• The first two prosecution witnesses took the stand Monday in the Ghost Ship fire trial, one of the original co-signers of the lease with Almena, Nicholas "Nico" Bouchard, and Carol Cidlik, the mother of one of the fire victims. Bouchard testified that when he moved out he advised the landlord to evict Almena. [KQED]
• Another mother of a fire victim, Colleen Dolan, whose daughter Chelsea — a.k.a. electronic musician Cherushii — was scheduled to perform the night of the fire, has taken a leave from her job to attend the whole trial. Dolan spoke with the East Bay Times about her desire to understand exactly what happened that night in December 2016. [East Bay Times]
• As noted the other week, drivers for Uber and Lyft are preparing to strike on Wednesday. The drivers are demanding higher wages and better transparency ahead of Uber's IPO. [ABC 7]
• An overturned big rig caused major traffic on southbound I-880 Monday afternoon, but all lanes have reopened. [CBS SF]
• Members of the Falun Gong were protesting Monday over the Board of Supervisors' push to name the Central Subway's Chinatown Station after the late Rose Pak. [Examiner]
• Not shockingly, Muni's on-time performance rate is down year over year by two percent, to just 55 percent. [Curbed]
• Oakland's 20-year-old Dona Tomas is moving to the former Chow space on Piedmont Avenue. [Hoodline]

Photo: Casey Horner