Several San Francisco neighborhoods were impacted by a massive power outage on Saturday that left nearly a third of the city without electricity, according to PG&E’s website.
The outage map showed The Presidio, Seacliff, Outer and Inner Richmond, Golden Gate Park, the Panhandle, Inner and Outer Sunset, and part of West of Twin Peaks as being affected. Parts of the Western Addition and Downtown were also shown as being part of the power outage.
Just before 3 p.m., PG&E’s website stated that about 30% of the city was without power. As of late Saturday afternoon, more than 130,000 customers were without service, the utility provider said.
PG&E said power was restored to about 90,000 customers by 9 p.m. The remaining 40,000 customers could expect power to be restored overnight.
According to the electric utility tracker PowerOutage.us, nearly 37,000 customers were still without power as of 10:30 p.m. local time Saturday.
The first power outage started around 9:40 a.m.
At about 3:15 p.m., the San Francisco Fire Department said it was working a one-alarm fire at PG&E’s substation located at 8th and Mission streets. Fire crews said they were working to shut down power and extinguish the fire with carbon dioxide.
PG&E has not said what may have caused the outage.
BART said the Powell Street and the Civic Center stations were closed due to the power outage. Muni said its trains were not getting into the Muni Metro and Central Subway due to the outage.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said at about 9 p.m. that the two BART stations were reopening and Muni services were resuming. However, lingering effects of the closure were expected to impact services.
“If you don’t need to travel tonight, please stay off the roads and stay inside,” Lurie said.
Lurie added that more officers will be at intersections and corridors to ensure safety.
According to PG&E’s website, about 30% of the city of San Francisco was without power just before 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025.
PG&E
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said the outage may be affecting traffic lights, and drivers should treat the intersections as four-way stops.
Waymo said it temporarily suspended its services in the city due to the outage.
The utility company said there have been no injuries.
San Francisco police said a suspect in an hours-long standoff at the Palace Hotel has been arrested.
Around 12:16 p.m., police were alerted to reports of a shooting at the business on the unit block of New Montgomery Street, near Market and Annie streets.
Police said they have not received any reports of injuries.
According to police, officers arrived at the scene and learned someone suspected of being the shooter was still in the building. Police said that the person refused to leave the building and has not been obeying officers’ commands.
Part of the building was evacuated as hostage and crisis negotiation teams worked to peacefully end the standoff.
About nine hours later, the suspect was taken into custody. His identification has not been released.
Despite large swaths of San Francisco struggling with blackouts as heavy rainstorms moved through the Bay Area on Saturday night, the Warriors’ 119-116 over the Suns was not lacking for juice.
Like many of Golden State’s games this season, it was competitive late into the fourth quarter.
With a minute showing on the clock, Curry brought the ball up with the Warriors leading by just two. Curry hit Gary Payton II, who found Jimmy Butler on the baseline for a contested layup that he turned into an and-1 score and a 115-112 lead.
Devin Booker responded by driving for an and-1 layup of his own five seconds later. Collin Gillespie had a chance to take the lead on an open corner three, but he missed, Brandin Podziemski grabbed a contested rebound, and Steph Curry made two free throws to push the lead back to four.
But Gillespie made it a 117-116 game when his one-legged 3-pointer in the corner went cleanly through the rim. The Suns elected not to foul, and let Steph Curry make a baseline layup with 5.7 seconds remaining. The Suns missed a desperation attempt from midcourt to end the wild game.
Curry scored a team-high 27 and Butler put up 25 points for Golden State, and Will Richard added 20. Booker led Phoenix with 38 points, and Dillon Brooks scored 22.
It was abundantly clear early on that neither side had much love for the other.
There were three technical fouls handed out and one ejection.
Draymond Green was ejected in the second quarter after shoving Gillespie from behind and arguing with the officials afterwards.
Booker also got whacked with a tech for complaining to Pat Fraher’s crew over what he believed to be an uncalled foul on Curry.
Brooks, the longtime Warriors nemesis, and Butler had a brief incident when Butler flung the ball at Brooks after a Warriors bucket, but no technical was called.
The Suns jumped out to a 44-32 lead after one quarter, but the Warriors cut the deficit to 67-64 at halftime thanks to Richard and Butler’s aggression. The Warriors led 93-87 after three quarters.
The Warriors (14-15) will remain in the Bay Area and will welcome the Magic to Chase Center on Monday.
Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers
Steve Kerr has tried quite possibly every lineup combination possible, attempted a multitude of tactics this season, all in aims of finding a way of mitigating the Warriors’ turnover-happy ways.
None of them are working, and nothing he did seemed to work on Saturday night. After giving up 30 points on 20 turnovers on Thursday, Golden State did not benefit from being back home.
The Warriors turned the ball over 13 times in the first half alone, and 20 times overall. Those giveaways led to 15 points for Phoenix.
Will Richard makes most of opportunity
One adjustment Kerr made in rainy San Francisco was giving an unheralded rookie another chance. After starting a dozen games in November and early December, the second-round rookie Richard was a healthy scratch for each of the past three losses.
