San francisco

The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday, asking a federal court to overturn his December decision to revoke legal guidance designed to protect minorities, the indigent and disabled. City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in a statement that his lawsuit focuses on six of the 25 different legal memos that Sessions rescinded, and accused the Trump administration of "trying to gut protections for the poor, people of color and people with disabilities under the guise of regulatory reform." A spokesman for Sessions did not have any immediate comment on the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In December 2017, Sessions announced he was doing away with legal guidance that he deemed to be "unnecessary, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper." One such document, for instance, gave guidance on how state and local governments should accommodate disabled employees and integrate them … [Read more...] about San Francisco Sues AG Sessions Over Repealed Civil Rights Memos

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A small but vocal group of demonstrators representing the Answer Coalition gathered Saturday on Market Street to protest recent U.S. airstrikes in Syria."We are opposed to U.S. Intervention anywhere in the Middle East, especially in Syria," said Richard Becker from AnswerCoalition.org. "If you want to attack a country get permission from the UN," said one protester.Others like Bay Area Syrian-American activist Maya Fallaha have different viewpoints. She and her relatives Believe airstrikes did not go far enough.RELATED: 'Mission Accomplished' in Syria, Trump declares on Twitter"I hope the U.S. will follow up with more attacks. If we don't put a stop to Assad's air forces he'll continue to carry out atrocities," said Fallaha. Peninsula Congresswoman Jackie Speier says President Trump never got authorization from Congress to launch airstrikes. Speier says Mr. Trump needs a long-term strategy for Syria."For the longest time we thought Asaad would fall, he hasn't … [Read more...] about Protesters rally in San Francisco over US airstrikes in Syria

POLITICS 05/16/2018 02:43 pm ET “When the government uses 20th-century tools to tackle 21st-century problems, it’s the public that pays the price." By Matt Ferner San Francisco’s top prosecutor is working with a tech nonprofit to develop an app that would automate the process for individuals with past marijuana convictions to get those offenses cleared from their record, the San Francisco district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.  District Attorney George Gascón said his office would be teaming up with Code For America, a nonprofit group that develops technology with the government to help solve community problems. The group will provide the office with an online app called Clear My Record, which will allow prosecutors to automatically fill out the required forms and generate a digital file that they can then submit to the court to clear a person’s past pot convictions. Reformers view it as a meaningful step toward further … [Read more...] about San Francisco To Adopt Software App To Help Automatically Clear Old Marijuana Convictions

POLITICS 05/16/2018 06:47 pm ET Many local food and beverage merchants are already on board. By Lydia O'Connor San Francisco is considering legislation that would ban merchants from providing customers with single-use plastic straws, an ocean pollutant that environmentalists say poses serious health risks to marine life.  The proposed legislation, introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Katy Tang, prohibits the distribution and sale of not only single-use plastic straws but also plastic stir sticks, plastic toothpicks and plastic splash sticks anywhere in the city.  Tang asserts that more than a million plastic straws are discarded daily in San Francisco, an amount that surpasses the city’s population. Straws and other small pieces of plastic are among the most frequently littered items, advocates for straw bans say, and they easily make their way to the ocean when washed down storm drains. And because of their size and plastic composition, … [Read more...] about San Francisco May Ban Single-Use Plastic Straws

Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post Published 5:25 pm, Wednesday, May 16, 2018 San Francisco will begin supplying anti-addiction medication to long-term drug users and homeless people on city streets, an attempt to overcome a formidable obstacle to treatment that has complicated efforts to address the opioid crisis. The city is scheduled to announce Thursday that its medical providers will offer buprenorphine and naltrexone prescriptions at needle exchanges, in parks and in other places where people with opioid disorders congregate. Users will be able to pick up the medications, which block the craving for opioids and the painful symptoms of withdrawal, at a centrally-located city-run pharmacy. The city is billing the plan as the first of its kind in the United States, though a few other communities have tried similar programs over the years. "If we're going to save people's lives, we can't wait for addicts to come to us. We have to go to them and engage. And offer. And give … [Read more...] about San Francisco will bring anti-addiction medication to users on the streets