San Francisco, CA
Bay Area first responders prepare for busy start to 2025
Police, firefighters prepare for large crowds at San Franciscos NYE fireworks
San Francisco firefighters were preparing for a busy night on New Year’s Eve, with the department expecting 100,000 revelers to watch the fireworks along the Embarcadero with a heavy police presence, attracting onlookers from near and far.
SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco firefighters were preparing for a busy night on New Year’s Eve, with the department expecting 100,000 revelers to watch the fireworks along the Embarcadero with a heavy police presence, attracting onlookers from near and far.
“The people here, just the whole excitement, the lights, everything, the food here. It’s San Francisco. Can’t beat it,” said Rob Cheung of Sacramento.
“My new year’s resolution is to try to retire,” said Sandi Castaneda of Redwood City.
At Fire Boat House 35, firefighters were suiting up for any emergencies, including injuries from celebratory gunfire.
On the same night last year, fireworks would prove to be deadly on Treasure Island.
“Unfortunately, it was an 18-year-old kid. He had set off a firework, didn’t go off, and he went over to check over it, stood over it, and he succumbed to his injuries when it did go off,” said Lt. Mariano Elias of the San Francisco Fire Department.
Fireboats patrolled the water, where the professional fireworks display was set off.
The California Highway Patrol is looking for drunk drivers, after making nearly nine hundred arrests statewide during last new year’s maximum enforcement.
“We’ve seen lives ended. We’ve seen people hurt. We’ve seen families destroyed,” said Sgt. Andrew Barclay of the CHP Golden Gate Division.
Officers are warning people to get a sober driver or book a ride-sharing company.
“Whatever the cost is for that ride is going to be far less than a DUI.”
Muni, Caltrain, and SamTrans all offer free rides on New Year’s Eve until the following morning.
Christopher Anderson of Alameda and his girlfriend were on their way to a disco party in the city and celebrated responsibly.
“We just took the ferry to get here, which is a nice way to come in, and then we’re going to take an Uber, and then after that I think we’re going to walk,” said Anderson.
The San Francisco Fire Department had extra ambulances ready to go during the fireworks show and cities like Oakland planned DUI checkpoints.
San Francisco, CA
Video: Mountain Lion Spotted in San Francisco
new video loaded: Mountain Lion Spotted in San Francisco
transcript
transcript
Mountain Lion Spotted in San Francisco
Residents were shocked to see a young mountain lion roaming the streets of San Francisco this week. Local animal control agencies were able to capture and tranquilize it on Tuesday.
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Swear to God, am I tripping? There’s a mountain lion. What is that? I can see it. Oh my God. What the. Dude!
By Cynthia Silva
January 27, 2026
San Francisco, CA
Animal control locates mountain lion in San Francisco
A young mountain lion that was spotted Monday night in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood has been located, city officials said.
Around 6:20 a.m. Tuesday, city officials said San Francisco Animal Care and Control found the mountain lion and that they are working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to manage the situation. No injuries were reported.
A biologist is on their way to the scene, with the plan to tranquilize the animal and move it to a suitable location, officials said.
The mountain lion was first reported Monday night after being seen near Octavia Street and Pacific Avenue, according to an alert from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management.
Animal Care and Control officials said experts believe the animal is about a year old. It had also been seen earlier Monday morning near Lafayette Park, just a few blocks from the later sighting.
City officials said the mountain lion was likely lost and may have been trying to move south out of the city.
San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Unified educators nearing final days for vote on whether to strike
After months of back and forth between educators and the San Francisco school district, Georgie Gibbs is ready to strike.
“But every year we have to figure out what staffing we’re going to have at our school, and every year there’s less money to staff our site, and that’s hard,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs is an elementary school teacher and a member of the United Educators of San Francisco, a union for school staff. Since March, they’ve requested higher wages, stable health insurance, and more support for special education teachers.
“At our site, we have special day classes which are self-contained, special education classrooms, and those, one of our classrooms has not had a full-time teacher for a whole entire year in three years,” Gibbs said.
In their latest offer in January, the district proposed the following three-year stabilization plan.
The district proposed a path to fully funded family health benefits, a 6 percent raise over three years, along with addressing staffing shortages for special education. The union rejected it.
- Identifying a fiscal pathway for the District to fully fund family health benefits
- 6% raise over three years (2% each year for next three years)
- Salary rate augmentations for hard-to-staff special education paraeducators
- Solutions to address special education workload with a focused pilot program
Union president Cassandra Curiel says members are casting their final round of votes for a strike.
“The district hasn’t changed their position since May of 2025. That is an untenable condition for us to be in,” Curiel said.
If both groups don’t come to an agreement, the union’s more than 6,000 members will strike for the first time in nearly 50 years.
“Being in our schools is the place we want to be, but working for San Francisco Unified can be complicated at best,” Curiel said.
Officials say the district is planning for more budget cuts in the next school year, which plays a role in negotiations.
A spokesperson for the district wrote:
“We know many of you are closely following the ongoing negotiations between our district and United Educators of San Francisco (UESF).
We are disappointed to share that we did not reach an agreement with UESF after today’s fact-finding session (part of the formal bargaining process). SFUSD remains committed to negotiating in good faith with our labor partners and to reaching an agreement that honors our educators while also balancing the need to be fiscally responsible.
Our goal is to have a stable district. We want to reach an agreement that supports our valued educators. However, we must also be able to afford the agreement long-term so that we can continue serving students now and in the future.”
Havah Kelley told CBS News Bay Area that her son, who has a learning disability, was transferred outside of the district because there aren’t enough special needs teachers.
“Especially since COVID, the high teacher turnover, the shortages, and just a myriad of other reasons, he was not getting the services that he needed,” Kelley said.
That experience makes her feel a strike is necessary, but she knows there would be real-life consequences.
“It would be ideal if we could avoid a strike. That’s a definite, and I’m not going to say otherwise,” Kelly said. “Any type of disruption, for our kids, we have almost immediate regression.”
Union members are holding their final vote to authorize a strike. If the majority votes yes, it is likely SFUSD educators will strike for the first time since 1979. The last day to vote is Jan. 28.
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