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7 min read News

SF Dispatch 8/10/25

Politics

Trump's meeting with Putin poses high stakes for the Ukraine war — and his legacy
WASHINGTON — An unkept promise of Donald Trump’s presidency is that he’d end the war between Russia and Ukraine in one swift diplomatic masterstroke.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Drops Out of State Treasurer Race, Endorses Kounalakis
Following Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis’s announcement that she's dropping out of the governor's race to run for state  treasurer in the 2026 election, former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf  announced Friday she’s dropping out of the treasurer's race in support of  Kounalakis.
via sfist.com

White House is considering inviting Zelenskyy to Alaska
WASHINGTON — The White House is considering inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Alaska, where President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, according to a senior U.S. official and three people briefed on the internal discussions.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Immigration

Fearing Deportation, International Students Go Silent at California’s Universities
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
via ww2.kqed.org

Video: ICE officers tackle and detain San Francisco protesters
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers today tackled and marched off two protesters at around 3:25 p.m. outside San Francisco’s ICE field office at 630 Sansome St., after a nearly daylong standoff.
via missionlocal.org

Housing

Senior housing project looks to spur development in hard-hit downtown S.F. neighborhood
A rendering of the proposed senior housing project at 967 Mission St. in San Francisco.
via www.sfchronicle.com

Arts and Events

Photos: Congregation Sherith Israel
Congregation Sherith Israel at 2266 California St. is a Jewish Reform synagogue, designed by Beaux-Arts architect Albert Pissis, and was completed in 1905. The synagogue is registered on the National Register of Historic Places. It houses a 60‑foot painted dome with a blue‑sky oculus and a 3,500‑pipe organ, on 8 June 2025.
via missionlocal.org

Petunia steals judges' hearts to win World's Ugliest Dog Contest
The dogs strutted the red carpet and showed off their unconventional looks in hopes of walking away with $5,000 in cash, a Mug Root Beer merchandise deal and bragging rights from the World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair on Friday.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Photos: Giant benevolent puppets are stalking Outside Lands
They look creepy, but their intentions seem to be joyful.
via sfstandard.com

No one at Outside Lands can work a crowd like Ludacris just did
There’s crowd work — and then there’s crowd work, Ludacris-style.
via sfstandard.com

Fit check, San Francisco: At Outside Lands, there are no fashion police
It can be hard to be fashionable when you need to dress in layers, which might be one reason why Outside Lands, like the city that hosts it every year, isn’t known for its style. Great food and music? Yes. Fit looks? Maybe.
via sfstandard.com

Outside Lands 2025 Day One: Doechii Slayed, Beck Fans Swooned
The crowd was dense but mostly well behaved on Day One of Outside Lands, and even the dance stage/area seemed relatively tame. Maybe it's true what they say about the kids not drinking or doing drugs anymore.
via sfist.com

Field Notes: Prelinger Library’s Treasures, SF to Guerneville by Clipper, Historic Lanterns Relit
In this week’s Field Notes: A family rides SF to Guerneville, Prelinger Library invites curiosity, Berkeley’s lanterns relit, origami honors Ruth Asawa, a solo show unpacks identity, kids pitch inventions, Monopoly refreshed, Tilden grows rare plants, salons spread health info, and dance dives deep.
via sfist.com

Doja Cat Played Surprise Show at SoMa's Oasis Nightclub, Debuting Tracks to Lucky Crowd
After headlining the main stage at Outside Lands Friday night, Doja Cat headed to SoMa to play a surprise show — which she'd announced from the stage at the festival — at queer nightclub Oasis.
via sfist.com

Where Past Meets Possible: Black Futures Ball Illuminates Dreams in Oakland
On the first Saturday night in August, the sun set on the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, a steel-framed, futuristic campus reaching toward the sky.
via ww2.kqed.org

Union Square to screen three classic SF films
State
via www.sfexaminer.com

Photos: Inside the first day of Outside Lands
Women were the stars of Outside Lands' Day 1, which witnessed a number of elaborate performances, most notably Doechii's magnificently choreographed set and main stage headliner Doja Cat's high-intensity parade of hits.
via sfstandard.com

Doechii’s Outside Lands set was a Super Bowl halftime show
Doechii took Outside Lands to school — literally.
via sfstandard.com

Environment

Evacuation orders lifted as California's Canyon Fire reaches 28% containment
Evacuation warnings were lifted in Los Angeles County on Saturday morning for the 5,370-acre Canyon Fire straddling the Los Angeles-Ventura County line near Val Verde west of Castaic, authorities said.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Health

