1 million sign petitions to boot Stanford sex-assault judge

SF weighs ‘black boxes’ to track government fleet
Law enforcement departments and unions, however, opposed the proposal on the grounds that the information would jeopardize their employees’ safety. After behind-the-scenes negotiations, Yee amended the ordinance to exempt vehicles used by the Sheriff’s Department, Police Department and juvenile and adult probation departments. The Municipal Transportation Agency, Public Utilities Commission and Department of Public Works use the technology most frequently. Yee’s ordinance would require city departments to monitor the data in real time — departments usually hire a private company to do that. Yee pointed to a 2015 study by the city’s budget and legislative analyst’s office that found black boxes in city-owned vehicles have numerous benefits, including “the potential to improve safety, reduce operating costs, reduce vehicle emissions and identify potential waste and fraud.” From 2010 to 2015, the city spent $76.9 million on settlements and judgments from claims and litigation relating to its vehicles, according to the budget and legislative analyst’s report. Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Eileen Hirst said requiring black boxes on department vehicles could expose deputies to danger. […] she said, people could ask for black-box data through public records requests to determine what routes the deputies use to transport prisoners to and from jail.

Conservation sticks as Californians cut water use 26 percent
Californians fought the urge to take long showers and generally slosh water around after all the rainfall this year, cutting water use instead by 26.1 percent in April, state officials said Monday. The latest conservation figures — which compare water used this year to 2013, before the height of the drought — came just as the State Water Resources Control Board began easing some of the short-term restrictions that were in place over the past year. The savings report comes after the water board scrapped the emergency 25-percent conservation mandates that Gov. Jerry Brown set last year, instead adopting a new set of regulations that went into effect June 1. The revised regulations require water districts not to meet strict numeric targets but to continue reporting their use, with a goal of keeping enough water in reserve to accommodate three dry years. The board will conduct what it calls “stress tests,” with agencies having to prove to the state that they have the needed reserves. at least three years worth of water. The new regulations continue a statewide ban on wasteful practices, such as hosing off sidewalks and driveways and watering lawns in a manner that causes runoff.

Oakland Zoo welcomes two litters of warthog piglets

They might not be covered in soft fluffy coats like kittens, but the seven warthog babies born at the Oakland Zoo this month are still kind of cute. Don’t you think?

Seven baby warthogs make their Oakland Zoo debut

“We’re thrilled to have two litters of healthy piglets,” said warthog keeper Lovesong Cahill. All seven piglets are just now beginning to explore their surroundings under the watchful eyes of their moms and keepers. Despite Simon’s passion, it would be two more years before his amorous advances and grunt work would bear fruit. Warthogs, Minier said, have a keener sense of smell and hearing than of sight, so presumably the females liked the sound and aroma of Simon more than his looks. […] Simon is being kept in a holding area that has been enhanced with toys and a brand new “mud wallow” to keep him happy while he bides his time off-stage. Simon, Alice and Frenchie are the most famous warthogs since a singing warthog named Pumbaa took the warthog world by storm in “The Lion King” in 1994. The term “warthog,” rearranged, is also credited with being the inspiration for Hogwarts, the boarding school attended by wannabe wizard Harry Potter. To visit the Oakland warthog exhibit, enter at the main gate, make a right at the flamingos and proceed past the giraffes. Chronicle staff writer Kevin Fagan contributed to this story.

U.S. Senate hopeful says Bay Area pols ‘control everything’
U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez excoriated Bay Area politicians at a Southern California campaign event over the weekend, saying “they control everything,” according to a video of her remarks captured by the Sacramento Bee. Sanchez, a Democrat representative from Orange County, was speaking with two men at a car show in Whittier, the Bee reported, when she made the case that someone from outside the San Francisco region ought to fill the seat to succeed Barbara Boxer, who’s occupied it for more than two decades alongside U.S. Senator and fellow Bay Area resident Dianne Feinstein. A Field Poll released Friday placed Sanchez at a distant second in the open seat primary contest, garnering support from 14 percent of likely voters, compared with Attorney General Kamala Harris, also a Democrat, who captured 30 percent in the 1,002-person survey, which had a 3.1 percentage point margin of error in either direction.

