• Michael Gerold, a high-profile SF-based entrepreneur, social insider, and former US Army captain, is accused of forcing at least ten women into sex work. Gerold, who’s been dubbed “the Epstein of the West,” threatened to sue his alleged victims if the Standard published their piece. [SF Standard]
  • Bay Area officials are contending with the rise in popularity of high-speed e-bikes among youth, which has led to a sharp increase in traumatic injuries. While European e-bike motors are reportedly limited to 250 watts, US e-bikes can legally go up to 750 watts, and the peak is even higher — a loophole Assemblymember Diane Papan of San Mateo is trying to close. [Chronicle]
  • San Francisco's Chinatown kicked off its "Year of the Fire Horse" celebrations Saturday with the annual Flower Market Fair, featuring fresh flowers, fruits, candies, and decorations to ring in the new year, which continues Sunday. [KPIX]

  • Laura X, a prolific 85-year-old women’s rights activist and organizer in Berkeley who’s credited with getting spousal rape banned in California, lost all of her money to a Ponzi scheme while creating a million-page women’s history archive, and her friends have launched a couple fundraisers to help her get back on her feet. [Berkeleyside]
  • A 66-year-old nanny in SF’s Diamond Heights was detained Friday morning by ICE agents in an unmarked car, and a judge ordered her release ten hours later, largely due to the work of immigration advocates. [Mission Local]
  • Gay and lesbian couples and activists commemorated the 22nd anniversary of “the Winter of Love” at City Hall Friday, marking the landmark month in 2004 when then-mayor Gavin Newsom issued same-sex marriage licenses before the state Supreme Court later invalidated them — four years prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage federally in 2008. [KRON4]

  • A woman whose car got stuck on the railroad tracks in Emeryville early Saturday morning narrowly managed to escape the vehicle before an oncoming train struck it, causing it to catch fire. [Bay Area News Group]
  • The first in a series of storms is expected to hit Northern and Central California Sunday night, bringing moderate to heavy rain, followed by a colder storm Tuesday and yet another storm system Thursday. [Chronicle]

Image: Stockton Street during Chinatown's Flower Market Fair; Leanne Maxwell/SFist