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Soleil Ho

Kids are dying on Palo Alto train tracks. The city might have 35% of a new design by 2027

In typical California fashion, Palo Alto remains locked in a cycle of studies, surveys,...

From 2008 through 2020, a Caltrain train struck or nearly struck a pedestrian or vehicle 25 times at Palo Alto’s four grade-crossings, resulting in eight fatalities.

With so many physically disabled people living on S.F. streets, what happens to wheelchairs during sweeps?

In downtown San Francisco, it’s impossible not to notice the sheer number of seemingly...

Police officer Sgt. Kevin Cuadro talks with a man in a wheelchair on Sixth Street in San Francisco. A city survey of homeless people found that 49% have a “disabling condition” and 29% have a physical disability.

What the humble Italian bidet can teach California about housing and human dignity

In Italy, the bidet has been a fixture of homes since 1975, when the government updated...

A typical European guest room bathroom includes a toilet and a bidet. In Italy, homes are mandated to have at least one bidet.

Dear Gavin: The right will never love you, so stop messing with trans people

The California governor’s capitulation to the right on a recent podcast appearance was...

Gov. Gavin Newsom greets President Donald Trump at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 24. Newsom seems to be embracing some of the president’s views on transgender people

One of S.F.’s most famous chefs just abandoned Union Square. Now what?

San Francisco gave the “sure bet” Tyler Florence a try at Union Square. Maybe it’s...

Chef Tyler Florence puts on a show at the BottleRock Napa Valley Festival. He abandoned his Union Square cafe spaces that San Francisco offered him “on a silver platter.”

I’m cynical about identity-based ‘history months.’ But recent federal bans hit me hard

These temporal, identity-based buckets always felt impossibly shallow. So why am I so...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to reporters at the White House with President Donald Trump on Jan. 30. The next day, Hegseth announced that “Identity Months Dead at DoD.”

One of the Bay Area’s most progressive nonprofits is warring with itself

Here’s what Anti Police-Terror Project executive director Cat Brooks has to say about...

Anti Police-Terror Project Executive Director Cat Brooks and some members of her staff are in a dispute over unionization efforts at the nonprofit organization.

It took a Berkeley woman 14 months to get a new wheelchair. She isn’t the only one facing extreme delays

Insurance coverage issues and industry consolidation are working against the 2 million...

Rosemary McDonnell-Horita’s insurance wouldn’t pay to replace her wheelchair with the same model she had been using for 10 years.

The gratuitous witnessing of mass devastation can make us numb. For Big Oil, that’s the hope

This isn’t just climate change, but a chain of climate collapses that we are witnessing...

The Eaton Fire burns through Altadena in Los Angeles County on Wednesday. Intense wildfires and extreme weather are too common these days.

Is this the next MAGA hat? Transphobic apparel is the new hotness

Multiple clothing brands are profiting from anti-trans outrage.

From left in background: Daniel Silvas, community leader, Lexit director of Riverside County; Ryan Starling, father of Taylor, a junior at Martin Luther King High School, plaintiff in lawsuits regarding a transgender athlete; Julianne Fleischer, legal counsel; and Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, listen to Robert Tyler, center, president and general counsel of Advocates for Faith & Freedom, speak at a news conference “about the preferential treatment biological boys are receiving” and calling for the resignation of Riverside Unified Superintendent Renee Hill and brought it up during community comments discussing the issue of transgender athletes competing in girls high school sports at the Riverside Unified School District meeting on Dec. 19, 2024.

Oakland corner stores are transforming into fresh food hubs. Here’s how

Food deserts are places where liquor stores outnumber grocery stores. But one Oakland...

Alonzo and Lanette shop for produce at Jalisco Market in Oakland on Dec. 18.

There’s a new kind of Bay Area supercommuter: Pet owners who need a vet

I drove an hour outside of the Bay Area to save $1,500 on a veterinarian bill. Why is it...

Veterinarian Gwen Gadd treats a chihuahua at the East Bay SPCA in Oakland. Americans spent more than $100 billion on pet care, food and toys in 2021.

Someone is buying up a historic coastal city. Is it the next California Forever?