But with the team in need of a spark, Kerr went back to the kid from Georgia.
He made the most of his first action in almost two weeks when he checked in during the first half in lieu of Buddy Hield. The rookie out of Florida scored 20 points, shooting 6 of 7 in the process, including 4-of-4 on 3-pointers and 4-of-4 from the line.
Jonathan Kuminga out with illness
One game after rejoining the Warriors’ rotation, Jonathan Kuminga remained at home with an unspecified illness. Curry also previously missed time with an illness.
Kuminga rejoined the rotation after three consecutive healthy scratches, and produced two points and four rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
Newly-appointed San Francisco Supervisor Alan Wong said he would sponsor a ballot measure that would ask voters to reopen the Great Highway to motor vehicles, as he announced his intention to run for the seat in 2026.
On Friday, Wong said he filed paperwork to launch his campaign for a full term as District 4 supervisor. Wong had previously served as a legislative aide for the district, an elected City College of San Francisco trustee and as policy director at the Children’s Council of San Francisco
“As Supervisor, I will work to restore trust in local government, keep our neighborhoods safe, support working families, expand housing opportunities, and ensure residents can actually access the services their tax dollars fund,” Wong said in a statement.
During his announcement, Wong said he would back a ballot measure that would reopen the Great Highway to vehicles on weekdays, following meetings with Sunset neighborhood groups.
“For the past twenty years, as a Sunset resident and a military officer who runs along the Great Highway trail every other night,” Wong said Friday. “I have never had an issue sharing it with people driving to work or taking their kids to school.”
Friends of Sunset Dunes, which supports the park, was critical of Wong’s support of a ballot measure. The group also claimed he had not met with constituents in a single public forum on the issue despite making promises he would.
“We are deeply disappointed with Supervisor Wong. We believed that he was serious when he said he wanted to help restore trust after a divisive few years in the Sunset. Instead, he’s doing the opposite: claiming he’d listen to constituents while actively turning his back on them,” said Lucas Lux, the group’s president.
In San Francisco’s Sunset District, controversy continues over what to do with the Great Highway.
Friday, the newly-appointed supervisor for that district, Alan Wong, confirmed he is running to keep his job. He also shared that he would support a ballot measure that would bring cars back to the now-closed stretch of road. Some residents in the district already said they would be prepared to fight back against that ballot measure if it came to fruition.
This has been a politically tumultuous year for the Sunset District. In November of 2024, San Francisco voters narrowly approved Proposition K, which moved to close the highway along Ocean Beach to cars and to transform it into a park. In March of 2025, the stretch of road was permanently closed to cars, and in April, the area was officially reopened as Sunset Dunes Park. In September, voters recalled then-Supervisor Joel Engardio, with many in the campaign against Engardio expressing frustration with his support for turning the Great Highway into a park. In November, Mayor Daniel Lurie appointed Isabella “Beya” Alcaraz as the new supervisor for District 4, only to have her resign a week later amid growing questions about her actions as a small business owner.
At the start of December, Mayor Lurie swore in Alan Wong as his new appointee to serve as supervisor in District 4. Wong grew up in the Sunset, attended Lincoln High School, and has served as both an elected member of the San Francisco City College Board of Trustees and as a legislative aid to former supervisor Gordon Mar.
In an interview with NBC Bay Area on Friday, Wong shared that he has not hidden the fact that he voted no on Prop. K in the 2024 election. However, in his first three weeks in office, Wong said he set out to “have conversations with different constituent groups and listen to them” about the issues.
“After three weeks of listening and having these conversations, I believe that my values and how I voted before align with the majority of the district,” Wong said.
San Francisco Supervisor Alan Wong supports a ballot measure that calls for cars to return to the Great Highway.
“And as the district supervisor, I need to take a leadership role in representing the district that I am here to serve,” he continued.
Wong said he is now prepared to be one of the four supervisors supporting a ballot initiative to reopen the Great Highway to cars on weekdays.
Molly Rose, with Sunset Parent Advocates, worries that when Wong was listening to community voices over the past three weeks, some voices may have been left out.
“If he talked to the Sunset residents, he didn’t talk to me, and he didn’t talk to us– the family groups I am a part of,” Rose said.
“We are all very pro-park, we use it very heavily as a park,” she continued.
Rose said there are several hundred parents involved with her group. As a parent, Rose said her children love going to the park there.
“Sunset Dunes is the place where I take my kids to have a safe place to play,” she said.
Rose said that she has been asking for Wong to meet with her group, but has been waiting to hear back from his scheduling team.
Wong’s office confirmed that Rose is in touch with their office and that Wong’s scheduler is “actively coordinating a time” for them to meet.
“While I do think there is a very loud, anti-park contingent of people in the Sunset, I don’t think they’re the majority,” Rose emphasized.
A USPS truck backed into a building in San Francisco Thursday afternoon, according to the fire department.
The fire department said they received a call just before 2 p.m. regarding a USPS truck backed into a building at 2505 Noriega St.
Authorities report nobody was in the building at the time of the incident and the driver was not hurt.
