SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – Police are investigating why a tow truck in San Francisco attempted to snatch a moving vehicle with people inside.

On Thursday we will learn new details about the towing company.

It was a terrible experience that Joanne and her husband are still coming to terms with.

“We freaked out, called, rolled down the window and said, 'Hey, what are you doing? You can't do that,'” Joanne said.

EXCLUSIVE: Couple shocked after tow truck tries to grab their moving car in San Francisco

An East Bay couple describes the horrific turn of events when a tow truck attempted to tow them while they were driving through downtown San Francisco.

A yellow tow truck backed up and tried to hook up her vehicle. Joanne said they were waiting at a red light in San Francisco.

“He started reversing, his lever came down and basically he was just reversing and trying to cling to our car,” Joanne said.

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu confirmed that the towing company Specialty Towing was already known to his agency for violating state law prior to this incident.

“This company appears to be the same towing company that my office previously requested be suspended and barred from city contracts,” Chiu said.

After watching the video, Chiu said the latest incident was illegal.

“It could likely violate a number of laws – possibly even criminal ones,” Chiu said. “The fact that we've once again seen this company violate the law is unfortunately not surprising, but the video is shocking nonetheless.”

Prior to this incident, the city had received complaints from several victims who allegedly had been defrauded by Specialty Towing.

MORE: New program in San Francisco sends you a text message when your car is towed

The city subsequently banned Specialty Towing and two other towing companies under the same ownership from cooperating with the city in enforcing parking laws.

“Specialty Towing is an affiliate of a company called Auto Towing. They are basically all part of the same company. Auto Towing was illegally towing cars from a private property without getting permission from the property owner. In addition, they strictly limited the times cars could be picked up and pressured owners to pay in cash,” Chiu said.

ABC7 News called the Specialty Towing phone number listed on one of the trucks and the employee hung up. We went to Auto Towing in Bayview and looked for answers.

We were told over the phone that Auto Towing is no longer in business and the person on the phone said they are not affiliated with Specialty Towing.

The SFPD is now calling on other victims to come forward.

“It's crazy. We ask victims to contact the police immediately if something like this has happened to them,” said Officer Paulina Henderson of the San Francisco Police Department.

The prosecutor said Specialty Towing also allegedly defrauded San Francisco taxpayers to receive welfare benefits.

In this case, it is still unclear why the couple was targeted. The couple said they filed a report with police and confirmed that the car and registration were paid off.

If you use the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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SAN FRANCISCO — A California couple is detailing the horrific turn of events when a tow truck attempted to tow them away as they drove through downtown San Francisco earlier this week.

“We were at a stoplight minding our own business,” said Joanne, who gave only her first name. She described running errands with her husband on Tuesday morning.

While the couple was stopped, they thought the yellow Specialty Towing truck was moving toward a nearby Waymo autonomous vehicle. But soon it became too close for comfort.

“It came from the side. I thought he was turning right. It started in reverse and all the lights came on. We thought, 'Hey, something's really wrong. His lever fell down,'” she said.

In a video captured by a witness, the tow truck can be seen making multiple attempts to attach itself to his 2017 Toyota Corolla.

On video, a witness can be heard shouting: “What the hell are you doing?”

When the traffic light turns green, the Waymo drives off alongside Joanne and her husband. Then the couple realizes that they are stuck in front of a black limousine.

“We completely freaked out. The first instinct was to get away,” Joanne said.

RELATED: Woman rescued from dump truck after falling into dumpster and was driven away while trash was being picked up

Luckily, the black car reverses and Joanne's husband can drive away. Then the tow truck begins chasing them for several blocks.

“It's definitely really scary,” said Joanne, who looks back on the incident and wonders what would have happened if the tow truck had managed to attach itself to her car.

ABC San Francisco affiliate KGO reached out to Special Towing via email and phone but received no response.

The company, along with two other companies, was indicted by prosecutor David Chiu in February on charges of fraud and illegal towing of parked cars. His office called the company “unscrupulous” in an online press release. Specialty Towing is now prohibited from offering or accepting city contracts.

Joanne and her husband said they were eventually able to get rid of the tow truck and drove back home to the East Bay. They claim they did nothing wrong and are still baffled as to why they were targeted.

“Full disclaimer: I definitely paid off my car. I paid for my admission,” she said.

Joanne plans to file a police report soon and is sharing her story to make other drivers aware.