Low-hanging clouds delay SFO flights

Low-hanging clouds delay SFO flights Arriving and departing flights at San Francisco International Airport were expected to be delayed an average of 44 minutes to as much as 96 minutes Monday morning due to foggy conditions. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the ground delay program to be in effect from 8 a.m. to noon because of the inclement weather.

Where celebs eat and stay in the Bay Area

San Francisco is no LA (thank goodness), but it’s increasingly becoming a hot spot for celebrity sightings.

1916 travel brochure captures bucolic Bay Area of a century ago

If you live in the Bay Area, the countryside is never very far away. There’s Muir Woods, Mt. Tamalpais, and Point Reyes, just a short drive to the north. There’s Mt. Diablo, with its expansive views to the east, Big Sur to the south, and a stunning Pacific coast to the west, just to name a few. There are dozens of parks and open spaces in northern California. You can find a list of them by clicking here.

Young girl laid again to rest, 145 years after her first burial

The group of community members, Odd Fellows, cemetery workers and event organizers gathered for the 10 a.m. memorial service and reburial of the girl dubbed Miranda Eve, a three-year-old whose casket was found beneath the floor of a home in San Francisco Richmond District after being buried for about 145 years. “I rejoice that you’ve found it in your hearts to come offer your love, your care and to be here for this little girl,” retired Minister Allan Musterer told the crowd during the ceremony. The girl was found last month in a small metal casket with glass windows during home construction. The girl, given the name Miranda by homeowner Ericka Karner’s family, was one of about 30,000 people originally buried in San Francisco’s Odd Fellow’s Cemetery, but she was accidentally left behind when the bodies were cleared out and moved to cemeteries in Colma in the early 20th century to make room for the living. Event organizers decided to bury the little girl in Colma to be close to the others — and potential family members — that were moved to the common burial plot there around 1920. Since the girl was discovered and her story shared, hundreds of people have reached out to show support. Ellisa Davey, the founder of the Garden of Innocence charity, who for two decades has buried the bodies of unidentified children in California, got in touch with the homeowner soon after her discovery and arranged for the girl’s reburial. Organizations across California were eager to help make Miranda Eve’s second burial a possibility — everything from a casket to the burial plot were donated. Saturday morning’s ceremony was a full-service memorial, packed with people in black clothes, countless baskets of rose petals, a volunteer minister and even a local poet who read an original work to honor the little girl. The glass panels in the girl’s original coffin were broken during inspection by the city’s medical examiner, so that casket was placed inside a new casket for Saturday’s burial.

These are the worst roads in the Bay Area

MTC, the region’s transportation agency, looked at 43,000 miles of local streets and roads and determined the average score for a Bay Area boulevard was 67 out of 100 in 2015. That’s up from 66 in 2014, so things are improving slightly.

Monsignor Eugene Boyle, maverick priest of ’60 and ’70s, dies
In his most controversial period, the 1960s and ’70s, he fought for social justice, marched with Cesar Chavez and allowed the Black Panthers to use his church basement in San Francisco for a breakfast program. […] Pope John Paul II had honored the Rev. Boyle by making him monsignor, and he had retired from active ministry. “No priest fought harder against injustice in all its faces and all its institutional guises,” said Clinton Reilly, a San Francisco political consultant and real estate developer. Reilly, an old friend of Monsignor Boyle’s, ran his campaign when he challenged longtime Assemblyman John Foran, D-San Francisco, in the 1974 primary election. Eugene Boyle was born in San Francisco on July 28, 1921, attended local Catholic schools and went into the seminary to study for the priesthood. The Rev. Boyle was first assigned to various parishes in San Francisco and Livermore, and then served on the San Francisco archdiocese’s commission on social justice. In the late 1960s, he was appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Church, in San Francisco’s Western Addition. The FBI produced a fake children’s coloring book, which called police “pigs” and advocated shooting them. After his term at Sacred Heart, the Rev. Boyle’s outspoken views on social justice and his run for political office put him in disfavor with his superiors and he was in a kind of religious Siberia. […] the archdiocese in San Francisco appointed him Catholic chaplain at Stanford University. Bishop Pierre Du Maine viewed the Rev. Boyle in a different light and made him vicar for inter-religious and public affairs, a high-profile post in the diocese.

