Mike Reiss, a writer and producer of “The Simpsons,” and his wife Denise Reiss took the same expedition last year and shared their eerie experience.

Mike said it was the same vessel he was in last year as he explored the 100-year-old sunken ship. Denise said he took a paper and pen on the trip so he can write his last jokes or notes, in case anything happened.

“It’s a long waiver you sign,” said Mike. “I remember seeing ‘death’ three times on page one.”

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He and his wife were supposed to go on the expedition together, but she tested positive for COVID, keeping her on the mothership during the expedition.

“Mission control that they have there that follows the sub, they can tell me where the sub was located, what was happening and I got the sense that the mission control was in communication with the sub,” she said.

“There’s no furniture inside the submarine, there’s a very comfortable piece of carpeting and it has these ceiled mesh walls that are curved,” said Mike.

As Denise waited nervously for about 10 hours, Mike says it was a one-of-a-kind voyage that made him feel safe no matter how deep they were falling.

“I went from sea level to 2.5 miles down and back and I never felt the pressure change in my ears, it was not even as uncomfortable as like a 10-floor elevator ride,” said Mike.

Nearly a year after, the couple, just like the rest of the world, is tracking the massive search now focused in an area where Canadian aircraft detected underwater noises Tuesday.

Denise and Mike say they know at least two of the five passengers.

“I remember the first second I heard about it, it gave me a chilling feeling, I just knew it was our submarine, we didn’t know Stockton was aboard, that was another shock later,” said Denise.

The submersible is expected to run out of air by Thursday at 4 a.m. or sooner, according to health experts.

“I think people are starting to get tired or they may be panicked or they’re trying not to be, we don’t know about the power so it may be cold, if people are cold they are shivering they are using more oxygen, and we may see some organs already starting to fail,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF.

Regardless of how difficult this search can be and the extreme conditions crews are dealing with, the coast guard made it clear that they’re hopeful and this is still a search and rescue operation.

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The incident happened around 6:30 p.m. on 26th Street.

When officers arrived, they found one person who was shot. Paramedics rushed that person to the hospital where they later died. 

Police are not identifying the victim and are still looking for the shooter.

The victims were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries following the collision, which happened about 5:10 p.m. at the corner of 22nd and Valencia streets, near the Mission Campus of City College of San Francisco.

Officers had been patrolling in the 2600 block of Mission Street when they spotted a car that was possibly involved in a violent crime, according to a release from San Francisco police.

While traveling through the intersection of 22nd and Valencia, the police vehicle hit a building on the southwest corner.

The officers weren’t injured, and the suspect’s car hasn’t been found.

The wreck is under investigation, police said.

Rescuers have rushed more ships and vessels to the site of the disappearance, hoping underwater sounds they detected for a second straight day might help narrow their search in the urgent, international mission. But the crew had only a four-day oxygen supply when the vessel, called the Titan, set off around 6 a.m. Sunday.

Even those who expressed optimism warned that many obstacles remain: from pinpointing the vessel’s location, to reaching it with rescue equipment, to bringing it to the surface — assuming it’s still intact. And all that has to happen before the passengers’ oxygen supply runs out.

The full area being searched was twice the size of Connecticut in waters as deep as 13,200 feet (4,020 meters). Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District said authorities were still holding out hope of saving the five passengers onboard.

“This is a search and rescue mission, 100%,” he said Wednesday.

The area of the North Atlantic where the Titan vanished Sunday is also prone to fog and stormy conditions, making it an extremely challenging environment to conduct a search-and-rescue mission, said Donald Murphy, an oceanographer who served as chief scientist of the Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol.

Meanwhile, newly uncovered allegations suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during the submersible’s development.

Frederick said while the sounds that have been detected offered a chance to narrow the search, their exact location and source hadn’t yet been determined.

“We don’t know what they are, to be frank,” he said.

Retired Navy Capt. Carl Hartsfield, now the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Systems Laboratory, said the sounds have been described as “banging noises,” but he warned that search crews “have to put the whole picture together in context and they have to eliminate potential manmade sources other than the Titan.”

The report was encouraging to some experts because submarine crews unable to communicate with the surface are taught to bang on their submersible’s hull to be detected by sonar.

The U.S. Navy said in a statement Wednesday that it was sending a specialized salvage system that’s capable of hoisting “large, bulky and heavy undersea objects such as aircraft or small vessels.”

The Titan weighs 20,000 pounds (9,071 kilograms). The U.S. Navy’s Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System is designed to lift up to 60,000 pounds (27,216kilograms), the Navy said on its website.

Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert. OceanGate Expeditions oversaw the mission.

Authorities reported the 22-foot (6.7-meter) carbon-fiber vessel overdue Sunday night, setting off the search in waters about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s.

Officials have said the vessel had a 96-hour oxygen supply, giving them a deadline of early Thursday morning to find and raise the Titan.

Frank Owen, a submarine search and rescue expert, said the estimated oxygen supply is a useful “target” for searchers, but is only based on a “nominal amount of consumption.” Owen said the diver on board the Titan would likely be advising passengers to “do anything to reduce your metabolic levels so that you can actually extend this.”

At least 46 people successfully traveled on OceanGate’s submersible to the Titanic wreck site in 2021 and 2022, according to letters the company filed with a U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, that oversees matters involving the Titanic shipwreck.

One of the company’s first customers characterized a dive he made to the site two years ago as a “kamikaze operation.”

“Imagine a metal tube a few meters long with a sheet of metal for a floor. You can’t stand. You can’t kneel. Everyone is sitting close to or on top of each other,” said Arthur Loibl, a retired businessman and adventurer from Germany. “You can’t be claustrophobic.”

During the 2.5-hour descent and ascent, the lights were turned off to conserve energy, he said, with the only illumination coming from a fluorescent glow stick.

The dive was repeatedly delayed to fix a problem with the battery and the balancing weights. In total, the voyage took 10.5 hours.

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These are the 5 passengers aboard the missing submersible

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OceanGate has been criticized for the use of a simple commercially available video game controller to steer the Titan. But the company has said that many of the vessel’s parts are off-the-shelf because they have proved to be dependable.

“It’s meant for a 16-year-old to throw it around,” and is “super durable,” Rush told the CBC in an interview last year while he demonstrated by throwing the controller around the Titan’s tiny cabin. He said a couple of spares are kept on board “just in case.”

The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon.

Jeff Karson, a professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, said the temperature is just above freezing, and the vessel is too deep for human divers to get to it. The best chance to reach the submersible could be to use a remotely operated robot on a fiber optic cable, he said.

“I am sure it is horrible down there,” Karson said. “It is like being in a snow cave and hypothermia is a real danger.”

Documents show that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed.

David Lochridge, OceanGate’s director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company’s testing and certification was insufficient and would “subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible.”

The company insisted that Lochridge was “not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan.” The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.

The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as “a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators,” also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate’s chief executive. The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers. The New York Times first reported on those documents.

The passengers lost on the Titan are British adventurer Hamish Harding; Pakistani nationals Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, whose eponymous firm invests across the country; and French explorer and Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet.

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, who is now deputy director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law at Syracuse University, said the disappearance underscores the dangers associated with operating in deep water and the recreational exploration of the sea and space.

“I think some people believe that because modern technology is so good, that you can do things like this and not have accidents, but that’s just not the case,” he said.

Mehrdad Mostafavi said he once considered his third floor Millennium Tower condo his sanctuary – even posting a sign near his kitchen proclaiming: “THIS IS OUR HAPPY PLACE.”

But that changed as the luxury rise continued to sink and tilt over the last decade, he says, and he started getting recurring flooding problems from overflowing drain pipes. He pointed to repairs he has had to make in his ceiling and walls as well as around his washing machine and his toilet. He says wastewater has even mysteriously bubbled up and filled his kitchen sink.

But, he said, all that was nothing like what he said he faced when he came home late on Sunday, June 11. The next day, he took us up to show us what happened.

“When I came home last night, the water … it was up to here,” said Mostafavi, a 58-year-old network engineer – pointing to the black and brown muck that had filled his kitchen sink and overflowed onto his countertop, cabinets, flooring and even his oven and his nearby office.

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Mostafavi says he fears he will end up having to replace all his cabinets as well as the entire hardwood floor in the two-bedroom unit he bought back in 2012 for $865,000.

But Mostafavi is not alone in suffering plumbing problems. A renter on the third floor who didn’t want to be named provided NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit photos and videos of problems that she says left her entry hall hardwood floor damaged and carpets around her washing machine stained. The problems started soon after she moved there in 2021, when she had trouble with her toilet.

Millennium Tower staff blamed wipes – that she says were flushable – for clogging her system. But the problems continued, she said, after she stopped using the wipes. Crews now snake out her kitchen drain line twice a month, she says, showing us the records of their visits.

“They said that they do this to prevent clogging. And then even though they’re still doing this and we’re still having things foaming up from the kitchen, from the kitchen sink regularly,” she said.

In August of the year she moved into her third floor unit, the lead engineer in charge of the ongoing fix project, Ron Hamburger, briefed city officials about “Functionality Issues” associated with the building. He pointed to one potential problem with the 1/8th inch downward slope per foot required by code to ensure proper drain operation. Drains tilting to the south and east, he said, will be most vulnerable to the building’s northwest sinking and tilting.

“Sewers sloping to the south and east will experience decreased slope and may become a problem,” he said, adding that the “drain line from the (second floor) kitchen has become problematic and is being maintained with periodic chemical flushing. It may be necessary to adjust this and other lines to re-establish slope.”

Millennium Tower officials didn’t answer questions about Mostafavi’s flooding issues. But they sent us a statement saying that all the water problems in the building are limited to just two third-floor units. They blame the backups on wipes and other non-flushable items, not tilting.

They cite a building engineer’s report dated in January 2022, five months after Hamburger’s assessment, recounting that tower staff was “running into issues regarding educating tenants on their habits regarding sanitary wipes and other non-flushable products that are causing backups in these lines.”

Tower officials stressed that Hamburger had “merely stated that it was possible” for such backups to happen when he gave that earlier assessment. They added that drain line slopes have “always remained within code standards.” However, monitoring data shows the tower’s tilt has gone from 19 inches at the time of Hamburger’s report to 29 inches now.

“We cannot expect this to be a one off – It’s a systemic issue that requires attention,” said Mark Savel, an architect and contractor who studies building failures like the Berkeley balcony collapse that killed six people back in 2015.

He says that while wipes flushed down toilets can obviously be a problem, tilting is the most likely cause of the backups being reported by the two tower residents. The only permanent solution, he says, is to adjust the drain lines to make sure the pipes are properly sloped downward, despite the tilt.

