Trans athlete AB Hernandez medaled in all three events at the CA state track finals over the weekend—just days after a last-minute rule change aimed at appeasing the Trump administration diluted her wins with shared titles.

As SFist previously reported, the Trump administration targeted the Fresno-area event, threatening a Department of Justice investigation and potential cuts to federal education funding over Hernandez’s participation. In response, California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) implemented a new policy stipulating that if transgender athletes place first in any event, the cisgender competitor who placed second would also be awarded co-first and full team points.

That policy was put to the test almost immediately on Friday as Hernandez’s jump of 42' 2¾" in the triple jump was the day’s best, however she was declared co-champion with St. Mary’s-Berkeley’s Kira Gant Hatcher, whose jump was more than a foot shorter at 40' 5", according to Southern California News Group. In the high jump, Hernandez tied with two other athletes at 5' 7", again resulting in a shared title – despite clearing the height on her first attempt, which is typically a tiebreaker.

She also claimed silver in the long jump with 20' 8¾", just behind defending champion Loren Webster of Long Beach Wilson.

Hernandez was the only athlete at the meet to win three medals, though the CIF’s revised scoring format prevented her from standing alone atop the podium.

While the on-field action was relatively calm, the atmosphere around the venue was charged. According to Associated Press, A small group of anti-trans protesters gathered outside with signs and chants, and a plane flew overhead dragging a banner reading “NO BOYS IN GIRLS’ SPORTS,” funded by conservative advocacy groups. No organized counterprotest appeared, but many in the crowd cheered for Hernandez as they would any other standout athlete.

Inside the stadium, Hernandez chatted easily with competitors and appeared undeterred by the controversy. She declined media interviews, but her demeanor and performance were steady throughout the day.

Among those cheering her on was Bryn Williams, a high school senior from San Diego who competed in the 800-meter race. "This is still a high schooler," Williams said, according to CBS News affiliate KCAL. "She is learning, she is navigating the world just like we are every single day and that I know I would want grace if I was put in a situation where I had a bunch of light on me and what I was doing. So I encourage people to remember that. We are all human and at the end of the day we are all trying to navigate this world."

CIF defended its decision to uphold Hernandez’s eligibility, citing state law that protects transgender students’ rights to compete according to their gender identity. The new rule was framed as a "pilot entry process," a compromise intended to preserve inclusion while preempting federal retaliation.

Whether that compromise will satisfy federal officials remains unclear. As SFist Joe wrote last week, it’s likely that “reasonable compromises might not be possible or even desired.”

Hernandez’s success, and the highly visible effort to dilute it, underscores how the culture war over trans inclusion in sports is accelerating, with high school athletes increasingly caught in the middle.

Top image: CLOVIS, CALIFORNIA - MAY 30: Transgender athlete AB Hernandez of Jurupa  Valley competes in the girls high jump during the CIF State Track and  Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium on May 30, 2025 in  Clovis, California. (Photo by Kirby Lee/Getty Images)

Previously: Trump Administration Goes After Fresno-Area Track and Field Competition Over Trans Athlete

As local e-scooter rental companies continue operating in San Francisco amid the pandemic, a new e-scooter startup is slated to soon wheel in some 400 electric mopeds — the same ones that have already inundated Oakland — which will be available to rent in August.

In the pandemic's infancy, all but one of SF’s four e-scooter rental companies shuttered. However as time went on, Bird, Lime, and Uber-owned (and now defunct) Jump chose to begin operations earlier this spring; Spin, which is owned by Ford, is the only local e-scooter company that's continuously operated in San Francisco since the global health crisis began. And come August, e-scooter startup Revel is set to introduce some competition into the mix with a fleet of 432 gas-free motorbikes.

According to a release from Revel, the service area in San Francisco will initially cover the following neighborhoods: "Cow Hollow, Dogpatch, the Financial District, Golden Gate Heights, Haight-Ashbury, the Mission District, Outer Mission, Pacific Heights, the Richmond District, the Tenderloin and The Castro."  

Operation areas are set to expand within the “near future" and riders can get from one zip code to the next via an "engine designed to help riders navigate San Francisco’s famous hills." (Riders who frequently use scooters by Spin and Lime can attest to how those units lose steam — electrons? — as they ascend up a steep grade.)

Each Revel rental comes equipped with two helmets (one for the rider, the other for a possible passenger) that must be worn at all times, and the company will also provide complimentary liability insurance.

