South Lake Tahoe Mayor Cody Bass was convicted of misdemeanor harassment Thursday over a confrontation with a bar bouncer in October amid a turbulent year for the city’s leadership, and he faces up to six months in jail.

A judge found South Lake Tahoe Mayor Cody Bass guilty of misdemeanor harassment Thursday over an October confrontation with a bar bouncer outside Lake Tahoe AleWorx in Stateline, Nevada, but acquitted him of a separate trespassing charge, as the Chronicle reports.

Bass will be sentenced September 1 and could receive up to six months in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both. His attorney, Adam Spicer, said he intends to appeal the conviction.

“I respect the court’s verdict,” Spicer said, according to South Tahoe Now. “I will be doing everything to present a good case at sentencing and will consider all legal options.”

The case goes back to last October, when Bass ended up in a confrontation with an AleWorx bouncer after approaching the business. According to the Chronicle, surveillance video played for the court showed Bass walking past the bar’s outdoor fire pit while holding a drink. The bouncer, identified in court as Bobby, testified that Bass wanted to go inside, but was told he could not because he had previously trespassed from the property.

The disagreement moved outside, where the two men got into a physical confrontation. The bouncer kicked Bass while they were on the sidewalk, according to testimony. Bass then called 911, and sheriff’s deputies arrived a few minutes later.

Bass told a deputy that he had gone to the bar hoping to make amends with the bouncer, per the Chronicle. But after reviewing the surveillance footage and talking to witnesses, the deputy reportedly did not believe that was what had happened.

Bass then allegedly told the bouncer he would have people kill him, which became central to the harassment case. Because the surveillance video had no audio, Spicer challenged whether the footage supported the bouncer’s account, pointing out that people nearby did not appear to react to anything being said.

Bass was initially arrested on suspicion of assault, trespassing, and threats or harassment. Prosecutors subsequently dropped the assault allegation and pursued the trespassing and harassment charges.

After his arrest, Bass posted his own account of the confrontation on Facebook, saying the bouncer had assaulted him and that he had been walking to get something to eat. He disputed having been banned from AleWorx and said he had not entered the bar in a considerable amount of time. The responses from Bass’ constituents to his Facebook post make for quite an entertaining read.

Bass was released after about three hours in custody after posting $1,978 bail. His conditions included staying away from the bouncer, avoiding alcohol and marijuana, and remaining outside a designated area of Stateline.

The conviction comes as Bass approaches the end of his current City Council term. He has served on the council since 2018 and was mayor pro tem last fall when then-Mayor Tamara Wallace resigned after admitting she had taken about $300,000 from Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church. Wallace also called on Bass to resign following his arrest, but he refused and remained on the council.

Bass became mayor afterward, and his current term expires in November.

This is not Bass’ first encounter with law enforcement. The California Highway Patrol arrested him in 2021 on suspicion of DUI after officers said they found substances resembling cocaine and methamphetamine in his vehicle. And in 2015, authorities raided the Tahoe Wellness Cooperative, the cannabis collective Bass founded, as part of a tax investigation. Bass called that raid retaliation for his criticism of a local deputy.

Previously: WTF, South Lake Tahoe? Mayor Pro Tem Arrested for Assault, One Day After Mayor Admits Embezzlement

Image: City of South Lake Tahoe

Scott Wiener is taking down the chatbot he launched to mock congressional opponent Connie Chan after receiving backlash from Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers, acknowledging he “clearly missed the mark.”

State Senator Scott Wiener announced Friday that he was deactivating the chatbot he created to mock San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, and he'll also be removing the billboards promoting it, adding that the controversy had overtaken the issues he wanted to highlight in the congressional race, according to Bay Area Reporter.

“Throughout my career, I’ve never been afraid to push the envelope, which means taking risks, sometimes succeeding, and sometimes missing the mark,” Wiener stated.

[Update] Chan's spokesperson Ian Krager issued a statement Friday in response to Wiener's removal of the bot.

“Scott Wiener can rightly take down his bigotry bot, but he can’t erase the concerns it raised among San Franciscans about his character and  judgment,” he said. “San Franciscans deserve better than a campaign funded by Big AI weaponizing the technology to mock an immigrant woman of color, doubling down after justified outrage, then reversing course and shrugging it off as simply  ‘missing the mark.’”

“Connie Chan will keep her campaign focused on fighting for working families, affordable housing, reliable transit, and responsible AI — without turning San Francisco voters into a political experiment,” Krager concluded.

Prior to Friday's announcement, Wiener stood by the chatbot, maintaining that the site was clearly labeled as parody and that “no reasonable person” would mistake it for an official Chan campaign platform.

On Thursday, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi criticized the bot, which was designed to mock SF Supervisor Connie Chan's positions on issues including housing, public transit, education, and San Francisco’s economic recovery.

Pelosi, who has endorsed Chan, said the chatbot went beyond political satire after Chan’s campaign prompted it about her accent and citizenship and received responses that invoked racial and sexist stereotypes, as Politico reports. Pelosi said one response echoed “harmful racial tropes” associated with Trump-era birtherism.

The letter Pelosi posted Thursday was also backed by Representative Zoe Lofgren, eight other Democratic women in Congress, San Francisco Supervisors Jackie Fielder and Chyanne Chen, and several local Democratic clubs.

“Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power,” Pelosi and the other signatories wrote. “We should not have to now fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths.”

Chan’s campaign reportedly provided screenshots of the chatbot responding to questions about her accent and citizenship. In one response, the bot joked about Chan’s San Francisco accent, while another made a reference to her citizenship status. According to the Chronicle, Hong Kong-born Chan immigrated to the US from Taiwan at age 13 and is a non-native English speaker.

Wiener’s campaign denied designing the chatbot to produce racist or sexist responses, saying it was political satire focused on Chan’s record, accusing her of using race and gender to deflect criticism.

Wiener's campaign spokesperson Joe Arellano said the chatbot was meant to lean into the “AI craze overtaking the city” while educating voters about Chan’s record.

The Chronicle reports that Chan's spokesperson Ian Krager accused Wiener of refusing to take responsibility for the chatbot’s responses.

“Instead of apologizing or taking responsibility for his bigotry bot, Senator Wiener is blaming everyone else,” Krager said.

The dispute has also raised questions about how effectively AI chatbots can be prevented from reproducing stereotypes. Valentin Hofmann, an assistant professor at the University of Munich who has researched racial prejudice in AI models, said chatbots can draw on stereotypes embedded in the vast amount of internet data used to train them.

Hofmann told the Chronicle that accent-related stereotypes can be particularly difficult to remove because they can be encoded in subtle ways. After reviewing the responses provided by Chan’s campaign, he said the chatbot appeared to have picked up information about Chan’s background and used her accent in a failed attempt at satire.

By the end of the week, the chatbot was reportedly no longer producing the responses that sparked the controversy. When asked about Chan’s accent or citizenship, it instead said it did not have information on those subjects.

The controversy has also brought the candidates’ competing AI policies into focus. Chan recently released a video outlining proposals that include giving workers affected by AI a greater role in decisions about its use, requiring human oversight in areas such as finance and transportation, and requiring AI companies to cover the full energy and infrastructure costs associated with data centers.

As the Chronicle reports, Chan has also said she supports a nationwide moratorium on new data center construction.

Wiener has pointed to his own record on AI policy while defending the chatbot, including his unsuccessful 2024 effort to pass Senate Bill 1047, an AI safety bill opposed by Pelosi and other Democratic leaders that was ultimately vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.

California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis also reposted Pelosi’s letter and called for the chatbot to be taken down, saying AI-generated impersonation has no place in politics.

Wiener 's campaign reportedly received backing from a Super PAC funded by Anthropic, whose Claude chatbot powered the website.

Previously: Scott Wiener Campaign Launches Connie Chan AI Chatbot, Highlighting Chan's Voting Record as Supervisor

Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images

Photo by Jason West

State Senator Scott Wiener proposed naming the Bay Bridge’s Yerba Buena Tunnel after local folk icon, the late Emperor Norton, who first conceived of the idea of connecting SF and Oakland more than half a century before the bridge came to be.

The proposal to officially name the Bay Bridge's Yerba Buena Tunnel after the late Emperor Norton builds on years of efforts to honor the eccentric San Franciscan. As the Chronicle reports, state Senator Scott Wiener introduced a resolution Tuesday, with Assemblymember Catherine Stefani joining as a co-author. If approved by the Legislature, Caltrans would estimate the cost of new signage and install it after privately raised funds cover the expense.

Joshua Abraham Norton, who famously declared himself “Emperor of the United States” and “Protector of Mexico,” arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush era as a wealthy businessman, but lost his fortune after a failed attempt to corner the rice market. After falling from high society, he reinvented himself as Emperor Norton in 1859, issuing elaborate decrees that newspapers eagerly published and turning his fictional reign into a citywide phenomenon.

SFist’s Joe Kukura described Norton as “a Gold Rush-era bon vivant who combined the local-legend cult-following magic of Frank Chu, the crassly effective media manipulation of Donald Trump, and the inexplicable cultural staying power of a Kardashian to be the most talked-about San Francisco socialite of the [city's] earliest years.”

According to the Chronicle, Norton’s declarations ranged from abolishing Congress and political parties to advocating for a bridge between San Francisco and Oakland, the latter of which came to fruition 56 years after his death. Despite the absurdity of his title, Norton became a beloved local figure known for speaking out against anti-Chinese discrimination and promoting ideas of peace and inclusion.

“Emperor Norton was a San Francisco original,” Wiener said in a statement. “At a time when Chinese Californians were being targeted with exclusion and harassment, he stood up against hate and preached inclusion. At a time of war, he stood against violence and hostility.”

The effort traces back more than a decade to the Emperor Norton Trust's 2013 petition seeking to add "Emperor Norton Bridge" as an honorary name for the entire Bay Bridge, a campaign that drew roughly 7,000 signatures. About a year ago, the trust shifted its focus to the currently unnamed Yerba Buena Tunnel, which founder John Lumea told the Chronicle was a more practical proposal after years of building support from local organizations before approaching lawmakers and eventually securing Wiener's backing.

The proposal has received endorsements from groups including the Imperial Council of San Francisco, the Chinese Historical Society of America, and the California Lodge No. 1 of Free and Accepted Masons. Under the resolution, the Legislature would have the authority to officially name the tunnel. Caltrans would then estimate the cost of new signage, with the Emperor Norton Trust expected to raise private funds to pay for and install the signs if the measure passes.

