San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom took his first official steps to run for Governor by launching an exploratory committee today. He is the first Democrat to formally do so. Attorney General Jerry Brown also plans on trying to replace Schwarzenegger and as for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he has been "discussed as a possible candidate, although he faces reelection in 2009, which could complicate any run for higher office," says the LA Times.......

Fundraising events when re-election campaigns are imminent are nothing all that noteworthy, unless you happen to be the Mayor of Los Angeles getting cash in another Mayor's territory, namely Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco. Tonight at the Neiman-Marcus store in SF's Union Square, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be the central feature of an "invitation-only champagne reception" which is "expected to raise tens of thousands of dollars for his re-election bid next spring," reports SF......

So, which city is more eco-friendly when it comes to building codes? After reading the LA Times, San Francisco comes out the winner, but that's not to say Los Angeles is some black hole of environmental actions. Both Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom want their respective cities to be the greenest in the country (doesn't every mayor say they want that?). Villaraigosa wants to lower greenhouse gases to 35%......

In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22, which denied the freedom to marry for gay, lesbian and transgender couples. Today, the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging that law. Maybe you remember back when Gavin Newsom, former Mayor of San Francisco, provided marriage licenses to same-sex couples and then those licenses were revoked. His actions were a challenge -- albeit one that didn't pan out -- to the law. Now, if the Court votes......

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the......

Fun Fun Fun Fest 2007 Recap from Super!Alright! on Vimeo. Austinist attended a town hall meeting about proposed noise ordinances that could undermine the city's future as the Live Music Capital of the World, and lamented the possible loss of Texas's only feminist bookstore. Throughout the week, they interviewed a bunch of indie fashion designers and D-I-Y websites—Etsy, Ornamental Things, 31 Corn Lane, and Aorta Designs—for the upcoming Stitch Fashion Show. They also did......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Not letting the bedbugs bite is getting harder than ever these days. Deeming it "troubling" and "unacceptable," Mayor Tony is urging federal officials to take steps to prevent a repeat of this weekend's Customs and Border Protection computer glitch that stranded some 20,000 travelers. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag warning - signifying a higher risk of wildfires - for the L.A. County mountains that will remain in effect until Wednesday......

Now that his extramarital shenanigans with Telemundo newscaster Mirthala Salinas have firmly supplanted his other accomplishments in the eyes of many Angelenos, pundits' tongues are a-wagging over the potential ramifications to his long-term mayoral career. Or, put more simply, can he move beyond Mirthala? While some commentators, such as San Jose State's Larry Gerston, have already written off Villaraigosa's future prospects, advising him not to "make any plans to run for the Democratic nomination in......

It's going to be a long time before any of this happens. If it happens. LA Mayor Villaraigosa and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom might go head to head for Governor. Both deny it though. A little closer to home, two bloggers debate over annexation and other issues in the Santa Clarita Valley. Should Stevenson Ranch, which has the highest sales-tax-revenue-generating strip mall in all of the county's jurisdiction, annex into the city of......

If the theatrics of this summer's Copa Mundial have you hooked, three movies playing this week serve up enough passion, pique and soccer-inspired drama to put the fake-foul antics of today's players to shame. On Tuesday July 4th, the enthusiasts at the Hollywood Football Association put on a special InterFootball Day at the Egyptian Theatre. They'll screen Goal! World Cup 1966, which tells of the glorious — if you're a English football fan —......