• Campus gardeners discovered a deceased male in some bushes on the UC Berkeley campus at around 10:30 am this morning. The body was found near Weill Hall inside West Circle. Alameda County officials have yet to declare a cause of death. [Chronicle]
• A recent increase in robberies targeting Pokemon cards has SFPD on high alert. The concern arrives as newly-released footage details a Pokémon card sale in SF that turned violent late last month. [ABC 7]
• San Francisco director Joe Talbot (The Last Black Man in San Francisco) has released a new two-minute short film intended as a "love letter" to the city. Funded by supporters of Mayor Daniel Lurie, "Comeback City" features cameos from local celebrities Stephen Curry, Dave Eggers, Francis Ford Coppola, and more. [Chronicle]

National:

• Appeals court rules Trump must immediately remove name from Kennedy Center. The decision preserves an earlier ruling by a federal judge that Trump's name be gone from the building before Saturday. [CNN]
• The proposed merger between media giants Paramount and Warner Bros. receives approval to proceed from Department of Justice. The DOJ stated that its lengthy investigation found the $111 billion deal is "is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers." [ABC 7]
• U.S. and Iranian officials said late Friday that they are working on the "final details" in their latest effort to reach a tentative new ceasefire deal. [New York Times]

Video:

• A Reddit user captured some colorful footage of major demolition taking place at sunset in San Francisco yesterday.

The whole neighborhood is out watching some sunset demolition!
by u/porske in sanfrancisco

Image: Campanile at University of California in Berkeley (Getty Images)

A-list actor Colman Domingo recently reflected on meeting his husband through a rom-com–worthy “Missed Connections” encounter in Berkeley, as well as on his younger days living in SF in the 90s.

Actor Colman Domingo looked back on his early years in San Francisco during a guest appearance on the Good Hang With Amy Poehler podcast earlier this week, where he discussed relocating from Philadelphia to the Bay Area in the 1990s before breaking into mainstream Hollywood, as the Chronicle reports.

Domingo, who’s currently promoting his new Steven Spielberg-directed sci-fi film Disclosure Day as well as the second season of The Four Seasons on Netflix, recalled living in a cramped Tenderloin studio shared by four aspiring actors. The group reportedly split $625 in rent, with each paying just $156.25 a month, and Domingo said he often slept in a closet due to limited space.

During that period, Domingo worked as a bartender in San Francisco while writing plays, including one centered on disco icon Donna Summer, as he tried to build a career in theater, according to the Chronicle. He also shared a story from a later return to the Bay Area in 2005, after moving to New York, when a chance encounter in a Berkeley Walgreens led to meeting his future husband, Raúl Domingo.

While back in the Bay Area for a Berkeley Rep Theater project, Domingo said he noticed a man with shoulder-length hair and a lip piercing outside the Berkeley Walgreens. The two kept making eye contact as they moved through the aisles, but Raúl was with someone else.

In an interview with the site Them, Domingo described trying to track Raúl down through a Craigslist’s “Missed Connections” ad. Just as he was about to write his own post, he found one already up from Raúl, written about two hours earlier, mentioning Domingo's “fauxhawk,” and they went on their first date days later. Domingo said the relationship quickly became serious, and they have now been together for nearly two decades.

Domingo is set to return to San Francisco on June 19 for an appearance at the Castro Theatre during Frameline’s 50th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

Related: Frameline Confirms Return to Castro Theatre For 50th Anniversary Film Fest

Image: Raul Domingo and Colman Domingo attend "Superfine: Tailoring Black  Style", the 2025 Costume Institute Benefit, at Metropolitan Museum of  Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty  Images)

It's a week that has seen three high-profile closure announcements as well as fire-caused closure at Che Fico, but on the brighter side, Esme is now softly open on Divis, and we have more in This Week In Food.

Sadly, we kick things off in this week's column with four high-profile restaurant closures.

Late last week, Anomaly chef-owner Mike Lanham announced on Instagram that he was closing Anomaly "indefinitely" after June 20, citing his own health issues and "some family members I need to spend time with while I still have the opportunity." The ambitious prix-fixe restaurant in Lower Nob Hill opened in January 2023 after several years in which Lanham had wowed diners at his Anomaly pop-ups. The closure sounds fairly permanent, but Lanham says, "I will certainly be back to do something in the future."