“Be more careful when they're driving around and make sure you do your best to protect yourself if something doesn't look right,” she said.

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Dick Van Dyke was one of the 2021 Kennedy Center Awards honorees. The film and television legend's career was showcased as he accepted the award alongside fellow honorees Debbie Allen, Joan Baez, Garth Brooks and Midori.

At age 95, Van Dyke has a long resume in the entertainment industry dating back to the late 1950s, according to IMDB. One of his most popular roles was in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins,” in which he played both the role of jack-of-all-trades Bert the chimney sweep and the role of bank boss Mr. Dawes.

In an interview with CNN, Van Dyke once said “Mary Poppins” was his favorite role in his six-decade career. “I probably enjoyed the role in Mary Poppins the most,” he said. “It was so much fun. That's my favorite movie too.”

The Oscar-winning classic film was a great example of Van Dyke's singing and dancing skills.

Here's a look back at some of Van Dyke's most famous appearances in Mary Poppins.

“Pavement Artist/Chim Chim Cher-ee”

One of the most famous songs from “Mary Poppins” is “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” the famous duet by Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. But Van Dyke also performed a solo version of the song while his character did his chalk drawings on the streets of London.

The character Bert didn't exist until composers Robert and Richard Sherman wrote the song. They were inspired by a sketch of a whistling chimney sweep and initially thought Mary Poppins would sing the song to the children, but Walt Disney intervened and suggested that it would be better to create a new character.

“Walt said, 'You know, we've got this guy who paints pictures on the sidewalk, and we've got a one-man band, and we've got a guy who flies kites – why don't we make them all one guy and call him Bert? and he will also be the chimney sweep?” Robert Sherman once said, according to SongFacts.

“Step in Time” with the chimney sweep cast

Who can forget “Step in Time,” Van Dyke’s famous number featuring Bert and the other chimney sweeps dancing and singing on London rooftops? It was one of the liveliest routines in the film.

More than 55 years later, Van Dyke's legendary “Mary Poppins” performance was also remembered when professional dancer Derek Hough performed a version of “Step in Time” in his honor.

“Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” with Julie Andrews

One of the hardest song titles to pronounce – let alone spell – “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” made its debut in the Mary Poppins story when the Sherman brothers adapted PL Travers' book into a feature film, according to BBC News. The magical nanny Mary and her chimney sweep buddy recited the tongue twister word several times in one of the film's most famous sequences.

Richard Sherman once said the word came about the same way he and his brother invented words as children.

“We used to come up with the big double-speak words, we could think of a big offensive word for the kids and that's where it started,” he said. “We started with 'hideous,' and then you can sound smart and be precocious at the same time. We had “precocious” and “hideous” and we wanted something super colossal and that's cheesy, so we took “super” and doubled over to go “califragilistic,” which means nothing, it just came out that way. That’s what we did for two weeks in a nutshell.”

“I Love to Laugh” with Ed Wynn and Julie Andrews

Van Dyke showed off his Cockney accent more than his singing skills in the “I Love to Laugh” sequence. He told CNN that he focused primarily on dancing for the film, and the filmmakers gave him a vocal coach, who turned out to be Irish.

“And his Cockney wasn’t much better than mine,” Van Dyke said.

“While I was taking the picture, no one was making fun of me about the accent, but I definitely took it in afterwards,” he added.

Of the flights he took in the film – and particularly during this song – Van Dyke told the New York Times: “We had to fly all the time. Once [on the original movie] We were all up there playing “I Love to Laugh” and they were on their lunch break and everyone left and forgot we were DJing there. It must have taken 15 minutes for someone to notice and come and abandon us.”

CONTINUE READING: Kennedy Center Honors Artists and Presenters 2021

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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Residents of a San Francisco building that has flooded twice since June are reporting theft and people going inside their vacant apartments.

On June 10, at 2:27 a.m., Kate Sutherland received a notification. A person had been detected inside her vacant apartment at 33 Tehama.

“Opened the video and I saw a random person just wandering through my unit and taking a video on flash. It sent chills down my spine,” said Sutherland.

The eerie video caught what looked like a person moving slowly in the dark. The building had been vacant for several days after a water main broke and flooded the building. Kate ended her lease four days after this video was recorded.

RELATED: Residents at SF luxury apartment displaced after pipe bursts, flooding all 35 floors

Luz Pena: “How did they explain what happened?”

Kate Sutherland: “They really know how to explain it. They just kept saying that it was unauthorized.”

