• The city of San Francisco plans to raise water and sewage rates by almost 25% over the next two years, as well as continually over the next decade. The average single-family household bill is expected to increase from $171 a month to $189 this summer and $212 a month next summer. [Chronicle]
• The attempt to persuade all Democratic candidates to drop out of the special election for former Representative Eric Swalwell’s vacant seat in favor of a caretaker candidate has fallen through. [Bay Area News Group]
• Two earthquakes with magnitudes of 3.0 and 2.7 struck off the coast near the San Francisco Zoo Saturday starting around 4:40 pm with weak shaking reported. [KPIX]
• BART’s Red line and Green Lines will be out of service all day Sunday for lighting work, and service will resume Monday. [KRON4]
• Around 75 addresses in Mountain View have been without water since Friday when the main water line was contaminated by a construction crew, and comprehensive drinking water safety testing will not be complete until at least Monday. [Bay Area News Group]
• Novato Police are searching for an older woman who is suspected of striking an eight-year-old on a bike and fleeing the scene Friday afternoon. [NBC Bay Area]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

One teen was killed and four others are in serious and critical condition following a suspected DUI single-car crash in Novato early Saturday, and it’s believed they’re not from Novato.

The crash occurred just before 1 am Saturday at the intersection of San Marin Drive and Simmons Lane in Novato, according to the Novato Police Department in a social media post.

The 17-year-old driver of the sedan, which was occupied by four other teens between 16 and 18 years old, hit a utility pole, as KRON4 reports. Police determined the driver was allegedly under the influence of alcohol.

All five teens were transported to the hospital, where one was declared dead, and the others were reportedly in serous and critical condition.

The police department said based on preliminary information, it’s not believed they’re from Novato.

“We understand that this is an incredibly difficult situation for all the families involved as they navigate the weight of this tragedy,” wrote the police department.

This incident is still under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Novato Police Department Traffic Section by calling 415-897-4361.

Image: Novato Police Department

Michale Graves, vocal Trump supporter and late ’90s-era frontman for punk band the Misfits, whom some refer to as “Temu Glenn Danzig,” is scheduled to perform at an auto body shop in Novato later this month, prompting an upcoming three-day protest and backlash online.

A poster in the Bay Area subreddit alerted the community this week about an upcoming show featuring punk musician Michale Graves, who testified on behalf of five Proud Boys involved in the January 6 insurrection. While commenters on the Reddit post pointed out that any mention of the show will only serve to bring more attention to the event (see the Streisand Effect), a local group of activists has planned a weekend-long protest leading up to the show.

“Known Proud Boy Supporter, Michale Graves, is scheduled to perform in Novato Jan 31st,” the original Reddit poster writes. “We are taking some notes from Texas and protesting. We don’t welcome white supremacy in our community,”.

As the Chronicle reports, Buddy’s Music Office, which is located at Buddy’s Auto Body & Restoration in the North Bay city of Novato, published an Instagram post on January 6 promoting the show, which also happens to be the fifth anniversary of the riot at the Capitol, leading to swarms of angry commenters demanding that the organizer cancel the show. The comments have since been deleted, and further commenting on the post has been disabled, per the Chronicle.

“If you can’t separate the art from the artist, that’s fine, but please don’t harass others or leave false reviews etc,” the venue responded. “Yaall (sic) are better than that. Cry in your own houses and let others enjoy the love of music in theirs. Cheers my friends.”

As KRON4 reports, backlash from protestors in other cities has gotten Graves’s gigs canceled in the past, including a show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania last February. Per the Reddit post, protesters in San Antonio, Texas, persuaded a venue to cancel Graves’s show last April, which was moved to a second venue where protestors lined the street and sidewalk, as reported by News 4 San Antonio.

Per the Chronicle, protesters plan to meet at the intersection of Bel Marin Keys and Galli Drive in Novato January 29 through 31 at 3:30 pm each day, according to the Reddit post. "Let them know racism and fascism aren't welcome in our community," reads the post.

Image: Blitzkrieg Blitzkrieg/Flickr

Related: Thousands of Emboldened Anti-Abortion Protestors, Including Some Proud Boys, Attend Today's Annual March for Life in San Francisco

Residents in southern Novato in Marin County were told to shelter-in-place Thanksgiving night as authorities investigated a possible shooting near the US Coast Guard Housing. The order was lifted around 10:25 pm Thursday. The search was resumed as additional gunfire was heard Friday and Saturday.

