Meet the Special Ed Advocate Who Ousted Ann Hsu for a Spot on SF’s School Board

The nonprofit that helped launch San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s political career appears to have violated state law by receiving millions of dollars in city funds while being legally barred from doing so. The African American Art & Culture Complex is currently listed as “delinquent” on the state’s Registry...

Come next month, it could be open season in much of the Bay Area for developers to break typical zoning rules and build bigger and taller homes than are typically allowed. That’s because most cities in the region are poised to miss a key state deadline to plan for the next eight years of housing development, raising the possibility of a loss of local control.

Ivory Nicole Smith, a well-known Black transgender activist and entrepreneur, was found dead in her apartment on Tuesday. She was 27. A San Francisco native and Tenderloin resident, she had served as a program associate at the Transgender District and as a member of the Trans Advisory Committee with the city’s Office of Transgender Initiatives. At the time of her death, Smith was a site supervisor at the Taimon Booton Navigation Center, a trans-specific project of St. James Infirmary, the SF nonprofit that provides health care and resources to sex workers.

San Francisco supervisors quickly approved the controversial Housing Element plan on Tuesday, but they are now mulling new legislation that would allow the city to be sued if affordable housing goals are not met. They’re also set to debate more aggressive hiring strategies to fill police ranks, the practicality of setting up new courts addressing behavioral health issues and the removal of barriers to creating overdose prevention sites.

During the depths of the pandemic, word nerds across the country were obsessed with figuring out the five-letter answer to Wordle, a word-guessing game created by a Brooklyn software developer and later acquired by The New York Times for a low seven-figure sum. But increasingly, Wordle players are obsessed with a different facet of the word puzzle—gaming it.

Sharky Laguana used to be one of the scores of San Franciscans who couldn’t name his district supervisor. During the pandemic, however, he became a household name in local political circles for his outspoken advocacy for small business—and plenty of other issues—as president of the Small Business Commission.

It was a shocking allegation from the press: A California congresswoman was deploying racist rhetoric against Native Americans concerned about their people’s survival. But there was one problem. The site publishing it, a little-known outlet called the San Francisco Inquirer, wasn’t actually in the news business. And the man behind it, Matthew Ricchiazzi, had a history of running disinformation sites in New York.

The James Beard Foundation named 16 Bay Area chefs and restaurants as James Beard Award semifinalists this morning. The prestigious culinary organization honored 11 chefs and restaurants in San Francisco, four in the East Bay and one in the South Bay. Semifinalists in the category of Best Chef: California include:

A new, fast-casual Mexican restaurant that is being billed by its owner as “Chipotle 2.0” is coming to South San Francisco. Rafi Haddad, the man behind Guapas Mexican Grill, told The Standard that his restaurant will use more authentic and higher quality ingredients than the ubiquitous build-your-own burrito chain, while giving customers complete control over the construction of their wraps. He’ll also prepare his quesadillas in a pizza oven and serve freshly fried churros.

The accused gunman in the Half Moon Bay massacre was motivated by perceived mistreatment at work, according to new details Thursday from the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. Chunli Zhao, 66, used a Ruger semi-automatic handgun at two farms on Monday to kill seven co-workers and wound the...

San Francisco’s budget deficit is poised to launch major debates over what gets funded, and what gets cut, as city departments prepare for serious belt-tightening. A combination of rising expenses and diminishing revenue sent the city’s estimated deficit to $728 million, according to the most recent projections, and Mayor London Breed’s Office has told departments to slash spending and prepare for the worst.

Gumbo, po’boys and beignets are some of the best-known New Orleans culinary exports. The muffuletta—a delectable tower of salami, mortadella, ham, provolone, mozzarella and olive salad between two slices of a seeded loaf—is more of a sleeper hit. That may not be the case in San Francisco for much longer. This March, Peterson Harter and Moni Frailing plan to give their cult-favorite pop-up, Sandy’s, a brick-and-mortar home on Haight Street.

From Dry January to baby penguin chicks, the first month of the year is all about starting anew. That’s exactly what a hotel in Union Square just did. Longtime San Francisco residents all know the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, which opened nearly a century ago and, undeterred by Prohibition, became one of the swankiest hotspots for the city’s upper crust.

The past year hasn’t been a banner one for San Francisco’s office towers. As the city gained the title of the nation’s work-from-home capital, its commercial real estate sector lost tenants, and as a result, the city now faces a budget shortfall because of lower tax revenue.

Peaceful, calm and Zen. That’s how cannabis dispensary owner Al Shawa wants you to feel when you step into his new Russian Hill consumption lounge, expected to open this February. The hip hangout for consuming flower (and admiring flora) is the latest addition to Shawa’s family of pot shops,...

UPDATE: Normal service has resumed on all lines as of 8:46 a.m. Bay Area Rapid Transit said that service restoration is in progress after emergency repairs shut down transbay service early Friday morning. BART officials reported major delays systemwide and no transbay service as crews worked on track repairs in...

Police released a video Wednesday of a man trying to kidnap a young woman on the UC Berkeley campus this week. The incident happened at 5 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Euclid and Hearst avenues. The unidentified suspect told the woman that he was going to take her to...

It’s Dry January, and you’re stuck with it for several more days, but at least you’re not this driver—whose compact car got lodged in freshly poured cement near Glen Park. The car’s concrete shoes dismayed construction workers, who were said to be furious, according to one...

A farm worker accused of gunning down colleagues in Half Moon Bay faces more murder charges than anyone ever faced over a single incident in San Mateo County. Chunli Zhao, a 66-year-old Chinese citizen, showed up in court for the first time Wednesday on a slew of charges—including seven counts of murder and one of attempted murder—that could get him life in prison or even the death penalty.

You never know what you’ll see when strolling down Market Street these days, but odds are, it won’t be charming. But thanks to an effort that brings together the city’s Arts Commission and the international marketing giant that owns over 100 advertising stands peppering Downtown, local artists like Liz Boeder have turned old-school newsstands into personal galleries, as a means of showcasing their artwork while bringing much-needed charm to beleaguered sidewalks.