San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Bay Area colleagues recall working with Kamala Harris
SAN FRANCISCO — On Sunday, President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who has deep ties to the Bay Area.
In 1998, Harris became assistant district attorney in San Francisco, prosecuting homicide, sexual assault, burglary and robbery cases. Two years later, Harris began working for then-city attorney Louise Renne, handling child abuse and neglect cases.
“We worked together quite closely during that period of time,” Renne told CBS News Bay Area on Sunday. “I found her very personable. She was easy to get along with. She was a strong person. On the personal level, I know Kamala to be a family person. I know her to be honest. I know her to be straightforward. I know her to be a determined person. I know her to care a lot about the things we as Americans care about: education and equality for everybody.”
Renne, who was the first female city attorney in San Francisco history, said there is one, specific day that is ingrained in her memory while Harris worked for her office.
“When you’re dealing with family and children that are in the court system, obviously it’s not always for pleasant reasons. So when adoptions take place, that was a happy day because children were being adopted into a permanent home situation. So, I remember the first day that Kamala was going to be the head of the court proceeding for adoption. She came into my office with an armful of teddy bears. She said, ‘Louise, come on! It’s adoption day! We’ve got to go over, we’re going to hand out teddy bears!’” Renne said. “To me, that showed a real side of sensitivity and a warmness of heart that I have always remembered.”
Renne endorsed Harris’ bid to become San Francisco district attorney in 2002, a race in which she was the least-known among three candidates who included the incumbent, her former boss, Terence Hallinan.
Harris would win in a 2003 runoff, becoming the first person of color elected as district attorney of San Francisco. She was re-elected to a second term in 2007 after running unopposed.
During Harris’ second term as district attorney, Connie Chan was her aide. Chan, who is currently a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1, joined a long list of Democrats Sunday endorsing Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee.
“I am who I am today because of her. She inspired me to run for office but, really, she inspired me to dedicate my life to public service,” Chan told CBS News Bay Area. “She hears everybody out about what the problem is then, on the spot, says ‘OK, then what is our solution today?’ She will not let people walk out of the room until we propose solutions to the problem. This is someone who is going to bring us together to problem solve.”
Chan described Harris as hardworking, analytical and thoughtful.
“She doesn’t just jump into something because a press headline says so. It’s because she has really thought it through and she makes those decisions by putting people first instead of politics,” Chan said.
Renne is waiting for the process to play out before endorsing Harris but said she would not hesitate to support Harris if she’s chosen to be the Democratic nominee.
“If the Democrats select Kamala Harris to be the standard-bearer for the party? Absolutely! And will I campaign on her behalf? Absolutely. I have relatives all over the country. I have people I know all over the country. I would travel on the campaign trail, if need be,” Renne said. “She has a depth of experience of dealing with people at all levels. Not just at the top level but at all levels. When she was in the city attorney’s office, you weren’t dealing with rich people. You were dealing with poor people. You were dealing with families and children in stressful circumstances. So, you could see firsthand what is going on in real life. And I think that’s important for anybody in politics at a high decision level to really have that kind of a broad understanding. And Kamala has that kind of a broad understanding.”
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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