp' will officially close over the next few weeks. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who's clearly freaked out by this kind of attention, plans to shut it down and move its residents to nearby shelters. The Oakland Tribune says, "With foreclosure rates in the Sacramento region among the highest in the nation, the ragtag camp has been depicted as a symbol of the economic meltdown — people who'd lost their homes and were suddenly pitching tents along a riverbed." more ›

It is done. (Well, almost done.) By 7 a.m., both houses of the Legislature passed the shiny budget plan. The 33 bills include "$15 billion in spending cuts, $11.4 billion in borrowing, $12.8 billion in taxes and about $2 billion of federal funds from the federal stimulus package that President Obama signed on Tuesday." Also, a 1-cent on the dollar sales tax, vehicle license fee, and an increase in the state income tax are tacked on for good measure. more ›

So, you've got nothing to do on a Tuesday? Well, Equality California has just the thing. Head on over to Sacramento to participate in 2009 Marriage Lobby Day, an opportunity for concerned citizens to nag their elected officials about fighting the good fight against Prop 8. more ›

Today there's yet another Prop 8 protest planned. Which is great news. more ›

Sorry to inundate you with even more protest-ness, but this is happening all over the state today, citizens protesting Prop. 8's passing -- e.g., the protest at Oakland's Mormon Temple, the big one happening in Sacramento. more ›

They do crazy things over in Sacramento. Take, for example, Kelly Pecor who was arrested last night after his sister caught him using her five-month-old bulldog, Chateau, for masterbatory purposes. Sis made a citizens arrest and now her brother faces charges of sexual assault on an animal. Pecor is also a noted registered sex offender with a history of child molestation. Read more about the canine copulation here. more ›

SF Crime (via Bay City News) has harrowing details that a 17-year-old boy sexually assaulted and then shot a girl on March 8. The alleged crime occurred somewhere on Cesar Chavez Street. So far, the suspect is unidentified and still at-large. more ›

Yesterday in Sacramento a flatbed truck carrying 8-to-12 million bees flipped over and released a swarm over the highway, effectively shutting down. The bees, heading over to Washington after being used in the San Joaquin Valley for crop pollination, stung "officers, firefighters, and tow truck drivers" who were assisting getting the roads cleared. more ›

It looks like Mayor Gavin Newsom will take a stab at running for Governor of California in 2010. In addition to the gaggle of Democratic hopefuls looking to succeed Gov. Schwarzenegger after his reign comes to an end -- which include former governor Jerry Brown, former state controller Steve Westley, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, just to name a few -- San Francisco's very own mayor wants the title as well. more ›

Is there anyplace in San Francisco more charming than SOMA at night? No, there is not. And this President's Day, it'll be even charminger: construction and traffic reroutes on the Bay Bridge may cause a few heavy-flow days over the holiday weekend. If you're clever, you'll probably want to avoid SOMA in the late-night and early-morning hours. But then again, if you're clever, you probably already do. more ›

60-year-old attorney William McGrane is fit to be tied. Why? Because of noted Ferry Building street percussionist John King's daily performances. It seems that his groovy beats, which stem from the many plastic buckets and pans and whatnot he uses as instruments, are flowing into the Ferry Building and disrupting the work flow of the hardworking lawyer, okay? (We always forget that people work on the other floors of the Ferry Building in offices. It's like realizing that people live above Forever 21 on Market Street. Freaks us out a tiny bit.) Now he's suing the city of San Francisco for $100,000, claiming the sounds hinder with his work. more ›

Sure, we've gone onto Craigslist for our apartment hunting and job search needs, but not for anything as illegal as finding a hitman. Ann Marie Liscott from Michigan is accused of placing an ad in the Sacramento Craigslist for some "freelance" work involving killing the wife of a man she was reportedly having an affair with. Linscott and the man met through an online class together two years ago and met in person twice. more ›

Gavin Newsom began his second term as mayor of San Francisco this morning more ›

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Meet Joe Alioto Veronese more ›

Never having to drive through this again? Sob. more ›

-- Red Meat: God bless the Rickshaw Stop. And if (s)he existed, he totally would. Why? For many reasons. Take, for example, the fact that they often have extraordinary talent gracing the stage on Monday nights. (Mondays are, after all, the new Fridays.) Red Meat blends honky-tonk, bluegrass, country, and western swing with hints of gospel harmony. Mmm. Eilen Jewell (read more about her here), Axton Kincaid, and DJ Lenny & Squiggy (hee) also bring on the music starting at 8 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $5. more ›

Here's todays sports news more ›

It's been quiet over the past couple of days. A little too quiet. Hop to it, hoodlums of SF, we need crime-y content! more ›

As Financial District blocks go, the 200 block of Front St. is notable for the human scale on which it’s built. The tallest buildings here between Sacramento and California rise a mere five stories. There’s plenty of potted foliage to counteract those “concrete jungle” accusations often lobbed this neighborhood’s way. No less than three popular, sit-down restaurants line its sidewalks. And unlike how things get on canyon-shadowed Sansome St. two blocks to the west, sunlight enjoys more than 15 minutes of daily fame on this stretch of Front. There’s more white-collar bustle than hustle occurring here toward the latter end of the lunch hour on an autumn Friday. Women slow their usual breakneck gait on the return to the office, while men dressed down to the eights in business-casual wear (it is a Friday, after all) appear to have dialed down their strides as well. Some women are decked out in heels and skirts, while others go less formal in flats and pants, but to their credit, it’s clear there’s no single look among them. The men? Not quite. We see the same striped shirt (always tucked in, of course) on three different men between the ages of 25-40 in under an hour. more ›

A hurrah and a huzzah goes out to Raider Nation for not selling out Sunday's Raiders game. As a result, football fans throughout the area will be allowed to watch The. Biggest. Game. Ever. from the vicinity of their couch. more ›

The best sports, we say, combine beauty and ridiculousness, and that’s why cycling is a favorite of ours. But, like many others in the Bay Area--too many, it turns out--we’ve recently discovered cyclocross, a form of Pure Sweet Hell. Others have written eloquently on the attractions of this "bike-riding amalgam of roller derby, steeplechase, mud wrestling, and ballet" -- so let us just say here that, as a spectacle, it combines all the beauty and ridiculousness of your standard road race with an added beautiful/ridiculous component of leaping on and off the bicycle to surmount the various natural and artificial obstacles by sadistic (and therefore beloved) race promoters. more ›

You know we usually try to hoard up all the crime-type news for the Tuesday and Friday blotters, but there was enough vaguely unsettling news this weekend to warrant a post a little early, we thought. To wit: more ›

Just after the Britney Spear/drug test bit, y'all.
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