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This Caregiver Is an Immigrant and Disabled Advocate. Under Trump, Her Future Is Uncertain.

Elisa is a longtime caregiver for older adults and people with disabilities. Like many caregivers, she was born abroad, and her story is one of many examples of how the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant attacks are on a collision course with a nationwide staffing crisis in the care economy. Programs that support older adults and those with disabilities face cuts, and those populations increasingly rely on people like Elisa — who, as a disabled immigrant worker, is more and more vulnerable to exploitation by employers.
Racial Disparities in Toxic Cleanup Times Especially Pronounced in SF, Data Shows

Toxic site cleanups take longer in parts of San Francisco where fewer residents are white, a new data analysis from the San Francisco Public Press shows. The analysis also shows that a higher proportion of residents who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color in an area correlates directly with longer cleanup durations. Across all sites in San Francisco, cleanups took more than four years longer in areas with high proportions of BIPOC residents than in majority white areas. The size, complexity and nature of toxic sites varies and could account for some differences but further analysis shows that these disparities hold when comparing sites of similar complexity and size.
May Day Rallies in SF Draw Thousands to Protest Trump Administration Policies

Thousands of people turned out for a protest rally at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza and other locations on May 1 — also known as May Day and International Workers’ Day — to express outrage against Trump administration policies targeting immigrants, federal workers, labor unions, the social safety net, environmental policy, education and free speech. The rallies on Thursday in San Francisco were among more than 1,000 demonstrations staged nationwide that coordinated with the grassroots 50501 movement, which billed the protests as a fight against a “billionaire takeover.”
Eviction Rates in SF Soar as Legal Aid Faces Deep Funding Cuts

San Francisco is experiencing a surge in eviction court filings that has taken even the most seasoned eviction defense lawyers by surprise. In February, 365 eviction lawsuits were filed — up 57% from a year earlier — and March had 303 filings, bringing the total for this year to 929. At this pace, San Francisco is on track to seeing more than 3,700 eviction lawsuits this year, versus 2,923 cases filed in 2024, according to the Tenant Right to Counsel, which was established in 2018, when San Francisco passed the “No Eviction Without Representation Act,” requiring the city to fund legal representation for residents facing eviction.
Legal Battle for National Ruling Continues in Student Visa Case Despite Sudden Reinstatements

Just a day before a key hearing in which a United States District judge in Oakland could have decided the fates of hundreds of students nationwide whose visas had been terminated, students, attorneys and universities across the country began reporting unexpected reinstatements of their status — even for individuals who had not filed a lawsuit. […]
Opposite of Efficiency

A team of 20 people from the U.S. Digital Service had been providing project oversight and design expertise to modernize the CDC’s National Electronic Disease Surveillance System Base System to ensure it would flexibly meet the diverse needs of public health departments nationwide. When DOGE laid off 19 of those federal employees. it stripped away the expertise and accountability needed to ensure the project would be successfully completed by federal software contractors — in effect promoting government waste and inefficiency instead of reducing or eliminating it.
Visible Progress or Political Theater? Factions Disagree on How to Clean Up Street Conditions

In February, the San Francisco Police Department converted a Sixth Street parking lot in South of Market to what it called a triage center — a fenced-off area where police could connect people to social services or put them in a van bound for jail. According to a city staff report, in the first month of the triage center’s operation, police made 350 arrests, three-quarters of them drug related. Triage personnel connected 275 people to shelter and 408 people to health care. Advocates for people struggling with homelessness or substance use disorder say the city’s approach is unnecessarily punitive, but some business owners and community members say they approve of what the mayor and Police Department are doing.
Scientist Who Helped Prove Humans Changed the Climate Watches Evidence Being Erased

The data sources that trace humanity’s effect on the climate are under threat. Under the Trump administration, publication of scientific reports is being frozen and some records risk being removed from public access. The National Centers for Environmental Information, which houses critical archives, has significantly reduced its staff. The White House has also moved to terminate a key contract with the firm responsible for producing the National Climate Assessment, casting doubt on the completion of the next scheduled report. Computer models and observational records climate scientist Ben Santer helped build are in the crosshairs.

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