by Amanda Witherell

U.S. District Court Judge William H. Alsup has again denied release of Josh Wolf, the 24-year-old journalist in jail. Wolf's attorneys had filed a Grumbles motion which argued that no matter how long Wolf is in jail, he will not change his position. Therefore, his incarceration is undue punishment and illegal. Judge Alsup ruled Tuesday, Jan. 30 that it's still possible jail could have a coercive effect and Wolf is to stay put.

On February 7, if Wolf is still behind bars he'll have outlegged Houston's Vanessa Leggett as the longest journalist ever incarcerated. And journalism isn't even a crime!

Wolf was subpoenaed by a Federal grand jury for exercising his First Amendment rights and withholding raw video footage and refusing to testify about what was on the tape. It was shot during a July 2005 G-8 rally in San Francisco that turned violent: a San Francisco Police officer was seriously wounded and a cruiser destroyed and the authorities have always claimed they want to see if those acts were captured by Wolf's camera. Wolf has always maintained that they weren't, and the intimation has been that this is an attempt to coerce Wolf into identifying other protesters at the rally.

In other freedom of the press news, the subpoena for journalist Sarah Olson has been dropped. Lieutenant Ehren Watada, who was court-martialed for refusing deployment to Iraq and speaking out against the illegal war, has stated that everything he told Olson was true, so now she doesn't have to go to court and say it or go to jail for not saying it. Hooray!

by Amanda Witherell

I ride my bike. A lot. And I've learned to avoid the treacherous ravine that is 17th Street where PG&E has been wrecking some serious havoc for the past few months. But the very end, between Texas and Mississippi is still my preferred way to approach Guardian headquarters and there's one final ditch that stretches across the entire width of the road and, in very unavoidable fashion, has been doing it's best to warp my nimble rims.

So the other day I called the city's Pothole Hotline -- 415-695-2100. A nice man took down the address of the crevasse and thanked me for calling. The DPW's website promises repairs within 48 hours and when I was riding in this morning, I was thinking, "They've got about two hours to deliver on that promise..."

And they did! It's all filled in! The hotline works!

Of course, this could be a coincidence and they'd been scheduling to dump some tarmac there for weeks...to truly test this I may have to find some more potholes to report. That shouldn't be hard.

by Amanda Witherell

Well, it's not exactly cause for celebration, but Tuesday, February 6 will be Josh Wolf's 169th day in jail and he'll now be known as the journalist with the longest record of incarceration for contempt in US history. There's a press conference at noon on the steps of City Hall and speakers include Assemblymember Mark Leno, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, journalist Sarah Olson who just shed her own prison duds, and filmmaker Kevin Epps, as well as various first amendment lawyers and media advocates.

The real party is Tuesday night at 8 pm at House of Shields at 39 New Montgomery Street. MAP It's a benny to raise funds for Wolf and it's sure to be a good time. (At the last one they gave out excellent "Journalism is not a crime!" Free Josh t-shirts when you donated $15. Totally worth it.)

By Sam Devine

Looking towards Downtown from the Guardian’s rooftop, no less then seven cranes can be seen, spearing the skyline.

It’s still happening. The buildings keep creeping toward the ceiling. Even though the Guardian published a study in 1971, which showed that for every $10 the City received from the then new high-rises, $11 was spent providing services, San Francisco is still turning into New York.

And New York ain’t bad, but it ain’t San Francisco.

By Steven T. Jones
We warned last summer that fun in San Francisco was being threatened by NIMBYs and overzealous bureaucrats. Well, now we've just seen the sourpusses strike down one of the best street fairs in San Francisco: the How Weird Street Faire, an open air dance party that drew about 8,000 attendees last year.
Based on complaints from 10 residents (who appear to have been whipped up by one particularly vocal opponent of the fair), the city's Interdepartmental Staff Committee on Traffic and Transportation yesterday denied How Weird organizers their permits, effectively killing an event planned for May 6. Read next week's Guardian for the details, as well as ways to make public your concerns about maintaining our vibrant urban culture.

