Category Archives: San Francisco

Police order evacuations as fast-moving wildfire spreads near San Francisco

Posted on by

Cal Fire said flames consumed about 60 acres in little more than two hours in the hills of a Bay Area community, Sanders Ranch

Police ordered evacuations early on Thursday as a fast-moving wildfire spread in the hills of a San Francisco Bay Area community.

The flames surged despite the area being part of a large parcel of northern California where more than 1.5 million people have had their power deliberately cut off to try to prevent the kind of blazes that have devastated parts of the state in recent years.

Continue reading...

Obama says presidents should avoid social media in apparent Trump jab

Posted on by

Former president also said TV should be avoided: ‘Those are two things I’d advise, if you’re a good president, not to do’

Barack Obama appeared to take a swipe at Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying he would “advise, if you’re president” to avoid social media and cable news.

The former US president was speaking as a guest at an event for Splunk, an international data and software firm, when he was asked how he parsed information while in office. He touted the importance of building a solid team to stay informed.

Continue reading...

‘Every day, it is a risk’: immigrant communities paralyzed by fear of impending Ice raids

Posted on by

Mayors in major cities have pledged to support those targeted by Sunday’s ‘enforcement operations’

When CG heard that Donald Trump had announced raids by the immigration enforcement agency Ice a few weeks ago, she turned to her husband. Get groceries, she told him, like a storm is coming.

“Bananas, milk and bread,” CG lists off, remembering what she told him, “Because who knows when we’ll leave the house.”

Continue reading...

New York leads way as Pride marches mark 50 years since Stonewall – as it happened

Posted on by

That’s all for today – thanks for reading, everyone. Here’s what happened:

And, before we close down for the evening, a quick look at festivities in Seattle, which also hosted a Pride parade today.

Continue reading...

New York leads Pride parades as LGBTQ activists debate state of movement

Posted on by

New York’s massive LGBTQ Pride march kicked off Sunday with attendees cheering the cast of Pose, the FX show about late-20th century ballroom culture, and a car representing the activists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson as the procession moved through Manhattan.

Related: We've been to a marvelous party: when gay Harlem met queer Britain

Continue reading...

Extra-mural studies: why students should not look away from uncomfortable art

Posted on by

The case of George Washington high school in San Francisco is mirrored by the covering of harsh images in Harlem. But such images must be seen

Even urging a “truer history”, Paloma Flores, a member of California’s Pitt River tribe, questions the validity of showing an image of a murdered Native American. She’s disturbed by the message of a mural at George Washington high school in San Francisco, where she works, that has been in place for 84 years.

Related: A school's mural removal: should kids be shielded from brutal US history?

Continue reading...

San Francisco is first US city to ban police use of facial recognition tech

Posted on by

Supervisors vote eight to one to restrict surveillance: ‘We can have security without being a security state’

San Francisco supervisors voted to make the city the first in the United States to ban police and other government agencies from using facial recognition technology.

Supervisors voted eight to one in favor of the “Stop Secret Surveillance Ordinance”, which will also strengthen existing oversight measures and will require city agencies to disclose current inventories of surveillance technology.

Continue reading...

San Francisco destroyed by earthquake – archive, 19 April 1906

Posted on by

19 April 1906: Thousands of buildings were either damaged or destroyed, and several hundred persons killed

New York, Wednesday
Early this morning a violent earthquake wrecked the business quarter of the city of San Francisco, and an appalling fire completed the devastation. All the land wires were broken, and for some hours the United States was in an agony of suspense. The absence of authentic news produced the wildest rumours. Now that communication has been partially restored the story is scarcely less alarming, for it is known that not less than 1,500 people have perished, and some estimates place the figure ultimately at more than double that number.

Related: Mark Oliver on the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco quake

Continue reading...

White House considered releasing detained migrants in sanctuary cities – report

Posted on by

Officials sought to pressure immigration authorities in effort to retaliate against Trump’s political opponents, Washington Post reports

White House officials have tried to pressure US immigration authorities to release migrants detained at the border into so-called sanctuary cities such as San Francisco to retaliate against Donald Trump’s political adversaries, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The Post, which reviewed emails on the issue and spoke to unnamed officials at the Department of Homeland Security, said the White House proposed the measure at least twice in the past six months. Sanctuary cities are those where local officials decline to hand over illegal immigrants for deportation.

Continue reading...