Business & Tech

Waymo Opens Up SF Service To Anyone Who Wants a Self-Driving Car Ride, No More Wait List

Anyone in San Francisco can now hail and ride a Waymo self-driving robotaxi, or rather, anyone in SF with the Waymo app and a working credit card, as the Google-owned autonomous company is opening its vehicles to SF’s masses.

SF News

Two-Year-Old Kid Saves Outer Richmond House From Being Destroyed by Fire

The fast wits of a toddler may have saved a 35th Avenue property from being destroyed over the weekend, as the two-year-old is being credited with alerting his parents to a fire happening outside.

Arts & Entertainment

Hello Kitty Cafe Truck Coming Back to SF This Weekend, as National Tour Hits Bay Area

The traveling sensation of the Hello Kitty Cafe truck brings its bright pink stylings back to SF’s Stonestown Galleria on Saturday, along with scheduled July stops in San Jose and Pleasanton.

Business & Tech

The Hilton Oakland Airport Hotel Is Closing Permanently After 56 Years

Oakland’s troubled Hegenberger Road is losing another national chain resident, as the Hilton Hotel near the Oakland Airport is shutting down permanently at the end of August.

Arts & Entertainment

Video: SF’s Three-Legged Dog Picnic Smashes World Record for Largest-Ever Gathering of Three-Legged Dogs

Behold Sunday’s “Tri-Pawed Picnic,” which drew the famed Doggie Diner heads and broke the world record for the most three-legged dogs ever counted in one place. We’ve got pup-arazzi pictures and video of these dogs who’ve bounced back from some pretty ruff encounters.

SF News

Mayor Breed’s Budget Cuts Leave Alemany Flea Market on the Chopping Block, Vendors Revolt

The City of San Francisco’s $800 million budget deficit is leaving many programs under the scalpel, and Portola neighborhood vendors are furious that the Alemany Flea Market may be one of them.

Business & Tech

Cruise Fined $112,500 by CPUC Over Pedestrian-Dragging Incident, But Avoids Independent Investigation

Cruise was fined the maximum allowable fine of $112,500 for burying evidence in the incident where their car dragged a pedestrian 20 feet. But the self-driving car company got off easy, as state regulators rejected calls for an independent investigation into what actually happened.

Business & Tech

Have You Had Your Electric Bike Stolen? It Might Be in Mexico and Being Sold on Facebook

A recent WIRED investigation uncovered a high-end crime ring that appeared to be shipping stolen Bay Area electric bikes to Mexico. New reporting shows that the local epicenter of this ring may be a transmission shop in San Jose.

SF News

We’re Getting Clues On Why the FBI Raided Sheng Thao’s Home, and Other Oakland Politicians Might Be Worried Too

Thursday’s FBI raid on Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s house appears to be part of a larger investigation of Oakland’s trash pick-up contractor, and this thing might be a Mohammed Nuru-caliber scandal that ensnares many more politicians in Oakland — and beyond.

SF News

Longest Day of the Year Around the Bay: Laguna Honda Hospital Fully Recertified and Refunded

The doctor who drove his family off a San Mateo cliff will avoid jail time; another SFO runway is reopening in time for a coming travel rush; and Laguna Honda Hospital is officially off the schneid and fully recertified.

SF Politics

Daniel Lurie Has Now Spent More Than $1 Million In SF Mayoral Race

Levi Strauss family heir money and venture capitalists’ bucks are flying into the campaign accounts for SF mayoral candidate Daniel Lurie, but he’s burning through it too, and has spent $1.2 million with Election Day still five months out.

Bay Area Sports

Spike Lee Pops By Willie Mays Shrine at Oracle Park: ‘I Had To Pay My Love And Respect In Person’

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee was among the many who paid homage to the late Willie Mays at Mays’s Oracle Park statue Wednesday, so who knows, maybe Spike Lee will show up at the ballpark for Thursday night’s free showing of Giants’ Negro Leagues tribute game.