Ultra-processed foods make up the majority of kids' diet, CDC report finds
Ultra-processed foods make up the bulk of what kids eat — and adults aren’t far behind, a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Public Safety

Swagger, scandals, street cred: A new union boss leads SF’s post-woke police
San Francisco’s new police union president, Louis Wong, cuts the figure of a cop’s cop.
via sfstandard.com

Car in Burlingame Crash Was Hit by E-Bike Before Striking, Killing 4-Year-Old Boy on Sidewalk
Police say the car in Friday night’s crash in Burlingame was first hit by an e-bike, which caused the driver to jump the curb and strike two children on the sidewalk before crashing into a restaurant. A 4-year-old boy was killed and a 6-year-old girl was injured.
via sfist.com

Saturday Links: CHP Arrests BMW Driver Who Posted Alleged 170 MPH Joyride Videos Online
Power has been restored to the Transbay Tube and trains are now moving on both tracks, this after an earlier power issue led to single tracking through the tube. We are now back to full service with Red and Green lines running.
via sfist.com

A shooting in Times Square wounds 3 people, police say
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Deadly Electric-Motor Vehicle Collisions in San Francisco Prompt Calls for Regulation
On July 21, Janarden Dangi was working a dinner shift at Nepa Indian Cuisine, a restaurant near Divisadero and Fell streets in San Francisco’s Panhandle neighborhood, when he saw police sirens.
via ww2.kqed.org

4-year-old boy dead following downtown Burlingame crash
via www.nbcbayarea.com

83-Year-Old Pedestrian Dies Days After Ingleside Crash
An 83-year-old pedestrian hit by a vehicle at Ocean and Lee avenues last Saturday has died, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed Friday.
via www.inglesidelight.com

Sports

Can the Valkyries keep shocking the WNBA? A win over LA brings the playoff race into focus
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via sfstandard.com

Kawakami: 'You're going to get humbled' — 49ers' rookie DTs live and learn in their debuts
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via sfstandard.com

Justin Verlander is poised to enter one of baseball's most exclusive clubs
Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email newsletters, including “The Dime.”
via sfstandard.com

5 49ers players who made strong first impressions in a preseason loss to the Broncos
Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email newsletters, including “The Dime.”
via sfstandard.com

Lions' Morice Norris shares good news after he was taken off field in ambulance
Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris shared a social post Saturday, saying he's OK and thanking people for their support after he was taken off the field in an ambulance late in a preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Valkyries games have become a queer lovefest. How the team embraced the ‘lez-assaince’ 
Homemade lesbian flags wave alongside rainbow T-shirts. Everyone’s got their caps on backward, showing off their undercuts. Faces are painted and doused in glitter. Flirtatious glances bounce around like a game of Pong as women, enbys (nonbinary), and trans folk scan the crowd, check dating apps, and dance to DJ LadyRyan.
via sfstandard.com

The Giants' Drew Gilbert era begins with a win and hope for the future in the outfield
Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email newsletters, including “The Dime.”
via sfstandard.com

Miscellaneous

Casual Carpool, the Bay Area’s Quirkiest Commute, Is Having a 2025 Revival Relaunch
If you’ve been waiting for the return of the casual carpool, or if you’ve been dying to try it out, this is your moment.
via ww2.kqed.org

On TikTok, warnings spread about the herbal tonic ‘Feel Free'
Misha Brown was walking into his local Circle K gas station in Austin, Texas, when he says a teenage boy approached him and asked him to buy him “Feel Free.” When Brown said no, he said he believed the boy tried to grab his wallet.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Day 151 at the 16th St. Plaza: Jay and Jeff, ‘The customers are right here.’
You can see all the 16th Street posts here.
via missionlocal.org

Northbound I-680 weekend closure in Fremont: Delays for thousands of drivers
via www.nbcbayarea.com

A conversation with the SF chef taken down by a TikTok influencer
Anyone even vaguely in touch with San Francisco’s food scene is by now familiar with the name Luke Sung. The 52-year-old chef has been at the center of a social media firestorm that started in July with allegations of his rude behavior toward a twentysomething TikToker named Karla Marcotte. This snowballed into the immediate closure of his restaurant — and his public humiliation — while increasing Marcotte’s followers from 15,ooo to 458,000.
via sfstandard.com

A couple of hours at the Mission District soup kitchen that almost didn’t open 
On a recent Thursday around noon, a man in a private security uniform walking down Mission Street slowed down and peeked inside the door 1928 Mission St.
via missionlocal.org