Arts & Entertainment SF’s Own Albino Alligator Claude Is Turning 30 Years Old, Celebrations Are Scaling Up The California Academy of Sciences is chomping at the bit to throw multiple parties for Claude the albino alligator’s 30th birthday, lining up celebrity chefs, cocktail parties, and cakes made of fish guts.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Beleaguered Former Westfield Mall Gets More Beleaguered, Loses Six More Restaurants If you even realize that the former Westfield Mall is now called the San Francisco Centre, be aware that its dwindling number of tenants no longer includes Jamba Juice, Blondie’s Pizza, or four other restaurants that just deserted.
SF News Friday Morning Constitutional: Big Annual Dahlia Show Coming to Golden Gate Park This Weekend Our old friend Dr. Grant Colfax has landed on his feet in Contra Costa County; more SF city workers are being forced to return to the office; and the always lovely Dahlia Society of California Flower Show is this weekend in Golden Gate Park.
SF News Day Around the Bay: This Weekend is SF’s Last 8 pm Sunset of 2025 BART will stop charging you $6.40 for entering and leaving the same station; a South SF cop who shot a heavy metal guitarist will not face charges; and Saturday is the last time the sun will set at 8 pm for about the next seven months.
SF Politics Sheng Thao’s Lawyer May Try to Move Bribery Trial Out of Oakland, Which Would Further Delay the Trial Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s lawyer is considering a bid to move her bribery trial out of Oakland, and in other news, it seems Sheng Thao may have broken up with the boyfriend whose $95k no-show job is at the heart of this scandal.
SF Politics Newsom Rallies for Redistricting, But Border Patrol Agents Show Up to Harass Crowd Governor Gavin Newsom gave a fiery speech Thursday to launch his campaign for a November ballot measure to redistrict the state, just like Texas is doing for Trump. But US Border Patrol agents showed up outside the rally to bully people.
SF News Santa Rosa Police Officers Shoot and Kill Domestic Violence Suspect After Hours-Long Standoff A seven-hour standoff in Santa Rosa ended when police shot and killed an allegedly armed suspect around 5 am Thursday morning, in what is believed to have been a domestic violence incident started by an angry ex-lover.
SF Politics Trump Administration on Spree of Firing Immigration Judges, Even While They’re Trying to Hire More More than 50 immigration judges, including a number in the Bay Area, have been fired nationwide since Trump took office in January, even while the government is simultaneously hiring more immigration judges, just probably Trumpier ones.
SF News Man Dies by Drowning While Attending Reggae on the River Festival in Mendocino County A 66-year-old man was found dead on the bottom of the South Fork Eel River right next to the annual Reggae on the River festival in Mendocino County, and authorities say the man was attending the festival and died by drowning.
SF News BART Will Finally Let You Tap to Enter With a Credit Card or Debit Card, Starting Wednesday It took two years to become a reality, but you can finally ditch the superfluous Clipper Card and tap your credit or debit card directly to ride BART, starting this coming Wednesday, August 20.
SF News Ella Hill Hutch Community Center Facing Closure, as City Cuts Off Funding After Nonprofit Spending Scandal The more than 30-year-old Ella Hill Hutch Community Center in the Western Addition may close permanently, as City Attorney David Chiu is vowing to cut off its parent nonprofit from receiving any more city grants after an alleged bribery scandal.
SF News Contra Costa County Residents Give Sheriff an Earful Over Fears That He’s Cooperating With ICE Contra Costa County is not a "sanctuary county,” but plenty of residents want to make it one, and they railed against Sheriff David Livingston for honoring ICE requests on dozens of detained immigrants since Trump took office.
SF News Day Around the Bay: 78-Year-Old Pedestrian Hit and Killed by Driver in SoMa A wrong-way and alleged DUI crash took one life near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge; legendary SF sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster is suspending operations; and a two-block radius in SoMa is seeing a lot of pedestrian fatalities.
SF News SFUSD Payroll Snafus Still Abound, Despite $20 Million New Payroll System The new school year is looking at a terrible start for SF teachers and school employees who might actually hope to get paid on time, as the district’s new $20 million payroll system is botching and missing paychecks right out of the gate.
Business & Tech Video: SF Man Climbs on Top of Waymo, Beats It With His Belt, Eventually Smashes Windshield A South of Market pedestrian made his feelings known about a self-driving Waymo this week, climbing onto the vehicle’s hood, beating the automobile with his belt, and eventually smashing its windshield (because he was standing on it).
SF News BART To San Jose Project Seems to Be Settling on Single-Tunnel, or ‘Single-Bore’ Design The latest update on the BART to San Jose project of course comes with more cost overruns and time delays, but transit officials say a single-tunnel design would involve fewer cost overruns and time delays than a double-tunnel design.
Bay Area Sports Valkyries ‘Egg’ Hatches, Out Comes Their New Muppet-Like Mascot Violet Mahna Mahna! Your WNBA Golden State Valkyries busted out their new mascot Violet at Monday night’s game, and this very Muppet-resembling mascot is capable of doing the splits and back handsprings.
SF News Local Health Emergency Declared In Yolo County Town That Had Fireworks Warehouse Explosion Yolo County officials are warning residents that the remaining ash and debris from last month’s deadly fireworks warehouse blaze could still be hazardous, and have declared a local health emergency while they sift through that rubble.
SF Politics Former SF City Hall Official Harlan Kelly Appeals His Corruption Conviction, From Prison Having served about one year of his four-year prison sentence, former SF Public Utilities Commission general manager Harlan Kelly is appealing his conviction for City Hall fraud and lying on a bank loan application.
SF News Brother of Notorious SF Social Media Figure Ricci Wynne Also Arrested on Human Trafficking Charges Just nine months ago, right-wing SF social media personality “Raw Ricci” Wynne was arrested on pimping and pandering charges. Now his younger brother is also facing human trafficking, pimping, and pandering charges in San Francisco.
SF News Much of Bay Area Lagging Far Behind Even SF on State-Mandated Housing Goals It’s no secret that San Francisco is falling short of its state-mandated housing goals, having permitted only 5% of what new state requirements demand. But many cities across the Bay Area are doing worse, and struggling to hit just 1% or 2%.
SF News One Killed, Another Injured In Crash on I-280 In San Francisco A man was killed and a woman severely injured when their car went off the road and crashed into a median Saturday morning, going southbound on Interstate 280 in SF near the Cesar Chavez Street exit.
Arts & Entertainment Outside Lands 2025 Day Two: Karl the Fog Gives Tyler, the Creator and Vampire Weekend Magical Lighting Effects Chalk one up for the lighting crew at Outside Lands, as they turned Saturday night’s thick fog into a canvas for some surreal and mesmerizing lighting effects for Tyler, the Creator, Gesaffelstein, Vampire Weekend, and “Yeah!,” even Ludacris.
SF Politics AWOL Texas Democrats Huddling With Newsom, Pelosi in Sacramento to Discuss Redistricting Some of the Texas Democratic elected officials who’ve left their state in hopes of thwarting Trump’s redistricting plans are now in California, talking strategy with Gavin Newsom and Nancy Pelosi.
SF News Video: Influencer Bro Gets Caught Vaping on SFO-Bound Flight, Claims He Was ‘Assaulted’ When Busted A self-described “AI Expert and Celebrity Pickleball Coach” got popped vaping in the bathroom of an SFO-bound flight Monday, and then promptly berated the flight attendant, claiming, “You assaulted me!"
