Category Archives: San Francisco

White House condemns car-ramming incident at Chinese consulate in San Francisco

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Unnamed driver who crashed car into consulate building was shot by police and later died in hospital

The White House has denounced the violent incident at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco that began with a car crashing into the building and ended with police shooting the driver, who later died at a hospital.

“We condemn this incident and all violence perpetrated against foreign diplomatic staff working in the United States,” Adrienne Watson, White House National Security Council spokeswoman, to the Associated Press.

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Memorial honors trailblazing senator Dianne Feinstein: ‘She was a lioness’

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Kamala Harris and mayor London Breed make remarks in a private service as mourners pay their respects at San Francisco’s city hall

At a memorial for Dianne Feinstein on Thursday, Joe Biden praised the late senator as a dear friend and a woman of deep integrity who fought to protect what was important to the US: freedom, civil liberties, security and the constitution.

“She was always tough, prepared, rigorous, compassionate. She always served the people of California and our nation for the right reasons,” Biden said in recorded video remarks played at the memorial outside San Francisco city hall.

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Cruise agrees to cut fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half after crashes

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State DMV asks for reduction after autonomous Cruise vehicle collided with unspecified emergency vehicle

General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has agreed to cut its fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half as authorities investigate two recent crashes in the city.

The state department of motor vehicles asked for the reduction after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle on Thursday.

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US navy accused of cover-up over radioactive shipyard waste

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Public health advocates say land at Hunters Point in San Francisco contains dangerous levels of strontium-90

The US navy is covering up dangerous levels of radioactive waste on a 40-acre former shipyard parcel in San Francisco’s waterside Hunters Point neighborhood, public health advocates charge.

The land is slated to be turned over to the city as early as next year, and could be used for residential redevelopment. The accusations stem from 2021 navy testing that found 23 samples from the property showed high levels of strontium-90, a radioactive isotope that replaces calcium in bones and causes cancer.

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California seizes enough fentanyl in San Francisco to kill city’s population three times over

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Governor’s office says over 4kg of drug seized in city since May – enough to cause deadly overdoses of more than 2m people

California law enforcement officials have seized enough fentanyl, in San Francisco alone, to cause the deadly overdoses of more than 2 million people since the beginning of May. The amount, over four kilos, was enough to kill the entire city’s population three times over, the governor’s office announced on Thursday.

The seizures were made by California highway patrol (CHP) officers and are a part of Gavin Newsom’s plan to address the spread of fentanyl, blight and public safety in the city where 268 people died from accidental overdoses in the first four months of 2023, according to a report from the city’s medical examiner. All of the fentanyl was found in and around San Francisco’s historic and long-embattled Tenderloin neighborhood.

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Westfield mall firm gives up San Francisco center as Nordstrom closes

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City will lose one of its largest shopping centers which saw a decline in economic activity, occupancy and foot traffic

Westfield is ceding control of its San Francisco mall, the latest business to leave the city as it struggles to recover its pre-pandemic commerce levels.

The mall, located at 865 Market St, is among the city’s largest shopping centres. In a statement, to the San Francisco Chronicle, which was the first to report news of the planned closure, the company cited “challenging operating conditions” in the city’s downtown area as the reason for its departure. It has seen a decline in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, the company added.

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Cruise robotaxi appears to hinder emergency crews after mass shooting

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Company said vehicle never obstructed access to scene in San Francisco even as police in video say it blocked first responders

A Cruise self-driving car appeared to hinder first responders as they tried to access the scene of a mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night, raising concerns about robotaxis’ ability to safely offer rides throughout the city.

Emergency crews were responding to a shooting on 24th Street shortly after 9pm in which nine people were injured. In a video posted to Twitter, a Cruise self-driving car is seen in the road as an officer approaches it and says it’s “blocking emergency medical and fire. I’ve got to get it out of here now.” In a statement, Cruise maintained that the car did not block emergency access to the scene “at any point”.

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San Francisco shooting leaves nine wounded after ‘targeted’ incident

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Police say all victims are expected to survive their injuries after incident in Mission District on Friday night

Multiple victims were struck by bullets during a mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night, but authorities said there were no fatalities.

“We can confirm there are 9 shooting victims – all are expected to survive their injuries,” the San Francisco police department said in a tweet.

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Dodgers re-invite drag nuns to Pride Night after cutting them

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Baseball team apologizes to Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence after removing group from event amid conservative opposition

The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a well-known San Francisco order of queer and trans “nuns” that has existed since the 1970s, are once again welcome at the team’s annual Pride Night.

Last week, the baseball team rescinded the group’s invitation after a Republican senator from Florida wrote a letter accusing the sisters, a group which came to prominence during the Aids crisis, of being anti-Christian activists. The group, which does charitable and protest work in addition to its street drag show performances, was set to receive an award during a ceremony before a 16 June game against the San Francisco Giants.

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Man accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee pleads not guilty

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The San Francisco district attorney has alleged Nima Momeni planned to kill Lee and left him to ‘slowly die’

The man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Nima Momeni, 38, was arraigned on Thursday in a San Francisco courtroom on a single murder charge in Lee’s death last month.

