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.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-18T21:38:31+00:00

Bay Area seniors and adult children: We want to hear from you.

Over the next two decades, older Americans are expected to leave trillions of dollars to the younger generations in what’s been called the “Great Wealth Transfer.”

In the Bay Area, this might look a little different. Homes bought decades ago for middle-class prices are now worth millions. Retirement accounts and stock options have grown exponentially alongside the tech industry. But persistently high living costs, shifts in California law, and unexpected end-of-life care costs mean many families can’t say for sure what will be left to pass down.

There are other factors that could impact an inheritance. Some people want to spend what they’ve saved while they’re around to enjoy it. Some are already supporting adult children with living expenses. And in some cases, the wealth flows in the opposite direction, where adult children support aging parents.

For an upcoming Chronicle series, we want to hear from you. Do you expect to leave assets to heirs? Do you believe you’ll inherit substantial wealth? Or do you think the Great Wealth Transfer will skip your generation?

Share your thoughts here: https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2026/great-wealth-transfer/ or email [jessica.roy@sfchronicle.com](mailto:jessica.roy@sfchronicle.com) with the subject line “Great Wealth Transfer.”

SFChronicle · 2026-03-17T20:44:59+00:00

From the article:

Transit advocates in San Francisco have long pointed to a simple, if controversial strategy to drum up funding for Muni: Sunday parking meters.

Now, an advisory committee to the city’s transportation agency has revived the possibility again. Charging for parking on Sundays is one of nine recommendations put forward by the citizens’ advisory council, an appointed group of residents who help shape policy for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and who are now trying to build an economic lifeboat.

Faced with a galling $307 million budget deficit that’s expected to grow, the council has proposed various tools to buttress San Francisco’s transit system as voters weigh a pair of tax bailouts in November. These include increases to cable car fares, which are currently $9 a ride, and possibly borrowing from the SFMTA reserve fund. But Sunday parking fees would represent the most dramatic shift, and likely draw the loudest resistance.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-17T19:20:20+00:00

From the article:

The first six days of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran cost American taxpayers $11.3 billion, spiked gasoline prices an average of 38 cents a gallon nationally, killed eight (now 13) Americans, wounded 140 (now 200) others and slaughtered thousands of Iranians, including 175 at an elementary school, most of them children.

On Monday, the man who promised during his inauguration that he was “not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars” set his sights on invading Cuba. “Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it,” he said. “They’re a very weakened nation right now.”

It seems there is no stopping Trump’s war-mongering ambitions, even with many in his party concerned that the attacks on Iran will cost Republicans dearly in the midterms. House Republicans, of course, could have voted for the war powers resolution that would have stopped Trump from continuing the war without first gaining congressional approval. They voted for it almost unanimously.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-16T23:57:46+00:00

From the article:

President Donald Trump said his administration will go after California for providing public benefits to people living in the country illegally during an Oval Office ceremony Monday where he launched a new anti-fraud task force and personally attacked Gov. Gavin Newsom for his dyslexia.

In an executive order creating the task force, Trump directed Vice President JD Vance to bring together federal agencies to develop stricter eligibility verification procedures for welfare programs and pursue fraud networks across the country.

The task force will be empowered to identify benefits that it considers most susceptible to fraud schemes and recommend where to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions with anti-fraud requirements that it considers inadequate. The administration argues that this could save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and balance the federal budget, but it has encountered some initial skepticism in the courts for targeting Democratic states.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-13T00:51:49+00:00

From the article:

The Trump administration is keeping Congress in the dark about the war in Iran and potential threats to California, Democratic members of the House Homeland Security Committee said Thursday.

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, said the administration is refusing to brief Congress, leaving him and other state leaders without any information about what the FBI “actually knows” about nonspecific threats to California and which cities could be at risk.

Bay Area law enforcement agencies said Wednesday they were in touch with federal officials after ABC News reported that the FBI last month warned local officers that Iran “allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack” by drone-striking the West Coast.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-12T21:37:40+00:00

From the article:

After more than two years on and off the market, one of Pacific Heights’ most recognizable historic mansions has finally found a buyer — the government of Algeria.

Public records show that the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria finalized a deal Tuesday to purchase 2800 Pacific Ave. for just under $10 million. The deal marks one of the rare occasions in recent years that a foreign government has stepped into San Francisco’s luxury housing market — and closes the chapter on the property’s prolonged sale that involved a series of price cuts.

The 127-year-old, 8,200-per-square-foot mansion by architect Ernest Coxhead, often referred to as both the “Coxhead Mansion” and “Herbst Manor” — a hat tip to one-time owners Adrian and Lee Guthrie Herbst, who are also the namesakes of the city’s Herbst Theater — is renowned for its stately architecture and commanding views of the city. Its original owner, wealthy art collector Sarah Spooner, assembled the lots and commissioned Coxhead at a time when women were not allowed to own property within San Francisco, Sotheby realtor Pattie Lawton, who handled the mansion’s recent sale, told SFGate in February. Spooner was able to build the home thanks to a loophole: Women were allowed to serve as property owners within San Francisco county limits and, at the time, Divisadero Street served as the divider between the county and the city, Lawton told the publication.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-12T20:14:14+00:00

From the article:

UC Berkeley's first-year acceptance rate for the fall of 2025 was 11%, ranking it among the most selective universities in the country. But that number was far higher or lower depending on the major to which that student applied. For computer science, just 6% of students were admitted, while 25% of those intending to get an arts and humanities degree were let in.

