It largely fell on Turner, then, to support her family. In Japantown, her first job was as a salesgirl selling reclining massage chairs, and she immediately found that all those years she’d spent negotiating with vendors on Tokyo’s black market had served her well. “I’m very good at sales,” she says. “Anything I sell, everybody buys from me. I sold a lot of massage chairs.” For each one sold, she would get a $100 cash commission.

Encouraged by that success, Turner opened the first business of her own in 1969 — Kamata Pearls, a pearl oyster shop on Fisherman’s Wharf. Tourists would pay a couple bucks for an oyster from the tanks to see how many pearls were inside. Then, Turner would work her sales magic, convincing customers to turn their treasure into custom pendants or rings.

The business was so lucrative that copycats sprung up all along the Wharf and Pier 39, so, after a few years, Turner started looking for other opportunities. One of her jewelry contacts recommended her to Gido Shibata, the founder of the original Sapporo-ya in Los Angeles, likely the first ramen restaurant in America. He was looking to expand to San Francisco and wanted Turner to partner with him.

It was a risky proposition. “I had never been a waitress,” Turner recalls. “I didn’t know anything about the restaurant business.” And ramen, specifically, was still an unknown quantity to American customers.

With a stack of old photos in front of her, Turner reminisces about her early years in Japan. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

Turner, forever undaunted, decided to give it a go. In the still-nascent Japan Center mall, she found a space that had previously been a training center for the Kikkoman soy sauce company. She brought in a ramen machine from Japan and set it up right next to the front window so passersby could see the noodles being made fresh every morning. Shibata sent a talented, hard-working chef, Yoshiaki, who got along with Turner so well that he wound up staying at the restaurant until she sold it in 2014. (“Forty years and we never got in a fight!” she exclaims.)

These days, there are at least six ramen shops within a one-block radius of the Japantown Peace Plaza. But when Sapporo-ya opened in 1976, it was the only one — and, as Turner recalls, the restaurant quickly became something of a sensation, with customers lining up outside before it opened each morning. At Sapporo-ya, the San Francisco Examiner food critic Patricia Unterman wrote in her 1983 review of the restaurant, “the Japanese version of noodles and soup reaches new heights.” The dining room stayed busy late into the night — until 2 a.m. in those early years.

The restaurant’s success also helped mark a turning point for Japantown as a whole, on the heels of a contentious redevelopment project. When it first opened, the Japan Center mall had a decidedly corporate vibe, with much of its square footage dedicated to showrooms for big Japanese conglomerates like Hitachi and Mitsubishi. But with the advent of restaurants like Sapporo-ya and other small retail stores in the mid-’70s, the mall gradually shifted its focus to what we see today: mostly small local businesses rooted in Japanese and Japanese American cultural products.

The view southwest from Post and Webster Streets circa 1978. A sign for Fuku-Sushi and Sopporo-ya hangs near the entrance to the Japan Center mall. (San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)

For Turner, the ramen shop was just the beginning. Within a couple of years, she’d opened a sushi restaurant called Fuku-Sushi in the same building, and then a bar and restaurant called Momiji. (By this point, the Examiner was calling her “Japantown’s queen of sushi bars.”) For a while, she also had a fur coat business in the Japan Center, an outpost of her pearl shop in Redondo Beach, in Southern California, and another sushi restaurant, Nobuyuki, in the Outer Richmond. The Turner restaurant that recent Japantown visitors are probably most familiar with is Takara, a longtime Japan Center favorite for lunch bentos, which she bought a couple of years before the pandemic.

The glory years, though, were when Sapporo-ya and Fuku-Sushi were at the peak of their popularity, in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Fuku, in particular, was a magnet for celebrities: Robin Williams, Keanu Reeves, Tony Curtis and Francis Ford Coppola all ate there. But while Turner collected their autographed photos to display, she was never especially starstruck. One time, she recalls, she came back to close the restaurant after having gone out dancing at the Tonga Room and her staff told her that Yoko Ono had stopped by — she’d requested a tatami room and walked into the restaurant barefoot. The time Keanu visited, Turner remembers one of her servers was so happy she burst into tears.

“I didn’t care,” Turner says. “I talked about the menu. I took his order.”

Mostly, Turner is just happy that she was able to provide a good life for her two children. She says it as though that were an easy thing. But her son, Eric, a real estate agent in San Francisco, remembers his mother being a superhero-like figure. He was about 11 years old when she opened Sapporo-ya, and the family was living in San Rafael at the time. Turner would get up early in the morning to fry fresh chicken for sandwiches — to, as Eric puts it, “send us off to school with the best meal she could give us.” Then she would drive back and forth between San Rafael and the city, often twice a day, so that she could spend time with the kids when they got home from school before heading back to the restaurant at night.

