• An East Bay man was arrested, and his three children were taken into care by Contra Costa Child Family Services after authorities discovered he was allegedly drugging them and taking their blood. [Bay Area News Group]
• An SF company called Weave Robotics is launching an $8,000 robot that can reportedly fold a load of laundry in 30 to 90 minutes, which includes most clothing and smaller-sized linens but not large blankets or bed sheets yet. (For $8,000, the least it could do is fold the godforsaken fitted sheet.) [KTVU]

• Around 400 people showed up to the Hayes Valley Trader Joe’s for a dating event Thursday — put together by a human this time, and based on the photos of the event, it looked pretty well organized and not too disruptive to the store’s staff. [Mission Local]
• Asian American communities throughout the Bay Area are celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year this weekend, including San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, which is having its annual Vietnamese Tết Festival. [KPIX]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

The month-long search for missing Sacramento mother of four, Whisper Owen, 36, and her baby daughter Sandra McCarty, 8 months, ended Sunday when they were found dead in their car, which was submerged in an irrigation canal under a bridge in San Joaquin County.

As Bay Area News Group reports, Owen and her baby were last seen on July 15 when they were visiting family in Fresno after a doctor’s appointment. They headed back to the Sacramento area around 5 p.m. As Sacramento’s KCRA reports, it’s believed that Owen took a backroads route through Stanislaus County, presumably to avoid getting a ticket for a broken tail light, as reported by SFGate.

KCRA writes that officers from the San Joaquin and Stanislaus County sheriff's offices had previously searched the area where the pair were found on August 8 with no success, prompting Owen’s family to seek additional assistance.

Bay Area News Group writes that Owen’s silver 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV was located on Sunday through a joint effort between underwater search-and-recovery team, Adventures with Purpose, which used sonar to pinpoint the vehicle’s location, and a diver from Angels Recovery.

As KGO reports, Owen tried to pull her daughter to safety, according to the searchers, but the pair became trapped under the bridge. What caused it is still unclear.

“Our hearts go out to the family,” said Heather Brent, spokeswoman for the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office. “This is absolutely not the outcome that anybody anticipated or wanted.”

Bay Area News Group writes that Owen leaves behind three children, ages 3, 8, and 17.

“It means we can find some way to move forward and accept this loss,” Richard Owen, Whisper Owen’s brother, told CBS Sacramento. “She has other children that have to find a way to move on without their mother or their baby sister.”

Image: Fresno County Sheriff's Office

• A driver was killed Tuesday morning after crashing a speeding Toyota RAV4 into multiple parked Caltrans vehicles near the San Mateo Toll Bridge Plaza, prompting a CHP investigation and a three-hour shutdown of eastbound SR-92 lanes. Authorities say the SUV veered off the road into a Department of Transportation lot for reasons still under investigation. [KRON4]
• A Twin Peaks condo once home to disco legend Sylvester is on the market for $1.7 million. Neighbors remember the late icon as an unforgettable presence in the community. [SFGate]
• The embattled Antioch Police Department has sworn in Joe Vigil as its new permanent chief, marking a “new chapter” focused on accountability and reform following scandals involving officer misconduct, civil rights violations, and corruption. Vigil brings 25 years of law enforcement experience and aims to restore community trust after FBI investigations exposed widespread abuses within the department. [KRON4]
• Salesforce is acquiring cloud data management firm Informatica in an all-cash, $8 billion deal approved by both companies’ boards, aiming to enhance its AI and data capabilities across sectors like healthcare and finance, with the deal expected to close in early fiscal 2027. [NBC Bay Area]
• The Berkeley Flea Market, a 50-year-old institution at the Ashby BART station, may close by June 28 due to ongoing financial losses and declining vendor participation, according to flyers distributed by market staff. [NBC Bay Area]

National:

• The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Apache Stronghold seeking to block a copper mine on Oak Flat, a sacred site in Arizona, effectively allowing the land transfer to Resolution Copper to proceed. Justices Gorsuch and Thomas dissented, calling the refusal a “grave mistake” that disregards the Apaches’ religious freedoms and the cultural significance of the land. [CBS News]
• NPR and three Colorado public radio stations have filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging an executive order that bars federal funding to NPR and PBS based on alleged bias, arguing it violates the First Amendment. The suit accuses the administration of retaliatory censorship and usurping Congress’s authority over funding decisions, threatening public media’s ability to provide independent news. [NPR]
• The U.S. State Department has temporarily paused scheduling new visa interviews for foreign students while expanding social media screening, a move that could delay enrollments and impact universities relying on international students. [Associated Press]

Video of the Day:

• Stunning footage by photographer Eric Thurber of some of the dancers who performed in last Sunday’s Carnaval parade:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric Thurber (@thurber_shots)

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Another person succumbed to injuries sustained during the tragic car crash in SF’s West Portal neighborhood Saturday, when an SUV struck a bus stop near the Muni station there. The incident, which occurred around noon on Saturday, left two others dead at the scene.

All three viictims were members of a young local family, as the Chronicle reported. The father and a child passed away ysterday, and the mother died today. Another infant from the family also remained hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Authorities haven’t publicly disclosed the identities of the victims, but some friends who knew them set up a memorial at the site of the crash at West Portal Avenue and Ulloa Street. One friend told the Chronicle that, “they were an amazing family.”

Local pedestrian advocate group Walk San Francisco is reportedly set to host a vigil at 5 p.m. Monday at the scene. The head of the organization, Jodie Medeiros, also told the Chronicle that the crash was one of the worst pedestrian tragedies in city history.

It’s unclear what the circumstances behind the crash were, or whether the driver of the SUV is facing charges.