Kate’s story is the tip of the iceberg. This week another resident captured a contractor using the bathroom inside one of the apartments and taking something on their way out. Hines, the real estate company that owns the building, confirmed the theft that took place Monday, saying in part:

“A contractor who was making repairs in one of the units at 33 Tehama was recorded taking items from the unit. This contractor was terminated immediately.”

In Stephanie Sunwoo’s case, thousands of dollars went missing from her bank account this morning.

“Two fraudulent checks cashed in my account. My bank account both in the amount of over $1,500 each,” said Stephanie Sunwoo, 33 Tehama resident.

RELATED: Residents at flooded San Francisco luxury building may not be able to return home until 2023

Residents of the San Francisco high-rise damaged by a massive water main break may not be able to move back in until late this year or possibly 2023.

Sunwoo says her entire checkbook is inside her nightstand in her vacant apartment.

“It is really alarming to think that somebody is rummaging through my bedroom through my nightstand, grabs a box full of my checkbooks and now I have deep fears of identity theft,” said Sunwoo.

Residents are also reporting theft in the bike room.

“Our bike room was completely looted. There are remains of people’s bikes. Some people’s bikes are completely missing,” said Sunwoo.

Regarding theft, Hines said in part:

“While we haven’t confirmed the validity of these allegations yet, we have temporarily removed all contractor access to resident units while we work on a solution to increase security measures.”

RELATED: Residents report 2nd water leak, presumed theft at luxury SF apartments

And for residents like Maarya Abbasi, these reports make them want to get all of their belongings out of the building fast. She says Hines is making it difficult.

“It just feels like the nightmare that never ends,” said Maarya Abbasi.

Hines is not allowing residents inside the building and is only letting them use movers assigned by Hines.

“That is something I also asked Tehama ‘What is the recourse if our belongings get damaged?’ All I was told was is that we would have to work through our own renters insurance,” said Abbasi.

Hines said they are providing locked storage pods to residents who have scheduled move-outs through the end of the month.

As to bikes getting stolen, they said they don’t know if any bikes have been stolen, but said a large number of bikes were abandoned.

RELATED: New ‘catastrophic’ details reveal what went wrong inside flooded luxury SF apartment building

ABC7 News has learned about new “catastrophic” details into what went wrong inside 33 Tehama luxury apartment building in San Francisco.

We also followed up and asked about the resident who said her checkbook was stolen and they said that’s a police matter.

Statement from Hines about 33 Tehama – August 16, 2022

“It has come to our attention that on August 15, 2022, a contractor who was making repairs in one of the units at 33 Tehama was recorded taking items from the unit. This contractor was terminated immediately. All construction workers at 33 Tehama are licensed, bonded, and insured, and are employees of reputable subcontractors. We have security on the premises 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and the safekeeping of our residents’ belongings is our utmost priority.

There are very few allegations of other issues with security in the units. While we haven’t confirmed the validity of these allegations yet, we have temporarily removed all contractor access to resident units while we work on a solution to increase security measures. At a minimum, these measures will include a comprehensive video monitoring system to capture footage while contractors are in residents’ units to safeguard their property in an active construction site.

When we learned that the timeline for reoccupation of 33 Tehama would extend into 2023 and notified residents that they would need to find alternate accommodations, we began working with city officials and local building ownership to secure housing for our most vulnerable residents, which include residents in the 60 below market rate (BMR) units at 33 Tehama. We have had success with the city who responded promptly to the request. We continue to work with local building owners to identify housing solutions for these residents. We are hopeful that San Francisco building owners with vacant BMR units will agree to support these 33 Tehama residents at this time by offering them housing.

Given that the financial and accommodation support for 33 Tehama residents ends tomorrow August 17, we have extended the financial and hotel accommodation support to tenants who meet certain income qualifications until August 31. This is to ensure that they have the resources to secure temporary housing while we continue to work closely with building ownership and in partnership with Supervisor Dorsey and other government officials to find a longer-term solution. “

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

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President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping opened their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year Wednesday with a solid handshake ahead of talks with far-reaching implications for a world grappling with economic crosscurrents, wars in the Middle East and Europe, tensions in Taiwan and more.

The two leaders, meeting at a bucolic country estate in Woodside, which is south of San Francisco, are looking to get communication back on track after a tumultuous year and to show the world that while they are global economic competitors, they’re not locked in a winner-take-all face-off.

