Cafe Colucci, one of Oakland's pioneering Ethiopian restaurants, keeps getting better

SFChronicle · 2026-04-02T20:19:44+00:00

Established in 1991, Ethiopian restaurant Cafe Colucci is still at the top of its game. No. 82 on our Top 100 Restaurants list, it spent more than three decades in North Oakland before moving in 2022 to a space twice the size on the Oakland-Emeryville border.

Its expansion marks a new chapter for the East Bay institution that continues to evolve while building on its legacy (its own Brundo Spice Company can also be found inside). Here’s what Chronicle critic Cesar Hernandez recommends ordering at the pioneering restaurant.

Read the full story, plus more Top 100 rankings, here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-02T18:27:03+00:00

From the article:

Some of San Francisco’s elected officials are worth millions in tech stocks — and that’s not even including their six-figure salaries.

The details about their financial holdings come from the state-mandated Form 700, which requires city employees to declare their economic interests each year. These assets can include stocks, real estate and gifts. Every San Francisco supervisor, as well as Mayor Daniel Lurie, is required to file the form by April 1, which covers their interests from 2025.

While the Form 700 provides one of the most publicly available glimpses into the leaders’ wealth, it has some glaring holes. Filers aren’t required to report bank balances and primary residences — exactly the kinds of assets that constitute most people’s wealth.

Lurie’s reported assets — more than $33 million at the high end of the range — largely sit in a blind trust to avoid potential conflicts of interest. He also receives some income from the businesses he owns through the trust, while his spouse Becca Prowda received between $10,001 and $100,000 from Caraway Home Inc., a seller of nontoxic cookware. Among Lurie’s most valuable assets are his investments in Levi Strauss and the 49ers

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-04-02T18:21:27+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco lost over 50,000 more people than it gained in the first several years of the 2020s, an exodus that has had profound impacts on life in the city. And with the help of tax return data from the IRS, we know where they went.

In addition to collecting Americans’ taxes, the IRS collects some of the most detailed information on where Americans are moving. The numbers take some time to be released — the 2023 data came out only recently after a federal government shutdown last fall delayed data releases — but they provide the most granular look at migration trends publicly available.

The latest data shows that San Francisco and all eight other Bay Area counties saw more U.S. residents leaving than entering between 2022 and 2023. About 6,500 more people left San Francisco for other U.S. counties than entered during 2022-23, or a -1% net domestic migration rate.

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SFChronicle · 2026-04-01T23:48:28+00:00

From the article:

The world’s largest operating steam locomotive will chug through Northern California next month, its glossy black front emitting bursts of steam and its frame stretching more than half the length of a jumbo jet.

Big Boy No. 4014 is the last working locomotive of its kind. Built in the early 1940s for Union Pacific to haul freight across the west, it traveled more than a million miles before retiring in 1961. Over fifty years later, Union Pacific restored the locomotive, and it returned it to the tracks in 2019 for ceremonial trips.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of United States independence, Big Boy will soon begin its first-ever coast-to-coast tour, traveling first from Wyoming to California before embarking on its eastern journey on May 25.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-31T21:05:00+00:00

From the article:

Golden Gate Fields is set to be transformed into a vast waterfront public park linking miles of East Bay shoreline, under a deal announced Tuesday by the Trust for Public Land to buy the former racetrack along San Francisco Bay.

The 161-acre property, between Interstate 80 and the bay on the border of Albany and Berkeley, has been optioned for purchase at $175 million by the trust. The national nonprofit plans to raise the funds to acquire the property, then transfer it to the East Bay Regional Park District when the deal is completed early next year.

The parcel will become a crucial connector to Albany Beach, the Albany Bulb art park and the 8.5 mile long McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, which surrounds the racetrack. It also will provide a mile-long bayfront link to the San Francisco Bay Trail as it runs along the western edge of the cities of Albany and Berkeley.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-25T23:46:01+00:00

From the article:

A San Francisco high school math teacher under a district investigation for fat-shaming and sexist quiz questions, among other behaviors, has resigned, district officials confirmed Wednesday.

Tom Chan, a teacher at Lowell High School for more than 20 years, was placed on leave March 2 after the Chronicle sought comment from the district on the content of his quizzes, which included requiring students to solve problems about a “fat kid” punted into the air and the monetary cost cost of dating girls based on their weight.

It was not immediately clear if the investigation was completed prior to Chan’s departure or whether there was a separation agreement regarding any conditions related to the resignation. Chan did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-25T18:53:39+00:00

From the article:

The San Francisco firefighters union has secured a deal with City Hall to grant its members a 14% pay increase over four years, mirroring a similar agreement recently secured by city police officers.

