An estimated 4,000 people turned out to Crissy Field on Sunday afternoon to protest the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, joining rallies in Washington, D.C., and cities throughout the U.S.The scale of the killings in Darfur, where more than 180,000 people have died and 2 million been displaced, has drawn international attention. Read More

San Francisco officials and business executives may be sporting "I ? NY" T-shirts next week after spending five days in The Big Apple. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce’s eighth annual CityTrip leaves Tuesday for New York City with 48 delegates eager to learn from New York VIPs. CityTrip is essentially a field trip for adults organized by the chamber. The trip is open to anyone who works in San Francisco. Travelers include public officials, nonprofit community leaders and business executives. Read More

The staff member gunned down inside a Western Addition community center Thursday was a convicted felon who had not cleared a background check, authorities said Friday.Dante White, 22, was shot on the basketball court in the gym at Ella Hill Hutch Community Center while he supervised and played hoops with children.Roughly 45 children were signed into the center, which is often viewed as a safe haven in a neighborhood plagued by gun violence. Read More

San Mateo — The San Mateo Union High School District has hired a political consultant to gauge the will of voters to support what would be the second capital-improvement bond measure in the district this decade.District officials have not said they are pursuing a new bond, but signs point in that direction.In January, the district’s board of trustees hired consultant Janis Hahn to create a mailer that showed the accomplishments of Measure D, the $137.5 million bond measure passed in 2000 after two previous bond measures failed. Read More

Daly City political consultant Margaret "Peg" Collier was sentenced to one year of misdemeanor court probation and 120 hours of community service in San Mateo County Superior Court Thursday after admitting she submitted false invoices to the South County Fire Protection Authority.Collier, 68, could have received up to 30 days in jail and two years probation, but Judge John Runde said he was inclined to give her a lighter sentence because of her "long record of positive community service." Read More

OK, so one more nod to the Great Earthquake anniversary and then we are done with it.My reader known only as "Raz" checks in with the following tale: There is a story of the San Franciscans caught in an earthquake down south at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Everyone immediately heads out into the halls and the San Franciscans state in a large voice, "We are from San Francisco and when there is an earthquake we stand in the doorways!" From down the hall they hear, "I’m from Portland, Ore., where the heck do I stand?" Read More

When an electronic IRS filing surfaced earlier this week linking pro-choice Assembly candidate Fiona Ma to an anti-abortion governor of South Dakota, it seemed like great political fodder for her opponent and fellow Democrat Janet Reilly.Reilly's campaign circulated the document to the media, an abortion rights group and an elected official to discredit Ma, while Ma strenuously denied any link to Gov. Mike Rounds, and her campaign called the document "dirty Nixonian tricks." Read More