The quaint seaside city is being systemically gobbled up by a series of limited liability...

Point Arena is an intimate place — just 1.4 square miles — near the Mendocino County coast, where everyone knows each other.

This bizarre movie about beavers is a clarion call for human creativity in the age of AI

Why do we create anything ourselves, when a machine could do it faster? Watch this...

“Hundreds of Beavers” pulls inspiration from Looney Toons, Hong Kong-style kung fu flicks, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton’s oeuvre and Super Mario Bros.

Black plastic takeout boxes are a staple of the Bay Area food scene. Can we actually get rid of them?

Our desire for cheap, convenient food that doesn’t give us cancer might not be...

Thanksgiving meals at Lady Shaw Senior Center in San Francisco are served in black plastic dishware. Many black plastic products contain toxic chemicals from electronics waste.

Let Trump’s victory end liberal America’s naivete

Turns out you can’t win on vibes alone.

Supporters attend an election night watch party for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Wednesday morning in West Palm Beach, Fla.

A pro-Harris ad reminds women that their votes are secret — and right-wing media is furious

Do men own their wives’ votes? Threats to revoke women’s suffrage reveal the misogyny...

A woman votes on Election Day at Fire Station No. 4 in Berkeley in 2016.

Sonoma’s ‘factory farm’ ban is flawed. But it could start an important conversation on how we treat animals

Sonoma County voters will decide on Measure J, which would ban concentrated animal...

An employee works the egg processing machine at Sunrise Farms in Petaluma on Aug. 22. The farm is one of a group that is at risk of shutting down if Measure J, which would ban factory farming in Sonoma County, passes on Tuesday.

Mayoral candidate Aaron Peskin is campaigning with food. Are his recipes any good?

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin is following a long tradition of...

San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin cooks the recipe Strange Flavor Eggplant at his home in San Francisco on Sunday. Peskin, who is running for mayor, has been making cooking videos, filmed by his wife, Nancy Shanahan, and posting them to Instagram.

Will Prop 36’s tough-on-crime approach really improve safety for AAPI community?

Asian American and Pacific Islander community organizers are fighting to correct myths...

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey joins a rally in March protesting the sentencing of Daniel Cauich to probation for stabbing 94-year-old Ahn Peng Taylor. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are being courted to support tough-on-crime politicians and causes.

Project 2025’s climate change denialism will literally doom the planet

The right-wing political playbook makes a Trump re-election a global existential threat.

Tanner Flynn stands in shallow water near crashing waves as Hurricane Helene passes offshore on Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Were “Project 2025” alreadt in effect, Helene might have caught Floridians by surprise.

They were honored by the Obamas. Now, insiders say one of the Bay Area’s most famous nonprofits is in ‘pure chaos’

Current and former staff say that legendary chef Alice Waters’ nonprofit organization...

A garden volunteer hauls compost to the bins at the Edible Schoolyard Community Farm in Stockton on July 12.

Gay rodeos in this small North Bay town are more than pink hats and pants-less chaps

Much like the concept of queerness itself, the persistence of the gay rodeo undermines the...

David Lawson competes in the barrel race at the Best Buck in the Bay Rodeo & Festival in Duncan Mills on Sunday.

Maybe being a childless dog owner is selfish. But is it really destroying America?

Let the people who feel called to have children fulfill their potential as incredible...

Honey relaxes at home. One thing Soleil Ho didn’t anticipate about having a dog was how canine chauvinism constantly threatens to take over your brain.

Why did a major S.F. tech conference just host a panel about making more babies?

Conservative entities like the Heritage Foundation, a chief sponsor of the event, are...

A sparse audience listens to a panel on fertility at the Reboot 2024: The New Reality tech conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

‘Joy’ is the centerpiece of Harris’ campaign. But we need substance with our sugar, too

It’s about time we ask ourselves what the “president of joy” is actually going to...

Jane Williams, from South Fulton, Ga., cheers during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 20.

How San Francisco’s bureaucracy is condemning its night markets to mediocre food

Despite the hype and good vibes surrounding the official night markets in San Francisco,...

