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Bay City News
The U.S. Coast Guard’s civilian-operated Vessel Traffic Service was offline from 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to 5:30 a.m. Wednesday — the equivalent of one full shift.
VTS operators are often likened to a maritime version of air traffic controllers and work at some of the country’s busiest waterways.
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They have gone unpaid for more than a month during a congressional budget fight that has resulted in a partial government shutdown — the same shutdown that has impacted the Transportation Security Administration and resulted in long lines and short tempers at airports across the country.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the Berkeley City Council deferred voting on a proposed expansion of surveillance infrastructure that includes security cameras, drones, and investigative software, all manufactured by the security company Flock Safety that has come under fire in other neighboring cities.
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The proposal, brought forth by the Berkeley Police Department, seeks to introduce or extend the use of a host of surveillance technologies, including controversial automated license plate reader cameras.
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Police departments useALPR camerasto investigatecrimes like stolen vehicles. But privacy watchdogs have raised concerns aboutfederal agencies being able to access the camera data — apotential violationof state law– and using it for targeted surveillance of immigrants and other vulnerable groups.
Over the last few months, many Bay Area cities and counties have been re-examining their contracts with Flock Safety,considering the federal administration’s crackdown on immigrants and the company’s checkered recordofsharing ALPR data with federal agencies likeU.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement andU.S.Customs and Border Protection.
As the clock approached 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, the council decided to table the remaining public comment and further deliberations on the issue for June 2.
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A coalition of local organizations filed a complaint against the San Francisco Police Department on Wednesday, accusing officers of unlawfully assisting federal immigration authorities during an arrest of two migrants at San Francisco International Airport over the weekend.
On Sunday night, federal immigration authorities arrested a mother and daughter from Guatemala at SFO. They were identified as Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and Wendy Godinez-Lopez and had a final order of removal from an immigration judge since 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The scene, which was captured on video by bystanders, showed SFPD officers forming a circle around the agents as they tried to arrest the mother.
FREE SF, a coalition of local organizations that advocate for immigrant rights and community safety, allege that SFPD violated the city’s and state’s sanctuary laws, which prohibit local law enforcement from aiding in the arrest or detention of people by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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The Metropolitan Transportation Commission adopted Plan Bay Area 2050+ Wednesday and certified its environmental impact report, giving final approval to the region’s long-range blueprint for transportation, housing, economic resiliency and environmental sustainability.
The plan was approved unanimously last week by the Association of Bay Area Governments’ Executive Board, concluding a nearly three-year planning process that included input from more than 17,600 residents, community organizations, advocacy groups and public agencies.
Plan Bay Area 2050+ outlines 35 strategies across transportation, housing, the economy and the environment and is intended to make the nine-county region more affordable, connected and resilient through 2050 and beyond.
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The plan emphasizes expanding affordable housing, improving equity in the reach of public transit, and addressing climate risks such as wildfires and rising sea levels.
ABAG is the council of governments and the regional planning agency for the Bay Area’s nine counties and 101 cities and towns, and the MTC is the transportation planning and financing agency for the same area. The two agencies are required by the state to develop the regional plan jointly.
One person died in a shooting in San Francisco’s Visitacion Valley neighborhood on Tuesday night, according to police.
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The shooting was reported at 10:43 p.m. in the 1800 block of Sunnydale Avenue, where officers responded and found the male victim suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries there, San Francisco police said.
The victim’s name was not immediately available, and police did not announce an arrest or share any details about the suspected shooter as of Wednesday morning.
The last former police officer caught up in a wide-ranging federal civil rights and abuse of power case in Antioch and Pittsburg was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.
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In 2023, 10 officers from the Antioch and Pittsburg police departments were charged with several crimes, including fraud, use of excessive force and conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids.
Eric Allen Rombough, 46, of Fairfield, a former Antioch officer, was the final defendant to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White.
In January 2025, Rombough pleaded guilty to conspiracy against rights and two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and agreed to cooperate with the government.
The officers have all now been sentenced to various prison terms or time already served in jail for a wide range of crimes, including falsifying records, wire fraud, civil rights violations, obstruction of justice, improper use of weapons and K9 dogs on suspects, turning off body cams, selling steroids, and paying people to take college classes in order to get raises.
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Evacuations have been lifted at the Stonestown Galleria mall in San Francisco on Wednesday after a report of a person making threats prompted the mall’s closure, a police spokesperson said.
Officers responded around 11:40 a.m. to the mall at Buckingham Way and Winston Drive and worked with the property manager there to ascertain the threat, San Francisco police spokesperson Allison Maxie said.
A bomb squad, police dogs and a SFPD tactical team responded to search the area. As of shortly before 3 p.m., the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management sent out an alert saying the evacuation orders had been lifted and emergency crews were clearing the scene.
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Police did not immediately provide further details.
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