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Web hit of the week Former UC Berkeley prof Peter Dale Scott wrote about a recent contract awarded to KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary. On Jan. 24 the feds kicked down $385 million to KBR to build "temporary detention" facilities in the US to be used in the event of "an emergency influx of immigrants" or "a natural disaster," or if the feds create some "new programs." Creepy. Check Scott's piece at
San Francisco was in prime rebel spirit during the State of the Union speech Jan. 31, with World Can't Wait hosting a big anti-Bush rally in Union Square. But the event Code Pink planned for nearby Lefty O'Doul's was scuttled at the last minute by the bar's owner, who instead posted this sign on the door and around the nearly empty establishment: "This is a sports bar and restaurant. The State of the Union will not be shown on any of our TVs."
The merger between the nation's two largest alternative newspaper chains was finally consummated Jan. 31, and the very next day Mike Lacey, the new owner of the Village Voice (and continuing owner of SF Weekly and the East Bay Express), was in New York City giving staff the facts of life. Lacey met with Voice staffers Feb. 1, and according to sources who were present at the meeting, announced that the Voice news section was too soft because it was full of commentary and criticism of the Bush administration. He said he didn't want any more commentary — just hard news and long-form human-interest stories. He also insulted the entire news department by saying that Voice reporters "need to stop being stenographers" and, the sources told us, warned the staff "to be ready to say goodbye to some of your friends." For a full report, go to Merger Mania (Tim Redmond)
Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems is in the process of signing a multimillion-dollar deal to replace San Francisco's electronic voting infrastructure. The city has been using voting machines supplied by a rival outfit, Elections Software and Systems, which the city, in 2004, paid $1.6 million to upgrade its systems to make ranked-choice voting work. It was only used in two elections. Now the city's throwing out the whole damn thing and starting over. Elections chief John Arntz has in the past expressed frustrations with ES&S but says his decision to go with Sequoia was prompted by federal legislation passed in the wake of the Florida 2000 train wreck; the law requires cities to install touch-screen voting machines for the blind and visually impaired by this year. Elections guru Steven Hill, who helped write the ranked-choice voting law, is worried about the new equipment. "I'm concerned they won't be able to get the necessary certifications in time for the June primary or the November election," says Hill, who's with the New America Foundation. Yet Arntz says the machines have already been cleared by the feds and are in the process of being tested by state elections officials. He's hopeful they'll be "ready for the June election" but admits, "I'd like to have it done already." (A.C. Thompson)
Service Employees International Union Local 790 is helping organize employees of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, a rare relationship between a nonprofit and one of the nation's largest unions. Randy Shaw, director of THC and founder of the news Web site BeyondChron.com, said the group's management is neutral on the potential union vote, telling us "that's their decision," but he was surprised by the move. "We know that there's a very small division in our organization that's been very unhappy," he said. "But we haven't had a meeting." Gilda Valdez, an organizing director for the SEIU, said THC workers initiated contact with the union and she was happy to hear Shaw agreed to card-check neutrality, meaning if a majority votes to join, the SEIU would officially represent all of the roughly 170 workers. "We know that Randy is an organizer of tenants," she said, "and we expect him to respect the workers' rights to organize." (G.W. Schulz)
Superior Court Judge Richard A. Kramer on Feb. 1 stepped up the pace of the Guardian's lawsuit against the newspaper chain that owns SF Weekly. Kramer ordered the Weekly's attorneys to complete the process of turning over documents we had been seeking and to answer our written interrogatories within 14 days. We are charging that SF Weekly and the East Bay Express have been selling ads below cost in an effort to drive the locally owned competitor out of business. Kramer said the predatory-pricing case may hinge on the cost data we are seeking and how the data is interpreted. The next case management conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. March l4. Kramer has proposed the appointment of a discovery referee to accelerate the discovery process. We are represented by Craig Moody and Richard Hill of the San Francisco law firm Moody and Hill. Village Voice/New Times is represented by Gregory Evans, an attorney with the San Francisco firm of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliff. Garrrett G. Rasmussen, of Orrick's Washington, DC, office, participated in the hearing by telephone from Washington. |
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