A crowd gathers for the Chinatown Night Market in April. San Francisco’s night markets are well-attended but fees and paperwork make it harder for vendors to serve hot food or make money.

I took a trip to Trump country. It was more bleak than I could have imagined

Walk around this rural county fair and you’ll see that MAGA comes off like an...

A bull runs amok at Boone County Fair rodeo in Belvidere, Ill., on Aug. 9

Gender policing at the Olympics should worry everyone

The question of who gets to be a woman is a weapon of right-wing extremists.

Imane Khelif of Algeria celebrates her victory against Anna Luca Hamori of Hungary in a women's 66kg quarterfinal Olympics bout Friday in Paris.

Why ‘weird’ is working wonders for the Democrats

MAGA ideology is freakish and Democrats shouldn’t be shy about saying it.

Former San Pablo Mayor Rich Kinney, center, leads a group singing “God Bless America” in June during a rally in support of Donald Trump before a campaign fundraiser in San Francisco. MAGA’s definition of normal seems to be fading.

I asked six S.F. restaurants to justify their service fees. Most didn’t even want to talk

Some service fees are vague — what’s a “safety” fee? — while some are high....

After restaurant service fees were fully legalized earlier this month, Flea Street Cafe owner Jesse Cool sent customers an email with a breakdown of where the Menlo Park restaurant’s charge goes.

Can your phone make you a better person? I downloaded dozens of apps to find out

From weight loss to hydration and mental health to astrology, my phone promised me the...

Soleil Ho is on a months-long journey toward better living through the wide world of self-help apps.

The real reason you should be pissed about California restaurant surcharges

The most insulting part of California’s service fee law? Our leaders don’t think...

The receipt with a 6% SF Mandates surcharge at the Cavalier on Sept. 21, 2018, in San Francisco.

‘It’s terrorism’: A NIMBY battle is tearing apart this quaint Bay Area town

The fight to preserve the magic of the small town of Port Costa might just destroy it.

Opponents of the Field Semester project in Port Costa post a sign outside a downtown residence.

America has loads of Italian restaurants. But here’s what Italy has that we’re still missing

Put aside thoughts of Neapolitan pizza and handmade pasta, and there’s one Italian...

An Aperol spritz from Marcella’s Lasagneria in San Francisco would be a good drink for apertivo. Too bad we don’t do it in the U.S.

There’s a right way to cancel a restaurant reservation — and a very wrong way

The work of serving you a meal at a restaurant starts long before you sit down. Here’s...

Co-owner Laura Ozyilmaz works in the kitchen at Dalida. The restaurant has about 10 no-shows a night, which wastes staff time and resources.

I love San Francisco but had to leave. Why? The same reason most people do

A part of me feels like I punked out on a city that needs enthusiasm right now. But...

The Painted Ladies serve as a foreground to the San Francisco skyline, a view of the city that never gets old.

Even the gardening world is now ensnared in San Francisco’s culture war over homelessness

Metal tubs and halved wine barrels full of rocks and dead plants don’t do anything to...

A metal planter is placed on Harrison Street in San Francisco’s Mission District. A group of residents raised more than $25,000 last year to install 31 planters to deter a homeless encampment.

Having trouble making friends in the Bay Area? This ‘cult’ wants to help

Our society is at an especially brittle moment in human relationship-building. Friend Cult...

Friend Cult, an organization based in Oakland, hopes to quench the hangout drought by hosting weekly dinners in Jack London Square.

This S.F. restaurant has thrived for years without tips or surcharges. Here’s how they do it

Amid industry-wide teeth gnashing over California ban on service charges, Soleil Ho looks...

Owner Megan Cornelius stands for a portrait at Zazie on Thursday in San Francisco. Zazie has a tip- and service charge-free payment structure.

Obituaries for normal people matter, too. Here’s how I learned to write one

Many obits of our loved ones read like resumes or snippets of the phone book. When a...

Grave markers, like those at Golden Hill Memorial Park in Colma, aren’t known for their descriptiveness. It’s the obituary that gets the true last word — the enduring testament to everything people think matters about you.