And late Thursday, Shuggie's owners Kayla Abe and David Murphy announced that they are closing their much acclaimed Mission District restaurant on July 11. "It has been a slow build over the past year — seeing costs climb and patronage decrease," they write. "We have tried every conceivable pivot over our last 4 years to make a long lasting version of Shuggie’s." The restaurant took a major pivot away from it's original concept last year, having originally been named Shuggie's Trash Pie & Natural Wine, in order to offer more ambitious dishes and a tasting menu and shift the focus away from pizza and more toward the sustainable use of ingredients that would otherwise be discarded. But despite being named one of the best new restaurants in the country by Bon Appetit in 2023, Shuggie's has joined the ranks of acclaimed restaurants that still can't make the numbers work in SF.

Also closing, as we reported Thursday, is Park Tavern in North Beach, following a reopening about 18 months ago that brought in consulting chef Jonathan Waxman. Park Tavern's last day will be June 21.

And as of this morning we learned that Che Fico will be closed for some unknown period of time while its building is repaired after a Thursday afternoon fire. A fire department source tells SFist that the damage to the restaurant's roof and HVAC system were significant.

In brighter news on the Divisadero corridor, Esme, the much anticipated new bistro in the former Ragazza space from Pearl 6101 parter Susan Dunn, softly opens this weekend, with reservations still not yet available online (check back here in the coming days). Tablehopper reports on the opening menu, which features classic bistro fare like steak frites and a roast chicken, as well as pastas like a linguini with clams, and starters like a potato pavé with caviar, chicken liver mousse, and a whole artichoke served with saffron aioli.

And a new location of Super Duper has opened in the former Japantown Burger King space at Fillmore and Post streets. We first reported on the move by Super Duper in February, marking the burger chain's ninth location in San Francisco, and its 21st location in the Bay Area.

The Chronicle reports that troubles continue with the acclaimed Horn Barbecue, and chef-owner Matt Horn has shuttered his six-month-old location in his hometown of Fresno. This follows the closures of the original West Oakland location, and two others in Lafayette and Elk Grove, leaving only the seemingly part-time location in Old Oakland, in the former Matty's Old Fashioned space, still open, but only sometimes.  

Also, two well-loved, well established Mission District dive bars and music venues, the Make-Out Room and the Latin American Club, are both up for sale. As the Chronicle reports, longtime owner Martin Rapalski is selling both businesses, the former for $450,000 and the latter for $350,000, saying, "I have to retire eventually. I have been doing this for so long."

And Chronicle critic Cesar Hernandez (his title has quietly changed to Restaurant Critic from Associate Critic, FYI) has filed his review of Maria Isabel, the ambitious and upscale new Mexican restaurant from Mexican-born chef Laura Ozyilmaz and husband Sayat, who also own Dalida in the Presidio. Hernandez asserts that "no other restaurant in the Bay Area currently offers as much diversity of Mexican gastronomy than Maria Isabel," and he raves that the "aguachile is nothing short of a stunner," and the "most show-stopping dish" is the duck carnitas enmolada, which comes with a quartet of moles in stripes on the plate.

Top image: The caviar guacamole buñuelo at Maria Isabel, by Jay Barmann/SFist

A month after Trump told China's leader that Americans were spying “like hell” on the country, a scholar at UC Berkeley, who fled Myanmar in the '90s, was arrested in China on suspicion of espionage.

Min Zin, an American political scientist and Myanmar policy scholar with ties to UC Berkeley, has been detained in China on suspicion of espionage, as the Associated Press reports.

Min Zin is reportedly a longtime Myanmar democracy activist who fled the country in the 1990s after participating in the 1988 pro-democracy movement and later receiving asylum in the United States. According to the New York Times, he now serves as executive director of a Myanmar policy research institute and has spent years working between the US, Myanmar, and Thailand.

He’s also a Ph.D. candidate in political science at University of California-Berkeley, where his research has focused on civil-military relations and political transitions, and he’s written extensively on Myanmar’s post-coup conflict and China’s role in the region.

