• The current government shutdown is the longest in US history, as Sunday marks the 44th day of the impasse in Congress, with Democrats demanding safeguards on certain immigration enforcement operations before voting for full DHS funding. [NBC]
• SFO workers rallied in a caravan outside the airport in protest of ICE presence at US airports, including the incident last week in which DHS tipped off ICE about a woman and her daughter who were deported. [KPIX]

• Over 3,500 US troops were sent to the Middle East Saturday as the conflict escalates between the US-Israel and Iran, as more than 11,000 targets have been hit since late February. [CBS News]
• A striking video has been going viral of someone soaring high on a swing at Khajeh Atta Beach near the Strait of Hormuz in Iran, against a sky full of smoke from recent drone strikes.⁠ [The Times/Instagram]

• A Silver Alert has been issued for Jesse Fuller, 66, who was last seen Monday in Vallejo and is believed to be on foot. [KRON4]
• Stockton has the highest rate of super-commuters in US cities with more than 200,000 residents, which was 9.2% in 2024, and Modesto is second highest at 8.6%. [Chronicle]

Leanne Maxwell/SFist

• A federal judge in Missouri dismissed a lawsuit filed by the sister of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, who’s nine years younger, alleging he sexually abused her as a child — due to the statute of limitations expiring in 2008. The judge did however say she could refile the claim under Missouri's Childhood Sexual Abuse statute, while also approving a counter suit from Sam Altman against his sister for defamation. [Reuters]
• Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies took a suspect into custody in Lafayette after they found a dead body while conducting a welfare check Saturday morning. [SFGate]
• Fremont police arrested a man who allegedly rammed the car multiple times of the mother of his one-year-old son while the child was in the car. [KRON4]
• Children's entertainer Ms. Rachel recently announced she’s begun working to free children from ICE detention centers and aims to force the closure of the Dilley location in Denver, with the help of lawyers and activists. [NBC News]
• Steph Curry will be back participating in full team practices soon, as he's missed 21 consecutive Warriors games while recovering from a knee injury, and he’s scheduled for an evaluation Tuesday. [KPIX]
• Spring is here! Behold, two colorful and up-close-and-personal vignettes of Saturday’s spectacular Tulip Day at SF’s Union Square. [OnlyInSF, nanaraya_ / Instagram]

Nine Bay Area airports, including SFO and Oakland, are on the FAA’s “hot spot” list notifying pilots about areas on the ground at US airports that could potentially be the sites of collisions or near-misses due to confusing layouts and busy runway crossings.

As the Chronicle reports, the Federal Aviation Administration keeps an ongoing list of over 150 “hot spot” US airports, with the aim of bringing awareness to pilots and drivers on the ground about areas that have a history of collisions or near-misses — or areas that pose a potential risk, according to the FAA. Thirty-four California airports are included on the list, including San Francisco International Airport, Oakland International Airport, and Mineta San Jose International, and six others in the Bay Area.

“We review these hot spots regularly with the FAA, airlines, and ground operators to heighten awareness and develop mitigation strategies,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told the Chronicle.

At SFO, the FAA identified four ground “hot spots” tied to navigation errors and unclear markings, as the Chronicle reports. In one area, pilots taxiing east on Taxiway B have turned onto the wrong path, putting their planes in danger; and in another area of the airport, missed turns have led aircraft to cross active runways, per the Chronicle. Two additional locations involve uncertainty about where to stop before runway crossings, particularly where pavement markings are less visible.

The Chronicle reports that at Oakland International Airport, three areas were flagged for potential confusion on the ground. In one, similarly labeled taxiways intersecting a runway have led to mix-ups. In another, aircraft departing the gate have missed turns and continued toward a runway. A third involves a taxiway segment where the risk of entering a runway without clearance is elevated.

At least three close calls have occurred at SFO in the past year. In June 2025, as SFist reported, an overtired air traffic controller cleared a plane to cross an active runway in error before the pilot caught it. And in May 2025, two planes came within about a mile of each other in flight, as the Chronicle reported. In September, as People magazine reported, a ground collision occurred between two United Airlines planes in an area where air traffic controllers “do not communicate with flights.”

As SFist reported in 2023, runway close calls are becoming a growing problem nationwide. Multiple incidents at SFO drew national attention that year, including three near-misses in a single day where planes came within 30 to 50 feet of each other, and two aborted landings after pilots spotted aircraft still on the runway.