The time to do that, he says, may be now. “This is undoubtedly a health concern,” Savel said. “It’s a potential for property damage and it’s going to continue, if not worsen, over time.”

Mostafavi recalled the initial joy he felt when he bought his unit in 2012.

“I was so happy, a beautiful apartment,” he said. “I was so happy coming here, moving here.”

Now, he says, he just feels trapped in his once-beloved condo, unable to sell.

“There’s so many problems happening here now, it is more than bothersome,” he said as he stood next the sign proclaiming it to be his “happy place.”

“It is not manageable anymore moneywise and time wise, I don’t know what to do,’” he said, adding that he should change the sign outside his kitchen to reflect his current nightmare. “I have to put ‘UN-‘ here — ‘UN-HAPPY PLACE.'”

The latest shooting happened about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday while the victim was stopped on the shoulder of the Hegenberger Road off-ramp from southbound Interstate Highway 880.

The victim heard five gunshots, but he wasn’t injured and his car wasn’t hit, according to the CHP.

The suspect’s car is described as a blacked-out Chevrolet Camaro, Officer Adib Zeid said.

There have been five freeway shootings reported in the greater Oakland area since June 14, Zeid said.

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They include a shooting about 7:40 p.m. Sunday night on eastbound Highway 80 west of Buchanan Street in Albany. No injuries were reported but the victim’s vehicle was damaged.

The suspect in that shooting was described as a Hispanic man about 35-40 years old, wearing sunglasses and a green fitted cap, while driving a newer silver BMW convertible.

Anyone with information about the shooting on Wednesday is asked to contact the Oakland CHP office at (510) 457-2375 and ask for Officer Melendez.

U.S. citizen Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in late March while on a reporting trip. A Moscow court agreed last month to keep him in custody until Aug. 30. Defense lawyers challenged the decision, but the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal on Thursday.

Gershkovich and his employer have denied he spied in Russia. The U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release.

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His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have gathered to support the espionage charges.

Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions. U.S. Embassy officials were allowed to visit him once, but Russian authorities rejected two other requests to see him.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday that the ministry is considering another visit request from the embassy.

Oakland police investigator Phong Tran faces five felony charges, including perjury and bribing a witness in a 2011 murder case.

“This case involves a decade of lying and manipulation by an Oakland police officer,” Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said. “The days when we turn a blind eye to misconduct and violations of the law are over. This case hopefully should send a message that this kind of conduct is an outlier, that it cannot be tolerated.”

The allegations centers on the murder of Charles Butler, who was shot and killed during a road rage incident.

Tran is accused of paying a witness thousands of dollars to lie on the stand. The witness recanted years later.

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The Alameda County DA is now reviewing more than 200 other cases involving Tran.

“We do not want police officers to solve crimes,” Price said. “We will not and do not tolerate homicides, but we want witnesses to be able to come forward truthfully and unafraid.”

Adante Pointer represents Giovante Douglas and Cartier Hunter, the two men who spent nearly a decade behind bars based on the false testimony before their convictions were overturned.

“My clients are very happy to see that the officer who orchestrated essentially the hell that they lived through for 10 years, a decade now being held accountable for his actions,” Pointer said.

The two men are now suing Tran and the City of Oakland. The detective was formally served with the paperwork at court on Wednesday, but refused to take it.

If convicted on all criminal charges, Tran could be sentenced to just over six years in prison, Pointer said.

“I think this is a situation where he should be forced to spend at least as much time as they did away from their families snatched away from their lives and forced to deal with the nightmares of prison that would be fair,” Pointer said. “Unfortunately, the law doesn’t allow that.”

Tran’s attorney, Andrew Ganz, believes the case is hollow and is accusing Price of using press conferences to influence public opinion and dismiss murder cases in a statement saying “I must simply respect the ruling of the judge, even though this should have been the exception based on the actual evidence and law.”

It is a ruling Price said should send a message to both law enforcement and the community.

“My responsibility is to ensure there is no double standard and that the community is aware if you violate the law, even if you are a police officer that you will be held accountable,” Price said.

The crash reported Wednesday afternoon shut down both directions of Vasco Road, just south of Camino Diablo.

Contra Costa County Fire spokesperson Steve Hill said at least three vehicles were involved in the crash.

Motorists should expect significant delays in the area, officials said.

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A report from Santa Clara Valley Medical Center shows deadly fentanyl-related overdoses more than doubled from April to May this year. And now a new drug that’s often found with fentanyl is making the crisis even harder to fight.

“These drugs now are killing people at an alarming rate,” CHAM Pastor Scott Wagers said. “They’re very low level kind of drugs, street drugs, and they’re combinations of fentanyl, methamphetamines, tranq, new stuff coming out. I think some people don’t have any idea what’s in them.”

The Backpack Homeless Healthcare unit out of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center agrees. The unit, which goes out to encampments, says fentanyl is the primary problem. That’s why it distributes Nalaxone, known as Narcan, to try to prevent overdoses.

But the group says a new drug called tranq is adding fuel to the fire. Tranq is a street name for the powerful animal tranquilizer drug Xylazine, a drug that doesn’t respond to Narcan.

“Tranq, for folks who are experiencing overdose and the respiratory depression that goes along with that, tranq complicates that and can increase the sedation and will not be reversible with Nalaxone,” Backpack Homeless Healthcare Director Dr. Sara Jeevanjee said.

South Bay Assemblyman Evan Low said the state has been battling to find effective solutions to the problem.

“The public safety component may be overly simplistic, which is just to incarcerate and put individuals in incarceration while also getting the help,” Low said. “But we know that does not work and we see a revolving door.”

Low said he wants to see more partnership with the state and county to focus on more programs for public health and resolving addiction.

The bald eagle was first spotted in Santa Clara County in May gently bringing the baby red-tailed hawk back to her nest.

Gilroy wildlife photographer Doug Gillard caught the moment on camera. He expected the hawk would be served as dinner to the eagle’s baby. But that’s not what Gillard saw happen.

“This little white head popped up over the nest, like the size of a cotton ball maybe,” Gillard said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it’s alive.'”

The mother eagle began feeding the hawk, which has since been nicknamed Tuffy, bringing him food four times a day.

“That’s like crazy, crazy rare,” Gillard said. “I’ve heard this is the fifth recorded case in history of this happening.”

Avid birdwatcher Manny Vara was stunned the mother eagle was so careful with the hawklet.

“The female had to go to a red-tailed nest and actually grab the chick very gently with those giant talons they have and bring it over here without killing it,” he said. “Usually, whenever they grab anything, they just sink their talons into it and kill it instantly.”

It appears the male eagle accepted Tuffy, too. Some wildlife experts suggest it may be because red-tailed hawks have a begging call similar to an eagle’s call.

Now both the eaglet, known as Lola, and her apparently adopted brother Tuffy are learning to fly and finding their independence.

“To actually be able to witness this is amazing,” Vara said. “It just shows you that nature holds so many secrets.”

At one point, there were two hawklets in the nest, but birdwatchers say it’s unclear what happened to the second one.

He posted an ad on Twitter showing himself standing in what he calls the “once great city” and blasting liberal policies that he claims have now ruined it.

The video appears to show DeSantis standing at Geary and Hyde streets with a pile of trash in the background. It’s unclear exactly when the video was filmed.

“You look around, the city is not vibrant anymore,” DeSantis says. “It’s really collapsed because of leftist policies.”

In responding to the ad, San Francisco Mayor London Breed noted the efforts of President Joe Biden and partnerships with state and federal officials to clean up the problems, adding that the latest effort to crack down on the city’s issues has netted nearly 400 arrests for open air drug dealing and led to the seizure of 61 kilograms of fentanyl.

“We need to focus on all the great things that we’re trying to do to combat this problem because that’s the hard part,” Breed said.

NBC Bay Area political analyst Larry Gerston said the ad is political strategy.

“He thinks it’s going to attract some attention to him, first of all,” Gerston said. “He’s hoping, as long as he’s there, that it will also raise him money. He has good reasons to hope for both.”

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The crash occurred at about 10:25 p.m. Tuesday on Dougherty Road near Fall Creek Road at the Dublin-San Ramon border.

The car, a BMW M3, crashed into a tree and light pole at a high speed and burst into flames, police said.

The driver, a 25-year-old man, and another male passenger were killed in the crash, police said. The two victims appear to be San Ramon residents.

Dougherty Road was shut down as police investigated the cause of the crash.

The arrest comes at the same time international law enforcement agencies are warning about a big increase in pot smuggling through California airports.

According to federal court documents, the two baggage handlers are accused of running a ring of airline employees who would bust into passenger’s bags.

FBI agents accuse Joel Lamont Dunn of being the ring leader and Adrian Webb of being his right hand man.

The criminal complaint filed earlier this month only names Lamont and Webb, but mentions other employees.

NBC Bay Area reached out to United Airlines for comment on their employees’ charges but has not heard back. 

According to court documents, agents first picked up the trail of Dunn and Webb when they reported being robbed at gunpoint at an employee parking lot at SFO in June of 2021.

Agents started scouring security cameras and noticed the two were hauling trash bags to their cars.

Agents eventually made contact with another employee, who turned into their informant, and described to them how the operation worked.

Then last October, Dunn and Webb were stopped leaving the Terminal G garage with two large boxes and a garbage bag which contained about 30 pounds of pot in vacuum sealed packages.

NBC Bay Area Aviation Analyst Mike McCarran says the baggage handling areas at SFO are usually pretty secure.

Employees have to go through background checks and other measures to get clearance to be there.        

“You can find people who pass the background checks but still aren’t honest. And this is apparently what has happened,” he said. “But even if that happens, there are backups in the system, there are cameras, and other ways, so they can monitor what’s going on, and I think that’s how they eventually caught up with these people.”

These arrests come as law enforcement agents in the United Kingdom are stepping up their scrutiny of California flights bound for London — specifically flights originating from SFO and LAX.

The commander of the National Crime Agency Heathrow Branch issued a public warning which reads, “I’m making a direct appeal to anyone considering getting involved in transporting drugs to the U.K. think very carefully about the consequences.”

More than 25 passengers arriving there from California have been arrested or convicted for drug possession of marijuana since the start of the year.  

That includes Southern California resident Akintude Akinwande who told U.K. officials he was instructed to pick up a couple bags in Burbank. From Burbank, he traveled to San Francisco International then flew to London-Heathrow.

As he continued on to Belfast-Ireland, local authorities moved in and made their arrest. Authorities found more than 70 pounds of marijuana in his luggage.