Opponents to appeal after SF planners approve ‘Beast on Bryant’
Mission District development opponents pledged to continue to battle against the “Beast on Bryant” housing development a day after the Planning Commission approved what would be the largest residential complex in the neighborhood’s history. On Thursday, night the Planning Commission voted 5-2 to approve 2000-2070 Bryant St., a complex that would contain 196 market-rate apartments and an additional 139 affordable homes. Podell has argued that his 196 market-rate units would lessen the pressure put on the neighborhood’s older housing stock and that the 139 affordable units, one-third of which will house formerly homeless families, represent more affordable housing units than the Mission has produced in 15 years. A coalition of artists, residents and building trades representatives opposed the development. The Bryant Street project could be a bellwether for three other market-rate Mission District housing projects in the pipeline: the “Monster in the Mission” at the 16th Street BART Station, which has been stalled by litigation between the property owner and the developer; the 157-unit project Lennar is proposing at 1515 S. Van Ness Ave.; and Axis Development’s proposed 117-unit project at 2675 Folsom St.

Bernie Sanders fans simmer in Fairfield, Berkeley

“Let me thank all you crazy people for coming out on a day like today,” said the Vermont senator, clutching a water bottle. In his 30-minute stump speech to about 1,000 of the faithful, Sanders lost no time laying into such favorite targets as Wall Street, climate change, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, fracking, student debt and federal immigration policy. Later, in Berkeley, Sanders focused on income inequality at a news conference in the University of California’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Emphasizing his key points with familiar rat-a-tat-tat hand gestures, the Democratic candidate advocated for a higher minimum wage, tuition-free universities and a tax on carbon. Asked by a reporter how he expects to create more jobs than the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, Sanders shot back: “Trump has also created four bankruptcies.” Many supporters used their blue “A Future to Believe In” signs to fan away the 99-degree heat — when TV cameras weren’t pointing their way. “I understand that brilliant meteorologist and brilliant scientist Donald Trump is in California and this incredible genius has concluded there is no drought in California,” Sanders said, as the crowd laughed. Sanders asked for a show of hands from students who had racked up tuition debt and from others who had no health insurance. The crowd arrived early and waited in a long line to clear the metal detectors and enter the central quad at Solano Community College in Fairfield. Half an hour before the Sanders arrived, his volunteers tried to get the people under some shade trees to come closer to the podium, within camera range. Sarah Roy of Fairfield paid $25 for a special tie-dyed Bernie shirt that looked like it might have been in fashion when Sanders was the age of a Solano College student. […] as he left the building, fans thronged behind a row of caution tape on Channing Way, craning cell phones and screaming.

Water main bursts in SF’s Visitacion Valley, buckling streets
A water main burst, buckling streets and sending whitewater cascading through a Visitacion Valley neighborhood in San Francisco on Friday afternoon, forcing public utilities workers to shut off water to more than two dozen homes. The 6-inch main cracked open at 5:03 p.m. on the 300 block of Rutland Street, forcing its way up through the asphalt and onto the street, threatening homes and businesses with flooding. The gushing water buckled the street in two locations on Rutland and on Harkness Avenue until workers shut off the flow at 6 p.m. Crews shut off service to 25 homes as workers prepared to dig up the street and repair the broken pipeline, which had been installed in 1952 and apparently deteriorated with age, said Michael Hart, a supervisor for the San Francisco Water Department.