Biden arrived first and awaited Xi, who got out of a black car and took Biden’s hand before the two leaders walked a red carpet through the estate’s grand entrance with a Chinese flag on one side and an American flag on the other. Five Marines stood in formation.

U.S. President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday in Woodside. | Courtesy the White House

Biden told Xi in his opening remarks: “It is paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. We have to ensure competition does not veer into conflict, and we also have to manage it responsibility, that competition. That’s what the United States wants, and what we intend to do. I also believe that’s what the world wants from both of us— candid exchange.”

Xi said he believed in the “promising future” of the bilateral relationship. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during a meeting with President Joe Biden at the Filoli estate in Woodside on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative conference. | Source: Doug Mills/The New York Times/AP/Pool

“The U.S.-China relationship has never been smooth sailing over the last 50 years or more, and it always faced problems of one kind or another. Yet it has kept moving forward amid twists and turns. For two large countries like the U.S. and China, turning our backs on each other is not an option.” 

Biden is expected to let Xi know that he would like China to use its sway over Iran to make clear that Tehran or its proxies should not take action that could lead to expansion of the Israel-Hamas war. The Biden administration also sees the Chinese, a big buyer of Iranian oil, as having considerable leverage with Iran, which is a major backer of Hamas.

Ahead of the meeting, senior White House officials said Biden would walk away with better, more concrete outcomes compared with their last meeting, in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders summit. There will be agreements from China to help stop the flow of chemicals used in the production of illicit fentanyl, and to revive communications between the militaries—increasingly important particularly as unsafe or unprofessional incidents between the two nations’ ships and aircraft have spiked.

President Joe Biden greets China’s President President Xi Jinping at the Filoli Estate in Woodside on Wednesday, Nov, 15, 2023, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative conference. | Source: Doug Mills/The New York Times/AP/Pool

Biden on Tuesday billed the meeting as a chance to get Washington and Beijing back “on a normal course corresponding” once again. 

Even before their meeting, there were some signs of a thaw: The State Department on Tuesday announced that the U.S. and China—two of the world’s biggest polluters—had agreed to pursue efforts to triple renewable energy capacity globally by 2030, through wind, solar and other renewables. 

They are in California for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, but they met one-on-one at Filoli estate, a country house and museum about 25 miles south of San Francisco. 

U.S. President Joe Biden listens during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Filoli estate in Woodside on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperative conference. | Source: Doug Mills/The New York Times/AP/Pool

The APEC summit events already have attracted considerable demonstrations, and more were expected Wednesday, including protests against Xi and against multinational corporations focused on profits.

In the hours before the meeting, White House officials said Biden was coming into the talks bolstered by signs the U.S. economy is in a stronger position than China’s, and that the U.S. is building stronger alliances throughout the Pacific.

The U.S. president, speaking at a campaign fundraiser on Tuesday evening, pointed to his upcoming meeting as an example of how “reestablished American leadership in the world is taking hold.” As for China, the president told donors, it has ”real problems.”

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Starbucks (SBUX) is the latest company to rethink its presence in San Francisco.

Effective Oct. 22, the coffee giant plans to close seven stores in San Francisco. Following these closures, there will be 52 remaining Starbucks locations in the city.

Starbucks did not disclose the reason for the closures. In a letter to employees, Jessica Borton, the Northern California regional vice president, stated: “There are several factors Starbucks considers when tasked with the tough decision of closing a store, but it is all part of ensuring a healthy store portfolio.”

Starbucks isn’t the only consumer-facing giant to take a second look at its San Francisco portfolio this year.

Other companies that recently closed locations in San Francisco include Amazon (AMZN), which closed a Whole Foods Market just 13 months after opening it earlier this year and all four Amazon Go Stores in March; Office Depot (ODP), which closed a store in April; and Anthropologie (URBN), which left Union Square after two decades in May.

Gap (GPS) also shuttered Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta stores this year, while Nordstrom (JWN) closed its flagship store in August, and Saks Off 5th shut its doors this fall.

The Starbucks stores being added to this list are located on Mission and Main, Geary and Taylor, 425 Battery, 398 Market, 4th and Market, 555 California, and Bush and Van Ness. It’s worth noting that none of the stores set to close are unionized and employees at the stores will be offered the opportunity to transfer to other locations.

San Francisco sluggish in returning to offices

What’s behind the exodus? Hybrid and fully remote companies may be partly to blame.

