A small business owner in San Francisco was forced to close a thriving business in a time of economic recession because of new counterproductive sanctions on Iran.

FREE ORGANIC COMPOST for your garden in San Francisco! Come and get it! Except — it’s toxic sewage sludge from San Francisco and 8 other counties, “composted” at the Carlyle Group’s Synagro plant in Merced, contaminated with dioxins, flame retardants, and thousands of other chemical and biological contaminants. What goes down the drains ends up in the sludge, and then in your garden.

Weekly Mulch: Kicking Our Addiction to AC—Why DC Needs to Step Up

by Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium blogger

This summer, Americans are cranking up their air conditioning. At the same time, Senators are letting climate legislation cool its heels in Washington. Ultimately, both of these summer trends are contributing to climate change. Air conditioning dumps greenhouse gases into the environment, and without climate legislation that caps the country’s carbon emissions, America’s share of global carbon levels will only continue to grow.

Under an executive order from Mayor Gavin Newsom, Coke, Pepsi and Fanta Orange are no longer allowed in vending machines on San Francisco city property. Is this measure taking the “War on Obesity” too far?

Today was a rather light day at the market for us; here’s the exciting list of what we procured!

This Saturday’s long urban ramble ended at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero at 4pm, just in time to join the rally of immigration rights activists planning to march to AT&T Park to protest the Arizona Diamondbacks because of their state’s new “papers please” law.

Today in 1992, then-Vice President J Danforth Quayle cited fictional television sitcom character Murphy Brown as a poor example of family values for Americans. Go figure.

Here’s another list of mouth-watering ingredients from our local Farmers Market on Noe Street between Market and Beaver, in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. The list is a little shorter today, as we plan a return visit to our even closer neighborhood market at Divisadero on Grove Street this coming Sunday!

A lovely warm cloud-free day greeted us on our return to San Francisco from Portland for Cinco de Mayo Castro Farmers’ Market this afternoon.

SEIU-UHW vs NUHW ends with justice for healthcare workers