Authorities say legally-grown pot in California is very valuable in the U.K. but it’s still illegal there — especially in large amounts.

Officials said the man and dogs will be OK after the incident.

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The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals — what’s now being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates.

The move launches a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste.

“Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat.

The companies received approvals for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the U.S. The action came months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed that products from both companies are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also cleared to make the products.

Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In Upside’s case, it comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultivated meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays.

But don’t look for this novel meat in U.S. grocery stores anytime soon. Cultivated chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat, said Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at University of California Berkeley.

The companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat dishes will be served at a Washington, D.C., restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andrés.

Company officials are quick to note the products are meat, not substitutes like the Impossible Burger or offerings from Beyond Meat, which are made from plant proteins and other ingredients.

Globally, more than 150 companies are focusing on meat from cells, not only chicken but pork, lamb, fish and beef, which scientists say has the biggest impact on the environment.

Upside, based in Berkeley, operates a 70,000-square-foot building in nearby Emeryville. On a recent Tuesday, visitors entered a gleaming commercial kitchen where chef Jess Weaver was sauteeing a cultivated chicken filet in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.

The finished chicken breast product was slightly paler than the grocery store version. Otherwise it looked, cooked, smelled and tasted like any other pan-fried poultry.

“The most common response we get is, ‘Oh, it tastes like chicken,’” said Amy Chen, Upside’s chief operating officer.

Good Meat, based in Alameda, operates a 100,000-square-foot plant, where chef Zach Tyndall dished up a smoked chicken salad on a sunny June afternoon. He followed it with a chicken “thigh” served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace and tiny purple cauliflower florets. The Good Meat chicken product will come pre-cooked, requiring only heating to use in a range of dishes.

Chen acknowledged that many consumers are skeptical, even squeamish, about the thought of eating chicken grown from cells.

“We call it the ‘ick factor,’” she said.

The sentiment was echoed in a recent poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of U.S. adults said that they are unlikely to try meat grown using cells from animals. When asked to choose from a list of reasons for their reluctance, most who said they’d be unlikely to try it said “it just sounds weird.” About half said they don’t think it would be safe.

But once people understand how the meat is made, they’re more accepting, Chen said. And once they taste it, they’re usually sold.

“It is the meat that you’ve always known and loved,” she said.

Cultivated meat begins with cells. Upside experts take cells from live animals, choosing those most likely to taste good and to reproduce quickly and consistently, forming high-quality meat, Chen said. Good Meat products are created from a master cell bank formed from a commercially available chicken cell line.

Once the cell lines are selected, they’re combined with a broth-like mixture that includes the amino acids, fatty acids, sugars, salts, vitamins and other elements cells need to grow. Inside the tanks, called cultivators, the cells grow, proliferating quickly. At Upside, muscle and connective tissue cells grow together, forming large sheets. After about three weeks, the sheets of poultry cells are removed from the tanks and formed into cutlets, sausages or other foods. Good Meat cells grow into large masses, which are shaped into a range of meat products.

Both firms emphasized that initial production will be limited. The Emeryville facility can produce up to 50,000 pounds of cultivated meat products a year, though the goal is to expand to 400,000 pounds per year, Upside officials said. Good Meat officials wouldn’t estimate a production goal.

By comparison, the U.S. produces about 50 billion pounds of chicken per year.

It could take a few years before consumers see the products in more restaurants and seven to 10 years before they hit the wider market, said Sebastian Bohn, who specializes in cell-based foods at CRB, a Missouri firm that designs and builds facilities for pharmaceutical, biotech and food companies.

Cost will be another sticking point. Neither Upside nor Good Meat officials would reveal the price of a single chicken cutlet, saying only that it’s been reduced by orders of magnitude since the firms began offering demonstrations. Eventually, the price is expected to mirror high-end organic chicken, which sells for up to $20 per pound.

San Martin said he’s concerned that cultivated meat may wind up being an alternative to traditional meat for rich people, but will do little for the environment if it remains a niche product.

“If some high-end or affluent people want to eat this instead of a chicken, it’s good,” he said. “Will that mean you will feed chicken to poor people? I honestly don’t see it.”

Tetrick said he shares critics’ concerns about the challenges of producing an affordable, novel meat product for the world. But he emphasized that traditional meat production is so damaging to the planet it requires an alternative — preferably one that doesn’t require giving up meat all together.

“I miss meat,” said Tetrick, who grew up in Alabama eating chicken wings and barbecue. “There should be a different way that people can enjoy chicken and beef and pork with their families.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

He began his day with some business — a roundtable on A.I.

Before that closed door session, the president promised to safeguard the public from A.I., “from protecting privacy to addressing bias and disinformation to making sure A.I. systems are safe before they are released.”

Sal Khan, from the Bay Area’s Khan Academy, was among those to participate and left impressed.

“I was really impressed by the conversation, I learned many things from the fellow panelists and I was really impressed by both the president and his team members’ questions and how they were thinking about the issues,” he said. 

Biden was then flown to Marin County for a fundraiser in Kentfield, landing at College of Marin’s Mackey Field. 

Joe Biden Jun 20

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That came hours after a video surfaced of a U.S. fighter jet intercepting a private plane that had flown into the restricted airspace over Marin County.

Up the road, a sold out fundraiser had donors handing over between $5,000 and $100,000 each.  

Then came a return flight to the city, for another fundraiser.

The president’s stay in the Bay Area ends Wednesday when he heads back to Washington D.C. with his re-election war chest millions of dollars richer because of the visit.

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

Here’s a look at the players with local ties who will be aiming to help the U.S. win its third World Cup title in a row when the competition kicks off next month.

Alana Cook

Defender Alana Cook played her college soccer at Stanford University between 2015 and 2018. The All-American and two-time team captain was the Pac-12 Defender of the Year in 2018 and helped lead the Cardinal to a national championship in 2017.

Naomi Girma

Defender Naomi Girma hails from San Jose. After attending Pioneer High School in her hometown, she stayed in the Bay Area for college, suiting up for the Stanford Cardinal. The three-time team captain and two-time Pac-12 Defender of the Year helped the Cardinal win a national championship in 2019. She was selected first overall in the 2022 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Draft by San Diego Wave FC.

Sofia Huerta

Defender Sofia Huerta was a four-year player at Santa Clara University between 2011 and 2014. The All-American racked up 47 goals and 19 assists in 81 games as a Bronco and was the co-West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year as a senior.

Kelley O’Hara

Defender Kelley O’Hara, a two-time World Cup winner, also attended Stanford, playing for the Cardinal between 2006 and 2009. As a senior, she won the Hermann Trophy, awarded to the nation’s top college soccer player.

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Julie Ertz

Midfielder Julie Ertz, also a two-time World Cup champion, played her college soccer at Santa Clara between 2010 and 2013. The two-time All-American was the WCC Player of the Year as a senior and was a Hermann Trophy semifinalist twice.

Andi Sullivan

Midfielder Andi Sullivan captained the Stanford Cardinal during the final three years of her four-year stint (2014-2017) on The Farm. The three-time All-American won the Hermann Trophy during her senior season while simultaneously guiding the Cardinal to a national title. She was then picked first overall in the 2018 NWSL Draft by the Washington Spirit.

Alex Morgan

Forward Alex Morgan, twice a World Cup winner, played for the California Golden Bears between 2007 and 2010. During her time at Cal, the All-American tallied 45 goals and 17 assists in 67 games.

Sophia Smith

Forward Sophia Smith played two seasons at Stanford in 2018 and 2019, leading the Cardinal to a national championship in her second season. She was chosen No. 1 overall in the 2020 NWSL Draft by the Portland Thorns.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, kicks off on July 20.

Before embarking, the Americans will play a send-off match at PayPal Park in San Jose on July 9.

One of the attackers, Danielle Chavez, told investigators, “She was motivated to attack … O’Connor because she did not like the kind of charges that O’Connor was in custody for.”

These new details are revealed in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office’s incident report of the Oct. 24 jail attack, obtained exclusive by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit.

O’Connor has been in custody without bail at Elmwood Correctional Facility for more than a year and a half. She faces 39 criminal counts for allegedly hosting multiple booze-filled parties for her underaged son and his underaged friends in 2020 and 2021. Prosecutors say, at times, the Los Gatos mother encouraged some of the minors to be sexual with each other. O’Connor has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

According to the incident report, a Sheriff’s deputy was escorting O’Connor to her cell when other inmates in that cell “began to shout and make threats that they would beat her up.” Some of the inmates apparently knew about her child endangerment charges.

“So, prisoners have their own code of ethics, if you will, and they have a point where certain crimes are not acceptable,” said retired police detective Mike Leininger, referring to the child endangerment charges.

O’Connor told investigators that deputies asked if she wanted protective custody, but O’Connor reportedly declined even though she “felt intimidated.” Why O’Connor declined protective custody was not specified in the incident report.

“About ten minutes after … O’Connor was placed in the cell, she was attacked by” Danielle Chavez, Erika Amaya, Marianna Gardea, Anita Quiroz and Sophia Vigil.

In March, the Investigative Unit was the first news organization to report on the jail attack. The Sheriff’s Office’s statement of facts reported, “The assault was carried out using hands and feet, and the level of force used was likely [to] produce great bodily injury … the assault lasted for approximately 16 seconds.”

According to the incident report, initially O’Connor, “did not want to seek prosecution against the inmates who attacked her” because “she was afraid of retaliation.” She also told an investigator “she remembered …Chavez said … O’Connor needed to pay each of the female inmates inside the dorm $300 a week” if she wanted to stay in that cell with them.” Chavez denied this allegation when officials asked her about it.

Court documents show Chavez, Gardea, Vigil, Amaya and Quiroz were prosecuted. They all pled no contest to the assault charge and were sentenced to 1 to 2 years in county jail and probation. The Investigative Unit reached out to their individual attorneys who either did not respond or said they had no comment.

“Should [an incarcerated person] be concerned about their safety? All prisoners should be concerned about their safety. There are gang issues. There are subsets of these gangs now. They all need to be concerned about their safety, and the [facility] also reacts accordingly,” said Leininger.

In a statement to the Investigative Unit, Santa Cara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said it, “continues to provide the highest level of security for our incarcerated individuals within our correctional facilities … Once housed, the risk assessment becomes an on-going process throughout the person’s incarcerations.”

O’Connor’s attorney had no comment.

Catch up on the Investigative Unit’s reporting on Shannon O’Connor’s criminal case:

Exclusive: What Los Gatos High School knew about Shannon O’Connor and what officials did about it

Los Gatos mom accused of hosting alcohol-fueled parties declines to change plea

Los Gatos mom attacked in jail, hospitalized

Officers received a 2:30 p.m. report Tuesday of the shooting, which the CHP believes occurred Sunday night about 7:40 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 80 west of Buchanan Street in Albany.

