Mayor Gavin Newsom puffed up his chest yesterday after leading the lawsuit that will "challenge a cut in the reimbursement rates paid to doctors that treat Medi-Cal patients." (That is to say, he's upset that the state has now decided to cut payments to doctors who accept low-income patients. Thanks, Arnold.) But the real story here is whether or not Newsom finally answered the big question about a possible run for Governor of California.......

Karl Rove's (admittedly awesome) Jaguar gets "victimized" with plastic wrap, fake eagles, and "I love Obama" stickers while parked on a private driveway next to the White House's West Wing. Or it's all some (admittedly lame albeit successful) media-hungry prank or old-chums-from-the-alma-mater pranksterism, because: you call that vandalism? Images: AP......

Fall premiere week has officially begun and our TiVos are practically shivering in anticipation. (That would explain the fairly regular stop-and-start recordings we've been getting recently. Perhaps we should invest in one of those dual-tuner jobies? Sweet!) Tonight's riiily big shew is, apparently, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," the first of two NBC shows loosely based on the backstage antics of a late night comedy show suspiciously like "Saturday Night Live." (This one's......

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. Ah, Houstonist. They're biking to work, that is, if they can figure out how to get there. That's right, Mapquest says "Houston had the......

For everything, there is a season... Last week, the ultimate fact that all things come to an end was made obvious in the most painful way it can be, with the loss of a loved one. In the past week, reflections have been made and tears have been shed. This week the task of confronting the day-to-day grind of life, but with a noticeable void, has begun. And if you thought the previous paragraph......

In case of Wednesday, this car will be unoccupied. Tonight! The group NetSquared is holding its monthly get-together at Varnish Art Gallery at 77 Natoma Street (at 2nd). NetSquared's mission is effecting social change through the Internet, and tonight's topic is how blogs can save the world (really!). 6-8 p.m., free admission, RSVP required. Thursday: We are so psyched for the Asian-American Film Fest this year! We're (seriously) thinking about taking the whole week of March 16-23 off from work! Help kick off the festivities at their launch party, running from 9-12 at 111 Minna. Music from DJ AJAX from NRG 92.7 and they'll be showing film clips. Oooh, show something from Chinese Restaurants!! $5 admission, free for Center for Asian-American Media members. and Friday: The San Francisco Chamber Orchestra is dedicated to free performances of chamber music for the public. Tonight's theme: "Valentines to a Cello." Acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz will be performing an unaccompanied Bach suite (you know, the famous ones, like Yo-Yo Ma played on the West Wing) and one of Schoenberg's last tonal pieces before he went all serialist screeek-schronk-schreek on us. Free! ...

KQED listeners and Howard Deaniacs patiently lined up in the on-again off-again drizzly evening outside the Roxie, reading complimentary copies of Mother Jones and blocking the entrance to Dalva, as a sodden and trodden election flyer featuring Matt Gonzalez endorsing Calvin Louie for treasurer looked forlornly up from the sidewalk. Before Howard Dean vowed to take back the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, there was Paul Wellstone. The voluble and ebullient Carleton political science professor was advocating against both Iraq wars before it was cool, and fought tirelessly for universal health care and energy reform in the 12 years he spent as the senior senator from Minnesota, and is reputed to be one of the inspirations for the West Wing's President Bartlet (down to their diagnoses of multiple sclerosis). Tragically, Wellstone, his wife and daughter, three other campaign staffers, and two pilots were killed in a plane crash 11 days before the 2002 election, right as the Democrats were pulling ahead of Republican (and now Senator) Norm Coleman. We all know how the rest of that election turned out. Now, Wellstone supporters have put together Wellstone!, a documentary about Wellstone's life and the power of idealism to make a positive change, which showed as part of the Mother Jones Agitators and Instigators series of the 21st Film Arts Film Fest Saturday night at the Roxie....

The FCC has finally come to the rescue of those of you who haven't succumbed to the Comcast cable juggernaut – San Jose's Channel 11 has been given approval to build a new transmitter in San Bruno, so NBC will be making a victorious return to your broadcast dial....