Government & Politics

Legal Battle for National Ruling Continues in Student Visa Case Despite Sudden Reinstatements

04.25.2025
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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. The judge granted a temporary status restoration to all of the plaintiffs named in the case, but did not make a national order. The next hearing is set for mid-May. The hearing was set to consider a case that had been consolidated with eight related lawsuits filed on behalf of more than 50 students and recent graduates. Roughly one-third of the plaintiffs had their status restored shortly before the hearing. A government attorney confirmed the change, saying that the department is working on a new system for the termination of status for international students and that their status will be reactivated until the process is complete.

Government & Politics
A man wearing a brown shirt, blue jeans, sunglasses and a light-colored baseball cap, stands among protesters on the landscaped median of an urban street, between two bus-rapid-transit lanes painted red, holding a cardboard sign that reads "DOGE STOLE MY JOB!"

Opposite of Efficiency

04.25.2025
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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.

“Civic” Podcast
Three people in San Francisco Sheriff's DEpartment uniforms speak with a person sitting on a city sidewalk slumped against a building.

Visible Progress or Political Theater? Factions Disagree on How to Clean Up Street Conditions

04.25.2025
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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.

Climate Change

Scientist Who Helped Prove Humans Changed the Climate Watches Evidence Being Erased

04.23.2025
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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.

Economy & Business

Tech to Table: Second-Generation Business Owners Take Over Chinatown Restaurants

04.21.2025
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Chelsea Hung wasted no time in making a life-changing decision: In her late 20s, she left her tech job in New York City, and headed back to San Francisco’s Chinatown to take over her parents’ restaurant, all within a month. 

Hung’s parents were planning to sell the restaurant, R&G Lounge. Her motivation was simple: She didn’t want to see the place where she grew up and celebrated so many milestones close its doors. 

After moving back in 2018, she kept the business running and in March, R&G Lounge celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Education

Organizers Mobilize Nationally as SF Student, Grads Lose Visas in Spate of Revocations

04.18.2025
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The visas of a student and four recent graduates of San Francisco State University have been terminated, according to a university statement. The revocations are the latest in a spate of visa cancellations by the Trump administration, which has targeted permanent residents and visa holders in retaliation against their involvement in political organizing and demonstrations. There is no indication that the San Francisco State students were involved in any activism. San Francisco State is in contact with the graduates, who held F-1 visas, and has made them aware of free legal resources, wrote media liaison Kent Bravo in an email. The university is not aware of any immigration enforcement actions against the affected individuals, Bravo said. 

It’s unclear to what extent students and recent graduates at other San Francisco universities have been affected.

Transportation
Several large black SUVs park in line along an urban street.

Uber Submitted False Information to Regulators, Used Substandard Limousines, Agency Rules

04.18.2025
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Uber must pay a $50,000 fine for submitting false information to state regulators about numerous substandard rides it provided on its Uber Black luxury limousine service, violating a fundamental rule that officials said caused “harm to the regulatory process.”

In the previously unreported final decision, the California Public Utilities Commission found that San Francisco-based Uber had lax review procedures and failed to detect obviously falsified limousine licenses presented to it by independent limousine companies that Uber had subcontracted to give rides on Uber Black.

Technology

California Creatives Rally Behind State AI Rules to Save Their Artwork

04.11.2025
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Many creative professionals — including visual artists, writers, actors, singers and musicians — are concerned that companies are feeding existing creative work into data troves and applying generative AI to produce content based on their original work without giving credit or compensation. Creative professionals say their work is being used and monetized without their permission.