A Denny’s in San Francisco shuttered its doors early this month after operating for nearly 25 years, with reports suggesting that issues like vandalism were behind the restaurant’s closure.

Chris Haque, who according to SFGate was the franchise operator, suggested that instances of patrons eating and failing to pay had taken its toll on his business.

“The cost of doing business is tremendous,” Haque told the publication. “There’s vandalism, and people come and eat and walk away, and there’s no one to stop them.”

Haque also suggested that a decline in conventions in the city had contributed to a reduction in customers for his establishment. SFGate reported that Haque had operated a different Denny’s in the city that halted operations five years ago and owned another one in Tacoma, Washington.

Denny’s corporate office confirmed to Newsweek that the location ceased operations on August 1 but said it does not comment on specifics of its franchise closures.

“There is another location at 10 Airport Boulevard. Closing a restaurant location is never an easy decision. Denny’s offers its heartfelt thanks to the team members and the local community for their love of the Denny’s brand; it has been a pleasure serving you,” the company said in a statement, adding that there are 40 Denny’s locations in the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose area.

The news of the closure of the restaurant adds to recent reports of businesses in San Francisco, Oakland and the Bay Area that have stopped operating, citing issues like theft as the reason for their shutdowns.

In September, giant retailer Target said it was closing some of its outlets over safety concerns.

“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” the company said after announcing the closure of nine stores across four states, including three in San Francisco and Oakland. “We know that our stores serve an important role in their communities, but we can only be successful if the working and shopping environment is safe for all.”

The company did say then that 32 stores remained open in the San Francisco and Oakland market, employing more than 6,400 workers.

Earlier this year, another Denny’s in the Oakland area closed down over safety issues, according to SFGate, after operating for more than half a century.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz joked about his “interesting” first week as Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket and criticized Donald Trump’s background on Wednesday during a Denver fundraiser that collected $3 million for the campaign.

“This week has been interesting,” Walz told roughly 150 attendees in the backyard of the 33,000-square-foot Phipps Mansion, owned by Democratic megadonor Tim Gill. “That’s a Minnesota word, ‘interesting’ — so you Minnesotans know, it has multiple meanings.”

He recounted being selected by Harris last week and then soon being put on a plane to a rally in Philadelphia — where he was told: “Here, you’ve got 45 minutes to read this speech off the teleprompter.”

“Perhaps I neglected to tell you,” Walz recounted to laughs and cheers, “I’ve never used a teleprompter in my life.”

The fundraiser was part of Walz’s first solo trip since joining the Harris ticket, a three-day, five-state swing. During his 15-minute in Denver in the early afternoon, Walz praised Harris’ “politics of kindness” and joked with Gov. Jared Polis, his former congressional counterpart and baseball teammate.

He also criticized Trump, the Republican nominee, drawing a contrast between Harris’ background — both as a prosecutor and as a former McDonald’s employee — and the former president’s.

Walz said he recently asked labor leaders in California if they could see Trump making a McFlurry. He paraphrased a Harris rally line, saying the vice president had gone after “fraudsters” and “predators,” adding: “We know who that might be.”

He said there was “no safety net” when speaking in front of the large crowds that are common on a presidential campaign trail.

Polis, who’d introduced him, chimed in: “Are you saying they’re not all AI?”

That was a reference to a false claim Trump made in recent days — that the Harris campaign had used artificial intelligence to inflate crowd sizes in a picture from a recent campaign stop in Michigan.

“I assure you, in Detroit, that wasn’t AI, and I’ll also assure you that every one of the ballots they’re going to cast will not be AI,” Walz replied, to cheers.

Trump was recently in Colorado, making a stop in Aspen Saturday during a multistate Mountain West swing that he said raised $28 million. Since Harris picked Walz, Republicans have focused their attacks most heavily on aspects of his more than two decades of National Guard service, but little was said about the topic at the Denver fundraiser.

The $3 million raised for the Harris Victory Fund on Wednesday was announced by Gill. Also in attendance were former U.S. Reps. John Salazar and Ed Perlmutter, current U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and former state House Speaker Alec Garnett, now Polis’ chief of staff.

Walz spoke broadly about Democratic priorities and ideals — like supporting “common-sense gun legislation” and addressing climate change and poverty — though he provided few specific policy proposals.

