Insight and analysis that’s always interesting and never dull on California state politics, budget news, public policy and Election 2010 from the Political Beat team. Steven Luo is the Political Director. E-mail him with news, juicy tidbits, and questions at sluo@californiabeat.org.
Amid the Black Friday shopping frenzy, workers, protesters, labor groups launched what they called a nationwide strike against big box retailer Walmart in protest of the company’s treatment of employees.
The company said the strikes, which took place at select stores around the country, were “made for TV” events attended largely by non-Walmart employees.
Hundreds of East Bay volunteers working to get President Barack Obama re-elected showed up at the campaign’s Oakland office to get marching orders during the election.
If they visit now, though, they could be taking home some stylish footwear needed to win the next race.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will decide Tuesday on whether to ban public nudity, an unprecedented maneuver to fight the blossoming popularity of urban nakedness in the city.
The proposed ordinance put forth by Supervisor Scott Wiener will likely gain enough votes to pass, but it follows a series of protests by naked men and women on the steps of City Hall, including a march last Wednesday around the building and in front of thousands of high schoolers on a field trip to the San Francisco Opera across the street.
(11/18) — 1155 PST UPDATE — SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. – Approximately 100 Pro-Palestinian protesters marched through streets around Union Square Saturday evening in response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine over the disputed Gaza Strip.
Traffic was stopped along Powell and Geary Streets near Macy’s Union Square and down Market Street while marchers walked through lanes of traffic shouting, “while you’re shopping, bombs are dropping.”
Sentiments about the violent conflict on the Gaza Strip between Israel and Palestine spilled onto the streets of San Francisco late Friday afternoon in a spirited but peacceful protest in front of the Israeli consulate.
Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel demonstrators chanted and waved banners at one another from opposite sides of Montgomery Street in the Financial District during the afternoon commute hour as part of Bay Area reaction to the conflict in Gaza.
The San Francisco Fire Department was called out the City Hall Tuesday evening after smoke from a small electrical fire triggered the building’s smoke alarms, witnesses said.
The fire was reported before 9:30 p.m., a dispatcher said.
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.
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.
CHICAGO, ILL — (11/6) — 2230 CST – Barack H. Obama has been re-elected as President of the United States.
Obama pocketed an early burst of momentum after key wins in the hotly-contested battleground states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. The race was decided in Obama’s favor after he carried the pivotal swing state of Ohio, pushing the Democrat past the 270 electoral vote margin necessary for victory.
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.
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