Like the other two incidents in Oakland this week, no injuries were reported but the victim’s vehicle was damaged.

The suspect was described as a Hispanic man about 35-40 years old, wearing sunglasses and a green fitted cap, while driving a newer silver BMW convertible.

In another news release Tuesday night, the CHP described a different suspect in a separate, but similar, shooting that took place Tuesday about 3:35 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 580 near the junction of Highway 24.

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The CHP described the suspect as a heavy-set, deeply-tanned white man between 50 and 60 years old, who was driving a 2019 gray Tesla. CHP officials said they suspect road rage is a factor. Like the other shootings, no injuries were reported but the victim’s vehicle was damaged.

The CHP is also investigating another freeway shooting, but no suspect has yet been described in the incident Monday morning on the 66th Avenue off-ramp of southbound Interstate 880 in Oakland. A vehicle was damaged when struck by a bullet at about 8:40 a.m.

The completion of work along Fremont Street last week comes as the tower is listing 29 inches at the northwest corner, monitoring data shows that much of that tilt happened during digging and other activities surrounding the fix project that began early in 2021.

The Fremont Street work involved tying the tower to an extended foundation supported by 12 piles sunk to bedrock on the tower’s west side. The four-day load transfer operation was completed on June 14, monitoring records show.

The work came as engineers had already supported the north side of the tower to six piles sunk to bedrock along Mission Street.

The total of 18 perimeter piles currently handle about 500,000 pounds of building load apiece. The plan is for them to take on twice that load, with a goal of arresting settlement and reversing some of the current tilt by shifting more of the load to the east and south.

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Millennium fix officials indicated in a statement that the building is now starting to recover some of its tilt. That’s backed up by newly released rooftop monitoring data, showing that the newly supported tower is leaning about a quarter inch less at the northwest corner that it was just days before.

But David Williams, an expert in deep foundations, says its simply too soon to make any pronouncements of success.

He recalled that back in January, fix engineers were quick to hail the Mission Street operation a successful based on similar early data. But subsequent monitoring results showed that didn’t last and the tower’s westward tilt eventually got worse, not better. At the time of last week’s operation, in fact, the tower was tilting more than ever to the west.

“They have claimed early success before – that was premature,” Williams said. “So right now, we’ll have to wait and see how it responds.”

Don Williams, 61, was last seen around 3 p.m. on Hill Road after walking away from Novato Healthcare Center on Hill Road.  

Williams is described as white, around 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds with a slender build. He has blue eyes, grey buzzed hair and no facial hair. Williams was last seen wearing a navy blue baseball cap with an American flag, a blue sweatshirt and navy-colored pants. 

Anyone who sees Williams should call the Novato Police Department at (415) 897-1122.

The Diocese’s attorneys declined an interview request from NBC Bay Area at a hearing Tuesday, but argued in a recent motion that confidentiality will protect accused clergy against “the disclosure of a ‘scandalous’ and deeply personal matter in publicly filed court documents.”

They added that confidentiality was necessary to “protect the privacy and to prevent identity theft and harassment of those individuals,” both alleged victims and accused clergy alike.

Plaintiff’s attorneys and victim advocates blasted the move and questioned the diocese’s commitment to transparency in the widening sex abuse scandal.

“What we see is not an endeavor to shed light on that cancerous past,” said Brent Weisenberg, an attorney representing plaintiffs and other creditors in the Oakland bankruptcy case. “We’re here with a request that on the first day of the case, all these names remain secret.”

Judge William J. Lafferty did not rule on the motion during Tuesday’s hearing, but instead suggested attorneys for the diocese file a new motion specifying exactly which names should be kept under seal and why.

The Diocese of Oakland currently faces more than 300 child sexual abuse lawsuits stemming from AB 218, a 2019 state law that opened a three-year window for such cases to proceed in court despite the statute of limitations. Attorneys for the plaintiffs said the figure could climb past 400 once every case was tallied.

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oakland diocese May 8

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In 2019, the Diocese of Oakland released a list of more than 60 priests who have been “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children. Attorneys for the diocese signaled Tuesday their confidentiality motion would not apply to the priests on that list.

However, as NBC Bay Area first reported, there are hundreds of Northern California priests who now face abuse allegations for the first time, including many from the Oakland diocese, and it’s currently unclear how those names will be treated. None of those newly accused priests have been added to the Diocese of Oakland’s public list of suspected abusers, despite some being named in multiple recent lawsuits.

Publicly available documents filed in state civil court have already named many such priests, including Oakland’s now-deceased founding bishop, Bishop Floyd Begin, and Weisenberg argued the court can’t seal what’s already hit the public domain.

An attorney for the diocese said in court they needed more time to review those names before making a determination on their confidentiality request.

Outside the courthouse, advocates from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), held a small demonstration. They accused Oakland Bishop Michael Barber of using the bankruptcy process to shield the identities of alleged abusers from public disclosure.

“What I would like to ask you Bishop Michael Barber,” former Oakland priest Tim Stier said. “Is if you’re publicly committed to transparency and accountability on child abuse issues, I think you should tell your lawyers that because they seem to be taking a different tact.”

SNAP urged the Diocese to publish the names of all priests accused in recently filed lawsuits and reiterated calls for California Attorney General Rob Bonta to publish findings from his office’s ongoing probe into abuse within the Catholic church.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Oakland did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s request for comment Tuesday.

The diocese’s new confidentiality motion is due next month.

That’s when thieves shattered part of a glass window at Gai Chicken and Rice around 3 a.m.

The thieves then entered the restaurant and stole $650 in cash and $1,500 of equipment.

The queer-owned business says the attack during Pride Month feels “personal,” but they won’t let it shake their spirits.

“In the spirit of Pride, I don’t think you’re going to be able to break our spirit,” said an employee. “I think we were able to get everything up and running in one day, we closed for a day, but what goes around comes around.”

Three weeks ago, vandals shattered another window at the restaurant, and in April, someone broke through the restaurant’s door.

In 2010, it started getting worse. 

“I woke up one morning, and everything was really quiet. Which was scary,” said the Mountain View resident. 

She tried two prior sets of hearing aids, but they didn’t work for her. That’s when her doctor recommended Earlens. 

“It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It has totally changed my world,” said Burns. “And then two days later I went to Beethoven’s 9th, and I sat in the audience and cried,” said Burns. 

Standard hearing aids capture sound and amplify it through a tiny speaker. 

Earlens says it’s the first hearing aid to include a custom lens that is placed onto the eardrum. The receiver then sends it pulses of energy that makes the lens vibrate. 

“Earlens is different from any hearing aid on the market because it gives access to a full range of sound. From very low frequency, 100 hertz, up to very high frequency, 10,000 hertz,” said audiologist, Dr. Ariel Fruendt. 

The company’s CTO, Dr. Drew Dundas claims the design allows for a much broader audio range that allows people to hear music and conversations twice as well as other aids. 

“Realizing that we could drive that middle ear system, activate the natural hearing structures, without having to do surgery, really was the ‘aha moment’ that allowed us to get this technology pulled together and onto patients,” he said.

So why doesn’t everyone use them? Price.

The Earlens cost around $12,000, including evaluations by a doctor. 

That’s several thousand dollars more than other top-of-the-line hearing aids. And if you have too much hearing damage – it might not work for you. 

For Burns, it’s been worth it. Her bandmates say her playing, and her singing, is better than ever. 

“I just came back from a music festival where I was on stage singing a song I wrote with this amazing backing band. That would never have happened without Earlens,” she said.

They’re found at every exit and entrance to the Saratoga Woods neighborhood.

“Late ‘18 early ‘19 we were noticing an increase in crime within the Saratoga Wood community,” said Larry Schwerin.

If it wasn’t burglaries, it was vehicle thefts.  

“Coming out of the technology sector like many of us do, we started to investigate what are now known as these LPR, license plate reader cameras,” said Schwerin.

He said dozens of his neighbors teamed up and paid several hundred dollars to install and manage some of the first flock cameras in the city of Saratoga in 2020.

They didn’t need city permission because they were installed on private property.

Two years later, the city followed suit, installing seven license plate readers as part of a pilot program.

Now, neighborhoods all around the city are pitching in for their own flock cameras, with the help of the city.

The city of Saratoga says they just approved six districts or communities that want to pay for license plate reading cameras in their neighborhoods in nearly 26 proposed sites.

All of them would be funded by residents through their property taxes then managed by the city and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.

“Since the beginning of 2023, we’ve had nine arrests from these flock cameras,” said Russell Davis.

The sheriff’s office says the cameras solely focus on license plates and once the system detects a stolen car, the company notifies dispatch.

“It’s just going to help with investigative leads, so far the success rate in how fast these deputies locate stolen vehicles is pretty impressive. They get them off the street and the biggest things they get these vehicles back to the rightful owner,” said Davis.

As for Schwerin, he said he’s seen a decrease in crime in his neighborhood. He says they went from 12 vehicle burglaries in 2019 to just two in 2022.

He added that even neighbors concerned with privacy issues are now looking at the benefits.

“There is a feature in the flock camera system that if people who live in the neighborhood don’t want their license plate tagged, you can actually opt out,” said Schwerin.

“I miss playing, I play for a living,” said Ben Ball. “I’m still in shock, kind of overwhelmed right now.”

Just hours after his Father’s Day performance, two thieves on bikes stole two of his saxophones, including a rare 1953 Selmer alto sax, while he was unloading band equipment at a house in Oakland on 41st and Telegraph early Monday morning.  

“In that split second when I went up the stairs, by the time I came back down the stairs, the guys had already taken off on the bikes,” said Ball.

He said the men appeared to be in their late teens to early 20s and dropped one instrument during their escape — causing hundreds of dollars in damages. The one they got away with was his sole source of income after a car accident left him disabled and unable to work.  

“They are taking something that is not theirs … The horn doesn’t have any value to the person who is taking it, as much as it does to me,” said Ball.

His friend, Sunny Adams, was watching the band unload when the theft happened. She is now putting posters up around the city to help raise money.  

“I saw in his eyes him realizing that he couldn’t work and that he wouldn’t have any gigs without a saxophone,” she said.

In an effort to get Ball back in tune, Adams set up a GoFundMe to replace the horn worth more than $7,000.

The effort to replace it raised $5,000 in just one day.

“It just gives me hope that the Bay Area is still the beautiful place,” said Ball. “It’s been really hard to see a lot of rampant crime. I just figured instead of getting upset and crying and being dejected, to do something positive.”