In 2023, former Supervisor Aaron Peskin renamed a Financial District alley after him. Peskin previously attempted in 2004 to rename the entire Bay Bridge in Norton’s honor.

Norton died in 1880, and his funeral was reportedly attended by 10,000 mourners, with an estimated 30,000 taking part in the procession. He was originally buried at the former Masonic Cemetery before his remains were moved to Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma, when the city’s cemeteries were relocated in the early 1900s.

Note: The post was updated with clarifications regarding funding for the tunnel and Caltrans's role in the official naming. Additionally, the Yerba Buena Tunnel does not currently have an "official" name, so the wording throughout has been changed from "renamed" to "named."

Previously: Newly Renamed Street ‘Emperor Norton Place’ Gets Proper Dedication, In Wild Ceremony With Doggie Diner Heads

Image: Mural at Emperor Norton Boozeland/Google Maps

The campaign supporting Scott Wiener for Congress has launched a new interactive, parody AI chatbot that poses as rival candidate Connie Chan, and mocks her stances and votes on various issues.

The bot, dubbed ConnieChan.ai, just launched this week, as KRON4 reports, and it's a fairly simple gimmick that resembles chatbots like Claude or ChatGPT, responding to questions or to various suggested prompts about hot-button topics like "Blocking Housing" or "Derailing Public Transit." The tagline at the top, "Let's do nothing together."

Clicking on the public transit prompt, the bot responds with, "I do love a good delay, and I've truly made an *impact* on our city's ability to move people around efficiently." It then suggests four subtopics, including "Making Buses Slower," and if you click on that, the AI Connie discusses how she voted to block a proposed bus rapid-transit (BRT) lane on Geary Boulevard, like the one we have on Van Ness.

On the topic of "Silencing Live Music," the bot points to an SF Standard article and highlights how, three years ago, Chan "tried to sabotage Outside Lands by playing games with its permits," and also how Chan voted against turning the Castro Theatre into a music venue. (To be fair, many of SF's progressives stood on the side of the "don't remove the seats" crowd who feared the theater would never be used to screen movies again.)

If you try to ask a question that is not related to any of the suggested prompts, like about homelessness, the bot just steers you back to the prompts, saying things like, "Homelessness is indeed a pressing issue, but I'm afraid my particular expertise lies in the finer points of obstruction across other domains — I'm simply not equipped to share my record on that one."

Chan was a well-known "no" vote on banning cars from JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, and the bot also highlights a dustup, documented on Reddit, over Chan staring at her phone during a public-comment session at the Board of Supervisors on that topic.

The mocking chatbot is being released just as we saw new poll numbers last week (in a poll commissioned by Chan's campaign) that put Chan just five percentage points behind Wiener.

And the jokey nature of the chatbot stunt has the hallmarks of political consultant Conor Johnston, who was linked to an April stunt involving a minivan that was being parked around town bearing the message, "Where does Saikat live? Saikat lives in Maryland." That stunt took aim at accused carpetbagging political candidate Saikat Chakrabarti, who lost his primary bid to Chan and Wiener.

A very similar stunt involving a sedan that looks like a yellow taxicab, with the same sort of banner mounted on its roof, was seen parked next to Dolores Park last week with the message, "Connie Chan Opposes Everything" — essentially the same message being promoted by the AI chatbot.

So, the negative campaigning has begun! And it's barely August. We're certainly in for plenty more.

Related: Connie Chan Gains Momentum, Trails Closely Behind Scott Wiener In Race For Congress

Top image: San Francisco Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan speaks at a "Get Out the Vote" rally on May 29, 2026 in San Francisco, California. U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has endorsed San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan to fill her seat representing California's 11th Congressional District. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)

State Senator Josh Becker of Menlo Park worked with EU lawmakers to develop legislation requiring embedded data on AI-generated images and audio that can be verified and tracked, and the first phase took effect in both places Saturday.

California's new AI transparency requirements officially took effect Saturday alongside the European Union's AI Act, marking the first phase of a coordinated effort to make AI-generated content easier to identify, as KQED reports.

The law, which passed in 2024, requires generative AI companies to embed difficult-to-remove “provenance” data into AI-generated photos, videos, and audio, including whether the content was made using AI, which system was used, and the date it was made. That information can then be verified using content authentication tools such as those developed by Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity.

State Senator Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), who co-authored the legislation with Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles), said the goal is to help combat election misinformation, scams, and abusive deepfakes by giving the public a way to distinguish authentic content from fabricated media.

“While AI has some benefits, we've seen AI content used for election misinformation, for scams and abusive deepfakes,” Becker said, speaking to KQED.

Becker told KPIX in an interview Monday that California lawmakers worked closely with the European Union while developing the legislation so both measures could take effect simultaneously and help establish a common international framework, adding that Washington state has already adopted similar legislation.

“This is now a global standard really because of my bill,” Becker said, speaking to KPIX.

The law's next phases will roll out over the coming years. Becker explained in a reel on social media Monday that beginning January 1, large social media platforms operating in California must provide users with a way to view embedded provenance information attached to AI-generated content. Then, beginning in 2028, phones and cameras manufactured in California will also be required to capture and store provenance information the moment the content is created.

