Hyperlocal News + Stories Archives

Waymo Suspends Service in SF Amid Blackout, Driverless Cars Basically Give Up

20Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Waymo Suspends Service in SF Amid Blackout, Driverless Cars Basically Give Up

Oh, to be young, wild, and [a Waymo car lost and free in the night.] Waymo announced Saturday night that the Google-owned robotaxi company would suspend rides in San Francisco after riders reported vehicles causing traffic jams and … well, kinda just throwing their hands (wheels?) in the air. Power out in SF and the @Waymo’s are causing a MASSIVE jam in North Beach 🤣 pic.twitter.com/fuvhprlyma — Iago Maciel (@_iagomaciel) December 21, 2025 “We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,” wrote Suzanne Philion, a company spokesperson, a little after 7 p.m., reports Mission Local. “We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.” Waymos use an ...

PG&E Substation Fire Appears to Be Cause of San Francisco Power Outage

20Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

PG&E Substation Fire Appears to Be Cause of San Francisco Power Outage

A one-alarm fire at one of PG&E's key substations in San Francisco this morning looks like the cause of the blackout that's currently affecting over 125,000 SF residents. With tens of thousands of people still without power in San Francisco, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie, in tandem with SFMTA and SF Department of Emergency Management, has advised people to effectively shelter inside amid ongoing blackouts, only leaving their homes for necessary travel. The Mayor and City departments are encouraging residents to check in on one another in safe ways. Muni lines and traffic signals are impacted by the power outage. If you don’t need to travel tonight, please stay off the roads and stay inside. We will be expanding officer presence at intersections and corridors to ensure the safety of those ...

San Francisco Goes (Basically) Dark With Most Parts of City Blacked Out, Over 100,000 People Without Power

20Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis, News to Know

San Francisco Goes (Basically) Dark With Most Parts of City Blacked Out, Over 100,000 People Without Power

SF has suffered its largest power outage in over a decade, with tens of thousands of people still in the dark hours after PG&E blackouts began. San Francisco residents were thrown into the late 1800s on Saturday afternoon when blackouts began popping up across the city. PG&E, the utility with an essential monopoly on electricity in the SF Bay Area, first reported power outages shortly after 10 a.m. today, December 20th, with more zip codes going dark as the morning progressed. Update: We are working with first responders and city officials on an outage in San Francisco affecting approximately 130,000 customers. We will share more information as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/l4dwqxLa1b — Pacific Gas & Electric (@PGE4Me) December 21, 2025 By 4:45 p.m., an estima...

Gas Station Explosion Smokes SF Neighborhood, Nearby Businesses Closed

16Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know

Gas Station Explosion Smokes SF Neighborhood, Nearby Businesses Closed

Residents of San Francisco’s Mission District were treated to a scene right out of a Marvel movie when a Shell gas station basically blew up on Monday. Multiple media outlets began reporting on the blaze after firefighters were called to the intersection of 16th and Guerrero streets around 4 pm Monday; calls of a pressurized gas tank — the ones buried below feet of concrete in gas stations, responsible for containing gasoline — on fire were cited; it appears the gas tank caught fire during a construction project, which involved its removal. The blaze quickly swelled and engulfed much of the immediate and surrounding area in thick, black smoke. The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) was quick to extinguish the fire, taking only 10 minutes to snuff out the flames. (The department, ...

7 Earthquakes Rattle SF Bay Area, Many Striking on Hazardous Fault Line

15Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

7 Earthquakes Rattle SF Bay Area, Many Striking on Hazardous Fault Line

Sunday afternoon, residents of the San Francisco Bay Area checked to see if they had, in fact, felt the ground shake beneath them after three seismic events — which were later followed by another four smaller earthquakes later in the day. Earlier today, December 14th, a trifecta of earthquakes rattled neighborhoods near Santa Rosa, with some reporting noticeable shaking as far away as Vallejo. These three tremors were later followed by a pair of smaller earthquakes, each of which was registered in the same area as the former earthquakes. Good afternoon Northern California! Did you feel the magnitude 4.2 quake 4 miles west of Glen Ellen at 3:30 pm? The #ShakeAlert system was activated. See: https://t.co/wcWCyLrOUo @Cal_OES @CAGeoSurvey @USGS_Quakes pic.twitter.com/ecrJ5S5npI — USGS Sha...

