Local:

  • As the debate rages about the proposed California billionaire tax (which has not even qualified for the ballot yet, people! They have not even started collecting signatures for it!) San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan declared he is opposed to it. "I'm all for taxing billionaires, but I think this is the wrong way to do it," Mahan told KPIX in an interview Thursday. But he added, "Having California go it alone on a wealth tax is incredibly risky, and it particularly threatens the industry that my community, San Jose, Silicon Valley, relies on.” [KPIX]
  • We now have our first confirmed measles case of 2026 in the Bay Area — and the first of 2026 in California — as an unvaccinated international traveler apparently brought some back home to San Mateo County. Though “first of 2026” may not be that distinct of a deal, considering we saw another new measles case in Contra Costa County when there was still two more days in 2025. [KQED]  
  • OpenAI continues their blockbuster spree of downtown office space leasing and subleasing, looking to sublease up to a quarter of a million more square feet from a Dropbox office near the Chase Center. If this deal goes down, it would give OpenAI nearly a million square feet of office space just in the Mission Bay neighborhood alone. [SF Chronicle]

National:

  • As outrage continues to grow over an ICE agent shooting a mom who just dropped off her kid for school in Minneapolis, we learn the identity of the ICE agent who shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good: 10-year ICE veteran Jonathan Ross. [KMSP Minneapolis]
  • Sean “Diddy” Combs has officially asked President Trump for a pardon on his sex trafficking convictions, but Trump says he is not considering the request. [NY Times]
  • Holy christ, this is stupid! The Trump administration is considering paying residents of Greenland cash payments between $10,000 to $100,000 per person to make them okay with the United States taking over their country. [Reuters]

Video:

  • Golden State Warriors intimidating tough guy Draymond Green admitted at a Thursday press conference that "I am very much still afraid of my mom,” and then he proceeded to read some pretty funny texts his mom has sent him on occasions when his performance on the court left her disappointed.


Image: Joe Kukura, SFist