After being forced to cancel multiple performances, the story appears headed for a positive note. Ball hopes to soon have another instrument in hand and a little rhythm and harmony back in his life.  

“That’s what I do and to not be able to do that would just be devastating,” said Ball.

Police said 33-year-old Lee Haywood of Pittsburg has been arrested in the shooting described by witnesses as a rolling gunbattle that erupted Sunday near Pier 39.

Haywood, 23, and a woman were inside a black SUV that was involved in a shootout with a white sedan, police said, adding both were shot during the incident. Haywood is being treated at a hospital for life-threatening injuries and the woman was treated and later released for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Police allege they found a semi-automatic firearm and several spent shell casings inside the SUV.

Haywood was arrested on suspicion of negligent discharge of a firearm, being a wanted felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded, concealed firearm in a vehicle and on an outstanding warrant out of Antioch, police said.

The white sedan involved in the shootout left the scene after the black SUV Haywood was in crashed at the intersection of the Embarcadero and Howard Street. Police said while an arrest has been made, the case is still part of an open investigation.

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The shooting on Father’s Day at a popular tourist area comes after several shootings the weekend before left at least a dozen injured. The string of violence has left city leaders working to calm a nervous public.

Police have been collecting security camera video at multiple locations along the Embarcadero as they continue to investigate Sunday’s shooting.

Just before 7 p.m., officers responded to the area of Beach and Stockton streets for a report of a shooting.

The gunbattle involved a white sedan and a dark SUV, with the occupants of the SUV firing first, according to witnesses. The occupants of the sedan returned fire, with a chase following.

The chase then continued down the Embarcadero, with witnesses describing a rolling gunbattle between the vehicles. The vehicles sped and weaved between traffic for more than a mile and half before the SUV crashed at Howard Street and the Embarcadero.

Police said two bicyclists were hit, one of whom was a child. Both bicyclists suffered minor injuries, officials said.

Police were still trying to track down the occupants of the white sedan that sped away after the SUV crashed at Howard Street.

Anyone with information is asked to contact San Francisco police at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.

The president gathered for an artificial intelligence forum with tech leaders in San Francisco and in his opening remarks said “AI brings both risks and promises.”

NBC Bay Area’s Scott Budman breaks down what the White House hopes to see and what local companies are doing about it. View his report in the video above.

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A frantic and massive search effort for the missing Titan submersible continued Tuesday roughly 900 miles east of Cape Cod. The sub lost communication on Sunday, less than two hours into a trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic.

“There could’ve been an accident,” retired Royal Navy Rear Admiral Chris Parry said. “It could have become entangled in the wreckage of Titanic. It could indeed have had a catastrophic failure.”

The names of the five men aboard the sub were made public Tuesday. They are British billionaire Hamish Harding; French diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet; Stockton Rush, a Cal graduate and the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, the company that owns the missing sub; and Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

Shahzada Dawood has ties to the Bay Area. Since 2020, he has been on the board of the SETI Institute based in Mountain View. The institute is dedicated to identifying life across the universe. A spokesperson said the institute is deeply concerned about Shahzada and his son and are in contact with their family.

The SETI Institute and its CEO, Bill Diamond, issued the following statement: “The entire SETI Institute community is devastated by the news of our Trustee, Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, who are on board the missing submersible with three other passengers and crew. Shahzada is not only a member of our Board of Trustees but also a dear friend and part of the SETI Institute family. We are holding out every hope for a successful rescue mission and the safe return of our brother and all those on board. Our hearts go out to Shahzada, Suleman and the entire Dawood family. The situation is extremely serious, but we extend our thoughts and best wishes for a positive outcome.”

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As the five men face the possibility of running out of breathable air within the next two days, commercial diver Chris Lemons understands what the men might be experiencing. In 2012, he lost his air supply while diving to repair an oil rig.

“I was left with about five or six minutes of breathing gas on the bottom of the North Sea and about 4 degrees of water,” Lemons said. “It took my rescuers about 40-43 minutes I think to get back to me.”

Lemons said for the men on the Titan, it’s critical to stay calm and regulate their breathing. He said air supply is not their only concern. Depending on what happened, the sub may have also lost heat.

“People always assume that it’s going to be the breathing gas that gets you, but actually it’s often not,” Lemons said. “It’s often the cold that will get you first. Hypothermia is a serious, serious danger at that depth if they’re not being artificially heated. Carbon dioxide is also a huge, huge issue.”

Canadian search planes have dropped sonar buoys in the rough seas, hoping to hear something from the sub in the deep expanse of the north Atlantic Ocean.

“They really only have one option,” Lemons said. “They’re so deep that any exposure to the water for example would be unconscionable. That would be fatal. They need to be brought up in one piece.”

The shooting was reported at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on the 600 block of Schwerin Street.

Police said an investigation is ongoing and anyone with information should call the Daly City Police Department at 650-991-8119.

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Thieves took the Zeledon’s Bakery on Wheels van from a mechanic shop in Los Banos and ended up rolling over into a canal 36 miles away in Merced.

“Everything is messed up inside, like a bomb went in there,” co-owner Juan Carlos Soto said.

The mobile bakery routinely left its headquarters in Los Banos and headed to the South Bay, where it became popular.

Soto and fellow owner Ernesto Bitello were preparing to hit the road on Monday when they got the disastrous news.

“I was enjoying my Father’s Day,” Bitello said. “I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to take it easy today because tomorrow we gotta go work, delivering pan dulce to all of the South Bay. But we got this horrible news.”

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The van was totaled in the wreck, putting the owners’ livelihoods in jeopardy.

“I wanted to cry,” Soto said. “I felt like somebody had died. That’s our work truck. That’s how we feed our families. It was pretty hard. I couldn’t take it. Tears started coming out.”

Soto said he only had liability insurance on the van, so the family started a GoFundMe campaign. Rather quickly, they received a donation they couldn’t believe.

Comedian Gabriel Iglesias, known as Fluffy, pitched in $4,000 so they can make a down payment on a new van. The family said it needs about $45,000 more to get back in business.

“During the day I do my thing on the laptop and at night I shut it off and turn into a Glamazon,” re-capped DeNovo.

For the last couple years, DeNovo has followed such a routine, contrasting the role of a corporate lawyer with that of a drag performer, donning sparkly outfits to strut around lip synching to high energy songs at everyplace from nightclubs to corporate parties to street fairs. 

Dextra DeNovo – the performer’s stage name as she keeps her birth name private – had been a fan of drag for a long time but never thought she could pull it off and had no experience with makeup. But like so many who found their calling in the downtime of the pandemic, the Alameda resident turned idle time into a time of transformation. 

“I went through a pretty nasty divorce during the pandemic and that kinda lit the fire under my butt,” DeNovo said. “I’m like, ‘This is what we need to do. You need to go for things and challenge yourself and do it.’” 

The makeup turned out to be the biggest hurdle in this life makeover. DeNovo turned to YouTube videos to figure out how to apply blush and eyeliner. She figured out eyelashes made the biggest impact. She began assembling an array of wigs which line a shelf in the kitchen above where Denovo set up a makeup station. A Singer sewing machine sat nearby, evidence DeNovo makes her own costumes. 

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It’s somewhat of a contrast that within DeNovo’s Alameda apartment the corporate lawyer and the drag queen co-exist within a single space and person. DeNovo said she had discussed her desire to perform in drag with her co-workers and bosses at the tech firm where she’s employed. 

“My current employers are really supportive,” DeNovo said. “As soon as I was like, ‘Oh, I’m interested in doing drag,’ they were, ‘Oh my gosh,’ so excited for me.” 

The law gig has even led to some drag gigs. She performed for the LGBT Bar Association in San Francisco and the International Association of Privacy Professionals in Washington D.C. 

In a further melding of law and drag, DeNovo also started a podcast with another gay attorney about entertainment law called Reading is Fundamental. 

“You really just need to be 100% authentically you,” DeNovo said. “I’m a lawyer. I’m a drag queen. Might as well just be open about it.” 

But the current attacks across the country on drag queens and trans people have motivated DeNovo to seek the limelight even more. She’s scared and disheartened by not only attacks but also the number of state’s currently considering legislation to ban public drag performances. The rage has made it into her performances and fuels her energy. 

“I think it’s important for us to be as visible as possible and to share our stories as much as possible because I think the more that goes around the more the stigma goes away,” DeNovo said.

And taking on stigmas is a central theme of DeNovo’s life these days. With Pride Month descended on the Bay Area, her performance calendar is full and she is making good on her goal of raising her visibility — and maybe even further pairing her two careers.  

“If I get a large platform, I want to be the next Judge Judy in drag,” she laughed. “Wow amazing is that, and who else is qualified?”

A series of powerful storms freed California of a yearslong drought that stretched from 2020 to mid-January and filled Lake Oroville to 129% of its historical average, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

The lake has gained over 2.5 million acre-feet of water since last December, according to the DWR. It has been at 100% capacity since June 9.

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A medical expert ordered by the court to review the mental state of Carlos Dominguez, 21, found that he is not competent to stand trial, a Yolo County Superior Court judge said Tuesday. A jury will decide July 24, he said.

Dominguez interrupted the hearing to say that he wanted to apologize. “I want to say I’m guilty,” he said, sitting besides his court-appointed deputy public defender, Dan Hutchinson.

At a previous hearing in May, Dominguez said he did not want a lawyer.

The stabbings shook the University of California, Davis campus and broader community. Businesses closed early and students feared to step outside their homes, even for daytime classes.

Dominguez had been a third-year student majoring in biological sciences until April 25, when the university let him go for academic reasons. He was arrested near the location of his second alleged attack, wearing the clothes from the alleged third attack, making it easy for bystanders to identify him.

Police did not disclose a motive for the stabbings and it was unclear if Dominguez knew the victims. Those killed were a 50-year-old homeless man well loved in the community and a 20-year-old UC Davis student. A homeless woman attacked in her tent Monday night is alive.

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With the lowest payroll, worst attendance and worst record in baseball, the A’s were finally on a six-game winning streak as they got ready to take on the Tampa Bay Rays, the team with the best record in baseball. But that’s not why the parking lot was so crowded.

“Get your shirt and put it on!” shouted Tyrone Moore-Perez, a volunteer with the Oakland 68s sports fan booster club.

“One per person, so we have enough for everybody!” shouted fellow volunteer April Kenton, as she balled up Kelly green T-shirts and threw them to fans entering the sprawling tailgate party. “Make sure you guys put these on! Put the shirts on, guys!”