“She never complained,” Eric recalls. “There was no hesitation.”

Mostly, Eric says, he’s inspired by how strong his mother has always been. Even starting in a new industry that she’d never had any experience with, she moved forward with complete confidence.

“I look back on her legacy as someone who had no fear,” Eric says. “She was all of five foot tall, 100 pounds — no worries. She was all guts.”

Bottles of sake decorate the interior of the now-closed Chika & Sake, Turner’s final restaurant — at least for now. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

The next chapter

In recent years, the difficulties of the pandemic have soured Turner on the restaurant industry. At the height of lockdown, she and the other tenants of Japan Center West were entangled in prolonged dispute with their landlord, a Beverly Hills–based developer that refused to give tenants any discount on back rent or maintenance fees, demanding the full amount — close to $20,000 a month for Takara — even when businesses in the mall weren’t allowed to open. The situation was so grim that when I spoke to Turner at the time, she essentially pronounced the neighborhood dead. “I think Japantown is no more,” she told me.

In the end, she wound up closing Takara. She opened a new restaurant, Sushi Aoba, a few blocks away on Laguna Street, then later rebranded it as Chika & Sake, partnering with a local sake expert. But neither project worked out the way that Turner had hoped, and by this past spring she’d shuttered the space altogether.

Still, even at 93, Turner shows no signs of wanting to retire. Over the course of the many weeks we communicated for this story, she spoke constantly about wanting to find some new project. She says she’s sworn off restaurants for good — that there’s no way to make any money doing it. The young people she sees crowding into Japantown every weekend? “They have ice cream — they don’t eat food, young people.”

Eric, her son, wouldn’t rule anything out. Who’s to say she won’t get the itch a few months from now to bring San Francisco some new dish the city has never seen? Or that she won’t dive head-first into a completely different business?

“I always want to do different things,” she says. “Nobody was doing ramen. Nobody was doing jewelry shops. So I want to do it.”

Turner sits for a portrait in her now-closed Japantown restaurant, Chika and Sake. Even at 93, she’s still contemplating her next business move. (Juliana Yamada/KQED)

Mostly, she says, she feels gratitude for the amazing life that she has led — for all the people who have loved her, for this country that she now calls home. “When I hear the American national anthem, I am like this,” Turner says, clenching her fist on her chest. “This country raised me, not Japan.”

The post How Lena Turner Introduced Ramen to San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

May 22, 2023

Employment services platform Handy Technologies Inc. agreed to pay $6 million to resolve allegations it misclassified workers as independent contractors under California’s AB 5 law. The San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys announced the settlement May 18.

“This settlement is not only a victory for California workers who have been misclassified by Handy Technologies Inc., but also a warning to other companies engaged in similar illegal conduct,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. in a statement.

Prosecutors originally filed the lawsuit in 2021.

Handy dispatches employees to provide cleaning and handyman services at customers’ homes. In addition to the refund, the company agreed to a permanent injunction to avoid future misclassifications. Prosecutors said the company made significant changes to its business operations. For example, workers can now set their own hourly wages on the site and, after filling a position, contact clients directly to learn more about the requested services and negotiate terms such as hours and pay without being contractually bound to perform the work or get fined by Handy for turning down the job.

“This ruling is a long-awaited triumph for workers who have been wrongfully treated as independent contractors and deprived of their right to health care, paid vacation time and unemployment insurance,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

The $6 million settlement includes $4.8 million in workers’ compensation and a $1.2 million civil penalty. There are about 25,000 workers who worked between March 2017 and May 2023.

The post Helpful to pay $6 million to settle IC misclassification case introduced by San Francisco and Los Angeles appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

May 22, 2023

Employment services platform Handy Technologies Inc. agreed to pay $6 million to resolve allegations it misclassified workers as independent contractors under California’s AB 5 law. The San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys announced the settlement May 18.

“This settlement is not only a victory for California workers who have been misclassified by Handy Technologies, Inc., but also a warning to other companies engaged in similar unlawful conduct,” said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins , in a statement.

Prosecutors originally filed the lawsuit in 2021.

Handy dispatches employees to provide cleaning and handyman services at customers’ homes. In addition to the refund, the company agreed to a permanent injunction to avoid future misclassifications. Prosecutors said the company made significant changes to its business operations. For example, workers can now set their own hourly wages on the site and, after filling a position, contact clients directly to learn more about the requested services and negotiate terms such as hours and pay without being contractually bound to perform the work or get fined by Handy for turning down the job.

“This ruling is a long-awaited triumph for workers who have been wrongfully treated as independent contractors and deprived of their right to health care, paid vacation time and unemployment insurance,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

The $6 million settlement includes $4.8 million in workers’ compensation and a $1.2 million civil penalty. There are about 25,000 workers who worked between March 2017 and May 2023.