In 2017, as SFist reported, an Air Canada jet almost landed on a taxiway lined with planes full of passengers, coming close to killing over 1,000 people. In that case, the pilot had mistaken Taxiway C for a runway, and an air traffic controller managed to catch the error and tell the pilot to pull up just in time.

According to Yakel, SFO began implementing various improvements in 2024, per the Chronicle.

“Such strategies may be procedural, or they may be consist of physical improvements, such as this taxiway improvement project completed in 2024, or the runway project starting later this month, which includes adjacent taxiway work,” Yakel said.

Yakel said “hot spot” airports are often kept on the list even after improvements are made, ensuring that airport personnel continue to be mindful of the risks.

Image: Russss/Wikimedia

Related: Close Calls on SFO Runways Are Just Tip of the Iceberg In Broader National Trend

The new Real ID law kicks in at airports across the nation on Wednesday, after years of postponements. Authorities now say you can still board a plane with your older ID, but TSA will pull you aside and give you the runaround, so get to the airport a heck of a lot earlier.

We are just hours away from the new, stricter Real ID regulation kicking in at midnight tonight. And the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been saying over and over that “On May 7, 2025, U.S. travelers must be REAL ID compliant to board domestic flights.” Well, here in California, the DMV says that once you upload your passport or birth certificate and proof of residency, just schedule an appointment at your local DMV office to get that now legally required Real ID.

So how are the appointment slots looking at the San Francisco DMV office?

The San Francisco DMV office is not even accepting appointments at the moment. Now sure, to be fair, those DMV offices that are currently offering Saturday hours are generally showing appointment slots available for this coming Saturday, May 10. But still, to demand you make an in-person appointment, and then yank the ability to make in-person appointments at larger offices, feels straight out of the book Catch-22.

Well, the good news is that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said earlier Tuesday that travelers will be able to board flights without Real ID, just albeit with some extra steps, according to ABC News. Why Noem waited all the way until the day before the deadline to declare this is beyond us, but it’s still relieving news. (Also, you're fine using a US passport as well.)

Noem said that those without Real ID or a passport “may be diverted to a different line, have an extra step,” according to ABC News. “But people will be allowed to fly.”

So what is this going to look like? The SF Business Times has two very informative articles today on Real ID Eve, one explaining how Bay Area airports will handle those without Real ID, but the other clarifying that you still could miss your flight without Real ID if you don’t provide enough advance time for TSA hassles.  

The first article spoke with officials at SFO, Oakland Airport, and San Jose Mineta Airport. Each facility said you could still board a flight without Real ID, and that they would beef up their staffing to deal with people being diverted for extra identity verification.

“For travelers who do not have a Real ID or passport, we recommend allowing extra time for their identity to be verified,” SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel told the Business Times.

Okay, just how much extra time? The Business Times says it “could take 45 minutes or more” to verify you if you don’t have Real ID. But even that’s not a guarantee you’ll get security clearance.

"If we cannot verify your identity, you will not be allowed to travel," TSA spokesperson Patricia Mancha told the Wichita Business Journal. "If we can't do it in time for you to get on your plane, then it's very likely that you could miss your flight."

"If we have 100 people who don't have their ID, and you're No. 99, we can't guarantee that we're going to verify your identity in time for you to make your flight," Mancha added.

Again, if you have a valid passport, you can use that as an acceptable form of identity verification for domestic travel. But heads up, this may be shaping up to be a terrible summer for flying at airports. As of now, only about 48 percent of Americans have valid passports.

Related: Digital, Smartphone Driver’s Licenses are Coming to California [SFist]

Image: Lake Elsinore, California, USA - Dec 18, 2022: A closeup of corner California Real ID driver license focusing on the REAL ID logo. (Getty Images)

Dallas police were filmed tasing and arresting Michael Singleton, a Black executive chef based in Oakland and Dallas, as he told onlookers he was being wrongfully accused of possessing cocaine. Singleton has since been released and all charges dropped.

Atlanta-based media network, Punk Black, shared video footage on Instagram yesterday of Michael Singleton, an executive chef based in the Bay Area and Dallas, being tased by police at the Dallas Love Field Airport — while he was standing still with his hands behind his back. At least two witnesses filmed the incident as Singleton repeatedly shouted his name and told onlookers to record what was happening.