China’s Foreign Ministry said Min Zin was arrested on suspicion of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security.” The AP reports that a Burmese activist familiar with Min Zin said he disappeared June 3 after traveling to Kunming in Yunnan province for a conference, noting that he had visited China previously without incident.

The arrest follows a report last month in the Daily Beast that President Trump recently informed Chinese officials that both countries engage in spying and cyber operations, emphasizing that Americans “spy like hell on them, too.”

The US State Department said it’s aware of Min Zin’s detention and is providing consular assistance, while Chinese officials reiterated that foreigners in China must follow local law.

According to the Times, it’s estimated that roughly 200 US citizens are currently being held or restricted in some form of detention in China.

Related: Eric Swalwell Pushes Back on Trump and Patel Over Rehash of Chinese Spy Scandal

Image: Police officers and residents stand in front of a shopping mall while a large outdoor screen broadcasts Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People on May 14, 2026, in Xuchang, Henan Province, China. Trump is visiting China amid ongoing discussions on trade, economic relations and geopolitical issues between the United States and China. (Photo by Cheng Xin/Getty Images)

A more compact and pleasant-sounding alternative to the ear-splitting vuvuzela has arrived, thanks to a group of enterprising engineering students at Diablo Valley College in the East Bay.

Members of Diablo Valley College’s National Society of Black Engineers in Pleasant Hill have come up with a quieter alternative to the vuvuzela, as KPIX reports. The team of students reportedly spent six weeks designing and building the “Pleasant Horn,” a smaller noisemaker intended to capture the spirit of the infamous World Cup horn without the same overwhelming volume.

The vuvuzela became synonymous with the 2010 World Cup before it was banned from subsequent tournaments. According to the Chronicle, a CDC report citing a 2010 South African Medical Journal study warned that vuvuzelas can reach jet engine–level sound pressure and could cause hearing loss or tinnitus after just 45 seconds of daily exposure within two meters.

Student Ayomi Ikutiminu, who helped lead the project, reportedly consulted with musicians while developing the horn and incorporated a balloon diaphragm into the design to soften its tone. The team went through multiple design iterations before settling on a final version, with early prototypes taking more than seven hours to print.

“We just did a lot of research to figure out why the vuvuzela sounds so loud,” Ikutiminu told the Chronicle. “First of all, it sounds badly because as you can see right here, this (vuvuzela) grows linearly instead of exponentially. When an instrument grows exponentially, it sounds a lot better, it sounds acoustically better.”

The Pleasant Horn is also less than half the size of its predecessor at 10 inches long, versus the vuvuzela's 26 inches, and its mouthpiece positioning gives it a closer resemblance to a musical instrument than a traditional noisemaker.

The project was reportedly commissioned through a partnership between Diablo Valley College and Visit Pleasant Hill, which is hoping to draw World Cup visitors to the East Bay. A local manufacturing company produced 50 of the horns for a local World Cup kickoff event.

Visit Pleasant Hill is also providing World Cup tickets to Ikutiminu and several of the students who worked on the project, and they plan to bring their Pleasant Horns to a match in Santa Clara.

Related: How to Watch the First World Cup Matches, at Home or at an SF Bar

Top image via Visit Pleasant Hill/Facebook

One person died and four others were injured in a fiery crash Thursday night just after midnight, in between SF's Dogpatch and Potrero Hill neighborhoods.

The crash occurred around 12:20 am Friday, as KPIX reports, and the CHP responded to the scene after the car reportedly flew off the 18th Street overpass and landed upside down on I-280 near Mariposa Street. According to the responding officers, the car became engulfed in flames, and one person was trapped inside while four others managed to escape.

Footage from the scene from KTVU showed a large police and fire department response, which shut down all southbound lanes of 280 for several hours Friday morning.

Per NBC Bay Area, the four survivors are recovering from their injuries at SF General.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The southbound lanes of I-280 reopened around 7 am Friday.

Top image via Tenderloinactivities/X

Chef-owner David Nayfeld said in a social media video Friday morning that Divisadero hot spot Che Fico, which had a fire in a chimney flue Thursday, suffered some damage and will have to close for an indeterminate period of time.

