Rebecca Bowe

Pot pioneers

Legislature dopes out marijuana bill as legalization petition gets passed around

11.03.09 - 10:47 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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Two serious bids to legalize marijuana in California are moving forward simultaneously. And while decisions won't be made for months, both efforts have generated interest from around the world.

"We're on the cover of Newsweek right now. We were on the cover of Fortune magazine a few weeks ago," said Salwa Ibrahim, a spokesperson for Oaksterdam University, based in downtown Oakland. "We've gotten attention from every continent on the planet — well, except Antarctica, I suppose."

Founded in 2007, Oaksterdam — a.k.a. Read more »

State water deal met with skepticism

11.03.09 - 12:50 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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By Rebecca Bowe

State lawmakers stayed up late last night working on historic legislation that will revamp California’s water system. The Senate OK’d a $9.9 billion bond, which includes $3 billion for the creation of new reservoirs, which would need to go to voters for final approval. It also approved a bill that establishes new statewide water conservation targets at 20 percent less water by 2020. Read more »

Pics: Dia de los Muertos raises spirits

11.03.09 - 9:35 am | Rebecca Bowe |

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Photos by Rebecca Bowe

A few images from San Francisco's well-attended and festive celebration of Dia de los Muertos, on Nov. Read more »

PG&E’s spooky stories headed to your mailbox

10.30.09 - 4:26 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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By Rebecca Bowe and Rachel Sadon

At a Halloween-themed press conference on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Ross Mirkarimi warned that PG&E plans to disseminate misleading information about the city’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program.

The attack comes on the heels of the Board of Supervisor’s approval of a request for proposals for Clean Power SF, San Francisco’s own fledgling CCA, which seeks to provide competitively priced and significantly greener energy than PG&E. Read more »

Cal-ISO still won’t approve full shutdown of Potrero power plant

10.29.09 - 3:29 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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A group of San Franciscans who’ve been pushing for complete closure of the Mirant Potrero Power plant traveled to Folsom, Calif. Read more »

Bay Bridge closure puts naked clowns on my radar

10.29.09 - 10:27 am | Rebecca Bowe |

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By Rebecca Bowe

Have you ever noticed that when routines are interrupted, people are more likely to strike up conversations with strangers? My morning took an unexpected turn yesterday when I arrived at the Macarthur BART station to find a news van and television crew out front, filming the hordes of commuters who were in line to purchase train tickets. Everyone seemed stressed out. Newspaper headlines everywhere screamed of the Bay Bridge closure. Read more »

Naomi Klein on The Shock Doctrine, California style

10.28.09 - 1:53 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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By Rebecca Bowe

Naomi Klein showed a portion of this film clip during her lecture at UC Berkeley last night. Read more »

Chop from the top

Avalos seeks to pare management to save health care jobs

10.28.09 - 12:40 am | Rebecca Bowe |

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rebeccab@sfbg.com

At the Oct. 23 groundbreaking ceremony for the rebuild of San Francisco General Hospital, Mayor Gavin Newsom sang the praises of the public hospital's staff.

"To all the men and women who work in this remarkable place that changes people's lives each and every day ... every time I come here, I realize you're not just saving patients, you're taking care of families," the mayor said. "It's so difficult to see someone in pain. Read more »

PG&E ballot initiative clears a hurdle

10.27.09 - 3:33 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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By Rebecca Bowe

The Guardian has received several accounts that paid signature gatherers for a ballot initiative backed by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that could darken prospects statewide for public-power programs were pitching it in a way that, at best, wasn’t entirely straightforward. Read more »

Who controls Fox News? A relationship map

10.22.09 - 12:00 pm | Rebecca Bowe |

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By Rebecca Bowe

The FOX nexus. Click here (PDF) for the full version, with key

If you picked up a print version of the Guardian this week, you might have noticed the relationship web we created to chart the GOP and corporate connections to News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News Channel. Read more »