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Here’s what’s making news in the Mission today.

DA Jenkins’s bungling of the Banko Brown case has achieved that rare feat: It’s united all 11 members of the Board of Supervisors in opposition. Prosecutors and judges are nonplussed by her comments, and Banko Brown’s parents told Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi they felt betrayed. “She hoodwinked us,” said Barbara Brown.

Jewelry store side hustles, gaming aficionados, and an attack on BART: Have you been paying attention to Mission news? Take our weekly news quiz and let us know how you fare.

Meet the three young men who staked out the Mission GameStop before sunrise for the opportunity to buy a collector’s edition of Zelda. And congratulate the violinist and would-be mayor who greets BART commuters and has just won a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to give concerts this fall.

Steel bollards are going up on Capp Street this week, the latest effort to discourage johns cruising for sex. The bollards replace concrete barriers, which prevented emergency access for fire trucks.

The city agencies involved in approving housing may soon enter the digital age, allowing building applicants to submit plans via an online portal rather than paper. The hope is to expedite new housing construction.

Hard-pressed Mission jewelry stores are turning to cash checking and offering credit for the unbanked. โ€œWe donโ€™t sell much,โ€ said one jeweler. โ€œWe cash a lot of checks.โ€

Sandy

The Latest News

A memorial with candles and banners for Banko Brown.

DA’s handling of Banko Brown case a disaster of her own

When Terry and Barbara Brown met with DA Brooke Jenkins, they say they were given every expectation the prosecutor would be piecing together evidence to make a case. 

Four images from the last week's news.

Quiz of the week: Why were steel bollards installed on Capp?

How closely did you read last week’s news? Test yourself against others.

three men sitting in front of a store

People We Meet: In line for Zelda at GameStop

The three young men arrived at the GameStop on Mission Street at 6 a.m. when the streets were still empty and all the shops were shut.

Violinist Ben Barnes.

People we meet: Violinist and mayoral hopeful Ben Barnes

Decked out in black bow tie, dress shirt, and worn leather jacket, Ben Barnes regularly greets commuters at the 16th and Mission BART station with his sweeping violin melodies.

steel bollards blocking off a street, between buildings

Anti-sex-work bollards erected on Capp Street

Steel bollards meant to discourage johns from cruising up and down Capp Street are being installed by the city this week, replacing the concrete barriers that have sat on the street for months.

Michael Christensen, principal planner for the Permit Center.

SF officials plan to ditch paper building permits

The city agencies involved in approving housing may soon enter the digital age, ditching paper site permits and allowing building applicants to submit plans via an online portal.

storefront on a street with pedestrians

Struggling Mission jewelry stores turn to check-cashing

The sale and repair of jewelry and watches alone is no longer a lucrative enterprise for many Mission District jewelers, but a new lifeline has emerged for some: Providing financial services.

SNAP

A long vintage car on the street, parked.

El carro

By Angel Mayorga

Mission Local is a nonprofit news site that depends on its readers.

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I provide editing support for Mission Local from New York, about 2500 miles away from SFO. (I just looked it up.) This allows me to retain my journalistic objectivity and fussy adherence to East Coast standards of punctuation. I got involved with Mission Local a few years ago through Lydia, whom I met in the early 1980s at The New York Times, where I was a business reporter. Since then I've been in and out of journalism and nonprofits, and have also tried my hand at fiction. A couple of years ago I contributed Mission Local's first fiction series, a comic novel called Love in the Middle Ages.