-
6 days ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
Jacob Kornbluth, an Emmy-winning documentarian from Berkeley, has spent three years working on a film about Native Americans in California, funded largely by federal grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. On April 10, in an effort orchestrated by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, a bulk of the NEH staff were placed on leave, and its $290 million budget was frozen. More than 1,000 grants were rescinded — Kornbluth’s among them.
-
1 week ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
By Ella ChakarianPublished Apr. 15, 2025 • 6:37pmFive international students at Bay Area universities on Friday filed a lawsuit against the federal government, challenging what they describe as unlawful terminations of their student immigration records.
-
1 week ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
By Ella ChakarianPublished Apr. 11, 2025 • 12:00pmEverybody knows the origin story of The Facebook, in which Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard sophomore, hacked into the university’s directory to pull photos of his classmates and built a website that asked users to rank their attractiveness. Well, here we go again. A new website, created by a University of Pennsylvania freshman, has been sweeping college campuses, including UC Berkeley and Stanford, asking people to rank students and alumni.
-
2 weeks ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
Three carcasses were reported in a week. Experts say it’s cause for major concern. Just days after a gray whale washed ashore at a beach in the Marin Headlands, two more carcasses were found Wednesday and Friday in the San Francisco Bay. Three dead whales in the bay in one week is far out of the norm, experts say.
-
2 weeks ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
Scores of people took part in SF's inaugural Sit Club, which went viral after two SF pranksters posted fliers for the event across the city. “Today is the day that we no longer run,” Danielle Egan announced over a megaphone, standing atop a picnic table in Golden Gate Park. More than 150 San Franciscans gathered at Hellman Hollow early Saturday to “celebrate the art of sitting.” What started off as a joke among a group of friends turned into a community meetup for sitting enthusiasts.
-
3 weeks ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
In each episode of our podcast “Life in Seven Songs,” we ask the world’s brightest minds and leaders: What songs tell the story of your life? This week’s podcast episode features David Sheff, whose 2009 memoir “Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction” was a New York Times bestseller and became a major film. As a journalist, Sheff interviewed legends like John Lennon — an encounter that unexpectedly shaped his future as a father.
-
3 weeks ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
Tuck in that shirt. The hellscape that is a 15-minute introductory recruitment call just got even more dystopian. The job recruitment process is many things. But most of all, it’s awkward. Imagine this scenario: A headhunter named Zara invites you to meet over video. You tuck your button-down into your sweatpants. You brush the frizz out of your hair and angle your camera for direct eye contact. Once you’re let into the Zoom room, you make small talk about the weather.
-
1 month ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
On the first spring-like day, San Franciscans emerged from their offices to get some much-needed sunshine. Sometimes, it’s just too nice out to work. On Monday, as the temperature hit 70 for the first time in months and the sun blazed over the city, those who could take the day off headed straight to the beach. And many who couldn’t did the next best thing: They took their laptops to the park to “work” in the sunshine.
-
1 month ago | 
sfstandard.com | Ella Chakarian
Their hobby couldn't be less political, yet these collectors find themselves weirdly caught in the crosshairs of a trade war. Serena Zhu, 27, was carrying eight minifigurines in a tote bag, each slotted lovingly into its own little sleeve. To the uninitiated, these Sonny Angels look like the kind of thing a kid would get in a Happy Meal. But in fact, Zhu’s rarities are worth nearly $1,000.
-
1 month ago | 
sfstandard.com | Sam Mondros |Ella Chakarian
With break-ins, shootouts, and shady late-night crowds, these spots finally got the boot. Here’s how the city shut them down. In a major crackdown on illegal activities plaguing San Francisco’s Mission, Excelsior, and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods, City Attorney David Chiu announced Wednesday the shuttering of five unauthorized gambling dens and nightclubs. Some of the locations had been hot spots for crime, ranging from robberies to shootouts.