The SFFD Heavy Rescue installed a temporary spot shore to stabilize the building and requested a Department of Building Inspection to evaluate the structural integrity of the building, according to officials.
The fire department said the building was turned over to the property manager at 3:10 p.m.
The track record for California Democrats and the presidency is not a good one. In the nearly 250 years of these United States, not one Left Coast Democrat has ever been elected president. Kamala Harris is just the latest to fail. (Twice.)
Faithful readers of this column — both of you — certainly know how I feel.
Garry South disagrees.
The veteran Democratic campaign strategist, who has been described as possessing “a pile-driving personality and blast furnace of a mouth” — by me, actually — has never lacked for strong and colorful opinions. Here, in an email exchange, we hash out our differences.
Barabak: You once worked for Newsom, did you not?
South: Indeed I did. I was a senior strategist in his first campaign for governor. It lasted 15 months in 2008 and 2009. He exited the race when we couldn’t figure out how to beat Jerry Brown in a closed Democratic primary.
I happen to be the one who wrote the catchy punch line for Newsom’s speech to the state Democratic convention in 2009, that the race was a choice between “a stroll down memory lane vs. a sprint into the future.”
We ended up on memory lane.
Barabak: Do you still advise Newsom, or members of his political team?
South: No, though he and I are in regular contact and have been since his days as lieutenant governor. I know many of his staff and consultants, but don’t work with them in any paid capacity. Also, the governor’s sister and I are friends.
Barabak: You observed Newsom up close in that 2010 race. What are his strengths as a campaigner?
South: Newsom is a masterful communicator, has great stage presence, cuts a commanding figure and can hold an audience in the palm of his hand when he’s really on. He has a mind like a steel trap and never forgets anything he is told or reads.
I’ve always attributed his amazing recall to the struggle he has reading, due to his lifelong struggle with severe dyslexia. Because it’s such an arduous effort for Newsom to read, what he does read is emblazoned on his mind in seeming perpetuity.
Barabak: Demerits, or weaknesses?
South: Given his remarkable command of facts and data and mastery of the English language, he can sometimes run on too long. During that first gubernatorial campaign, when he was still mayor of San Francisco, he once gave a seven-hour State of the City address.
South: It wasn’t as bad as sounds: It was broken into 10 “Webisodes” on his YouTube channel. But still …
Barabak: So let’s get to it. I think Newsom’s chances of being elected president are somewhere between slim and none — and slim was last seen alongside I-5, in San Ysidro, thumbing a ride to Mexico.
You don’t agree.
South: I don’t agree at all. I think you’re underestimating the Trumpian changes wrought (rot?) upon our political system over the past 10 years.
The election of Trump, a convicted felon, not once but twice, has really blown to hell the conventional paradigms we’ve had for decades in terms of how we assess the viability of presidential candidates — what state they’re from, their age, if they have glitches in their personal or professional life.
Not to mention, oh, their criminal record, if they have one.
The American people actually elected for a second term a guy who fomented a rebellion against his own country when he was president the first time, including an armed assault on our own national capitol in which a woman was killed and for which he was rightly impeached. It’s foolish not to conclude that the old rules, the old conventional wisdom about what voters will accept and what they will not, are out the window for good.
It also doesn’t surprise me that you pooh-pooh Newsom’s prospects. It’s typical of the home-state reporting corps to guffaw when their own governor is touted as a presidential candidate.
One, familiarity breeds contempt. Two, a prophet is without honor in his own country.
I also remember those old Clairol hair-color ads: “The closer he gets … the better you look!” (Google it, kids). It’s precisely the opposite when it comes to presidential hopefuls and the reporters who cover them day-in, day-out.
And you’re certainly correct, the nature of what constitutes scandal, or disqualifies a presidential candidate, has drastically changed in the Trump era.
All of that said, certain fundamentals remain the same. Harking back to that 1992 Clinton campaign, it’s still the economy, stupid. Or, put another way, it’s about folks’ lived experience, their economic security, or lack thereof, and personal well-being.
Newsom is, for the moment, a favorite among the chattering political class and online activists because a) those are the folks who are already engaged in the 2028 race and b) many of them thrill to his Trumpian takedowns of the president on social media.
When the focus turns to matters affecting voters’ ability to pay for housing, healthcare, groceries, utility bills and to just get by, Newsom’s opponents will have a heyday trashing him and California’s steep prices, homelessness and shrinking middle class.
Kamala Harris twice bid unsuccessfully for the White House. Her losses kept alive an unbroken string of losses by Left Coast Democrats.
(Kent Nishimura / Getty Images)
South: It’s not just the chattering class.
Newsom’s now the leading candidate among rank-and-file Democrats. They had been pleading — begging — for years that some Democratic leader step out of the box, step up to the plate, and fight back, giving Trump a dose of his own medicine. Newsom has been meeting that demand with wit, skill and doggedness — not just on social media, but through passage of Proposition 50, the Democratic gerrymandering measure.
And Democrats recognize and appreciate it
Barabak: Hmmm. Perhaps I’m somewhat lacking in imagination, but I just can’t picture a world where Democrats say, “Hey, the solution to our soul-crushing defeat in 2024 is to nominate another well-coiffed, left-leaning product of that bastion of homespun Americana, San Francisco.”
