• In a move that drew its fair share of flak, Newsom praised his “strong personal relationship” with Trump on emergency response Friday afternoon. The ovation — which arrived just a day after Newsom spoke unfavorably of the current president’s actions at behavior at the 2020 DNC — landed with a confusing thud; Trump tweeted “every year, as the [fires] rage & California burns, it is the same thing — and then [Newsom] comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help, no more" in 2019. [Chronicle]
• Despite Newsom suggesting earlier in the week that SF might get off the state's watch list, the city still remains on California’s COVID-19 watch list. “San Francisco is currently not meeting day one of the three-consecutive day threshold [for lowering COVID-19 infections], " a statement reads from SF's Department of Emergency Management, it later continuing the department was informed by the CDPH that San Francisco will "not be taken off the watch list at this time." [KRON4]
• Beloved Mission District taqueria The Little Chihuahua is officially closing up shop — the news coming a day after Farallon, another much-loved local eatery, called it quits. [Eater SF]
• The SCU Lightning Complex fire is now ten times bigger than Manhattan... and is only growing larger by the minute. [SFGATE]
• A 52-story mixed-use building, costing some $360M, was pitched to replace a downtown SF parking garage space. [San Francisco Business Times]
• Mask Oakland, an East Bay trans-and-queer led grassroots organization, is again helping Oakland "mask up" as fire smoke permeates the region — during a pandemic, no less. [KQED]
• "Dome dining" is back in San Francisco after Hashiri restaurant owners implemented the "necessary modifications" that were required by the SF health department to keep their controversial “igloos” open. [ABC7]
• There are a few reasons why this string of wildfires seems more disquieting than past ones, a feeling flawlessly encapsulated in an essay by Bay Area writer Dan Moore. [The Bold Italic]

Image: Max Harlynking