SF News Saturday Links: Bay Area's Own Urban Sprawl Is Making It Sink Pfizer now says its COVID-19 vaccine can be stored inside regular lab freezers, the controversial Calvary Chapel in San Jose apparently received $340K in PPP funds, and a geophysicist found that about 3.5 trillion pounds of urban development are pushing the Earth’s surface down in the Bay Area.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Bay Area Rents Continue to Nosedive; Harris Sells SoMa Condo Vice President Harris has sold her SoMa condo, Instacart (like Uber and Lyft) is raising its prices to pay for Prop 22, and a new report from Zillow shows rents across the Bay Area — particularly in San Francisco — have fallen as much as 9% from where they were a year ago.
Arts & Entertainment Burning Man Announces They Still Have No Announcement on Fate of 2021 Event The promised mid-February update has been issued, but the Burning Man Project cannot say whether the 2021 event can happen in person, and the new announcement timeline is “no later than the end of May.”
SF Politics Scott Wiener Introduces Bill to Legalize Psychedelics Statewide The bill would decriminalize the use and possession of psilocybin (mushrooms), molly, LSD, ketamine, DMT, and mescaline, among other things.
SF News Remains of 37-Year-Old Walnut Creek Woman Missing Since June Found In Desert Near Twentynine Palms San Bernardino County authorities have identified skeletal remains they discovered in the desert outside Twentynine as those of 37-year-old Erika Ashley Lloyd. The remains were found by hikers on January 31, and Lloyd had been missing since June 16, 2020.
SF News Retired SF Police Officer Allegedly Threatened to Kill 11-Year-Old Over Ding-Dong-Ditch Pranks A retired San Francisco cop now living in Marin County is being accused of threatening to "put a bullet" in an 11-year-old boy after the boy and his friends were reportedly ringing doorbells in the neighborhood and running away — i.e. playing ding-dong ditch.
SF News Friday Morning Constitutional: Two Waves of Rain Moving Through SF parents stage "Zoom-in" protests outside closed public schools, Dropbox posted a big loss after seeking to sublease a lot of its office space, and new studies suggest people who've had COVID should get just one vaccine dose.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Police Commission Rejects SFPD Layoff Proposal A Victorian house is getting moved (just like in olden times) from Franklin to Fulton Street this weekend, the SF Zoo is helping save sea turtles from the Texas freeze, and there's still more CA Craft Beer Week stuff happening.
Arts & Entertainment ACT Announces Three Filmed Play Readings to Be Streamed This Spring As San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater prepares to try to reopen for in-person performances this summer (or fall), the company has announced a series of play readings that will continue its streaming programs that began in the fall.
SF News SF Catholic Churches Pulled in Huge PPP Loans While Flouting Public Health Restrictions The Archdiocese of SF’s nearly $2 million PPP loan is just one of many that have gone to churches across the state who have openly defied restrictions and hosted superspreader events.
SF News Bay Area COVID Hospitalizations Fall Below 1,000 For the First Time Since November On the same day that California's number of hospitalized COVID patients fell back to late-November levels this week, the Bay Area's number has also fallen to nearly the same number as were hospitalized on November 30.
SF Politics Brace Yourselves For a Rogues' Gallery of Candidates If Newsom Recall Election Happens Anyone who was around California in 2003 will remember the circus sideshow that the whole nation watched when Governor Gray Davis was put up for a recall vote, with 135 candidates qualifying for the ballot including former child star Gary Coleman (RIP) and porn star Mary Carey.
Arts & Entertainment Decision Delayed for Extension of Golden Gate Park Ferris Wheel At the request of several SF supervisors, the Historic Preservation Commission held off on a final decision about whether to grant a four-year extension for the 150-foot-tall observation wheel in Golden Gate Park
SF News Second Suspect Arrested In Carjack-Kidnapping of DoorDash Driver's Kids San Francisco police located and arrested the second suspect in the carjacking and kidnapping of a DoorDash driver's minivan with two small children inside.
SF News Foul Play Not Suspected In Mission District Man's Death; Body Found In Crawl Space The mysterious death of a San Francisco man last month is coming a bit more into focus as we learn a couple of new details from the SFPD.
Bay Area Sports Warriors Erase 19-Point Deficit To Extinguish Heat 120-112 In Overtime Despite a late scratch to Draymond Green during warmups and a return to earth for Steph Curry’s three-point shooting percentage, assertive play from Kent Bazemore and a late rally from the two-time MVP propelled the Golden State Warriors to a win over the Miami Heat at Chase Center Wednesday Night.
SF News Thursday Morning What's Up: Moscone Center Resumes Vaccinations Monday COVID has decreased U.S. life expectancy by a full year, the Moscone Center vaccination site resumes operations on Monday with a backlog of appointments, and Airbnb is opening a "technical hub" in Atlanta.
SF News Day Around the Bay: Seach Continues For Richmond Teen Who Disappeared Berkeley is considering doing away with all single-family zoning, Kaiser says it's been slower to vaccinate seniors than other networks because it isn't getting a fair vaccine allocation, and DNA shows an East Bay coyote has been responsible for multiple attacks on people.
SF News Alameda Coast Guard Nabs 9,000 Pounds of Cocaine in Separate Busts The regional US Coast Guard is tooting its own horn after busting three separate smuggling vessels carrying an estimated $156 million in cocaine.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink San Francisco Restaurants Remain Impatient to Return to Indoor Dining While 99% of the state remains in the "Purple" tier this week, restaurant owners in the Bay Area are looking for signs that they should be prepping their dining rooms again for low-capacity indoor service.
SF News Liquor Store Owner In Oakland Chinatown Arrested for Vigilante Firearm Action During Street Robbery On Monday evening, one business owner in Oakland's Chinatown who tried to take matters into his own hands — by way of shooting a weapon while intervening in a robbery that was occurring outside his store — was arrested for his actions.
SF News Halleloo: BART and Muni Riders Will Soon Be Able to Pay Fares With Mobile Phones Two years behind New York's transit system — a.k.a. right on schedule — Clipper cards are going mobile, enabling riders to stop fumbling with wallets at BART and Muni stations and pay using Apple Pay or Google Pay on their mobile phones.
SF News Catholic Priest at SF's Saints Peter and Paul Church Dies From COVID-19 The saga of the Catholic Church in San Francisco during this pandemic has led to a high-profile tragedy this week as we learn of the death of one of the priests at Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach.
SF Politics Ted Cruz's Tweets About Democrats Causing California's Blackouts Come Back to Haunt Him Republicans' memories are painfully short when it comes to anything anyone said longer than a few days ago. But if there's one terrific thing about Twitter, it's that it keeps a record of their nonsense that we can at least throw back in their virtual faces when need be.
SF News Bay Area Epidemiologist Suggests the Last Year of the Pandemic Was Just One Big 'First Wave' Marin County-based epidemiologist Dr. Larry Brilliant, who offered some prescient warnings last April about not letting up the Bay Area's strict lockdowns for fear of subsequent COVID surges, is back with some dour predictions and words of caution.