SF News

Notorious Flooded Luxury Apartment High-Rise 33 Tehama Rebrands as 'Spera,' Claims New, Different Address

Hoping to memory-hole the flooding drama at 33 Tehama, the luxury SoMa high-rise is suddenly rebranding itself as “Spera,” and while it is at the exact same location, it now claims to be located at 39 Tehama Street.

Arts & Entertainment

SF Pride Hopes to Have Legal Cannabis Sales and Smoking at Civic Center Plaza Party

A highly historic feature could be puffing up at this year’s SF Pride celebration, with Civic Center Plaza planning to host SF Pride’s first-ever legal marijuana sales and consumption area — though the permit has technically not been approved yet.

SF Politics

Effort To Recall Mayor Sheng Thao Qualifies for the November Oakland Ballot

Recall-mania is back in 2024, as a group hoping to recall Mayor Sheng Thao has enough verified signatures to make the November 2024 ballot and possibly remove the embattled mayor.

Arts & Entertainment

There Will Be Legal Marijuana Sales and Smoking at the California State Fair This Year

Another trailblazing moment first for those who blaze up: Next month’s California State Fair will have legal cannabis sales and consumption, the first-ever state fair with pot being smoked legally on-site.

SF News

SFMTA Votes to End the Valencia Center Bike Lane Experiment, But New Curbside Lanes Won’t Arrive Until 2025

After nearly a year of controversy, the SFMTA has decided to flip-flop the Valencia Street bike lane back to the old curbside design, but the new curbside bike lanes won’t be completed until January 2025 at the earliest.

Bay Area Sports

SF Giants Legend Willie Mays Has Died at 93

The “Say Hey Kid” and all-time greatest Giant Willie Mays passed away Tuesday at the age of 93, leaving a legacy of 24 All-Star appearances, countless broken racial barriers, and a statue at the SF ballpark by which he will always be remembered.

SF News

Day Around the Bay: Beloved Bob’s Donuts Is Getting a New Home on Polk Street

Vandals destroyed an Oakland school garden planted by Steph & Ayesha Curry’s foundation; Elon Musk has yet another sexual harassment lawsuit on his hands; and the Polk Street Bob’s Donuts is moving to a different location after a landlord dispute.

SF Politics

Lights Went Out as Candidates Were Speaking at Monday Night’s Very Glitchy SF Mayoral Debate

It was literally a “lights out” performance, and not in a good way, on Monday night when the five major candidates running for San Francisco mayor debated at UC Law, and repeated technical glitches marred the night’s proceedings.

SF News

SF Supervisors Approve Mayor Breed’s Plan to Shut Down Tenderloin Corner Stores at Midnight

Convenience stores in a 20-block area of the Tenderloin will not be allowed to stay open between midnight and 5 am for the next two years, as City Hall says those corner stores “attract significant nighttime drug activity."

SF News

Man Killed In Saturday's Mission Shooting Was Victim In Infamous 2019 SFPD Brutality Case, Dacari Spiers

A tragic footnote to a high-profile police brutality case whose trial dominated SF headlines during the Chesa Boudin days, as we learn that the victim of a fatal Saturday shooting turns out to be the man who made news for being on the wrong end of an SFPD beatdown in 2019.

Business & Tech

Tesla In ‘Full Self-Driving’ Mode Goes Plowing Into Police Car

An Orange County Tesla driver wasn’t actually driving his Tesla while cruising past the scene of a fatal car accident last week, and that Tesla in self-driving mode went and crashed into a police car.

Bay Area Sports

Oakland Ballers Introduce New Mascot, Which Is a Possum, as Another Way to Troll the Oakland A’s

The Oakland B’s new mascot “Scrappy the Possum” is an obvious troll of the carpetbagging Oakland A’s, whose dilapidated stadium has a well-known possum problem.

Business & Tech

US Surgeon General Wants Warning Labels on Social Media Sites, Just Like the Ones We Put On Cigarettes

Saying Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok are causing “significant mental health harms for adolescents,” US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is calling for public health warning labels on social media sites and apps, not unlike the warnings placed on packs of cigarettes.