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Mike Aldax

Newsom Tracker: Vegas and D.C.

Mayor Gavin Newsom has set off on a trip today that will fly him to Las Vegas and Washington D.C., the latter trip to lobby for The City, his spokesman said. The mayor is scheduled to pitch a speech to labor groups on access to health care in Las Vegas, said Joe Arellano, Newsom’s spokesman. Then he flies off to Washington D.C. and “has a full day packed” Wednesday, Arellano said. Read More

Jurors overwhelmed by tech talk in Childs’ case

One would think the official start of the Terry Childs trial would harbor enough drama to keep a high-tech city on the edge of its seat. But the relentless barrage of computer jargon that saturated the trial’s opening statements in a San Francisco courtroom Monday had the judge wondering if jurors and court officials could be kept from falling asleep. Read More

Newsom names new communications director

The new voice of the Mayor’s Office has been revealed. Tony Winnicker, who has been the public information officer for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, is the new communications director for Newsom, according to the Mayor’s Office. Winnicker replaces Nathan Ballard, who left the administration in early November. Ballard had served in that role since February 2007. Read More

Transamerica Pyramid awarded green building rating

A plaque will be presented Friday to building representatives with the Transamerica Pyramid to acknowledge a newly secured gold rating in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system, according to publicists Singer Associates. Gold is the penultimate ranking in the LEED system, which was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to attend the 10 a.m. ceremony, according to spokesman Joe Arellano. Read More

Legal fight continues over sanctuary policy

Legal wrangling that is heating up continues to keep the new sanctuary city policy, which went into place Thursday, in legal limbo. The supervisor who drafted the legislation — which changes how The City reports illegal immigrant youths to federal authorities if they are arrested for a felony — called on the city attorney to investigate whether Mayor Gavin Newsom can ignore the law passed by the Board of Supervisors. Read More

Daly fires back at Newsom 'smart' comment

Supervisor Chris Daly wasn’t about to accept the compliment that Mayor Gavin Newsom paid him Thursday morning. At a press conference, Newsom called Daly, his main nemesis on the Board of Supervisor, “a smart guy” that should know better than to mislead the public when insulting the mayor’s budget policies. Read More

Mayor aggressively pushing jobs program

Mayor Gavin Newsom will lobby to extend a federal program that temporarily pays employers 100 percent of a newly hired worker’s salary. The JobsNow program is funded by federal stimulus dollars and offers to pay all of a worker’s salary through September, except for benefits. Employers are also required to pay payroll taxes for the employees. The new hire must have a dependent, including spouse or child, but that dependent does not have to live with the worker for the employee to receive program benefits, Newsom said. Read More

Newsom Tracker: Jobs growth

Mayor Gavin Newsom will make an announcement about a new jobs milestone this morning at the Laundry Locker at 1530 Cluster St. He will also unveil a strategy to “leverage additional resources for job growth,” according to the Mayor’s Office. Stay tuned. Read More

Cause of BART derailment unknown

KPIX-TV/Courtesy photo
BART officials expect the investigation into Wednesday’s train derailment to take “several days, if not weeks,” an agency spokesman said.A northbound BART train carrying 75 people derailed about 10:25 a.m. Wednesday near the Oakland City Center/12th Street station. No one was injured, as the train had been moving relatively slowly, authorities said. Two passengers complained of chest pain following the accident and were taken, in stable condition, to an Oakland hospital, Oakland Fire Battalion Chief Jenny Ray said. Read More

Yet more changes on Newsom’s staff

More staffing changes in Mayor Gavin Newsom’s administration have been announced since the mayor’s departure from the governor’s race. The mayor recently hired Yashar Hedayat, who worked on his gubernatorial campaign, as deputy chief of staff in charge of operations, said spokesman Joe Arellano. Read More

Reluctant homeless may perish in cold

The reluctance of The City’s homeless to seek shelter could result in unnecessary deaths this winter, according to Mayor Gavin Newsom. Read More

Newsom Tracker: Busy morning

Mayor Gavin Newsom has a few public appearances scheduled for this morning. First, the mayor is set to attend another Project Homeless Connect at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium at 9 a.m., the Mayor's Office said. At 11:15 p.m., the mayor is then scheduled to attend Mercy Housing's dedication event at 10th and Mission streets, it said. Read More

Hotel contract talks resume Wednesday

Contract negotiations resume Wednesday between major San Francisco hotels and the union representing thousands of The City’s hotel workers. A failure to reach a contract during the meeting will likely prompt more strikes at various hotels in the coming days, according to Local 2 Unite Here!, the union representing more than 8,000 workers at 61 city hotels. Read More

Newsom: I will veto tenant eviction legislation

Mayor Gavin Newsom will veto legislation that would make it tougher for landlords to evict tenants living in an estimated 20,000 rental units in The City, according to the Mayor’s Office. The legislation, introduced by Supervisor John Avalos, would amend The City’s rent control ordinance so that units built after 1979, which are currently exempt from rent control, would be covered by so-called “just cause” eviction protections. Read More

Bay Area chosen for launch of new electric car

San Francisco has a new incentive to build an infrastructure for electric vehicles after Nissan announced Monday that it will market its new line of battery-powered cars in the Bay Area late next year. Nissan officials on Monday said they are confident that the Bay Area is ready for the August 2010 launch of the all-battery-powered Nissan LEAF, which is expected to be the world’s largest mass distribution of an electric car – about 100,000 cars at one time. The Bay Area was one of five U.S. markets chosen for the launch, the company said. Read More
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