- A 25-year-old Concord man with Nazi fetish who notably made some disturbing threats against Jewish people and law enforcement in 2019 has been convicted of making criminal threats. Ross Farca, whose attorney described him as mentally ill and "just trolling," will now be sentenced at the end of the month. [Mercury News]
- An Emeryville-based accountant has been charged in tax-fraud encouragement scheme that defrauded the U.S. government of over a half-million dollars in taxes. Tax preparer Traci Austin, 44, of Brentwood, is accused of giving "Tax School" classes to clients that showed them how to create fake businesses and expenses to pay less taxes. [CBS SF]
- After a second and third Omicron case were confirmed today in Minnesota and Colorado, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that there were five more confirmed cases in the state, four of those in New York City. [KRON4]
- 29-year-old Bernard Mejia-Ortiz of San Mateo has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a blind woman in Cuptertino. [KRON4]
- Oakland City Council President Pro Tem Sheng Thao wants to offer a $50,000 hiring incentive for new Oakland Police officers. [KTVU]
- Both the lighting of the Entwined light installation and the big Christmas tree lighting at Stanyan Street at the edge of Golden Gate Park are happening Thursday evening. [Hoodline]
- Clair Farley, SF's only trans department head and the four-year lead of the Office of Transgender Initiatives, has announced she's leaving city government to pursue national policy interests. [Chronicle]
- Marcus Lamb, the diabetic 64-year-old CEO and founder of the conservative Christian Daystar Television Network that featured vaccine skeptics and opposed pandemic restrictions, has died of COVID. [KRON4]
- Organizers of the Marin County Fair say the 2022 edition is on, and would be all outdoors. [Marin Independent Journal]
Photo: Cedric Letsch