SF supervisor seeks to bar Blue Angels from flying over city
The fatal crash of a Blue Angels jet during a practice run in Tennessee prompted a San Francisco supervisor to say Friday that the Navy’s aerial stunt team should be barred from flying over the city when it performs here during Fleet Week in October. Supervisor John Avalos said he plans to introduce a nonbinding resolution by August that would demand that the team of six F/A-18 fighter jets fly only over the bay during its practices and air shows. In 2007, as a staffer for then-Supervisor Chris Daly, he crafted a similar resolution for his boss after a fatal Blue Angels crash at an air show in South Carolina. The crash Thursday occurred during a practice for a Blue Angels air show at the Smyrna, Tenn., airport outside Nashville. The team briefly stopped flying after that incident, but resumed its regular schedule within two months. A Navy investigation found that the pilot in the 2007 crash had attempted a sharp turn too close to the ground. Board President London Breed said she would wait for the results of the investigation into the Tennessee crash before deciding how to vote.

Judge says suit against S.F. city attorney can go forward
A judge says a former top deputy to San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera can go to trial in a lawsuit claiming Herrera fired her in retaliation for reporting her suspicions that his staff was taking kickbacks in exchange for millions of dollars in questionable payments for damaged sewer lines. Herrera sought dismissal of the suit by Joanne Hoeper, his former chief trial deputy, by arguing that Hoeper was not a whistle-blower, her suspicions were unfounded, and he had intended to replace her at least a year before she started looking into the sewer payments. “The city’s sweeping notions of (attorney-client) privilege would bar most retaliation claims by attorney employees,” Ulmer said. San Francisco had been paying property owners and their plumbing companies to repair the damage since 1982. […] Hoeper, acting on a tip, said she began looking into the program in late 2011, found evidence that tree roots can’t penetrate some unbroken sewer lines, and concluded that the city shouldn’t be paying to repair private sewers. Herrera said he asked the Santa Clara County counsel’s office to conduct an independent review, and that office found no merit in Hoeper’s allegations.

Bay Area temperatures to range from 60s to near 100
Temperatures are expected to vary by more than 30 degrees across the Bay Area on Friday, from the low-to-mid 60s along the coast to near the century mark farther inland. Areas such as San Francisco’s Ocean Beach are expected to remain the coolest, near 60 degrees, while East Bay cities such as Livermore and Concord will heat up to a scorching 100 degrees, said Roger Gass, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey. Despite the sweltering heat in some locations, no record temperatures are expected to be broken, Gass said. The hot, low-wind weather conditions also caused Bay Area air quality officials to issue the year’s second Spare the Air smog alert Friday. Officials said the warm air will mix with vehicle exhaust to create high levels of smog in the region. Commuters are asked to take public transportation, carpool, walk or bike, instead of driving alone, in order to reduce smog levels on Spare the Air days, officials said.

Planning Commission opposes Polk Street chain store ban
[…] the majority of planning commissioners said that, rather than an outright ban, the current zoning should be amended to let in some desirable formula retail establishments while raising the bar for those opposed by the majority of residents. Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced the formula retail legislation in February as a way to block a proposed Whole Foods 365 grocery store, which has filed an application to occupy the former Lombardi Sports store at Polk and Jackson streets. Peskin says he wants to preserve the mom-and-pop character of Polk Street’s business corridor and that he would rather see housing built there, which the property owner had originally intended to do. […] with almost 50 residents and business owners weighing in on the ban, the debate at the Planning Commission frequently became a referendum on the grocery store. Emily Harrold, president of Russian Hill Neighbors, said that while she supports many local businesses along Polk Street, chain stores offer affordable goods that make living in expensive San Francisco possible. Baby formula is 23 percent higher at the corner store than it is at Walgreens,” she said, adding that excluding mass market chains with cheaper products “ensures that only those at the highest level of disposable income will remain in San Francisco. […] others argued that allowing formula retail stores onto a commercial strip fuels commercial rent hikes, strips neighborhoods of its character, and undermines existing businesses. Mike Priolo, a representative of the 50-year-old Jug Shop at Polk and Pacific, said his business has survived the arrival of BevMo on Van Ness Avenue and the Whole Foods at Franklin and California streets, but that Whole Foods could put him out of business. Chris Schulman of Lower Polk Neighbors said that with a dozen large housing projects coming to the neighborhood, it is an important time to close the door on chain stores, which tend to be able to afford the higher rents and build-out costs that come with new development. Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards, former president of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, said the six-month conditional-use process, which requires Planning Commission approval, puts the burden on residents to constantly fight chains, which can afford lawyers and lobbyists.