California’s fast food workers have new protections but most have no idea of their rights

A $20 minimum wage won’t have the impact it should if workers have no clue about their...

Fast food workers in San Jose demonstrate in favor of an ordinance mandating that employers provide annual “know your rights” training.

Why the entire country is still talking about a UC Berkeley professor’s toxic dating advice

On the surface, a UC Berkeley professor’s remarks might seem merely tacky, but his...

UC Berkeley computer science professor Jonathan Shewchuk ignited a nationwide controversy after advising a student to “get out of the Bay Area” if he wanted to find a girlfriend.

Invasive bullfrogs may get banned in California after killing off 100 species. The state is bracing for outrage

Do people eat frogs for cultural identity reasons or because they like it? California is...

photo sfc021224bullfrogs0229_web.jpg from article titled "Invasive bullfrogs may get banned in California after killing off 100 species. The state is bracing for outrage"

Restaurant ‘service fees’ are aggravating diners all over the Bay Area. Help could be on the way

The world of restaurant service charges is one of total anarchy and it’s causing...

A receipt from the Flea Street Cafe in Menlo Park explains how the service charge will be shared with the staff. In most places, restaurants do not have to give money from service charges to workers.

While S.F.’s Union Square struggles, a ‘rat hole’ in Chicago is drawing tourists from around the world

Macy’s is closing in San Francisco while a Chicago “rat hole” is drawing tourists...

Visitors to Chicago’s rat hole put coins and a vape cartridge into it. The hole has existed for decades and is one of 2024’s first cultural phenomena after a tweet about it went viral in January.

The bullying and death of an Oklahoma nonbinary student just showed us who really isn’t safe in school

Under extremist right-wing leadership, LGBT students in Oklahoma are facing myriad...

Nex Benedict died the day after being attacked and beaten in a high school bathroom in Owasso, Okla.

What would happen if government took over the gig economy?

Labor activists say gig work is unjust; disability advocates say services such as...

Instacart shopper Courtney Fox stands in the checkout line at a Safeway in Palo Alto with groceries for three separate orders.

Want to help farmworkers a year after the Half Moon Bay massacre? Feed them

A year after the Half Moon Bay shootings revealed the destitute conditions of California...

A worker harvests Brussels sprouts at a farm in Half Moon Bay. A year ago, a mass shooting rocked the community and exposed the poor living conditions of farmworkers.

The end of San Francisco’s parklet era is upon us

As pandemic-era permissiveness recedes, cities continue to crack down on parklets despite...

Restaurant and bar owners trying to adhere to new permitting rules for parklets are living a bureaucratic nightmare.

This celebrated restaurant is barely making it. Here’s why S.F. has made it so hard just to stay open

You’ve likely heard that San Francisco makes running a restaurant close to impossible....

A plethora of factors, including red tape, high commercial rent costs, and the emptying-out of the middle class have made San Francisco’s restaurant scene incredibly risky.

Why San Francisco’s Israel cease-fire resolution matters

A cease-fire resolution won’t end the war overnight, but it sends a key message to the...

Hundreds of people march in protest for a “Free Palestine" in downtown San Francisco on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. Organizers called for a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Chino Yang rapped about the frustrations of being ignored, and we’re doing it again

What a Chinese American rapper’s diss track says — and can’t say — about race and...

A screenshot from rapper Andy “Chino” Yang’s video for his track, “San Francisco Our Home,” which has been denounced by some local leaders as divisive and disrespectful of Mayor London Breed.

2023 was a hell of a decade

Here are 2023’s highest highs and lowest lows. Which is which is up to interpretation.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators wait in line to comment during Board of Supervisors’ meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday, December 5, 2023.

What the dullest billboard in S.F. tells us about the future of the Bay Area

There’s a sea of tech advertising gobbledygook on the Bay Area’s buses, transit stops...

Design agency Collins created Intercom’s simple billboards as a thought experiment on clarity and sincerity.

Is the Castro still an LGBTQ safe haven?

Homelessness in America has a uniquely LGBTQ component. San Francisco doesn’t treat that...

Derelle Foster works at the offices of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco. In a lawsuit, the group alleges that the city violates state and federal laws, its own policies and the rights of the unhoused in homeless encampment sweeps.