The post Useful to pay $6 million to settle IC misclassification case introduced by San Francisco and Los Angeles appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

This article is part one in a three-part series from Adria Carpenter exploring the history of HIV/AIDS activism in Iowa City. Part two and three will be published in the weeks to come.

Michael Blake poses for a portrait in his home in Iowa City, Iowa, on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022. – Adria Carpenter/Little Village

In the early 1980s, Rev. John Harper was a fresh-faced graduate student at the University of Iowa and a semi-active member of the Gay People’s Union.

He’d heard about some disease affecting gay men in New York and San Francisco. He started being more careful, though he doubted whatever it was would spread as far as Iowa.

But by June 1983, Iowa’s first case of HIV/AIDS was reported in Des Moines, and when it finally hit Iowa City, the disease multiplied fast.

“There was a period of time when probably a dozen or more people I knew in Iowa City died pretty quickly,” Harper said.

This article is the first in a three-part series that will document how AIDS changed the LGBTQ community in Iowa City. The second and third parts will be published online in the lead-up to Pride Month, June 2023.

This first installment will cover the ’60s and ’70s, focusing on the gay and lesbian communities, and their occasionally competing interests.

The second article will show the beginnings of HIV/AIDS in the ’80s and Iowa City’s reaction, leading to the creation of organizations like the Iowa Center for AIDS Resources (ICARE), the AIDS Coalition of Johnson County and the university’s Virology Clinic.

The final article will describe the end of the AIDS crisis, spurred by effective antiviral treatments, and how ’90s activism adapted following a decade of homophobic rhetoric and policies.

Out of the closet and into the streets

John Harper was born and raised in Des Moines, from a long legacy of native Iowans. He attended UI in 1964 to finish a degree in business and stuck around, serving as an English professor for 37 years.

He came out in 1968, a year before the Stonewall riots ignited the Gay Liberation Movement.

“When I started it was pre-Stonewall. So, there wasn’t a whole lot that was known about what it meant to be gay,” he said. “I had so many gay friends who felt they had no option but to marry a woman and have children because anything else would be suicidal.”

The ’70s were “wild, radical times.” Like elsewhere in the country, LGBTQ activism in Iowa City sprouted from the ’60s anti-war movement and protests against the Nixon administration.

This became the bedrock of early activist groups, including the Rape Victim Advocacy Program, Domestic Violence Intervention Program and the Emma Goldman Clinic, according to Laurie Haag, a program director at the Women’s Resource Action Center (WRAC).

Madde Hoberg shows off her favorite material in the LGBTQ Iowa Archives and Library — a portrait of Chris Keebler — on Aug. 17, 2022, in the basement of the Wesley Center. — Adria Carpenter/Little Village

On Sept. 23, 1970, a small group of gay and bisexual students at UI gathered in the Wesley Center to discuss equal rights in education, housing and employment. In attendance was Ken Bunch — the first to apply for same-sex marriage license in Iowa, with his partner, Tracy Bjorgum — and Rick Graf, who later co-founded ICARE.

That was the first meeting of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), one of the first university-recognized LGBTQ student groups in the country. Other inaugural members included Garry Smith, Paul Hutson, Paul Hauer, Dean Blake and Raymond Perry.

GLF, as their name suggests, were willing to use militant, “in your face” tactics that could be “loud and obnoxious,” said Michael Blake, a later member.

Their public displays were eye-catching and unapologetic. Harper recalled men in drag roller skating around the Pentacrest.

The Gay Liberation Front’s homecoming parade Cadillac in 1970. The float was covered by NBC Evening News and caused protests against the University. – image courtesy of the University of Iowa Archives

The group’s first outing was the UI Homecoming Parade in October 1970. GLF rode through Iowa City on a Cadillac convertible with signs reading, “Out of the closet and into the streets,” “Gay pride is gay power” and “No racism, no sexism, no classes.” They chanted “Two, four, six, eight, gay is good as any straight” while tossing Hershey Kisses to spectators, and they ended the parade by crowning an “anti-queen.”

NBC Evening News covered the parade float, and people protested the university’s tolerance of GLF, demanding it disband the group.

“This university was quite a pioneer in acceptance,” Harper said.

We didn’t get along

Unlike the united acronym of today, the ’70s queer community was split on gendered fault lines. GLF was technically open to anyone, but its members were predominantly men.

“Men had their own issues, and women had their own issues. And there was some crossover, but there was also some healthy distrust of each other’s issues,” said Haag, the founder of the Iowa Women’s Music Festival and Girls Rock! Iowa City. “But when AIDS started to be a real crisis, I think communities came together in ways that they hadn’t … If there was an upside, that was what the upside was.”

