SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The world’s first self-charging solar car is being showcased here in San Francisco.

The hybrid car is made by Aptera Motors.

It runs on solar power, but can also be charged with electricity.

The company says it can go up to 40 miles per day when running only on solar, and up to 1,000 miles on a single electric charge.

“Aptera is going to be coming out in Q2 of next year, so we’re really excited. That’s why we’re up here in San Francisco for the first time, to drum up some buzz for the launch next year. So you’re going to start seeing these all over the place. We already have 48,000 reservations, so far. So over 500 of those are in San Francisco alone,” said Chris McCammon, Head of Content at Aptera Motors.

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Aptera Motors is trying to get funding to create a mass-production facility down in Carlsbad.

The vehicle is expected to cost around $35,000.

That is much more affordable than the average electric vehicle.

More opportunities for home ownership are coming downtown. Affordable condos are planned for Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood. The upcoming project at 29th and Welton Street will transform an RTD parking lot into much-needed housing.

 
The new development is named after Hattie McDaniel, the first African American woman to win an Oscar, and will have 62 affordable units. It’s built in partnership with the city, RTD, Shanahan Development and Elevation Community Land Trust.

Stefka Fanchi, President and CEO of Elevation Community Land Trust, says their goal is to provide permanently affordable homeownership opportunities. Another development added more than 40 affordable condos to Five Points this year.

“We utilize the community land trust model,” Fanchi said. “This model emerged from the Civil Rights Movement in the late 1960s when a group of sharecroppers in the rural South, after being displaced for registering to vote, came together to purchase land communally. They built homes on this land but did not own the land itself. This model allowed them to secure housing while keeping the land under communal ownership.”

Elevation Community Land Trust maintains ownership of the land beneath their properties, which helps keep housing costs affordable. This structure ensures that the cost of land does not inflate the price of the home and that homes remain accessible to low- and moderate-income buyers even as they are resold.

Plans call for the ECLT to lease the land and ground floor community space to the homeowner’s association on a renewable 99-year land lease.

Buyers earning up to 80% of the median area income, or up to $71,900 for a single-person household and up to $92,400 for a three-person family, are eligible.

In what was one of the country’s fastest gentrifying areas, priority will be given to buyers with area ties through the Neighborhood Investment Program.

“Our goal is to create homes that allow families with historical ties to the community to return and become part of the neighborhood’s fabric again,” said Fanchi. “Either folks that currently live, work or have their children enrolled in school there, or whose parents or grandparents used to live there and were displaced.”

Elevation Community Land Trust is finalizing plans for this project, including securing tax increment financing through the Denver Urban Renewal Authority. This financing approach leverages the increase in property taxes generated by new homeowners to fund the development.

“It’s a unique approach to funding that allows us to build high-quality homes while ensuring affordability,” Fanchi said.

With the necessary approvals in place, groundbreaking could occur within the next few months, with construction expected to take between one to one-and-a-half years.

“We are hopeful that by 2026, we will bring over 100 new homes available in Five Points,” Fanchi said.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) arrested a 12-year-old boy following his suspected involvement in an attempted carjacking in the West Seattle neighborhood at the end of last month.

Late in the morning of Aug. 30, SPD officers responded to reports of “an in-progress carjacking by multiple juvenile suspects” in the 4300 block of Holgate Street, according to a post from the department’s SPD Blotter.

Members of the SPD located one of the suspects, who was unintentionally left behind by his accomplices. Officers also detained a male bystander who was armed with a gun.

Officers determined the owner of the vehicle found four or five suspects inside of that vehicle and were attempting to steal it. Bystanders and witnesses confronted the suspects who exited the vehicle, leaving a cell phone behind, the SPD Blotter post states.

The suspects later returned for the phone and charged at one of the involved individuals. A bystander then fired at least one shot at the suspects’ getaway vehicle. From there, the suspects fled the scene leaving one child behind. Officers arrested that child for attempted theft of a motor vehicle.

Officers also arrested the bystander for aiming or discharging a firearm. The SPD reported he was released from custody at the scene pending further investigation. The firearm used was recovered as evidence. In addition, two shell casings were recovered.

The SPD has, to this point, failed to locate any other suspects.

Crime blotter: Looking more at the crimes committed in the Puget Sound region

Looking more at juvenile crimes in Washington

Looking at arrest data, the top crimes for juveniles in Washington in 2023 were liquor law violations, drunkenness, robbery and vehicle theft. Strachan believes more juveniles are living a life of crime.

“More than 20% of arrestees for motor vehicle theft in 2023 were juveniles,” Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) Executive Director Steve Strachan said during a press session earlier this summer. “And we’ve seen an increase just from 2022 to 2023 of 24% in juveniles arrested.”

The data from the WASPC’s recent reports show there were 6,234 juvenile arrests in 2022 and 7,730 in 2023. (A PDF of the organization’s 2022 Crime in Washington report can be seen here. A PDF of the 2023 version of the report can be viewed here.)

Moving over the city of Renton, juvenile crime is skyrocketing in that Western Washington city, Police Chief Jon Schuldt said earlier this year.

“There’s no other way to put it, but what we are seeing is more and more juveniles involved in violent and property crimes. In some cases, rates are doubling and tripling year over year,” Schuldt stated in an X post.

Schuldt cited some startling numbers, noting that juvenile assaults jumped 40%, stolen vehicles swelled 342% and armed robberies of gas stations skyrocketed a stunning 900% from 2022 to 2023.

The Renton police chief posted his message in March, the day after two 15-year-olds were arrested for driving a stolen car and carrying a loaded handgun.

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest; James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.