QUESTION TIME: Last year, San Francisco voted down a ballot initiative that would have required the mayor to submit to "question time" from the board of supervisors, in the same manner that British prime ministers must take questions in the House of Commons. But the board of supes hasn't given up, inviting Mayor Gavin Newsom to show up and take questions. He is declining these invitations. Newsom, who remains popular despite a public confession of adultery with a top aide's wife, has been deflecting requests for information of all kinds as he explores a race for governor in 2010. (Arnold is termed out, so the seat is open).

ROOKIE MISTAKE: California college students, angry about tuition hikes, have filed an initiative called for a five-year tuition freeze starting in 2009. But don't bet on the measure making the ballot. The group of students behind the measure has announced it is going to use volunteers to gather signatures. What they'll discover is that it is far more costly and time-consuming -- and less effective -- to field teams of volunteers than it is to simply hire paid signature gatherers. The students would find it cheaper -- and would be more likely to gather signatures -- if they devoted themselves to raising money for a paid campaign. Here's a story on the volunteer effort.

SHOOTING WOLVES IN THE LAST FRONTIER: In the northern reaches of our country, wolves have been the target of ballot initiative campaigns, often feeling the same vitriol reserved for immigrants and child molesters in other parts of the country. Alaska is now debating a ballot initiative that would prohibit "aerial wolf control" -- that is, state biologists shooting wolves from the air, a common practice for controlling -- them, except in a "biological emergency." For critics, the thinning of the caribou herd (blamed on wolves attacking caribou calves) constitutes an emergency. Also in Alaska, a public financing plan for state elections makes the ballot. The text of the measure is here. MARYLAND SLOTS: The referendum to raise taxes and permit slot machines survives a Republican court challenge and heads to the November ballot.

IS THIS VOTE NECESSARY? Citizens in a Colorado town that has only 800 voters want to put a referendum on a development question. My question: With so few voters, wouldn't it be simpler, cheaper and more productive to hold a meeting?

MORE CALIFORNIA LOCAL DEVELOPMENT BATTLES: This is an issue we're tracking close: the growing use of municipal and county ballots to decide land use questions that city governments are paid to solve. Here's an initiative to limit developers in San Marcos (in the San Diego area). In Redwood City (in northern California), environmental groups are seeking to qualify an initiative requiring two-thirds voter approval of any future development of city open space. And in Thousand Oaks, where there's already a big June ballot battle between a local hardware store chain and Home Depot, mobile home residents have submitted an initiative that would give them a chance to buy the land under their homes.