Social Policy

Warrants? We don't need no stinking warrants!

Conscientious Injectors

The enforcement of drug laws should be less hurtful than the dangers inherent indrug use itself, say the "harm reductionists" at Prevention Point, who practice what they preach by distributing 1.5 million needles to the city's drug users

Nurses, Public Health Advocates: What Good Is Universal Health Care if You Have to Sit All Day in the Waiting Room?

The doctor will be seeing you ... sometimeTo many, the city's aggressive adoption of the Healthy San Francisco universal health care plan while simultaneously applying draconian cuts to the Department of Public Health's workforce and budget feels a bit like giving everyone a free pass to the amuseme ... More >>

Ammiano: Gavin Newsom has 'Tainted' Healthy San Francisco

Assemblyman Tom AmmianoAssemblyman Tom Ammiano knows you're angry -- he's angry too! But as many members of the progressive community, his natural base, begin to gripe about the city's plan to plow ahead full-bore with Healthy San Francisco -- the city's universal health care plan -- while slashing ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Assemblyman Tom AmmianoAssemblyman Tom Ammiano knows you're angry -- he's angry too! But as many members of the progressive community, his natural base, begin to gripe about the city's plan to plow ahead full-bore with Healthy San Francisco -- the city's universal health care plan -- while slashing ... More >>

Double Payer

SF is out of the health-care business if the governor's new plan goes through.

Unhealthy Union

Could there be a secret deal with Arnold on health care that will inflate union rolls?

Funny Dinero

The mayor says the city won't help the Bushies crackdown on illegal immigrants--but why is SF still getting money from the feds then?

The Identity Makers

In the age of terror, are the people who make fake identification documents for the Hispanic community noble public servants -- or national security risks?

Big Doctor Is Watching

As of April 14, the national security police can monitor your medical records without your knowledge. So can the local police.

Intended Consequences

Our supervisors tilt at a lot of silly windmills. But the city's recognition of Mexican consular IDs may help change national immigration policy for the better.

South to the Future

Live/Workfare: A Public Housing Resident Fights for the Right to Start a Home Business

The Illusion of Roe V. Wade

While feminists loudly celebrate the 25th anniversary of legalized abortion, quiet changes in the medical landscape make the procedure less and less available

Labor Games

San Francisco is spending $5 million on a flag-waving, candy-bar-giving, feel-good course called Express to Success, hoping it will move welfare recipients into jobs. But no one is measuring the success -- or failure -- of the program itself.

Unspun

San Francisco is spending $5 million on a flag-waving, candy-bar-giving, feel-good course called Express to Success, hoping it will move welfare recipients into jobs. But no one is measuring the success -- or failure -- of the program itself.

Desperately Seeking Citizenship

With the advent of new federal welfare rules for elderly immigrants, S.F.'s oldest and poorest are running out of time

The Grid

With the advent of new federal welfare rules for elderly immigrants, S.F.'s oldest and poorest are running out of time

Mulch

With the advent of new federal welfare rules for elderly immigrants, S.F.'s oldest and poorest are running out of time

Has Gavin Newsom Found a New Bright Idea (Hatched By Someone Else)?

Those of you who grew up here in the Bay Area may feel a nostalgic tear run down your cheek when you view the above video: A 1970s-era KTVU "Charlie and Humphrey" Bits & Pieces short culminating with the message "1,002 stupid things to do: borrowing without asking!" Perhaps Gavin Newsom didn't w ... More >>

Aide: Congressmen Stark, Miller 'Very, Very, Very Strongly Support' Strong Public Option In Health Care Bill

Yesterday we wrote about a "Whip List" leaked to the media of Congressional Progressive Caucus members who had confidentially promised party leadership to only vote for a health care proposal that included "a robust public option." Scanning the names on the list, most of the Bay Area representatives ... More >>

Sanctuary Sellout

Before: S.F. coddled undocumented teen criminals. After: S.F. punishes undocumented teens who commit crimes (and some who don't, too).