By Steven T. Jones
The Bay Guardian has learned that Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who left her job as Mayor Gavin Newsom's appointments secretary last year after having a secret affair with the mayor, received $21,755 in paid leave last year for 534 hours of work that she didn't do. That amounts to about 13.5 weeks of paid time off, well more than the 10 days vacation time and 13 days of sick leave to which she was entitled. There are provisions in city law whereby other employees may donate some of their vacation and sick time to fellow employees who go out on some form of medical leave, and Rippey-Tourk reportedly left her city job sometime before last May to enter treatment for substance abuse, although city officials may not comment on why an employee took leave for privacy reasons. But the arrangement raises questions about whether Newsom forced Rippey-Tourk from her job and/or pressured employees to give up their paid time off to help buy her silence, questions that Newsom and his administration have refused to address. In fact, they have never answered any questions about the affair or Newsom's own substance problems from any media outlet. Newsom ignored Guardian questions on the subject earlier today and his spokesperson Jennifer Petrucione told us, "The mayor has spoken on this issue and he has said what's he's going to say." The City Attorney's Office has put out a statement on the matter, saying they can't comment on the details for privacy reasons but, "With the full cooperation of the city officials involved, the City Attorney has already begun the process of reviewing the paid leave to Ms. Rippey-Tourk to assure that it was done properly under City laws and procedures."

By Steven T. Jones
New information is still coming in on the breaking news that Ruby Rippey-Tourk got an extended paid leave from the city. I just spoke with Sam Singer, a spokesperson for the Tourks, who said that it was Alex Tourk who asked the city about getting paid compensation for his wife while she was in an alcohol and drug rehab center from May through July. At the time, he didn't know that his wife had been having sexual relations with the mayor. "Several of her co-workers donated their sick time to Ruby during this time of personal crisis," Singer said. According to the Controller's Office, Rippey-Tourk's final official day of employment was Sept. 1 and it was in September that she received a check for the leave that began in May, initially as unpaid leave. Payroll records also show that Rippey-Tourk had 7.5 weeks of unpaid leave in 2005 -- when her affair with Newsom reportedly took place -- and that also appears to be more than she was entitled to. She received $80,195 in compensation in 2005, up from $63,522 the previous year, which was her first in the Newsom Administration.
Asked why Rippey-Tourk didn't return to her good city job after leaving rehab in July, Singer said, "She just felt it was a chapter in her life that was over and she wanted to move on." Asked whether Rippey-Tourk may have felt uncomfortable returning to work for a boss who had bedded her during a time when she was having problems with alcohol, Singer refused to comment. But Sup. Jake McGoldrick, who has called for Newsom's resignation, called the entire episode unseemly and showing poor judgment by someone in a position of authority that Rippey-Tourk trusted. "I think he took advantage of someone who was in a very vulnerable position," McGoldrick said.
Newsom has refused to answer questions about anything related to the affair. I've posed questions about this latest revelation to Newsom press secretary Peter Ragone and I'm awaiting a response.

According to the courts, Justin Barker, 25, is guilty of something—just not everything he was originally charged with after jumping behind KTVU Fox News Reporter Amber Lee during a live taping in the Castro last Halloween and shouting, “Fox News is bullshit!”

The comment led to his arrest, as well as charges of assaulting Lee and resisting arrest. But the DA dropped the resistance charge after learning that Barker had tracked down a witness who claimed to have watched the entire incident from her balcony and was prepared to testify on Barker’s behalf, if necessary.

Barker was ultimately sentenced to ten hours of community service for assault against Lee, who at the time said she “didn’t know” whether Barker had even touched her. Lee was not present at any of the hearings.

One hundred hours of community service was reduced to 25 over the course of several court hearings. In a phone interview, Barker said this proves the DA never had a real case against him. His public defender later negotiated those hours down to10.

Despite now having a criminal record, Barker believes this was a free speech victory. “I feel confident that if I would’ve pushed this thing all the way [to trial], the jury would’ve definitely seen things my way.”

Barker plans to create a 45-minute documentary about free speech in San Francisco and beyond. He has yet to decide which community service project he will do.

by Amanda Witherell

Last week we ran a story about a comic book called Addicted to War that's been donated to San Francisco high schools. The book was written by a Johns Hopkins professor named Joel Andreas, and illustrates some of the less understood international conflicts the US has perpetrated. It's completely unlike anything I studied in high school. (I went to one of the best high schools in the state of New Hampshire, was an honors history student, had 14 Bosnians as my peers when our school district offered them refuge from their war-torn country, and our approved texts barely mentioned the Cold War.)

Since Fox News ran a story about the book, the publisher, Frank Dorrel, has been getting some great mail recently, which he shared with us. One of my personal favorites: "It would [sic] a wonderful thing to see all of you Left Wing San Francisco whackos go up in one big mushroom cloud delivered by one of your terrorist friends. Hell, I would hang a medal on the terrorist bastard who nuked your ass."

Yes, maybe the kids need more vitriol in the classrooms.

Or maybe not. On Feb. 15, the Lowell High School chapter of Revolution Youth staged an anti-war rally during school hours. Fox News, which already ran a segment questioning the validity of Addicted to War as an educational tool, was there to film the rally and aired the footage while discussing the comic book, seeming to subtly suggest its content was having immediate effects even though students have yet to receive the book. Bryan Ritter, adviser to the school's newspaper The Lowell, which was also covering the rally, said one student reporter polled 74 other kids at the event on whether they'd heard about the comic book. Two had, and one had found out about it that day from Fox.