Polis said he’d told Walz not to spend any campaign cash on winning Colorado, which has turned reliably blue in recent years and went for Biden by 13.5 percentage points over Trump in 2020. Polis said Harris and Walz’s presence on the ticket would be enough to support Democrats’ down-ballot efforts, meaning to preserve a state House supermajority and win a similar margin in the state Senate.

Still, Walz urged attendees to keep working in the 83 days that remained until Election Day.

“Sleep when you’re dead,” he said.

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Originally Published: August 14, 2024 at 4:26 p.m.

All it took was one preseason game for Seattle Seahawks rookie defensive lineman Byron Murphy II to get attention on a national scale.

Insider: Seahawks have an unheralded DB who could break out

Murphy, the Seahawks’ top pick and the first defensive player taken in the 2024 NFL Draft at No. 16 overall out of Texas, had a number of NFL insiders shouting him out early this week after making his on-field debut in Seattle’s 16-3 preseason win over the Los Angeles Chargers last Saturday.

On social media, there was this post from the NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah that served as a warning for the Seahawks’ division rivals.

PSA for NFC West teams- You better have a plan for blocking Byron Murphy II. He’s going to be a big problem. Exceptional Quicks, leverage and power.

— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) August 13, 2024

Then on TV there was Marcus Spears, a former NFL defensive end who now regularly appears on ESPN’s NFL Live, Get Up! and First Take programs.

“Byron Murphy, the defensive lineman for Seattle, was physical. Getting into the backfield, making negative plays, being super active and pushing the pocket into the lap of the quarterback,” Spears said. “… His cat quickness is something that we talked about pre-draft… The ability to stay tight and be strong and dynamic on the interior of the pocket reminds me a lot of what Christian Wilkins did in Miami. It just kept coming to my mind is that is how Christian Wilkins plays. He’s active and always around the football.”

After hearing Spears’ comments, Seattle Sports’ Michael Bumpus – himself a former NFL wide receiver – used them as a way to explain how the 6-foot, 306-pound Murphy will help the Seahawks’ defense.

“He’s not gonna be the guy like (Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle) Chris Jones, I think, to get 10-plus sacks and wow you like that,” Bumpus said on Tuesday’s edition of Bump and Stacy. “You’re only going to have about two interior defensive linemen a year kind of play to that level. That’s not what you need him to do. You need him to do exactly what Marcus Spears described – get into the backfield and collapse the pocket, because once you have pressure up the middle, now these quarterbacks have to do what? Escape outside. You got Uchenna (Nwosu) waiting on one side, got Boye (Mafe) waiting on the other side. … His job is to create sacks for the other guys. (And) if he ends up getting sacks himself, then good for him.”

Combining Murphy with Macdonald

Next, Bumpus and his co-host Stacy Rost listened to what Mina Kimes had to say on the ESPN airwaves about Murphy, which included a comparison to a player who new Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald helped in his previous role as Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator.

“I absolutely loved what I saw out of him,” Kimes said. “The power that he’s able to generate with his lower half, getting low against those double teams, the agility… I’m so curious to see how Mike Macdonald deploys him. You remember Justin Madubuike having his career year last year in Baltimore. I would not be surprised if we see really good production from Byron Murphy II in Year 1 because he seems to have that special talent.”

Bumpus dove further into how Macdonald’s defensive scheme could mean big things with Murphy in the mix.

“When we talk about defensive line, (Macdonald) knows how to maximize them, he knows how to create these matchups and these illusions for the offensive line that allow guys like Byron Murphy to maybe slip through the cracks and cause chaos in the backfield,” Bumpus said. “So when you have a track record of producing one of the best defenses of all-time – like, I don’t think people realize how good that defense was with Baltimore… his experience with these type of players is what really gets me excited about Byron Murphy. Not only Byron Murphy, but (Jarran) Reed, Leonard Williams – I mean, there are a bunch of guys here who can benefit from Mike Macdonald.

“Experience is everything. He knows how to use them and he knows how to coach them up. He’s a linebacker coach at heart so he spends a lot of time with these defensive linemen. I see nothing but good coming from the situation.”

Bump and Stacy airs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports. Listen to the full conversation about Byron Murphy II in the middle segment of the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More Seattle Seahawks coverage

• A lesser-known Seahawks WR has Michael Bumpus’ attention
• Big Ray: A Seahawks rookie OL ‘jumped off the screen’
• Seahawks hoping addition of center Connor Williams will solidify O-line
• Brock and Salk: What stood out in Seahawks’ preseason win
• Brock: The Seattle Seahawks player who had best preseason opener

Follow @BrentStecker