Musician Lizzy Ashliegh filmed the below clip and told Punk Black the following:

this man said he was being framed and to film. I later overheard that a lady was misheard by the officers and they went straight into action when they assumed “white powder was involved” I hope what she really said goes back to the cops that took him away.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by PUNK BLACK | Alt POC Network (@punk.black)

The video was also shared on fellow Oakland chef Edward’L’s Instagram account, where someone in the comments reported that Singleton has been released and has hired a lawyer:

Mike contacted me on FB tonight after I share this post earlier. He is free and okay at the moment. The charges have been dropped including resisting arrest. He is lawyered up and it is in the courts hands now.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Edward’L (@chefsmelly)

There are currently no other reports or details on the incident.

Here is a transcription of the clip’s audio:

Singleton shouts at the crowd as several officers start to pull his arms behind his back.

Singleton: Somebody tape this. I didn’t do nothing. My name is Michael Singleton.

Police: You have warrants.

Singleton: I got a traffic warrant. (To the crowd) My name is Michael Singleton. I want you to please tape this. They arrested me for the wrong reasons.

As Singleton is standing still with his hands pulled behind his back, police then take a step back and tase Singleton, who falls to the floor.

Witness: No! Why would y’all do this? He was just standing still!

Witnesses can be heard crying and panicking in the background.

Singleton: Oh my God! (to the crowd) My name is Michael Singleton. My birthday’s {redacted}. I’m Michael Singleton. (To the police) I have no warrants. I have a traffic warrant for {redacted}.

Police: That’s right. We’re trying to investigate it.

Singleton: No, you said I have cocaine! I’m not a drug dealer! {unintelligible}

Police: Calm down! Calm down!

Singleton is still on the ground being handcuffed.

Singleton: Hey, Man! I didn’t try to fight you. Why did you tase me?!

Police: You were … {unintelligible}

Singleton: I wasn’t {unintelligible}.. Somebody got me on tape.

Police: {unintelligible}

Singleton: You’re a fucking dickhead, bro.

Police pull Singleton off the floor.

Singleton: I had my hands behind my back and didn’t even fucking move. And I was fucking electrocuted!

Police tell Singleton to sit down then push him into a rolling chair.

Singleton: You keep telling me to do things, but I can’t do anything with my hands, you dumbfuck!

Police: {unintelligible}

Singleton: Hey, fuck you. I just got tased for nothing.

Singleton: (to the crowd) Hey, man, somebody please have this on tape.

Police wheel Singleton away.

Image: Screenshot pulled from the video clip

• The rain is set to return, possibly as soon as tonight, and it’s expected to rain on-and-off through the whole weekend. But the real “atmospheric river” action is coming next week, when heavier storms are anticipated next Tuesday through Thursday. [Examiner]
• How’s this for bad timing? The day after the tragic Washington DC helicopter-plane collision that killed 67 people, we learn that San Carlos Airport may be losing all of its air traffic controllers on Saturday, and they wouldn’t be replaced. The airport is about 10 miles south of SFO, and mostly used for smaller flights on private aircraft. Trump’s new FAA is determined to pay air traffic controllers less, and the controllers are understandably not taking the lowball deal. [Chronicle]  
• Now that Facebook/Meta has gone into full Trump suckass mode, an angry Mark Zuckerberg called an all-hands meeting to yell at his employees to stop leaking the company’s policy decisions to the media. The New York Times reports that Meta workers were told that "employees would be terminated if they talked to the media,” and Zuckerberg said kowtowing to Trump was “the right thing to do.” [NY Times]

National:

• The DC plane crash apparently happened when air traffic controller staffing at Reagan National Airport was “not normal,” or rather, the team was short-handed. One air traffic controller was reportedly doing the work of two, as Reagan Airport has reportedly been struggling with staffing issues. [Bloomberg]
• RFK Jr.s hearings to lead the Department of Health and Human Services went so badly on Thursday that senators were openly wondering if he even knew the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. [CNBC]
• 1960s pop star Marianne Faithful, who helped write several Rolling Stones songs and was one of the top women artists of the British Invasion, died Thursday in London. She was 78. [Associated Press]  

Video of the Day:

• A massive pod of some 1,500 dolphins came cruising past Monterey, frolicking as they do, and this was unusual because they usually travel in groups of only a couple dozen.