Chronic City: It's Obvious -- State Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is 'Failed Public Health Policy'

The November CoalitionDrug War protester at Huntington Beach, Calif.​In a laudable nod to the obvious, members of the California Medical Association's (CMA) House of Delegates have endorsed a resolution stating that the criminal prohibition of marijuana is a "failed public health policy."As enacte ... More >>

East Bay Congressman Jerry McNerney Still Waffling on Health Care Vote -- But Not For Reasons You'd Expect

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, might soon have some explaining to do​With House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco promising to deliver enough votes to pass landmark federal health care legislation by the end of the week, one of her Democratic colleagues to the east continues to keep observ ... More >>

Will Hipsters Drag Down U.S. Health Care System?

Will Yo Mama Care cover my tatoos?​Except for the hipster provision, extending to 26 the age brakeless track bike-riders get to stay on their parents' health insurance, most of the effects of the federal health-care legislation on its way to final passage won't be seen for several years.So for a v ... More >>

Matt Smith: S.F.'s universal health care program creates long lines

Will Yo Mama Care cover my tatoos?​Except for the hipster provision, extending to 26 the age brakeless track bike-riders get to stay on their parents' health insurance, most of the effects of the federal health-care legislation on its way to final passage won't be seen for several years.So for a v ... More >>

Healthy San Francisco's Long Lines Slim Down

Yours, sooner...​No sooner did SF Weekly report that the city's universal health care program Healthy San Francisco had contributed to long lines at public clinics, than a new city report came out this week showing that waits had been reduced during recent months.According to the the San Francisco ... More >>

What the City's Furloughs Mean for Health Care: Don't Get Sick

As in, 'Dr. No, He's Not In; He's Furloughed.'​Mayor Gavin Newsom's pending deal with unions to give workers 12 yearly unpaid days off could mean reduced staffing for everything from guarding swimming pools to issuing marriage certificates. But the effect might be most obvious at city-run clinics, ... More >>

Stars Boycotting Arizona

​Looks like San Francisco citizens are not the only budding boycotters of Arizona's new immigration law. Montreal band Stars has publicly voiced their disapproval on Twitter saying: "We love AZ but until its racist new immigration law is repealed, stars (and many others) will boycott this state... ... More >>

Bookie Site Lays Odds on Controversial Arizona Immigration Law

Can I get some action here? ​If the 9-11 tragedy didn't prove Americans' indomitable will and heroic ability -- to make a buck off anything, this will. The bookmaking site youwager.com has commenced laying odds and taking bets related to the controversial Arizona immigration law that inspired San ... More >>

Badlands: From Ground Zero of the Immigration Crisis Along the Mexican Border

Can I get some action here? ​If the 9-11 tragedy didn't prove Americans' indomitable will and heroic ability -- to make a buck off anything, this will. The bookmaking site youwager.com has commenced laying odds and taking bets related to the controversial Arizona immigration law that inspired San ... More >>

Worlds Apart

Federal law gives gay citizens with foreign partners tough choices: Leave the U.S.A. Lose your love. Break the law.

Is Philadelphia More Immigrant-Friendly Than San Francisco?

Does Philly's Michael Nutter have more spine than Gavin Newsom?​Philadelphia's deputy mayor said yesterday that his city will likely cease cooperating with federal immigration officials by sharing records of local arrests, a policy change that would put it in the vanguard of so-called "sanctuary c ... More >>

Police Chief George Gascon Says Arizona Immigration Law Lets Thugs Run Wild

...Gascon says Arizona law will lead to lawlessness​San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon -- known for locking horns with anti-immigrant demagogue Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County while Gascon served as chief of police in Mesa, Arizona -- said the Grand Canyon State's much-maligned immigra ... More >>

Welcome to Mi Pueblito, Washington

The small-town, family-farm lifestyle that we love to celebrate is being preserved — thanks to Mexican immigrants.

Patients Must Wait Month For Health Clinic Appointments

Bring a magazine. It's going to be a while. ​New patients now wait 30 days for an appointment at San Francisco public health clinics. That marathon delay is thanks in part to challenges incorporating new patients added to the government system as a result of Healthy San Francisco, the 2006 program ... More >>

FAIR-y Tales

Bring a magazine. It's going to be a while. ​New patients now wait 30 days for an appointment at San Francisco public health clinics. That marathon delay is thanks in part to challenges incorporating new patients added to the government system as a result of Healthy San Francisco, the 2006 program ... More >>

Mexican Macroeconomics

Bring a magazine. It's going to be a while. ​New patients now wait 30 days for an appointment at San Francisco public health clinics. That marathon delay is thanks in part to challenges incorporating new patients added to the government system as a result of Healthy San Francisco, the 2006 program ... More >>