Bernie Sanders set to make another Bay Area campaign swing

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders will make two more sweeps through the Bay Area over the next few days as a part of a last-ditch campaign effort in the state before the June 7 California primary. Sanders has stops scheduled in the East Bay and North Bay on Friday and a special concert event in San Francisco on Monday. Sanders will travel to Los Angeles Saturday before heading back to San Francisco for a special concert in the Presidio Monday, where he will appear alongside artists such Dave Matthews, Fantastic Negrito, Fishbone and John Dexter Stewart. Sanders most recently made stops in the Bay Area on May 30, showing up to the Presidio for a Memorial Day service before heading to Oakland for two community events and a stop by the Warriors game.

What the most common jobs in the San Francisco area pay

Federal judge questions fairness of Uber suit settlement
A proposed settlement of $84 million or more for hundreds of thousands of Uber drivers in California and Massachusetts drew some skeptical questions Thursday from a federal judge, who wondered whether drivers would be shortchanged or denied a chance to opt out and pursue their own claims. Lawyers for the ride-hailing company and the plaintiffs in the class-action suit argued for approval, but Chen also heard from attorneys for hundreds of objecting drivers. The lawsuit, filed in 2013, challenged Uber’s classification of its drivers as independent contractors, who must pay their own expenses and are denied other protections that labor laws provide to employees, including minimum wage, overtime, unemployment and workers’ compensation coverage. The settlement would leave that issue unresolved but pay the drivers partial compensation for wages and expenses. The state’s labor law assesses hefty penalties for misclassifying employees as contractors and failing to pay them properly, and allows the employees to collect 25 percent of the penalties, with the rest going to the state. Chen said he was also troubled by a provision of the agreement that reduces the time period he had previously approved for dissident drivers to drop out of the case and sue on their own. […] those plans could be thwarted by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is preparing to hear Uber’s appeal of a ruling by Chen that allowed the suit to proceed as a class action in court rather than going to arbitration for each driver, as the company preferred.

Polk Street ban on chain stores opposed by panel

[…] the majority of planning commissioners said that, rather than an outright ban, the current zoning should be amended to let in some desirable formula retail establishments while raising the bar for those opposed by the majority of residents. Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced the formula retail legislation in February as a way to block a proposed Whole Foods 365 grocery store, which has filed an application to occupy the former Lombardi Sports store at Polk and Jackson streets. Peskin says he wants to preserve the mom-and-pop character of Polk Street’s business corridor and that he would rather see housing built there, which the property owner had originally intended to do. […] with almost 50 residents and business owners weighing in on the ban, the debate at the Planning Commission frequently became a referendum on the grocery store. Emily Harrold, president of Russian Hill Neighbors, said that while she supports many local businesses along Polk Street, chain stores offer affordable goods that make living in expensive San Francisco possible. Baby formula is 23 percent higher at the corner store than it is at Walgreens,” she said, adding that excluding mass market chains with cheaper products “ensures that only those at the highest level of disposable income will remain in San Francisco. […] others argued that allowing formula retail stores onto a commercial strip fuels commercial rent hikes, strips neighborhoods of its character, and undermines existing businesses. Mike Priolo, a representative of the 50-year-old Jug Shop at Polk and Pacific, said his business has survived the arrival of BevMo on Van Ness Avenue and the Whole Foods at Franklin and California streets, but that Whole Foods could put him out of business. Chris Schulman of Lower Polk Neighbors said that with a dozen large housing projects coming to the neighborhood, it is an important time to close the door on chain stores, which tend to be able to afford the higher rents and build-out costs that come with new development. Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards, former president of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, said the six-month conditional-use process, which requires Planning Commission approval, puts the burden on residents to constantly fight chains, which can afford lawyers and lobbyists.