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Walgreens reaches $230m settlement with San Francisco over opioids crisis

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Company averts a trial to determine damages as drug-related deaths surged by 41% in the city in the first quarter of this year

San Francisco has reached a $230m settlement with Walgreens over the corporation’s role in the city’s unprecedented opioid crisis.

The settlement is the largest ever awarded to a local government amid years of continuing, nationwide opioid-centered litigation, according to San Francisco’s city attorney.

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Overdose deaths in San Francisco hit 200 in three months: ‘A crying shame’

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The 41% spike comes as the city closed an outreach center that stocked Narcan and allowed supervised drug use

Drug-related deaths surged by 41% in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year – with one person dying of an accidental overdose every 10 hours, as the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage the US west coast.

San Francisco saw 200 people die of overdoses in the past three months compared to 142 in the same months a year ago, according to reports by the city’s medical examiner.

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Suspect arrested in killing of Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco

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Nima Momeni, 38, appears to work in tech industry and reportedly knew Lee who was found with stab wounds on Tuesday

San Francisco police have made an arrest in the killing of the tech executive and Cash App creator Bob Lee, who was fatally stabbed last week in a crime that sent shock waves through the city and the tech industry.

Law enforcement officers made an arrest early Thursday morning in nearby Emeryville, officials confirmed at a press conference Thursday afternoon. The suspect in the case, Nima Momeni, knew Lee, officials said, and appears to work in the tech industry.

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Scant details emerge on fatal stabbing of Cash App founder amid safety concerns

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San Francisco police have not confirmed the circumstances of Bob Lee’s death nor arrested a suspect

Details of how the tech executive Bob Lee came to be fatally stabbed in downtown San Francisco remained scant on Friday, as those who knew the Cash App founder mourn his death and others voiced frustration with public safety.

San Francisco police found Lee, 43, on the sidewalk in front of a condominium building with stab wounds shortly after 2.35am on Tuesday. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. Details about the attack remain thin; surveillance footage released this week reportedly shows Lee stumbling along a sidewalk and seeking help in the aftermath, but police have not confirmed the circumstances of the attack or arrested a suspect.

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Cash App creator Bob Lee stabbed to death in San Francisco

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Death confirmed by Lee’s family as they and tech colleagues remember a ‘force of nature’

Bob Lee, the creator of the payment platform Cash App, was killed in a stabbing in San Francisco early on Tuesday morning.

Lee’s death was confirmed by his father on Facebook, who said he and his son had recently relocated to Miami from the Bay Area.

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‘Strongest snowstorm in years’ leaves Californians delighted and frozen

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The Hollywood sign was dusted in white as arctic air blew across the state, triggering blizzard warnings for the first time since 1989

Swaths of the Golden State were doused in white this week as a historic storm cast much of the US in a bitter chill – and forecasters say there’s more frosty weather in store.

The snowstorm hovering over the southern part of California could end up becoming one for the record books as typically balmy areas brace for a barrage of more blizzard conditions and blustery winds. Across the state this week, the snowline has already crept far downslope from its winter territory atop high-elevation peaks, dusting foothills and valleys closer to the coast, and even some beaches.

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United flight from Hawaii plunged to within 800ft of Pacific Ocean

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Plane heading for San Francisco took steep dive shortly after takeoff in dramatic incident in mid-December

A United flight from Maui to San Francisco plummeted to less than 800ft above the Pacific Ocean shortly after takeoff in December, an apparent near crash and previously unreported safety incident revealed by airline industry publication the Air Current.

Flight tracking data analysis revealed that the Boeing 777-200 had reached an altitude of roughly 2,200ft when it began a steep dive, descending at a rate of about 8,600ft a minute. After dipping below 775ft, the flight recovered altitude and traveled to San Francisco without further issue.

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Police body-camera video of Paul Pelosi hammer attack released

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Footage shows husband of former House speaker opening door with intruder in home and pair wrestling over hammer

Police body-camera footage released on Friday afternoon shed more light on the brutal hammer attack last October against Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic congresswomen and then House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The shocking video shows officers arriving at the front door of the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and knocking loudly on the door.

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Musk tells Tesla trial: ‘Just because I tweet doesn’t mean people believe it’

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The carmaker founder said Twitter was the most democratic way to communicate but tweets didn’t affect stock as he expected

Elon Musk testified on Friday as part of a trial over a 2018 tweet in which he claimed to have “funding secured” to take Tesla private, a tweet that shareholders allege cost them millions in trading losses.

The Tesla CEO appeared in a San Francisco federal courtroom and defended himself by saying that “just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly”.

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San Francisco man arrested after spraying homeless woman with hose

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Art gallery owner Collier Gwin, 71, faces potential jail term after video showed woman being hosed with water

A California man seen in a viral video spraying a homeless woman with a garden hose has been arrested on a charge of battery, authorities in San Francisco said.

Collier Gwin, 71, an art gallery owner, was captured in the video, taken on 9 January, leaning on a railing with his legs crossed as he directed a jet of water at the woman in an effort to get her to move on.

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