84% of Americans are worried about the economy. So why do we keep buying things?

Despite worries, experts say the American economy is doing great. But it doesn’t feel...

Black Friday shoppers enter Macy’s on Union Square in San Francisco on Nov. 24. Retail experts foresee decent sales growth for luxury goods, toys and tech during the holiday season.

They thought they were painting murals to boost S.F. civic pride. Were they used as political pawns?

11 muralists were enlisted to help change the narrative about San Francisco. Things...

Messy Beck’s mural for the “It All Starts Here” campaign is put on display in October during a Community Mural Day at the Crossing at East Cut in San Francisco.

My weird, secret hobby is officiating weddings. Here’s why I do it

I’ve married six couples since I became a Universal Life Church minister. That’s not...

Pastor Darrell Ross prepares to officiate a wedding at the Martinelli Event Center in Livermore.

Michael Shellenberger is one of the most influential writers in S.F. Here’s what he says about trans people

The “San Fransicko” author’s appearance at a major anti-trans conference should...

Michael Shellenberger was the keynote speaker at a recent conference by Genspect, an Ireland-based organization that aims to “counter the pervasive influence of gender ideology in Western culture.”

He escaped martial law in the Philippines. Now, APEC has brought the past to his doorstep

Filipino San Franciscans are bracing for APEC’s fallout in more ways than one.

The SoMa Pilipinas Cultural District encompasses an area that is a hub for San Francisco’s Filipino American community

S.F. created a fund to revitalize empty storefronts. So far, it’s all gone to one Food Network chef

Should the city have given a wealthy celebrity chef a quarter of its $2 million fund for...

Shoppers walk past empty storefronts along Powell Street near Union Square in San Francisco. In May, the city put aside $2 million to seed up to 10 new retail tenants on Powell Street.

APEC in S.F. will be epic? Some SoMa business owners say the summit will destroy them

Struggling SoMa businesses will suffer from street closures and an impromptu police state...

A bus shelter ad extols the virtues of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference that San Francisco is hosting in November.

SFMOMA is set to have a blockbuster show. But what about the artist’s racist writings?

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, one of the world’s most prominent creators, also produced...

Artist Yayoi Kusama, the subject of the exhibition “Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oct. 14.

I spent a week in a Japanese ‘America Town.’ Here’s what it taught me about myself

I went to Japan hoping for a mental vacation, but I didn’t quite expect to think about...

Amerikamura (American Village) in Osaka, Japan, is known for its recreations of American-style fashion stores, restaurants and nightclubs.

On Dianne Feinstein, Laphonza Butler, and California Democrats’ toothless girlboss identity politics

The late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s final arc demonstrates how elites’ half-hearted and...

Sofia Sunseri, from left, 6; Everly Sunseri, 14 months; and Brooklyn Leauvano, 7, stand next to a bust of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein as they attend the Knowlton wedding at City Hall on Friday in San Francisco City Hall.

Robots aren’t really going to take our jobs. They’re going to do something much worse

Los Angeles Times columnist Brian Merchant talks about his new book, which connects the...

Jamie Gerkowski places hot meals on a delivery robot at the San Francisco Towers retirement community in February. New technology is raising questions about automation and labor.

One of San Francisco’s most famous chefs serves lab-grown chicken. Here’s how it tastes

Is meat grown in a factory good enough to replace animal flesh and potentially solve a...

Lab-grown chicken with recado negro tempura is served amid vapors of dry ice at Bar Crenn in San Francisco.

Inside the New York Times’ trans coverage: ‘I wonder if people at the top fully believe in trans people’s humanity’

Insiders say the Gray Lady is “too excited to question whether or not it’s OK to be...

Members of El/La Para TransLatinas walk in the 2022 San Francisco Trans March. Critics say the New York Times’ coverage of trans issues mirrors right-wing talking points.

That wasn’t a GOP debate, it was an audition to be Trump’s toady

The GOP didn’t hold a debate Wednesday night. It held a vice presidential audition.

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by Fox News at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday in Milwaukee.

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