It may be an old chestnut, but playwright John Van Druten’s romantic comedy “Bell, Book and Candle,” adapted for a 1958 film starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart, comes to surprisingly luminous life in San Francisco Playhouse’s current staging. Bored and restless witch Gillian is attracted to a neighbor, Shep, in her Manhattan, N.Y., high-rise. When she discovers he’s engaged to her college nemesis, she can’t resist using her magical powers to seduce him. Read More

Three present and former Bell city officials facing public corruption charges want the near-bankrupt city to pay their legal bills. Mayor Oscar Hernandez and two City Council members argue that despite allegedly taking $100,000-plus salaries for little or no work, they did nothing legally wrong and are entitled to have the notoriously cash-poor city cover their costs. Meanwhile, Bell is laying off workers and cutting basic services. Read More

Two years shy of its golden year, Muni’s “moving monuments” will be the center of attention at the 48th annual Cable Car Bell Ringing contest Tuesday. The contest starts at noon in Union Square with two competitions — one for amateurs (local media and community representatives) and one for all-stars (car grips and conductors). Read More

After the Los Angeles Times reported that the blue-collar suburb of Bell was paying City Manager Robert Rizzo $787,637 a year — with 12 percent annual pay increases — a crowd of indignant residents waited almost eight hours outside the July 22 City Council meeting. At midnight, it was announced that Rizzo, along with police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia, was resigning without severance. Read More