San Francisco, CA
How a San Francisco program helped a new mom turn around her life
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – As San Francisco’s new mayor Daniel Lurie works to declare a fentanyl state of emergency, a four-year-old city-run program is finding success in helping those addicted to the deadly drug.
The program specifically helps pregnant women. KRON4 sat down with one woman today who, after more than a year of getting help, is thriving – with a job, a home and a healthy baby girl.
“The day she was born was like the first day I was sober. I’ve been clean since she was born,” said Crystal Stevens.
After living on the streets for a while, Stevens says her case manager connected her to the city’s perinatal stabilization program. That’s when she started working with public health nurse – Dana Lazarobitz – to get treatment.
“She helped me get stable on methadone at the hospital while I was pregnant so I could have a safe delivery. When Delilah was born she was in the NICU, and Dana helped me with that process and helped me with my CPS case so that she wasn’t removed from me at birth,” Stevens said.
Stevens then went to a residential treatment facility with her newborn, and Lazarobitz supported her through it all.
“Every week visiting her at her treatment facility, weighing Delilah, making sure she was meeting all of her milestones, supporting her when she graduated treatment,” Lazarobitz remembers.
Stevens moved to permanent family housing and has been working at a cafe, but she just got a new job that will allow her to give back.
“I just got accepted to work at the same treatment center that I was at with Delilah. I am really excited to help the women and let them know that only good things come from staying sober and staying with your baby,” she said.
The perinatal stabilization program provides services to pregnant women suffering from homelessness, addiction, or mental health disorders. The Department of Public Health says this program was launched in 2020 after an increase of unhoused pregnant women miscarried or gave birth on the street.
“People are capable of change. People who want to stop using drugs can. With the right support, do. We also know that pregnancy and preparation for parenting can be a really motivating time for folks where they can make a change in their lives that they weren’t able to do,” Lazarobitz said.
As the fentanyl crisis continues to take lives, Stevens hopes programs like these stick around to help families thrive.
“Not everyone that comes through is going to make it, but for the ones that do and are successful… It’s so worth it. And it’s so worth it for their children. It’s really important to keep programs like this open and funded,” Stevens said.
The perinatal stabilization program is one of three programs in the city with nurses that help pregnant or postpartum mothers. By the end of 2024, it served 311 people, and 90 clients are currently enrolled.
San Francisco, CA
Holiday travel at San Francisco airport being affected by winter weather
With rain and wind in the forecast, it may make some people’s holiday travel a little more difficult.
At San Francisco International Airport, more than 400 flights have been delayed. Maggie Nelson’s was delayed coming into the airport.
“It seemed like everyone was in a panic or a hurry to get anywhere,” said Nelson. “The plane was crowded. There was a lot of turbulence.”
Nelson flew in from Redmond, Oregon, usually a quick flight to SFO, just under two hours, but she ended up being delayed nearly that long.
“Originally, we were supposed to take off at 2 p.m. and then our flight got delayed to 2:50 p.m., and then it got delayed again,” Nelson explained. “I don’t think we took off until 3:30 p.m. because of high winds or something.”
California is in the middle of an intense storm period. Two systems bringing heavy rain and strong winds, and Nelson could feel all of it.
“The turbulence was pretty bad,” said Nelson. “There was a point where I got nauseous. I was like ‘Are we there yet? Is this over?’”
While she’s grateful to be on solid ground, Shon Alkaslasi was about to take off or at least try to.
“United sent a text that wind might affect operations,” said Alkaslasi.
He arrived early, just in case of holiday traffic, now he’s anticipating he may be delayed. He’s travelling home to Los Angeles, another area in the middle of the storms.
“I would say I’m not the biggest fan of turbulence so I am a little bit nervous about that,” Alkaslaski detailed. “But if they say it’s totally safe to travel, I’m not usually concerned but the feeling of bumps on a plane is just not the most comfortable and I’ll have to deal with it.”