Update: Marin Independent Journal has provided additional details about the incident, which began around 6:30 pm Thursday when security guards for the US Coast Guard witnessed a suspected trespasser on South Oakwood Drive near the housing complex. After the guards began chasing the suspect, they heard what sounded like gunfire erupt near the sports courts on Crescent Drive, according to the Novato Police Department. Per the Independent Journal, authorities were unable to locate a gun or a suspect. Additionally, one of the guards fell and suffered minor injuries during the chase.

Update 2: Per NBC Bay Area, authorities resumed their search of the Coast Guard Housing Saturday as more gunshots could be heard overnight Friday and Saturday morning. It was called off at noon Saturday.

No bullets or other evidence has been found. It’s not known whether the recent gunshots are related to Thursday’s.

The Novato Police Department wrote on social media that the suspect was a white male wearing tattered black clothing. The post also mentioned authorities are aware that the gunshots could potentially be from local duck hunters.

As KPIX reports, multiple agencies were at the scene investigating the incident Thursday night, including Novato Police and Fire, the Marin County Sheriff's Office, San Rafael Police, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service. Authorities issued a shelter-in-place for residents at the Coast Guard housing complex as well as surrounding areas, including South Oakwood Drive, Bolling Circle, Smart Hamilton Station, Hathaway Drive, and Marin Valley Mobile Home Park, per KTVU.

The housing complex is located at the former Hamilton Army Airfield off Highway 101, per Bay City News. It consists of 121 housing units ranging from single rooms, deluxe suites, and two- and three-bedroom duplexes, which serve as temporary quarters for active duty, retired, and reserve military personnel and their families, as well as civilian Coast Guard staff, per the Coast Guard’s website.

Per KPIX, the scene was cleared, and the shelter-in-place was lifted around 10:25 pm Thursday, as authorities determined there was no immediate threat to the public. Residents are urged to report suspicious activity by calling 415-897-1122.

Image: US Coast Guard

• A Gilroy teen found a razor blade inside a Milky Way candy bar this week but wasn’t seriously injured. She said she received it while trick-or-treating in her immediate neighborhood. [NBC Bay Area]
• Oregon U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled Friday that the Trump administration must remove National Guard troops from Portland within 14 days, permanently blocking their deployment and calling his attempts to federalize troops “a gross abuse of power.” [KPIX]
• A group of singles sick of dating apps showed up to a singles night at Costco Thursday thinking it was a quirky one-off thing organized by a person but quickly discovered it was put on by an AI app (although SFist could tell right away when we saw the slick marketing out in the wild). [Chronicle]
• A family in Fremont is searching for the owner of an off-leash dog that attacked and killed their small dog, Cheese, on October 23, then fled the scene; they’re raising funds to pay for $20,000 in vet bills. [KTVU]

• The occupants of a black Dodge Charger were nabbed by the California Highway Patrol and taken into custody by the Novato Police Department when it was discovered they were allegedly in possession of $20,000 worth of stolen designer glasses. [KRON4]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

• Anthropic AI has agreed to pay $1.5 billion in a copyright settlement over a lawsuit alleging the company illegally pirated almost half a million books. The plaintiffs — a group of authors and publishers — will be awarded $3,000 for each publication listed in the case. [Associated Press]
• Thirty inmates were involved in a fight at Maguire Correctional Facility in San Mateo County Friday morning, and deputies reportedly used gas to break it up. Six officers had minor injuries, and six inmates were hospitalized, three of whom have since been sent back to jail and the others in stable condition. [KTVU]
• Caltrans is replacing a misspelled sign on southbound 101 in Novato/Petaluma. The sign, which should read “San Marin Drive” instead of the currently incorrect “San Martin Drive,” is scheduled to arrive in a couple weeks — at no extra cost to taxpayers. [KGO]

• Oakland-born world figure skating champion Alysa Liu told the Associated Press she’s replacing the d4vd song she’d planned to use for one of her programs in the Milan Olympics due to the artist’s potential involvement in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. [Associated Press]

National:

