SAN FRANCISCO — Voters approved a law intended to sweep the sidewalks clean of vagrants, and an attempt to sabotage the sit-lie ordinance failed along with a measure to politicize police officer foot patrols.
Proposition L makes it illegal to sit or lie on sidewalks citywide from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The law is tailored to allow officers to move people loitering or blocking sidewalks and businesses. They must issue a warning before they give a citation, and for those who refuse to move along, police can make an arrest.

More than 75 people visited Chicago Police headquarters Monday to pick up applications to register firearms on the day the city's new handgun ordinance took effect. The ordinance, which requires gun owners to keep their weapons in their homes, was hastily crafted by the city after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the city's 28-year-old handgun ban....

Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high-calorie children's meals will soon be banned in parts of Santa Clara County unless the restaurants meet nutritional guidelines approved Tuesday by the county Board of Supervisors.

"This ordinance prevents restaurants from preying on children's' love of toys" to sell high-calorie, unhealthful food, said Supervisor Ken Yeager, who sponsored the measure. "This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes."

Federal officials began grappling Tuesday with one of the thorniest issues surrounding the regulation of tobacco: whether to ban menthol, the most popular cigarette flavoring, which is smoked by millions of Americans every day