San Francisco Public Press

02/14/2025

SF workers have confiscated and stored unhoused peoples’ property, including wheelchairs and tents, more frequently in recent years. But the rate at which stored belongings are retrieved has dropped. Advocates blame "aggressive" encampment clearing practices.

San Francisco workers have confiscated unhoused peoples’ property, including wheelchairs, tents and other essentials more often in recent years. Advocates said that "aggressive" crackdowns and policies that involve police citing and arresting people experiencing homelessness may be the cause.

02/13/2025

The Great Highway closure has resurfaced feelings of being overlooked among some members of the city's Chinese American community, who have long felt ignored and sidelined in land use and transportation debates. “For 30 years, actually almost 40, we’ve been losing, losing, losing, losing, and that’s why this is just the last straw,” said one longtime resident.
https://www.sfpublicpress.org/not-just-the-great-highway-sf-chinese-american-history-freeway-controversies/

02/06/2025

SF Public Defender's Office says DA, SFPD skirt immigration protections by referring drug cases to feds. DA denies that federal plea deals include fast-track deportation agreements despite judges' rebuke.

San Francisco’s top prosecutor, police chief and public defender gathered on the steps outside City Hall’s main entrance in a rare display of unity as they committed to uphold sanctuary laws that protect undocumented immigrants from the Trump administration’s threatened mass deportation. But t...

01/29/2025

Will frozen federal grants cost one San Francisco service provider $3 million annually? Staff are waiting to find out.

The grant freeze order was slated to take effect Tuesday, but that same day a federal judge delayed the effective date of part of the order to Feb. 3. In the meantime, local and state agencies are scrambling to figure out what programs will be affected.

01/25/2025

Groups in SF's Chinatown are fighting to defend their legacy, a 127-year-old ruling affirming birthright citizenship.

A Chinatown organization won a legal victory for birthright citizenship a century ago. Now the community is once again embracing its legacy of fighting for immigrant rights.

01/17/2025

Many political demonstrations this weekend will denounce President-elect Donald Trump. Check our list for times and locations.

Bay Area groups are staging protests this weekend to denounce President-elect Donald Trump’s right-wing policies and what organizers identify as rising fascism. The demonstrations aim to highlight a range of issues, including Trump’s plans to implement mass deportations and other anti-immigrant ...

01/15/2025

Daniel Lurie’s inauguration party in Chinatown drew local groups together, sparking optimism for a new era there.

For years, Chinatown organizations have worked to draw large numbers of visitors to the area to revitalize it in the pandemic’s aftermath. They finally pulled it off for Mayor Daniel Lurie’s inaugural banquet. Some key figures in the community hope this marks a turning point for the area. Meanwh...

12/30/2024

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12/20/2024

SF couldn't produce evidence it's complying with an encampment clearing policy to help people retain essentials.

San Francisco cannot prove it follows an aspect of its encampment clearing policy intended to help people retain essential belongings. Despite 588 clearings from January to mid-November, the city lacks evidence of a single signed declaration that staff advised unhoused people to separate essentials....

12/17/2024

LGBTQ Latin Americans come to San Francisco seeking relief from oppression. But many face scorn in recovery programs for substance use disorder.

Now a support group that formed for this vulnerable population is attracting members from all over the U.S. and Latin America. Listen to this episode of our podcast “Civic” to learn about the threats to Latinx people and hear from the support group’s founders.

This article is adapted from an episode of our podcast, “Civic.” Click the audio player below to hear the full story. Scores of LGBTQ refugees come to San Francisco to escape threats in Latin American countries that have weak protections for people vulnerable to hate crimes based on their sexual...

12/16/2024

“Exposed” investigation, PART 6: U.S. Navy’s disregard for residents’ safety goes back 80 years, according to community members and our reporting.

In the 1940s, the government gave their workers in the Bayview gas masks to protect them from windblown plutonium, while trying to decontaminate ships blasted in atom bomb experiments. The deadly element collects in the bones and can irradiate the body from inside.

We found no evidence that the nearby Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood received similar regard or warning. Today, residents continue to feel spurned.

Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point," details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exerci...

12/13/2024

Legal aid groups have sued over a court reporter shortage that has gone unresolved for years. Family Violence Appellate Project Bay Area Legal Aid

Groups that advocate for survivors of domestic violence have sued California trial courts to force them to address the statewide court reporter shortage, which they say is impairing “equal access to justice.”

12/12/2024

San Francisco received state approval to close Upper Great Highway to cars starting as soon as spring 2025.

San Francisco on Thursday received state approval to proceed with closing a 2-mile section of the Great Highway to car traffic as early as spring 2025, and to begin planning a long-term park on that stretch of road. The car-free highway will have separate lanes for pedestrians and cyclists, along wi...

12/12/2024

“Exposed” investigation, PART 5: Records of human radiation experiments were shredded, classified. Millions of documents, removed from public scrutiny — and that’s why you’ve never heard of this.

Find out more:

Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point," details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exerci...

12/12/2024

Solomon Bukenya, a formerly unhoused San Franciscan, has never lost hope for long — surviving a genocide in Rwanda, the loss of his leg, addiction and homelessness. Though he had no interest in civic engagement for years, today he’s on a mission to make sure his community’s voices are heard. E...

12/10/2024

Solomon Bukenya is lifting up disenfranchised voices.

Following the November election, he remains undeterred. He’s practiced at holding onto his hope: He has survived the Rwandan genocide, homelessness, addiction and more.

Solomon Bukenya, a formerly unhoused San Franciscan, has never lost hope for long — surviving a genocide in Rwanda, the loss of his leg, addiction and homelessness. Though he had no interest in civic engagement for years, today he’s on a mission to make sure his community’s voices are heard. E...

12/09/2024

PART 4 of our investigation, “Exposed” → The ethics of human radiation experiments.

The U.S. Navy conducted the tests at a time when too little was known about the exposure risks for participants to give what we’d call informed consent.

Our investigative series, “Exposed: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point," details how the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, based at a shipyard in San Francisco, exposed at least 1,073 dockworkers, military personnel, lab employees and others to radiation in technical exerci...

12/06/2024

How serious is the threat of ouster? We asked political experts and power brokers to size up SF Supervisor Engardio’s situation.

West side residents are trying to push him out, upset that he supported the Great Highway’s closure to cars to make it a park.

An effort is under way to recall District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio for supporting the closure of a 2-mile section of the Great Highway to cars. Anti-incumbent sentiment persists in San Francisco, but wealthy donors are unlikely to support a recall and would probably back the supervisor financially...