The Lesbian Alliance grew out of WRAC in the spring of 1974, alongside other feminist organizations like the Emma Goldman Clinic. The Lesbian Alliance was the square to WRAC’s rectangle. It was intersectional, focusing on women’s issues like reproductive rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, domestic violence and sexual assault, in addition to sexuality.

Activist group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence originally formed in Iowa City in 1976, and are now based in San Francisco. — The Daily Iowan, June 29, 1987

Jill Jack, a native Chicagoan, came to the university the following year and cobbled together a women’s studies degree before the program existed. She joined WRAC and soon headed the Lesbian Alliance.

The university and student government treated the GLF and Lesbian Alliance as one entity, often refusing to fund Lesbian Alliance, Jack said. Unlike the women’s group, GLF was narrowly focused on gay rights.

“We didn’t really get along. For one thing, the culture was different early to late ’70s. We were always fighting with the university for lesbian rights to get funding,” Jack said.

In 1976, the Gay Liberation Front rebranded to the Gay People’s Union (GPU), a move to become more service oriented. They offered support and intervention services and a crisis phone line.

These support groups helped a young Michael Blake come out. Blake grew up on a farm in Riceville, Iowa, and was raised in a Catholic family with eight siblings. He graduated UI with an education degree in 1974 but couldn’t find a teaching job, so he decided to work at Student Health and join GPU.

Jack also joined GPU around the same time, becoming one of the first women in the group. She worked closely with Blake holding joint speaking engagements with GPU and the Lesbian Alliance, and organizing protests and Pride rallies (originally called Harvey Milk Week).

“We started to work across the aisle, as it were,” Jack said with a laugh.

“I think I got along really well with the women because I was always willing to give them deference,” Blake said. “I always knew kind of where the boundaries were with the women.”

The 1985 Gay and Lesbian Pride March. Image courtesy of the University of Iowa Archives.

Even still, they’d argue about the Gay and Lesbian Pride March — “Why are the women always second?” Jill said — and after many fights they decided to alternate the name every year.

The women’s groups had a separatist reputation. Women had their own establishments and community in Iowa City.

“We had the women’s press, women’s plumber — you’ll see where this is going — mechanics, electrical, carpenter. We kind of had all our own little stuff,” she said. “A woman in town would sell books, lesbian books, out of a suitcase. And then a couple of women started the women’s bookstore.”

The women’s bookstore was on the upper floor on 330 E Prentiss St, now The Vine, before moving to the Hall Mall. The women’s coffee house was in the same building. There was also a women’s gym near the 620 Club, and a women-only restaurant, Grace and Rubies, open from 1976 to 1978 at 209 N Linn St, now Brix Cheese Shop & Wine Bar (membership cost 50 cents).

The 1987 Lesbian and Gay Pride March. Image courtesy of the University of Iowa Archives.

Close-knit but cautious

The separatist reputation was a double standard, according to Haag. Some gay men’s groups could be exclusionary, and the Iowa Women’s Music Festival, for example, was welcoming of trans and nonbinary people, she said.

Still, distrust was prevalent.

“The women were more paranoid,” Haag said. “It was very covert.”

The paranoia came from the Nixon administration, which was suspected of sending spies and informants into leftist organizations. The women’s community was close-knit but cautious.

“For years, I didn’t know people’s last names,” Jack said. “A lot of people had nicknames. And for some people today, I couldn’t tell you. Which isn’t unique to here, or even unique to the ’70s.”

The Lesbian Alliance and GPU held regular dances at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Gilbert Street. But they couldn’t advertise them as “lesbian dances” or put the church’s name on flyers, Jack said.

The old Unitarian Universalist Society church on the corner of Iowa Avenue and Gilbert Street in Iowa City has a rich history as an LGBTQ safe space. — Zak Neumann/Little Village

“You would put up a poster and you’d say, ‘Friday night, three o’clock, 10 South Gilbert.’ The bad part was we were right down from the police department. You didn’t really trust that you wouldn’t get raided, and you had to be careful,” Jack said. “I heard that somebody within the lesbian community was actually an informant. And some women got arrested and stuff, because it wasn’t legal. So consequently, when we’d hold the dances at the Unitarian, we’d have lookouts for the police. We’d have somebody at the door just to make sure the police weren’t gonna come in.”

The suspicion was warranted. In 1973, Iowa state liquor control agents, Iowa Highway Patrol officers, the Iowa City Police Department and the Johnson County Sheriff’s Departments raided a Gay Liberation Front dance at the church “for selling beer illegally,” according to Daily Iowan archives.