Someone’s Organizing a Straight Pride Parade … in San Francisco

12Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Editors' Picks, Hyperlocal News + Stories, News to Know, Queerness

Someone’s Organizing a Straight Pride Parade … in San Francisco

In a world rife with toxic displays of hypermasculinity, what we really need is a parade celebrating the high divorce rates between biological men and women. SF is unquestionably the gay mecca of the world — a metropolitan at the nexus of queer political revolutions, cultural influence, and historical firsts. The City By the Bay has been home to more than one gayborhood, with The Castro now synonymous with queerness (and Harvey Milk). San Francisco, in tandem with New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, hosted the nation's first-ever Gay Liberation Prides in the 1970s; these early iterations of queer resistance would later become modern-day Gay Pride Parades, with San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade routinely the nation’s largest or second-largest. San Francisco Straight Parade A Straig...

Beloved SF Therapy Dog Peacefully Dies Next to Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge in Background

12Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Culture + Travel, Hyperlocal News + Stories

Beloved SF Therapy Dog Peacefully Dies Next to Ocean, Golden Gate Bridge in Background

Brixton, the golden retriever who won the hearts of countless San Franciscans over the past 12 years, passed away this Monday, next to his favorite human and wrapped in floral regalia. Amid ongoing (and worsening) health issues, Brixton made his final public appearance in San Francisco last week. An enormous crowd showed up to honor — say goodbye, shed cathartic tears, hug his fluff — the beloved doggo in Union Square on December 4th, where Brixton and his favorite human were inundated with tenderness. Brixton, who, after overcoming digestive issues and other ailments, was diagnosed with a terminal cancer diagnosis earlier this year, found himself at Crissy Field on Monday, the Golden Gate Bridge framed in the backdrop. And in the “blink of an eye,” Brixton, saddled with ...

Fog Phenomenon Causing SF Bay Area Cold Spell Helps Break Sacramento Airport Temperature Record

12Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

Fog Phenomenon Causing SF Bay Area Cold Spell Helps Break Sacramento Airport Temperature Record

People flying in and out of the Sacramento International Airport were shivering this past week ... and for good reason. Aerial pictures of the fog coverage enveloping the Central Valley are gorgeous, wallpaper-worthy even. The think, cloud-like blanket in the Central Valley, often referred to as the Tule Fog, has stuck around now for almost two weeks; should this Tule Fog sit for over 16 days, it will have broken an over 40-year record; 1985 was the last year on record when Tule Fog blanketed the Fresno and the Sacramento Valley for 16 and 17 consecutive days, respectively. Sacramento International Airport hasn’t risen above 46°F for more than 190 hours. The last time the Sacramento area experienced a full week of daily max temperatures this low was over 30 years ago. A seemingly e...

As San Francisco Freezes, This Coastal Town Enjoys Summer-Like Heat

12Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories, Nature + Climate Crisis

As San Francisco Freezes, This Coastal Town Enjoys Summer-Like Heat

Temperatures in Half Moon Bay are perfect for wearing tank tops and shorts — with some zipcodes likely to leave you mopping your brow. San Francisco has never been colder. Downtown temperatures broke record lows earlier this month, and citywide averages continue registering in the low-50s°F ; nightly drops into the low-40s°F are now something of an expected norm. We’re all paying Bay Area rent prices to see our breath condense in front of us … as if we were living in Seattle. OK, Half Moon Bay. pic.twitter.com/2s5TYfoHaH — NWS Bay Area 🌉 (@NWSBayArea) December 12, 2025 Relief from the cold doesn’t have an end in sight. (Meteorologists expect things to warm up around Christmas, but the Central Valley fog phenomenon, causing this unusually chilly weather, shows no sign of letting u...

Tap-to-Pay and ‘Grace Period’ Now Live on SF Bay Area Public Transit

12Dec

By Matt CharnockNo Comments

Hyperlocal News + Stories

Tap-to-Pay and ‘Grace Period’ Now Live on SF Bay Area Public Transit

Clipper 2.0 is estimated to save regular riders who commute daily on SF Muni and BART thousands each year. Clipper 2.0, the long-awaited update to the ubiquitous rideshare payment system and method, went live in the SF Bay Area yesterday — bringing a host of modernized conveniences. First and foremost, riders will no longer need a dedicated Clipper Card to authorize payment through. Clipper 2.0 brings with it Tap-to-Pay, allowing riders to pay with, in addition to Clipper Cards, authorized debit and credit cards, whether in physical forms or inside digital wallets. Discounted rates for seniors and children, increased speed of transaction, and discounted transfer rates — San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) will still honor its 90-minute free transfer period, and will a...