“I’m a third-generation A’s fan, and I’m here to do my part to keep my team in Oakland,” Kenton explained.

“I love my team, I’ve been a fan since I was a kid, I don’t want to lose them,” Moore-Perez said.

As he spoke, Moore-Perez held up his own Kelly green shirt, with one word on it: “SELL.”

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Volunteers gave away 7,000 of the T-shirts, made at cost by local clothing retailer Oaklandish, as part of a protest they’d been planning since April when the A’s ownership announced plans to leave Oakland and move the team to Las Vegas. Already angry at owner John Fisher for trading away the team’s best players while raising ticket prices as the Coliseum continues to slowly decay, many fans had stopped coming to the ballpark altogether, leaving the A’s with an average Tuesday attendance of just 3,913 before the June 13 game.

But a tweet from A’s fan Stu Clary changed all of that for just one night. Clary suggested a “reverse boycott” — packing the Coliseum full of A’s fans for one randomly chosen weeknight game — to let Fisher, Major League Baseball, and the rest of the world know that Oakland has plenty of baseball fans who love their team, even if they hate its owner.

“I’ll be honest and say I didn’t think the organizers could pull this off,” said Nick Danoff, co-founder of a group that’s been working to secure the A’s a new ballpark location on Oakland’s waterfront. “Getting this many people here for a Tuesday night game against a team with no local fan base? … It’s incredible what they’ve done, and it shows there is that community here in Oakland that supports the team, and we just need to be given the chance.”

The official recorded attendance for the game was 27,759 — the Coliseum’s biggest crowd of the season. The Kelly green “SELL” shirts were visible from numerous camera angles in the game broadcast, and chants of “Sell the team!” could be heard loudly behind the announcers’ commentary.

“We’re getting national exposure,” Kenton said. “And we’re helping people understand that a team is more than just the ball players on the field or the owner. It’s also about the community around us.”

Inside the hulking concrete stadium where the A’s have played ball since 1968, the energy was electric and the noise was deafening.

“This literally feels like a normal A’s game,” said lifelong fan and Oakland 68s member Anson Canasnares.

In the section behind home plate, Hal the Hot Dog Guy, a beloved former A’s food vendor, stood up on his seat, leading the crowd in chants of “Stay in Oakland! Stay in Oakland!”

And in the right field bleachers, the Oakland 68s brought back their notoriously loud drums — a daily fixture at A’s games for more than 20 years until the team announced its Vegas land deal in April.

“We took the drums away — it was a really hard decision,” Casanares said.

“It’s been very effective to have the drums be gone,” said one of the drummers, a woman who told us she’s been coming to A’s games since the drumming began in 2000. “Silence is a weapon, and we’ve been using that.”

“We’re not gonna bring it to Vegas,” Casanares said of the drumming tradition, which has always been an unofficial, fan-led activity.

But as if to show Fisher and the world what they’d be giving up if the team moves to Las Vegas, the drummers came back for one night, as loud as can be.

“John Fisher’s trying to take this away from us,” said another one of the drummers. “You really want to leave all of this —all of this fun — for some tourists in Clark County, Nevada?”

The A’s pulled ahead of the Rays in the 8th inning, and the crowd got louder. Some commented on Twitter that it felt like playoff energy inside the Coliseum that night.

“This is more than a championship game,” said one excited fan. “This is our lives. We need this team to stay!”

The game stopped briefly as a fan in a green “SELL” T-shirt and black running shorts sprinted across the field, chased by security guards, as the crowd laughed and cheered him on. Then, it was back to baseball, and ultimately to a 7th straight win for the A’s. Fans immediately chanted “Sell the team! Sell the team!” at the game’s conclusion.

As fans from the right field bleachers spilled out into the walkways and the concourse of the Coliseum’s main level, still cheering and beating on their drums, a metaphorical dark cloud loomed over the Coliseum in the chilly night air: Sometime earlier that evening, while the A’s were warming up for their 2-1 victory over the Rays, the Nevada state senate passed SB1, a bill that would go on to be signed by Governor Joe Lombardo, approving $380 million in public funding for a 30,000-seat ballpark on the 9-acre Vegas Strip site where the Tropicana hotel now sits. It moves the A’s even closer to an exit from Oakland, even as fans rejoiced over their team’s unlikely victory and the success of their grassroots protest.

“This at least feels like a celebration,” Danoff said. “Maybe a last hurrah here? It’s worth doing — but this might be it.”

“It’s so wonderful,” said another fan outside the Coliseum. “And all I can tell people that say, ‘Oh, it’s done,’ — it’s not over ’til it’s over.”

The study released Tuesday by the University of California, San Francisco attempts to capture a comprehensive picture of how people become homeless in California, and what impeded their efforts at finding permanent housing. The representative survey of nearly 3,200 homeless people found that when they lost housing, their median household income was $960 a month, and for renters on leases it was $1,400 a month, of which on average half went to rent.

Homelessness is a national crisis, and all too pervasive in California, where an estimated 171,000 people — or 30% of all homeless people in the U.S. — are homeless. Political leaders are divided over how to address the crisis, with some, including Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, favoring tent encampment sweeps and a tough-love approach toward those with mental health and addiction issues.

It it not groundbreaking news that the state’s exorbitant housing costs are a major driver behind homelessness, but researchers at the UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative hope that the study will strengthen public support for policies that focus on offering housing and emergency rental assistance — rather than policies emphasizing punishment or stigma.

“People are homeless because their rent is too high. And their options are too few. And they have no cushion,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, initiative director and lead investigator. “And it really makes you wonder how different things would look if we could solve that underlying problem.”

Kushel’s team surveyed nearly 3,200 adults around California, and followed up to conduct in-depth interviews with 365 people, between October 2021 and November 2022.

The study found that Black people made up 26% of the homeless population in a state where they are only 6% of the general population. About 90% of participants were living in California when they became homeless. Half reported an inability to work due to age, health or disability. The median length of homelessness was a little under two years.

More than a third of adults surveyed met the criteria for chronic homelessness, meaning they had a disabling condition and were homeless for at least 1 year — or were homeless four times in the previous three years totaling more than 12 months.

In Los Angeles in 2015, Sage Johnson’s mother was evicted from their apartment when she was unable to meet rent that had increased to $1,200. In disability pay, she received about $1,340 a month. She bounced around, from LA’s notorious Skid Row to various convalescent homes while her daughter lived at a shelter.

Later, Johnson, 28, was able to place her mother in a home, where she stayed for about two years. In 2018 though, her mother died from a debilitating stroke.

Johnson, who now has stable housing, wishes she could have done more.

“But in the end, she did have a bed. She was inside. She didn’t have any more strokes outside. And she was able to regenerate and rejuvenate and restore some of her life while in the convalescent home,” said Johnson, a co-chair for one of the study’s advisory boards.

Among study participants, substance abuse and issues with mental health were common and predated becoming homeless. Of those surveyed, 45% reported current, regular use of cocaine, amphetamines and opioids or heavy episodic drinking. Participants described how heavy substance use contributed to losing their homes, but also how methamphetamine usage allowed them to stay alert to protect themselves from assault or theft.

Nearly half of the adults surveyed were not on a lease in the six months prior to becoming homeless, and had likely moved in with family or friends, contributing to rent when they could. Nearly a quarter cited conflict among housemates, desire for more space or not wanting to impose any longer on family and friends as primary reasons they left.

On average, people surveyed who were not on leases received only one day of warning before needing to move out.

Among people on rental lease agreements, more than 20% cited income loss or reduction as the primary reason they lost housing. “So it wasn’t so much that their housing costs increased, it’s that they could no longer keep up with it,” said Kushel.

California ranks as the most unaffordable state when it comes to housing, according to an annual report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A person earning an hourly minimum wage of $15.50 would have to work nearly 90 hours a week to afford the statewide average for a modest one-bedroom rental, which is nearly $1,800 a month, the coalition states.

The study was requested by Newsom’s administration, which has made addressing homelessness a priority, but the state did not fund it so didn’t play a role in analyzing data or interpreting the findings.

The report makes many recommendations, including deep expansion of rental assistance and pilot programs to facilitate shared housing for people seeking to get out of homelessness — and a rental stipend program for people living temporarily with family or friends.

Johnson said she hopes the public will find the report’s findings to be evidence that tax dollars are being put to good use in social safety net spending. She also hopes that people will support robust mental health and addiction treatment services along with affordable housing options.

“I don’t want to set anyone up for failure,” she said. “And I’m sure many of my peers can agree that folks need time to practice going back to, like, regular society life.”

At about 5:50 a.m. Tuesday, officers responded to the scene of a fatal hit-and-run collision involving a pedestrian in the area of Capitol and Alum Rock avenues, police said.

The victim, identified only as an adult male, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Traffic was impacted into the late morning hours as the southbound lanes of Capitol Avenue were closed from Alum Rock Avenue to Florence Avenue, police said.

No vehicle or suspect description was immediately available.

The blaze in Marina Plaza was first reported just before 11 p.m. Monday.

ConFire officials reported just after midnight that its crews still were in defensive mode battling the flames.

Later Tuesday morning, fire officials said they deployed drones with thermal imaging to provide firefighters with live, aerial views of the blaze.

The cause of the fire was not yet known, and no injuries were immediately reported.

No other details were immediately available.

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The Biden administration is seeking to figure out how to regulate the emergent field of AI, looking for ways to nurture its potential for economic growth and national security and protect against its potential dangers.

“We’ll see more technological change in the next 10 years that we saw in the last 50 years,” Biden said as the meeting with eight technology experts from academia and advocacy groups kicked off.

“AI is already driving that change,” Biden said.

The sudden emergence of AI chatbot ChatGPT and other tools has jumpstarted investment in the sector. AI tools are able to craft human-like text, music, images and computer code. This form of automation could increase the productivity of workers, but experts warn of numerous risks.

The technology could be used to replace workers, causing layoffs. It’s already being deployed in false images and videos, becoming a vehicle of disinformation that could undermine democratic elections. Governments, as well as the European Union, have said they are determined to regulate and put brakes on AI before it is too late.

Biden said social media has already shown the harm technology can do “without the right safeguards in place.”

In May, Biden’s administration brought together tech CEOs at the White House to discuss these issues, with the Democratic president telling them, “What you’re doing has enormous potential and enormous danger.”

White House chief of staff Jeff Zients’ office is developing a set of actions the federal government can take over the coming weeks regarding AI, according to the White House. Top officials are meeting two to three times each week on this issue, in addition to the daily work of federal agencies. The administration wants commitments from private companies to address the possible risks from AI.