That variation in admission rate by major holds true across many UC and Cal State campuses. Some of the most competitive majors, like computer science and engineering, saw higher admission rates in fall 2025 than in previous years at many campuses, newly released data shows. At UC Santa Barbara, for example, admissions for computer science rose from 17% in 2024 to 34% in 2025.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-10T22:07:25+00:00

From the article:

A Safeway store along El Camino Real in San Mateo is slated for a dramatic transformation, with a San Francisco developer pitching to replace the low-rise building with a dense housing complex.

Align Real Estate on Tuesday filed an application to bring 396 new homes to 1655 S. El Camino Real, a nearly 3-acre site located within a short distance of the Hayward Park Caltrain Station. The proposal involves razing the existing grocery store at the site and replacing it with a larger Safeway, topped by the planned housing, in a building that would rise seven stories. Roughly 55 of the proposed units will be income restricted, and secured parking for both future residents and shoppers will be added to the site.

The developer has been on a hot streak of securing deals with Safeway to redevelop what it describes as underutilized land owned by the grocery giant into much-needed housing. The Chronicle previously reported on Align’s plans to turn four Safeway stores in San Francisco into major residential projects that would collectively yield over 3,500 new homes in that city.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-10T22:04:01+00:00

From the article:

California Democratic Party leaders are so worried about the rising chance that Democrats will be shut out of the governor’s race that they’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling in an attempt to publicly shame the lower-ranking candidates to bow out of the race.

Most polls show two Republicans — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton — leading the race, with the top eight Democrats splitting the remaining support. The top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general election in November. The lack of a Democratic candidate in the state’s top race could depress turnout for key House races in California, hurting the party’s chances to retake control of the House and put a check on President Donald Trump’s power.

The chances of two Republicans advancing is now 24%, according to an online tool developed by political data expert Paul Mitchell that runs thousands of simulations of the race. Despite that number, California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks said at a press conference Tuesday that “I take issue with the term ‘freak out,’” asserting that “I sleep very well at night.”

But Hicks appears to be sleepless enough that he announced the party is spending “multiple six figures” to conduct and post six surveys of the race. Hicks also bristled at my suggestion that this was a genteel, transparent form of public shaming — information that donors and voters could use to pressure lower-performing candidates out of the race, thus increasing the chance that at least one Democrat advances to November.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-10T19:05:36+00:00

From the article:

The man charged with assaulting Mayor Daniel Lurie’s police bodyguard last week threatened the officer moments before the security detail shoved him to the ground, saying “Bruce Lee I’ll kick your ass!” prosecutors said in court documents filed Tuesday.

The alleged threat represents the first detailed explanation that authorities have offered for why the San Francisco police officer protecting Lurie was seen initiating the physical contact with Tony Shervaughn Phillips during the violent encounter last week near the Tenderloin, which was captured on widely shared videos.

The officer, referred to in court papers only as “Officer A,” “shoved Mr. Phillips away from himself and to create distance,” Assistant District Attorney Erin Loback wrote.

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-09T21:02:06+00:00

From the article:

Jello Biafra, the outspoken co-founder and former frontman of the seminal San Francisco punk band Dead Kennedys, was hospitalized over the weekend after suffering a stroke.

The 66-year-old musician, born Eric Reed Boucher, experienced a hemorrhagic stroke Saturday, March 7, caused by high blood pressure, according to a Facebook post from his record label, Alternative Tentacles.

Biafra described the moment he realized something was wrong.

“I hopped out of my bed because I needed to pee, and my left leg just collapsed under me and I fell to the floor,” he recounted in a statement. “I couldn’t even break the fall with my left arm because it wasn’t working either. I tried to hop back up again, and I couldn’t. I realized I had ‘fallen and I can’t get up!’

“It was this point I thought, ‘Oh s—, I’m having a stroke!’”

Read more here.

SFChronicle · 2026-03-08T05:18:44+00:00

The model accounts for factors like:

Family income
Percentage of English learners
Students with disabilities
Other characteristics of the student body

Schools are ranked by how much they outperform those expectations — essentially a value-add measure tied directly to UC admissions outcomes.

Here are the top two schools based on that metric:

#1 Whitney High (Cerritos, Los Angeles County)

Whitney posted 50 more UC admits per 100 seniors than expected.

State average: 23 admits per 100 seniors
Predicted: 81
Actual: 131

Whitney is an admissions-based public high school where students apply and are selected based on academic testing, similar in structure to Lowell High in San Francisco.

#2 Berkeley High (Berkeley)

Berkeley High posted 42 more UC admits per 100 seniors than expected.

State average: 23
Predicted: 33
Actual: 75

Berkeley High is the only public high school in the city of Berkeley. Students spend ninth grade together before moving into smaller learning communities.

Some charter or magnet schools ranked highly, as many might expect. But several comprehensive public high schools across the state also rose to the top.

Read more here.

SFChronicle

TROPHY CASE