Email Author Chris Roberts

2012 Stories by Chris Roberts

• Medical Marijuana Crackdown Explained: Feds Are Saving the Children

  published Mar 19, 2012

  Melinda Haag finally gave us a reason. The United States Attorney for Northern California broke her media near-silence last week week, granting an extensive, exclusive interview to KQED in which Haag ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Medical Marijuana Cancer Patient Booted from UCSF for Using Pot

  published Mar 13, 2012

  Angel Raich is busy dying. The famous marijuana activist -- who took the federal government to the Supreme Court of the United States for the right to use medical cannabis -- was, earlier this year di... More >>

• Outmigration: Only District 6 Retains Its Black Population

  published March 14, 2012

  San Francisco's Boom 2.0 is in real estate as well as technology. While some of the condominium high-rises built in South of Market over the... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Marijuana Sobriety Checkpoints: New Legislation to Outlaw Driving While Stoned

  published Mar 12, 2012

  Some will swear that marijuana has merit for motorists. Others fear impairment of any kind, at any level. We're pretty terrified of teen drivers, especially those with cell phones and hangovers, but w... More >>

• Gold Dust Lounge Update: No Last Call Party, Supporters Accused of Vandalism

  published Mar 09, 2012

  The Gold Dust Lounge's lease is dead. Long live the Gold Dust Lounge (which will neither close nor get evicted this weekend, but will serve r$1 vodka drinks).Negotiations between the operators and lan... More >>

• Wait Until 2014: Marijuana Legalization All but Dead in California

  published Mar 09, 2012

  Union Pulls Plug on Medical Reform, Other Ballot Measures Starved For Cash; Legislature, Ammiano Last Hope for Reform NowNobody likes to celebrate with a loss, but for the medical marijuana movement, ... More >>

• One Suicide Every Nine Days on Golden Gate Bridge

  published Mar 08, 2012

  Suicides often don't make the news for a variety of reasons: respect for the departed and family, and to deter future suicides. Neither is foolproof, especially in San Francisco, home of the world's m... More >>

• America's Cup Considering New York City For August Race, to NYC's Surprise

  published Mar 08, 2012

  The America's Cup will grace San Francisco not once, not twice, but thrice, citizens were promised: before  catamarans race for the main Cup currently held by Larry Ellison's Oracle team in 2013,... More >>

• Cop Who Kicked Cyclist's Ass Used Excessive Force, Court Says

  published Mar 07, 2012

  Is it that bicycle riders have a toxic relationship with motorists, or is it that bicycle riders have a toxic relationship with anyone who isn't also on a bikerNonsense. As any Wiggle rider knows, bik... More >>

• No City For Drunk-Driving (Yet): SFPD's DUI "Scandal" Isn't Automatic DUI Freedom

  published Mar 07, 2012

  The San Francisco Police Department's latest evidence-handling SNAFU -- in which numerous drunk-driving arrests and convictions came into question because SFPD was using equipment that wasn't in worki... More >>

• San Francisco Might Have More Medical Marijuana Users Than Black People

  published Mar 07, 2012

  The medical marijuana movement and hyperbole often go hand-in-hand. It wasn't more than a few years ago that the office of George W. Bush's drug czar spread the rumor that there were more pot clubs in... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Biden: Drug Legalization "Worth Discussing," but There's "No Possibility" of U.S. Support

  published Mar 06, 2012

  Joe Biden's a reasonable guy. When presidents of Latin American nations suggest drug legalization as a solution to the drug-fueled violence wreaking havoc on their land, the Vice President will listen... More >>

• Google, Facebook, Inner Richmond: Israeli President Shimon Peres's Wild Bay Area Ride

  published Mar 06, 2012

  Things have slowed down considerably for Shimon Peres. The former Prime Minister of Israel used to occupy one of the most difficult political positions in the world; today, the 88-year old's duties as... More >>

• "Exotic," "Lusty, Busty": SJ Merc Explores Mirkarimi Trial's Sexy Angle

  published Mar 06, 2012

  The saga of Ross Mirkarimi and his bruised wife Eliana Lopez is making the rounds coast-to-coast today, with an Associated Press report on the San Francisco sheriff's trial on domestic abuse charges a... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Ross Mirkarimi: An Alleged Panty-Collector and Willie Brown-Emulator

  published Mar 06, 2012

  The legal proceedings surrounding San Francisco's sheriff took a turn for the sordid on Monday, when Christina Flores, a former girlfriend of embattled Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, disclosed some rather em... More >>

• Last Call at Drug-Dealing Tenderloin Market

  published Mar 06, 2012

  San Franciscans know a bodega when they see one. And Razan Market and Deli, at Ellis and Jones streets in the Tenderloin, has all the telltale signs.For starters, the store is open 24 hours a day at o... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Cops Respond to Phantom "Bar Riot" in Mission District

  published Mar 05, 2012

  The oh-so-rad Misson's got everything, even pop-up bar "riots" that disappear as quickly as they're reported.Police responded to the corner of 16th and Albion streets -- hello, Kilowatt -- at 2 a.m. S... More >>

• Occupy Oakland Protesters Charged with Hate Crimes for Stealing Wallet, Protest Planned

  published Mar 05, 2012

  By this point, it's clear that Oakland -- or at least the city's mayor, police chief, and business and cranky old man communities -- hates itself some Occupy. The hating officially enters the criminal... More >>

• Park Popular for Bike Polo, Drunks Is Feds' Reason to Shut Down Latest Medical Marijuana Dispensary

  published Mar 05, 2012

  As playgrounds go, Jose Coronado on 21st between Folsom and Shotwell streets is something of an outlier: the asphalt tennis and basketball courts are routinely re-purposed by players of bicycle polo. ... More >>

• Feds Dismiss Medical Marijuana Lawsuits Without Hearings "Because They Know They're Wrong"

  published Mar 02, 2012

  The medical marijuana fight may end up at the Supreme Court ... by the time we're all really old.San Francisco attorney Matthew Kumin's lawsuit challenging the feds' recent crackdown on state-legal me... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  California Colleges Are Not Medical Marijuana-Friendly

  published Feb 29, 2012

  For some, cannabis and college may go together like beer and college, or massive debt and college (and if you manage to show up to 8 a.m. lectures reeking more of Cypress Hill than frat row, points fo... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Ammiano Bill to Allow Marijuana Businesses and Sales That Are Already Legal

  published Feb 27, 2012

  Call it an industry, call it a movement, call it a gigantic scam. Law enforcement and politicians can't agree what to call California's medical marijuana scene, except to say it exists in a legal gray... More >>

• Medical Marijuana Crackdown: U.S. Attorney Has No Regrets

  published Feb 24, 2012

  A flurry of media reports accompanied the Justice Department's crackdown on medical marijuana, announced at an October 2011 press conference in which California's four federal prosecutors outlined pla... More >>

• Marijuana-Smoking Ban Rarely Enforced in Golden Gate Park

  published Feb 23, 2012

  "If you had a problem with the stench of marijuana smoke, San Francisco probably wasn't the place for you then. Because of the low cloud covering, it was like someone had Saran-wrapped the City. The s... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  If Paul McCartney Succumbs to Alzheimer's, Blame (a lack of) Marijuana

  published Feb 21, 2012

  Far from being dead, Sir Paul McCartney's spectacular musical career enters its sixth decade this June, when the Beatle and vegetarian turns 70. That's a long and winding road, and one on which McCart... More >>