• Elon Musk is listed in a newly released Epstein document, along with Steve Banon, Peter Thiel, and Prince Andrew. The file, released Friday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, contains portions of Epstein’s daily schedule from 2014, 2017 and 2019, as well as a flight manifest from 2000. [USA Today]
• Black Panther and Black Liberation activist Assata Shakur, who had been living in Cuba under political asylum for the past several decades, has died. Shakur was given a life sentence in 1977 in the killing of a New Jersey state trooper and was rescued by members of the Black Liberation Army during a jail break in 1979. [Associated Press]
• In a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Amazon agreed to pay its customers $1.5 billion in refunds — in addition to a $1 billion civil penalty — over its “deceptive Prime enrollment practices.” [CBS News]
• Sinclair Broadcasting and Nexstar Media Group, which boycotted the airing of Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, announced Friday they’ll both be airing the show again on all 38 and 33 of their ABC affiliate stations effective immediately. [CBS News]

Video of the Day:

• This Bay Area couple had a wedding to remember with Vallejo’s own E-40 as their wedding officiant. Big congrats, to the Kinders!

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Novato police arrested 33-year-old David Slattery Friday morning after he crashed his car into the Islamic Center of North Marin and allegedly attacked someone inside the mosque.

As KTVU reports, an officer was patrolling the area when he heard a crash on the 7000 block of Redwood Boulevard around 11:30 am Friday and ran to investigate, according to a press release from the department.

As the Chronicle reports, the officer witnessed the driver entering the mosque after he crashed a car into the exterior of the building. The driver then allegedly attacked someone in the building while speaking incoherently before the officer intervened.

KTVU reports that the victim of the attack was treated at the hospital for minor injuries. Slattery was arrested and charged on suspicion of felony assault, burglary, and vandalism. His bail is set for $50,000, per KTVU.

Police say they weren’t able to determine whether the incident was a hate crime, as KTVU reports.  

Image: Novato Police Department

Related: SF Mosque Attendees Harassed With Hateful Acts on Christmas Eve

• During a homicide investigation Friday night, Pleasanton police found what appeared to be improvised explosive devices at the scene. Suspicious devices were also found at the home of the suspect, Lucas Chan, 29, of Pleasanton, who was booked into Santa Rita Jail on homicide charges. [KPIX]
• Former Emeryville mayor John Bauters has been eliminated from Australian reality show, The Snake, after five weeks presumably due to his reportedly insufferable personality, prompting speculation that he may have sullied his chances at a political comeback. [The E’ville Eye]

• An Ebony Alert has been issued for 15-year-old Neveah Sheltan who was last seen in Castro Valley around 5:50 p.m. Saturday wearing a black T-shirt and camouflage pants. [KRON4]

• A driver allegedly attempted to hit a pedestrian in a road rage incident near 7th Avenue and Clement Street in SF's Richmond District Saturday afternoon after the pair got into an altercation and the pedestrian tried to damage the car’s side mirror. [Hoodline]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

In this week’s Field Notes: A 4-year-old meets 1,000 dogs, kids get a free tree book, and Sutro Baths summons ghosts. There's opera for Dolores Huerta, Deaf-led dance, an inclusive art fair, rooftop skating, coastal wineries with views, and a Novato Eames museum in the works.

A boy, a teacher, and 1,000 dogs

At Santa Cruz’s Pleasure Point, 4-year-old Quinn Drake is on a mission to meet 1,000 dogs before kindergarten — with help from his devoted day care teacher.

Armed with treats and a notebook, the pair spend weekends logging canine names and spreading joy. — NBC Bay Area

Free tree guide helps kids explore Bay Area forests

The Peninsula Open Space Trust has released a free Tree Explorer’s Handbook to help kids connect with nature. Designed for print or mobile, it includes bark rubbings, tree ID tips, and notes on the wildlife trees support.

POST’s Zionne Fox calls trees an accessible entry point for fostering curiosity. — KGO

Rituals, raves & ghost stories at sutro baths

The crumbling tunnel near San Francisco’s Sutro Baths has inspired ghost stories and satanic panic since the '80s. Once a quarry access route, it’s now a canvas for graffiti, a backdrop for punk shows and raves, and a magnet for occult rumors — none verified, but the energy still lingers.

