Welcome to the SF Dispatch, a daily newsletter round-up to save you some time catching up on the latest headlines from billionaire funded to independent news.
🌁 Featured News
Rideshare Drivers United, an organization with more than 20,000 California gig driver members, said the conditions could unduly benefit the Service Employees International Union, a major labor group that sponsored AB 1340 and backed a similar initiative in Massachusetts that voters approved last fall. Jason Munderloh, who began driving for Uber and Lyft in San Francisco 11 years ago, said he is also concerned that the new law does not guarantee the right to strike, a key to union leverage.
Farida Jhabvala Romero
This comes as Uber and Lyft continue to negotiate a settlement with California, as well as the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, which sued the companies over the alleged withholding of wages for thousands of drivers during a period of time before Proposition 22 passed. Drivers like Munderloh are demanding that the state and cities get an agreement that recoups billions of dollars in back wages and benefits, as well as raises driver pay going forward. “The best way for drivers to improve what we’re being paid is actually the wage theft lawsuit that’s going on,” he said. “And the union struggle that we’re having here with AB 1340 is a longer-term issue.”
San Franciscans are suffering more than ever in just about every measurable way since the conservatives took over. San Franciscans are experiencing rising rents, surging evictions, employment uncertainty, counterproductive criminalization of poverty, loss of neighborhood services, and corrupt privatization to benefit billionaire campaign donors. Installing tech-industry aligned conservatives to run all branches of government has been a failed experiment. They don’t know how to work with people. As the current upzoning project shows, they seem more interested in wrecking balls than community input.
But you wouldn’t know any of this from the nonstop, “SF is back” spin coming out of City Hall and echoed in the billionaire-owned press.
by Dean Preston | The Phoenix Review
Recalls were once a tool for removing officials who had engaged in misconduct, but Engardio helped lead a reactionary movement to recall progressive leaders like District Attorney Chesa Boudin—not for misconduct, but over policy differences. Now that recall machine has come back to bite him.
Christian Leonard
Joe Kukura
Eleni Balakrishnan
📰 Local Headlines
City Hall
Process to landmark SF historic sites set to begin
via www.ebar.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
San Francisco mayor highlights downtown business openings amid recovery push
via www.cbsnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Politics
Protesters threaten to recall S.F. judge as outrage grows in case of fatal New Year’s Eve crash
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Mimi Haas donates $750,000 to Newsom’s redistricting campaign
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Alameda County Approves Policy to Guide Ethical Investment of Public Funds
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Criminal Justice
Threads Connected In Story of Zizian Shot In Vermont Who Was German Math Whiz
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Families of Cybertruck crash victim sue Tesla for fiery deaths
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
S.F. sheriff’s deputy arrested in alleged domestic battery case won’t face charges
via missionlocal.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Parents of College Students Killed in Piedmont Cybertruck Crash Sue Tesla, Say Kids Were Trapped in Burning Car
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Day Around the Bay: ‘Yellow Fever’ Mosquito Spotted in Antioch, Residents Urged to Dump Standing Water
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
SFPD fired her for sleeping with an informant. Why is she still allowed to be a cop?
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Public Safety
SFPD posts $50K reward for info on 2012 Mission District homicide
via missionlocal.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Shooting Suspect Arrested After Lengthy Standoff In SF's Tenderloin
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
S.F. officials reveal what led up to death of Dolphin Club swimmer at Aquatic Park
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
S.F. police arrest man after hours-long standoff in the Tenderloin
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
S.F. police seize weapons, $70,000 worth of stolen goods while recovering stolen Porsche from home
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Here Come the Creeps: Meta Ray-Ban Glasses Dudebro Stalking Women at USF, Posting Videos to Social Media
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
University of San Francisco warns of man in Meta glasses harassing students
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
‘I’m not a criminal’: Man busted with stolen Porsche, guns, pound of meth claims innocence
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
SF Speed Cameras Are Issuing Tons of Tickets — and Slowing Drivers, SFMTA Says
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Portland Prepares for Trump’s Troops and Government Shutdown Drags On
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
San Francisco's new speed cameras cut dangerous driving by 92% in some areas
via www.cbsnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Speed cameras shift driver behavior in San Francisco
via www.ktvu.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Suspects' car wrecked by spike strips in SF after stealing from Vacaville Ulta store, CHP says
via www.ktvu.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
How to get out of a crashed Tesla robotaxi or Cybertruck
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
This S.F. speed camera generates the most tickets. Why is it catching so many drivers?
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Immigration
¿Cómo pueden prepararse familias de SF si un familiar es detenido por ICE?
via missionlocal.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
SCOTUS allows Trump to revoke protected status for Venezuelans, overruling S.F. judge
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
From notario to notorious: S.F.’s most famous accused fake lawyer blames it on ‘satanic’ Dems
via missionlocal.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
H-1B Workers Fear Uncertainty After Trump Imposes $100,000 Visa Petition Fee
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Labor
California Gives Uber, Lyft Drivers Collective Bargaining Rights
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Alcatraz Island Is Open Again — After Several False Starts
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Visitors face delays as Alcatraz Island reopens after temporary closure
via www.cbsnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Business
This Week In Food: Palmer's Returns In Pac Heights
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Bay Area drivers could feel gas price spike after Southern California refinery fire
via www.cbsnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant, Richmond Institution, Celebrates 60 Years
via richmondsunsetnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
California leads the nation in this poverty measure — and S.F.’s is even higher
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Star SF chefs team up, Avengers-style, to rescue family-owned farm
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Culture
B.A.R. participates in LGBTQ Media Giving Day
via www.ebar.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Housing
Will this YIMBY bill put more homes near transit? Our map shows where housing could be built
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Plans Filed For Housing At the Old Alexandria Theatre
via richmondsunsetnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
‘The luckiest unlucky guy’: 20-year-old escapes homelessness by busking at BART
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Environment
Frustrated with weather forecasts in S.F.? Here’s why temperatures are so hard to predict
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Human Rights
30 Years of The California Report; The Chinese Laundrymen Who Shaped US Civil Rights
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Education
Newsom Threatens to Cut Off Funds to Universities That Comply With Trump’s Threats to Cut Off Funds to Universities
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Opinion
Kamala Harris’ memoir shows why the left keeps losing
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Arts and Events
New Movie Tells The Story Of Bus Driver Who Helped Students, Teachers Escape Camp Fire
via ww2.kqed.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
$20+ monthly members get a free ticket to our Gala! Join us
via 48hills.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Pop goes the Asian Art Museum
via sf.gazetteer.co | Push to Kindle | Source Link
SF Opera 2025-26 Membership Package Offer #2
via www.sfopera.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Richmond Author Erin Van Rheenen Releases New Book
via richmondsunsetnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Sports
Underdog 49ers Shock LA Rams With 23-20 Overtime Win, Take Sole Possession of First Place In NFC West
via sfist.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
The tough decisions Buster Posey faces as he builds the Giants’ 2026 roster
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
It took years, but this empty Tenderloin lot is finally a soccer field
via missionlocal.org | Push to Kindle | Source Link
49ers grades: How Mac Jones and Co. pulled off an upset in Los Angeles
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
The Warriors know they’re old and brittle. They say they have a ‘great shot’ anyway
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Miscellaneous
Inside the San Francisco townhouse where Audrey Hepburn and Truman Capote dined
via www.sfchronicle.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
Stolen classic Porsche recovered in San Francisco after months-long investigation
via www.cbsnews.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link
First she voted for him. Then she fell for him
via sfstandard.com | Push to Kindle | Source Link