ST. PETERSBURG -- As Blake Blake stepped inside Cole's Barber Shop, a three-chair enterprise in a strip mall in the heart of this city's black community, he was confronted with the question of the day. "Blake, can you vote?" Glaring at barbers Craig Latimer and Victor Davis, Blake, an unemployed ex-felon, responded: "You know I can't vote. What's this, comedy day in the barbershop?" The remark drew laughter and a round of "told-you-sos" from the barbershop's entourage, mostly men once convicted of felonies who have paid their debt to society but still do not have jobs or rights, including the right to vote. [continues 1427 words]
Backed by mayor, Ammiano pens bill to push for lawful execution of Prop. 215 Supervisor Tom Ammiano might introduce legislation as soon as Monday asking the city attorney's office to draw up a model for the distribution of marijuana to medically ill patients. Ammiano attended a meeting Thursday with Mayor Brown, Police Chief Fred Lau, District Attorney Terence Hallinan, Sheriff Michael Hennessey, Public Health Director Mitch Katz and fellow supervisors Barbara Kaufman and Mark Leno and others about the issue. [continues 260 words]
The City's $100 million budget surplus will boost funding for Muni, parks, child care and drug treatment on demand -- but most of the money will be placed in reserve for a rainy day, Mayor Brown says. "We're flush with cash," the mayor said Tuesday at his biweekly press conference. "We only think it's going to get better, at least through my re-election. "We're going to hold on to it because we know it's not money that is guaranteed," Brown said. "We will be prudent in how we use it." [continues 598 words]
Deceitful ads utilize young girls, hipness, even Virgin Mary Americans know the symbols: The rugged cowboy -- the Marlboro man -- staring out from posters and billboards pushing the macho appeal of smoking cigarettes; and Joe Camel, readily identifiable as cool and hip, selling Camel cigarettes at events dominated by teenagers, such as music concerts. But in the Philippines, the camel and the cowboy are rapidly being replaced by the Virgin Mary selling American and other foreign brand smokes. In Poland, hot American cars help push smoking as a symbol of new found freedom and, in many Asian countries, cigarettes are promoted by smiling children on posters and billboards. [continues 504 words]
Dennis Peron Says It's A Serious Effort This is no pipe dream. Dennis Peron, San Francisco's resident legal marijuana dealer to the sick and dying, kicked off his campaign for governor Friday as a Republican reformer. "I'm really trying to win," he said, dismissing questions about being a token candidate. "I don't like big government or taxes. There are too many laws that hurt people. "But I'm a liberal Republican," he continued. "I'm trying to save the soul of the Republican Party. I don't believe the party is full of extremists who want to vote for Dan Lungren." [continues 513 words]