Hikers still stumble upon candle stubs and burned-out circles of salt. Whether it’s urban myth or a low-profile ritual site, the place practically dares you to look over your shoulder. — SFGate

Literary rebels and psych rock with Pat Thomas

Historian and longtime Bay Area music producer Pat Thomas brings his dual passions home next week. He'll be launching his new anthology Evergreen Review: Dispatches from the Literary Underground (1957–1973) at Clio’s in Oakland on August 4, then performing with his 1990s-era improv psych band Mushroom at the Make Out Room on August 5.

The book highlights the influence of Grove Press’s countercultural literary magazine and its boundary-pushing contributors, including William Burroughs and Amiri Baraka. — Mission Local

Dolores Huerta gets her own opera, and she’s attending Saturday night

West Edge Opera in Berkeley kicks off its season with Dolores, a world premiere inspired by labor icon Dolores Huerta and the 1965 Delano Grape Strike.

The new work — by composer Nicolas Lell Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch — spotlights Huerta’s early organizing years and her partnership with figures like Cesar Chavez and Larry Itliong. Huerta herself is expected to attend tonight’s opening night, August 2, at Oakland’s Scottish Rite Center. Runs through August 16. — Oaklandside

Bay Area’s Deaf Dance Festival brings bold new work and global talent

Now in its 13th year, the Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival brings together Deaf and Hard of Hearing artists from around the world — Botswana to Bogota, Jamaica to the Bay. Led by Oakland-based dancer and choreographer Antoine Hunter (Purple Fire Crow), the festival runs August 6–10 with performances and workshops in SF and Berkeley.

It’s a rare space where Deaf artists can fully express themselves, both onstage and behind the scenes, supported by Deaf-led production and layered accessibility — from sign language in multiple languages to audio descriptions and vibrating seats. — 48 Hills

New art fair to spotlight neurodivergent artists

Creativity Explored is launching a new national art fair in downtown SF next January. Funded by a $100K grant from the Svane Family Foundation, the Creativity Explored x Open Invitational will bring together neurodivergent artists from across the country during San Francisco Art Week 2026.

Admission will be free, and booth fees waived. The project expands the cultural conversation around who gets exhibited and collected, and strengthens SF’s role as a leader in inclusive art. — SF Chronicle

Mid-century Novato landmark to become Eames Design Museum

A quirky 1960s-era building once home to publisher McGraw Hill — and later Birkenstock — is being transformed into a new art and design museum by the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity. The 88-acre Novato property will celebrate Charles and Ray Eames, the mid-century design legends behind the iconic molded chair and more.

With architecture from the firm behind SF’s de Young Museum, plans include showcasing emerging artists as well. The current Eames space in Richmond has a 1,000-person waitlist — and the Institute hopes this new site will become a world-class destination. There’s no timeline yet, but the purchase price was $36 million. — SFist

Rooftop roller rink brings summer skating to Market Street

Skate under the stars at SVN West’s rooftop rink, open Thursdays–Sundays through mid-September. With views of the San Francisco skyline, themed 21+ nights (like disco, hip-hop, and Bay Area beats), and kid-friendly events (like Character Day), there's something for everyone.

Tickets include skate rentals, and season passes offer unlimited access and food discounts. — Bucketlisters

Wine with a view

If you’ve ever wanted to sip pinot while watching waves crash below you, this roundup delivers. From redwood-flanked patios in Jenner (Fort Ross Vineyard) to Highway 1 breezes in San Simeon (Hearst Ranch Winery), these five California wineries pair coastal views with chardonnay, rosé, and even pinotage.

You can just drop in — or, if you’re the plan-ahead type, book food pairings or guided hikes between sips. — 7x7

Top Image via West Edge Opera House

Previously: Field Notes: Possums, Pixies, Plays, and Power Tools

The abandoned former Birkenstock factory in Marin County and the 88.5 acres it sits on have been acquired by the heirs of design icons Charles and Ray Eames, who have plans to build a major art and design museum there that will also house the Eames Archives.

You've likely seen the striking, white, multi-peaked concrete roof of the former Birkenstock factory along the 101 freeway in Novato — which was originally built to house a distribution center for publisher McGraw Hill back in 1964. Birkenstock moved out of the 123,000-square-foot building in 2019, and now the property, which includes 88.5 acres of land and another 43,000 square feet of office space, has been purchased by the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, a nonprofit that is run in part by the granddaughter of Charles and Ray Eames, Llisa Demetrios, for a reported $36 million.