Like GPU, the Lesbian Alliance also held a phone line and provided counseling at WRAC, Jack said. They curated a resource book and offered spare bedrooms where women could spend the night. Oftentimes, women escaping unsafe, abusive environments would rely on that network.

“When you go to the Women’s Center, and you walk in, if you hadn’t been there before, it could be terrifying, a little intimidating and exciting all at the same time. We offered counseling, and I just don’t know how many women I’ve met with who were, ‘Well, I came into college with my boyfriend, but I really think I might be gay. I don’t know what to do,’” Jack said. “A number of women, who I don’t always remember, have come back and said, ‘You really changed my life.’”

WRAC and the Lesbian Alliance also had an unofficial phone tree to provide 24-hour guarding of the Emma Goldman Clinic, using walkie-talkies to coordinate — “an old version of Twitter,” Jack joked.

Starved for gay culture

The Lesbian Alliance didn’t have an official signup sheet, but Jack estimated that they had several hundred members.

“I would throw an event, and if women showed up, I’d count how many there were and then figured they’re lesbians and that’s how many are part of Lesbian Alliance,” she chuckled.

Jack went to picnics with friends and softball games in the summer. Blake belonged to a Sunday brunch group of 30 to 40 people, hosted on a rotating schedule. The Lesbian Alliance and GPU held movie screenings, usually of a crappy, independent film with a queer storyline, or a TV show with a lesbian kiss.

“In those days, people were so starved for gay culture, they would come to anything,” Haag said.

Gay men would hang out in “little pockets,” Harper said, like Kenney’s Bar, an artistic space also popular with the Iowa Writers’ Workshop students, and The Boulevard Room (later called That Bar), open from 1975 to 1977. The building now houses Artifacts.

Ethel and Gene Madison owned The Boulevard Room, but it wasn’t officially a gay bar.

“They made the mistake of hiring a gay bartender,” Blake said. “So a few friends of his started hanging out, and hey, it was fun … And before long, it became this gay bar. And of course, they hired a gay DJ.”

The crowd at The Boulevard Room was academic — college kids and townies, writers and poets — but there were also groups of gay farmers who tumbled into town.

“The gay farmers used to be a hoot,” Blake said. “Sometimes you forget here in Iowa City. It’s different.”

The Daily Iowan mistakenly labeled The Boulevard Room as a gay bar in a 1975 article, and the Madisons sued the Student Publications Inc. and the article author, Daily Iowan Assistant News Editor Kim Rogal, for libel. They won the suit, but “it was a big slap in the face” to the LGBTQ community, so the community boycotted the bar.

“That was considered the impetus for 620, you know, ‘Fuck Gene and Ethel. We’ll get our own bar,’” Blake said. “There’d be this caravan of gays to Cedar Rapids to the gay bars up there. And that prompted Woody to open 620.”

Daryl “Woody” Woodson, who also owned The Sanctuary, opened The 620 Club at 620 S Madison St, an industrial building. A row of tables was elevated up on the side of the dance floor, along with a drape railing (Rick Graf, who was a carpenter, did construction inside). 620 was the first official gay bar in Iowa City.

Michael Blake as the Condom Queen. – courtesy of Michael Blake

It was open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (Tuesdays and Wednesdays with no DJ), and welcomed everyone. But patrons had to embrace the queer community, otherwise why were you there? A local artist painted a poster in the style of Soviet propaganda, depicting a muscly, idealistic man pointing at you with the words, “Are you queer?” in big letters.

“We were pretty militant about [the fact that] we were here, and we were gay. If you didn’t like that, you could go somewhere else,” said Riverside Theatre actor Tim Budd, who served as a bartender and doorman at 620, becoming manager in 1992. “We actually had a stamp that said, ‘I’m gay.’ And people hated it. They hated it. Because it takes a few days for that to wear off.”

Working the bar was hard. You’d hear the music echo in your ears long after the shift was over, Budd said. But it also came with memorable moments, like bartending on New Year’s Eve and seeing his friend meet his longtime boyfriend for the first time.

“We were who we were, because we felt we were on our own, and we would have to take care of each other,” Budd said. “The bar really worked as a community center as well.

“We had a Halloween Costume Contest one year, and the guy who won came in drag and wore a dress that was entirely made of condoms, still in their packaging. He made that whole dress out of condoms he’d taken from our bar, and then we gave him $150 for doing it.”

Budd would caravan to the gay bars in Cedar Rapids but thought they were boring, less atmospheric and smaller. It was an older crowd without the university’s presence, and Budd felt like a stranger.

You had to fight for it

Iowa City was the queer omphalos. If Jack had to be anywhere in the state, Iowa City was the place. But despite the relative tolerance in Iowa City, the LGBTQ community was constantly fighting to secure their rights and spaces.

