together, we can end the death penalty in california. [applause] >> thank you for having me here today. i would like to close by saying i have had the opportunity to view this issue from every point of view, having been the warden at san quentin state prison. i am absolutely impassioned about the fact that it is time to end the death penalty in this state. life without possibility of parole is the real sentence. hold people accountable and gives them the opportunity to change within the prison system, and they can give back by working within the prison system, giving restitution to family members and working on behalf of the state of california on a variety of projects that go on inside prisons. i also want to echo what the process said -- please join, please help -- i also want to echo what natasha said. talk to 10 of your friends, send e-mails, send letters. thank you. [applause] >> 1985, when i was sentenced to death for a crime i did not commit, i thought right away that this would be rectified. i was convicted of two different crimes

but i also, you know, there's still signs, we have until tomorrow evening for the california state to pass a budget, approve a budget, and, you know, i doubt that that will happen but there are surprises sometimes. i know that the governors may revise. i hope that people out there are supporting that because even though it doesn't solve all our problems, at least it's taking a step in the right direction of dealing with some really huge deficits that exist in a real practical way. either way, the may revise was actually better for us so we're hoping that if they stay with that, it will help. our number one goal will be to try to bring back as many of our employees as possible. we still have layoff notices and a lot of our employees -- i doubt we'll be bringing back every single employee but we'll do our best and luckily we saved a lot of our money from last year. the jobs bill, the city has given us money for this coming year and without that money, our layoffs would have been probably double or triple what they are today. so things look bad but in relative terms to everybody else in

they fought all the way and won. >> what a day in san francisco. what a day in california. what a day for america. what a day for equality. >> the most extraordinary part of this is i support we had from the elected family. what cities would you have an entire board of supervisors and a city attorney who was ready to fight and had purposefulness. >> the supreme court's decision was final at june 16th at 5:00 p.m.. >> he married the lesbian couple at 5:01 p.m.. >> we expected that we would have a significant interest in getting married at city hall. >> we realized we were not staffed up to get licenses that people were anticipating. we definitely did not want people waiting in long lines. we wanted them to plan and invite their friends. know what time you're going to have your ceremony. >> we had to create an appointment system and let the people know ahead of time that on a given particular day, that's all we can accommodate. >> we appreciate they can make travel plans and know when they get here, their flight lands and we are going to get to them at 12 >> on june 16th, huge

the people of california are ready to end the death penalty. a couple of weeks ago we were able to do a poll on the question of the governor converting all of these 713 death sentences to life without possibility of parole, and a change would save the city california $1 billion in five years. 63% of the voters support this idea across the entire state. every region of the state had a majority of support. a majority of republicans and democratic voters support this idea. 63%, ready for the governor to take everyone off of death row. this is an important change from where we used to be on this issue, because for a very long time, politicians have been afraid to talk about reasons for ending the death penalty and this has been seen -- been seen as an issue that would run political careers, as the former district attorney has shown, the death penalty is no longer of liability and the voters are ready for candidates who will say that we need smart criminal- justice policy, to keep the community safe and that will hold the offenders accountable, and

the rest of my life in prison. i would ask myself if i would get caught. in california, half of the people who commit murder are not caught. we need to catch the people committing murder. this is what she means when punishment must be firm, if people get away with murder, they learn that they can and the community learns that they can. this is really the fundamental problem. we can do much better job if we were actually to replace the death penalty to life without parole and invest the money saved in solving homicides. every victim's family should have some justice. >> i wanted to ask you to perhaps tell the audience about the controversy related to the death qualified jury. many people did not realize that when we select a jury for the death penalty case, this is comprised of different members of the city. >> people look to california as we continue to send a lot of people to death row every year, with the highest number of new death sentences. people look at the state and they see how many people in california are moving away from the death penalty, who favor replacin

they didn't want the people of california to have that right to vote. the democrats on the other hand made some very deep cuts. and in the budget that i received today there was more