Demetrios resides on Eames Ranch in Sonoma County, which was established by her mother, the only child of Charles Eames and stepchild of Ray Eames, the artist and designer Lucia Eames. And currently, the Eames Archives collection is being housed in Richmond, where tours and visits are available to the public. (Though not very available, as the Chronicle notes there's a waitlist 1,000 people long.)

The Eameses are best known as the designers of midcentury furniture, in particular the Eames lounge chair (pictured above) first produced by Herman Miller in 1956. They were also fillmmakers, and the designers of buildings, toys, and an array of more utilitarian furniture like the items seen below.

"To share my grandparents’ vision with the world is the honor of a lifetime," Demetrios says in a statement about the new museum project. "Ray and Charles’ boundless curiosity for solving problems through design has been at the core of the Eames Institute’s mission, and this expansion will allow us to share those gifts with our community on an even larger scale."

The vision for the planned museum is being led by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, who designed San Francisco's deYoung Museum, with local firm EHDD serving as executive architects.

Plans for the museum include immersive art exhibitions, makerspaces and workshops, high-impact educational programming, accessible public open space, culinary and retail offerings, and space for displaying a portion of the Eames Collection and family archives, among other collections and works.

"The acquisition of the Birkenstock campus is a transformational step for the Eames Institute — the culmination of a long-held dream and our deep commitment to the North Bay community," says John Cary, President & CEO of the Eames Institute, in a statement. "This extraordinary space will enable us to expand our programming and reach a broader audience, while serving as a permanent anchor for creativity and innovation in the Bay Area. We’re immensely grateful for the support that has brought us to this moment, and eager to bring this to life in partnership with the City of Novato."

The Eames Institute was established in 2019 and only launched publicly in 2022. It is separate from the Eames Foundation, which also oversees the preservation of Charles and Ray Eames's famed Case Study House #8 in Pacific Palisades, in Los Angeles. Until recently, the Eames House, as it's locally known, was the main design landmark associated with the couple, until the Archives, based in Richmond, were opened to the public in February 2024.

The institute also now owns San Francisco-based William Stout Architectural Books.

The debut of the Novato museum, which still does not have an official name, will mark the most significant publicly accessible design mecca for all things Eames, with an opening date to be in announced in the coming years.

Calling the news about the museum "incredibly exciting, David C. Howse, the president of California College of the Arts, says, "The Eames legacy is a cultural treasure, and the Institute’s new campus will be a platform to share this more broadly than ever before."

An exhibit of the Eameses' later furniture designs is currently on view at the Transamerica complex in downtown San Francisco. It's open daily from 10 am to 5 pm at the Transamerica Pyramid Annex Gallery, 535 Washington Street.

A teenager is facing felony charges after a Saturday night police chase in Petaluma ended in a suspected DUI crash that killed a 14-year-old passenger and seriously injured three others.

As the Chronicle reports, Petaluma police were responding to a report of a possible DUI around 10:10 p.m. Saturday when they spotted a black Kia Soul swerving into oncoming traffic on Lakeville Highway. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver did not pull over. During the brief pursuit, the Kia sideswiped a westbound vehicle, causing minor damage but no injuries.

Moments later, the Kia lost control and crashed near Old Lakeville Highway Road. The vehicle rolled, ejecting all four occupants — all teenage boys from Marin County. As Santa Rosa publication The Press Democrat reports, one passenger, identified by the Sonoma County Coroner as 14-year-old Aldo Rodriguez Cazarez of Novato, died at the scene. The driver, 17, and two other passengers, ages 15 and 16, sustained life-threatening injuries and were transported to local trauma centers. All three were reported in stable condition as of Sunday afternoon.

Police said the Kia had recently been reported stolen in Marin County. The cause of the collision is still under investigation.

As KPIX reports, the 17-year-old driver, whose name was not released due to his age, is facing multiple charges: felony vehicular manslaughter, felony evading causing great bodily injury or death, and DUI causing great bodily injury or death. He will be booked into Sonoma County Juvenile Hall after being released from the hospital.

Lakeville Highway — a notoriously dangerous stretch of road — was shut down between Ernie’s Tin Bar and Cannon Lane until about 9:15 a.m. Sunday as investigators from Santa Rosa police and the California Highway Patrol examined the scene.