Alas, only 21-year-old or older, driver's-licensed motorists can use Revel mopeds, which can be reserved and rented on the company's app. But passengers can be as young as 18 years old.

Revel mopeds can carry up to two riders and can only operate within the aforementioned service areas in SF.  "Revels," as they're called, are capped at a speed of 30mph — double that of the city's more ubiquitous stand-and-ride e-scooters. So yes: don't be that “idiot” who rode a sluggish scooter across the Bay Bridge last year.

Revel rentals will cost $1.15 to "unlock" and start; after that, they will cost riders roughly $0.39 a minute to operate — noticeably more than other comparable e-scooter companies. Lime and Spin, for example, have similar starting prices, but fall to $0.15 a minute while operating... but that price can surge north of $.033 a minute during peak hours.

On Revel's website, there is no specific mention of how often they’re cleaning their units, so opt to glide a Lysol wipe on yours next month. There is, however, a "24/7" team of full- and part-time staffers that make up the company, many of which help replace discharged moped batteries.

Per TechCrunch, the company said it will begin hiring workers in SF once it launches in August, participating in the First Source Hiring Program to secure local employees.

Certain financial assistance programs, as well as military discounts, can be secured for future applicable riders. Revel also offers free riding lessons for interested parties who'd like to test the mopeds out — and not burden our already strained healthcare system with unnecessary injuries.

Related: City Aims to Shut Down 'Rogue' Scooter Company Go X for Operating With Allegedly Forged Permit

Idiot Takes E-Scooter Onto Bay Bridge

E-Scooter Companies Scoot, Lime, and Jump Halt Operations in SF; Spin Continues Running

Image: Courtesy of Revel

Scoot, Lime, and Jump are choosing to stop all operations in San Francisco over the COVID-19 pandemic. Of SF’s four e-scooter rental companies, only Ford Motor Company-owned Spin continues to run, promising to clean their scooters more often to provide "a safe ride."

With BART at a near standstill, losing nearly 90 percent of its ridership over the past week according to SFGate, concerns over the coronavirus have all but shut down San Francisco’s meme-able e-scooter scene as well.

The Examiner reported that three SF electric scooter rental companies — Lime, Scoot, and Uber-owned Jump — will pause all local operations; Lime has also suspended most of its rental programs throughout the globe, while Scoot chose to temporarily end its moped services as well. Given that the novel virus can live on surfaces for a few days, it seems like an appropriate measure to take. Spin, however, isn’t budging.

They’re still operating in the seven-by-seven, unchanged. And they have City support to do just that.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) told "operators" in an email, per the Examiner's Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, that “shared mobility operators,” which includes e-bike and e-scooter companies, are considered “essential services.” Therefore, even under the current shelter-in-place order, Spin has City-backed support to remain operational.

SFMTA in that same email noted too that they’re waiving certain obligations e-scooter companies must follow. Like, for example, having to maintain certain levels of service: “It is OK if an operator decides to suspend service during the [COVID-19 pandemic].”

To quell anxieties regarding sanitation practices, Spin Senior Policy Council Nima Rahimi announced that to keep riders from contracting the disease, the company has increased the number of times its e-scooters are cleaned throughout the day. The company sent out a tweet that links to a company-published blog post on how Spin intends to keep providing renters with "a safe ride."

Though, it still probably wouldn’t hurt to stroke your Spin scoot with an antibacterial wipe before riding around an almost motionless downtown.

Related: 750 Additional E-Scooters Allowed In San Francisco As The City's Expansion Program Matures

It's Getting Easier To Rent E-Scooters In SF With Good Old-Fashioned Cash

Idiot Takes E-Scooter Onto Bay Bridge

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Like them or not, several hundred new electric scooters are permitted to hit the pavement today as part of a city-wide initiative to increase their availability, sans (hopefully) another "scooter-geddon."

The Chronicle reported yesterday that, as part of an experimental initiative, three e-scooter suppliers – recently-unionized Spin, Lime, and Uber-owned Jump – could, up to today, only flood the streets with 500 units each. (A notable omission from this list is Bird, the troubled like-industry venture which recently laid off a number of Bay Area employees earlier this month.)

However, starting today, each of those three aforementioned companies has the ability to secure another 250 unis to their fleets, amassing for a grand total of 750 more e-scooters to aggravate pedestrians, bikers, (politicians!) and drivers alike in SF.