Airport Duty Manager Crystal David said overall things haven’t been too bad, but West Coast flights, like Alkaslasi’s and Nelson’s, are the ones most likely to be impacted.
“SFO is on a ground delay program throughout the night, through midnight and so right now it’s about 127 minutes because of winds,” said David. “Mostly it’s the west coast flights are that are being affected right now with delays of up to 35 minutes for the west coast traffic.”
She said the delays could continue into the morning, when even stronger winds are expected. She recommends travelers check in with their airlines.
But for Nelson, she’s just glad she made it home.
“I used to live a lot closer so it’s a lot harder to come home now so when I do get to come home, I try to take advantage of that and appreciate it,” said Nelson.
San Francisco, CA
Executive chef of new buzzy San Francisco restaurant Bourbon Steak visits ABC7
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — ABC7 got in the holiday spirit Monday with the executive chef of San Francisco’s buzziest restaurants that just opened in October — to a lot of fanfare.
We’re talking about Bourbon Steak, inside the Westin St. Francis Hotel.
Legendary celebrity chef Michael Mina’s latest opening brings him back to San Francisco, and everyone came to celebrate: a cable car, Mayor Daniel Lurie, and Warriors superstar Stephen Curry — a partner in this venture who created the bourbon bar Eighth Rule inside the restaurant.
But they’re not just about style. They are first and foremost about steaks.
Because they are on the menu for so many holiday gatherings, we are delighted that Bourbon Steak executive chef Kevin Schantz joined us on ABC7’s “Midday Live.”
Watch the full interview in the player above.
If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
Copyright © 2025 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
San Francisco, CA
Thousands in one San Francisco neighborhood heading into another day without power
While many people in San Francisco have their power back, there are still thousands without it.
At a press conference Monday afternoon, Mayor Daniel Lurie said 4,000 PG&E customers in the Civic Center area are still in the dark. One of them is Parvathy Menon.
“We haven’t been able to take showers or use the bathroom,” said Menon. “Our electricity is out. I think all our food started rotting about a day in.”
She lives at 100 Van Ness. She said she’s grateful she’s going out of town tomorrow, but even that’s posing some problems.
“I actually have to pack for a trip tonight, and we’re doing it in full darkness,” Menon explained. “We are using our phone lights, we are using our laptops to charge our phones.”
Her apartment is pitch black, except for the small amount of streetlight coming through the windows. She said the apartment complex has been doing all they can to help, like providing some food and water.
They have a small generator to power some lights in the lobby and one elevator for the nearly 30-story apartment building.
Menon said she is most upset about the lack of communication from PG&E.
“Initially, when this started, we were supposed to get power back within the day, then it went to the next day and now they just stopped calling us completely,” said Menon.
San Francisco City Hall was closed for the day because of the outage, but Mayor Daniel Lurie held a press conference with Supervisors Matt Dorsey and Bilal Mahmood.
Lurie said what residents have gone through is unacceptable, and he’s lost trust in PG&E’s estimated times for repair.
“They gave us a timeline that they believe in, but it’s not one that I can have confidence in any longer,” Lurie said. “So, we don’t have full faith that 6 a.m. is the time tomorrow.”
“Shame on PG&E for having this happen,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “This is a company that has had a lot of reliability issues and the jury is out on what happened, but if this is negligence, I think it’s going to be really important for people to understand they have rights as customers.”
Leaders encourage everyone who lost anything to file a claim with PG&E; they could be eligible for reimbursements. Mahmood is calling for a hearing after the new year to get some answers for PG&E.
“What went wrong, why weren’t they able to address it this weekend and what steps are they taking to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” said Mahmood about the question he has for the utility company.
PG&E said the outage happened after a fire at its Mission Street substation left significant damage, but the cause is still under investigation.
Meanwhile, Menon has been refreshing social media looking for good news, but she’s starting to lose faith.
“They’re really doing nothing to help us here, so I’m losing hope,” said Menon.
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