South: Uh, Americans twice now have elected a president not just from New York City, but who lived in an ivory tower in Manhattan, in a penthouse with a 24-carat-gold front door (and, allegedly, gold-plated toilet seats). You think Manhattan is a soupçon more representative of middle America than San Francisco?
Like I said, state of origin is less important now after the Trump precedent.
Barabak: Trump was a larger-than-life — or at least larger-than-Manhattan — celebrity. Geography wasn’t an impediment because he had — and has — a remarkable ability, far beyond my reckoning, to present himself as a tribune of the working class, the downtrodden and economically struggling Americans, even as he spreads gold leaf around himself like a kid with a can of Silly String.
Speaking of Kamala Harris, she hasn’t ruled out a third try at the White House in 2028. Where would you place your money in a Newsom-Harris throwdown for the Democratic nomination? How about Harris in the general election, against whomever Republicans choose?
South: Harris running again in 2028 would be like Michael Dukakis making a second try for president in 1992. My God, she not only lost every swing state, and the electoral college by nearly 100 votes, Harris also lost the popular vote — the first Democrat to do so in 20 years.
If she doesn’t want to embarrass herself, she should listen to her home-state voters, who in the latest CBS News/YouGov poll said she shouldn’t run again — by a margin of 69-31. (Even 52% of Democrats said no). She’s yesterday’s news.
Barabak: Seems as though you feel one walk down memory lane was quite enough. We’ll see if Harris — and, more pertinently, Democratic primary voters — agree.
After years of delays and controversy, the long-awaited playgrounds at Crane Cove Park in San Francisco finally opened this weekend. Located in the Dogpatch neighborhood, just a few blocks from Chase Center and surrounded by densely populated apartments and condos, the park has become a symbol of perseverance for the local community.
Millions of dollars donated to build the playgrounds were mismanaged by a powerful nonprofit that shut down this past summer, leaving families frustrated and disappointed. That’s why the grand opening was a welcome surprise and an early Christmas gift for the community.
On Friday morning, San Francisco port and city leaders joined neighborhood students to cut the ribbon and celebrate the opening of the much-anticipated playgrounds. Among those excited by the news was the Andrews family, who live just two blocks away.
“Shock, delight. Even though it’s a little chilly right now, there’s so much excitement to see this kinetic energy,” said RJ Andrews.
He and his wife have been following the playground’s progress even before their four-year-old and six-month-old children were born.
The Port of San Francisco had originally hoped to open two playgrounds and a dog park as far back as 2020. Earlier this spring, RJ Andrews learned that most of the $3 million donated by the Baker Street Foundation to the San Francisco Parks Alliance had been mismanaged by the nonprofit, leaving him crushed.
“A lot of disappointment when we learned that what was so close was lost,” he said.
The San Francisco Parks Alliance claimed it used most of the donated money to pay staff. The scandal rocked the city and ultimately led to the nonprofit’s closure over the summer.
“We were all waiting a long time for this moment,” said Michael Martin, Port of San Francisco Acting Executive Director. “Despite an unexpected setback in the funding plan, the Port was able to see through its commitment to the neighborhood’s children, families, and dog lovers. Thank you to the Port staff who carried this project to completion and helped advance the Port’s mission of increasing access and opportunity along the waterfront.”
The Port shifted funds within its budget to complete the project. Project Manager Erica Petersen said it was emotional to see the playgrounds finished and to witness their impact on the neighborhood.
“The design was supposed to evoke our maritime history here at the port. [Crane Cove Park] was a historic shipyard. There were Gigantry cranes they used to actually work on the ships. And so, the climbing structure for the slide looks a lot like that,” Petersen said.
Some of the play structures were even made from materials recycled from the shipyard.
“We would have been happy with any kind of playground equipment. But once we saw them assembling this day by day over a couple of months, we got really excited because this, honestly, it looks like a playground from the future,” RJ Andrews added.
Children at the park echoed the excitement.
“I like it,” said 6-year-old Miles Peck. Another little girl said, “I like the swing,” while a third child added, “I like when the slide goes fast.” One child summed it up simply: “My favorite part is everything.”
Students from Red Bridge School, located a block away, helped select colors and other design elements for the playground.
“We come to the park at least twice every day. Sometimes, three times a day. So this is definitely our backyard,” said Orly Friedman of Red Bridge School.
“There was no place here to play around for the kids. So we are happy this is the first playground nearby here,” added a local father.
Andrews’ son, Atlas, was also happy with the new playground.
“This is just one small playground. But for us, it’s a symbol that things can happen, and we can push things forward and do good,” Andrews said.
While the two playgrounds and the dog park are now open and delighting the neighborhood, investigations into the mismanagement of millions of dollars donated to the project remain ongoing. Both the City Attorney and the District Attorney have launched inquiries, which are still active.
For some businesses, Saturday is the most wonderful day of the year as thousands of Santas visit San Francisco watering holes for Santa Con.
But for others, the festive event is more trouble than it’s worth.
