SF News State of SF Economy: Tech Booming, Unemployment Low, But Tourism and Hospitality Still Screwed The SF unemployment rate is a fabulously low 2.9%, but the FiDi is still a ghost town, and SF’s economic recovery lags behind that of other cities, according to a new report from the Office of the Controller.
SF News Alleged Sham Contractors Arrested for Unlicensed Work in Camp Fire Rebuild Four men who claimed to be licensed contractors, but were not, were arrested after generating complaints from Camp Fire fire victims in Paradise.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Downtown Restaurant Boulevard Has Windows Smashed, Suspect Has Caused Trouble There Before Someone in San Francisco seems to have an issue with recently reopened Parisian-themed restaurant Boulevard, smashing its windows with a wine bottle, and on another occasion assaulting a manager.
SF News Day Around the Bay: A Terrible Day for Muni, With Yet Another Operator Shortage Encampment fires surged during the pandemic, a sideshow showed up in the normally docile Richmond District, and more than 20 Muni lines were slowed by driver shortages today.
SF News Report: 10% of San Francisco’s Housing Stock Is Just Sitting Vacant and Empty A bombshell report from the city’s Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office confirms what many have suspected for years — that tens of thousands of San Francisco apartments are just cold sitting empty in the midst of a housing crisis.
Business & Tech Free Rides In Self-Driving Cruise Taxis Now Available in SF (But You Have to Get On a Waitlist) If you’re sick of looking at those self-driving cars with droids on top of them, now you can get into one and get a free ride instead — but the program seems unlikely to start for weeks or even months.
SF News Feral Pigs Running Amok in Lafayette, Moraga, and Really Almost the Whole State Pig problems persist in the East Bay suburbs, where the porkers are destroying property and risk contaminating the drinking water.
SF Politics Universal Healthcare Bill Falls in State Assembly Yet Again A bill to bring publicly funded healthcare to every Californian did not even make it to the floor for a vote, to the delight of opponents who called it a “government healthcare takeover.”
SF News Proposed Mint Plaza ‘Pod Hotel’ Hits a Snag, as Rival Pod Hotel Group Claims Trademark Infringement An odd “pod hotel” concept may be forced back to the drawing board with their Mint Plaza plans, because another hotel firm reportedly claims they’ve trademarked the idea and no one else can use it.
SF News Newsom Angling to Close San Quentin Death Row, Make It a ‘Healing Environment’ San Quentin State Prison is home to California’s last remaining death row for men, but Governor Newsom wants to dismantle and repurpose it into some sort of vaguely described “positive, healing environment.”
SF News Retired Oakland Police Captain, Left With 22 Bullet Wounds From Gas Station Shooting, Tells His Story In First Interview Former Oakland PD captain Ersie Joyner still has lead in him for the day he suffered 22 bullet wounds at a Chevron station shakedown in West Oakland in October, but is back to full health and just gave his first interview describing what happened that day.
Bay Area Sports Jimmy Garoppolo Taking All the Blame, Likely Done Here After 20-17 Loss to Rams Jimmy G doesn’t look so handsome anymore after an atrocious interception ended the 49ers’ season in heartbreak Sunday, and it is a foregone conclusion that he will be shipped elsewhere in the offseason.
SF News Alleged Police Beating Victim Poised for $700K Settlement, Judge Not Buying Cop’s Claim That Boudin Buried Evidence While the city is ready to settle an alleged police brutality claim for $700K, the officer asking a judge to toss his assault case had a bad day in court Thursday.
SF News Veritas Tenants End Rent Strike After Winning Significant Concessions on Back Debt San Francisco’s biggest landlord Veritas Investments hoped to leave tenants on the hook for rent not covered by federal relief, but a tenants' group changed that with a five-month rent strike that ended Thursday.
Bay Area Sports Reminder: 49ers Pass Rusher Nick Bosa’s Great-Grandfather Was Al Capone’s Bodyguard, Eventually Became Mob Boss The 49ers’ playoff run resurfaces a genealogical quirk — that defensive end Nick Bosa’s great-granddad was the former chauffeur and bodyguard for Al Capone, and eventually took over the Chicago Outfit.
SF News SoMa Sandwich Shop Deli Board Vandalized and Robbed, But Quickly Crowdfunds $13,000 For Repairs Popular Folsom Street sandwich shop Deli Board found itself broken into and robbed Thursday morning, but a GoFundMe campaign has raised close to $14,000, despite (or perhaps because) how donors have politicized it.
SF Politics Lawsuit Against Boudin Over ‘Brutal’ Chinatown Attack Seems a Little Shaky as Further Details Emerge Allegations of a horrible-sounding baseball bat attack against an Asian senior sound a little less horrible as we learn that the baseball bat was a plastic toy, and the alleged attackers were a disabled man in a wheelchair and an 11-year-old boy.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Casa Sanchez Building Officially Gets Historical Landmark Status The Castro Theatre's new management speaks out about whether it will remain a movie theater, a fire broke out at a Pleasanton senior home, and Casa Sanchez will officially become a historical landmark.
SF News BART Station Bathrooms in Underground Stations to Reopen Again, Starting February 2 The Powell Street BART station will have working bathrooms again on February 2, Oakland’s 19th Street will get them on February 25, and eventually, you’ll be able to relieve yourself at pretty much every station on the line.
Arts & Entertainment Castro Theatre Will Still Host SFFILM Festival In Late April The future of the Castro Theatre as an almost-full-time movie house is in question, but for the short term, the SFFILM Festival will still be screening there this year from April 21-May 1.
SF News West Oakland ISIS Wannabe Gets Sentence Reduced After Terrorism Charges Dropped An East Bay man who’d tried to get recruited by ISIS in 2016, but was dealing with undercover FBI instead, had his sentence reduced from 16 years to seven years, after an appeals court decided that his Twitter threats did not constitute actual terrorism.
SF News Return of the Tuesday ‘Noon Siren’ Delayed Until At Least 2024 This is not a test… the Tuesday noon emergency siren was supposed to return last month, but because of COVID-19 setbacks, will not wail again for nearly three years or longer.
SF Politics Pelosi Announces She Will Seek Reelection For a 19th (!) Term In Congress The House Speaker announced she’s running for yet another term in Congress, but did not address whether she would run for Speaker again, and that’s a moot point anyway if Republicans win the chamber back.
SF News Open Drug Use at Breed’s Tenderloin Linkage Center Divides Addiction Experts Media reports confirm that people are allowed to use drugs at the Tenderloin Linkage Center, which some recovery experts applaud, and others say is “like trying to have an AA meeting in a bar.”
SF News Day Around the Bay: Barry Bonds Loses Final Bid for Baseball Hall of Fame Pfizer thinks they have an Omicron-specific vaccine up their sleeves, Pelosi says she’s running again, and the Giants’ famed steroids slugger Barry Bonds lost out on his last chance to make the Baseball Hall of Fame.