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6 min read News

SF Dispatch 8/9/25

Politics

Crypto as a 401(k) option?
A new order signed by President Donald Trump would clear the way for retirement plans to invest in cryptocurrency.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Hegseth reposts video featuring pastors saying women shouldn't be allowed to vote
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Texas Democrats visit California as part of effort to block redistricting plan
via www.nbcbayarea.com

California Democrats Back Newsom Plan to Redraw Congressional Maps for 2026
Democratic leaders in the California Legislature on Friday threw their support behind Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to bring a potential redraw of the state’s congressional districts to voters in November.
via ww2.kqed.org

‘Extortion’: Newsom Threatens to Sue After Trump Fines UCLA $1 Billion
California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to sue the Trump administration on Friday over what he called “extortion,” after the federal government proposed that UCLA pay $1 billion to settle allegations of antisemitism at UCLA and restore more than half a billion dollars in frozen federal grant funding.
via ww2.kqed.org

Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf ends bid for state treasurer after Kounalakis enters race
Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf arrives for Barbara Lee’s inauguration in Jack London Square in Oakland on June 8, 2025.
via www.sfchronicle.com

Newsom says California will hold special election to combat Trump, Texas redistricting
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that he and California legislative leaders will ask voters in November to approve a one-time redrawing of the state’s congressional districts in an effort to add Democratic seats in Congress.
via sfstandard.com

Redistricting Battle Heats Up Between Texas and California
President Trump’s push for Texas to redraw congressional districts to help Republicans in next year’s midterm elections has mobilized Democratic governors, including Gavin Newsom, to do the same. But will California voters agree to let politicians draw their own lines when they put a stop to that practice years ago?
via ww2.kqed.org

AWOL Texas Democrats Huddling With Newsom, Pelosi in Sacramento to Discuss Redistricting
Some of the Texas Democratic elected officials who’ve left their state in hopes of thwarting Trump’s redistricting plans are now in California, talking strategy with Gavin Newsom and Nancy Pelosi.
via sfist.com

Israel's Netanyahu faces wave of condemnation over plans to seize Gaza City
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to take control of Gaza City drew intense international pushback Friday, with at least one staunch European ally announcing it would halt military exports to Israel over the move.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Trump demands $1 billion from UCLA in dispute over its handling of campus antisemitism
Royce Hall at the UCLA campus. The Department of Justice said Friday that UCLA should give it $1 billion to settle its claim that the campus broke the law in its handling of antisemitism last year.
via www.sfchronicle.com

Human Rights

‘Utter betrayal': Air Force revokes approved retirement for trans service members
Alyx, a transgender woman who has served in the Air Force for 15 years, was approved in May for early retirement due to the Trump administration’s policy prohibiting trans people from serving and enlisting in the military.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Immigration

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

Bay Area man speaks out after spending week in ICE custody
We don't often hear about what happens during the time an immigrant is detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Asylum-seekers are spending longer and longer at San Francisco’s ICE field office
In early June,  three families—including four children—spent the entire night at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s field office in San Francisco, at 630 Sansome St., after showing up for routine check-ins.
via missionlocal.org

Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids
Residents confront ICE and Border Patrol agents over a raid in their neighborhood in Bell, California, on June 19, 2025.
via www.sfchronicle.com

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

Two of S.F.’s largest hotels are on the verge of being sold, despite repeated delays
The Parc 55 San Francisco Hotel at 55 Cyril Magnin St. in San Francisco is on the verge of being sold, according to court records.
via www.sfchronicle.com

Arts and Events

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

Day Around the Bay: Veteran Bay Area Reporter Pam Moore Honored With Hall of Fame Induction
via sfist.com

Gimme K-pop!
Here’s a bit of an embarrassing confession: I have seen the K-pop girl group Twice every year for the past four years. None of those times have been in the broader San Francisco Bay Area. I have paid real American dollars for flights and tickets to see Twice in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Chicago.
via sf.gazetteer.co

Education

Concerns mount ahead of Alum Rock Union School District's first day of classes
Fallout continues from the abrupt firing of the Alum Rock Union School District superintendent.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Environment

Bay Area Fire Departments Dispatch Engines, Strike Teams to Fight Gifford Fire in San Luis Obispo
Several Bay Area counties have deployed resources to San Luis Obispo to combat California’s largest fire yet in 2025, a blaze which has consumed nearly 100,000 acres of land since it worsened Thursday morning.
via ww2.kqed.org

Health

More lead found in Oakland Unified School District pipes
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Public Safety

3 wounded in shooting in New York City's Times Square
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

Suspect and officer dead in shooting that struck CDC in Atlanta
A man opened fire outside the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday, leaving bullet marks in windows across the sprawling campus and killing a police officer before he was found dead in a nearby building, authorities said.
via www.nbcbayarea.com

Pedestrian dies in hospital after being struck by vehicle near City College of S.F.
San Francisco police are investigating a traffic crash from last weekend that killed a pedestrian.
via www.sfchronicle.com

Sports

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

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, who appears to have worked for two years as a “content creator,” and snowballed into the closure of his restaurant — and his public humiliation.
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

The 4 most over-the-top things to eat at Outside Lands
Festival food has long been a hotbed of pizza, burritos, and the occasional fancy smashburger — but San Francisco’s preeminent outdoor music festival has leveled up.
via sfstandard.com

Aaron London, of AL's Place Fame, Launches Boxed Cookie Brand
Chef Aaron London, who once had a Michelin star at his Mission restaurant AL's Place, walked away from the hospitality industry in 2022, and now we know what he's been up to in the years since.
via sfist.com

Video: Influencer Bro Gets Caught Vaping on SFO-Bound Flight, Claims He Was ‘Assaulted’ When Busted
A self-described “AI Expert and Celebrity Pickleball Coach” got popped vaping in the bathroom of an SFO-bound flight Monday, and then promptly berated the flight attendant, claiming, “You assaulted me!"
via sfist.com

From ‘one cup at a time’ to $145 million in 22 years
Longtime Mission residents remember Phil Jaber as a friendly corner store owner who, back in 2003, started a coffee business to compete with the other three corners.
via sf.gazetteer.co