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Biden is meeting on Tuesday at the Fairmont hotel in San Francisco with Tristan Harris, executive director of the Center for Human Technology; Jim Steyer, the CEO of Common Sense Media; and Joy Buolamwin, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, among others. California Gov. Gavin Newsom was also in attendance.

Biden is also in the San Francisco area to raise money for this 2024 reelection campaign. He plans to hold two fundraising events on Tuesday, after holding two on Monday. One of Biden’s Monday fundraisers was hosted by Kevin Scott, the chief technology officer and executive vice president for AI at Microsoft.

Associated Press writer Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report.

The CHP said the shooting happened at about 10 p.m. on northbound Highway 101 just south of Interstate 280.

Officers found a vehicle riddled with multiple bullet holes, but the person inside the vehicle was not injured, the CHP said.

Further information wasn’t immediately available.

DeSantis, meanwhile, likes to mock Newsom’s apparent “fixation” on Florida while insisting that the Democratic governor’s “leftist government” is destroying California.

Welcome to one of the fiercest rivalries in U.S. politics, featuring dueling term-limited governors who represent opposite ends of the ideological spectrum and lead two of the nation’s largest and most influential states. Newsom and DeSantis almost certainly won’t face each other on any ballot in 2024, but in many ways, they are defining the debate from their corners of America as the presidential primary season gets underway.

Newsom addressed both his contempt for DeSantis and loyalty to President Joe Biden — even after Tuesday’s revelations that the president’s son, Hunter, reached a deal with federal prosecutors on federal tax offenses and a gun charge — in an interview just as the Florida governor launched a two-day fundraising trek spanning at least five stops across California. The Golden State has become one of DeSantis’ favorite punching bags as he tries to avoid a direct confrontation with his chief Republican presidential rival, Trump, and the former president’s escalating legal challenges.

“He’s taking his eye off the ball,” Newsom said of DeSantis’ escalating attacks against him. “And that’s not inconsistent with my own assessment of him, which is he is a weak candidate, and he is undisciplined and will be crushed by Donald Trump, and will soon be in third or fourth in national polls.”

Representatives for DeSantis did not make the governor available for an interview. Beneath the war of words, however, strategists in both parties suggest there may be a mutually beneficial dynamic at play. As they jab at each other’s policies and personalities through comments in the press and on social media, the governors are scoring points with their respective political bases, raising money and expanding their national brands.

Both men issued fundraising appeals Monday going after the other by name.

But it’s not all helpful.

Newsom, in particular, is facing nagging questions about his presidential ambitions less than a week after DeSantis dared him to “stop pussyfooting around” and launch a primary challenge against Biden.

The California governor, whose second and final term concludes at the end of 2026, has seen his national profile grow since he easily beat back a recall attempt in 2021 and cruised to reelection last fall. He finished the midterm campaign with roughly $16 million in the bank. And in March, he channeled $10 million to a new political action committee he’s calling the Campaign for Democracy.

All the while, Newsom’s team has been moving deliberately to avoid the perception that he’s running a shadow presidential campaign just as Biden ramps up his political activities.

For example, Newsom’s new PAC is initially focusing on challenging Republican leaders in deep-red states that are largely irrelevant in the 2024 presidential race. He campaigned in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi in April on his first trip associated with the PAC.

Newsom is expected to avoid battleground states or key presidential primary states for the foreseeable future, his allies say.

At the same time, the California governor and his team have been in regular contact with Biden and his top aides, including Jen O’Malley Dillon, who managed the president’s 2020 campaign and serves as deputy White House chief of staff. A Biden campaign official said the president’s team coordinates closely with Newsom.

“Newsom is not going to run against Joe Biden and never would. But life is long, and Newsom is one of the prominent national Democrats. It’s part of that role to have these big national battles,” longtime Newsom adviser and friend Nathan Ballard said of the feud with DeSantis.

“There is the 2024 election, and then there is a 2028 election,” Ballard added.

Indeed, veteran Democratic consultant Roy Behr, whose clients included former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, said the two governors are engaged in what could become an early preview of the 2028 presidential contest.

“It’s not inconceivable that four years from now, these two guys could be their respective parties’ nominees,” he said. In tangling with DeSantis, who is 44, the 55-year-old Newsom is building his national brand and visibility and is “certainly trying to create opportunities for himself.”

Sacramento-based Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta said he expected the ongoing rivalry to continue given that it’s beneficial for both politicians with their core supporters. He described Newsom and DeSantis as “frenemies.”

“They both get points off it,” Acosta said. “There is a hard core of voters on both sides who think this is great.”

While polling shows that many Democrats don’t want the 80-year-old Biden to seek a second term, Newsom said there are no circumstances in which he would challenge the sitting president of his own party.

“Not on God’s green earth, as the phrase goes,” Newsom said in the weekend interview, adding that he would be with Biden on Monday and hosting a fundraiser for him Tuesday. “I have been pretty consistently — including recently on Fox News — making the case for his candidacy.”

On Tuesday, Newsom reaffirmed his support for Biden shortly after news surfaced that the president’s son, Hunter, reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors on charges he failed to pay federal income tax and illegally possessed a weapon.

“Hunter changes nothing,” Newsom told the AP, noting that he was spending the day with Biden.

DeSantis did not plan to make any public appearances during his California fundraising tour, which included stops in Sacramento and the Bay Area on Monday and continues Tuesday with events planned for San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles.

Over the weekend in Nevada, DeSantis noted that he’s seen a surge of “disgruntled Californians” moving to Florida.

“Why would you leave like a San Diego to come to say, Jacksonville, Florida? I see people doing that,” DeSantis told thousands of conservative activists at a weekend gathering close to the California border. “It’s because leftist government is destroying that state. Leftist government is destroying cities all over our country. It’s destroying other states.”

Former Nevada attorney general Adam Laxalt, who hosted the weekend event and leads the pro-DeSantis super PAC, said the policy contrast between the leaders of Florida and California is “a debate that our whole country needs to have.”

“California has been the model for many leftist policies. I would take the contrast between Florida’s policies and its results led by Gov. DeSantis and the California policies, any day of the week,” Laxalt said in an interview. “We can already see what leftist policies do.”

Both DeSantis and Newsom took office in 2019 and won reelection for their second and final terms in 2022. While in office, both have been buoyed by multiple billion-dollar budget surpluses and the help of statehouses controlled by their own party that supercharged their agendas.

In California, Newsom expanded the state’s Medicaid program to cover all eligible adults, regardless of their immigration status. He signed a raft of legislation to make it easier to get an abortion, including authorizing $20 million in state spending to help people from other states travel to California. When the U.S. Supreme Court declined to strike down an abortion law in Texas that was enforced by private lawsuits, Newsom signed a similar law in California — only he made it about guns.

And earlier this month, he proposed amending the U.S. Constitution to institute what he called a “reasonable” waiting period for all gun purchases, a ban on so-called assault rifles, universal background checks and raising the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21.

“I think Gavin Newsom is a very useful foil for Ron DeSantis, quite frankly,” said Lanhee Chen, a California Republican who attended one of DeSantis’ five California fundraisers this week. “The more kinds of crazy things that Newsom does — at least, crazy in the eyes of Republican voters — the more I think Ron DeSantis frankly benefits as somebody who’s seen as a counterweight to that.”

In Florida, DeSantis has leaned into cultural conservative issues in what he calls his “war on woke.”

Earlier this month, his administration flew groups of migrants from Texas to Sacramento to draw attention to the influx of Latin American immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. He did the same last fall, sending dozens of immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, which he often highlights during his stump speeches.

DeSantis also signed and then expanded the Parental Rights in Education bill — known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans instruction or classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in Florida public schools for all grades. He seized control of Disney World’s governing body after the company publicly opposed the law.

The Florida governor this year also signed a law banning abortions at six weeks, which is before most women realize they’re pregnant. And he took control of a liberal arts college that he believed was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.

While DeSantis does not have the legal entanglements that Trump faces, Newsom said Democrats may be wrong to assume the former president would be an easier candidate to defeat in the 2024 general election.

“I see deep weakness — I refer to it often — weakness with DeSantis masquerading as strength,” Newsom said. “I think he’d be a more favored candidate. But I’ll leave that judgment to more objective minds.”

___

Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Sacramento and Michelle Price in New York contributed.

This story has been corrected to delete a reference to Hunter Biden pleading guilty to a gun charge. He has reached a deal with prosecutors on the gun charge but is not pleading guilty.

The shooting happened at about 8:40 a.m. on the 66th Avenue off-ramp from southbound Interstate 880, the CHP said.

The victim wasn’t hurt, but their vehicle was damaged in the shooting, according to the CHP.

The CHP didn’t immediately have information about a suspect and suspect vehicle.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the CHP’s Oakland area office at 510-457-2875 and ask for Officer Robles.

Dozens of longshoremen from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 gathered Monday in San Francisco for a Juneteenth celebration filled with music and performances. Despite the day being recognized as a federal holiday, it’s a date they say they’re still fighting to get recognized as a formal holiday in their union contracts.

“This is a very special day to commemorate because it commemorates freedom and this country is supposed to be about freedom,” ILWU Local 10 business agent Trent Willis said.

Local 10, which has a majority of Black members, decided to schedule a union meeting to allow members to celebrate the day – a celebration that included inducting actor Danny Glover into the union as an honorary member for what they say is his decades of support.

“When young men and women come up here on this podium, come into this hall, they know that business is being taken care of, business about working people, business about building community and business about fighting for justice,” Glover said.

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Mike Dunleavy Jr. started that attempt on Monday by speaking to the media for the first time as the team’s GM during a briefing held at Chase Center in San Francisco.

This isn’t the first time Warriors fans have met Dunleavy. He’s been known in the Bay Area since 2002, when the Warriors selected the Duke product with the third overall pick in that year’s draft.

Dunleavy didn’t do much to distinguish himself in Oakland over his five years with the squad. His greatest contribution as a player may have been being sent off to the Indiana Pacers as part of the deal that brought back Steven Jackson and Al Harrington – two vital components of Golden State’s magical “We Believe” playoff team.

But Dunleavy carved out a niche for himself in the NBA as a player who provided sharp shooting and consistency in limited roles. And when his career ended in 2017, it was his very first team that jumped at the chance to bring him back as a pro scout.

Fast forward to Monday. Dunleavy, as the Warriors’ Vice President of Basketball Operations, was quickly tapped as a possible successor to GM Bob Myers after Myers announced his resignation. When the promotion was announced, though, Dunleavy expressed some hesitation about taking over for the two-time executive of the year.

“I gotta be honest,” Dunleavy said, relaying a conversation he had with Myers, “I’m a little uncomfortable taking your job.”