Becker said the measure took nearly three years to implement after it was introduced because lawmakers wanted to ensure the technical standards were practical before requiring companies to comply. He also acknowledged that technology is advancing faster than regulation and that California will need to move more quickly on future AI policy.

He said California is uniquely positioned to influence AI regulation because it is home to much of Silicon Valley and the world's fourth-largest economy. Becker said many leaders within the AI industry have also acknowledged the need for guardrails, adding that California's partnership with the European Union gives the law influence well beyond the state's borders.

“I represent a million people, most of Silicon Valley,” Becker told KPIX. “So I think we have an opportunity but also responsibility to regulate this industry.”

While the measure won't eliminate the need for skepticism online, he said the intention of the law was to give people better tools.

Becker was scheduled to hold a press conference Monday in Sacramento with representatives from the European Union to discuss the new law and its implementation.

Related: Google to Add Clearer Sources In AI Searches, Allow Sites to Opt Out Following UK Ruling

Image: Senator Josh Becker/Instagram

New polls suggest Connie Chan is now only behind by a few points in the race for Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat despite Scott Wiener's sizable fundraising advantage.

Two new polls indicate that SF Supervisor Connie Chan’s popularity increased by more than 10% since her second-place finish in June's primary, when she captured 29.7% of the vote to Wiener's 40.7%, as Mission Local reports.

A poll by Lake Research Partners, which was commissioned by Chan's campaign, found Wiener currently leading 45% to Chan’s 40%, while a separate survey backed by a committee supporting the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act put the race at Wiener leading at 39% to Chan's 38%, though nearly a quarter of respondents are still undecided. Chan campaign spokesperson Julie Edwards said the numbers show the supervisor is “building momentum every day.”

Wiener's campaign dismissed the surveys as an early snapshot.

"Connie Chan should enjoy this moment,” spokesperson Joe Arellano said, speaking to Mission Local. “Once San Francisco voters learn that her entire career is built on stopping progress and making housing unaffordable, her poll numbers will sink faster than the Giants' season.”

Political consultants aligned with Wiener also told Mission Local the contest appears increasingly competitive. Several pointed to voters who backed Saikat Chakrabarti, who endorsed Chan after the primary, as one group still undecided, while others said conservative voters who supported eliminated candidates could ultimately play an outsized role in deciding the race.

According to SF Examiner, Wiener continues to dominate fundraising. Between May 14 and June 30, his campaign reported raising roughly $571,000 in net contributions and ended the reporting period with more than $1.2 million cash on hand, bringing his total fundraising since launching his campaign to more than $4.5 million.

Arellano also highlighted a spike in donations after a widely circulated video showed Wiener being aggressively confronted by pro-Palestinian protesters while leaving the Trans March in Dolores Park in June.

Chan also reportedly saw a fundraising boost during the same reporting period, raising just over $441,000 in net contributions — more than double what she collected during the previous reporting window — while ending June with about $362,000 in cash on hand, as the Examiner reports. Since declaring her candidacy in November, Chan has reportedly raised around $1.1 million.

Chan's campaign pointed to her strong primary showing, along with endorsements from House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and several labor unions, as driving the momentum.

Previously: Wiener and Chan Are Headed to the November Ballot For SF's Congressional Seat

As other appeals courts have also done over the last year as President Trump's goons go about trying to rid the country of immigrants of all kinds, the Ninth Circuit  Court of Appeals has issued a new ruling striking down the administration's policy of detaining immigrants within the country.

The decision, written by Trump appointee Judge Daniel Bress, came down Thursday in a case out of Washington state. And it arrives just as Trump's ICE operation has increasingly been seeking out immigrants with expired visas flying domestically at US airports.

"Historically, the law regarded unadmitted aliens present in the interior of the United States as subject to release on bond during the pendency of their removal proceedings," Judge Bress writes for the majority. "That understanding persisted after the 1996 amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA)."

Bress acknowledged that there has been a different policy over the past several decades when it comes to immigrants appearing at the border, who could be detained and deported without a hearing. But the Trump administration's mass-detention surge over the past 18 months has no precedent and is inconsistent with congressional mandates, he writes.

The ruling looks back at how the US has handled immigrants, at the border and otherwise, over the last 150 years.

"The government’s change in policy has resulted in detained aliens filing thousands of habeas petitions in federal courts across the country, seeking bond hearings and possible release from detention," Bress writes. "Some of these detained aliens have resided in the United States for lengthy periods."

"We conclude that the text, context, and structure of the INA, considered as a whole, did not direct such a significant, yet overlooked, change in the law," Bress writes.

Judge M. Margaret McKeown, a Clinton appointee, joined Bress in the 2-1 majority. Judge Carlos T. Bea, a George W. Bush appointee, dissented, noting in his dissent that much of what he wrote there was echoed in the opinions of five other circuit courts on similar matters.

The judges' main point of difference appears to be language around immigrants "seeking admission" to the US and being "applicants for admission," and whether anyone present in the US for any length of time without proper papers is automatically "seeking admission."

Judge Bress noted that in earlier cases, "The panel observed that the Fifth and Eighth Circuits have sided with the government (each over a dissent), while the Second, Sixth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits have sided with the habeas petitioners (the Sixth and Eleventh with dissents), and the Seventh Circuit has issued a decision that failed to command a majority."