harris has come up as somebody -- and jerry brown was also the governor of the state of california, he was the attorney general and they have at times in the history when they were personally against the death penalty. when they ran for attorney general they both said that they would not interfere with the state law, and they would allow the death penalty to be carried out on their watch. this is correct? in fairness, i will say that there were a lot of law enforcement officials the route the state of california that had severe reservations about supporting harris for attorney general because of the opposition to the death penalty in san francisco. but george defended her and actually supported her candidacy, and this was an important component of getting support from law enforcement for her. let me ask you this. when we spoke yesterday, as i heard his story i asked him, how did you survive death row? the mechanics of this. i asked about how much time in the yard that he got. i wonder if you could share with members of -- in the auditorium where your daily life was like on death row. >

a southern california woman tried to collect on her husband's life insurance by putting the leaves in his food. she is now one of 15 women on california's death rowan the only one who attempted to murder with a plant. >> people who may haven't been to their cons tore or been to -- do serve tore or their botanical garden, it gives them a reason to come back. you think let's go and look at the pretty flowers. these are pretty flowers, but they are flowers with weird and fascinating stories behind them. that is really fun and really not what people normally think of when they come to a horticultural institution. >> "wicked plants" is now showing at the san francisco conserve tore of flowers. unless next time, get out and play. >> happiness rains supreme. nearly one thousand couples tide the not. >> by the powers invested in me, i declare you husband and wife. >> the north like court was turned into a huge extension of the city clerk and hundreds of city and county employees were trained as volunteers. >> the process has been amazing. the people have been so gracious and supportive. the e

. >> reporter: the budge of the state of california remains in limbo tonight. today in san francisco, governor jerry brown said he is sticking to his guns. >> you have republicans, you have democrats. >> reporter: the governor spoke at a convention tore but said little if anything that he hasn't before. >> still fund your own veto, you have to stand with your friends which i like to do. but we also have to stand with california. >> reporter: his speech followed a combative news conference. >> we are here to make it clear once and again that the reason that there is no budget deal is that the governor, the democratic majority in the legislature and their allies refuse to allow the voters the opportunity to reform pensions and control state over spending. >> democratic president steinburg was quick to respond. >> talk about a drill. that was the drill's drill outside a governor's office. on a thursday before the weekend to bring out the same old tired, tired rhetoric again. >> reporter: the fiscal year ends again. >> we need to know what his pack up plan is if his

it positions our clean power sf program to be the greenhouse gas 3 leader in california and nationwide. our program would be the largest community choice abrogation program. it would be the only 100% renewable, greenhouse gas free offering. our city goal is to serve all sentences since -- of san franciscans. we recommend we serve those with often out notices in a geographically-focused way, starting with residential customers, who are the most likely to be in the program. we will allow any customer to opt into the program early, including commercial and industrial customers. is important to knowledge that there is an appetite among some smaller commercial and industrial customers to differentiate themselves by having the ability to say we are a sustainable business and 100% renewable energy would be very appealing to those customers. we want to make sure we have a program that allows them to opt in from day one. that also has a business benefit to us. it helps us mitigate some other costs and risks of the program. we have a gap between the volume of power we have committed to with our

the u.s. supreme court strikes down california's law banning the sale of violent video games to children. >> but the san francisco lawmaker behind the ban is promising the battle is not over. abc7's amy hollyfield is live in san francisco with the latest. amy? >> reporter: yeah, the state senator leland yee feels strongly about this, kristen. he is even accusing the supreme court of siding with the interest of corporate america. instead of the interest of children. >> i am rather disappointed today, by the decision of the u.s. supreme court. >> reporter: in an effort to show his defeated law has broad support, lee provided representatives from the medical community and from law enforcement to react to today's supreme court ruling. declaring california cannot ban the sale of violent video games to children. >> we see a lot of them are enforcing targets. it's not in development of an industrial. we're concerned about this. we will stay involved. >> reporter: the bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the california legislature. the u.s. supreme court declared the law violates the first amendment with