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A post shared by The Guardian US (@guardian_us)

Image: Xinran Y. via Yelp

The latest legal drama regarding whether Oakland Airport can have "San Francisco" in its name comes from the Oakland airport, which has filed its opposition to SF’s injunction, and claims SF is faking the data that customers are confused by the name change.

The airport formerly known as Oakland International Airport went and changed its name to San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport back in May. So an irate SF International Airport, and SF City Attorney David Chiu, filed a lawsuit to make them undo that name change. And amidst numerous media reports that confused travelers were going to the wrong airport because of the name change, Chiu filed an injunction last month calling for an immediate halt to the name change while the case is decided.

"The renaming appeared to be intentionally designed to capitalize on SFO’s trademark and divert travelers who may be unfamiliar with Bay Area geography," Chiu’s office said at the time.  

Well, Oakland has now filed its response. KTVU reports that the Port of Oakland, which operates the airport, has filed a motion against Chiu’s injunction, which goes so far as to claim Chiu and SFO “manipulated results” in those media reports to make it look  like people had gone to the wrong airport.  

The Port of Oakland has taken the unusual step of posting the filing to its website. The Port claims that Chiu and SFO’s data "consists of a handful of unauthenticated online opinion posts, a flawed consumer survey with manufactured stimuli and manipulated results, a 'log' created for litigation by unidentified SFO volunteers, and a curated selection of communications expressing opinions about the Port’s consideration of a new name for its Airport."

And as they note, the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport still uses the three-letter shorthand "OAK" in online bookings.

"SFO continues to manufacture confusion under the cloak of its legal filings," Port of Oakland Director of Aviation Craig Simon said in a statement to KTVU. "Their tactics create an anti-competitive environment that does a disservice to all travelers coming to the Bay Area."

The response to the injunction is not a surprising development, and should not be seen as a sign of legal momentum for either airport in this case. But the allegation of "manipulated results," or whether Chiu's results will be seen as legit by a federal judge, may determine the outcome of this dispute.

Either way, Oakland’s airport will remain named San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport for the time being, and a federal judge will start hearing argument on the injunction on November 7.

Related: At Least a Few Airline Passengers Are Getting Confused About Oakland Airport Name Change, Showing Up at SFO [SFist]

Image: OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 12: Travelers walk towards Terminal 2 at Oakland International Airport on April 12, 2024 in Oakland, California. The Board of Commissioners for the Port of Oakland voted on Thursday to proceed with a plan to change the name of Oakland International Airport to the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport. San Francisco officials are objecting to the proposed name change and have threatened to file a lawsuit arguing it would violate the city’s trademark on San Francisco International Airport and would potentially be confusing for people traveling to the area. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The pricey, $189-a-year service called Clear that lets people cruise through airport TSA lines could be banned in California, under a proposed bill from state lawmakers who think its unfair to people can’t pay the extra 200 bucks.

I don’t spend a lot of money on travel, so when I saw this CBS News report that a new state bill could ban Clear from California airports, I just assumed it meant you couldn’t take some kind of Barry Bonds steroids through TSA checkpoints. But instead, Clear is a subscription-based travel product where a private security company allows people to bypass the TSA checkpoint lines if they’ve paid a $189-a-year subscription fee.

But Clear could be wiped out, in California at least, under a new bill proposed by state Senator Josh Newman (D-Brea). Newman’s SB-1372 would bar Clear from operating in California airports, and equalize that TSA line for everyone.

"It's a basic equity issue when you see people subscribed to a concierge service being escorted in front of people who have waited a long time to get to the front of TSA line," Newman told CBS News’ MoneyWatch. "Everyone is beaten down by the travel experience, and if Clear escorts a customer in front of you and tells TSA, 'Sorry, I have someone better,' it's really frustrating."

Newman insists his bill would not ban Clear outright, it would just remove the priority service for Clear. But that would seem to effectively eliminate any reason for people to pay for Clear in the state of California. And Clear, which is a private company and not directly affiliated with TSA, curtly stepped around the “equity issue” that Newman complains of in their own remarks to CBS News.