All this disagreement between the appellate courts likely points to the Supreme Court taking up the issue of automatic mass detentions of immigrants. Though by the time they potentially issue a ruling on this, likely next year, many thousands of people will have already been deported and or detained for lengthy periods of time.

Previously: Immigrants Urged to Avoid Air Travel Amid Rise In ICE Arrests at Bay Area Airports

Photo via Getty Images

Three Lurie-backed measures headed to the November ballot seek to "streamline" City Hall, including two that would expand the mayor's authority and one that would significantly raise the minimum number of signatures required for petitions.

The San Francisco Department of Elections announced this week that all three "Clean Up City Hall" measures met the signature threshold after a random sampling verification, according to a press release from the Clean Up City Hall campaign. As the Chronicle reports, the proposals would change how city departments are managed, overhaul contracting rules, and raise the number of signatures needed for most local ballot measures from roughly 10,600 to about 42,500.

Lurie has pitched the proposals as an effort to cut through bureaucracy that he argues has made it difficult for the city to respond quickly to issues like housing, homelessness, and other longstanding challenges. His campaign has framed the measures as a way to make city government more accountable and reduce the lengthy, often confusing ballots residents regularly face.

“What we are trying to do is to simplify ballots and actually make supervisors and the mayor work together to come to agreement and stop putting everything in front of the voters,” Lurie said in March, per SF Examiner. “It rewards division.”

The most far-reaching proposal would give the mayor significantly more authority over the executive branch. Under the measure, the mayor could hire and remove most department heads within the executive branch, reorganize departments and reporting structures unless the Board of Supervisors rejects those changes, appoint deputy mayors to oversee city operations, and allow appointing authorities to remove most commissioners they appoint.

Lurie has argued the city's charter leaves the mayor with authority over only a small fraction of department heads and makes reorganizing government unnecessarily difficult, as the Examiner reported. City officials note that roughly 90% of departments currently cannot be reorganized or even renamed without voter approval because they're established in the City Charter.

A second measure would shift greater authority over San Francisco's purchasing rules to the City Administrator while increasing the dollar threshold for contracts requiring Board of Supervisors approval to account for inflation. Lurie has pointed to high-profile examples like the infamous $1.7 million Noe Valley public toilet as evidence that the city's contracting process has become overly cumbersome, per the Chronicle.

The third proposal increasing the number of signatures required for citizen-led initiatives has reportedly generated the strongest opposition. Supporters of the measure argue the change would reduce the number of competing or overlapping measures that end up on San Francisco ballots and encourage policymakers to negotiate legislation at City Hall instead of taking disputes directly to voters.

The measure would also eliminate the mayor's ability to place measures on the ballot unilaterally and require at least six members of the Board of Supervisors, rather than the current four, to send measures to voters. It would also allow initiative proponents to withdraw measures after signatures have been submitted, creating an opportunity for negotiated compromises before Election Day.

Critics, however, argue that raising the signature threshold would make it much harder for grassroots organizations, labor unions, and neighborhood groups to qualify measures, while wealthy interests would still be able to finance large signature-gathering campaigns.

According to the Chronicle, the San Francisco Labor Council voted this week to oppose the proposal, and a group called Fair Ballot Access has formed to fight it. Labor Council Executive Director Kim Tavaglione argued that increasing the signature requirement "only allows billionaires to put something on the ballot" and discourages public participation in city government.

Mission Local reported Tuesday that Fair Ballot Access argues that the measure would erode a long-standing right for residents to place issues directly before voters, regardless of who occupies the mayor's office.

"Our contention will be, this is not about the mayor. This is about removing a right that San Francisco voters have had for a long time," Fair Ballot Access consultant Daniel Anderson told Mission Local. "I think there will be people who like the mayor but still think the measure goes too far."

Supporters of the measure counter that San Francisco's ballots have become unusually long and confusing. City voters weighed in on 15 local measures in 2024, compared with seven in Los Angeles, three in Oakland, and one in San Jose.

The three Lurie-backed measures have attracted support from Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, several labor organizations, and a majority of the Board of Supervisors, according to the Chronicle.

As SFist reported previously, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman is also sponsoring a separate charter reform measure that will appear on the November ballot, which would eliminate or narrow the responsibilities of several City Hall oversight commissions based on recommendations from the charter review task force created by voters in 2024.

Per Mission Local, the Clean Up City Hall campaign has raised about $8.6 million so far, including $2 million from Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Moritz. Other contributors include Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Lyna Lam, investor John Pritzker, Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective, and Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman.

Related: Mayor Lurie, Sup. Mandelman Introduce Ballot Measures Aimed at Reforming City Charter

Image: Daniel Lurie/Facebook

In response to recent Waymo incidents that have delayed emergency responders, worsened large-scale traffic jams, and sent vehicles through construction zones, Congressman Kevin Mullin has introduced legislation to establish national standards for cities and manufacturers.

US Representative Kevin Mullin of San Mateo unveiled federal legislation Tuesday that would create standardized procedures for autonomous vehicle companies when their vehicles encounter emergency crews during fires, crashes, road closures, and other active incidents, as ABC 7 reports.

The proposal, called the AV Emergency Response Coordination Act, would establish the first nationwide framework governing how autonomous vehicle companies work with cities and first responders during emergencies, replacing the current patchwork of manufacturer-specific protocols.

