The entertaining/controversial Chris Daly, who seems a bit quiet as of late, has a new target now: wafts of cigarette smoke. We're told that his latest push of legislation "calls for a smoking ban outside of restaurants, in waiting areas, within 20 feet of nonresidential buildings," and in common areas of apartment buildings. That is to say, you might have to look elsewhere to spark up that Capri or Virgina Slim while eating out.......

We were down at the Heart of the City Farmer's Market again today, and we were glad to see the sign above. Looks like the market managed to worm its way out from under the powerful Newsom thumb, and will continue to remain a nonprofit. Yay! But, the other side of the sign revealed a tougher, more insidious threat to the market. Find out what it is after the jump!......

Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow night? If you're like us and you love the Heart of the City Farmers' Market (Wednesdays and Sundays on UN Plaza), you might want to consider going to City Hall, sidestepping the throngs of happy marrying couples, and going to room 250 at 5:00. See, Mayor Gavin has introduced legislation that would turn the operation of the market over to the city's Real Estate division, taking it away......

Our friends over at Eater SF pointed out this item in the New York Times: an article pointing out several of the ways in which San Francisco is making an impact on our everyday lives, from the plastic bag ban to fines for businesses who leave their lights on overnight. The laws -- both proposed and passed -- that are highlighted in the article point out the possibility that San Franciscans are being overlegislated......

Seeing as how San Francisco spends $11.4 million enforcing prostitution, Supe Jake McGoldrick, according to the Examiner, "asked the city attorney to draft legislation directing San Francisco police to make prostitution one of its lowest enforcement priorities." Making the oldest profession in the world a lower priority would possibly "help curb trafficking and exploitation in the sex industry." Just dandy, right? Well, not for Newsom. The Mayor shot down the legislation. saying that "legalization......

Yesterday, Mayor Newsom signed into action the Tommy Ammiano-introduced legislation that requires the city to handout ID cards to undocumented immigrants and other residents who either can't or just won't apply for driver's licenses. The good news is that these IDs will help (formerly) undocumented residents gain access to the wonderful world of banking, a sense of peace before calling the fuzz, as well as "health services at city-run clinics, public library privileges, and resident discounts at museums and other cultural institutions." (Entry fee discounts at the Exploratorium: the American dream realized.) ...

San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved municipal ID cards to SF inhabitants yesterday. These (hopefully adorable) new cards can be used by anyone here, it seems -- U.S. resident or not. Tommy Ammiano introduced the legislation, which, according to the Chronicle, "would require companies holding city contracts to accept the municipal card as a legitimate form of identification." (So does that mean they can be used to get into bars? Sweet.) Ammiano also claims......

We have sad news for barflies everywhere—the bar John Barylecorn's will close this weekend after a desperate attempt at keeping it open. The bar became in trouble when local restaurateur Luisa Hanson purchased the building that held the bar and told the owners she was not looking to keep the place open. A campaign was started to save it, complete with petitions, a Great Pub Toast, and proposed legislation from Aaron Peskin but it was all to no avail. ...

Mere days after the head of the environmental department broke with Aaron Peskin and other city leaders on a Public Utilities Commission policy, this week Peskin introduced a wee bit of legislation that would obliterated said department. Yoinks....

Queer rights groups freaked out, threw a tizzy (understandably), and nixed their support for a workplace discrimination civil rights bill "after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., pulled transgender people from the legislation that would protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination." And since nothing says action like an angry missive or online petition, a letter signed by gay groups was sent to Congress yesterday demanding them to......

Hey, remember way back in January, when Ross Mirkarimi declared that the housing authority had one year to get its act together or the city would take it over? Our guess is that he's going to have to introduce that legislation, because the SFHA is all over the news lately. If it's not Greg Fortner refusing Gavin's mass resignation request, it's the housing commission getting together about as often as some supervisors sleep at their......

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner's Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest's crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with......

San Rafael-based Edutopia Magazine, which is brought to us by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, looks to the future in its latest issue, identifying 10 ideas or trends that its experts believe can improve K-12 education. We found them thought provoking, and hope you agree. ...

In case you missed it, President 25% Approval Ratings was able to ram through some legislation revamping all those FISA laws you keep hearing about. It's hard to make heads or tails of what the bill says as the administration, in a surprise to no one, won't tell anyone what it says, but it involves making warrants kind of unnecessary, the monitoring of anyone suspected as a "terrorist" and-- get this-- the oversight by one Alberto "Fredo" Gonzalez. That's more than letting the fox guard the hen house, that's letting Michael Vick run the SPCA. ...

We're bummed we were out of town for all the ins and outs of Ed Jew's preliminary hearing -- but thanks to SFist Jer for covering it for us while we were gone! So today's latest? Ed Jew is going to stand trial. That is, Judge Harold Kahn found that the DA had enough evidence for the case to be presented to a jury, Next court date: August 20, presumably to set the trial date.......