"We are proud to partner with nine airports across California — creating hundreds of jobs, sharing more than $13 million in annual revenue with our California airport partners and serving nearly 1 million Californians," Clear said in a statement to CBS News. "We are always working with our airline and airport partners as well as local, state, and federal governments to ensure all travelers have a safer, easier checkpoint experience."

It should be noted that Clear, unlike the federally sponsored TSA Pre-Check, does not necessarily get you through the TSA screening process any faster, it literally just lets you skip the first part of the line by skipping over the ID-check part. You still have to remove shoes and send bags through scanners, etc.

Interestingly, Newman’s bill has some airline industry support — from airline-related unions, at least. CBS News reports that the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) supports the bill, as do the Bay Area unions for Transportation Security Officers. But the big airlines are already coming out swinging against the measure, as CBS News points out that Alaska Airlines, Delta, and United Airlines all have partnerships with Clear.

Newman’s bill is just a proposal at this point, and has not yet even received a single vote. It will have its first state Senate hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, April 23, at the California Senate Transportation Committee.

Related: Morrissey Still Griping About Groping At SFO, Says TSA Is Worse Than ISIS [SFist]

Image: Priority checkpoint for the private security screening service Clear at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), San Francisco, California, September 13, 2017. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

A flight bound for Tokyo that took off from SFO at noon Monday had to turn around and make an emergency landing back at SFO after flames were seen coming out of one of its engines. As CBS 5 reports, United Flight 837, bound for Tokyo's Narita Airport, had to circle off the California coast for over an hour to burn off fuel before landing at 1:35 p.m. — and one can imagine that was a harrowing hour or so for the passengers.

A witness on the ground in San Bruno, Sam Smith, tweeted that he saw flames shooting 10 to 20 feet out of the jet's engine and he heard a loud boom.

The Chronicle spoke to Smith, who said, "It was super crazy. It was just a really weird thing to see happen and it was so loud. There were a couple bangs."

United has not confirmed the report on the flames, however a spokesperson for the airline told the Chronicle they were looking into a "mechanical issue" on the aircraft, which is a Boeing 747.

Below, some raw video from CBS 5 of the plane making its emergency landing.

The rain is picking up as we cross into Friday afternoon here, and the heaviest of our weekend wetness is supposed to occur in the next few hours. And, predictably, the rain has caused delays and cancellations at SFO, with KRON 4 reporting that there have been 58 flights canceled so far today.

Delays are across the board at the airport, and are expected to continue through 11 p.m.

It also doesn't help that United Airlines, one of SFO's biggest carriers, had a major technical snafu late Thursday into early Friday that caused widespread delays for United travelers, some as long as six hours according to the Associated Press. United tweeted that the issue, which was reportedly with their weight reporting system, was resolved as of 3 a.m.

Make sure to check on those flight statuses if you're heading anywhere today!

Also, that delay on BART trains traveling south of Daly City continues, but it's down to just 10 minutes.

While it won't make everything right with the world, this short video of two planes landing simultaneously at SFO is pretty cool. And it might, just for a few seconds, provide you with a brief moment of respite from the soul-crushing news of this week.

The video, shot by a passenger and published to YouTube yesterday, has already been viewed over 100,000 times.

In it you can see a United jet slowly descend over the Bay and gently land on an SFO runway — almost exactly in time with the plane the person filming is sitting in. Strangely, no one on board applauds, but that's OK — we still know it's rad.

Related: Video: California Man Thrown Off Plane Yells About His 176 IQ, $4 Million Salary, And Six Homes

Money certainly cannot buy class. This much we already knew, but video depicting an apparently drunk California man being thrown off a Jet Blue plane last Friday really drives the point home. According to ABC 7, the flight was from Long Beach to Sacramento, and the plane was still on the runway when things got heated.

The man in the video, identified by the Daily Mail as David Brackett, proceeds to let loose a torrent of nonsense, including bragging about how smart and rich he is.

"You're a fucking idiot," he tells another passenger. "I have a 176 IQ," he adds before calling the passenger "Mr. Bald" who "can't grow a set of hair" (whatever that means). "I'm 28, I make $4 million a year — what do you do?" (He later says he's 27, so his exact age is unclear.) He then proceeds to brag about his six homes.