“People were still getting beat up. I had death threats. I had my phone tapped because I was getting death threats,” she laughed. “I used to wear suits a lot, and walking downtown in a three-piece suit could be a little challenging at times. And when we would do Take Back the Night, they tried to run us over. That was not unusual at all. There were pipe bombs at 620 before.

“During those decades, the politics was front and center, because we had to move the needle. University wasn’t gonna do it. That’s for damn sure. The city wasn’t going to do it. That’s for damn sure,” Jack said. “You had to fight for it.”

A group from Iowa City piles into a bus headed for the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Photograph courtesy of Jill Jack.

One early victory came in 1977, when the Iowa City Council added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination ordinance. Iowa City was the one of the first cities in the country to include that protection in its human rights ordinance.

Tragically, advancements made by the nationwide Gay Liberation Movement were undone in the ’80s.

“AIDS was an enormous setback for basic rights that we take for granted today,” Harper said. “And not only speaking about the nature of unions, but housing, employment, medical, all kinds of things. Two steps backwards.”

“The sort of wild, bucking ’70s, it really came to a screeching halt. So many people died,” Haag said. “They didn’t change the world as much as they’d hoped to. But the world is kind of hard to change.”

The Cleve Jones’s NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt covered the National Mall at the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Photograph courtesy of Jill Jack.

Adria Carpenter is a freelance journalist based in Minneapolis and former LV staff writer. Thanks to everyone who decided to share their story with me, and thanks to the UI Special Collections and Archives for helping me sort through boxes and boxes of documents and materials. I hope this series does our history justice.

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The storm is expected to bring several inches of accumulation along I-95.

Feb 26, 2023 3:16pm ET

• 6 minutes read

The massive winter storm that has brought infrequent snowfalls to parts of California threatens to do the same on the east coast as it sweeps furiously across the country.

Southern California will finally get some respite from the intense rain and snow on Sunday. The major storm system is now bringing damaging thunderstorms to the Great Plains.

More than 80 million Americans are currently on alert for wind or winter weather.

Western Oklahoma will experience the majority of the severe weather on Sunday, with wind gusts of 80 to 110 miles per hour possible. North Texas and Southeast Kansas are forecast to experience storms with damaging winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes.

The storm line will begin in the Texas Panhandle late Sunday afternoon before continuing in parts of Missouri into the overnight hours with a damaging wind threat.

East Coast snow forecast up to February 28, 2023.abc news

There will also be torrential rain in the Midwest through Sunday night, turning to a wintry mix through Monday morning, making commuting challenging for those in the Chicago area.

The storm system is expected to whip eastward after lingering on the west coast, dumping several inches of rain and snow in some regions.

In the Great Lakes region, snow is expected in Wisconsin, Michigan and the Northeast. Hundreds of thousands of customers in Michigan are already without power. Utility companies DTE Energy and Consumers Energy said power would be restored ahead of the approaching storm.

On Monday evening and into Tuesday, a mix of snow and winter is likely to result in congestion in cities along the I-95 corridor.

On February 25, 2023, desert flora is covered with snow in Phelan, California.David Swanson/Reuters

The snow deficit in cities like New York City, New Haven, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island and Boston is likely to break away with several inches of snow and slush expected from this storm system. Tuesday morning could be a chaotic drive through the Northeast.

A rare snowstorm warning was issued for Southern California, bringing several feet of snow to the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains. A blanket of snow even reached the Hollywood Hills and the hills around San Francisco.

At one point over the weekend, snow fell at a rate of 2.5 inches per hour in places like Lake Arrowhead, California. Between 2 and 6 feet of snow has fallen in the mountains outside of Los Angeles since Wednesday.

More than 126,000 customers in California were without power on Saturday. More than 2,500 flights were canceled last week in anticipation of the storm.

Snow covers a home in Rancho Cucamonga, California on February 25, 2023.Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Another storm system is moving ashore in northern California later Sunday, bringing more gusty winds and incredible amounts of mountain snow.

Winter warnings are in effect on the west coast from Seattle to Sacramento when the weather picks up. The Sierra Nevada mountain range with the highest elevations will see between 3 and 7 feet of snow.

More waves of rain and snow will roll in elsewhere in California Monday morning.

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Just after midnight last night, Oakland Zoo took in a two-year-old male mountain lion captured in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. This male marks the 16th rescue of a mountain lion for the zoo by the Alliance of the Bay Area Cougar Action Team (BACAT)

OAKLAND. Calif., May 20, 2021 / PRNewswire-PRWeb / – Oakland Zoo helped rescue a two-year-old male mountain lion found in San Francisco this morning by officials at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CADFW). He was taken to the Oakland Zoo for a temporary stay while he received a full exam, blood tests, and vaccines for preventative care.