SFist had the news Thursday afternoon of a fire at Che Fico, which began around 3:30 pm which an SFFD source said had originated in the kitchen's flue, and which reportedly led to significant damage on the rear of the building. The interior of the restaurant was, reportedly, not damaged, and no one was injured.

But what damage occurred was apparently significant enough to force the closure of Che Fico while building repairs take place. (The Chronicle reports via SFFD Lieutenant Mariano Elias that the fire began in the chimney of the restaurant next door, Foghorn Taproom, aka the former Little Star, however an Instagram post from Foghorn Taproom appears to contradict this, and Foghorn was able to reopen for business Thursday night.)

Firefighters reportedly had to damage the rear side of the buildings to extinguish the flames.

Nayfeld, who is in New York today for an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, confirmed in an Instagram reel, "We're going to have to close for a certain amount of time."

He added, "First and foremost I want to say thank you very much to our team. They followed all of our evacuation drills that we had been practicing, perfectly. They did a fantastic job, the leadership did a fantastic job."

Nayfeld also said it meant "so much in the moment" that, as the fire was happening, he heard directly from Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, among others, who pledged their support in helping the restaurant recover.

Che Fico debuted at 838 Divisadero in the NoPa neighborhood in March 2018 and quickly became one of the toughest reservations to get in town. Nayfeld gained some notoriety in the early days of the pandemic as he raised funds from some of his tech-wealthy investors to make to-go meals for people in need in the city, in addition to family-style takeout packages for regular customers, while the restaurant remained closed.

The Che Fico empire has since grown to include a second Che Fico in Menlo Park, Che Fico Pizzeria at the Chase Center, and the more Tuscan-influenced fine dining restaurant Via Aurelia, which opened last fall in Mission Bay. And last month the team opened a new, nostalgia-fueled cocktail bar downstairs from Che Fico Pizzeria called Golden Rule.

Another popular Italian restaurant in SF, Original Joe's, also suffered a kitchen fire three weeks ago, but they were able to reopen quickly.

Previously: One-Alarm Fire Breaks Out In Flue Connected to Che Fico Kitchen

Fortunately no one was injured when a one-million-square-foot Tracy warehouse owned by a medical supply distributor was rapidly engulfed in flames Thursday, after a fire broke out on the roof and caused it to collapse, while a failure of the building’s water supply system hampered firefighting efforts.

A massive fire at a Medline warehouse in Tracy Thursday afternoon destroyed the company’s 1 million-square-foot distribution center after flames broke out on the roof and spread rapidly when the roof collapsed, as KTVU reports. Fire officials reportedly said problems with the facility’s water supply system hampered the initial response, allowing the blaze to fully engulf the building within about 30 to 40 minutes.

More than 200 firefighters and an additional 100 support personnel from agencies across the region were reportedly called in as explosions echoed from inside the warehouse and thick black smoke drifted for miles, visible from parts of the Bay Area.

Strong winds carried embers into neighboring properties, igniting pallet storage areas, trailers, and the exterior of a nearby FedEx facility. According to the Chronicle, crews were able to prevent the fire from spreading into the main building, and several smaller spot fires that broke out nearby were contained by late afternoon.

Officials said no injuries were reported among employees or firefighters, and workers at Medline and surrounding businesses were evacuated. Tracy’s city manager declared a local state of emergency, and fire crews are expected to remain at the site for several days.

“This is such a unique fire,” Tracy Fire Chief Randall Bradley said Thursday evening, per KTVU. “A million-square-foot fire is an extremely rare fire in the United States.”

Air quality agencies are reportedly continuing to monitor smoke from the fire. As the Chronicle reports, records filed with the California Environmental Protection Agency indicate the warehouse stored various industrial chemicals and medical-supply-related materials, including bleach, isopropyl alcohol, sulfuric acid, and smaller quantities of xylene, though officials said they had not identified any immediate public health threat.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Related: Early Morning Berkeley Fire Completely Destroys Warehouse in Gilman District

Top image: South San Joaquin County Fire Authority - Tracy, CA/Facebook

There was a strange incident on Nob Hill Friday morning in which three pedestrians, including two SFPD officers, were struck by a Lexus, and one person was reportedly pinned under the vehicle.

