San Francisco

Music promoter Chet Helms dies

Chet Helms, the revered father of the 1967 Summer of Love and a music promoter who launched the career of singer Janis Joplin, died Saturday at California Pacific Medical Center of complications from a stroke, his wife said. He was 62.

Helms was the founder and manager of Big Brother and the Holding Company with Joplin as its lead singer.

He was a rock-‘n’-roll impresario who helped stage free concerts and “Human Be-ins” at Golden Gate Park that became the backdrop for what became known as San Francisco’s Summer of Love in 1967 at the height of anti-Vietnam War movement.

Helms was instrumental in helping to develop bands that delivered what became known as the San Francisco Sound.

“Without Chet, there would be no Grateful Dead, no Big Brother and the Holding Company, no Jefferson Airplane, no Country Joe & the Fish, no Quicksilver Messenger Service,” said Barry Melton, the lead guitarist for Country Joe & the Fish.

Washington, D.C.

Study: Readers, viewers question media fairness

Despite growing doubts about the news media’s patriotism, most people still have a positive view of news outlets like their daily newspaper, local TV, network television news and cable news networks, a poll found.

While the public views much of the news media favorably, they are less inclined to consider those sources of news believable, according to the survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Seven in 10 people said they had a favorable view of their local newspaper, and almost as many say that about local TV news, cable news networks and network broadcast news. Major national newspapers are viewed less favorably than the other sources of news.

More than a third of people from ages 18-29 said the Internet is their main source for news. Six in 10 Internet news consumers say online newspapers are at least one of the sources.

The poll of 1,484 adults was taken June 8-12 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

California

Prices hit drivers at gasoline pumps

Gas prices surged an average of 8 cents a gallon during a two-week period, tracking the steep climb in the cost of crude oil, according to an industry survey Sunday.

With the summer driving season under way, the average retail price for all three grades of gas hit $2.24 a gallon on Friday, up from $2.16 on June 10, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations around the country.

The price was 8 cents from the all-time average high of $2.32 set in April.

Last week, crude oil futures settled at a record of just below $60 a barrel, after prices jumped on speculative buying and fears of supply disruptions. Lundberg said pump prices are being supported by demand, which continues to grow.

The jump in gas prices arrested a gradual slide that had been taking place at the pump since April.