Who else but Assemblyman Ammiano could find a silver lining to the state’s financial clusterschnuck? Tom Ammiano introduced a bill in the state legislature today to legalize marijuana for recreational use. At a time when politicians everywhere are forced to cut funding (especially where it hurts the most), the revenue benefits of regulating California’s biggest cash crop could prove as tempting for pols as a chorizo super burrito, a morning bun, and a tub of homemade honey after a hit of the water pipe. The proposal could, however, hurt the livelihoods of doctors who have seen an uptick in patient visits for back pain, insomnia, club foot, and the hundreds of other medical afflictions treatable with cannabis.

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Founder/Executive Editor. I’ve been a Mission resident since 1998 and a professor emeritus at Berkeley’s J-school since 2019 when I retired. I got my start in newspapers at the Albuquerque Tribune in the city where I was born and raised. Like many local news outlets, The Tribune no longer exists. I left daily newspapers after working at The New York Times for the business, foreign and city desks. Lucky for all of us, it is still there.

As an old friend once pointed out, local has long been in my bones. My Master’s Project at Columbia, later published in New York Magazine, was on New York City’s experiment in community boards.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how you make that long-held interest in local news sustainable. The answer continues to elude me.

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