Kevin Sully Sullivan and his wife, Deb, met at the Marina Lounge in the 1980s. Sully then went on to work at the bar for 30 years and just two years ago, took over the business from the prior owners.
“We’ve loved this bar for such a long time and it’s a dream come true to actually have our names in it,” Sully said.
While Sully loves celebrating the holidays and supports Santa Con, he has posted this sign on the door of the Sully’s Marina Lounge, officially making it a Santa-free zone. For him, the extra customers aren’t worth the hassle.
“Some of these bars that encourage it, that participate, they do months of business in one day,” he said. “But many of them have to replace sinks in their restrooms. They get it torn off the wall and toilets that have all kinds of things go wrong.”
On the other hand, Westwood has beefed up its staff and is looking forward to all the Santas coming to town.
“It’s really good,” Kwame Wright said.
“It pumps in a lot of money into the economy,” Westwood said. “Local businesses, we benefit from it as well. So, we’re really happy and we’re excited that we get to host. Santa’s are welcome here.”
Aside from Halloween, Santa Con is one of the biggest events of the year for Westwood. This place normally has long lines to get in on weekends and it’s expecting an even bigger crowd Saturday. Westwood is taking steps to make sure all the Santas behave.
“Security does really hard work, and we have extra security to make sure everybody is safe,” said Wright.
But for those willing to wait until Christmas for a Santa sighting, Sully says his place will be the place to be.
“It actually ends up being a really nice day here because they know it’s a sanctuary haven from the Santa Con,” Sully said.
A large fire burned at a six-story residential building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District early Friday morning, leaving dozens displaced, officials said.
The fire started at around 3 a.m. at a building on Golden Gate Avenue near Taylor and Market streets, adjacent to the Golden Gate Theatre. The San Francisco Fire Department said the fire started on the top floor and reached three alarms, spreading to the attic and roof of the building. Over 100 firefighters at the scene were able to prevent it from spreading to lower floors and nearby buildings, the department said.
UPDATE- FIRE CONTAINED
Early this morning, shortly after 3:00 AM, San Francisco firefighters responded to a fire at 50 Golden Gate, a six-story multi-residential complex located in the Tenderloin District. The firefighters executed an impressive and aggressive attack on the… https://t.co/iNKRlOQLPPpic.twitter.com/JwrezVyfpy
Multiple people were rescued and self-evacuated, and a total of 45 residents were displaced, but there were no injuries, the department said. Two cats were also rescued, one that was treated by medics at the scene and another cared for by Animal Control.
Evacuated residents were provided temporary shelter at the corner of Golden Gate and Jones Street aboard a Muni bus. The Red Cross and other city agencies were called in to assist the displaced residents, the department said.
The fire was contained by 5:30 a.m., and firefighters remained on the scene for several hours. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
THEIR CAREER LONGEVITY. SPEAKING OF DEFYING STEREOTYPES, AMERICA’S TOP FIGURE SKATER IS GOOD AT A LOT OF THINGS, BUT IT TURNS OUT RETIREMENT WASN’T ONE OF THEM. SHOULD SOUND FAMILIAR HERE. ALYSA LIU JOINS US ON OUR OLYMPIC PODCAST THIS WEEK. THE OAKLAND SKATER RETIRED AT THE AGE OF 16 AFTER THE 2022 BEIJING OLYMPICS. SHE WAS BURNED OUT. SHE JUST WANTED TO KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE A NORMAL TEENAGER, LIKE, LEFT THE SPORT COMPLETELY. LIKE I WOULDN’T EVEN STEP IN THE RINK. HONESTLY, I WAS LOW KEY, A LITTLE BIT TRAUMATIZED. TWO YEARS LATER, SHE STARTED TO GET THE ITCH TO SKATE AGAIN. NOW SHE’S A FAVORITE TO WIN GOLD IN MILAN-CORTINA ON THIS NIGHT, TO ASK THE ROAD TO MILAN CORTINA. THE POWER OF TAKING A BREAK, RETHINKING HOW WE LOOK AT THE ROLE AGE PLAYS IN SPORTS LIKE FIGURE SKATING. OR, AS LINDSEY VONN SHOWED US TODAY, SKIING. A VERY FRANK LOOK AT WHAT YOUNG TEEN ATHLETES GIVE UP TO BE THE VERY BEST IN THEIR SPORT AND THE IMPACT THAT COULD HAVE LONG TERM ON MENTAL HEALTH, AND WHY ALYSSA’S COACH THINKS SHE WAS ABLE TO PULL OFF A TWO YEAR GAP IN TRAINING AND EMERGE STRONGER THAN EVER. SCAN THE QR CODE TO WATCH. DYING TO ASK THE ROAD TO MILAN CORTINA ON YOUTUBE. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD IT ON APPLE OR SPOTIFY. WE PUT THE YOUTUBE EPISODE UP LATE LAST NIGHT. WOKE UP THIS MORNING. I ALWAYS CHECK TO SEE LIKE, HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE INTO IT OR NOT. IT IS BLOWING. IS IT GOOD? FIGURE SKATING IS JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS LIKE IT IS. IT’S SO THERE’S SO MUCH DRAMA AND THERE’S SO MUCH BEAUTY TO IT AND SOME CONTROVERSY SOMETIMES. SO YEAH, I WOULD SAY DEFINITELY WATCH THE YOUTUBE VERSION OF THIS ONE. APPLE AND SPOTIFY IS GREAT TOO, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING FUN ABOUT WATCHING HER AND HER COACH AT THE RINK GET THAT. AND THEY SAID, LIKE THEY ANSWERED EVERY QUESTION, DID THEY? EVERYTHING. I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FIGURE SKATI
‘Dying to Ask’ podcast: From burnout to world champion: Alysa Liu’s unlikely comeback
