Public Safety
An orange traffic cone marks the edge of a flooded roadway, which fills most of the frame. There is a fence on the right hand side and leafy trees and a low grassy hill in the background.

Intense Weather Stress-Tested SF’s Emergency Response

03.31.2023
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Rains this winter and early spring ended the drought in the Bay Area and brought a kind of weather whiplash that put San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management to the test. 
 
Early in the storm cycle, the department faced challenges communicating with the public, especially with people experiencing homelessness. Internal confusion over the forecast delayed the opening of its Emergency Operations Center until a major storm was under way. In at least one instance, flood barriers were deployed too late to prevent homes and businesses from being inundated. 
 
Despite those missteps, the city rallied a coordinated response from its Emergency Operations Center, where multiple city agencies, along with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. representatives, gathered to discuss and act on emerging issues in real time. 

“Civic” Podcast
A young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and wearing a pale blue sweater faces forward and appears to be speaking in a screen-grab image from a TikTok video.

Family Courts Rely on Dubious Theory to Dismiss Child Abuse Claims

02.16.2023
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Disbelieving a child’s allegation of abuse based on the notion that the other parent brainwashed them into lying is a hotly debated legal tactic called parental alienation.

A growing chorus of international media coverage, medical groups and judicial bodies are expressing doubts over the validity of this legal defense tactic and of its practitioners.

Coercive Control
Lesley Hu with her son Pierce O’Loughlin. Pierce’s father murdered the nine-year-old in January 2021 after a San Francisco family court judge rejected his mother’s appeal for sole custody.

When Judges Dismiss Claims of Domestic Abuse, Children Can Die

10.10.2022
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Lawmakers, experts and advocates across California are pushing for legislation that would make judges take regular training in recognizing domestic violence and child abuse. The crusade is an attempt to lessen the chances that a judge will place a child in the custody of a dangerous parent. Family court judges routinely decide that domestic abuse claims are not credible and grant custody to the allegedly abusive parent. But making the wrong call can end with children losing their lives.

“Civic” Podcast
State Sen. Susan Rubio, who introduced a senate bill to expand the California Family Code to include coercive control in family court hearings and criminal trials, speaks about the need to keep children of domestic violence survivors safe in front of Los Angeles City Hall on June 27, 2022.

Coercive Control Victims Face Skeptical Judges, Court Transcripts Show

09.12.2022
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On average in the U.S., more than 1 in 3 women, and 1 in 4 men, will experience physical violence, rape or stalking by an intimate partner, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Nevertheless, when victims turn to family court for protection from their abusers, they often face skeptical judges. And that’s especially true when the abuse doesn’t leave a mark.

Government & Politics
A Native American woman in a blue shirt and black jacket sits on a chair in a forested area near a house.

California Indian Tribes Denied Resources for Decades as Federal Acknowledgement Lags

08.11.2022
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In the last 13 years, the U.S. Department of Interior has actively reviewed applications for acknowledgement of only 18 tribes, even as hundreds remain in line. The Public Press has identified more than 400 tribes seeking federal recognition and is working to confirm that 200 others with publicly listed applications are genuine.

Many have been waiting for decades. The Death Valley TimbiSha Shoshone Band is the only California tribe that has been recognized in the 44 years since the federal acknowledgement process was established.

Health
A person walks across the frame in front of a short set of stairs leading to the entrance of Laguna Honda Hospital. The hospital — a 780-bed facility on 62 acres in San Francisco’s Twin Peaks neighborhood — is facing challenges in fulfilling a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandate to move out all patients by Sept. 13, 2022, before it can apply to the centers for recertification.

Laguna Honda Hospital Has to Self-Destruct to Survive

07.20.2022
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Administrators are overhauling policies and procedures to regain federal funding that is set to expire following the issuance of multiple damning inspection reports at Laguna Honda Hospital. They have until Sept. 13 to implement changes, which include a requirement to transfer or discharge all patients, before they can apply for recertification from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

From the Newsroom
The 102.5 FM transmitter antenna is located on the second level of Sutro Tower.

San Francisco’s 102.5 FM Is Back on the Air

07.15.2022
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Nonprofit community radio stations KXSF-LP and KSFP-LP are broadcasting again on 102.5 FM from the second level of Sutro Tower in San Francisco. San Francisco Community Radio and the San Francisco Public Press each broadcast 12 hours a day on their shared frequency, which can be heard throughout the city.

Health
A view from a lower point on the hillside looking across lush green gardens and up toward Laguna Honda Hospital's Spanish Revival-style buildings.

Laguna Honda Doctors Warned SF of Looming Crisis

07.11.2022
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Nearly 700 live-in patients at Laguna Honda Hospital were thrown into chaos this spring after a series of damning inspections led the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to pull funding and mandate a closure plan for the facility.

It’s a dire situation for residents of the skilled nursing facility who have specialized needs that make them hard to place elsewhere. Hospital administrators are scrambling to attain the recertification needed to continue to receive federal funding.

Two former Laguna Honda physicians say they have continued to warn city officials about this looming crisis after first flagging it 18 years ago. That’s when a Department of Public Health policy began admitting to Laguna Honda patients whose needs fell outside the scope of a typical nursing home for the elderly.