“A big component for sure is that people are remote working and not coming into those offices as much,” John Zolidis, president of Quo Vadis Capital, told Yahoo Finance. “That’s got to be one of the driving forces — just less traffic from office workers.”

A customer leaves a Starbucks coffee shop in San Francisco, California, on Sept. 13, 2018. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

Per foot traffic analytics platform Placer.ai, San Francisco has the lowest number of visits to offices of any major US city. In August 2023, office visits were down 52.7% compared to August 2019, before the pandemic disrupted workplaces.

San Francisco is “by far the slowest to come back,” Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, told Yahoo Finance. “When you think about what that means for retail more broadly … lots of people work there and then shop there and eat there, so that’s obviously going to have an impact. … Then, even though people who are coming back to the office [are] not doing so five days a week.”

Migration patterns — such as people moving out of the city — are a factor too, Chernofsky said, affecting cities across the US as well as San Francisco. And if retailers leave a city, it can lead to fewer visits to that area as well, causing companies to further reconsider their real estate portfolios.

“We see significant headroom for new store growth in underpenetrated areas in the US, including smaller cities, as well as new formats in larger metros,” Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan said on a call with investors following its Q3 earnings results.

However, the tide may be turning for San Francisco, with the artificial intelligence boom acting as a bright spot for activity. Just as the tech industry was the first to move to remote work during the pandemic, it may be a leader in bringing workers back to offices.

“San Francisco and the Bay Area in general is really a market that’s led by the tech industry,” Colin Yasukochi, executive director at CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, told Yahoo Finance. “Over the last six months, … they’re starting to see growth perk up in the tech industry. Artificial intelligence is one of those particular areas where the companies are actually looking to expand — they’re looking to upgrade the [office] space that they currently have to provide a better experience for their employees.”

Pedestrians and vehicles are visible at the base of the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, California, on May 5, 2022. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

A ‘difficult operating environment’

Crime and safety may also be playing a role.

On Sept. 26, Target (TGT) announced plans to close nine stores at the end of October, including three in the San Francisco and Oakland area. Target said crime and retail theft were the reasons behind the decision to close stores.

“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests, and contributing to unsustainable business performance,” the company said in a statement.

According to crime data on the city’s website, theft has been the top issue, followed by burglary. That has affected not only if companies open retail space in the city but also where they choose to expand.

“On-the-ground type of issues have probably impacted where companies are willing to be located in terms of their office space,” Yasukochi said, “which is why we’ve seen a greater concentration of companies looking for space in the central business district and less so in the South of Market or mid-market areas.”

For Starbucks, though, it’s a bit harder to understand if crime truly was a factor. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on whether safety played a part in the decision in particular.

“There’s not large quantities of merchandise to steal and resell,” Zolidis said about Starbucks stores, though he added: “It’s just a difficult operating environment from an employee safety perspective.”

Another factor affecting how companies position themselves in the Golden State could be the approach of a minimum wage law that goes into effect on April 1. The law, which raises starting pay for fast food workers to $20 an hour, is one to watch, Zolidis said.

But, he added, “if that were a deciding factor [for Starbucks], it wouldn’t be seven stores in San Francisco [but] a much broader group of stores.”

Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor London Breed remains optimistic about the city’s future, despite its challenges.

“People still want to be here,” Breed told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference. “They’re starting their companies, their businesses here.”

—

Brooke DiPalma is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma or email her at bdipalma@yahoofinance.com.

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Words like elegant and romantic only begin to describe this refined 1910 home on Green Street, which enjoys both posh diplomatic neighbors and the more rugged flora and fauna of the adjacent Presidio where Andy Goldsworthy’s “Woodline” (aka Lovers’ Lane) is but a few blocks away.

On a 4,120-square-foot lot, the house has its own private oasis, too: Outside, a lush garden has a running stream plus an outdoor sports court. But really, it’s the interiors we’re here for.

Stretching out over floor levels with multiple patios and views throughout, the house has ample space for a family or a party of out-of-towners.

An arched wood door enters into a vaulted foyer with detailed pillars and hardwood floors. In the gorgeous living room off to the right, coved ceilings, architectural alcoves, a marble fireplace, and coved bay window lend the space a feeling of an old-style French salon. The room transitions easily into the dining room where more vaulted ceilings and paneled walls lend a formal mood. Lovely arched French doors here open onto the terrace with a view to the Palace of Fine Arts and San Francisco Bay.

