Category Archives: San Francisco

San Francisco police find wreckage of boat that sank as body identified

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Tondra Madruga named as second victim in deadly capsizing as police continue search for two missing people

Police on Friday discovered the wreckage of a boat that sank this week in the San Francisco Bay after recovering the body of a missing person the day before.

The body was identified as Tondra Madruga, 58, also known as Tondra Miller, the San Francisco medical examiner said. She was one of three people missing after the Volare, a 49ft (15m) cabin cruiser, sank on Wednesday afternoon with 20 people onboard after being hit by a wave and capsizing. The group was on the boat to scatter the ashes of a loved one.

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Gaza protests against two Democrats spark outcry and debate on tactics

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Incidents involving California state senator Scott Wiener and New York congressman Dan Goldman underscore Israel-Palestine conflict’s role in US elections

Two recent incidents involving US congressional candidates on opposite coasts have blown up into major controversies, underscoring how the Israel-Palestine conflict has transformed US elections – and illustrating how aggressive protest tactics can spark backlash that overshadows the issues activists meant to highlight.

Scott Wiener, a gay Jewish state senator and trans rights advocate who is currently the frontrunner in the race to replace the longtime representative Nancy Pelosi in California’s 11th district, said he felt forced to leave last week’s annual trans pride march in San Francisco after a group of people ran up to him at a local park where the event was taking place, surrounded him and screamed at him over his positions on Israel’s war on Gaza.

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Antidepressants and antipsychotics could serve as alternatives to opioids, study finds

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Medications that target depression, anxiety and poor sleep could help treat pain without opioids’ addictive properties

A range of other medications could serve as alternatives to powerful opioids for pain relief in emergency departments, according to a new study.

The review paper examined non-opioid medications available in the emergency department at San Francisco general hospital and examined existing medical literature to figure out which ones might provide pain relief.

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Coyote swam 2 miles to Alcatraz Island, going farther than scientists expected

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Biologists had guessed coyote paddled a shorter distance to former prison in the San Francisco Bay earlier this year

A lone coyote stunned biologists and others when earlier this year it paddled its way to the remote Alcatraz Island, a former federal prison in the San Francisco Bay surrounded by swift, choppy waters notorious for thwarting prisoners’ escapes.

At the time, biologists guessed the coyote swam from San Francisco, which is a little over 1 mile (1.6km) from the fortress. But it turns out the male coyote actually made an even longer swim from nearby Angel Island, 2 miles away.

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Unsuspecting windsurfer collides with gray whale in the San Francisco Bay

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Footage shows a man windsurfing being forcefully thrown from his board as a whale breaches off the California coast

An unsuspecting windsurfer collided with a gray whale on the San Francisco Bay in a startling and rare encounter captured on video.

The footage shows the moment the surfer is forcefully thrown from his board as a gray whale breaches off the California coast, plunging him into the water.

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ICE deports family, including deaf boy who wasn’t given his assistive devices

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California state superintendent says mother and sons arrested during ICE check-in and deported to Colombia

California’s superintendent is calling for the return of a hearing-impaired six-year-old after he, his mother and his five-year-old sibling were detained on Tuesday while reporting for their check-in at an ICE office in San Francisco and deported to Colombia.

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez and her sons were arrested during their visit to ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (Isap), said Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership (ACILEP). A relative who was waiting outside for Gutierrez and her sons was unable to hand off the assistive devices necessary for the six-year-old, who is deaf and has a cochlear implant.

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Bay Area’s poverty soared, data shows, as California’s top earners saw windfalls

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Poverty rate jumped from 12.2% to 16.3% in 2023 in state, Tipping Point Community report finds

Newly released data found that the San Francisco Bay Area’s poverty rate soared from 12.2% to 16.3% in 2023, with an approximate total 1.02 million residents in this six-county region considered impoverished by year’s end.

Another 12.5% of residents – about 790,000 people – hovered on the brink of poverty, meaning that about three in 10 Bay Area residents struggled to cover basic expenses.

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Alice Wong, ‘luminary’ writer and disability rights activist, dies aged 51

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Daughter of immigrants advocated for people with disabilities to have full autonomy over their lives

Alice Wong, a writer and disability rights activist who was born with muscular dystrophy and whose independence and writing inspired others, has died. She was 51.

Wong died Friday at a hospital in San Francisco due to an infection, said Sandy Ho, a close friend who has been in touch with Wong’s family.

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Trump poised to send scores of federal agents to San Francisco

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Newsom calls move ‘right out of the dictator’s handbook’ as agents prepare for key immigration enforcement operation

The Trump administration appeared poised to send dozens of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a major immigration enforcement operation, prompting condemnation from California leaders.

Details of the deployment were still emerging, but it will reportedly involve more than 100 federal agents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The agents are reportedly set to begin using the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city located across the bay from San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would also be involved.

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San Francisco supervisor recalled after voting to close highway for car-free park

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Joel Engardio, who becomes fifth elected city official to be ousted in four years, says he stands by his decision

A San Francisco supervisor was recalled on Tuesday after he successfully pushed to turn a stretch of coastal highway used heavily by neighborhood motorists into a car-free park despite strong objections by some of his constituents.