Anyone with information about the crash should contact Santa Rosa Police’s Violent Crimes Investigations Team at (707) 543-3590 or submit an anonymous tip.

Image: Santa Rosa Police Department/Facebook

An individual who creeped into a Tesla Cybertruck owner's driveway in Novato over the weekend and vandalized the vehicle is being sought by Novato police.

Doesn't everyone know there are Ring cameras everywhere these days? This suspected vandal doesn't appear to know or care, and they can be seen staking out a driveway off a cul de sac in quiet Novato during the wee hours of Saturday morning — but they did wear a mask and dark hoodie, so they may have known cameras would be watching.

The person is first seen at 4:22 am wearing a white face mask, casing the area. And, as the time stamp on the video shows, this person returns at 5:41 am wearing a black mask, carrying a couple of pieces of concrete, and some duct tape, which was apparently used to cover over the Cybertruck's cameras.

Police say that after puncturing the car's tires, and leaving a note about this on one of the pieces of duct tape, the suspect then is seen throwing the pieces of concrete at the car's windshield and front end.

Anger at Elon Musk and the Trump administration is running high around the Bay and elsewhere in the country, and owners of Teslas are bearing the brunt of some of this anger.

"We are aware of another recent incident in Novato targeting Tesla vehicles and want to reassure our community that we are fully committed to investigating these acts," the Novato Police Department says in a Xitter post.

Police are seeking assistance from residents in the area of Jackson Drive, Truman Drive, Brown Drive, Garner Drive, and Washington Drive, asking them to check their surveillance cameras for any suspicious persons or vehicles between 4 and 6 am on Saturday.

San Jose police recently made an arrest in a similar Tesla vandalism incident two weeks ago in a Costco parking lot.

Anyone with information about the Novato case is asked to call 415-897-4361 or email police@novato.org.

Novato’s Sinaloa Middle School was the scene of a brawl between four teenage girls Friday, which begat a mob of students stampeding the campus and sometimes trampling one another, which then begat a large meeting with irate parents Tuesday night.

This has been a pretty tempestuous end to the school year in the Bay Area on several academic levels. College commencements have been disrupted by Palestine protests, and last week we saw a shooting outside a high school graduation in Oakland. Now it's the middle schoolers seeing violent unrest close out their 2023-24 school year, as KTVU reports on a lunch period brawl at Novato’s Sinaloa Middle School last Friday, which led to a stampede and some trampling, and a Tuesday night meeting with parents who were not at all happy about the situation.

The KTVU segment above shows only a few seconds of the fight itself, which seems to just involve four girls ranging from 12 to 14 years old. "I think that all she was trying to do was defend herself and she was trying to knock away blocks and stuff but the other three were on top of her going after her and not stopping," parent Christina Carroll told KGO.

But there were apparently rumors flying around the school all day that an attack was coming, and students were amped up perhaps hoping for a front-row view. According to KTVU, the principal sent an email to parents after the incident saying that the rumors "resulted in a very large stampede of our students (several hundreds of them) rushing around the campus to seek out the fight to watch it happen. This mob grew in size as they ran through the campus, causing some students to fall and literally be run over by others."

According to KGO, school administrators anticipated the attack might come Thursday, though it did not, and they reportedly had extra security Friday when it happened.

And KGO also thinks they may have a “gotcha” that police were not notified.

"So the school district was aware but the police department wasn't?" KGO reporter J.R. Stone asked Novato Police Department captain Sasha D'Amico.

"Correct," D'Amico told the station. "So if we had been requested as part of our agreement with the school district we definitely would have been involved but that is something we need a request and need information to act on it."

It seems this was all related to bullying, and frankly, it appears that a group of girls who'd been on the wrong end of that bullying got their measure of revenge.

One parent whose daughter was arrested told KGO, "They're being told they're fat, they're ugly, their hair is ugly, balls being thrown at them every single day at school."

KGO reports that “several arrests have been made,” though it’s unclear how many students were arrested. These being middle schoolers, their names are not being released.