The kitchen is how we like them in such magnificent homes: spacious enough, but simple and functional with clean stainless steel appliances, a comfortable center island, and a sunny breakfast nook. A clever closet hides a convenient washer and dryer.

Upstairs, all four bedrooms have lovely views, including the master suite where a daybed built into the bay window is a sweet spot for lounging among the treetops. Paneled walls conceal a built-in wardrobe where one panel opens to reveal a vanity with storage. The primary bathroom, clad in sleek black stone, has a dual sink vanity and walk-in rainfall shower.

On the third level up, a sprawling space multitasks as a family room and office. The bottom level houses another family room (or an in-law with a kitchen), a powder room, wine cellar, and two-car garage.

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 3

Size: 4,370

Asking price: $6,500,000

// 2770 Green St. (Pacific Heights); for more information visit redfin.com

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• A white man denies dressing up as Kanye West at a party 
• A whistleblower posted footage of the man in a tracksuit and gold chain 
• The man, who was in black face, claims that he was a chimney sweep 

A university has launched an investigation into a social media video which shows a white man in blackface apparently dressed as Kanye West.

Durham University was made aware of the video amid claims it had been posted by one of its students.

A whistleblower said the person who posted the video claimed the man who wore black make-up said he was dressed as a chimney sweep, not West, despite him wearing a gold chain and trainers.

Durham University was made aware of the video amid claims it had been posted by one of its students The white man claims that he was not attempting to imitate Kanye West, pictured, insisting his costume featuring him wearing black make up, a chunky gold chain and a tracksuit was a chimney sweep

She tweeted: ‘The person who posted this claims that the guy is dressed up as a ‘chimney sweeper.’

‘Gold chain + cap + Yeezys = chimney sweeper???’

She also posted a still image showing the man in black make-up posing next to a woman dressed like Kim Kardashian.

Inquiries have established that the person featured in the clip, which appeared to be taken at a fancy dress party, was not a Durham University student, but inquiries were continuing into who posted it online.

A university spokesperson said: ‘We have investigated this social media post and it appears that the individual featured is not a Durham University student.

‘We continue to look into the circumstances in which the video was posted.’

In a series of tweets replying to the post alerting them to the video, the university said there was no place for racism at Durham.

The university tweeted: ‘We condemn this post, which violates the values and behaviours that we uphold as a University community.’

It also said: ‘Our students are regularly reminded to display positive and collegial conduct, and exercise responsibility and respect for others, particularly through their social media interactions.’

In September a prospective student had his offer of a place at Durham withdrawn after a series of online comments emerged which the university called ‘utterly abhorrent’.

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — John Riccitiello, CEO of video game software company Unity, has seen the video game industry…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — John Riccitiello, the CEO of video game software company Unity, has seen the video game industry evolve and transform over the course of a career spanning more than two decades, beginning in 1997 when he became CEO of gaming giant Electronic Art .

Unity Software Inc. was founded in Denmark and is now based in San Francisco. The company is working with Apple to bring gaming to its upcoming Vision Pro virtual reality headset. Riccitiello recently spoke to The Associated Press about how artificial intelligence is changing the way video games are created and played.

The Associated Press: What are the biggest trends in gaming?

Riccitiello: I think AI is going to change gaming in pretty profound ways. One of them is to make games faster, cheaper and better. It’s already happening. I mean, you can already use AI for digital people and editing environments and all sorts of things that make it faster. It will also be possible to have experiences that were never possible before.

Q: Can you give some examples?

Riccitiello: You know Call of Duty, you know Grand Theft Auto, you know Candy Crush. Every one of these games, every single thing you see in this game, and every line of dialogue, every environment, every light effect was programmed by someone who expected you to use it. So the scope of the game is the content that is available on the DVD or for download on the internet. There is none left. It is what it is. They can expand it over time by patching games and adding levels. “Candy Crush” shipped at about 50 and now it’s what?

A: 10,000 I think.

Riccitiello: So they keep building. But each one is a self-contained experience. So I was involved in the release of The Sims in 2000 and it was a wonderful game. And you know how they used “Simlish” right? Did you know why? Because there are so many things to do in The Sims, it’s like an insane amount of interactions to have because you’re actually creating characters. These characters interact with each other. No writer could ever write all the appropriate dialogue for it. When finished it will be as big as the Library of Congress.

Q: I think I know where you’re going with this.