The bill would require autonomous vehicle operators to provide standardized emergency response plans, create a 24-hour hotline connecting first responders with AV companies, and implement digital geofencing that would allow authorities to keep self-driving vehicles out of emergency scenes and other hazardous areas.

Mullin said the goal is to place the responsibility on manufacturers to ensure their vehicles don't interfere with public safety operations, while San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said the legislation would provide clearer guidance during street closures, signal failures, and other unexpected disruptions, according to ABC 7.

"It would also ensure that AVs respond appropriately when streets close, traffic patterns change, signals fail or when first responders need immediate access," said Lurie.

As SFist reported previously, the proposal follows a string of high-profile incidents involving Waymo robotaxis in the Bay Area and other cities, including vehicles driving through crime scenes, obstructing firefighters and paramedics, entering flooded roads, and trapping passengers who are potentially in danger.

Additionally, Lurie recently urged California regulators to strengthen oversight of autonomous vehicles following the massive Fourth of July gridlock that left dozens of Waymos sitting motionless in traffic.

“This legislation will help keep San Franciscans safe while taking the lessons we’ve learned to the rest of the country,” Lurie said in support of Mullin’s bill, as Politico reports.

San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen tells ABC 7 that many of the practices outlined in the bill are already used locally but welcomed additional state and federal support. Waymo, which said it already follows many of the proposed measures, also backed the legislation, saying national guidelines would give both the industry and emergency responders a more consistent framework whenever autonomous vehicles are involved in an incident.

The measure builds on separate legislation Mullin introduced last year called the AV Safety Data Act, which would require autonomous vehicle manufacturers to collect and publicly release additional safety data, including incidents in which robotaxis stop unexpectedly or block emergency responders.

As SFist reported previously, a new rule took effect in California July 1 that allows law enforcement agencies to cite autonomous vehicle companies for traffic violations while enabling the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue “Notices of AV Noncompliance” when driverless cars break traffic laws. Companies must also report details of each incident within 72 hours, or within 24 hours for more serious cases.

Related: Driverless Cars Will Start Getting Tickets In California Starting July 1

Photo via TheDamianHdez/X

Ruby Rippey, formerly Ruby Rippey-Tourk, has published a personal essay about her alcohol-fueled affair with Gavin Newsom during his first term as mayor of San Francisco — while Rippey’s husband Alex Tourk was one of Newsom’s top advisors.

Ruby Rippey, who worked as Gavin Newsom’s aide during his early years as San Francisco mayor, has broken two decades of silence with a first-person essay in Vanity Fair reflecting on the affair that upended her marriage, derailed her career, and became one of the biggest political scandals during Newsom’s time at SF City Hall. The essay arrives as Newsom finishes his final year as governor and is widely viewed as laying the groundwork for a possible 2028 presidential campaign, according to the New York Times.

Rippey writes in Vanity Fair that she kept quiet for years after taking responsibility for the affair, but now wants to tell her side of the story. She describes struggling with alcoholism, cocaine addiction, and the stress of new motherhood when the relationship began in 2005, while also acknowledging that Newsom, as her boss, held the power in the relationship.

"Power does not need to coerce. It only needs to exist. The responsibility to hold the line belongs to the one who holds it," writes Rippey. "That didn’t happen."

At the same time, Rippey repeatedly says she does not view herself as having been coerced and accepts responsibility for her actions. She writes that the affair began while she was drinking heavily and continued intermittently for several months, describing it as less about romance than the intoxicating pull of proximity to power. She says her substance use escalated to the point that she entered rehab, resigned from City Hall, and ended the relationship before returning home.

"It wasn’t the affair that derailed me. It was my alcoholism," she writes. "The affair just gave it somewhere to live."

As SFist reported when the scandal surfaced in 2007, Rippey’s then-husband Alex Tourk had just been appointed as Newsom’s reelection campaign manager after previously serving as his appointments secretary. Tourk confronted Newsom after Rippey disclosed the affair, leading to Tourk's resignation. The revelation stunned City Hall, where rumors about the relationship had already been circulating for months.

The essay also revisits the fallout after the scandal became public in 2007, including comments from Newsom's then-girlfriend Jennifer Siebel in a now-famous SFist post, who characterized the affair as "a couple nothing incidents," and called Rippey "the culprit" before later apologizing.

"For my former boss, [the affair] is a footnote in a longer arc of ascent," writes Rippey in Vanity Fair, in reference to Newsom’s memoir. "For me, it is the fracture that split my life into before and after."

Rippey also disputes part of Newsom's recently published memoir, taking issue with his account that he "came clean" to Tourk about the affair, as Rippey had already confessed to her husband before he confronted Newsom.

The Times reports that Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said Tuesday that the governor publicly apologized for his conduct years ago and has nothing further to add. Rippey, now 20 years sober, lives in Mill Valley. She says she and Tourk eventually rebuilt their relationship as co-parents after divorcing, and she has since remarried.

Previously: Holy Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Image: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference  February 1, 2007 in San Francisco. Mayor Newsom admitted to an affair  with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his re-election campaign manager  Alex Tourk who resigned yesterday after learning of the affair.  (Photo  by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

We now know that the key informant in the federal bribery and corruption case involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her romantic partner, and a father-son business duo has pleaded guilty himself, and more details in the case have emerged.

