Chaos and a 'ghost town' at S.F. courts as clerk strike begins

Good afternoon!

Clerks at the San Francisco courts began a strike today over heavily increased workloads. Abigail Vân Neely reports that several courtrooms were locked at the criminal courthouse, as confused attorneys wandered the halls, while civil court was a “ghost town.” Read about the strike’s impact.

Mayor Daniel Lurie blamed antisemitic chants at his press conference yesterday on a “group” of protestors, and his complaint went viral. But Joe Rivano Barros reveals that the chants were an outburst by an unconnected woman who ambled up and ranted, as protestors attempted to stop her.

Joe Eskenazi weighs in on how Lurie’s inaccurate statement quickly fueled global outrage over San Francisco’s supposed organized left-wing antisemitism, and allowed “bad-faith trolls” to bash the city.

Well, there’s a new cat at Randa’s Market on 16th Street, after neighborhood icon KitKat was killed by a Waymo last year. Oscar Palma reports that Shadow, more of an indoor type, is considered “a good cat so far.“

More soon,

Sara

Do take a look at Mission Local’s 2025 impact report, showing how we’ve grown from a tiny neighborhood outlet to a citywide paper. And thank you, always, for reading.