A: I’m sure you know where I’m going. The way GPT 4 works, you can define the parameters. A gamer could do this, or the game studio could do it. The game studio could allow the player to describe that character or their motivations in the same way they write in prompts to restore dialogue. And they could do this for all of their characters in advance. And the AI ​​could appear in any language you want – English, Russian, Japanese, French, doesn’t matter. I think this is a breakthrough. It’s really hard to overstate how important this is. It lives.

Another example would be one of my favorite games of all time, Grand Theft Auto. And a lot of people like “Red Dead (Redemption)” because they’re such brilliant, realized worlds. Sam and Dan Houser, the guys who developed it at Take-Two Rockstar Games, are among the most powerful developers in history. But again, every store robbery, everything in the game was something they thought possible. Now what you can do is create this world and basically create a series of things like “This is the store”, “This is a criminal or not a criminal” or a player can say “This is a Criminals.” And then anything you can think of is possible, any interaction that would take place between the store and the criminals, including looking for a job there – I mean, anything is possible.

Q: But within the guidelines?

A: You wouldn’t have to have any policies, but it would look like a complete mess if you didn’t have anything. Some of these guard rails enable creativity.

Q: What do you think of the metaverse?

A: I always found the word cluttered and kind of stupid. I gave a talk a few years ago saying that I banned the people at Unity from using it because I thought it would be overused and thrown in the trash. That it has been used and abused by people for their own ends.

But then I defined the metaverse as something very different than what most people do.

Q: How do you define it?

A: I said it’s the next version of the internet. It’s 3D instead of 2D. It’s more persistent than not, more real-time than not. And often there are a number of other things. And then I tried to explain what it wasn’t. It wasn’t about avatars, it wasn’t about XR. It certainly wasn’t about half-embodied avatars (which, by the way, were based on Meta’s Unity). I was very happy that they built it and paid us, but I just didn’t believe it was what it was.

We have clients like Hyundai who are building the factory of the future where all the robots and humans will interact and control in this large environment. And the people who work in the factory do their jobs on iPhones.

It will not be a universal 3D world. I think it will be more of a series of very immersive experiences. And a lot of people, I think, dominate in a way that I can’t believe, “No, no, you’re going to want to be on Amazon, then you go straight to Call of Duty and you go straight in.” See watch the NFL show and then go straight into your chat. And the thing is, it’s really hard to get this to work. People say, “Well, what if I want to throw a Call of Duty bomb at a chessboard I’m playing?” And you have to ask yourself: Would you really ever want to do that beyond the first time?

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It’s not deja vu. For the second time in three years, all is going well for the largely unnoticed San Francisco Giants.

They are 13-4 in June before Thursday night’s start and are on a high level with two straight walk-off wins against the star-studded but disappointing San Diego Padres. And it’s not just the Padres they’re outstripping. Since May 15, they’ve changed their season, going from 18-23 to 42-32 and overtaking the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

They’re still trailing behind the Arizona Diamondbacks, but this Giants team — who lost to Aaron Judge in the offseason and pulled out of a deal with Carlos Correa — is running without national headlines. In doing so, they inevitably commemorate the 2021 team that shocked the baseball world with 107 wins.

In keeping with the Giants’ even-year magic in the 2010s, the Athletics’ Grant Brisbee has helpfully dubbed their burgeoning 2020s pattern “odd-year poppycock.”

To what extent is the team’s rise to the top of the table from 2023 a continuation of 2021? Is the book about this fascinating, seemingly ephemeral team still open? Or is that a whole new story? Let’s break it down.

The Giants’ LaMonte Wade Jr. has been a fixture on the basepath this season. (Benny Sieu/USA TODAY Sports)

Mostly New: The top of the lineup

Most days, the Giants have started 2021 with an unexpected reveal that acts as a neat avatar for the team. LaMonte Wade Jr., who was removed from the lineup Tuesday due to a side issue, rose to fame in this magical campaign two years ago for his uncanny exploits, earning him the nickname “Late Night LaMonte.”

After falling to Earth in 2022 (.207/.305/.359 in 77 injury-paused games), Wade is preparing for a career year with the elite plate skills that undoubtedly caught the Giants’ attention as they turned over the relief pitcher Shaun Anderson joined the Minnesota Twins in February 2021. A 17.3% walk rate and 18% strikeout rate is a recipe for success, and in fact, Wade has the second best on-base percentage in MLB.

