• Twenty-nine brand-new lanterns have been recently put up around San Francisco's Chinatown. Part of a public art installation called the "Lanter Stories," these pieces are now on display on the 600 block of Grant Avenue; each of the lanterns features a picture of an iconic person in the community — like chef Cecilia Chang and author Amy Tan. [NBC Bay Area]
• Albertsons — which is the parent company of Safeway — is being bought by Kroger. The merging of the nation's two largest grocery companies is expected to be finalized sometime in 2024; Kroger intends to "use half a billion dollars in cost savings from the merger to invest in lower prices." [CNN]
• Meet the (semi-anonymous) man behind SF's famous Robot Dance Party. “I'm trying to create a safe space for people to connect with others and embrace their inner dances," the man says in an interview with Broke-Ass Stuart. "I'm a silly dancing robot, I look like something a four-year-old would draw, and I dance like a goofball." [Broke-Ass Stuart]
• 34-year-old Bill Gene Hobbs, who is accused of harassing and stalking women in San Francisco on at least fourteen different occasions, has been arrested by SF police. [ABC7]
• The large fire that happened at an apartment building at 339 Lester Avenue in Oakland Thursday not only displaced six residents but also left "multiple pets dead." [KRON4]
• Oakland's beloved food truck Tacos El Último Baile has now opened a brick-and-mortar spot at Fruitvale Public Market. [Hoodline]
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• Today, a 15-year-old boy killed five people and injured two more in a shooting rampage in Raleigh, North Carolina; it's one of the over 400 mass shootings recorded this year, thus far. [Associated Press]

Photo: Courtesy of Getty Images/rramirez125