“Come on, Dunleavy,” Myers reportedly replied. “It’s not like you’re taking an organ.”

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While that may be true, many considered Myers the brains behind the Warriors dynasty that capture four championships in eight seasons. Replacing him comes with a daunting series of headaches.

First on the agenda is the NBA Draft. That takes place this Thursday, and the Warriors own the 19th overall pick.

But the more pressing issue is the future of Draymond Green. The mercurial forward announced through his agent Monday that he’s declining the player option in his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Dunleavy reiterated Monday what’s been the sentiment of the organization all offseason: they want Green back in the Bay next year.

“We really want Draymond back,” said Dunleavy. “What he means to this organization, this team, in terms of trying to win at the highest level, we feel like we have to have him, so that’s very important.”

The draft and a free agent with the magnitude and stature of Green would be a lot for seasoned GMs to tackle. Add in a new collective bargaining agreement and a hefty luxury tax bill to navigate, plus the uncertain futures of youngsters like Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kuminga, and you have a veritable minefield of challenges through which this rookie will be seeking to tiptoe.

How does Dunleavy see it all going?

“We certainly have some work cut out for us,” he said. “But I think the future is bright.”

The shooting on Father’s Day at a popular tourist area comes after several shootings the weekend before left at least a dozen injured. The string of violence has left city leaders working to calm a nervous public.

Police have been collecting security camera video at multiple locations along the Embarcadero as they continue to investigate Sunday’s shooting.

Just before 7 p.m., officers responded to the area of Beach and Stockton streets for a report of a shooting.

The gunbattle involved a white sedan and a dark SUV, with the occupants of the SUV firing first, according to witnesses. The occupants of the sedan returned fire, with a chase following.

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The chase then continued down the Embarcadero, with witnesses describing a rolling gunbattle between the vehicles. The vehicles sped and weaved between traffic for more than a mile and half before the SUV crashed at Howard Street and the Embarcadero.

Police said two bicyclists were hit, one of whom was a child. Both bicyclists suffered minor injuries, officials said. The two most seriously injured were inside the SUV that crashed, with both said to be shot, one critically.

“The individuals who were injured by gunfire, we definitely will be talking to those folks and figure out exactly what their role is, if any, was in this,” San Francisco police Chief Bill Scott said.

Police were still trying to track down the occupants of the white sedan that sped away after the SUV crashed at Howard Street.

Anyone with information is asked to contact San Francisco police at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.

Police said they’re stepping up patrols in neighborhoods with the highest complaints and have set up a way for residents to report illegal fireworks through the Concord Connect app.

“With our dry conditions, there are no safe and sane fireworks,” Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Marshal Chris Bachman said. “Not only are they illegal, you’re putting your community at risk.”

Contra Costa Fire said they responded to 79 fireworks-related incidents last Fourth of July weekend, including a house that caught fire after a firework landed in the backyard.

This past April, a 14-year-old Pleasant Hill boy lost part of his hand when he found a firework that had been discarded near his school.

“Please leave the fireworks to the professionals,” Bachman said. “If you see illegal fireworks going off in your community, all of the cities have different avenues in which you can report them.”

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Alameda County Fair opens Friday, runs through July 9

Mike Rhoe said as soon as the sun goes down, the sound of fireworks fills his Concord neighborhood, sending his dog into a frenzy and sparking his fear of a fire starting.

“I worry about it because what if they lit your roof on fire or the grass in your neighborhood here on the hills all around us,” he said. “It’s a fire hazard.”

Rhoe said he appreciates the stepped up efforts. He said the problem seems to get worse every year.

“The illegal ones, the large Roman candles, the big boom ones I’m hearing more and more of them,” he said.

In the back half of June, Biden’s campaign will have more than 20 fundraisers involving him, Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, according to a person involved in Biden’s travel plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss the schedule.

More than half of the fundraisers are with the Democratic president, who arrived in California on Monday and was greeted by Gov. Gavin Newsom at Moffett Field in Santa Clara County. Biden also will be traveling to New York, Maryland and Illinois. The president hit the themes of his campaign at a Friday fundraising event in Connecticut, saying his goal is to do more to tell voters about his legislative accomplishments with infrastructure, computer chip production and programs for responding to climate change, among other policies.

At the first of two Monday fundraisers, Biden said democracy itself was at stake in the 2024 election and said his administration had reinstilled “a sense of confidence in the Constitution.” The fundraiser at the home of Microsoft chief technology officer Kevin Scott was cohosted by Reid Hoffman, the billionaire cofounder of LinkedIn.

Biden took aim at Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville for holding up military promotions because of a policy that ensures members of the military still have access to abortions, which were restricted in many states after a Supreme Court ruling last year. “It’s bizarre. I don’t remember it happening before and I’ve been around,” said Biden, 80, who added a joke about his age: “I know I don’t look like I’ve been around a long time.”

Joe Biden Jun 18

President Biden announces climate funding during Bay Area visit

Joe Biden Jun 15

Biden targets junk fees with Live Nation, SeatGeek and Airbnb executives

The fundraising blitz follows Biden’s first campaign rally on Saturday in Philadelphia, where he was endorsed by key unions — the event highlighting a pivotal constituency in the largest population center of a critical battleground state. It was meant as an early display of enthusiasm for Biden’s campaign, and a venue for him to interact directly with voters before he spends much of the rest of the month meeting with deep-pocketed benefactors.

The flurry of engagements comes ahead of the end of the fundraising quarter at the end of the month — and Biden’s campaign finance report in July will provide the first test of Democratic donor enthusiasm for his reelection effort.

Biden, unlike former President Donald Trump and other 2024 GOP contenders, has not revealed any clues about his fundraising haul since declaring his candidacy in April. And his campaign launch was timed to avoid having to file a campaign finance report for the first quarter, a historically rough fundraising period.

For the first time in U.S, elections, Biden has joint fundraising agreements with all 50 state Democratic parties and the branch in Washington, D.C., an arrangement that can help maximize donations while minimizing expenses in the early months of the campaign. It’s part of a broader effort to unite a diverse Democratic coalition behind Biden as the Republicans undergo what could be a large and divisive primary.

“While MAGA Republicans burn cash in their primary, competing for whose agenda is the most extreme, the president’s campaign will be capitalizing on the opportunity to raise significant resources,” said Biden’s campaign manager Julie C. Rodriguez, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Separately, Rodriguez is traveling across the U.S. to meet with donors, local officials and community leaders to help align the coalition. Along with other campaign officials, the tour begins in Atlanta and will include Boston, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and St. Louis.

Not all of Biden’s time Monday and Tuesday in the Bay Area is being devoted to the campaign. On Monday, he went with Newsom and other officials to the Lucy Evans Baylands Nature Interpretive Center and Preserve in Palo Alto. He toured the coastal wetland area and announced $600 million for projects to address climate change.

“These wetlands act as a critical buffer between the rising tides and the communities at risk,” said Biden, calling the preserve a “success story” in ongoing efforts to contain the damage from climate change.

The quake hit at 11:46 a.m. and was centered about 2 miles north of Pacifica, the USGS said.

No other information was immediately available.

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Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul told The Athletic’s Shams Charania on Monday that the Warriors forward declined his $27.5 million player option for the 2023-24 NBA season, which will make him an unrestricted free agent.

The Warriors reportedly expected Green to opt out of the final year of his contract, per Andscape’s Marc Spears. The parties now can negotiate a long-term deal — a task that will be left to new general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday, citing sources, that the Warriors are motivated to work out a new deal. Green, who will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his NBA career, also can explore offers from other teams, as well as sign-and-trade possibilities.

“We will continue to talk to Golden State and explore all options,” Paul told Wojnarowski.

NBA teams officially can begin negotiating contracts with free agents on June 30.

After the Warriors picked him 35th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, Green has won four championships with Golden State alongside fellow stars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala. Green’s leadership, defensive tenacity and playmaking abilities have been essential to building the Warriors’ dynasty.

Green’s future with the organization was called into question in October, when his 2022-23 season infamously began with him punching teammate Jordan Poole. But after Green navigated those troubled waters, his peers clearly want to see him back in the Bay next season and beyond.

“If Draymond is not back, we’re not a championship contender,” coach Steve Kerr said shortly after the Warriors’ 2022-23 season ended in May. “We know that. He’s that important to winning and to who we are.

“I absolutely want him back.”

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Just in May, Americans saw rents grow by 4.8% to about $2,048 a month on average nationally, according to Zillow Observed Rent Index data.

Lawn Love, a yard care business, ranked 2023’s most expensive metro area for renters. It compared 172 based on three categories: average rent prices, year-over-year rent charges, and the share of renters spending over 30% of their income on rent and utilities.

Overall, the report found that if you’re looking to live on a coast, prepare to pay up. All of the top 10 most expensive metro areas for renters are near the shore.

Top 10 most expensive metro areas for renters

1. New York City, N.Y., Newark, Jersey City, N.J.
2. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Fla.
3. Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Calif.
4. San Diego, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Calif.
5. Urban Honolulu, Hawaii
6. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Anaheim, Calif.
7. Napa, Calif.
8. Naples, Marco Island, Fla.
9. Washington D.C., Arlington, Alexandria, Virg.
10. Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, Conn.

The New York City tri-state area ranked as the most expensive on the list. It has one of the highest shares of cost-burdened renters who are paying over 30% of their income on expenses like rent and utilities.

While the average rent in Newark is $1,850 and $2,500 in Jersey City, in New York City it is $3,610, according to Zillow’s rental manager.

According to Payscale, the cost of living in this area is 26% higher than the national average. Housing expenses are 74% higher than the national average and utility prices and transportation expenses are also 10% higher than the national average.

No. 2 on the list is the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach, Florida metro area.

It has the highest share of cost-burdened renters, with over 62% spending most of their income on rent.

The rents in this Florida area range from $2,115 to $2,711, according to RentCafe. The overall score of this area is 55.68 out of 100.

Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Ventura, California, which is part of the greater Los Angeles area, ranked third on the list. It scored 55.17 out of 100 and was the second least affordable area, according to Lawn Lovers.

The average rent for this California area ranged from $2,533 to $2,704.

It also ranked as the area with the fourth-highest average rent in the U.S., right behind two other California areas: Napa and San Jose, Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.

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At about 10:45 p.m. Sunday, officers responded to the 200 block of Bassett Street, just north of downtown San Jose, on a report of a stabbing, police said.

The victim, identified only as an adult male, was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. SJPD confirmed at aroud noon Monday that the victim “succumbed to his injuries.”

It’s the 17th homicide in San Jose this year, police said.

No suspects were arrested or identified.