Gone are the days of free love, free LSD, and freedom to eat whatever you want. After last week's historic decision to make San Francisco the first in the country to ban the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies Walgreens and Rite Aid stores, City Hall isn't stopping there. The Board of Supes also wants to bar you from lighting up in city parks, ATM lines, and common areas of apartment buildings; voted for chain......

In a move most everyone expected, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi announced this morning that he'll run for governor in 2010. The Democrat has been trying for years to get in that office, starting with his first attempt back in 1982. Considered a "B-list" candidate, he faces such strong (not to mention younger) candidates as Attorney General Jerry Brown, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. (SacBee)......

If you're anything like us, you decide who you want running your country, state, and/or city based off of their spouse. And if you're even more like us, you love pitting women against each other in order to keep the patriarchal system running smoothly. That said, who do you prefer as your First Lady of California, the possible one, Jennifer Siebel, or the current one, Maria Shriver? We can't decide. Maria Shriver was on......

It seems Gavin took his biggest step yet away from San Francisco and toward Sacramento today. According to the Sacto Bee, San Francisco Mayor Newsom "launched an exploratory committee Tuesday to consider a 2010 run for governor." This makes San Francisco 40-year-old mayor the first Democrat to formally take aim at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's job. Exciting stuff, folks! In other news, Attorney General Jerry Brown also plans on jumping into the race to replace Schwarzenegger.......

When he's not gracing photo exhibits at Valencia Street art gallery parties with Todd Oldam and John Waters (the latter, we hear, now lives in Nob Hill now. Who knew?) with his stellar bone structure, he's off in D.C. lecturing East Coasters about (alleged) global warming. According to his schedule: 2:00 PM (EST) Mayor Newsom to testify before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing: "Building Green, Saving Green: Constructing Sustainable......

It's been an incredible success, yes? He's gone to Israel in order to (allegedly) build a bridge between the Bay Area and Israeli business leaders. (See what you've wrought, Rainbow Groceries?) And according to his schedule, Newsom started out in NYC today, but will be in WeHo later this afternoon to accept some silly award. Behold: 9:45 AM (EST) Mayor Newsom to be interviewed by Dana Goodyear for New Yorker magazine's conference: "Stories from......

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.......

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. And seeing......

California's First Lady makes yet another visit to S.F...

The Chicago Tribune is, in 2008, finally getting around to dealing with the glorious, frustrating, and all-knowing voice of the commenter. This week the Tribune shut down their comment boards on all of their political news stories. What's more, the publication also yanked the Commenter's voice on a recent op-ed piece about Muslims and another story about Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Why? Bill Adee, associate managing editor who also oversees the online operations,......

Nature lovers will be peeved. Under the budget proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today - dear God, just how did we get here? starting off a sentence like that? - nine local state parks would face a temporary shutdown until California learns how to balance its checkbook, pay its bills on time, stops disrespecting their mommas on Maury, or something like that. Statewide, the Gov is considering closing 48 state parks. Among those close......

Photo of our Governor's briefing on Treasure Island yeasterday...

UPDATE: Looks like the volunteer hotlines are overwhelmed. Don't panic; at this early stage, there simply isn't much that the untrained public can do. Some new info appears after the jump, but to summarize: DON'T APPROACH OILED ANIMALS. They'll hurt you, and the oil will hurt you, and everyone will be sad. Just report them instead, and take photos so the damage can be assessed later. To volunteer: call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network......

News of a new law expanding the requirements for bicycle lighting. ...

Where the hell is 19th and Sloat? Oh, it's in, like, Southie. Near the Golf Course District. Anyway, the intersection is getting a left-turn arrow, hooray! Nineteenth is an insanely deadly stretch. A young lady died at this particular intersection a month ago; meanwhile, negotiations between the MTA and Caltrans to improve the intersection languished in their SEVENTH YEAR. The traffic on 19th is so fast and so thick that it's like an interstate......

But some good news: The LA Times has a helpful breakdown worth a moment of your time, on how you can help people (and pets!) in need right now. We've re-printed it for your convenience: ...

-- Rain! Nourishing, cozy, baptismal, layer-building, annoying, cold, revitalizing rain! [Weather Underground] -- Park it, SF. [Curbed SF] -- San Francisco weeklies pick up on our tete-a-tete. [SFBG, The Snitch] -- Mayoral debatzzzzzz. [BeyondChron] -- Gore nabs the Peace Prize. Presumably, could care less about it. [Examiner] -- Tool-y Governor vetoes homo-marriage bill. Again. Aw, thanks! You really shouldn't have. [Oakland Tribune] -- N-J on the Transit Effectiveness Project tip. [N-Judah Chronicles] -- Berkeley "mother"......