Mario Juarez, who you may remember for having his home shot up just days before the FBI raid on then-Mayor Sheng Thao's home, and the raids on the homes and business of waste-management company operators David and Andy Duong, has appeared to be the star witness in the bribery and corruption case that goes back over seven years. Now, as Oaklanside reports via new court documents, Juarez has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery — likely in exchange for a lenient sentence.

This makes Juarez the second figure in this case, alongside former San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, to take a plea and set themselves up to testify against Thao, the Duongs, and Thao's romantic partner Andre Jones, when this case goes to trial in October.

Per Bay Area News Group, the court filings paint a picture of a longstanding, tight relationship between the Duongs and Thao, in which money allegedly would regularly exchanged hands, and in which Thao would allegedly do political favors that would help the Duongs financially.

We knew that the Duongs had donated to Thao's campaigns, both for City Council and for Mayor — and Juarez allegedly became involved as a "straw donor," using the Duongs' money to pay for a campaign mailer for Thao's 2022 mayoral campaign.

And federal investigators say they have evidence that Thao was doing favors for the Duongs back in 2019. As a city councilmember, Thao allegedly fed information to the Duongs about city council deliberations regarding a lawsuit filed against their company, California Waste Solutions (CWS), over so-called "backyard service" fees for multi-unit buildings. CWS ultimately settled that suit for $6 million, repaying around 2,000 building owners for fees charged for pulling bins out to the curb.

According to court filings seen by Bay Area News Group, Thao allegedly said to the Duongs at the time that she didn't want to meet in a restaurant with them, saying, "I prefer a private room because we don’t really want to be seen with you guys.”

The filings also include new details about a 2023 Vietnam trip paid for by the Duongs, which now appears not just to have been a bribe but also was an opportunity for Andy Duong to surruptitiously record politicians in order to gather potential dirt to use as leverage against them.

Azevedo, the former San Leandro councilmember (CWS had contracts in both Oakland and San Leandro), was apparently recorded having a compromising conversation in a car with Andy Duong while on the trip, "discussing sexual interactions from the previous evening." A reporter somehow got wind of this — perhaps from the Duongs themselves — and federal investigators say that the Duongs then did Azevedo the favor of paying off the reporter to kill the story, perhaps to get him to do their bidding.

As Bay Area News Group reports, Juarez has apparently told investigators that Andy Duong had "dozens" of such videos, and that he "regularly" recorded such material involving politicians, "for political use against them."

The new filings also reportedly include an unsavory detail about Thao helping create a fake job for Jones in order to secure the lease on the house they shared. Investigators say that Thao helped Jones to lie about a $150,000-per-year role at her sister's cannabis consulting business — and that this was part of the same pattern in which she allegedly got the Duongs to give Jones a $300,000-per-year no-show job at their company, for which he had been paid $90,000 at the time of the raids.

None of this looks good for Thao, and now we know why her attorney, and the Duongs' attorney, were trying to get evidence from Juarez thrown out, which the judge denied in April.

Expect more intriguing details to arrive either before or during the October trial, unless everyone takes pleas before then.

Previously: San Leandro City Councilman Pleads Guilty, Becomes Potential Witness Against Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Top image: Sheng Thao speaks onstage at the TAAF Heritage Month Summit at The Glasshouse on May 02, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation)

Ian Krager, Nancy Pelosi’s communications director, will serve as the new communications director for SF Supervisor Connie Chan’s congressional campaign beginning August 1, until the election in November.

Supervisor Connie Chan's congressional campaign has hired one of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi's top aides, with communications director Ian Krager, 26, set to take a leave of absence beginning August 1 to serve as the campaign's spokesperson through the November election, as the Chronicle reports. The move comes as Pelosi continues to play a visible role in Chan's bid to succeed her in Congress, following her endorsement in May and a series of fundraising events and campaign appearances on Chan's behalf.

Krager has reportedly spent the last four and a half years working for Pelosi, including the past two as her communications director. He’s expected to relocate to San Francisco for Chan’s campaign then return to Pelosi's office in November before Pelosi heads to UC Berkeley in the new year.

"Connie Chan, her campaign and all San Franciscans will benefit enormously from Ian's skills, experience and leadership in his exciting new role,” said Pelosi, per the Chronicle.

According to Mission Local, Krager’s hiring follows Chan's recent two-day swing through Washington, where she met privately with Pelosi and attended an evening reception co-hosted by Pelosi and Senator Adam Schiff. The trip also reportedly included roughly 10 meetings, events, and media appearances intended to broaden Chan's support among national Democrats around issues including labor, abortion rights, gun safety, education, and climate. She also taped an appearance for The Dean Obeidallah Show.

Chan's campaign reportedly said she was “honored” to have Pelosi's endorsement and praised Krager's experience and strategic judgment. Krager, meanwhile, said on social media it had been “the honor of a lifetime” to serve as Pelosi’s communications director and that he was “thrilled to join Connie Chan's campaign at this pivotal moment.”

The Chronicle suggests that Pelosi's endorsement helped propel Chan into second place in the crowded race to replace the longtime congressmember, ahead of Saikat Chakrabarti but behind state Senator Scott Wiener. Since then, Pelosi has campaigned alongside Chan in San Francisco and participated in fundraising events in both Washington and San Francisco, including one that the campaign said brought in more than $100,000.