Photo and discussion of new reusable plastic shopping bags offered for sale at local stores...

Hey, remember last Friday when State Senator Carole Migden got in a fender bender in Fairfield? It was the same day that Ed Jew's office got raided, so you might have forgotten. So the original story was that Migden was lost, and took her eyes briefly off the road to make a cell phone call and hit someone's bumper. Not great, but sure, it happens. Well, now KTVU is reporting that the CHP is......

--They tore down that house everyone's laughing about. --The Niners got San Francisco to cough up money originally intended for parks to go to fixing up Monster Park instead. They're just going to move to Santa Clara anyways, guys! --Mission Bay bores Chron architecture critic John King. --Fiona Ma sponsors legislation to make it easier for, say, Gavin Newsom to change his name to Gavin Newsom-Siebel. --Aaaaaaa-choo! --The SF Sentinel's photo tips. Also, they......

Yes, San Francisco can now proudly claim to be the first city in the U.S. to ban plastic bags. Or at least in grocery markets and pharmacy chains as the legislation allows small corner markets to use the old school bags. According to the legislation sponsored by Supervisor McDreamy, grocery stores and pharmacy chaings now have to switch up and use either compostable bags made of cornstarch or bags made of recyclable paper. ...

Our favorite Bay Area foodie starchild, and Omnivore’s Dilemma author, Michael Pollan, was at it again Wednesday night. He moderated a panel to discuss the 2007 Farm Bill on the UC Berkeley campus. The Farm Bill -– which gets reviewed about every five years – has been under the spotlight this year. ...

Here's the daily wrap up of the news...

Let's take you back on the Wayback Machine to last spring when the Board of Supervisors wanted to close down Kennedy Drive like it is on Sunday. They voted for it, Gavin vetoed it, then sought a compromise on the issue by asking for a study. The study was to see if closing the street down on Saturday's would hurt museums attendance, make life miserable for neighbors, and make it more difficult for people to get to the museums. Well, on Valentine's Day, the report came out and said the effect of closing down Kennedy Drive on everything would be pretty much nothing. In fact, it said that attendance went up on Sundays. How you like them apples? ...

Housing maybe the hardest thing to find in the city but there's one group who won't have to worry about finding housing-- the Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Thanks to proposed legislation, they might not have to fly the coop or whatever it is you call it. ...

- Muni acknowledges that it's not easy getting around on Muni if your disabled. -The 49ers will have a plan ready for a stadium in Santa Clara by April....

It's looking like a plan is afoot (or in this case apaw-- thank you, we'll be here all night) to make Ocean Beach change hands from the Park Service to the City. Because the city does such a good job on everything else that they can totally take over the beach? Nope, it's because a bunch of dog owners are up at arms. ...

We've been enjoying the back-and-forth over the Great Plastic vs. Paper Debate although we admit to being even more confused than we were before. In fact, we have a feeling that all the confusion over the issue makes more than a few give an "ah screw it" shrug of their shoulders and go with whatever makes it easier to transport their goods. ...

For years the San Francisco school district has tried to get a healthy foods initiatives into the local schools. They finally did. But now it's looking like all that is going to waste as clever little vendors have been setting up shop right next to the schools and selling junk food there. Guess what the kids are preferring. ...

On Fark.com they have this thing where if anyone in the House or Senate introduces a silly little bill, the person who writes the headline will always say "with nothing else going on Senator Blah Blah Blah introduced a bill to blah blah blah." Chuckles all around. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, with all the other stuff going on, you know, like the war, Senator Dianne Feinstein yesterday introduced legislation into the Senate giving the NFL a limited anti-trust exemption and so making it so that no team could move without first getting permission from the NFL first. And if you were to guess that this was all in an attempt to keep you know who from moving to you know where, you would be correct. ...

Sorry, we've become so obsessed with the upcoming Fake Question Time and those Yalie a capella singers that got beaten up that we totally didn't cover any of the other city news from today! So here you go: While we were distracted with all the RSVP shenanigans for Saturday's event, we almost forgot to tell you that the Board of Supes once again overrode Gavin Newsom's second veto of Ross Mirkarimi's foot patrols with an......

Yesterday the 49ers sent a proposal to Santa Clara about the new proposed stadium. And you'll love this-- instead of sending a long, drawn-out, detailed proposal, they basically told Santa Clara to help them out by putting together the long, drawn-out, detailed proposal for them. So, in other words, the came up with this idea to move to Santa Clara without actually telling Santa Clara, then asked Santa Clara to put together the plan for them. There will be a big meeting on Tuesday to brainstorm all this. ...