On 1.9, SF's Board of Supervisors decided to try their hand at global politics when—after hearing hours of impassioned and some inflammatory public comments—they approved a resolution imploring a ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution's lauded a “compromise” by mainstream media, but others (including SF's Mayor London Breed and the Bay Area's own Jewish Community Relations Council) argue it's imbalanced, divisive, and extraneous to the Board's jurisdiction. Excerpted comments below.

Local mom-and-pop housing providers are now caught in a double bind between ignoring nonpaying tenants (or paying them to move out) and actually evicting them (which can rack up tens of thousands in legal fees). Below, California Insider surveys the issue: how landlords are hurt by unpaid back rent, how they're creatively attempting to make things work, and why rental relief hasn't even dented the problem.

The Post Millennial reminds that soon after the Israel–Gaza war began in October, UC Davis professor Jemma Decristo tweeted that “zionist journalists... have houses w addresses, kids in school / they can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more.” After social media uproar, Chancellor Gary May “wholeheartedly” castigated the prof's remarks encouraging violence against Jews—but promised only to “carefully review” Decristo (who, yep, remains employed at UC Davis to this day).

Yet another Bay Area politician has experienced harassment and threats, prompting one more promising talent to check out of a local political career. Rigel Robinson (who became Berkeley's youngest councilmember at 22 years old when elected in 2018) just announced he's resigning from Council and ending his mayoral campaign, as reports Berkeleyside. He cites “perpetual” stress from getting harassed, stalked, and threatened by the public. Recently in SJ tells a similar story: councilmember Dev Davis stated she wouldn't run again for office after being aggressively protested and threatened with a bomb outside her home.

San Jose prides itself for carbon neutrality initiatives like banning natural gas infrastructure in new construction (and that'll cost homeowners a pretty penny). But a recent Oxfam International study discovers that the world's richest 1% are culpable for—gulp—16% of carbon emissions. Why, Phys.org asks, do policymakers regressively target low-income people's kitchens, while giving a free pass to the wealthy's personal travel on carbon-spewing airplanes and large company investments?

Healing from substance abuse must start from within... right? Programs like Newsom's CARE Court (which requires severely mentally ill/addicted individuals to enter treatment) are criticized as being inhumane and pointless by folks like Assemblymember Ash Kalra. But Wall Street Journal rebuts these claims, analyzing CA studies on compulsory drug treatment. The results? It's often just as effective as voluntary treatment.

Local org Drug User Liberation Collective has sparked controversy with its “DOWNTOWN IS FOR DRUG USERS” signs, posted in San Francisco's Tenderloin to protest Mayor Breed's initiative against public drug intoxication. The signs claim SF's open-air drug market is “very literally not hurting you, your business, or the economy”—though businesses big and small, like the extolled Gump's, beg to differ. An SF Standard excerpt.

Newsom launched Project Homekey in 2020 with the goal of cheaply converting hotels into interim homeless housing. Today, the millions of dollars taxpayers have invested in grants continue to disappear, due to lack of oversight (L.A.'s real estate partner Shangri-La Industries is now being sued for “conspiracy to defraud”) and delays from CA's Housing Dept. Meanwhile, many renovations remain uncompleted. KCRW's report below, with Sen. Cortese's (D-SJ) comment.