Whoever said quitters never win, never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.Liu quit figure skating after the 2022 Winter Olympics. At age 16, she was burned out and wanted to be a normal teenager. “I was done a year before I quit. I knew I wanted to be done way before I actually announced my retirement,” Liu said. For two years, Liu embraced life as a teenager, making up for lost time she’d spent on the ice. She got a driver’s license, drove her four siblings to school, stayed up late and hung out with friends. She traveled for fun instead of competitions and even hiked in the Himalayas. She enrolled at UCLA and even took up skiing, a sport she’d never had time to try as an elite figure skater. She loved the feel of the cold air on her face when she skied. It reminded her of skating and two years after retiring, Alysa went to a local rink with a friend. Alysa started skating for fun, and it wasn’t long before she got the itch to skate more seriously. She called a former coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, and asked him what he thought about her coming out of retirement. At first, he wasn’t a fan. “I said, ‘Please don’t. I really did.’ I said, ‘Please don’t. Respect your legacy,’” DiGuglielmo said. “We had a Zoom call for two hours. The story is I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback.”The two started training together, and seven months later, Liu won a world title in a sport she left as a child but returned to as an adult. In November, she won and claimed her first title at the 2025 Saatva Skate America.On this Dying to Ask, The Road to Milan-Cortina:The power of taking a breakRe-thinking how we look at the role age plays in sports like figure skating A frank look at what young teen athletes give up to be the best in their sport and the impact that can have long-term on mental healthAnd why Liu’s coach thinks she could pull off a two-year gap in training and emerge stronger than everOther places to listenCLICK HERE to listen on iTunesCLICK HERE to listen on StitcherCLICK HERE to listen on SpotifySee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SAN FRANCISCO —
Whoever said quitters never win, never met Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu.
Liu quit figure skating after the 2022 Winter Olympics. At age 16, she was burned out and wanted to be a normal teenager.
“I was done a year before I quit. I knew I wanted to be done way before I actually announced my retirement,” Liu said.
For two years, Liu embraced life as a teenager, making up for lost time she’d spent on the ice. She got a driver’s license, drove her four siblings to school, stayed up late and hung out with friends. She traveled for fun instead of competitions and even hiked in the Himalayas.
She enrolled at UCLA and even took up skiing, a sport she’d never had time to try as an elite figure skater.
She loved the feel of the cold air on her face when she skied. It reminded her of skating and two years after retiring, Alysa went to a local rink with a friend.
Alysa started skating for fun, and it wasn’t long before she got the itch to skate more seriously. She called a former coach, Phillip DiGuglielmo, and asked him what he thought about her coming out of retirement. At first, he wasn’t a fan.
“I said, ‘Please don’t. I really did.’ I said, ‘Please don’t. Respect your legacy,’” DiGuglielmo said. “We had a Zoom call for two hours. The story is I had a lot of glasses of wine over those two hours. And she talked me into a comeback.”
The two started training together, and seven months later, Liu won a world title in a sport she left as a child but returned to as an adult. In November, she won and claimed her first title at the 2025 Saatva Skate America.
On this Dying to Ask, The Road to Milan-Cortina:
The power of taking a break
Re-thinking how we look at the role age plays in sports like figure skating
A frank look at what young teen athletes give up to be the best in their sport and the impact that can have long-term on mental health
And why Liu’s coach thinks she could pull off a two-year gap in training and emerge stronger than ever
A three-alarm fire tore through the top floors of an apartment building in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood early Friday morning, prompting multiple rescues and evacuations with no injuries immediately reported.
Around 3:30 a.m, the San Francisco Fire Department said their crews were called to a six-story residential building in the 100 block of Golden Gate Avenue after flames were reported. It was initially classified as a one-alarm fire before it quickly escalated to a three-alarm blaze as they found flames on the structure’s upper floors.
Fire officials said multiple residents were rescued or were able to escape on their own during the first alarm. A cat was also rescued and treated by paramedics before being handed over to Animal Control.
A total of 45 residents were displaced by the fire, SFFD said.
Evacuated residents were directed to shelter at Golden Gate Avenue and Taylor Street before fire officials later moved them to a temporary Muni bus shelter at Golden Gate and Jones Street.
The fire was contained by 5:30 a.m., and the Red Cross responded to assist those displaced.
That, or it’s been so long since they last played that the memories are getting fuzzy.