Ivy Tam, dancer at Chinatown’s Forbidden City, dies
Ivy Tam, a dancer during the peak of the 1960s Chinatown nightclub scene who worked in recent years to keep the tradition alive, has died. Ms. Tam, who had pulmonary fibrosis, died early last month after a brief hospital stay. Ms. Tam was 19 in 1954 when she left Hong Kong for San Francisco, getting a job as a cashier — and later dancing in elaborate and artistic costumes — at the Forbidden City nightclub in Chinatown. Ms. Tam danced through much of the 1960s, before the North Beach strip clubs impacted the business of the less risqué Chinese nightclubs. Ms. Tam divorced Low, Forbidden City closed in 1968, and she spent nearly four decades working as a waitress in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. In 2004, Ms. Tam and Yee helped co-found the Grant Avenue Follies, dancing in elaborate costumes in the Chinese nightclub tradition. Ms. Tam’s daughter, Ivy Ong, said her mother was always a positive force, making close connections at the restaurants and cocktail bars where she worked, including Senor Pico, Trader Vic’s and, until her retirement in the 2000s, the hotel Sofitel in Redwood City. “She believed you work because you have to, and you might as well make it a happy situation,” Ong said. Yee said that when Ms. Tam went to the emergency room weeks before her death, she put on full makeup first.

Lawsuit filed in SF chef’s suicide in jail after bridge arrest
A man who committed suicide in a San Francisco jail last year wasn’t put on suicide watch or given psychiatric treatment even though he was arrested three days earlier by authorities who knew he had threatened to kill himself at the Golden Gate Bridge, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The family of Alberto Carlos Petrolino is suing the California Highway Patrol, which made the arrest, and the Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, saying Petrolino would be alive if he had been taken to a psychiatric facility or if sheriff’s deputies had taken his mental health needs seriously. CHP officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and San Francisco city attorneys said they could not comment because they had not received the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages. CHP officials said last year that when a special officer made contact with Petrolino to conduct a mental health evaluation, Petrolino “made several statements indicating that he had no intention of trying to hurt himself.” Petrolino, who struggled with alcohol abuse, was “extremely intoxicated,” according to the CHP, and said he was at the bridge only to drink and sleep on a bench. Officials said the CHP officers, after determining he was not an immediate danger to himself or others — the criteria for a psychiatric hold — arrested him on the warrant and took him to jail. According to his family’s attorneys, a mental health provider at the jail documented “problem behavior” in Petrolino, making note of his history of suicide attempts, alcoholism and psychiatric stints at San Francisco General Hospital, but failed to take suicide precautions. According to his family’s attorneys, Petrolino was the eighth person to commit suicide in city jails since 2009.

New short-term rental rules move forward at City Hall
New legislation that would expose short-term rental companies like Airbnb to big fines and misdemeanor charges when hosts fail to follow the city’s registration requirements moved one step closer to becoming law on Thursday. About an industry that has made and continues to make tens of millions of dollars in this line of work taking responsibility for the negative impact that they are having on the housing stock. Board president London Breed, who normally sits on the committee but ceded her seat to Campos for this meeting because she had to leave early, also said she supports the legislation. Los Angeles and other cities are considering similar legislation that would require short-term rental companies to police their sites to ensure their hosts are complying with local regulations. “The process just needs to be streamlined better so that it will allow people to register, not be intimidated by the registration process,” testified Alice Chiu, an interior designer who has used the money she makes from renting out a spare room to start her own business. Under Campos and Peskin’s bill, short-term rental companies — others include VRBO and HomeAway — would have to verify that all listings have a valid San Francisco registration number before posting them online. When the city flags rentals that appear not to be registered, the listing services would be required to respond with details about those properties within one business day or face fines. Technology law groups have warned that the legislation appears to conflict with federal law that shields online platforms from liability for content generated by their users. “Anytime someone proposes to place liability on the platform because the platform users are doing something wrong, that raises concerns,” said David Greene, civil liberties director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It’s important to remember that voters rejected this and other short-term rental restrictions just last year, which the mayor must also consider when weighing this legislation from supervisors,” she said.