“I would say so far, not bad, compared to ‘scooter-geddon’ of last year,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin about the fairly new program earlier this year to the Chronicle, nodding in agreeance that 2018 was a troubled year for the zero-emissions mini-motorcycles. “Although there is still some sidewalk riding and still some injuries, all in all, the rollout has been going well.”

Today's deluge of new scooters are slated to populate the neighborhoods mentioned below:

• Mission District
• The Castro
• Western Addition
• Bayview Hunters Point
• Excelsior
• Ingleside
• Outer Mission
• Areas outside San Francisco State University

A litany of cautionary red flags remain unanswered or still in murky waters: What will be of these batteries when they're deemed dead? How will these e-scooter companies be held accountable for distributing their units, equally? What can the city do to ensure sidewalk safety?

Regardless of those answers, San Franciscans and transients, too, can now expect there to be some 3,250 e-scooters in the city at any point. And by February of 2020, that number blooms to 4,o00; San Francisco will allow another 250 units from each of the three providers come February 15th of next year.

Be safe out there, gang ... and, perhaps, take out the AirPods for a hot second, so you can hear the electrical whine of a speeding scooter to your six o'clock.

Related: Idiot Takes E-Scooter Onto Bay Bridge

Scooters Could Double In Numbers as City Considers Expanding Pilot Program

Image: Public Domain via Circe Denyer

CHP looking for Erlynn K. Sanchez-Edwards, 25 from Richmond as suspect in the 8/12 bridge incident. Call 415.557.1094 pic.twitter.com/ybMcIG27eW

— CHP San Francisco (@CHPSanFrancisco) August 14, 2015

Surely you recall Erlynn Kay Sanchez-Edwards, the woman who allegedly crashed a stolen car on the Bay Bridge, leapt from the bridge, swam to safety. and hitchhiked to downtown San Francisco! Well, she's no longer on the run, as the California Highway Patrol says they tracked her down in Oakland.

Back on August 12 at 2:06 a.m., CHP said that when officers approached a woman who was involved in a solo crash on the bridge, she climbed the rail of the bridge, but “as the officer was about 50 yards away, she began to slip and fall."

The water beneath the bridge was searched without avail, and the next day CHP released more information about the situation, identifying the jumper as 25-year-old Sanchez-Edwards, who they say was driving a 2014 Nissan Maxima that had been reported stolen in LA at the time of the crash.

Later that day, a dump truck driver told the CHP he'd picked a wet woman matching Sanchez-Edwards' description up, and dropped her off in San Francisco near Fremont and Folsom streets. She hadn't been seen since.

On Monday afternoon, the CHP announced that Sanchez-Edwards had been found in Oakland, and credited a tipster for information that led to her arrest.

In a statement sent to media, CHP Capt. Christopher Sherry said "I commend the CHP officers and investigators from throughout the Bay Area who performed excellent police work identifying witnesses, investigating leads, and getting the word out."

"The CHP is very grateful for all of the information and tips provided by the community. The safe apprehension of this suspect would not be possible without their help."

According to the CHP, Sanchez-Edwards was taken into custody without incident. She's being held in Santa Rita Jail on $175,000 bail, and faces charges of vehicle theft, receipt of stolen vehicle, hit-and-run causing injury, resisting arrest, and driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs causing injury. She is expected to make her first appearance in court (for this case, at least) on Wednesday.

Previously: Here's The Woman Who Allegedly Crashed A Stolen Car Then Jumped Off The Bay Bridge

Oh dear. Didn't hear about this one until today. Forgive the delay. It seems a woman fell from an apartment balcony at the Fox Plaza building -- affectionately known as Crystal Tower to less desirable ilk). According to reports, "the woman fell from 'a very high floor' of the 29-story building, located at 1390 Market Street." She crash landed on Polk street, between Market and Hayes.

The unidentified woman "was taken to the hospital with a severe gash on the top of her head." No word yet why or how she fell from the balcony.

Fox Plaza sits on the on the former site of the Fox Theatre (1929 - 1963).

Update: An alternate theory emerges. A piece of cement from the building, not a female, fell off the building and hit a pedestrian. Ow.

Trey Blog came across the scene of a failed suicide attempt, which happened a few weeks ago. The images are sad yet fascinating. Someone, it seems, jumped from the top of a Fell Street apartment building in a suicide attempt and smashed into a car windshield. A small note was left behind detailing the events. We hope the victim is alive and well.

In the meantime, do enjoy these harrowing scenes of the scene in question.