Civic

As local mainstays — cafes, bars and restaurants — launch fundraisers to ask neighbors to help them survive indefinitely extended shelter-in-place orders, governments at all levels are offering up various forms of aid. In San Francisco, many of those supportive programs for businesses and workers come through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Director Joaquín Torres returns to Civi...

If a police officer was found to have used deadly force or inflicted serious injuries on the job, until 2019, disciplinary records about that incident had been kept secret. That changed when SB 1421, authored by state Senator Nancy Skinner, went into effect. In 2020, she moved to expand the legislation to also grant access to records about officers who engaged in biased or discriminatory behavior...

San Francisco has a vastly different attitude toward Cannabis than it did as recently as the 1990s. That's when Dennis Peron was fighting to get marijuana to HIV and cancer patients. Despite being repeatedly arrested, he helped lead the effort to legalize medical marijuana. A new documentary screening at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival from February 4 to February 21 tells his story.

Every year, organizers with the Anti Police Terror Project mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with public actions meant to reclaim King’s radical legacy. This year they have adapted those actions to the pandemic and are working in the context of the recent riot at the US capitol. On the morning of Friday, January 15th, activists announced their plans and cited some of King’s stances and ideas that ha...

In these highlights from a recent reporter roundtable discussion, journalists share their experiences with local government agencies reducing access to records, data and interviews during emergency health orders. Hear from Lydia Chávez, executive editor at Mission Local, Trisha Thadani, a city hall reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, Scott Morris, an investigative reporter, and independent...

After a mob of pro-Trump agitators stormed the Capitol last week, forcing a delay in the certification of the electoral vote for president, Twitter was the first social media platform to block Donald Trump from posting, with others soon following suit. Ali Alkhatib, a research fellow at the University of San Francisco’s Center for Applied Data Ethics, examines how platforms moderate content and en...

As of December, when the school district and teachers unions couldn’t come to an agreement about safety measures for reopening, there is no set date for when schools will resume in person in San Francisco. Hayin Kimner, interim director of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco, a parent advocacy group, shares how families are coping with distance learning and what their most urgent questions...

UPDATE: After this interview was recorded, 48Hills reported that several residents and staff members of the facility where Malik Washington lives in the Tenderloin, which is operated by a for-profit prison contractor, have tested positive for coronavirus. Washington told 48Hills he has been reprimanded and his phone has been confiscated for communicating with a reporter about the outbreak.

Months ago, legislators approved several layers of protections to keep renters from being kicked out and potentially made homeless during a pandemic. Now several of these protections are expiring, though there are efforts underway to extend them. Scott Weaver, supervising attorney at the Eviction Defense Collaborative and a volunteer with the San Francisco Tenants Union, lays out which protections...

If you have been in close contact with someone who is diagnosed with COVID-19, you may get a call from a contact tracer, who will want to offer you some guidance about quarantining — including, potentially, connecting you to food or cleaning supply delivery. Paula Heaney, a San Francisco librarian who along with other city employees transitioned to working as a contact tracer, offers a glimpse int...

Read Scott Morris' story, " She Noticed $200 Million Missing, Then She Was Fired " at ProPublica.org

Newsrooms across the country have been in overdrive most of this year, covering a global pandemic, a primary and a presidential election, and protests against systemic racism and police brutality. Contributors with YR Media, a national network of young journalists and artists, have been covering it all with reporting and perspectives that don’t usually get the same space and attention in national...

In the Bay Area, hospitals still have some ICU capacity left, but health care practitioners are working hard to care for the influx of COVID-19 patients. The surge is leaving workers stretched thin and patients isolated. At the same time, coronavirus vaccines are being distributed to frontline health workers. Dr. Monica Bhargava, a pulmonary critical care physician working at a county hospital in...

The FBI arrest of former San Francisco Department of Public Works head Mohammed Nuru on fraud charges in January kicked off a cascade of raids, charges and investigations that have spurred the departure of several other city department heads. We spoke with Retired FBI agent James Wedick, who spent years investigating corruption, explains how the FBI gets involved and how these investigations work.

The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the presidency and vice-presidency left several roles for Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill, and politicians from around the state, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, have weighed in on Newsom’s choice of Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate. San Francisco State University politics professor Jason McDaniel joins us...

Vaccines are arriving in California and doses will be administered at nursing homes soon through a government partnership with pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens, whose staffs will deliver vaccines to long term care facilities. Eric Dowdy, chief government affairs officer at Leading Age California, an organization representing mostly nonprofit senior care facilities, said the top priority for those...

The soon-to-be new owner of the San Francisco Examiner intends to grow the publication’s newsroom and expand its coverage, diversifying the perspectives in San Francisco’s news ecosystem. Clint Reilly, a retired political consultant with a real estate and hospitality business who also owns two local magazines, is purchasing the Examiner and SF Weekly after the two papers were under absentee owners...

While COVID-19 deaths have the potential for exponential growth due to the nature of a viral pandemic, they are dwarfed by the number of people who have died from drug overdoses in the city this year.

The latest pandemic order shutting down outdoor dining struck a devastating blow to restaurant owners and workers who have tried to adapt.

Read Nuala Bishari's story here . Listen to our episode about surveillance here . Find the conversation with Lauren Smiley about surveillance, package theft, and the new neighborhood watch here .

While the pandemic is changing the way people work and socialize and has resulted in economic downturn, acquiring land and building remain expensive, and the Bay Area has long fallen short of its housing goals. Sarah Karlinsky, senior adviser at the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, a public policy think tank better known as SPUR, has published reports indicating that...

Jamille Cabacungan, a nurse who works in an acute care unit at UCSF Medical Center that cares for COVID-19 patients, says while the availability of personal protective equipment like N-95 masks has improved, nurses are feeling overwhelmed and would be better able to provide care with a bigger staff. For patients, she says, the experience of being hospitalized with COVID-19 is one of isolation. Eve...

The San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has roughly doubled the number of people it serves since before the pandemic. For many, says Tina Gonzalez, director of community partnerships for the food bank, what they receive isn’t just supplemental to what they can afford on their own — they depend on it. The high need is likely to persist into the new year, and Gonzalez says the food bank will likely remain...

In 2005, a group of advocacy groups working on homelessness formed a coalition to collaborate across cities and states and advance national policy. They called it WRAP, the Western Regional Advocacy Project. Its director, Paul Boden, joined “Civic” to look back on 15 years of organizing and ensuring that people experiencing homelessness themselves inform research and policy.

In November, voters in Oakland approved Measure QQ, which gives 16- and 17-year-olds the right to vote in school board elections. Meanwhile, voters in San Francisco rejected Proposition G, which would have lowered the voting age for municipal elections to 16. Statewide, a measure to allow residents as young as 16 to vote in primaries also failed. Ixchel Arista, a 15-year-old organizer with Oakland...