San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Courthouse Clerks Strike, Shutting Down High-Profile Cases | KQED
One of the clerks’ key demands is improved training. Due to staffing shortages, clerks are often shuffled between courtrooms and into departments that require unique specialization, Thompson said, which can translate into clerical errors with real consequences for people interacting with the criminal justice system.
“Our jobs are important. These are people’s lives and futures we’re talking about,” Thompson said. “The court refuses, for whatever reason, to train us correctly, which in my opinion, is criminally irresponsible.”
The court remained open Thursday for essential services, but all proceedings — including divorce settlements, jury selection and traffic court — were put on hold.
The strike has called attention to an enormous backlog of cases caused by short staffing, faulty technology and a lack of courtrooms. This gridlock is said to have stemmed from the pandemic and has continued to slow down or derail criminal and civil cases. In August, over 70 criminal cases were dismissed due to delays that the California appeals court called a violation of defendants’ rights to speedy trials.
Court Executive Officer Brandon E. Riley said the court would shift resources to “prioritize those cases with statutory deadlines,” such as domestic violence cases and custody arraignments.
In a statement, Riley called the clerks’ decision to disrupt services “unfortunate” and cited the challenges of reaching a fair contract in light of the state’s reduction in funding for the Judicial Branch, “which has resulted in a $2.5 million ongoing cut to the court’s budget.”
High-profile proceedings that were halted Thursday included the trial of Nima Momeni, a former tech consultant accused of murdering Cash App founder Bob Lee in a case that drew national attention. The strike also paused the already-delayed preliminary hearings for the eight antiwar activists charged with felonies in connection with shutting down the Golden Gate Bridge on Tax Day to protest U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
The hearing, which will determine whether or not San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has enough evidence to bring felony charges against the protesters, was already behind schedule after the court was unable to assign the case a courtroom on Monday, citing the backlog and higher-priority criminal trials. The delays, however, may prove to be beneficial for the defendants, since the court has until Nov. 12 to make a decision, or the case will be thrown out and Jenkins would have to refile charges.
When asked how the defendants in the Golden Gate Bridge case felt about the delays, attorney Jeff Wozniak said his clients and the legal team “stand with the SEIU.”
A small group of the protesters’ supporters filled the echoing hallway outside of the courtroom, chanting for Jenkins to drop the charges. They also rallied in support of the 18 protesters charged with misdemeanors, whose initial start day was set for Thursday but was pushed to Dec. 12.
Outside, the rallying clerks were joined by their court reporter and court-interpreter colleagues, dressed in blue. The court reporter from the Momeni trial was seen standing at the picket line, according to reports on social media, and one of Momeni’s attorneys reportedly bought hundreds of dollars’ worth of sandwiches for the clerks from a nearby cafe.
A California sea lion pup found last week on a San Francisco street corner is malnourished but “active and quite feisty,” The Marine Mammal Center said Monday.
The sea lion, believed to be about 10 months old, had apparently wandered into city’s Outer Sunset neighborhood and was discovered early Thursday morning, authorities said.
The pup was spotted near 48th and Irving Streets, one block from Ocean Beach and Sunset Dunes park. A trained responder from the Marine Mammal Center was joined by San Francisco park rangers and police officers to safely corral the pup, now named ‘Irving’, into a carrier crate.
Dubbed ‘Irving’ by his rescuers, Irving weighed in at 40 pounds and is considered malnourished, the Marine Mammal Center said.
“The sea lion is active and quite feisty which is a positive initial sign in terms of general behavior,” the center said in a news release on Monday.
During an exam by veterinarians, a series of blood samples were also taken to determine whether there’s any underlying ailment.
Irving is being tube fed a fish smoothie blend two times per day to boost hydration and weight; offers of whole herring will also begin shortly.
The quick actions by police, recreation and parks staff and Ocean Avenue Animal Hospital gave the young sea lion a second chance at life, said Lauren Campbell, animal husbandry manager at The Marine Mammal Center.
“As a roughly 10-month-old pup in his first year of learning how to forage on his own, this animal has a long road to recovery due to his severe malnutrition,” Campbell said. “We are hopeful that in the coming weeks with continued specialized care that this pup starts to make positive strides toward recovery and release.”
Irving will be held in the Center’s Intensive Quarantine Unit until clearing medical protocols, before likely being transferred this week to a traditional rehabilitation pool pen. A long-term prognosis and potential release timeline are not currently known.
After Sunday’s 3-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the San Francisco Giants headed back to the West Coast. They’re going back to the Bay Area, too.
The Giants have a date with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Oracle Park starting Tuesday night.
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So, San Francisco probably wanted to get out of Washington, D.C., with a win. That didn’t happen at Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon.
Nationals reliever Andrew Alvarez, the third pitcher used by the team on Sunday, picked up the victory with 4 1/3 innings of work. Giants starter Robbie Ray absorbed the loss, falling to 2-3 this season.
Ray worked six innings, giving up seven hits, three runs (all earned), walking one, and striking out seven Nationals. If the Giants’ offense had found a way to tack on some runs, then Ray’s outing wouldn’t have looked so bad.
The Giants’ bats, though, had eight hits. The big number for Giants manager Tony Vitello to look at in the box score after this one was, well, pretty big. San Francisco left 10 runners on base on Sunday, going 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. This indicates that San Francisco had plenty of opportunities to score some runs.
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They just didn’t get the job done.
Let’s go to the bottom of the fifth with the Giants and Nationals in a scoreless tie. With nobody out, the Nationals’ Keibert Ruiz connected for his third double this season. Nasim Nuñez scored to put Washington up 1-0.
With one out, Curtis Mead sent a Ray pitch over the left-field wall, a two-run blast that gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
San Francisco had a scoring threat in the top of the eighth inning. With runners at first and second base and nobody out, Casey Schmitt grounded into a double play. Matt Chapman, who was on second base, went to third. But the Giants were unable to bring him home.
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Rafael Devers and Drew Gilbert went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Giants, producing half of the Giants’ hits.
The Giants fall to 9-13 this season, sitting in fourth place in the National League West Division. The Nationals’ record goes to 10-12, good enough for third place in the National League East Division.
All eyes now turn toward Oracle on Tuesday night. It’ll be a chance for two longtime rivals to renew their rivalry.
Baseball fans know that the Giants-Dodgers matchups usually are must-see TV.
That’s probably going to be the case once again as Giants fans watch their team battle the Dodgers. Those lucky to have tickets to the three-game series at Oracle Park will show up in Giants colors, hoping to see Los Angeles head back to Southern California with either a series loss or a Giants’ sweep.
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Buckle up, Giants fans. It’s about to get rowdy at Oracle Park.
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The 4,140-sq-km bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US. Before 2018, this species of whales wasn’t known to stop seasonally or consistently in the bay, bypassing it on their migration route down to Baja California and back up the Arctic, said Josephine Slaathaug, who led a recent study on gray whale mortality in the bay.
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