News
sfpd_officer_elizabeth_prillinger-640x628.jpg

More Than Half of Those Killed by San Francisco Police Were Mentally Ill

09.30.2014
|
By

By Alex Emslie and Rachael Bale, KQED News
Often it starts with a call for help. A family member, a caretaker or even a stranger dials 911 seeking paramedics to treat someone in a psychiatric crisis. But when there is a threat of violence, the first responders are usually police, and what started as a call for help can quickly turn deadly for a person with a treatable illness. That’s what happened when Christine Goias called 911 seeking help for her son, 34-year-old Errol Chang, who was in the midst of a schizophrenic breakdown at his father’s Pacifica home in March. “He has paranoia and he’s thinking people are wanting to assassinate him, and now he doesn’t trust anyone,” Goias told the dispatcher.

News
timthumb.jpeg

Research Cruise Keeps Eye on Marine Sanctuaries’ Rich Life

09.29.2014
|
By

By Jason Jaacks, Bay Nature
Twelve feet above the Pacific Ocean on the flying bridge of the research vessel Fulmar, Jason Thompson, a volunteer observer with Point Blue Conservation Science, sits at the alert, eyes glued to his binoculars. It is eerily calm — no wind, hardly any swell and no fog — a perfect day for conducting research. Out here, halfway between the Golden Gate and the Farallon Islands, the water and the sky seem to mirror each other. It is so quiet that I can perfectly hear the words as Thompson mutters them. “There’s an orca,” he says.

News
lyft.jpg

S.F. District Attorney Threatens Action Against Uber, Lyft and Sidecar

09.25.2014
|
By

By Bryan Goebel and Dan Brekke, KQED News Fix
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and his counterpart in Los Angeles are threatening action against ride-service companies Uber, Lyft and Sidecar over alleged violations of state law. In a letter to San Francisco-based Sidecar, Gascón said an investigation conducted with L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey has found the company has made misleading statements about its background checks on drivers and has illegally quoted individual fares for passengers. The letter promised legal action against the company unless it meets with prosecutors by October 8 to discuss how it will remedy the alleged violations. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix. 

News
snap20111122_0754.jpg

Minimum Wage Survival or the Flip Side of a Boom

09.24.2014
|
By

By Laura Wenus, Mission Local
Behind the counter of every tasty sandwich joint, hip bar and go-to cafe so popular in the Mission are low-wage workers, manning the registers, chopping the vegetables, pulling the espresso shots. Many have worked for minimum wage for years, but that could change in November when voters will decide on a ballot measure that would raise the minimum wage from $10.74 an hour to $15 an hour by 2018. In the meantime, we wondered how Mission workers manage in one of the country’s most expensive cities? And how do they view the ballot measure? We will be doing a series of stories on minimum wage workers and families.

News
img_7040-640x426.jpg

San Francisco Officials on Collision Course With Developers Over Tax

09.23.2014
|
By

By Bryan Goebel, KQED News Fix
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to approve a special downtown tax district meant to support transportation infrastructure projects. The Transbay Transit Community Facilities District is designed to collect a levy from developers of high-rise projects surrounding the new Transbay Terminal. The funds collected would help pay for the terminal itself and other projects, including extending Caltrain from its current South of Market location to downtown. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix.

News
img_2163-1024x768.jpg

Finding Faults: Scientists Close In on Napa Quake Origins

09.22.2014
|
By

By Craig Miller, KQED Science/KQED News Fix
It took less than 20 seconds to shake apart historic buildings and topple chimneys from Vallejo to St. Helena. But throughout the Napa Valley, the August 24 South Napa Earthquake left its calling cards — not just the startling damage in downtown Napa but also subtle traces on the ground itself: clues to what actually happened deep below the surface. In fact, geologists now say that the South Napa quake created more surface fractures than any known quake of its size in California. Weeks after the magnitude-6.0 shaker, a new picture is emerging of the complex geology underneath.

News
screen_shot_2014-09-18_at_6.53.24_pm.png

S.F. Rally Backs Increased Funding for Anti-HIV Drug

09.18.2014
|
By

By Daniel Hirsch, Mission Local
After a rally today outside of City Hall to support a budget appropriation to increase funds for greater accessibility to pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV infection, Supervisor Scott Wiener acknowledged that he had been slightly anxious leading up to today. Yesterday, in a post on the Huffington Post, Wiener had “come out” as the first elected official to use the drug. “I was definitely a little bit nervous how people would respond,” said Wiener on the steps of City Hall. “But the response has been overwhelmingly positive.  .

News
dsc_0716.jpg

Profile: How Rudy Corpuz Is Trying to Save the ‘Hood

09.17.2014
|
By

By Isabel Angell, KALW Crosscurrents
In the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, at 1038 Howard St., sits the United Playaz headquarters. United Playaz is a homegrown organization that is trying to make the SoMa neighborhood a safer place. It was founded by Rudy Corpuz Jr. … but he was not always an anti-violence activist. “I got tired of going in and out of jail.

News
timthumb.jpeg

Ocean Beach’s Sand Supply Dries Up, Putting Endangered Shorebirds at Risk

09.16.2014
|
By

By Jimmy Tobias, Bay Nature 
Marching north along Ocean Beach on the San Francisco coast, Dan Murphy stops and points his binoculars at a clutch of birds that look like cotton balls with beaks. “There they are,” says Murphy, a veteran bird watcher and volunteer with the Golden Gate Audubon Society. “It’s a scarce flock.”
Four western snowy plovers, small shorebirds listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, trot back and forth across the sand. They leave trails of three-pronged footprints in the wave-swept terrain on this cool September morning. Coastal dunes, like the ones at Ocean Beach, are the birds’ preferred habitat.