Mr. Handsome, unofficially named by Oakland Zoo’s veterinary staff, was taken to a holding area of ​​the zoo’s veterinary hospital overnight pending examinations this morning. He was determined to have a total bill of healthy, hydrated, and a healthy weight of 98.5 pounds. He was treated for internal and external parasites (often found in wildlife) and vaccinated during his examination.

Long distance travel in neighborhoods is not uncommon for mountain lions of this time. Mountain lions are far-reaching species that are known to exhibit “dispersal behaviors” that result in them traveling long distances in search of food, good homes, and mates.

“We are proud to do our part to save and protect wildlife through our partnerships and collaboration with CDFW, the Bay Area Puma Project and the San Francisco Police Department, “said Dr. Herman, vice president of veterinary services at Oakland Zoo.

Mr Handsome is currently on his way to be released from in a rural, uninhabited area Santa Clara County from CDFW to continue living free in the wild.

Mountain lions are exposed to numerous threats California, often hit by cars, killed with expropriation permits and illegally poached. These factors culminate in a conflict between humans and animals, which brings them into conflict with humans and interferes with urban areas and developments. Oakland Zoo works with conservation organizations like the Mountain Lion Foundation and the Bay Area Puma Project to educate the public about the issue and help protect species in the wild.

The story goes on

The Oakland Zoo helped establish BACAT (Bay Area Cougar Action Team), an alliance with the Bay Area Puma Project and the Mountain Lion Foundation, in 2013 to help CADFW rescue mountain lions that are in conflict between humans and Animal are trapped.

Contact:
Erin Harrison
Oakland Zoo
eharrison@oaklandzoo.org
Office: 510-632-9525 ext 120
Cell: 415-601-1619

Isabella Linares placeholder image
Oakland Zoo
ilinares@oaklandzoo.org
Office: 510-632-9525 ext 239
Cell: 650-776-9589

###

ABOVE OAKLAND ZOO AND THE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA::
The Oakland Zoo, home to more than 850 native and exotic animals, is managed by the Conservation Society of California (CSC); A nonprofit that leads an informed and inspired community to take action on wildlife locally and globally. With over 25 nature conservation partners and projects worldwide, the CSC is committed to nature conservation-based education and the rescue of species and their habitats in the wild. Oakland Zoo is dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare in zoos and aquariums.

Media contact

Isabella Linares placeholder image, Oakland Zoo, 5106329525, ilinares@oaklandzoo.org

Twitter Facebook

SOURCE Oakland Zoo

The post Mountain Lion Roaming San Francisco Bernal Heights Neighborhood Introduced To Oakland Zoo appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

OAKLAND. Calif., May 20, 2021 / PRNewswire-PRWeb / – Oakland Zoo helped rescue a two-year-old male mountain lion found in San Francisco this morning by officials at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CADFW). He was taken to the Oakland Zoo for a temporary stay while he received a full exam, blood tests, and vaccines for preventative care.

Mr. Handsome, unofficially named by Oakland Zoo’s veterinary staff, was taken to a holding area of ​​the zoo’s veterinary hospital overnight pending examinations this morning. He was determined to have a total bill of healthy, hydrated, and a healthy weight of 98.5 pounds. He was treated for internal and external parasites (often found in wildlife) and vaccinated during his examination.

Long distance travel in neighborhoods is not uncommon for mountain lions of this time. Mountain lions are far-reaching species that are known to exhibit “dispersal behaviors” that result in them traveling long distances in search of food, good homes, and mates.

“We are proud to do our part to save and protect wildlife through our partnerships and collaboration with CDFW, the Bay Area Puma Project and the San Francisco Police Department, “said Dr. Herman, vice president of veterinary services at Oakland Zoo.

Mr Handsome is currently on his way to be released from in a rural, uninhabited area Santa Clara County from CDFW to continue living free in the wild.

Mountain lions are exposed to numerous threats California, often hit by cars, killed with expropriation permits and illegally poached. These factors culminate in a conflict between humans and animals, which brings them into conflict with humans and interferes with urban areas and developments. Oakland Zoo works with conservation organizations like the Mountain Lion Foundation and the Bay Area Puma Project to educate the public about the issue and help protect species in the wild.

The Oakland Zoo helped establish BACAT (Bay Area Cougar Action Team), an alliance with the Bay Area Puma Project and the Mountain Lion Foundation, in 2013 to help CADFW rescue mountain lions that are in conflict between humans and Animal are trapped.