Did we really see Pat Spencer turning into the second coming of Jeremy Lin? Did the Dubs really beat the Cleveland Cavaliers and then dismantle the Chicago Bulls?
Did they have swagger? Momentum?
This Spencsanity that’s sweeping through the Bay is clearly infectious and possibly dangerous.
Maybe we should take a breath.
Because if you look closely at what actually happened this past weekend, you realize two things:
2. We still know absolutely nothing about this basketball team.
Let’s start with the Dubs’ victims: The Cleveland Cavaliers are swooning hard. They are a shell of last year’s team, a squad playing with all the cohesion of a middle school group project.
And the Bulls? The Bulls are doing that thing they do best: aiming for the bottom with the precision of a heat-seeking missile. Beating Chicago right now isn’t a statement; it’s a civic duty.
So, yes, the Warriors won. They entered this quasi-bye week — a scheduling quirk that feels like a gift from the heavens — feeling good, if a bit conflicted. But let’s be honest: Those wins don’t change anything. They’re just delicious, sugary, satisfying empty calories. They offer zero nutritional value for a team trying to figure out if it’s a contender or a pretender.
The actual test? That starts now.
The Warriors’ next five games leading into Christmas will tell us a lot.
No more tanking Bulls. No more crumbling Cavs. The upcoming slate features a gauntlet of teams sitting right there in the Warriors’ “corridor” of the Western Conference — the Timberwolves, Suns, Blazers and — sprinkled with an Eastern Conference playoff team — the Magic — that isn’t above resorting to pugilism to win.
This is the “put up or shut up” portion of the program for the Dubs. If the Warriors are actually turning a corner, this is where they prove it. If the swagger is real, it survives a Thursday night against a team desperate for playoff seeding, not just a Sunday stroll against a team whose success is determined by how many lottery balls they have at the end of the campaign.
The good news? Much-needed reinforcements are coming. Specifically, thereinforcement. Steph Curry is expected to be back for Friday’s game against the Timberwolves. He won’t solve all the Warriors’ problems, but he can cover up a great deal of them. He is still the deodorant for an organization that often carries a desperate scent.
With 30 back, anything is possible, even making sense of whatever this roster is.
But even Steph’s return can’t solve the Warriors’ biggest problem — the 6-foot-7 issue sitting on the end of the bench:
Against the Bulls, in a game where everyone ate, Kuminga starved. A ‘DNP-CD’ against a bottom-barrel team is not a “rest day.” It’s a message.
And for those of you hoping this was just a one-off—a little “tough love” motivational tactic—I wouldn’t hold your breath. Steve Kerr’s leash isn’t just short with JK right now; it’s non-existent.
He’s done to the point where he didn’t even try to sugarcoat things on his weekly flagship radio hit:
“He has not played well lately, that’s why I went away from him in the last game,” Kerr said Tuesday on 95.7 The Game (KBMZ-FM). “It’s no different than any other player on the team — other than the obvious: Steph, Jimmy, Draymond, those guys are going to play no matter what because… I know what I’m going to get from them every night.”
That’s Kerr making it clear: Stars get star treatment — and you, Jonathan Kuminga, are no star.
“He’s obviously a guy with a lot of ambition, which I love. He wants to be a star. He’s got the ability that gives him that hope and gives us that hope. But there has to be a consistent level of play in order to achieve that,” Kerr said. “The potential is there.”
“It has been a discussion for many years,” Kerr added. “His play tailed off… It is what it is.”
Kerr has always valued process over potential, execution over athleticism. Right now, Kuminga is offering buckets of the latter and thimbles of the former.
And after how many years of this back-and-forth, Kerr is ready to move forward. Jan. 15 — the first day the Warriors can trade Kuminga — can’t come soon enough.
But where will the Warriors stand then?
Can the “Pat Spencer Era” endure, or will it quickly be relegated to the “remember that?” category?
Can Curry get back in the lineup and take an operation that’s showing signs of cohesion to that next level?
Can this team get out of its own way for a couple of weeks?
It truly is never dull in the Bay. But don’t let that nice weekend getaway fool you — the Warriors are a long way from figuring this thing out, and real tests are coming.
SAN FRANCISCO – Jimmy Butler likes to refer to Steph Curry as “Batman,” an otherworldly talent who can bail the Warriors out of many a tough spot.
After a five-game absence caused by a left quad injury suffered on Nov. 26 against the Rockets, Golden State’s superhero is set to return during Friday’s home game against the Timberwolves.
The Warriors will have had four days off between Sunday’s blowout victory in Chicago and the matchup with Minnesota, thanks to the NBA Cup schedule.
Curry spent the last three road games working out with the Warriors’ medical staff in the Bay Area and practiced with the team at Chase Center on Wednesday afternoon.
“For Friday, he’s day-to-day, but it’s looking good,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Curry was a full participant in practice, and was involved in the team’s scrimmage.
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) pauses as he holds his leg in pain in the fourth quarter of an NBA game against the Houston Rockets at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
The team survived Curry’s absence, going 3-2 and putting up a surprising 2-1 record on the most recent Eastern Conference trip to Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago.