the u.s. supreme court strikes down california's law banning the sale of violent video games to children. >> but the san francisco lawmaker behind the ban is promising the battle is not over. abc7's amy hollyfield is live in san francisco with the latest. amy? >> reporter: yeah, the state senator leland yee feels strongly about this, kristen. he is even accusing the supreme court of siding with the interest of corporate america. instead of the interest of children. >> i am rather disappointed today, by the decision of the u.s. supreme court. >> reporter: in an effort to show his defeated law has broad support, lee provided representatives from the medical community and from law enforcement to react to today's supreme court ruling. declaring california cannot ban the sale of violent video games to children. >> we see a lot of them are enforcing targets. it's not in development of an industrial. we're concerned about this. we will stay involved. >> reporter: the bill enjoyed bipartisan support in the california legislature. the u.s. supreme court declared the law violates the first amendment with

the crucial information california hospitals are vowing to keep quiet. elizabeth cook reports. coming up next. the state for the day, after a third employee was killed on the job in l >>> caltrans put highway maintenance work on hold after a third employee was killed on the job in less than two months. 52-year-old richard gonzalez died yesterday when a car hit him while on the job in san diego. he was picking up litter along interstate 15 at the time. well today caltrans announced a so-called safety stand down to reenforce safety procedures for workers. the agency is reminding drivers to slow down and watch for caltrans employees on the roads. >>> getting the light to change may soon become easier for bay area cyclists. sensors can detect when a car pulls up to the light. san jose secured a grant to install and try out devices that sense when a bike is at the intersection. state lawmakers passed a bill four years ago requiring these kinds of sensors when the new signals are put in. but the mercury news says the state hasn't developed guidelines on the best way to go. >> san fran

in states where there are such laws, the have to collect sales tax. there are california companies selling into, say, pennsylvania. the way the law was intended is to have a threshold. the threshold right now is $10,000. it may get a higher. basically, if i have a bookstore and and selling used rare books and sell less than $10,000 worth of books into the state of pennsylvania, i would not be liable for their sales tax as a small business. if i sell more than that into a state, or five or six states, i would be liable to collect sales tax. i think the notion is that once you get to a certain level that is part of the deal. the other thing people say that i have to remind you -- they say it is a burden to collect sales tax. you have to report it. you have to fill out forms. yes. the cost of doing business online. do you want to talk to these businesses about what they have to do to be in business in san francisco? it is the cost of doing business. if you choose to go on line and sell things, you get the benefit of not having to pay rent. but avoiding sales tax should not b

. >>> the southern california woman accused of kidnapping her own baby granddaughter in eastern contra costa county week before last has now been moved had -- has now been moved to the bay area. a contra costa county spokesperson says the 58-year- old woman was booked into jail late yesterday. she's scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 in mars -- martinez. >>> hayward police say they are following several new leads in the case of a missing nursing student. police say they've identified some persons of interest in michelle le's disappearance and they have served at least four search warrants. le was last seen on friday at kaiser permanente hospital in hayward. police say they are using all available resources to find her. surveillance video shows le's the streak leaving. but the -- the vehicle leaving but the camera angle makes it difficult to see who was in the vehicle. >>> ahead -- federal government is about to get tougher on a dangerous practice aimed at airplanes. >>> why the photo of a certain man is being passioned around in a bay area neighborhood. >>> meteorologist, mark tamayo

we've not succeeded in convincing policymakers and the california utility commission yet. we are continuing it. notwithstanding success there, the customers we serve in our cca program are pg&e customers. they will be able to take advantage of the pg&e energy efficiency programs from day one. we see the benefit of 100% renewable programs at launch being quite strong. it is clear from the market research that there is a strong customer interest in that product. we get a very big bang for the buck on the city-wide greenhouse gas reduction basis. 1 customer represents -- 1100% renewable customer is worth five that have a 20% energy portfolio that is renewable. it is a good bank for your buck on debt reduction. as general manager harrington said, it is a clear opportunity for product message and differentiation from the offerings that pg&e had. it positions our clean power sf program to be the greenhouse gas 3 leader in california and nationwide. our program would be the largest community choice abrogation program. it would be the only 100% renewable, greenhouse gas free offeri