SF News San Rafael Couple Nearly Scammed Out of $15,000 by AI Fake of Their Son’s Voice We are in era where AI can recreate someone’s voice, and scammers are taking notice, with one San Rafael couple almost paying $15,000 to con artists who’d accurately mimicked their son’s voice in a panicked phone call.
SF News University of California Might Give London Breed That SF Expansion Campus She’s Been Hankering For It seemed like a desperate trial balloon to fill vacant office space when Mayor London Breed asked the UC system to build an expanded campus in San Francisco, but now the university acknowledges they are at least “exploring” the idea.
SF News [Update] Search for Survivors Now 'Suspended' After Small Plane Crashed in Half Moon Bay A small plane which took off from the East Bay crashed in Half Moon Bay sometime after 7 p.m. Sunday night, and as of late Monday morning, the Coast Guard suspended their search for survivors, without having found the pilot or any of the passengers.
SF News Another Car Torched In Bernal Heights, Prompting Serial Arson Concerns After four cars were set ablaze on New Year’s Eve in Bernal Heights, yet another car was lit on fire some five blocks away on Tuesday night, though in this case the described arsonist had actually lit a disposed Christmas tree on the curb.
SF News SF Is Going to Install 400 License Plate Readers to Hopefully Deter Car Theft, Sideshows, and Such With a $17 million grant from the state to combat retail theft and auto burglaries, San Francisco is going to put 400 license plate readers about town in hopes of catching more criminals.
SF News March Ballot Measure Proposes Giving SF Cops Drones, More Surveillance Tools Mayor London Breed’s priorities are all over your March 5 primary ballot, including one measure that proposes to give San Francisco police expanded use of drones and surveillance cameras.
SF News Former SF Man Gets Four Years In Prison, $5 Million Fine In Crypto Fraud Scheme A one-time San Francisco man was just sentenced to four years in prison for a cryptocurrency scheme that promised “10% returns every 30 business days,” but actually made no money whatsoever, and now he’s headed to prison for four years.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Dungeness Crab Season Will Finally Begin Next Week Another avalanche hit Palisades Tahoe Thursday; former Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf is running for state treasurer; and Dungeness crab season will finally begin on January 18 after many delays.
Arts & Entertainment The ‘Hearts in SF’ Are Already Out, And One of Them Is Made of 88,000 LEGO Bricks Your 2024 Hearts in SF are out a little early this year at the Ferry Building, and one of the lovely creations is constructed of 88,748 LEGO bricks.
SF News BART Announces the Next Eight Stations Getting Those ‘Evasion-Proof’ Fare Gates The new and supposedly gatehopping-proof BART fare gates are already in use at the West Oakland station, and now BART has announced the next eight stations that will get them. Of course, SF’s notorious Civic Center station is on the list.
Arts & Entertainment Reminder: This Weekend Is Your Last Chance to See a Movie at the Castro Theatre as We Know It The 16-month closure and overhaul of the Castro Theatre now looms, and this weekend will see the final film screenings at the Castro Theatre as we know it — with the 1932 horror masterpiece ‘Vampyr’ Friday, and a Sunday double-feature of 'Blade Runner’ and ‘Robocop.’
SF News Pro-Palestine Youth Rally in SF Draws One of the Palestinian Students Who Was Shot in Vermont Several hundred protesters marched on Market Street Wednesday night calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, and among them was one of the three Palestinian college students who was shot in Vermont on Thanksgiving weekend.
SF News Luxury Apartment Complex NEMA Dodges Foreclosure by Striking a Deal With Its Lenders The impending foreclosure on the mid-Market apartment building NEMA is apparently no longer impending, as the developer behind the luxury high-rise has struck a deal with its creditors.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink The Halfway Club Opens Today in Crocker-Amazon’s Former Broken Record Space The former Broken Record bar at Geneva Avenue and Edinburgh Street will be officially reborn as the Halfway Club when it opens Wednesday night, with a kitchen, full bar, and a “70’s dad’s basement bar” vibe.
SF News New Law Will Require California Bars to Provide ‘Roofie Testing Kits' Later This Year Starting July 1, California drinking establishments will be required to stock testing kits that tell if your drink has been spiked with common date rape drugs like ketamine or GHB, though bars won’t have to provide the testing strips for free.
SF News City of Vallejo Settles for $5 Million In Case of Willie McCoy, Whom Police Shot 55 Times Another huge settlement for the family of a victim shot by Vallejo police, or in this case the family of a victim shot 55 times by Vallejo police, as the city has agreed to pay $5 million to the family of Willie McCoy for his 2019 shooting.
SF News Day Around the Bay: King Tides Set to Return Wednesday, Brace for Flooding Near Embarcadero SF has recorded its first flu death of 2024; the popular pop-up Bernal Bakery is getting a permanent brick-and-mortar home; and the King Tides are expected back in SF on Wednesday.
SF News COVID is Basically Everywhere in the Bay Area, But Hospitalizations, Deaths Not as High as in Previous Surges Wastewater levels show the Bay Area (and the whole country) are in the second-largest COVID surge of the pandemic, but we’re not seeing near the same levels of deaths or hospitalizations that have characterized the other previous surges.
SF Politics SF Supervisors Approve Gaza Ceasefire Resolution, Mostly Pro-Palestine Audience Goes Bananas Celebrating The SF Board of Supervisors passed that resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, and the 8-3 vote set off utter bedlam in the board’s City Hall chambers.
SF News Napa Considers Moving ‘Welcome’ Sign Because Too Many People Run Across Highway 29 to Instagram It A Napa County Instragam trap is causing worries that it could become a death trap, and the county is considering moving its picturesque “Welcome” sign because of unsafe behavior by motorists and pedestrians seeking pictures of it.
SF News SF Artist Sues City, Claiming They Illegally Used His Mural in an Ad Campaign Muralist Cameron Moberg has plenty of public art around Bayview and Visitacion Valley, but he’s filed a lawsuit after the art allegedly turned up in a city-sponsored ad campaign without his permission.
SF News CNBC Host and Strident SF Hater Jim Cramer Now Says He’s ‘Fired Up’ to Be In SF Cable news shouter Jim Cramer once claimed SF and the Embarcadero were so dangerous he wouldn’t let his staff “go out there by themselves, even in daytime.” But guess who’s now tweeting pictures from a luxe Embarcadero hotel, saying he’s “fired up” to be here.
SF News The San Francisco Zoo Might be Getting a Giant Panda, Everybody! Chinese diplomats crowing about the success of the APEC summit say they’re ready to send some more pandas to U.S. zoos, and San Francisco is reportedly on the short list for getting one.
Business & Tech Report: Elon Musk’s Alleged Drug Use Creating Problems for Tesla, SpaceX Board Members After a Wall Street Journal report this weekend said Elon Musk has been using cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, ketamine, and magic mushrooms, Musk issued non-denials, but top executives of his companies remain worried about the fallout.
SF News Oakland Recorded Three Homicides In a 24-Hour Period on Saturday and Sunday Three people were shot and killed in separate incidents Saturday night and Sunday morning in Oakland, and Oakland has now seen four homicides in just the first week of 2024.