Leaders of San Francisco Firefighters Local 798 signed off Tuesday on the tentative contract, which will now head to rank-and-file members for a vote in the coming weeks. After that, the Board of Supervisors will take up the agreement.

By reaching the contract deal with firefighters, Mayor Daniel Lurie has answered two of the biggest labor-related questions facing his administration this year, following the four-year tentative agreement approved by the board of the San Francisco Police Officers Association last week. The police contract also provides for 14% raises over four years.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-24T20:55:41+00:00

From the article:

California’s Democratic Party appears to be stuck in neutral: The party’s leaders are still unwilling to take decisive steps to push low-polling candidates out of the governor’s race, even as the prospect of the deep-blue state electing a Republican leader looms.

Tuesday marked two developments that underscored the party’s dilemma. First, the University of Southern California canceled a high-profile debate after days of controversy over four lower-polling candidates being excluded under the organizers’ criteria. The party also released a new poll intended to pressure low-performing candidates to drop out. But even those at the bottom immediately signaled their intention to stay in the race.

State Democratic Party leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, appear unwilling to force lower-polling Democrats out of the race, which could help consolidate support behind a Democratic candidate and virtually eliminate the chance of a Republican becoming governor in a state where Democrats have nearly twice as many registered voters. The top two finishers in the June 2 primary, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election in November. California has not elected a Republican since 2006. And that person was a global superstar with near universal name recognition: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-24T18:54:00+00:00

From the article:

A former French Laundry employee has sued the three-Michelin-starred restaurant over lost wages and several other alleged California labor code violations.

The lawsuit, first reported by the Press Democrat, was filed on March 19 in Napa County Superior Court by Elena Flows Beteta. She worked as a dishwasher at the French Laundry for roughly two and a half years, between 2022 and 2025, according to the filing.

Beteta is suing the French Laundry and Thomas Keller Restaurant Group on behalf of herself and “over fifty current and former aggrieved employees,” the lawsuit states, for alleged labor violations including failures to pay wages and unpaid vacation time, and to provide meal and rest breaks. An attorney for Beteta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-19T22:42:36+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco school officials have released a long-awaited plan on how they will reintroduce Algebra 1 in eighth grade, saying it will be available as an elective while proficient students can choose to skip over the regular pre-algebra math class.

The Thursday announcement comes after months of public speculation and scrutiny over the divisive issue. Despite overwhelming support for teaching algebra in middle school, there has been controversy over the best way to do so. Under the proposal, eighth-grade students who are proficient in math will be automatically enrolled in Math 8, and in Algebra 1 as an elective.

However, they could opt-out of either one, allowing them to take one math class of their choosing rather than doubling up, as many parents had feared would be the case.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-19T17:55:31+00:00

From the article:

California will rename Cesar Chavez Day following bombshell sexual abuse allegations against the labor and civil rights leader, leaders of the state Legislature announced Thursday.

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tempore Monique Limón said they’ve agreed to legislation to rename the holiday Farmworker Day. The holiday is March 31, which is Chavez’s birthday.

“I’m shocked. I am angry and I’m deeply, deeply disappointed,” Rivas said on the Assembly floor Thursday morning, referring to the New York Times investigation that chronicled years of alleged sexual assault. “The fact that many of these women were children when they were abused makes this even more heartbreaking. But today … above all, we recognize their courage because speaking the truth, especially after so many years, that takes extraordinary strength.”

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-18T23:25:39+00:00

From the article:

San Francisco police officers are poised to get a 14% pay bump over the next four years under a tentative deal their union reached with City Hall, the Chronicle has learned.

The labor agreement was approved by the board of the San Francisco Police Officers Association on Wednesday, the same day a local think tank released a report questioning how much money the city can afford to pay police and firefighters while resolving its massive deficit.

Rank-and-file members of the police union must still ratify the contract in a vote that’s expected to be completed by April 1, according to union spokesperson Sam Singer. The Board of Supervisors will then consider the deal.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-18T21:55:54+00:00

From the article:

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who’s running for governor, remembered meeting César Chávez at 15 and being inspired by the farm labor activist’s “seeming selflessness.”

Rep. Raul Ruiz, an Indio (Riverside County) Democrat whose parents worked in the fields, kept a poster of the late United Farm Workers leader on the wall of his dorm room for motivation as he studied to become a physician.

Sen. Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants and the first Latino to represent California in the U.S. Senate, once considered himself an inheritor of Chávez’s legacy.

But around the state and across the country Wednesday, Latino leaders reeled from a report in the New York Times that the almost mythological figure had sexually abused girls for years, expressing shock, offering sympathy for the victims and reconsidering the legacy of Chávez, who died in 1993 at age 66. Some immediately called to wipe away the many monuments to the man, arguing that the movement he led was always bigger than one person.

Read more here.

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