Category: San Francisco, California Local News

After a journalist posted a picture of San Francisco Giants’ infielder Casey Schmitt at spring training this week, the photo went viral for being rather … revealing.

Baseball players have been wearing a new MLB uniform to training this year, designed by Nike and sports gear retailer Fanatics, but they’ve haven’t been too happy about it. Players have gone on record saying they don’t like the designs, and now, fans have noticed one major change — it seems like the new white pants are essentially see-through.

Alex Pavlovic, a reporter with NBC Sports Bay Area (which is co-owned by the Giants), shared an Instagram story of Schmitt wearing the new uniform during a photoshoot on Thursday, per Sports Illustrated. Unfortunately, the pants left little to the imagination in terms of what’s underneath.

Even though Pavlovic deleted the story, screenshots have surfaced on Xitter and other platforms, as SFGATE reported (and as a head’s up, it should go without saying, but some of these links are not quite safe for work).

These new uniforms were supposed to be lighter and thinner, but fans are raising some concerns about the design of the jerseys. Many are reportedly blaming Fanatics for the noticeable drop in quality, although it’s been making the MLB jerseys for the past four years. In fact, the MLB is insisting that the pants haven’t been changed. In an official statement, the leagues said, “The uniform pants have the same material and thickness as the uniform pants used last season … There were changes to the fabric of the jersey, not the pants,” per WSJ reporter Lindsey Adler.

It all seems like a bit of a mess, with all this hubbub before preseason has even started. But hey, hopefully it’s the start of a good, interesting season for the Giants.

Feature image of Oracle Park via Unsplash/Ruari Bell.

(KRON) – A man with two felony no-bail warrants was arrested after a high-speed pursuit, the American Canyon Police Department said.

At 10:39 p.m. on Thursday, American Canyon police officers initiated a traffic stop on a Hyundai SUV for vehicle code violations near American Canyon Road and Broadway Street. According to police, the traffic stop led to a high-speed pursuit. 

The driver attempted to evade police by driving up to 85 mph. Police said the driver maneuvered over double yellow lines and directed his vehicle toward officers during the vehicle pursuit. 

ACPD worked with the California Highway Patrol to detain the driver. The driver lost a tire near Frisbee Lane. The driver subsequently fled on foot but was caught by officers and a K9.

The driver was identified as 35-year-old Jose Joaquin Comacho Castillo. 

According to the police investigation, Castillo was in possession of a loaded and concealed firearm, which violated multiple felony charges including prior felon in possession of a firearm and assault on a peace officer. Police said Castillo also had two felony no-bail warrants issued out of Alameda County. He is also on three different felony probations. 

Castillo was arrested and booked into the Napa County Department of Corrections.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – A fixture in Oakland’s nightlife scene is getting a new life. Ruby Room permanently closed on New Year’s Eve, but it was recently bought by a neighboring business.

Ruby Room has been a staple in Oakland for more than two decades. Located just blocks from Lake Merritt, it is one of the last true dive bars in the city. Its history can be seen throughout – a fitting ruby red pool table and graffiti decorating the bathrooms.

Majority and founding owner Alfredo Botello gets to be in charge of the bar for just a few more days. Soon, he’ll be passing on the keys to someone else. 

The ownership change comes after Botello and his business partners first announced that the bar would close for good at the end of last year, due to the pandemic.

“The Ruby Room has experienced what all of downtown Oakland has been experiencing, which I think during COVID a lot of people’s going out habits changed. You realize you can just go home, buy a bottle of tequila and watch a movie, and I think that became a habit,” Botello said. 

Botello and his partners went their separate ways. He wrote a book and decided to move on from the bar business. But then he had a change of heart.

“I realized when we were closing how much we played a part in people’s lives,” he said. “People, they proposed here, they met their future wife here, they came here to nurse a bad break up.”

The three co-owners decided to find potential buyers, opening up on Friday nights to keep their liquor license. In January, Dawit Kidane and Gibtsait Abraha, the owners of an Ethiopian restaurant located just a block away, called with an offer.

“For me, best of all, they wanted to keep it as it was,” said Botello. “They loved Ruby Room being this mid-century living room to all of Oakland and they even wanted to keep on some of my staff and so on. No change in decor, maybe clean up here and there, and I love that.”

The new owners will take over on March 1. Until then, Botello will remain in charge and soak up the opportunity to hear from more people about how Ruby Room has changed their lives.

“They said ‘Thank you for creating Oakland’s living room.’ And at that moment I realized we were doing more than just selling liquor at a markup. We were truly a community space where everybody was welcome,” Botello said. 

Lunar New Year celebrations culminate on Saturday in San Francisco with the annual Chinese New Year Parade, and multiple streets will be closed to traffic for the event.

The Chinese New Year Parade will, once again, include hundreds of floats and contingents, and will travel 1.3 miles from Second and Market streets, around Union Square to Kearny Street and Columbus Avenue. And, as this kicks off the Year of the Dragon, the parade will feature a special green dragon from China that represents prosperity and hope for the new year.

The parade kicks off at 5:15 pm Saturday, and is expected to last around two hours.

Some Muni bus re-routes and extra service will begin at 2 pm on the 8-Bayshore, 12-Folsom/Pacific, 30-Stockton and T-Third Street lines. See the full list of service changes here.

Muni rides will be free of charge starting at 2 pm.

Street closures are as follows:

• Second Street between Market and Mission streets will be closed starting at 2 pm.
• Market Street will be closed starting at 3 pm between Second and Geary.
• Geary Street will be closed between Market and Powell streets.
• Powell Street will be closed between Geary and Post.
• Post Street will be closed between Powell and Kearny.
• Kearny Street will be closed between Geary and Pacific.

The SFPD is warning parade-goers that large bags will not be allowed, and there will be plainclothed officers spread around the parade route.

“We want to make sure the SFPD standpoint that people come to Chinatown and enjoy themselves,” says SFPD Chief William Scott, speaking to KRON4. “It’s a great event year in and year out and we intend to make sure we do everything we can to continue that tradition.”

Below is the SFMTA’s video to celebrate Lunar New Year, shot at the Chinatown festival two weeks ago.

Photo: Knight Lights Photography via SF Chinese New Year Parade

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The Chinese New Year parade returns Saturday to San Francisco to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

This parade is said to be the biggest Chinese New Year parade outside of China. Hundreds of floats will be ready to roll at 5:15 p.m. winding their way through the city for 1.3 miles. Thousands of people are expected to turn out for the parade, which is estimated to take about two hours.

The San Francisco Police Department is preparing for the event.

“We want to make sure the SFPD standpoint that people come to Chinatown and enjoy themselves,” William Scott, SFPD chief, said. “It’s a great event year in and year out and we intend to make sure we do everything we can to continue that tradition.”

Parade-goers are advised that large bags will not be allowed. The SFPD will have uniformed and plainclothes officers spread throughout the parade route, which begins at 2nd and Market, heads through Union Square, takes a right on Powell, a left on Kearny and ends on Columbus Avenue.

Officials said the star of the show will be a green “dragon” from China to represent prosperity and hope for the new year.