So he’s the same person, but not the same hitter. Nothing is the same behind him. Where he opened two years ago to a steady lineup of veterans — Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Darin Ruf, and finally Kris Bryant — Wade has graced more late-blooming contemporaries and newcomers this year.

The Giants’ best all-around position player now is Thairo Estrada, a 27-year-old midfielder who has recovered from injuries sustained in a 2018 shooting in his native Venezuela. Estrada, who rose through the New York Yankees system, had limited playing time in 2021 but established himself as a starter last season. That year he hits .280 with nine home runs and 17 steals. He also plays such a dynamic second base that Statcast’s Outs Above Average metric ranks him among the top 10 most valuable defenders in MLB.

Behind Estrada, the Giants have fielded a combination of early-30s boppers Joc Pederson, Michael Conforto and JD Davis, all of whom have joined in the last two years.

Not exactly new: lots of left-handed power

Pederson and Conforto, along with Wade and Mike Yastrzemski – Monday night’s splashy hero – are at the core of a conspicuous left-hander penchant for the Giants. Given the likelihood of facing a right-handed pitcher, left-heavy lineups can have some advantages.

The 2021 roster hit MLB’s best 116 with 116 left-handed homers against right-handed pitchers, and this team is following a similar path to success. They have 46 left-versus-right home runs and a top 10 offense (by the park-adjusted wRC+ metric) against right-handers.

On the rarer occasions to come up against a southpaw, manager Gabe Kapler is quick to pinch and flip his side to bring in left-hander Wilmer Flores and perhaps promote right-hander Davis, who was a standout upset in a robbery Deals with the New York Mets last summer.

Brand new: Homegrown Talent… from the 2020s

The biggest change you’ll notice using these Giants? The new faces. Two seasons after setting baseball’s oldest lineup at an average age of 30.6, a new breed of homegrown talent with no connection to the 2012 or 2014 World Series is beginning to emerge around lone remnant Brandon Crawford.

24-year-old Patrick Bailey has prevailed as a catcher while Casey Schmitt is finding his time in the infield.

Perhaps most excitingly, 21-year-old outfielder Luis Matos, who is quick and outgoing, joined us last week when new signing Mitch Haniger was out with a long-term arm injury. In six games so far, Matos – who hit .398 in the triple-A – has hit nine runs and hit exactly one strikeout.

Not new: heavy sinkers, sliders and splitters on the rotation

A new star in 2021, Logan Webb has since solidified his stature, signing a five-year, $90 million contract extension beginning in 2024. His park-adjusted ERA this season is 73, which means he was 27% better than the league average. Last season it was 73. In 2021 it was 74.

Alex Cobb stepped in behind him to confidently fill the role of “Kevin Gausman 2021”. Cobb had just hit the IL with a slash, but had pitched a terrific 3.09 ERA that season while using the same potent dose of the same pitch Gausman used: the splitter.

Slider-heavy starter Anthony DeSclafani is also back after a losing season in 2022, delivering solid if unspectacular innings for a team that still has questions to answer at the end of this rotation.

Camilo Doval started Thursday with 19 saves, the second-most among National League scorers. He finished the 2022 season with 27 saves. (Photo by Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)

Not new: A dominant bullpen

The 2021 team had the best bullpen in baseball, and the 2023 team is aiming for a similar result. As of May 1, the current bullpen has been untouchable and boasts a 2.39 ERA, which is 44% better than the MLB average over the period, according to the ERA.

That starts with Camilo Doval, the closer with a 1.93 ERA and a near 34% strikeout rate. San Francisco is preparing Doval by getting the best out of not one, but both Rogers twins — submerging right-hander Tyler (1.56 ERA) and more conventional left-hander Taylor (2.88 ERA).

Stumbling blocks and injury problems at new signings Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling have led Kapler to come up with some less-traditional pitching plans, but it’s working. He fielded veteran starter Alex Wood in a recent 15-0 win over the bullpen-needy Dodgers, then turned to 26-year-old rookie Tristan Beck for an extremely rare four-inning save. In a win against the Dodgers the day before, Kapler had fielded opener John Brebbia, then another reliever after him, then white-knuckled through 3 2/3 innings from Manaea and went home a win in 11 innings with eight pitchers total brought, only two of which allowed a run.

That’s how it ended up going for the Giants. And while some of that excellent timing won’t last, we’ve seen enough of this Giants formula to wonder exactly how far they can take it.

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