• Walgreens is paying out another hefty settlement for alleged misconduct, agreeing to pay $44 million to patients over Theranos fraud claims. The pharmacy chain allegedly had a good sense that the scammy Theranos finger-prick blood tests were bogus, but still sold them to customers in California and Arizona. [Bay Area News Group]
• The California legislature passed state Senator Scott Wiener’s bill to decriminalize psilocybin, DMT, and mescaline, after a similar bill died in committee last year. The bill still needs Governor Newsom’s signature to become law, and that’s no guarantee, plus the law would not take effect until 2025. [Chronicle]
• Before former Chronicle reporter Heather Knight takes over his job, outgoing New York Times SF bureau chief Thomas Fuller penned an appreciative essay about, of all neighborhoods, the Tenderloin. “There is arguably no other place in the city where it’s easier to strike up a conversation,” Fuller writes. “The neighborhood has been home to waves of immigrant families from countries spanning Vietnam to Yemen. There are hole-in-the-wall art galleries. Dive bars. And I challenge anyone to find better Thai food in California than in the restaurants of the Tenderloin.” [NY Times]
• GM-backed robotaxi company Cruise is reportedly “days away” from getting federal approval to start mass-producing their Origin autonomous vehicles, which have no pedals or steering wheels. [The Verge]
• A third suspect was arrested in connection with Tuesday’s gunfire at Skyline High School in Oakland, and this suspect is also a minor whose name was not released. [Hoodline]
• A three-alarm vegetation fire in Vallejo led to an evacuation order Thursday afternoon, though it has since been lifted. [KPIX]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist