Steven Luo is the Political Director for the California Beat. He covers state and local politics and public policy.
He can be reached at sluo@californiabeat.org.
Steven Luo
San Francisco »
Puppies and kittens are striking a pose for holiday shoppers at Macy’s Union Square during the holiday shopping season as part of the San Francisco SPCA’s adoption event to find homes for the shelter’s cats and dogs.
As predicted when this year’s window display was unveiled earlier this month, it’s another big hit.
Bay Area Snapshots, San Francisco »
The sights and spirit of the holiday season greeted thousands of people who watched Macy’s 2012 Christmas tree light up Friday evening at San Francisco’s Union Square.
The 83-foot tree has been decorated with 33,000 energy-efficient LED bulbs from top to bottom. The tree itself isn’t real — it’s reusable.
San Francisco, World Series »
AT&T Park, San Francisco
From the California Beat photography collection, Bay Area Snapshots is an occasional glimpse at daily life in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Berkeley, Oakland, Political Beat, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, The Bay Area »
In what is fast becoming a biennial tradition, the Bay Area’s cash-starved local governments went to voters hat in hand, and for the most part, came away with what they asked for.
Of 48 tax or bond measures on the ballot in the six core Bay Area counties, 36 passed, including 13 measures requiring a two-thirds supermajority — though Alameda County voters appeared to be more skeptical than their regional counterparts.
Cops & Courts, Political Beat »
California Governor Jerry Brown and state Democrats scored significant victories in Tuesday’s general election, as voters approved Brown’s proposed income and sales tax hike to support education and rejected a measure which would have weakened union influence in politics considerably.
And as of Wednesday morning, Democrats were elected or leading in 28 of the state’s 40 Senate seats and 54 of the 80 Assembly seats — results which, if they hold, would give them two-thirds supermajorities and the power to raise taxes without Republican support for the first time in recent memory.
Oakland, Political Beat, San Francisco, The Bay Area »
Welcome to the Political Beat’s Election Night 2012 coverage of the November 6 General Election. We’ll be busy this evening updating results from important Bay Area and California races, including all of the statewide propositions and the Presidential race. Keep refreshing this page for the latest results and projections from the Political Beat team.
San Francisco, World Series »
Postseason baseball is returning to at least one side of the Bay Area this year.
The San Francisco Giants clinched the National League Western Division pennant in front of their home fans with a 8-4 win over the San Diego Padres Saturday night.
The win — coupled with a 6-0 shutout of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers by the NL Central-champion Cincinnati Reds — gave the G-men their second NL West title in three years.
Oakland, Occupy Protests, Political Beat »
With President Barack Obama appearing in Oakland for the first time during his presidency, it was a given that Oakland residents — as well as protesters of all stripes — would turn up.
And the hundreds who showed up had many different messages for him.
Oakland, Political Beat, San Francisco »
President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, are expected to cross paths in San Francisco Sunday night as a last-minute change to Obama’s schedule brings him to the Bay Area one day earlier than expected.
Obama, who was previously scheduled to arrive in the Bay Area Monday afternoon as part of a three-day fundraising swing through Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and New Orleans, will now spend Sunday night in San Francisco after attending a memorial service in Aurora, Colo. for victims of Friday’s theater shooting.
Political Beat, The Bay Area »
In a sign that enthusiasm for new taxes amongst Bay Area voters might be cooling, the 27 tax and bond measures on Tuesday’s ballot in the six core Bay Area counties received a decidedly mixed reception from voters.
19 of the measures passed or were leading as of Wednesday morning, including all but one of the school facility bond measures facing voters. But two of three high-profile tax initiatives targeting SFO travelers failed in San Mateo County, and an Alameda sales tax hike which city leaders argued was desperately needed to pay for public safety fell far short of the required two-thirds margin.