The Daily Mail suggests that Brackett is the vice president of a California real estate and mortgage company. The video, filmed by fellow passenger Sara Bear, was posted to an airline steward Facebook page and has since gone viral. Brackett, after being taken off the plane, and presumably sobering up, issued an apology and blamed the 10 minute long outburst on PTSD.

“I’m not blaming anybody but myself for the actions that I did," CBS 2 reports him as saying. "The PTSD thing that I do have, it’s the first time where I’ve had to do something that I regret." The channel notes that Brackett claims to have developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from a motorcycle crash.

While on the plane, Brackett also took the time to brag about his superb eyesight. "I've got 20/20 vision," he excitedly told his fellow passengers. He also threatened to sue the passenger filming the incident.

Two other passengers were also thrown off the plane — one of whom threatened to assault Brackett. As soon as Brackett was escorted off, the other passengers cheered.

Related: Man Allegedly Tries To Strangle Woman On LAX-SFO Flight After She Tilted Her Seat Back

The sad case of serial stowaway Marilyn Hartman popped its head up again today as we learn that the 64-year-old was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport yesterday for the second time. Hartman, who on at least a few occasions has successfully managed to board aircraft without purchasing a ticket, was charged with felony probation violation and misdemeanor criminal trespassing.

Bond has currently been set at $150,000, reports the Chronicle, who also note that Hartman was living in Chicago after being released there in December with the terms of her probation stipulating that she stay away from O'Hare.

Hartman first grabbed our attention when she was caught for the fourth time trying to board a Hawaii-bound flight leaving from SFO. Following the media scrutiny in the wake of that incident, she admitted to suffering from mental illness, and now it remains to be seen whether or not she will be able to return to the nursing home in Chicago where she had been staying since December.

Either way, if the past is any guide, she's unlikely to remain in Chicago for too long.

Update: Via Chicagoist, we hear that a Cook County judge admonished her "like an exasperated dad," and is trying to figure out a more restrictive place to house her to keep this from happening. This was her sixth arrest in Cook County in ten months.

All previous coverage of Marilyn Hartman on SFist.

Former SF Weekly investigative journalist Joe Eskanazi was on the perplexing case of Marilyn Hartman for San Francisco Magazine in recent months, tracking her down first at the Florida jail where she landed this past winter after conning her way into a resort there, and then in Chicago where she was sent after a Florida judge dismissed the charges against her, and where she was arrested again last month. It's been clear since SFist started tracking Hartman's arrests last year that there was some form of mental illness at work, and we first learned about her weird conspiracy theory surrounding a lawyer and something to do with the FBI when we discovered a couple old blog posts she'd written. But Eskanazi tries to make better sense of Hartman's oddly articulate but essentially insane logic, and derides all the media coverage of her arrests as flippant, and "obscur[ing] a darker, sadder story."

Just what that story is, though, remains a mystery, though the SF Mag piece does manage to fill in a few holes, and track down a couple of estranged family members who may be Hartman's brothers, in the Chicago area. One brother says that Hartman changed her name (Eskanazi determines she was born Marilyn Stall and adopted the name Hartman for reasons unknown in 1985), and has been "out there on her own" for the better part of 40 years, having cut off contact with family sometime in the early 1970s, when she was in her mid-20s. Another brother sounds notably angry about Hartman's behavior, and simply says, "Let's close the book on this."

Though a psychiatry professor says she seems to present a "diagnostic puzzle," between her conspiracy talk and obsessional tendencies, it should be noted that the average age for the onset of schizophrenia in women is 25, and schizophrenia is one of the possibilities he mentions.

After Hartman cut off contact with Eskanazi, he was left with little else to investigate or discuss besides the treatment of mentally ill criminals in the justice system, and the frightening ease with which Hartman has been able to sneak onto so many planes.

He writes:

Like many mentally ill people who are neither violent nor outwardly unstable, Hartman is treated with a sort of benign neglect. Even faced with a rap sheet that grows longer by the month, few municipalities see fit to throw the book at a harmless older white woman. But, without Hartman’s participation — which she can withdraw in the time it takes to hop a cab to the airport — there’s next to nothing that can be done to truly help her. Especially if she doesn’t want anybody’s help.

So, yes, she is not a joke. And yes, she will probably continue to make headlines because no one will commit her to a mental health facility, or incarcerate her for very long.

All previous coverage of Hartman on SFist.