If shouting out the wrong name of your partner in bed is awkward, try printing the wrong name of your partner -- on the internet.
As it turns out, The New York Times made a rather embarrassing faux pas on Sunday in an article on the San Francisco mayoral race. The newspaper referred to The Bay Citizen as The Bay Observer, while linking to the Citizen's own news story.
Sure, everyone makes mistakes, especially as newsrooms are whittled down to bare-bones staffing. But this error is especially egregious given the NY Times partners with the S.F.-based Bay Citizen.
Who at the Times didn't get that memo?
Things haven't been looking up lately for homosexual animals. For starters, a scene that made headlines Friday called to mind an actual episode of the sitcom Parks and Recreation, when Leslie Knope (comedian Amy Poehler) was honored at a gay bar and vilified by members of the Society for Family Stability Foundation after she married off two male penguins at the zoo. In her defense, she didn't know the penguins were batting for the same team and just wanted to do something "cute."
Now, the Toronto Star has reported that another gay penguin relationship is on the rocks (in real life).
The California Secretary of State is sending election observers to oversee poll workers and voters as they cast their vote starting tomorrow morning.
State officials would not confirm how many election monitors would be in San Francisco, but said they will be visiting precincts throughout the day, asking questions and watching voters mark their ballots.
"It's extra eyes and ears on the ground," said Nicole Winger, spokeswoman with the Secretary of State. "Concerns have been raised by a variety of San Franciscans about this election."
The final 24 hours prior to Election Day are shaping up to be nothing short of brutal for some candidates. With accusations of illegal campaigning and a burglarized headquarters, you have to wonder just how low these campaigns are willing to go?
Turns out, pretty low. Mayor Ed Lee's campaign, which has been an easy target of scrutiny and accusations of wrongdoing all along, has suffered yet another blow the day before voters hit the polls. A generous reader passed along these images of Lee's ubiquitous campaign signs defaced around town, giving voters a more specific take on his "Ed Lee Gets It Done" slogan.
The hold music these days at the campaign office for sheriff candidate Paul Miyamoto is "Morning Mood" from Peer Gynt -- a tune immortalized by Bugs Bunny cartoons as the soundtrack of peace and tranquility. But just as Bugs always ruined that mood, a seven-year-old video with a decidedly different soundtrack has tossed a monkey wrench into the waning days of election season.
The video, posted above, has been circulated by San Francisco lawyer Ben Rosenfeld, who represented demonstrators arrested after protesting a 2004 biotech conference at Moscone Center. Of the more than 100 protesters, 38 engaged in what Rosenfeld refers to as "jail solidarity," physically refusing to submit to the booking process -- which led to the extraction process above, filmed by the sheriffs themselves.
Reviewing the ugly footage, Miyamoto told SF Weekly he has no regrets regarding the way the event unfolded. What's "ironic," he adds, is that he and his fellow deputies "were trying to get them out of jail. We are trying to release them." After booking, the protesters were released -- and, in the end, none of them were charged.
Police are at Supervisor David Chiu's campaign headquarters investigating a burglary that happened overnight, according to staff.
Staffers were at the headquarters, located on Van Ness Avenue and Clay Street, until midnight yesterday preparing for Election Day tomorrow. Everything was in order when they locked up, but when they arrived early this morning, they found the building had been broken into. At least one laptop and thousands of dollars worth of equipment were stolen. Confidential papers and election materials had been scattered all over the floor.
"Whoever came into this office wanted to get access to information," said Nicole Derse, Chiu's campaign spokeswoman.
Interim Mayor Ed Lee is facing new allegations of wrongdoing on the eve of the election, capping a slew of ethical complaints that has dogged his campaign this fall.
Public Defender and mayoral contender Jeff Adachi put out a press release this morning publicizing a complaint filed with the San Francisco Ethics Commission this morning by former Ethics Commissioner Paul Melbostad. The complaint asserts that door-hangers distributed by Lee's campaign over the weekend violate campaign finance law.
Specifically, Adachi's campaign claim the Lee flyers illegally endorse a number of ballot initiatives. The city's Campaign Finance Reform Ordinance states, "Contributions solicited or accepted under this Section for one candidate shall not be expended for the candidacy of any other candidate for local, state or federal office, in support of or opposition to any measure."
Last week, we told readers about the horrific tragedy where a 12-year-old cat was found floating in the lagoon with a five-pound weight tied to its neck. The Peninsula Humane Society is on the hunt for the cat-killer -- and the community is helping, too.
The Peninsula Humane Society put out a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the cat's death. But over the weekend, an outraged public kicked in, and the reward climbed to $8,000, the Examiner reports.
After last week's embarrassing mixup where Kelly Slater was prematurely crowned the world champion, surfing fans flocked to Ocean Beach on Sunday to watch the 39-year-old surfer win the Rip Curl Pro ... again.
Slater clinched the title (for real) four days after the Association of Surfing Professionals miscalculated, mistakenly awarding him the 2011 world championship. The group recanted and apologized, stating that Slater would have to win one more heat before he was actually declared the champ.
And win he did.
Everybody needs cash -- especially the medical marijuana community, with the sturm-und-drang kicked up by the federal government when it began its recent, highly publicized crackdown on state-legal dispensaries, where at least five storefront collectives in the Bay Area were given until later this month to shut down or face stiff penalties.
It's times like these that folks need to fundraise -- and San Francisco's a great town for this -- with plentiful cash and venues.
But that's not exactly the case for the San Francisco chapter of Americans for Safe Access.
Last year, we told you how all funds raised by the local ASA chapter were eaten up by a last-minute venue change forced by the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. This year, ASA's got a venue with a marijuana smoking lounge above the Green Door -- but the space is so small that it's reserved for VIP only. That means the 99 Percent-types are being left out; it was that, or go into the red yet again at a time when all resources are needed to fight the feds, ASA staff told SF Weekly.
