Politics

On Thursday, San Francisco public school students as young as 5 will get a real-life learning experience about civic engagement — through protest. Students from kindergarten through college plan to convene at Market and Powell streets in the late afternoon to protest cuts to public education during a coordinated political action called the Rally for California’s Future. Several schools were planning to have students create picket signs in school. On Wednesday, students sat in the parent room at Sheridan Elementary School making signs and banners. But the school district, citing safety, put a stop to a plans for teachers to take students as a field trip.

(UPDATE: A reform slate of candidates won victory in the election. For details, see Kevin Stark's blog). wins the election this weekend at Northern California’s largest public-sector union will inherit a troubled labor local beset by internal conflict and controversial negotiations in San Francisco that cost the union hundreds of jobs this past year.

A Southern California political scientist had a rocky time during cross-examination Monday and Tuesday at federal court in the trial to overturn Proposition 8, the measure passed by voters in 2008 that limits marriage to a man and woman. Defenders of the ban on gay marriage opened their segment of the trial Monday with testimony by Kenneth Miller, a professor at Claremont McKenna College. He had testified early Monday that the gay and lesbian community has numerous allies and a great deal of power and influence. The pro-Proposition 8 legal team is taking issue with the challengers’ view that gays and lesbians are a persecuted and powerless group. At issue is whether the ban on marriage is unconstitutional discrimination.

The proponents of Proposition D, the billboard plan in the Mid-Market Street area, blame a last-minute video by the “No” on Proposition D campaign for creating fears among voters that San Francisco would turn into the next Las Vegas with its neon lights and billboards.