Contact:

Erin Harrison

Oakland Zoo

eharrison@oaklandzoo.org

Office: 510-632-9525 ext 120

Cell: 415-601-1619

Isabella Linares placeholder image

Oakland Zoo

ilinares@oaklandzoo.org

Office: 510-632-9525 ext 239

Cell: 650-776-9589

###

ABOVE OAKLAND ZOO AND THE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA::

The Oakland Zoo, home to more than 850 native and exotic animals, is managed by the Conservation Society of California (CSC); A nonprofit that leads an informed and inspired community to take action on wildlife locally and globally. With over 25 nature conservation partners and projects worldwide, the CSC is committed to nature conservation-based education and the rescue of species and their habitats in the wild. Oakland Zoo is dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare in zoos and aquariums.

Media contact

Isabella Linares placeholder image, Oakland Zoo, 5106329525, ilinares@oaklandzoo.org

Twitter Facebook

SOURCE Oakland Zoo

The post Mountain Lion Roaming San Francisco Bernal Heights Neighborhood Introduced To Oakland Zoo | Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

AC Tech, a South Carolina company, announced Saturday that Robert Shook, of Gastonia, had died as a result of the shooting.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that our beloved employee Robert Shook succumbed to his injuries this afternoon and died out of this earthly world,” the company said in an open statement on Saturday evening. “We are all heartbreaking and our attention must be directed to comforting one another and Robert’s family. Please keep his family in your prayers tonight and in the days to come as we all grapple with it.”

Police said former NFL player Phillip Adams had Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara and two of their grandchildren, ages 5 and 9, shot dead in the back of the Lesslies home outside of Rock Hill Town, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson.

The alleged shooter, former NFL player Adams, was found in a nearby house who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an altercation with police.

Adams played in the NFL from 2010 to 2015 as a defensive player for teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders and New York Jets.

Adams last played for the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 and appeared in 13 games, according to NFL.com.

Adams played college football at South Carolina State University. His hometown is listed as Rock Hill on his SCSU bio page, and he attended Rock Hill High School, according to the South Carolina State Athletics.

York County’s coroner office said Friday it was working with Boston University to conduct a brain study to see if Adams had a CTE.

CNN contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2021 WTVD-TV. All rights reserved.

The post Robert Shook: HVAC technician injured in South Carolina mass capturing dies; loss of life toll introduced to six appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

AC Tech, a South Carolina company, announced Saturday that Robert Shook, of Gastonia, had died as a result of the shooting.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that our beloved employee Robert Shook succumbed to his injuries this afternoon and died out of this earthly world,” the company said in an open statement on Saturday evening. “We are all heartbreaking and our attention must be focused on comforting one another and Robert’s family. Please keep his family in your prayers tonight and in the days to come as we all grapple with it.”

Police said former NFL player Phillip Adams had Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara and two of their grandchildren, ages 5 and 9, shot dead in the back of the Lesslies home outside of Rock Hill Town, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson.

The alleged shooter, former NFL player Adams, was found in a nearby house who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an altercation with police.

Adams played in the NFL from 2010 to 2015 as a defensive player for teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders and New York Jets.

Adams last played for the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 and appeared in 13 games, according to NFL.com.

Adams played college football at South Carolina State University. His hometown is listed as Rock Hill on his SCSU bio page, and he attended Rock Hill High School, according to the South Carolina State Athletics.

York County’s coroner office said Friday it was working with Boston University to conduct a brain study to see if Adams had a CTE.

CNN contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2021 WTVD-TV. All rights reserved.

The post Robert Shook: HVAC technician injured in South Carolina mass taking pictures dies; dying toll introduced to six appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

AC Tech, a South Carolina company, announced Saturday that Robert Shook, of Gastonia, had died as a result of the shooting.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that our beloved employee Robert Shook succumbed to his injuries this afternoon and died from this earthly world,” the company said in an open statement on Saturday evening. “We are all heartbreaking and our attention must be directed to comforting one another and Robert’s family. Please keep his family in your prayers tonight and in the days to come as we all grapple with it.”

Police said former NFL player Phillip Adams had Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara, and two of their grandchildren, ages 5 and 9, shot dead in the back of the Lesslies home outside of Rock Hill Town, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson.

The alleged shooter, former NFL player Adams, was found in a nearby home who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a police fight.

Adams played in the NFL from 2010 to 2015 as a defensive player for teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders and New York Jets.

Adams last played for the Atlanta Falcons in 2015 and appeared in 13 games, according to NFL.com.

Adams played college football at South Carolina State University. His hometown is listed as Rock Hill on his SCSU bio page, and he attended Rock Hill High School, according to the South Carolina State Athletics.

York County’s coroner office said Friday it was working with Boston University to conduct a brain study to see if Adams had a CTE.

CNN contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2021 WTVD-TV. All rights reserved.

The post Robert Shook: HVAC technician injured in South Carolina mass capturing dies; loss of life toll introduced to six appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.