Fox's coverage of the rally is a little tamer and more balanced than the original clip they aired on Feb. 14, which suggested the comic book had "ignited a firestorm." The only evidence provided of said "firestorm" was a diatribe from Leo Lacayo, vice chair of the local Republican Party. The news anchor made mention that representatives from San Francisco's School District had declined to appear on the show, but wouldn't say why. Gentle Blythe, spokesperson for SFUSD, told us it was because "we decided we didn't want to debate in that forum."

Dorrel said he's received 20 PayPal orders for the book as well as some requests for the DVDs he also publishes.

By Cara Cutter

Whether you agree with coach Jimmy Dugan’s facetious comment in “A League of Their Own” that the brain is simply “the lump that’s three feet above your ass,” or take the more reverent view that it is the most extraordinary and complex creation in the universe, there is little doubt that the human brain is a subject of great interest to all of us. As the organ that orchestrates the symphony of our consciousness, it dictates our motions and emotions, our passions and purposes, and has garnered much public attention. President George W. Bush, in Presidential Proclamation 6158, declared the 1990’s as “the Decade of the Brain.” Time Magazine’s January 29, 2007, cover featured a compartmentalized brain and the headline, “The Brain: A User’s Guide.” The brain is fascinating!

By Steven T. Jones
The How Weird Street Faire, which had its permits denied by city officials a couple weeks ago, won a bittersweet victory this morning at an appeals hearing before Department of Parking and Transportation administrator Bond Yee. "It's clear to me this event is popular, and that's a good thing, but that's also a bad thing," Yee said after hearing from supporters of the event and neighbors who complained that it's just too big and loud. So he cut the baby in two by agreeing that it was too late to find a new venue for the May 6 event and awarding its permits for this year, but attaching several restrictive conditions (most notably, cutting the music off at 6 pm rather than 8) and ruling that this is the last year the event can be held in the neighborhood. "It's my opinion that the event is too big for this venue," Yee said. Yet even if event promoters can meet Yee's conditions, they must still meet pending requirements from the San Francisco Police Department, whose commander for the region, Capt. Dennis O'Leary, spoke against the event at the hearing. "I support the community in this matter and I hear their voices. They don't want it to happen," he said. Yet event organizers submitted a petition signed by 100 people from the Howard Street neighborhood that support the event, whereas those complaining about the event number less than 10, although many are quite upset about having up to 10,000 descend on their neighborhood for the day. Last year's event almost got canceled after police tried to double their security fees from the previous year, although higher-ups intervened and they were brought back down to reasonable levels. Asked by the Guardian about his apparent bias against this event, O'Leary said he wouldn't be unduly harsh with How Weird promoters: "That's not my reputation. I'm very fair." Yet he also said, "I haven't made up my mind as to staffing levels."
Stay tuned.

by Amanda Witherell

The Earth Day Network just released its Urban Environment Report ranking the environmental conditions of the top 72 cities in the US. The study takes into account 200 different factors and ranks for best conditions regarding toxics and waste, air quality, health and human services, parks and recreation, quality of life, drinking water, and global climate change. Oh boy, you're thinking. It's going to be so cool to see how San Francisco stands out, with a Mayor who brags about how clean and green the city is.

Good thing he's pledged to make it better. According to the weighted rankings, we're just above average. See for yourself.

At least we beat Detroit!

By Steven T. Jones
San Francisco City Hall hosted a different breed of fighters today as boxers Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather held a high-profile press conference for their May 5 bout in Las Vegas. The event was open to the public and hundreds of boxing fans seized the opportunity to take part in the spectacle, including Sal Anguiano, who traveled from Los Banos to start the line at 7 a.m. for the noon event. Like a majority of the crowd, Anguiano was rooting for De La Hoya and predicted his boy would knock the mouthy Mayweather out in the third round. While Mayweather spoke, the crowd broke into a chant of "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar." A highly animated Mayweather, wearing a long sleeved brown shirt and huge crucifix made of diamonds, clowned his way through event, taunting the crowd and De La Hoya, promising to "beat his ass" and even shoving his opponent at one point. But De La Hoya, dressed in sweater and sharp gray suit, was all class, absorbing the taunts and saving his attacks for the ring. "Come May 5, I will be in the best shape of my life," said De La Hoya, a 10-time world champion from East LA who is a cult hero, especially among Latinos. "He is considered the best fighter pound for pound, and come May 5, I'll be ready for it."