Tom Ammiano announced a plan yesterday to give city IDs to those who don't have IDs, mainly immigrants-- legal or otherwise. The idea, pushed by immigrant advocates, will allow those without an ID to be given access to a whole range of city services they would not normally be open to, including health care, library privileges, and the ability to use municipal golf courses. Ammiano also said he's going to work with financial institutions to let people use the Ids to open accounts. ...

Gays of the Golden State: rejoice! For a few moments! State legislators approved "gender-neutral marriage" for the second time. And for the second time it bites its nails, waiting for Governor Schwarzenegger to beat it to death. Doing his hair and makeup for T3? Have at it. Letting them get married? Nope.It seems that homosexual love is not nearly as real as heterosexual love. Above all else, that's pretty much the message he wants......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

A public memorial is all set to honor Bill Walsh. It'll be held at Candlestick at 11 AM on August 10th and among the speakers will be Joe Montana and Eddie De Bartolo. A private ceremony will be held on August 9th at the Stanford Memorial Church. Speakers there will not only include Montana and DeBartolo, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dianne Feinstein. Rumored to attend are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State George Shultz who were friends of the Genius. Current owners of the 49ers, John and Denise York have also asked that the Governor declare a Bill Walsh Day. ...

California Governor, Leo, mad fondler, and kindergarten cop Arnold Schwarzenegger turns a still-sexy 60-years-old today. The Grandpanator will spend the big day dealing with the state budget (giggle) and quite possibly getting some sweet Shriver love later this evening. But Carla Marinucci has the Gov’s five birthday wishes right here. Happy birthday, Conan.......

The wildfire raging up near Lake Tahoe reminded us of our dear old cousin Mark. Mark Twain, that is, and what we remembered was his own brush with accidental arson up Tahoe way. It's a little-known fact, if "fact" be something that can safely ascribed to Twain's baroquely embellished reminiscences of his years out West, that he was solely responsible for a horrendous forest fire on the shores of Lake Tahoe. It was 1861,......

Who knew that one of the five islands in San Francisco Bay was privately owned? Even stranger, "Red Rock Island" is now up for sale, for a paltry $10 million. The last time we remember one of our islands changing hands was way back in 1847, when Captain John C Fremont bought Alcatraz for $5000. Fremont was in town, as you no doubt remember, as the head of a surveying expedition. A man of......

Dude, she was shot at Jonestown! it doesn't matter she didn't win her race for Lieutenant Governor. Former State Senator Jackie Speier speaks at the Commonwealth Club tonight about the book she co-authored, This Is Not The Life I Ordered, which tells not only her story, but the story of three of her friends as well. $18, reception at 6, reading at 7, at 595 Market 2nd Fl. (x 2nd). Other events: --The Stars and......

The Governor's annual May budget revision was rolled out yesterday. The document still shows a net operating deficit of $1.4 billion, but represents this as "major progress as compared to the $4.4 billion that was anticipated for 2007-08 at the time the Governor signed the 2006 Budget Act." The revised budget includes plans for early debt payments as well as to avoid tax hikes, and shows Arnold's intent to restrain spending growth and maint adequate reserves, among other things. Democrats are concerned, though, that it's doing so at the expense cuts social services and public transit -- which could have a direct affect on BART and other orgs....

A couple good points came out of a talk by SustainLane's Warren Karlenzig at the Commonwealth club last week. He was talking about Green Economies (sustainable) versus Grey Economies (unsustainable), and pointed out that California responded to the melting freeway by offering a day of free public transit. "What would governor of Arizona do in a similar situation: offer free gas to everyone?" Ouch. Take that, Governor Janet Napolitano! But it wasn't all Grand-Canyon-State-bashing;......

We couldn't find the full video of Arnold pimping his ride, but we did find this-- our Governor getting his ride pimped out with hemp seats.......

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......

The Governator continues to go where no Governor has gone before and will go on MTV's "Pimp My Ride" to pimp his ride. Actually, several other Governors have appeared on reality shows before. Michigan's Governor Jennifer Granholm tried out for "America's Next Top Model" and former Governor George Allen is all set to appear on the new reality show "I Swear I'm Not a Racist" along with Don Imus and Michael Richards. ...