Unheralded 29-year-old guard Pat Spencer was a revelation as an athletic and energetic pick-and-roll guard, scoring in double-figures in each of the last four games while starting twice.
Spencer will head back to the bench as Golden State’s franchise player returns, but still expect him to get plenty of minutes.
“I think it’s the shooting, the threat from long range,” Kerr said of Spencer. “He’ll be in the rotation for sure.”.
In his 17th season, Curry has remained an elite player. He is averaging 27.9 points and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 39.1% from behind the 3-point line.
He has scored at least 30 points in seven of the 16 games he has played this season, including three 40-point games.
This was the second absence of the season for Curry. He missed three games in October and early November with a severe illness that had him bedridden for several days.
Frontcourt veteran Draymond Green (right foot) is expected to be available for Friday’s matchup with Minnesota, the first time the teams have played since the Timberwolves eliminated the Warriors in five games during the second round of last spring’s playoffs.
Green missed the past two games with a right foot sprain suffered during the Philadelphia loss, which is also the last game Al Horford played. Horford has played in only one game since Nov. 21 against the Trail Blazers, and will remain out for Friday with sciatica.
While Curry, Green and Horford are expected to receive minutes, Jonathan Kuminga’s status is uncertain.
The forward, who signed a two-year, $46 million extension this summer, was a healthy scratch for the Warriors in Chicago, drawing speculation about his future with the team. Kerr said he spoke to Kuminga before practice, and is willing to be “coached hard.”
“I can imagine it’s not easy for him, and we’ve talked about the situation,” Kerr said. “My desire for JK is for him to become the best player he can be, regardless of where he ends up, whether it’s here or elsewhere.”
Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (1) and Golden State Warriors’ Gary Payton II (0) sit courtside before the start of their NBA game at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
San Francisco police said Wednesday they are looking for an assault victim’s dog that ran away when the suspect kicked it.
Officers responded to the area of Post and Leavenworth streets on Sunday at around 3:30 p.m. regarding an assault that had just occurred, according to authorities.
On scene, police said they located a 65-year-old man suffering from life-threatening injuries.
Officials said paramedics arrived at the scene and transported the victim to a nearby hospital for his injuries.
Police reported the assault happened after an unknown suspect briefly interacted with the victim. During the interaction, the suspect kicked the victim’s dog and the dog ran away, according to officials.
Investigators are now looking for the victim’s dog, which authorities said is named Charlotte Rose and was last seen walking southbound on Leavenworth Street.
The police department added Charlotte Rose is microchipped. They ask anyone with information on the whereabouts of the dog to contact them at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.
While the Nuggets themselves are coming off a schizophrenic and inconsistent week, to put it kindly, after home losses to Sacramento and San Antonio, the Blue Arrow has quietly been tying a bow around his most productive November ever.
Friday night’s 37-point performance against the Spurs at Ball Arena pushed No. 27’s scoring average over his first 12 games of the month to 23.2 per contest — easily his best clip for the month of November since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jamal Murray: budding All-Star — A-minus.
From Nov. 1-Nov. 28, Murray was connecting on 48% of his attempts from the floor and 40.4% from beyond the arc. As of Saturday morning, his November averages were 23.2 points, 7.3 assists and 3.0 treys per tilt.
If that sounds like a healthy jump from a year ago at this time, that’s because it is. Murray in November 2024 averaged 17.8 points, 6.7 dimes and 2.2 3-point makes over 10 games. In November 2023, Maple Curry averaged 12.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.5 treys over just four appearances.
Given that Murray is a historically slow-(ish) starter, Team Grading The Week (GTW) wanted to pause form stuffing our respective faces with turkey sandwiches and tip some collective caps in the Blue Arrow’s direction.
For another, here’s hoping that yet another tweak in the NBA’s All-Star game format opens up a window for Murray to finally make the cut at age 28.
Instead of conference-vs.-conference matchups, the main competition on ASG weekend will be a Team USA vs. Team World tourney. Only instead of two teams, there will be three teams comprised of eight players, with no positional restrictions, who will face off in a round-robin format.
With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (32.6 points, 6.6 assist per game as of this past Friday) almost a lock to take up at least one Team World backcourt spot, Murray is going to have to keep this pace up to join his fellow Canadian at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., come mid-February. But with each passing week, Murray gets that much closer to crossing the threshold from almost to All-Star.
Tad Boyle’s still got it — A.
New DU men’s hoops coach Tim Bergstraser sure got the GTW crew’s attention earlier this month by beating CSU Rams and Ali Farokhmanesh in FoCo. Steve Smiley’s UNC Bears men’s basketball team improved to 6-1 this past Wednesday with a victory at Air Force. Thanksgiving weekend means we’re going to finally get some meaty inter-conference matchups on the hoops front, and no local men’s team has stepped up over the past few days the way GTW’s old pal Tad Boyle has with CU.
Between Nov. 21-28, the Buffs (7-0) knocked off UC Davis at home by 16, then went to Palm Desert, Calif., for a holiday tourney — taking out a good San Francisco team by 10 and following that up with an 81-68 victory over Washington on Friday thanks to Bangot Dak’s 15 points and 11 boards.
