Arts & Entertainment Palo Alto Donkey Who Served as the Model for the ‘Shrek’ Donkey Has Died A Jerusalem miniature donkey in Palo Alto named Perry served as the movement model for Eddie Murphy’s ‘Shrek’ character Donkey in the animated franchise, but Perry succumbed to a hoof disease last week.
SF News Scandal-Plagued Antioch PD Gets Yet Another New Acting Police Chief, Plus Federal Oversight The City of Antioch welcomes its third interim police chief in 18 months through its revolving door, and new Chief Joe Vigil will have the department's racist text scandal and a new federal oversight monitor to deal with.
Business & Tech Meta Continues Its Trump Turn, Adds UFC President Dana White to Its Board of Directors Facebook and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg continues his mixed martial arts fascination, and his increasing kowtowing to Donald Trump, with the curious addition of UFC president Dana White to Meta’s expanding board of directors.
SF News Now Gavin Newsom Claims California Has Eliminated Its Budget Deficit, Is Back in Surplus Times Governor Gavin Newsom says last year’s $68 million budget deficit is now completely erased, and he claims the state is running a surplus again, though he won’t say how much of a surplus.
Arts & Entertainment Popular SF Artist Pete Doolittle, Known For Making Paintings Out of Discarded Windows, Has Died Pete Doolittle’s paintings of cartoon-version robots and animals have been hanging in San Francisco homes and bars for decades, but the longtime SF artist passed away Thursday morning at the age of 47.
SF News Supervisor Matt Dorsey Calls for 100 ‘Mass Arrests’ Every Night In Mid-Market Area The crowds of drug dealers and users along Sixth Street have SF Supervisor Matt Dorsey proposing 100 arrests every night for “drug-related lawlessness,” though we clearly do not have the police officers and jail capacity to follow through with this.
SF News Alleged Serial Bar Tab-Skipper ‘Jared’ Arrested and Detained at a Red Lobster In San Bruno The infamous dine-and-dasher known around SF as “Jared” was arrested and detained for once again skipping on a bill, though he has since been released, and bartenders be warned that he is currently a free man.
SF News KGO Legend Ronn Owens Suffering from Cancer, Heart Trouble, and Parkinson’s Disease, Turns to Crowdfunding Ronn Owens was a KGO AM radio staple for nearly 50 years in San Francisco, though retired in 2021, and is now facing enormous medical bills from four bouts with cancer, a heart condition, and a more than 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.
SF News Monkey in a Onesie Seized in Madera County DUI and Pot Bust, Transported to Oakland Zoo for Care The CHP pulled over a suspected drunk driver Monday night in Madera County, and discovered the driver in possession of several pounds of illegal marijuana, and a baby spider monkey in a onesie. The monkey has now been transferred to the Oakland Zoo for medical care.
SF News SFPD Refuses to Say Where They've Placed Those 400 Automated License Plate Readers All Over Town The new armada of automated license plate readers in SF are taking three million surveillance photos every day, but the SF Police Department is being cagey about disclosing where the hundreds of cameras are located.
SF News Prosecutor Outrage Ensues as Serial Car Burglar Gets Probation After Long String of Car Break-Ins In SF 27-year-old Robert Sonza was in court Thursday for a series of car thefts and gun charges dating back to 2019, having been given probation and then reoffending each time. Yet an SF Superior Court judge gave him probation yet again, despite more than a dozen arrests.
SF News Day Around the Bay: SF-Based Car Rental Company Linked to Both New Orleans and Las Vegas Attacks We’re learning new details about the New Year’s gas station homicide in the Mission District; a large-scale public menorah in Oakland was defaced for the second year in a row; and the two New Year’s Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas both involved cars from an SF rental company.
Business & Tech Turns Out Blind People Really Love Taking Trips in Waymo’s Self-Driving Robotaxis Here’s one demographic that does not loathe the robot cars driving around San Francisco, as blind people have rave reviews for Waymo’s dedicated features to accommodate people with visual impairments.
Business & Tech SF’s First On-Street, Curbside Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Are Coming to Duboce Triangle and Dogpatch People who don’t have garages can have a hell of a time finding a place to charge their electric vehicle, but hundreds of new SF curbside charging stations are in the works, and the first few will be in Dogpatch and Duboce Triangle.
SF News Kindergartner Believed Paralyzed In Butte County School Shooting Has Just Shown Movement In His Feet Five-year-old Elias Wolford was shot in the December 4 Oroville school shooting, and has had no movement in his legs since. But on New Year’s Eve, his family announced he was able to wiggle his foot, indicating his legs may eventually recover.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink The Castro Is Getting a Women’s Sports Bar In the Former Copas Space SF’s first dedicated women’s sports bar is coming to the Castro District on Market near Sanchez Street this year, and will probably become the go-to place to watch the Golden State Valkyries’ WNBA games.
SF News New Year’s Eve Around the Bay: Muni Fares Are Going Up to $2.75 Tomorrow They’re predicting no fog for tonight’s fireworks display; the Chronicle ran down which SF neighborhoods get the most DUI citations; and your Muni fare is going up to $2.75 effective January 1.
SF News Egg Prices Going Through the Roof Because of Bird Flu, Hit $9 a Dozen at Some SF Stores A new federal report says that the avian flu outbreak has driven the price of eggs in California to a whopping $9 a dozen. We hit the local Safeway and found that yes, in SF, eggs really can cost that much right now.
SF News SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin Blames Uber, Lyft, and Waymo for Muni’s Woes On His Way Out the Door The five-year reign of SF Municipal Transit Authority director Jeffrey Tumlin ends today, and in an exit interview, he points the finger at rideshares and robotaxis for Muni’s $300 million deficit.
SF News Trash Fire Breaks Out at Abandoned Potrero Hill Apartment Building, One Person Detained A troubled, empty Potrero Hill apartment complex known for attracting squatters was hit by a trash fire Sunday afternoon, and one person has been detained, apparently on suspicion of setting the blaze.
SF News SF Saw Fewest Homicides Since 1960 This Year — But Traffic Deaths Hit a 17-Year High The good news is that San Francisco saw the lowest number of homicides in 2024 than the city has had in 64 years. The bad news is that traffic deaths were at a level we haven’t seen in 17 years.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Serial Bar Tab-Skipper ‘Jared’ Reportedly Drinking and Dashing on the Bill at Bars All Over SF More than three dozen bars across San Francisco have reportedly been hit by alleged drink-and-dash thief known as Jared, who’s been racking up bar tabs and then disappearing without paying.
Arts & Entertainment Let’s Toast to Breakfast of Champions, Celebrating Its 25th Year of Throwing Down Hard on New Year’s Day New Year’s Day has replaced New Year’s Eve in the hearts and minds of many San Francisco’s disco bon vivants, thanks to the SF’s longest-running New Year’s Day party Breakfast of Champions, which notches its 25th anniversary on January 1.
SF News Three BART PD Officers, Medical Driver Recovering After Saturday’s High-Speed West Oakland Crash After a Saturday afternoon crash of two BART Police SUVs and a medical supply vehicle responding to an overdose call at the West Oakland station, three BART police officers and the medical supply driver are reportedly recovering.
SF Politics MAGA Racists and Tech Billionaires Now at Each Other’s Throats, Musk Calls Some Trumpers ‘Contemptible Fools’ The honeymoon may be over for Donald Trump’s coalition, as the billionaires and bigots are now at open war with one another over immigration and H-1B visas, and Elon Musk called some Trumpers “contemptible fools.”
