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SF let shipyard cops work amid tons of toxic dirt, told them they were safe
As tons of toxic soil piled up around them, San Francisco assured the cops at Hunters Point shipyard they were safe. But the city never knew, and still doesn’t.
SF let shipyard cops work amid tons of toxic dirt, told them they were safe
As tons of toxic soil piled up around them, San Francisco assured the cops at Hunters Point shipyard they were safe. But the city never knew, and still doesn’t.
By Jason Fagone and Cynthia Dizikes
Lewis Fong didn’t know what was happening next to his office building in summer 2007, only that it involved a lot of dirt. -
Working in a wasteland: Amid a toxic landscape, SF found a...
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Dangerous Ground: More from the investigation
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Toxic: Listen to the podcast
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In search of a miracle: Mother hopes stem cells can heal her son
In search of a miracle: Mother hopes stem cells can heal her son
She’d tried everything to heal her son. Stem cells were the last hope for their family.
Replacing BART’s fake cameras with real ones paid off after...
Once criticized as a sham, BART’s cameras played a key role in identifying John Lee Cowell , the parolee who allegedly stabbed to death a young woman Sunday night on the MacArthur BART Station platform ...
Charlie Hallowell sells another Oakland restaurant, Penrose,...
A little more six months since stepping away from his restaurant company as dozens of employees accused him of sexual harassment , Charlie Hallowell has sold Penrose in Oakland (3311 Grand Ave.). ...
Millions sought to stem arrests at California foster care...
A California lawmaker is calling for $22.7 million in state funding to help prevent unwarranted arrests of abused and neglected children in the state’s residential foster-care facilities — a disturbing ...
Hunters Point shipyard soil scandal widens as analysis spots...
Land deemed free of harmful radioactivity and safe for the city to occupy has now come under question as the scandal over the purported cleanup of San Francisco’s biggest redevelopment site continues to ...
Breaking down San Francisco’s car break-in epidemic
How bad is the auto break-in problem in San Francisco? We mapped every incident in 2017.
Half the sports are gone at Oakland high schools and girls...
The Oakland school district abruptly eliminated half of its high school sports programs, and far more girls than boys were affected by the cuts. Students found out this week, just days ...
Battle over future of Glide comes down to money, control
The dispute that has pit Glide, the iconic San Francisco nonprofit, against its parent organization, the United Methodist Church, has been portrayed primarily as a fight over theology. The UMC has accused ...
Emergency at 911 call center: understaffing
Several months ago, he and his wife were watching television in their Noe Valley apartment when they heard their upstairs neighbor screaming. “I knew something was wrong, we both did,” recalled ...
A fashionable San Francisco charity’s ugly reality
San Francisco socialite Joy Venturini Bianchi has long been a striking presence among the city’s elite, soliciting donations and earning accolades from fashion icons, philanthropists and politicians for ...
Long-distance Uber, Lyft drivers’ crazy days
For Brittney Barber, getting ready for work means assembling several casseroles for her family, packing an overnight bag, and loading up her gray Honda Fit for the 3½-hour drive from her home in ...
SF short-term rentals transformed as Airbnb, others make peace...
Under the threat of huge penalties, Airbnb, HomeAway, FlipKey and others have jettisoned hosts who ignored the city’s registration requirement for short-term rentals. That’s dramatically revamped ...
Racial disparities in SF traffic searches raise concerns of bias
From the beginning of 2013 to December 2015, SFPD officers chose to search black and Latino drivers at much higher rates than whites or Asians after traffic stops.
A Retreat’s Risky Lessons
It’s just hours into Camp Diversity, a leadership retreat for high school students, but the warmth of the community circle, “Power of Hugs” exercise and hot chocolate is quickly fading.
Deportation chosen over Richmond jail; complaints probed
Dianny Patricia Menendez begged to be deported. In early October, the 38-year-old undocumented immigrant told immigration Judge Joseph Park in San Francisco that she could no longer ...
In Richmond, high number of homicides go unsolved
Gardner-Williams, a 20-year-old College of Marin student, was in the passenger seat of a friend’s car texting on her phone when a gunman pulled up and opened fire, spraying bullets into the road.
Hotels for the Homeless
Aging SRO hotels raise health, safety issues for housing homeless
The Chronicle’s probe found chronic maintenance issues, health code violations and frustrated residents at a handful of these city-funded SROs.
Low pay, high SF housing costs equal 1 homeless math teacher
Etoria Cheeks teaches math at a public high school in San Francisco, explaining algebra and statistics to teenagers. In a shocking indication of just how bad San Francisco’s teacher housing situation ...
With tuition heading up, state will audit UC president’s office
Spending at the University of California’s Oakland headquarters has nearly doubled in recent years, and official staff counts vary by nearly 500 people, depending on who’s doing the counting.
Investigation: UC Berkeley professor sexually harassed student
A renowned Middle East scholar and architecture professor spent months ingratiating himself with a graduate student before placing his hand on her upper thigh, proposing they become “close friends” and ...
UC harassment inquiry shows system’s shortcomings, faculty say
Faculty members at UC Berkeley have stepped forward to condemn the university’s handling of yet another campus sexual harassment case.
Critics question Cal’s probe into football coach’s actions
An inquiry that cleared UC Berkeley football coaches and trainers of employing abusive, punitive and medically reckless practice drills was conducted by two investigators with personal ties to Cal athletics ...
Wild parties, an alleged rape, and a school’s troubling...
A series of high school parties hosted by a parent culminated with accusations of rape, child abuse and battery, upending several students’ lives and prompting a federal civil rights investigation.
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In search of a miracle: Mother hopes stem cells can heal her son
In search of a miracle: Mother hopes stem cells can heal her son
She’d tried everything to heal her son. Stem cells were the last hope for their family.
Replacing BART’s fake cameras with real ones paid off after...
Once criticized as a sham, BART’s cameras played a key role in identifying John Lee Cowell , the parolee who allegedly stabbed to death a young woman Sunday night on the MacArthur BART Station platform ...
Charlie Hallowell sells another Oakland restaurant, Penrose,...
A little more six months since stepping away from his restaurant company as dozens of employees accused him of sexual harassment , Charlie Hallowell has sold Penrose in Oakland (3311 Grand Ave.). ...
Millions sought to stem arrests at California foster care...
A California lawmaker is calling for $22.7 million in state funding to help prevent unwarranted arrests of abused and neglected children in the state’s residential foster-care facilities — a disturbing ...
Hundreds of engines requested in firestorm’s first hours....
In the early hours of the most destructive firestorm in California history, officials in Napa and Sonoma counties knew their ...
PG&E; often diverts money for undergrounding power lines
As the North Bay rebuilds from October’s deadly wildfires, many residents would like to see more power lines buried underground, where raging windstorms can’t touch them. But Pacific Gas and ...
Disturbing deficiencies seen in California’s dam safety efforts
The state's reputation as a leader in dam safety was called into question when two spillways at the towering Oroville Dam began to crumble in the wake of heavy rains and snowmelt, forcing tens of ...