Business & Tech

Arts & Entertainment

Jay Barmann

Jay C. Barmann is a fiction writer and web editor who's lived in San Francisco for 20+ years.

San Francisco, CA •

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With FEMA Funding Assured, SF Supervisors Approve 400 More Hotel Rooms for Homeless

The SF Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved an expansion of the shelter-in-place hotel program for the homeless, adding 400 more hotel rooms to the 1,800 currently in use.

$141 Million In BART Funding for San Jose Extension Gets Dropped From Stimulus Bill

Days after two Republican congressmen from California took potshots at it, a $141 million federal gift to BART has been dropped from the $1.9 trillion stimulus package.

Militia Members, QAnon Morons May Try to Storm the U.S. Capitol on Thursday

Officials from the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police say they are taking "seriously" some intelligence that suggests there is a plot by a militia group and some QAnon believers to help bring Donald Trump back to power on March 4.

Humpday Headlines: Another Walgreens Shutters in SF

The CDC is warning places (like SF) that may be reopening too soon, the Recall Newsom effort is getting a lot of play on Fox News, and another SF Walgreens is closing permanently at Bush and Larkin.

Day Around the Bay: SF's Cable Cars Will Run Again By Fall

One Medical is being called on by Congress to answer for allegations about its vaccine distribution, the SFPD has made an arrest in a quintuple shooting last June in the Tenderloin, and cable cars will run again by fall, says the SFMTA.

SF Retail Was Hurting Before the Pandemic; Will Post-COVID SF Still Look Like a Ghost Town For Years?

Union Square. Hayes Valley. The Castro. In these and other neighborhoods around the city, no amount of parklet dining and drinking can make up for the fact that, on some blocks, there are more empty storefronts than there are active ones.

Arts & Entertainment

SFMOMA Reopens This Weekend With Pandemic-Themed Exhibit; deYoung Reopens With 'Calder-Picasso'

San Francisco's two biggest art museums reopen this weekend after three-month closures, as the city moves into the "Red" tier allowing for 25% capacity at museums.

After Three Months Stuck In the 'Purple' Tier, SF Turns 'Red,' Allows Indoor Dining and Workouts to Resume

As expected for several weeks though a week later than predicted, San Francisco has moved to state's "Red" tier for reopening businesses, as COVID case numbers have fallen back to levels not seen since before Thanksgiving. Also newly "Red" are Santa Clara and Napa.

San Francisco Woman Who Lost Trump-Supporting Dad to COVID Seeks to Establish National COVID Memorial Day

Now that over a half-million Americans have been lost to this pandemic — and the number could easily top 600,000 or higher before the year is out — there is a movement to establish a new national holiday to remember and mourn the COVID dead.

Chance of Light Rain Arrives Saturday, But Things Still Look Too Dry

There's nothing resembling a serious soaking in the forecast — and even with a few soakings this rainy season is already looking like a failure by drought-relief standards. But there is a dash of rain possible this weekend, late Friday into Saturday, so it's something.

Tuesday Morning Topline: Berkeley Moms Catch Teachers' Union Head Taking Daughter to School

SF is expected to move to the "Red" tier along with Napa and Santa Clara counties today, a group of Berkeley moms has posted video of the teachers' union president dropping his child off at a private preschool, and Specialty's has reopened... in Mountain View.

Day Around the Bay: Arrest Made In Saturday SoMa Shooting

Blue Shield takes over in directing CA's vaccine distribution starting this week, Santa Cruz anti-maskers continue to terrorize a Trader Joe's there, and SF's only Krispy Kreme has closed for good.

Former SF Supervisor and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano Honored With Long-Overdue Varsity Letter

His high school denied him a varsity letter for odd reasons that he chalks up to homophobia and his being effeminate. 63 years later they made it right.

Seven People Injured In Outer Mission House Fire

A one-alarm fire in the Outer Mission Monday morning has destroyed one home and displaced seven residents.

SF City Attorney Suspends Four Contractors With Links to Nuru From Doing Future Business With the City

As part of the ongoing corruption scandal that upended business as usual at San Francisco City Hall last year, City Attorney Dennis Herrera has officially suspended five executives representing four companies that previously had city contracts.

Notorious Sacramento-Area Serial Killer Roger Kibbe, a.k.a. The I-5 Strangler, Is Killed In Prison

Roger Reece Kibbe, who was serving multiple life sentences for the rape and murder of women he found on the freeways around Sacramento in the 1970 and 80s, was apparently killed in a homicide at Mule Creek State Prison on Sunday.

Devin Nunes Misrepresents BART Funding During CPAC Speech as 'Tunnel From Silicon Valley to San Francisco'

We're back to the Republicans' favorite game of using "San Francisco" as a stand-in for everything detestable about liberals.

Monday Morning Headlines: Kimberly Guilfoyle Rumored to Want to Run for Office in California

A body of a man found in a Marin County park is being treated as a suspicious death, San Jose police made a wave of gang arrests, and United Airlines is planning to furlough over 3,000 workers at SFO starting April 1.

Op-Ed: San Francisco Needs to Follow Berkeley's Lead and Get Rid of Single-Family Zoning

The largely racist legacy of single-family zoning took a blow this week when Berkeley's city council voted unanimously to make moves to change its general plan. In housing-starved San Francisco, we are decades late in facing the fact that we live in a city that was developed half as a suburb.

SF Restaurants, Food & Drink

Total Meltdown, a Pop-Up Specializing in Grilled Cheese and Mac and Cheese, Opens at Mission Picnic

A new evening pop-up has arrived at the Mission Picnic space (983 Valencia Street) specializing in grilled cheese sandwiches, mac and cheese, and cheesy tots — all available for takeout or delivery.

One in Six Gen Z Adults Identifies as LGBTQ, Raising the National Percentage By 1.1%

According to a newly released Gallup poll, America is getting queerer every year, confirming what many educators around the country have been saying for a number of years.

Business & Tech

Twitter Will Let Influencers and Adult Performers Charge to See 'Premium' Tweets

Twitter just announced two big new features on Thursday, one that allows users to create a "Super Follower" status in which followers can pay for premium content, and one that creates Facebook-esque groups based on shared interests.

Arts & Entertainment

The Chapel in the Mission Stages Socially Distant Mini-Concert With Singer Live Via Projection

Live vocal performances still aren't permitted in SF under pandemic rules, even outdoors. But on Thursday night, Mission District venue The Chapel pulled off an experiment in COVID-safe live performance, with the singer live except not physically in the space with the band or the audience.

Friday Morning Constitutional: New Oakland A's Stadium Moves Ahead

A four-month-old Maltese puppy was stolen out of a car near Union Sq. and the suspect refuses to say where it is, the victim in a brazen Oakland shooting in front of a bunch of kids has been identified, and the highway repair in Big Sur is expected to be done by early summer.

Day Around the Bay: Sinkhole Opens On Sixth Street 280 Off-Ramp In SF

SFMTA employees are eligible for vaccines now, a sinkhole opened on the northbound Sixth Street off-ramp of 280, and Airbnb reported a $3.9 billion loss in its first financial reporting as a publicly traded company.