- The street drug “tranq” (or xylazine) was found in the bloodstreams of four fatal overdose victims in SF last year, and apparently this deadly animal tranquilizer is being mixed with fentanyl. Xylazine has been more prevalent on the East Coast and is apparently making its way here, and more troublingly, it does not appear Narcan can reverse an overdose very effectively with this new drug. [Chronicle]
- San Francisco will end its COVID-19 public health emergency declaration on February 28, which coincides with California ending its emergency declaration too. S.F. Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip said in a statement that “We are in a better place than we were three years ago, and the effective tools we now have, such as at-home tests, vaccines, boosters and treatments will continue to save lives.” [Examiner]
- Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki is stepping down from that position which she’s held since 2014, though she’ll stay on in an advisory role with Google-Alphabet. Wojcicki famously let Sergey Brin and Larry Page start Google in her Menlo Park garage in 1998, famously was Google employee No. 16, and also famously, Sergey married Wojcicki’s sister, though that ended awkwardly. [Ars Technica]
- The RealReal is closing its Union Square retail store, though this seems less because of retail woes and more because brick-and-mortar stores never really worked for this online luxury retailer. [SFGate]
- I-680 northbound from Sunol to Pleasanton will be closed for road work from Friday night til Tuesday morning for the three-day holiday weekend. And hey, it’s a three-day weekend if you have Presidents' Day off. [NBC Bay Area]
- Depeche Mode added a December 3 Chase Center date, and tickets go on sale next Friday, February 24, exclusively thorough (sigh) Ticketmaster. [Bay Area News Group]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