PREVIOUSLY: Deadly Accident In West Portal Kills at Least One

Feature image of West Portal Muni station via Google Street View.

Six people complained of minor injuries Thursday afternoon, after the driver of an SUV struck a Muni bus traveling through the Mission District.

According to San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson Jonathan Baxter, the collision was reported at around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, at the intersection of 16th and Folsom Streets.

The bus, identified by the Chron as a 22 Fillmore, was "rear ended" by a driver, reports multiple news organizations, but Mission Local characterizes it slightly differently. According to their report on the collision, "The driver of an SUV said he 'lightly tapped' the bus as he was making a right turn at the intersection and the bus driver stopped."

Though Baxter confirms that six people said they were injured, he said all the complains were "very minor" and no one was hospitalized following the crash/tap. One person was treated and release at the scene, per the Chron. Mission Local reports that "the driver of the bus said that five said they had been hurt but then told him they 'didn’t feel anything.'"

According to Mission Local, neither the SUV nor the bus were damaged in the collision. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson Paul Rose confirms the latter assertion, saying the the bus "did not sustain disabling damage."

A pedestrian was seriously injured this morning, after being struck by a sports utility vehicle while crossing a street near San Francisco's infamous Jefferson Airplane Mansion, the San Francisco Police Department says.

According to SFPD spokesperson Officer Gordon Shyy, the pedestrian was crossing the street at around 8:20 this morning near near Fulton Street and Willard North Street when the driver of a blue SUV struck him or her.

(The northwest corner of Fulton Street and Willard North Street is also known as the location of "Jefferson Airplane Mansion," a Colonial Revival style home at 2400 Fulton Street that was the home of the rock group Jefferson Airplane in the late 1960s.)

The pedestrian, whom the Chron notes may or may not have been in a crosswalk, suffered a "serious head injury," and was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, Shyy says.

The SUV driver remained on the scene and was cooperating with SFPD, Shyy says.

After witnessing an apparent drunk driving accident on 280 just north of Woodside, an unidentified man got out of his Jeep to help the victims. While crossing the freeway, though, a driver in an Infiniti SUV struck and killed the man.

The incident happened early Sunday morning round 2:40 a.m. when, according to The Chronicle, a "black Honda driven by a suspected drunk driver hit the rear side of a Toyota SUV. Both vehicles spun out of control, and the Toyota hit the center divider, injuring two people."

The Good Samaritan, a Redwood City man, saw the crash, parked his Jeep on the righthand shoulder, and attempted to cross the lanes. This was when he was fatally hit by the SUV.

At least one person was arrested in connection with the initial crash.

Video below:

[Chronicle]
[KPIX]

A gold Range Rover crashed into a house on Keith Street in SF this a.m. Building inspector on the way. twitter.com/nbcbayarea/sta…

— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) June 4, 2013

Good heavens. A gold Range Rover crashed into a house at 1308 Keith Street in the city's Bayview District this morning. According to NBC Bay Area, a building inspector is on the way.

No word yet who caused the crash or any reports of injuries. We'll update as soon as we know more.

[UPDATE: Both the car and baby gave been recovered. The baby is in good condition, but has been taken to a nearby hospital for a check up. The alleged suspect is still at large.] A "Hispanic woman with her hair pulled back in bun and carrying a Target bag" allegedly stole a white SUV this morning. The SUV also happened to have an 11-month-old baby inside of it.

The car was parked near Story Road and Jackson Avenue. According to Mercury News, "The mother, who had been going back and forth to load the car at 6:43 a.m., came out of the house to see the car being driven away."

The white JEEP's license plate number is 6BWK440. "It has a spare tire in the back, and some baby stickers are also on the rear of the car, including one of two stick figure babies kissing."

Anyone who has seen the car should call 911 or 866-333-7537 immediately.

[KRON]
[Mercury News]

Hailey Ratliff, a 7th-grade student at Sinaloa Middle School in Novato, died on Thursday after being struck by an SUV while riding her bike in Novato. The accident happened at around 3:15 p.m. on Novato Boulevard near San Marin Drive.

"I saw the car that hit her and the front was mashed in," Jordan Herbstman, 16, a Sandy Creek Way resident, tells Marin Independent Journal. "It looked pretty bad and right now the cops are looking at all the stuff that's all over the ground."

The unidentified man who hit Ratliff stayed at the scene and cooperated with authorities. Novato police, however, are asking any possible witnesses to call 415-897-4361.

[Marin IJ]

Police need the public's help in finding the person who struck an elderly man on Saturday night and then fled the scene. A 62-year-old man was walking east across Columbus Street "outside of a crosswalk" when he was hit by a white SUV heading north on Columbus. The injured pedestrian was taken to a nearby hospital where he remains in critical condition. The suspect evaded the scene just after hitting the man.

According to SF Appeal, "The vehicle is described as a late-90s model Chevrolet SUV, possibly a Suburban, with tinted windows and a California license plate with the last two numbers '24.' " And the white SUV "may have front-end damage to it caused by the collision."

Did you see what happened? If you have any further details, please contact SFPD's anonymous tip line at 415-575-4444 or via tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" in the message.

[SFA]

Drunk drivers. They're even worse than teenagers. Take, for example, an apparently drunk driver who, after crashing into several parked cars near Polk and Broadway, flipped his penismobile onto the Muni trolly tracks at Green and Embarcadero.

The incident happened on Wednesday morning at around 5:15 a.m.

Police Chief Daryl Fong tells The Chronicle that "the driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and will be arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and hit and run." A bystander described the injured SUV driver as "totally wasted."

The F-Market line was briefly disrupted. Service should now be back to normal.