SF News BART Unveils Their Supposedly ‘Evasion-Proof’ Fare Gates at West Oakland Station BART’s four-year, $90 million quest for an “evasion-proof” fare gate is now a working reality, at one station at least, as the West Oakland station is now the first out of the gate with the new gates that will soon be installed systemwide.
SF News Car Flips and Falls 150 Feet Down Glen Canyon Park Hillside, Both Passengers Survive With Just Minor Injuries A terrifying accident came with a miraculous result Wednesday afternoon, as a car rolled over and plowed 150 feet down a Glen Park Canyon embankment, but both of the passengers were rescued and emerged with just minor injuries.
Bay Area Sports Mavericks Surf Rally Underway as 30-Plus-Foot Waves Pummel Half Moon Bay The most dangerous surfing conditions of the year are also the most beloved surfing conditions of the year for the world’s most elite surfers, who’ve descended on Half Moon Bay for the legendary, unscheduled Mavericks surfing festivities.
SF Politics Minor SF Rapper Records Diss Track About London Breed, Breed’s PR Team Throws Kitchen Sink at Him How soft of a rapper are you if you record a diss track about Mayor Breed, and then immediately apologize when her PR people complain? More importantly, why are pro-Breed PR forces coming after this obscure rapper with everything they’ve got?
SF News New CA Laws: Employers Can’t Ask About Off-Work Marijuana Use, Pee Tests for Cannabis Largely Banned Effective January 1, the old urine test for marijuana use will be pretty much outlawed in California, and employers in the state won’t be able to enquire about your off-the-clock cannabis use.
SF News SF Finally Getting Somewhat Better at Filling Long-Vacant Supportive Housing Units In a city with thousands of unhoused people, it’s pretty aggravating that housing intended for them is just sitting empty. But there’s some comfort in the fact that SF has cut the vacancy rate at supportive housing sites nearly in half.
SF News Reminder: SF Will Take Away Your Christmas Tree for Free If You Put It Out With Your Recycling No need to dump your Christmas tree illegally, as Recology will simply take it for free and turn it into mulch if you put it with your curbside trash and recycling, as they have done for 30 years.
Arts & Entertainment Burning Man Passed Its Cleanup Inspection — Barely — and Can Return to Black Rock Desert Next Year After downpours and mud floods led to a fair amount of abandoned matter on the playa after Burning Man 2023, the clean-up effort just barely managed to pass its federal inspection, and the event has the go-ahead to return to the Black Rock Desert next year.
SF News Boxing Day Around the Bay: Pizza Hut Laying Off 1,200 California Delivery Drivers The rain is expected to return Wednesday morning; a Los Altos strip mall is in danger of collapsing after a Christmas Day fire; and Pizza Hut is laying off California delivery drivers as a new state wage law is about to take effect.
SF News Muni Redesigns Their Train Seat Layout Yet Again, With Double-Seats and ‘Butt Dimples’ Barely two years after the last seat redesign, the new Muni light-rail fleet is getting another redesign for its seats, with more double-seating and the butt dimples intact to comfort your ‘back door.’
SF News Fault That Caused Massive 2014 Napa Earthquake May Be Far More Dangerous Than We Realize New geological research indicates that the West Napa Fault, which caused the destructive and deadly 2014 Napa quake, may be nine miles longer and potentially much deadlier than previously thought.
SF News The Latest Barrier to New Bay Area Housing? PG&E Equipment Delays There are hundreds of otherwise ready-to-go housing units just plain sitting vacant across the Bay Area, because PG&E is backlogged on the electrical components needed to connect these units to their power grid.
SF News BART Police Arrest Man Menacing Riders With AR-15-Style Rifle on Christmas Eve It was a wild Christmas Eve on BART, as a man with a semi-automatic rifle was “bothering other riders,” until BART Police arrested him and had him hauled off to Santa Rita Jail.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Z&Y Restaurant Opens Offshoot Focused on Peking Duck, Called Z&Y Peking Duck Chinatown’s Z&Y Restaurant has held a Michelin bib gourmand recognition for more than ten years running, and now they’re getting down with a duck-focused spinoff, Z&Y Peking Duck.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Weed Company Names Strain After French Laundry, French Laundry Sics Lawyers on Them An LA-based pot company thought they’d have a laugh by naming one of their products “French Laundry,” until attorneys for the famed Yountville restaurant had some blunt legal threats.
SF News Sure Enough, Shoplifting Was Not the Reason For the Closure of Target at Folsom and 13th Streets When Target announced they were closing an SF store in SoMa, they blamed “theft and organized retail crime.” Uhh, turns out that Target had the least reported crime of any Target store in the entire Bay Area.
SF News Shortest Day of the Year Around the Bay: Not Much Snow in Tahoe This Christmas Santa Clara and the 49ers are in another dispute over that big Christmas Night game; a police chase rattled the Precita Park area last night; and the Christmas weekend snow depth at Tahoe will likely disappoint skiers.
SF News California’s Largest Dispensary Chain Stiiizy Accused of Running Illegal, Underground Pot Shops After an LA Times investigation connected the co-founder of huge dispensary chain Stiiizy to nine illegal marijuana shops in Southern California, a new lawsuit accuses Stiiizy of operating twice as many illegal, unlicensed dispensaries.
SF News Decapitated Baby Seals on NorCal Beaches Confound Biologists, But Now They Know the Culprits Baby seals have been turning up with their heads ripped off on beaches from Santa Cruz to Mendocino County. Now researchers know who’s behind this curious phenomenon, and it’s predators with a newfound taste for seafood.
Arts & Entertainment Life-Size Gingerbread House Has Returned to Fairmont Hotel, So Gumdrop It Like It's Hot The two-story, walk-in, 7,750-brick gingerbread house is back to spice up San Francisco’s holiday season, and the icing on the cake is that you can book a dinner inside of it.
SF News Oil Companies Pushing State Ballot Measure to Drill Next to Schools, Homes California passed a law prohibiting oil companies from drilling within two-thirds of a mile of schools, homes, and hospitals. Big Oil fought back, and now the issue is heading to your November 2024 ballot.
SF News Stolen San Jose Statue Sold For $800, But Will Cost $100,000 to Replace The wild story of a stolen San Jose statue got wilder when a reporter found the missing statue in a scrapyard. But that proved the statue was only worth a few hundred bucks as scrap metal, and the city is not willing to cough up $100,000 to put it back up.
SF Politics Now California’s Lieutenant Guv Wants Trump Forced Off the California Ballot, Too California’s Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis is calling for California to follow the lead of Colorado, and kick Donald Trump off the Republican ballot for the state’s coming March 5 state primary.
Business & Tech Once High-Flying Scooter Company Bird Declares Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Scooter startup Bird already left San Francisco in February blaming “onerous regulations,” but ten months later they’re declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy as their stock is down 97%, so you have to wonder about their business acumen.
SF News Rain and Floods Snarl Travel In SF and Bay Area, Oakland Zoo Closed for the Day Wednesday’s continued rainstorms caused traffic jams and commute messes across the Bay Area, while the Oakland Zoo closed up shop in heavy rains, and more than 200 flights have been delayed today at SFO.