Newsom

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spoke publicly for the first time Monday about the breakup of his 20-year marriage, saying he was responsible for the split even as he refused to talk about what caused it. In a somber meeting with reporters at City Hall, Villaraigosa declined to answer questions about whether the break with his wife, Corina, was triggered by another romantic relationship.

SACRAMENTO --  Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who served as acting governor while Gov. Jerry Brown was off on a week-long trade mission to China, used his newfound authority to deputize the artichoke and avocado as California's official vegetable and fruit, respectively. But Newsom didn't stop there. He used his broad powers to declare the almond as the state nut and rice as California's official grain. Somewhere in the Central Valley, there's an angry quinoa lobby plotting its revenge.

Not since Goodwin J. Knight succeeded to the governorship in 1953, after Earl Warren resigned to become chief justice, has a California lieutenant governor moved up in the middle of a term. Not since Gray Davis was elected governor in 1998 has a California lieutenant governor even been voted into the top office. Other than Knight and Davis, only two other lieutenant governors in the last century have become governor. Yet the role of governor-in-waiting overshadows all the other tasks that Californians have given their lieutenant governors to keep them busy.

SACRAMENTO-- Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for the legalization of marijuana on Saturday. “It's time to decriminalize, tax and regulate marijuana,” he told delegates at the California Democratic Party convention. “It's time we own up to the fact that our drug laws have done far more harm than good. The war on drugs is an abject failure.” Newsom, who is known to have an eye on higher office, poked fun at the fact that he is the state's acting governor because Gov. Jerry Brown is in China on a trade mission.

If political payback against 1992 presidential rival Jerry Brown had anything to do with Bill Clinton's support of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for governor, the former president fought hard Monday to convince Californians otherwise. Clinton didn't mention Brown's name as he announced his support for Newsom, Brown's rival in the Democratic primary for governor in June 2010. Instead, Clinton spoke for nearly 20 minutes about protecting the environment and followed that up with a nod to Newsom as a man dedicated to the cause.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom took a break from his job and gubernatorial ambitions Saturday to marry actress Jennifer Siebel at Siebel's parents' Montana ranch near Stevensville. It is Siebel's first marriage and the second for Newsom, who divorced legal analyst Kimberly Guilfoyle in March 2006. Newsom met Siebel in October 2006. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traveled to Montana to attend the wedding, along with other friends and family. Siebel has appeared in the NBC television series "Life" and attended Stanford Business School.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will announce Friday that he is running for California lieutenant governor, according to people who were contacted by him. Newsom, a Democrat, has been lining up support and collecting donations for the statewide run. Sources say he will unveil a list of endorsements that includes many of the state's top Democratic leaders. The sources requested anonymity to allow Newsom to make the announcement. On Wednesday, Newsom took out papers to run for the office from the San Francisco County elections department and paid a $2,600 fee. Asked if Newsom would announce his candidacy Friday, spokesman Jason Kinney said, "You'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom officially jumped into the race for lieutenant governor Friday, explaining why he now wants a job he once disparaged as a ceremonial post without any real responsibility Newsom, a Democrat, is known nationally, so his entrance changes the dynamics of the contest. The office he wants, after dropping his run for governor last fall, is low-profile but significant: Its occupant runs the state if the governor leaves California or cannot fulfill his or her duties.

Newsom obituary: The obituary of diplomat David D. Newsom in Monday's California section incorrectly reported the year he received a master's degree from Columbia University. It was 1940, not 1950.

Re " 'Dumping' may land S.F. in court," July 4 San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom may soon be facing a court appearance. His first offense is the surreptitious dumping of juvenile illegal immigrant cocaine dealers into local group homes in San Bernardino County for subsequent disappearance into the shadows. I wonder if Newsom was also unaware of the Federal Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that "any person who encourages or induces an alien to ... reside in the United States knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such ... residence is in violation of law ... shall be punished."

SACRAMENTO -- California's top prosecutor used her refusal to defend Proposition 8, a voter-passed initiative that bans same-sex marriage in California, as an example of Democratic values  as she spoke to party activists on Saturday. “When I ran for attorney general, I promised we would never stand in the chapel door. We said we don't need to read the polls, we need to read the Constitution,” Atty.  Gen. Kamala Harris said shortly after the attendees of the California Democratic Party convention gave her a standing ovation.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi got Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom-- the former San Francisco mayor whose actions launched the litigation -- a seat in the courtroom Tuesday. “I don't want to overstate it, but literally when I walked in, I had a feeling I had never had before. People talk about a rush of motions. You literally feel this rush through your body. It was very powerful.” He said the arguments were technical and legal but he came away with the sense that same-sex marriages would resume in June in California, and that the high court's ruling would be narrow.

Andy Samberg is getting married! The "SNL" alum is engaged to musician Joanna Newsom, according to Us Weekly The Lonely Island crooner, 34, popped the question to his longtime girlfriend, whom he's been dating for five years, though it is unclear when he actually proposed. FULL COVERAGE: Oscars 2013 | Winners Newsom, 31, a folk singer-songwriter, was spotted over the weekend at the Indie Spirit Awards sporting her new bling while her fiance hosted the show.

SACRAMENTO -- California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom continued his book tour on "The Colbert Report" on Thursday night, taking his fair share of abuse to plug his new tome on the future of governance. As Newsom began his spiel about how technology can “level the playing field” in government, media and other fields, Colbert interrupted asking, “What the [heck] does any of that mean? … Every single one of these things could be carved on a stone and put in someone's garden as like a mantra, but I don't know what they mean.” Newsom broke through the skepticism to make his point.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of Feb. 10 - 16, 2013 in PDF format This week's TV Movies     CBS This Morning Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.); Nancy O'Dell; Mike Piazza. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Naomi Campbell; Julianne Hough; Blake Shelton. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America (N) 7 a.m. KABC Rachael Ray Paula and Bobby Deen. (N) 8 a.m. KCAL Live With Kelly and Michael Emmy Rossum; Jane Lynch. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View 10 a.m. KABC The Talk Grace Park.

Citizenville How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government Gavin Newsom with Lisa Dickey Penguin Press: 272 pp., $25.95 California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a lot more time on his hands than he used to. When he was San Francisco mayor, from 2004 to '11, Newsom was busy, busy, busy. He (briefly) legalized gay marriage. He helped reform the city's generous welfare cash payment program. He worked on universal healthcare. His messy personal life provided endless fodder for a mercilessly snarky local press.

The nation's mayors have voted against spending taxpayer money to buy bottled water. A majority of about 250 mayors at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Miami voted to phase out regular use of bottled water for its employees and functions. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wrote the resolution. Newsom was joined by 17 sponsors, including New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. A beverage industry group called the move "sound-bite environmentalism," while activists cheered it.

As the waning moon shone down on the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday night, two songs about California from the Chicago band Wilco and singer/composer/harpist Joanna Newsom felt handcrafted for the moment. The first was by opener Newsom, who over eight years has carved a singular path through the world of popular music with her graceful, wildly beatific internal narratives.  With a voice that conjured Joni Mitchell but not intentionally so, Newsom lifted her sound to the heavens on a whim during “In California.” A song about the California of her heart, she described a darkened internal realm where night comes “so fast it feels like some kind of mistake” and “walleyed deer, quiet as gondoliers” move across the land.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the mortgage industry, Wall Street and a major federal regulator of colluding to pressure local governments into rejecting a controversial proposal to seize mortgages and restructure them. Newsom on Monday sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for an investigation into statements by some groups representing Wall Street investors and the mortgage industry that mortgage lending may become costlier in parts of the country where municipalities are weighing eminent domain proposals.