As SFist reported earlier this month, longtime SF labor leader and Pelosi ally Rudy Gonzalez took a leave of absence from his role as director of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council to work as Chan’s campaign manager.

Related: Connie Chan Hires SF Labor Leader and Pelosi Ally to Head Campaign For Congress

Image: Ian Krager/X

More than a third of the 148,000 rejected mail-in ballots from California’s June primary were discarded because they were postmarked late, which experts largely attribute to a recent change in the US Postal Service’s postmarking policy.

As the Associated Press reports, nearly 150,000 California mail-in ballots were rejected in the June primary, with many arriving with postmarks that made them ineligible to be counted. Voting experts say the increase appears to be tied in part to recent US Postal Service changes that can delay when a mailpiece receives its postmark.

California allows mail ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days afterward, but experts say the issue is that some ballots are now receiving a postmark date based on when they are processed rather than when they were handed over to the Postal Service.

The state’s rejection rate in June was reportedly 1.73%, with 148,241 ballots rejected out of all returned mail ballots. That was higher than recent primary elections, including 2024, when 108,982 ballots were rejected, or about 1.56%. According to the AP, late arrival was by far the most common reason ballots were discarded — more than 93,000, followed by nearly 44,000 ballots where the voter’s signature did not match county records and more than 8,300 returned without a signature altogether.

Kim Alexander, president of the nonpartisan California Voter Foundation, said the problem is largely related to postmark timing rather than ballots simply arriving too late.

“Ballots rejected due to lateness are caused primarily to being postmarked too late to count, not because they arrived too late to count,” Alexander told the AP in an email.

Per the Postal Service’s new policy, customers can request a postmark on the same day it is mailed by dropping it off a Postal Service retail counter. The service is free, but many voters are unaware that they must specifically request one.

Without a manual postmark, the date applied to a ballot’s envelope may reflect when the mail is processed at a sorting facility rather than the day it was accepted by the Postal Service. Recent Postal Service consolidations have also reportedly moved some processing centers farther from communities, potentially adding delays before a postmark is applied.

California election officials warned voters earlier this year to mail ballots early or drop them off at polling stations because of concerns that Postal Service changes could affect delivery times.

The rejected ballots became fuel for a broader political fight after late-counted ballots shifted some election results weeks after Election Day.

President Donald Trump reportedly criticized California’s counting process, while state officials said the extended counting period is required under state law to allow counties to verify and count eligible ballots.

The site Rolling Out recommends that voters utilize the state’s free BallotTrax tracking system to make sure their votes were counted. Researchers reportedly found that voters who do not sign up are more likely to have ballots rejected, largely because they may not learn about signature issues in time to correct them.

Related: SF Election Turnout Looking Historically Low, and Why Does No One Vote on Election Day Anymore?

Image: In this photo illustration, the envelope holding an official ballot,  mailed to a Southern California resident, ahead of a state primary  election, photographed May 5, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Every  registered voter in California will receive a ballot by mail. (Photo  Illustration by Jay L Clendenin/Getty Images)

A Sacramento landlord is suing California, arguing that requirements tied to accepting Section 8 tenants violate property owners’ Fourth Amendment rights, an argument that recently upended New York’s voucher anti-discrimination law.

Tom Manning, the owner of Sacramento-based property management company Tower Bridge Property Management, is suing the state of California over rules tied to Housing Choice (Section 8) vouchers, arguing that the additional inspections and paperwork required of participating landlords violate constitutional protections against unreasonable searches, as CalMatters reports.

The lawsuit was filed against the California Civil Rights Department last week in federal court by the Sacramento-based libertarian Pacific Legal Foundation, which has previously challenged California's impact fees and inclusionary zoning requirements.

California has prohibited landlords from refusing tenants solely because they use Section 8 vouchers since 2020, but landlords who accept vouchers must also allow health and safety inspections and complete paperwork with local housing authorities.

According to the Sacramento Business Journal, Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Austin Waisanen argues that the lawsuit is not challenging the requirement to accept voucher holders, simply the additional obligations that come with participating in the program, noting that California law effectively forces landlords to accept inspections and administrative requirements tied to Section 8 vouchers or risk civil liability.

“That’s a waiver of Fourth Amendment protections for these types of inspections without a warrant,” Waisanen said. “The burden is real.”

A spokesperson for the California Civil Rights Department said the agency would respond through the courts.

New York's anti-Section 8 discrimination rule was struck down earlier this year after an appeals court sided with landlords making the same Fourth Amendment argument, as CBS News reported at the time. The decision arose from a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James against an upstate landlord, and her office is weighing an appeal, as voucher holders and advocates fear the ruling could lead to more housing discrimination.

A comparable legal challenge has reportedly been filed in Virginia.

Per CalMatters, tenant advocacy groups have been increasingly filing civil rights lawsuits against landlords who illegally refuse applicants with Section 8 vouchers, as California and several other states continue to enforce bans on housing discrimination.

Earlier this month, Greystar, the nation's largest apartment landlord, was accused of systematically denying voucher holders across multiple states, including California.

Related: Trump Administration Trying to Boot All Undocumented Immigrants Out of SF Public Housing

Image: Andre m/Wikimedia