Related: The Kids Are Not Alright: Teens Brawling In Large Mobs at Stonestown Mall [SFist]

Image: Sinaloa Spartans PTSA Novato via Facebook

Two Northern California journalists got to the bottom of who was disrupting various city hall meetings with anti-semitic messages in Berkeley and Marin County. The neo-Nazis then started impersonating those journalists in the same meetings, and others across the country.

Some changes that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to our daily lives became permanent, like parklets. And it seemed for a while that government meetings across the country would keep the COVID-era Zoom calls and remote public comment by telephone in place. Many of them did, until racist Zoom-bombs of city hall and county meetings led to the end of public comment by call-in, here in San Francisco and beyond. According to a new article in today's Chronicle, a spokesperson for the California State Association of Counties said that “all counties have experienced some level of disruption in public meetings.”

That Chronicle article profiles two northern California journalists who started uncovering who was behind this Zoom-bombing. But once they did uncover the perpetrators, the far-right, antisemitic Zoom-bombers started impersonating those journalists at public meetings not only in the Bay Area, but all over the country. (And it should be noted that both of the journalists are Jewish).

The Chronicle spoke with Phil Barber of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Gabe Stutman of the Jewish News of Northern California. Barber wrote a lengthy exposé this past September on the callers who’ve been disrupting various northern California government meetings with racist outbursts with remote call-ins.

He traced it to a character whom the Chronicle describes as a “failed rapper,” Jon E. Minadeo II. Minadeo had co-founded an antisemitic streaming channel called Goyim TV (Goyim is a Hebrew term for non-Jewish people), and that channel promotes anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.

Just days after Barber’s article was published, someone who was not Phil Barber of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat called in to a Novato City Council meeting claiming to be “Phil Barber of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.” That caller then claimed a local Jewish center would be screening a documentary blaming 9/11 on the Jews.

That meeting got even weirder from there, as the next nearly dozen callers were all alt-right Zoom-bombers. “The next 11 callers are more explicit,” as the Chronicle explains. “Two impersonate rabbis and claim to engage in pedophilia. One pretends to be a transit advocate recommending Jewish people be put on trains. Another makes up a nonprofit that turns Jewish people into soap. Some callers think they’re being funny; others sound angry as they accuse the council of oppressing white people.”

The Jewish News of Northern California’s Gabe Stutman has also done extensive reporting on Minadeo’s exploits. And someone claiming to be Stutman called in to an October 4 Berkeley City Council meeting and spewed antisemitic, racist slurs. Even more bizarrely, people claiming to be Stutman even called in to rant racist invective at an October 23 city council meeting in Seldovia, Alaska.

“At that point I knew this was definitely a widespread phenomenon,” Stutman told the Chronicle. “I have no idea how frequently this is happening. But my guess is if it’s happening in Seldovia, Alaska … it’s probably happening in a bunch of different places.”

Many of these cities, like San Francisco, have just flat-out banned calling in to government meetings by phone. That may solve the Zoom-bomb problem, but not the larger problem of antisemitic trolling. And as Barber told the Chronicle, he “almost certainly will be writing about it again.”

Related: Racists Have Been ‘Zoombombing’ Public Meetings Across US, and SF's Board of Supervisors May End Remote Commenting Entirely [SFist]

Image: Novato City Council

A roommate dispute turned fatal for both a man and his dog, and a 65-year-old man is being held without bail for allegedly shooting and killing both in a Friday incident.  

Some sort of conflict between two roommates in the Lanham Village neighborhood of Novato Friday afternoon turned deadly, not only for one of the roommates, but his dog too. Novato police responded to reports of gunfire at about 4:30 p.m. Friday on Martin Drive, and Bay Area News Group reports that a man and his dog were both found shot and killed.

The deceased man’s roommate, 65-year-old Paul Henry Dwight, was taken into custody. According to Bay Area News Group, “Dwight and the dead man were roommates who had had a dispute over their housing arrangements.”

The victim’s name has not been released, as police are still in the process of notifying next of kin.

Dwight was booked into Marin County Jail early Saturday morning on  suspicion of murder and animal cruelty. He’s being held without bail as police continue to investigate the matter.

Police also detained another man they describe as a “resident” on charges of obstructing and delaying a police investigation. That man’s name has not been released.

If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to call the Novato Police Department at (415) 897-1122.

Related: SF Firefighter Allegedly Shot Oakland Man In Puppy-Breeding Dispute [SFist]

Image: City of Novato