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 mattymatt@gmail.com • 415-244-9943 • vCard • |
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Date:
05/01/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » scienceView article as originally published soupstance via Flickr So long, Muni. It was nice knowing you. The agency is following up a string of service cutbacks and fare hikes over the last few years with -- you guessed it -- more cutbacks and fare hikes. One big drain on Muni's bottom line: other city agencies. A new audit released Friday by the city controller cites a $65.8 million tab for services like legal advice,... [Read more...]
Date:
04/30/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Thanks to pressure from local Asian community leaders, Muni and the SFPD may be stepping up safety on local buses and trains. People using the transit system have been involved in a series of recent high-profile violent attacks, specifically against Asian commuters. The most recent ugly incident came last week when two teens beat an elderly Asian man to death in Oakland. Previously, a group of teens threw a... [Read more...]
Date:
04/30/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Getty Images Everyone should have a career to fall back on. For Santa Rosa police officer Robert Starling, that career was armored car robber. In his ongoing trial, Starling described how his police training helped him to plan successful heists. Knowing the armored car company's policy for shootouts enabled him to select an optimal weapon. His knowledge of police procedure allowed him to distract cops with phony 911 calls.... [Read more...]
Date:
04/30/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Mount Pleasant High School has a friend in Public Radio International's Ira Glass. This weekend, Glass devoted a segment on his show "This American Life" to a takedown of the claims made in Steve Poizner's book, "Mount Pleasant." In the book, Poizner claimed that the school was rough, dangerous, and full of under-achievers. Poizner also suggested that the school was known for its high rates of pregnancy -- while... [Read more...]
Date:
04/29/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Nancy Pelosi's looking pretty good for a woman who celebrated her 70th birthday last month. A little too good, according to the Washington Examiner. Pelosi appeared on the cover of Capitol File this month, looking awfully youthful. What's her secret? Either she's a vampire, or she's received the airbrush treatment that's standard practice for any high-profile public figure. We're guessing it's the latter. Pelosi's defenders point out that The... [Read more...]
Date:
03/31/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Getty Images eBay CEO Meg Whitman wants to put the brakes on a "buy it now" button for health care. The conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate said Tuesday that she'd like the California Attorney General to sue to block the health care reform bill. For his part, the California Attorney General is unlikely to find her argument persuasive. Jerry Brown -- the likely Democratic contender against Whitman in the governor's... [Read more...]
Date:
03/26/2010Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published San Francisco's LGBT Center can breathe a sigh of relief: a likely loan from the Board of Supervisors will save the Center a boatload of cash. The pricey new building at Market and Octavia still owes about $3.2 million in debt, but a restructuring of their mortgage made possible by the Supes' loan will cut their repayments by about $200,000. Mayor Gavin Newsom opposed the transfer of funds, saying,... [Read more...]
Date:
09/05/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published Earlier this year, civil rights advocates celebrated when several New England states granted marriage rights to gay couples. But opponents are waging a campaign to eliminate the right to marry in Maine, and to eliminate rights like hospital visitation and death benefits for gay firefighters in Washington. These two battles could prove instrumental in California's upcoming battle to repeal Prop 8. The Maine campaign has shown care in learning... [Read more...]
Date:
09/04/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published What does it mean that Dick Costolo is Twitter's new COO? Observers are hopeful that Costolo will transform the service into something useful and appealling. Before coming to Twitter, he was the CEO of Feedburner, a service that allows websites to syndicate content and track subscribers -- sort of like a Nielsen rating for websites' news feeds. Those tools to measure readership and reach are exactly what Twitter lacks. Messages... [Read more...]
Date:
09/03/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published San Francisco's Mission District has entered a sort of Comic Art Renaissance lately, with last spring's opening of Caffeinated Comics and yesterday's launch of Mission: Comics and Art near 20th and Mission. Mission: Comics and Art is the brainchild of Leef Smith, a longtime comic reader and Mission resident. Back in October, his employer did him the favor of releasing him from wage slavery; and since his neighborhood had languished... [Read more...]
Date:
09/03/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published If the popularity contest between California's gubernatorial candidates is to be judged by Twitter followers, Gavin Newsom is beating Jerry Brown, with 994,857 versus 756,665 followers. Both are miles ahead of conservative candidate Meg Whitman's 3,093. And they all face stiff competition from the man they're trying to replace: Current governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has an army of 1,032,355. If you were to compare these numbers to the number of followers boasted by celebrities, Gavin... [Read more...]
Date:
09/02/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published It's been a bumpy ride for Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard who's planning to run against Barbara Boxer for her Senate seat in California. First there were questions about whether a company she claimed to run actually existed; then there were issues about her voting record -- or lack thereof -- and now it's emerged that under her leadership and despite a trade embargo, HP somehow found a... [Read more...]
Date:
09/02/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Op-Ed » Urban Planning
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Recent reports that San Francisco's Muni is "more reliable than ever" are a real headscratcher to anyone who was caught in Monday's subway meltdown. Despite Muni trapping passengers with no explanation on Monday, Gavin Newsom's mayoral office/gubernatorial campaign just sent out a press release touting the agency's on-time performance. How could the Gavinator be so out of touch? Maybe it's because Muni's keeping the mayor's office in the dark,... [Read more...]
Date:
09/01/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » miscView article as originally published Good news for the idle youth of Los Gatos: the city is in the process of decriminalizing an activty known, thrillingly, as "ball playing in the streets." The law, first enacted in the 1880s, prohibited Los Gatonians from throwing, catching, or striking a ball on a public thoroughfare. It may not be California's strangest law: according to one compilation of anachronistic orginances, in Los Angeles it's illegal to hunt for... [Read more...]
Date:
08/31/2009Category:
· Writing » News Coverage » NBC Bay Area
· Writing » Topic » lgbtView article as originally published With the goal of seeing a repeal of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriages, in the coming year, a group of civil rights activists from around the state met at San Francisco State University this past weekend. The debate between returning to the ballot in 2010 and 2012 has reached a fever pitch lately, with some organizations urging swift action and others seeking more time to prepare. Recently,... [Read more...]
