Backlash as San Francisco votes to transform stretch of highway into park

Opponents say closing Great Highway to cars will increase traffic as supporters argue it will mitigate coastal erosion

Californians have voted to close part of a nearly century-old highway in San Francisco to cars, transforming a two-mile section into a park for pedestrians and cyclists.

On election day, city residents voted to approve Proposition K, extending the ban on vehicles on a portion of the Upper Great Highway along the coastline. The measure has sparked intense debate over whether cars should have regular access to the area.

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From Shonda Rhimes to Armando Iannucci: 10 of the best TV showrunners

A celebration of the brains behind some of the small screen’s biggest and best shows, including The Wire, Grey’s Anatomy and Friends

Since graduating from the US remake of The Office, Schur has done more than anyone to develop its ethos of making comedy that’s cool without being unkind. He was the boss of Parks and Recreation, which recovered from a so-so start to become truly beloved. Then The Good Place wowed us with primary colours and slyly intelligent philosophising. He co-created Brooklyn Nine-Nine, too.

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‘Downton Abbey is ludicrous’: the biggest TV hits we’ve never seen – until now

Continuing our series on a year of bumper pandemic viewing, our critics finally watch the shows that had passed them by, from Downton to Twin Peaks

As with my experience of so many modern cultural touchstones, I first came to 24 via a Simpsons parody. Being only seven years old in 2001, when the 24-episode “real time” thriller first aired, my knowledge of Kiefer Sutherland’s exhausting counter-terror mission to stop the assassination of a presidential hopeful came from a 2007 Simpsons episode starring Lisa and Bart in a split-screen chase to hold off the detonation of a powerful stink bomb at Springfield Elementary.

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Sun screen: the best TV shows to watch over the summer months

From Love Island to Queer Eye, as the longest day of the year beckons our writers pick their favourite summery television so you needn’t brave the outside world

For many Brits of a certain age, the launch of the latest Love Island trailer is the bat signal that summer is truly starting. Whatever the weather, every July between 2015 to 2019, when Caroline Flack promised me a “long, hot, summer”, I knew I was in for one.

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The 100 best TV shows of the 21st century

Where’s Mad Men? How did The Sopranos do? Does The Crown triumph? Can anyone remember Lost? And will Downton Abbey even figure? Find out here – and have your say

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Rashida Jones, Jane Fonda prod liberals to join ‘last weekend’ voter drive for midterms

A coalition of nearly two dozen liberal groups plans a massive drive to turn out voters on final weekend before the Nov. 6 midterm elections. Rashida Jones, Jane Fonda prod liberals to join 'last weekend' voter drive for midterms A coalition of nearly two dozen liberal groups plans a massive drive to turn out voters on final weekend before the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

Looking back at the longest filibusters in U.S. history

Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi, of California, garnered attention Wednesday with her rather impressive eight-hour filibuster on the House of Representatives floor. The 77-year-old Minority Leader of the House easily shattered the previous record of 5 hours and 15 minutes set by Missouri Rep. Champ Clark in 1909, according to The Hill.

Chris Pratt volunteers Parks And Recreation alter ego for vacant FBI top job

Chris Pratt has volunteered his Parks And Recreation alter ego to take over the role of dismissed FBI director James Comey. After US President Donald Trump dismissed the bureau's top man, Pratt tweeted footage of "FBI Agent Burt Macklin" in action, adding: "Just lemme know."

Samantha Bee’s show briefly upstages correspondents’ dinner

Comedian Samantha Bee talks to reporters ahead of her "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner" event in Washington, Saturday, April 30, 2017, held hours before the traditional White House Correspondents' Association gala. President Donald Trump said early in his presidency he would not be attending the latter dinner, the first in decades that a president has done so.