William Palmer arrested for false imprisonment and battery a year after district attorney dropped charges in sodomy case
Just 14 months after the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office asked a judge to dismiss five counts, including sodomy, false imprisonment, and sexual battery by restraint, against current San Francisco Sheriff’s Department Oversight Board president William Monroe “Tariq” Palmer II, citing “lack of evidence,” he was arrested at his home for false imprisonment and…
Informative judicial debate leaves one question: Who to vote for?
Over 50 San Franciscans came to Golden Gate Park’s Hall of Flowers last week to see a debate between the two candidates for the open judicial seat on the June…
City leaders laud introduction of new sober housing bill
Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), along with local lawmakers and activists, announced the introduction of a new version of a bill to allow state funding for recovery housing on Monday.…
Presidio rolls out battery-electric shuttle buses
Greener, new shuttle buses have arrived at the Presidio, which park officials say will make rides more comfortable for passengers and help the environment. The Presidio Trust is replacing its old fleet of five gas-fueled Presidio GO shuttle buses with new battery-electric shuttle buses, with two already in service. Three…
Swiping at the subtitle stigma
With the ongoing expansion and sophistication of global cinema and television, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the English-speaking audience would blanch at watching something of high quality that was made in another language because of an aversion to reading subtitles. Repertory movie theaters may serve a niche market with…
Drug-free housing, Zoo bailout, bond debt, and SFO labor pains hit City Hall this week
This week at City Hall sees the Board of Supervisors tackle significant behavioral health policy and budget-related problems, as they look to approve recovery-based supportive housing, a possible bailout for the troubled San Francisco Zoo, and increasing labor tensions at the airport. Oh, and Monday is Star Wars Day. On…
Housing first, morgue second
Second in a series about San Francisco’s drug overdose crisis. “We have to make better and more consequential interventions on the demand side — and…
Welcome to Gilead Unified School District
Welcome to Gilead Unified School District. No, no — seriously. The Handmaid’s Tale is a good analogy for a liberal community like SFUSD, which has already done the hard emotional work of imagining theocratic capture. …
BREAKING: SFUSD top lawyer Manuel Martinez reportedly leaving
San Francisco school community leaders are reporting that San Francisco Unified School District general counsel Manuel Martinez is on his way out just after completing a year on his 26-month contract. The action, not yet…
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by Nomi Kane | @Nomikane
The shot that gave me seven days
There is a clinic in San Francisco called the Maria X. Martinez Health Resource Center. You might walk past it and not think much of it. But for me, it was the first place I had ever walked into where nobody looked at me like I was a problem to…
Why justice keeps failing Asian hate victims
History repeats itself. As Garry Tan concluded in his most recent op-ed about why Asian hate so often goes unpunished, it is a cumulative effect of the loudest voices that influence a courtroom, from policy briefs and op-eds to grant-funded studies and legacy media. That voice has been dominated by…
What it means to have a dog when you’re homeless, and what San Francisco’s potential new law gets right (and wrong)
This Thursday, April 9, the public safety committee (made up of supervisors Matt Dorsey, Alan Wong, and Bilal Mahmood) will hear a proposed ordinance amending the Health Code to require that every dog in San Francisco, with certain exceptions, be sterilized (along with licensed, vaccinated, microchipped, and leashed in public areas).…
What we miss when the Board of Education skips its progress monitoring report discussions
Introduction At the last Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, March 24, Board President Phil Kim proposed — and received permission — to merge the eighth-grade algebra discussion and vote with the Progress Monitoring Report for Goal 2 (math). Predictably, the eighth-grade algebra discussion swallowed up the entire allotted time,…
San Francisco supervisors push for unified Market Street plan
A more coordinated effort is needed between San Francisco departments, city supervisors said at a hearing Monday afternoon. District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents…
Out and about April 30–May 6, 2026
The next several days bring an arts festival, cultural festivals, jukebox musicals, theater, and more. Read on for my picks. Thursday, April 30 The San…
Friends of Lowell launches legal strike against SFUSD’s ethnic studies mandate
The Friends of Lowell Foundation (FOLF) sent a formal demand letter to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) to immediately postpone the adoption of…
Matt Dorsey launches reelection bid, doubles down on recovery-first, public safety agenda
District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey kicked off his campaign for a second term on the Board of Supervisors on April 27 at Underdogs Cantina. A…
Biopics in contrast: Michael Jackson and John Davidson
Biographical motion pictures are inescapable in a business that leans on the familiar or easily identified to exploit a built-in audience. Widely known these days…
San Francisco Art Fair 2026 pushes back on the doom loop
The San Francisco Art Fair returned last week amid a cataclysm of news ranging from dastardly to jubilant concerning the state of the arts in…
Chiharu Shiota’s ‘Two Home Countries’ at the Asian Art Museum marks her first solo exhibition in the Bay Area
The Asian Art Museum’s spring exhibition, Chiharu Shiota: Two Home Countries, weaves memory, absence, and identity with dense networks of red thread and personal and…
Legacies, scams, and pitfalls
An ailing artist tries to thwart the plans of his assistant in ‘The Christophers’; a clan and empire are torn apart by murder and betrayal…
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