SF News SF’s Population Has Actually Grown the Last Two Years, While California’s Population Is Still Shrinking Updated population numbers were released Tuesday showing the state of California still losing residents in 2023, but San Francisco throws a wrinkle in the doom loop narrative by gaining residents at the fourth-highest rate of any California county.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Stonemill Matcha on Valencia Street Will Reopen Wednesday An encampment fire broke out under SF’s Central Freeway Tuesday; those Cruise robotaxi patches are unfortunately staying on the Giants' uniforms next season; and the popular Stonemill Matcha returns to Valencia Street Wednesday under new ownership.
SF News SFPD Hit With the Inevitable Lawsuit Over ‘Dolores Hill Bomb’ Mass Arrest of 81 Minors Parents said they would sue over July’s draconian mass arrest of 117 people (83 of them minors) during this year’s Dolores Hill Bomb skateboarding meetup, and that lawsuit against the SFPD has now arrived.
SF News It’s a ‘Banner Year for Baby Newts’ as Newt Crossing Season is in Full Swing in Bay Area Berkeley is the kind of city where they will shut down roads to create a safe newt crossing zone, and the newt enthusiasts’ efforts may be paying off, as people say they’re seeing “twice the number of baby newts this year than we had last year.”
SF News Alameda County DA Pursuing Murder Charges Against Men Accused of Killing Retired Officer Kevin Nishita It’s probably not going to win Alameda County DA Pamela Price any converts in the recall campaign against her, but she’s throwing the book at the men charged with killing a retired officer who was shot while providing security for a KRON4 cameraman.
SF Politics Oakland Police Chief Search Down to Three Candidates, Still Mired in Controversy The search for a new Oakland Police Department Chief has now dragged into its tenth month, and is apparently down to three final candidates, but it’s unclear if fired former chief LeRonne Armstrong is one of them.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Hundreds of SFO Flights Delayed, Rain Floods Some SF Streets Monday’s rain caused notable flooding on a few SF streets; longtime SF favorite Jeffrey’s Toys says it’s in danger of closing; and more than 300 flights were delayed at SFO today.
SF News Glide Primes Up to Serve House of Prime Rib Christmas Eve Feast, and Give Out More Than 2,000 Toys You still have a little time to donate to Glide’s Toy Wonderland toy drive that will provide 2,000 toys to SF kids in need, and of course the gigantic House of Prime Rib Christmas Eve brunch is slated to serve 3,000 pounds of prime rib on Sunday.
SF News Man Speaks Out After Car Stolen With Daughter Still Inside In Friday Night Ingleside Theft It’s bad enough to have your car stolen, but one man had the terrifying experience of his car being stolen with his daughter still inside Friday night in Ingleside, and he’s now talking to the press.
SF News Smoke on Tracks at 24th Street Station Causes Major BART Delays An equipment problem caused the tracks to smoke at 24th Street station and made a mess of the Monday morning commute, and while the equipment problem is resolved, train delays continue into Monday afternoon.
SF News A Whole New Slew of Parks and Public Spaces Have Opened on Yerba Buena Island There are parts of Yerba Buena Island that have not been open to the public in generations, but they are now, in the form of hiking trails, dog parks, and more as the island takes on its long-planned new identity.
Bay Area Sports A’s Agree to Cough Up $45 Million for Unpaid Oakland Coliseum Bill Oakland is at least getting one piece of good news as the A’s prepare to bolt for Las Vegas, with the team agreeing to pay Alameda County $45 million of the unpaid balance on their Oakland Coliseum deal.
SF News Mohammed Nuru’s Ex-Girlfriend Sandra Zuniga Gets Probation, Not Jail, For Laundering His Bribe Money SF’s former head of the Office of Neighborhood Services Sandra Zuniga, also known as “Girlfriend 1” in the FBI’s Mohammed Nuru indictment, will skate with just three years probation after a very favorable sentencing Thursday.
SF News Martinez Refinery Flaring Again, Town Currently Reeks of Sulfur Dioxide Yet another flare-up at the oil refinery in Martinez has homes reportedly shaking, and as of Friday afternoon, the refinery is still spewing sulfur dioxide into the air of Martinez and Pacheco.
SF News Car Theft Suspects Caught In Oakland After Leading Police on 40-Mile Chase, Throwing Tools at Cop Cars A 2:30 a.m. Friday morning car chase started when two auto theft suspects were allegedly casing cars in Napa County, and police chased them all the way to Oakland, despite that the suspects were hurling construction tools at the police vehicles along the way.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink That New Jollibee Is Indeed Coming to the Former Payless Shoe Store at Market and Fifth Streets Jolly good news for fans of Chickenjoy meals and coconut pineapple pies, as after years of starts and stops, that long-stalled Jollibee at the former Payless ShoeSource at Union Square is getting close to opening.
SF News Day Around the Bay: The Winter’s First Spare the Air Day Is Friday The New York Times just discovered that crime is worse in Oakland than in SF, some Safeway and Target stores are ditching self-checkout, and wood burning is banned Friday because it’s a Spare the Air day.
SF News Feds Haul Canadian/Lebanese Man in From Greece to SF Over $10 Million Yellow Pages Scam An alleged con artist who’d escaped to Greece is accused of making $10 million pretending his company was the Yellow Pages, and billing businesses for "unpaid invoices" that never actually existed.
SF News It’s Official: 2023 Is SF’s Deadliest Year Ever for Drug Overdoses We knew we were on track to pass this morbid milestone for months, and now it has come to pass: an all-time high 752 people in SF have died from accidental drug overdoses in 2023, and we still have a couple more weeks of December to go.
SF News Amidst Continuing Furor Over Valencia Street Bike Lane, SFMTA Hints They May Overhaul It Last week, Valencia Street businesses protested the controversial center bike land and called for the scalp of SFMTA director Jeffrey Tumlin. Now Tumlin has published an op-ed hinting that they just might redesign the bike lane, maybe.
SF News APEC Protester Says Chinese Government Was Behind Him Getting Roughed Up After Protest A protester who was assaulted after an APEC demonstration claims the attack was the work of Chinese government “thugs,” and a couple members of Congress find the claim credible enough that they’re calling for an investigation.
Business & Tech Former Facebook Executive Pleads Guilty to Swindling Company Out of $4 Million A one-time Facebook executive based in Atlanta has pleaded guilty to defrauding $4 million out of Facebook parent company Meta, by embezzling money from her company credit card, and directing contracts to friends in exchange for kickbacks.
SF News Defense Dredges Up Former SF Fire Commissioner’s Domestic Violence Allegations In Bear-Spray Case In the case of a former SF fire commissioner who may have bear-sprayed his assault suspect, the suspect’s public defender has brought a mess of domestic violence allegations from Don Carmignani’s ex-wife into the testimony.
SF News Lake Merritt’s Menorah Vandalized, Thrown Into Lake In Act Being Investigated as Hate Crime Vandals destroyed the Lake Merritt Hanukkah menorah early Wednesday morning, tossing its pieces into the lake and scrawling vulgar graffiti on its remains. But the rabbi whose Jewish center put the menorah up says “For every menorah they take down, we are going to put up ten.”
Bay Area Sports Giants Offered Shohei Ohtani the Same $700 Million the Dodgers Did, Ohtani Chose Dodgers Anyway In the wake of another Giants “always the bridesmaid” free agency whiff, we’re now learning that the Giants offered Shohei Ohtani the exact same deal the Dodgers offered, but Sho-Time still chose the Dodgers.