From SFGate

  • 49ers pull off NFL Draft shocker, take a wide receiver in first round

    After a ton of speculation about the San Francisco 49ers potentially trading up in the first round of the NFL Draft, or adding more first-round picks by trading away a star receiver, the Niners ended up staying and picking a wide receiver. The 49ers stunned most of the experts by selecting Ricky Pearsall, a wide receiver out of Florida, with the No. 31 pick. For most of Thursday, reports around the 49ers were centered around the team potentially trading wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who has...

  • California-based Kaiser to notify millions after possibly exposing user data to tech companies

    Kaiser Permanente, the Oakland-based health care conglomerate, is warning millions of customers that one of its divisions may have exposed their names, symptom searches and other data to major tech companies. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. disclosed the data breach to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 12. TechCrunch first reported the news. Kaiser told SFGATE in a statement on Thursday, “certain online technologies, previously installed on its websites and mobile...

  • SF doughnut shop employee severely hurt in hit-and-run on his way to work

    A baker at a popular San Francisco doughnut shop was severely injured in a hit-and-run crash early Sunday morning while on his way to work. Jesus Zamudio, a longtime employee at Bob’s Donuts, is in critical condition after being hit by a driver, a social media post from the business read. The San Francisco Police Department responded to a crash at Duboce Avenue and Guerrero Street just before 3 a.m., Paulina Henderson, a police spokesperson told SFGATE in a statement. When officers arrived, they...

  • Taylor Swift makes surprise trip to small Central Coast town

    Taylor Swift may sing about tortured poets but doesn’t seem to be living like one. In the wake of the record-breaking release of her new album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” America’s most famous woman visited the quaint Central Coast town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, which has a population of just over 3,000. According to People, she took a beachy couple’s vacation with her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and celebrity couple Bradley Cooper (recently of “Maestro” renown) and model Gigi...

  • Hamas video shows Bay Area-born hostage alive but with an amputated arm

    A video of Bay Area-born Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who has been held by Hamas as a hostage for more than six months, was released to the United States government on Monday, which in turn made contact with Goldberg-Polin’s family, according to CNN. Goldberg-Polin was abducted from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, as reported previously by SFGATE. He was born in Berkeley before moving to Israel when he was in elementary school. He is a citizen of Israel and the United States, the Los...

  • 49ers draft day live blog: Rumors and updates from the 2024 NFL Draft

    The NFL Draft is finally upon us, and for the first time in a few years, the 49ers actually have a first-round draft pick to use. The news of the day isn’t solely about whom the team will select among the incoming crop of prospects; plenty of buzz surrounds its active roster as well. Specifically, will the Niners finally decide what to do with 26-year-old receiver Brandon Aiyuk? The 49ers have yet to agree on an extension with the second-team All-Pro wideout, who is coming off a breakout season....

  • Unsanctioned signs installed along San Francisco's Wiggle bike route

    To stop cars from speeding on a popular bike route, a group of locals took matters into their own hands. Early on Tuesday morning, members of the road safety activist group Safe Street Rebel installed makeshift road signs and safety posts on Steiner Street, aimed at slowing down cars. The posts run along the centerline of Steiner between Waller and Duboce, alongside Duboce Park. “Yield to Peds & Bikes,” read the green signs, which look uncannily similar to official San Francisco Municipal...

  • Raiders pick Brock Bowers hails from the unlikeliest of places: Calif.'s Wine Country

    Since the start of 2021, Brock Bowers’ life has followed the standard operating procedure for one of the most talented football players in the country. He enrolled early at a university with a powerhouse program in Georgia, eventually starting for the Bulldogs, won a pair of national championships, solidified himself as the best tight end in college football, and is now projected to go in the first round of Thursday’s NFL Draft. This isn’t to say his life was trending in a radically different...

  • Tom Brady’s college tape was dogs—t

    Every year the NFL Draft comes around and everyone turns out to be wrong about it. The fans, the Kipers, the analytics guys, the coaches, the beloved online football tutors, the front office drones: None of them know dick. In fact, NFL teams themselves go out of their way to make poor decisions this time of year. They study all of the tape, conduct all of the workouts, and do background checks that include gut bacteria levels for every prospect. Then draft night hits and the owner is like A...

  • San Francisco's Portola Music Festival is set to return in 2024, despite noise concerns

    Anyone disappointed by the Outside Lands lineup can take solace that there’s another big music festival on the horizon for the fall: Portola. Thrown by Goldenvoice, organizers of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, alongside local event company Non Plus Ultra, the Portola Music Festival focuses on electronic music and DJs. Now in its third year, the event has proved to be a welcome addition to the city’s festival landscape, with bookings that appeal to an older crowd thanks to its age...

  • East Bay girl, 15, found dead in 'unknown person's driveway' in San Francisco

    East Bay teen Jazmin Pellegrini, 15, was found dead in San Francisco’s Oceanview neighborhood on Saturday, according to the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Jazmin’s family wants to know what led to her death. “It is with a sad heart that I write these lines to inform you that my beloved daughter, who was so dear to all of us, has unfortunately passed away,” Pellegrini’s mother, Marta Barany, wrote in an April 21 social media post. “She was 15 years old and left a huge void in...

  • San Francisco merchants lash out at plan to improve safety after West Portal deaths

    A San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency proposal to improve traffic safety at a West Portal intersection has sparked backlash from merchants in the area, highlighting longstanding tensions between safety and commercial interests in San Francisco’s streets. The move comes after a fatal crash at the intersection of Ulloa Street and West Portal Avenue in March, when a driver lost control of their vehicle and went onto the sidewalk. The car struck and killed a family of four, including two...