Joel Engardio became the fifth elected official in San Francisco to be ousted in a recall vote in four years. He conceded, saying in a statement that he accepted the outcome and still stood by his decision to help create a park called Sunset Dunes.

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Ex-congressman John Burton, influential California Democrat, dies at 92

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Governor Gavin Newsom hails ‘towering figure’ who stood up for working class and nurtured many political careers

The former US congressman John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.

Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement.

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Delta co-pilot reportedly arrested on plane for child sexual abuse materials

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Several passengers told various media outlets that law enforcement officers removed co-pilot from plane in San Francisco

A co-pilot with Delta Air Lines was reportedly arrested by federal agents at San Francisco international airport over the weekend on charges related to child sexual abuse materials, according to a senior official with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and multiple media reports.

The arrest reportedly took place shortly after the flight – Delta Flight 2809 from Minnesota – landed at the California airport at about 9.35pm on Saturday, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

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Trump orders reopening of Alcatraz prison for ‘most ruthless offenders’

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Plan to expand and reuse long-shuttered penitentiary off San Francisco described as ‘not serious’ by Nancy Pelosi

Donald Trump has said he is directing the administration to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on an island off San Francisco that has been closed for more than 60 years.

California lawmakers called the idea “absurd on its face” and part of the US president’s strategy of political distraction. Other officials pointed to the closure of the prison complex in 1963, known for its brutal conditions, due to operational expense and the high number of (unsuccessful) escape attempts.

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US food delivery app DoorDash offers to buy UK rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn

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The London-based company, the second largest food deliver app in the UK, said no ‘firm offer’ had been made yet

DoorDash is offering to buy its UK-based rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn (£2.7bn), Deliveroo said on Friday.

Deliveroo said that its board was in talks with DoorDash over the offer and that a firm offer had not been made, according to statement sent to the Guardian. Should a firm offer of £1.80 ($2.40) a share be made, Deliveroo said, “it would be minded to recommend such an offer to Deliveroo shareholders.

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US food delivery app DoorDash offers to buy UK rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn

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The London-based company, the second largest food deliver app in the UK, said no ‘firm offer’ had been made yet

DoorDash is offering to buy its UK-based rival Deliveroo for $3.6bn (£2.7bn), Deliveroo said on Friday.

Deliveroo said that its board was in talks with DoorDash over the offer and that a firm offer had not been made, according to statement sent to the Guardian. Should a firm offer of £1.80 ($2.40) a share be made, Deliveroo said, “it would be minded to recommend such an offer to Deliveroo shareholders.

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California university to expand student minds with new psychedelic studies course

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California Institute of Integral Studies, located in San Francisco, will welcome its first undergrad class this August

The home of the Summer of Love will soon house the first undergraduate program in psychedelic studies.

The California Institute of Integral Studies – a non-profit university founded in 1968 and located in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood – will welcome its first class of undergrads to its Bachelor of Science in Psychedelic Studies program this August. The program’s launch symbolizes the renewed attention hallucinogens like MDMA and psilocybin have received in recent years as a growing body of evidence suggests they may be powerful treatments for psychiatric conditions, like PTSD and treatment-resistant depression.

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California Uber and Lyft drivers push for settlement in wage theft claims

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Ride-share drivers held demonstrations from San Francisco to San Diego amid ongoing negotiations affecting 250,000

Ride-share drivers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego held demonstrations in front of city hall buildings on Wednesday as California state attorney General Rob Bonta, city attorneys and attorneys representing ride-share drivers continue negotiations next week with Uber and Lyft to settle thousands of claims of wage theft for drivers.

At least 250,000 individual ride-share drivers in California who drove for the apps between 2016 and 2020 are estimated to be eligible for the settlement for wage theft claims of tens of billions of dollars, according to Rideshare Drivers United in California.

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GM’s Cruise admits submitting false report to robotaxi safety investigation

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General Motors unit to pay $500,000 fine after failing to disclose key details of 2023 San Francisco crash to NHTSA

General Motors’ self-driving car unit, Cruise, admitted on Thursday to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation and will pay a $500,000 criminal fine as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, the justice department said.

The department said Cruise failed to disclose key details of an October 2023 crash to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in which one of its robotaxis in San Francisco struck a pedestrian after she was hit by another vehicle and dragged her 20ft (6.1 meters).

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Backlash as San Francisco votes to transform stretch of highway into park

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Opponents say closing Great Highway to cars will increase traffic as supporters argue it will mitigate coastal erosion

Californians have voted to close part of a nearly century-old highway in San Francisco to cars, transforming a two-mile section into a park for pedestrians and cyclists.

On election day, city residents voted to approve Proposition K, extending the ban on vehicles on a portion of the Upper Great Highway along the coastline. The measure has sparked intense debate over whether cars should have regular access to the area.

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Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie elected mayor of San Francisco

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Wealthy Democratic outsider unseats incumbent mayor London Breed in expensive race

After years of negative headlines and post-pandemic economic struggle, San Francisco has picked a wealthy Democratic outsider with no government experience to serve as the city’s new mayor.

Daniel Lurie, 47, is one of the heirs to the Levi Strauss jeans company fortune, and previously spent 15 years as the executive of a San Francisco non-profit he founded. He defeated several Democratic challengers, including the current mayor, London Breed, in an election that was expected to break local campaign spending records.

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