- A South of Market encampment fire broke out just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, underneath the Central Freeway at the corner of Division and Vermont Streets. There were no reported injuries, but one man was detained on suspicion of causing the fire, and the freeway support pillar will undergo an inspection. [Chronicle]
- After its August closure drew hours-long lines of fans, Valencia Street matcha shop Stonemill Matcha will be reopening tomorrow, December 20. New owner Yoshi Takaguchi (Taishoken) vows to Eater SF, “It’s going to be exactly the same,” with no menu changes. [Eater SF]
- Despite self-driving taxi company Cruise’s massive recent layoffs and legal turmoil, their branded patches will remain on the San Francisco Giants' uniforms next year. The patch was not on the jersey of new center fielder Jung-hoo Lee at his introductory press conference last week, so people speculated the Giants wouldn’t be wearing the patch anymore, but a Giants spokesperson told the Examiner that the team would still be wearing the patch through the 2025 season. [Examiner]
- No exodus here, as SF’s population grew by a slight 0.6% between June 2022 and June 2023, which is one of the highest growth rates for any county in the state. [Bloomberg]
- The Facebook Oversight Board reversed two of the social media company’s decisions on removing videos about the Israel-Hamas war, though Facebook had already reinstated the posts. [KPIX]
- It will probably come as no surprise that Dungeness crab season is delayed yet again, and now won’t start until January 1, 2024 at the earliest, in a move to protect migrating whales. [KQED]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