Grub and Citizen's Band try to reinvent comfort food

Bring a magazine. It's going to be a while. ​New patients now wait 30 days for an appointment at San Francisco public health clinics. That marathon delay is thanks in part to challenges incorporating new patients added to the government system as a result of Healthy San Francisco, the 2006 program ... More >>

Return to Sender

Bring a magazine. It's going to be a while. ​New patients now wait 30 days for an appointment at San Francisco public health clinics. That marathon delay is thanks in part to challenges incorporating new patients added to the government system as a result of Healthy San Francisco, the 2006 program ... More >>

How Would Immigration Reform Look if the Feds Got Off Their Duffs?

Bring a magazine. It's going to be a while. ​New patients now wait 30 days for an appointment at San Francisco public health clinics. That marathon delay is thanks in part to challenges incorporating new patients added to the government system as a result of Healthy San Francisco, the 2006 program ... More >>

DREAM Act Debacle: Lowell High School Grad Set For Deportation

Melissa Lee works the cameras​Congress failed again last month to corral the needed votes to put the DREAM Act back on the table -- and the fallout looks something like this: Eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Lee was on a successful trajectory; she had graduated from Lowell High School - the city's mos ... More >>

A Valentine's Day Fact -- STDs Are on the rise in San Francisco

Sexy time stats​Leave it to the San Francisco Public Health Department to use Valentine's Day as a way to get people to not want to have sex.Health officials decided to use this hallmark holiday to tell us the hard, cold truth about our Valentines -- they aren't so pure after all. As it turns out, ... More >>

Gay Binational Couples Fighting Deportations On Obama's New DOMA Stance

​Gay couples are already using President Obama's new stance against the Defense of Marriage Act as a weapon to fight deportations of their foreign spouses. The couples hope that the administration's declaration last week that the law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman is uncon ... More >>

Gavin Newsom: Friend or Foe of Illegal Immigrant Youth?

Friend of students, foe of alleged felons.​Update: Newsom's spokesman responds. Read below.  Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has come out today supporting a group he threw the book at during his time as San Francisco mayor: illegal immigrant youth. Newsom has sent a letter to Assemblyman Gil ... More >>

U-Visa: Illegal Immigrants Become Legal Residents Via Crime Victimization

Friend of students, foe of alleged felons.​Update: Newsom's spokesman responds. Read below.  Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom has come out today supporting a group he threw the book at during his time as San Francisco mayor: illegal immigrant youth. Newsom has sent a letter to Assemblyman Gil ... More >>

DREAM Act Leader Prerna Lal to Be Deported

Me, scared?​While President Barack Obama voiced support for the DREAM Act today in Silicon Valley, one of the Bay Area's most vociferous leaders in the national student movement to get the bill passed is now facing deportation. If passed, the DREAM Act would pave the path of citizenship for any il ... More >>

Luisa Argueta, DREAM Act Eligible Teen, Asks Sen. Feinstein to Stop Deportation

Luisa Argueta, center, and her mother, Brenda Gutierrez​Update, 5:30 p.m.: A Feinstein spokesperson says, "Senator Feinstein's office recently received information about the case and is currently reviewing the matter."Original post:A 19-year-old Antioch resident eligible for the DREAM Act is askin ... More >>

Minhaz Kahn, DREAM Act Eligible Student, Spared Deportation -- For Now

No deportation for Minhaz Kahn. But others might not be so lucky. ​A DREAM-Act-eligible recent college grad won reprieve on his deportation case earlier this week, yet the celebration ends there. San Francisco-based immigration officials warned attorneys that not all DREAM Act-eligible immigrants ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Patients Opposing Federal Approval of ... Medical Marijuana

umpp.orgStanding Up Against... Medical Marijuana​Medical marijuana can be good for the brain. No less an authority than the federal government's Department of Health and Human Services says so: HHS awarded to a group of doctors in 2003 a patent titled "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotect ... More >>

Free-Market Biological Warfare

umpp.orgStanding Up Against... Medical Marijuana​Medical marijuana can be good for the brain. No less an authority than the federal government's Department of Health and Human Services says so: HHS awarded to a group of doctors in 2003 a patent titled "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotect ... More >>