The incident happened around 7:45 am near the intersection of California and Hyde streets, and a witness tells KTVU that they saw the aftermath of the collision, which left one San Francisco police officer pinned under a dark gray Lexus.

A second SFPD officer was also reportedly lying on the ground. And a cable car was also reportedly seen stopped in the area of the collision.

Three people were reportedly struck by the vehicle, and at least two were SFPD officers, but the circumstances that led to the collision or to the officers being in the street are not entirely clear.

ABC 7 reports via another witness that one of the SFPD officers was seen wrestling with a suspect in the middle of the street, following a dispute with that suspect in the parking lot of the nearby Trader Joe's.

All three people, two officers and the suspect, were taken to SF General for trauma care, per KTVU. ABC 7 reports that both officers sustained leg injuries, and are expected to be okay.

Update: The police union, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, put out a statement describing what allegedly occurred:

Two SFPD officers were injured today after being flagged down by a Trader Joe’s employee, who alerted them to a [theft] suspect. The officers went after the suspect and the scene escalated into a violent struggle with the suspect in the middle of the street.

During the confrontation, a passing motorist struck the officers and suspect, pinning both officers beneath the vehicle.

The SFPOA adds that both officers sustained leg injuries and are expected to recover. "The SFPOA is grateful for the bravery, quick thinking, and selfless actions displayed by these officers under extremely dangerous circumstances," says Louis Wong, president of the SFPOA.

Update 2: Mission Local reports that the suspect died from his injuries.

Photo via Getty Images

Photo by Marion Lhn

• All of BART’s SF stations now have free WiFi, as the agency announced Thursday it was adding service at 16th Street, 24th Street, Glen Park, and Balboa Park ahead of the World Cup matches and events. Free Wi-Fi was implemented at BART’s Market Street stations, along with SF International Airport and West Oakland, in February, with the goal of free service system-wide by early 2028. [Bay City News]
• Lartey Solomon, 33, a registered nurse and TikTok content creator from Oakland, was identified as the victim in a fatal shooting in downtown Oakland May 31. Shacory Carnell Daniels, 39, was charged with murder in Solomon’s death, and a GoFundMe account has been set up for Solomon’s family. [Chronicle]
• In celebration of the New Mission Theater’s 110th anniversary, its operator, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, is officially renaming it in honor of director Christopher Nolan for his contributions as a large-format filmmaking pioneer. [NBC Bay Area]

National:

• A giant inflatable depicting Elon Musk with a tattoo that says, "SpaceX's Grok makes AI child porn," cast a shadow over Times Square in New York City Thursday ahead of SpaceX potentially going public Friday. [Business Insider]
• Authorities are investigating giant numbers “8647” that appeared on the National Mall in Washington DC, which likely indicate “get rid of” the 47th president. [NBC News]
• The flesh-eating screwworm, which was previously eradicated, recently made a comeback to North America — thanks to organized crime, apparently. [CNN]

Video

• Two YouTubers from out of town came to SF with a list of some of the internet's favorite greasy spoons, including El Farolito, Lung Fung Bakery, and Golden Boy Pizza, to see who could find the best breakfast, lunch, and dinner items for less than $50 each for the day. The episode is 30 minutes long and features interviews with some of the business owners, along with close-ups of their mouth-watering meals.

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

After putting the larger BUILD Act proposal on hold, which would have cut transfer taxes in half on property sales above $10 million, Mayor Lurie and Supervisor Mahmood are pursuing a commercial foreclosure tax that’s initially expected to  generate $67 million a year.

Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood’s proposed foreclosure tax, which was pulled from the now-paused BUILD Act, would impose a transfer tax of 3% to 6% when commercial properties change hands through foreclosure, as the Chronicle reports. Single-family homes, condos, and residential buildings with fewer than five units would be exempt from the tax.

This would reportedly close a longstanding loophole that currently allows those transactions to avoid the city's transfer tax altogether while generating around $67 million a year for the first three years.

The measure would repeal an exemption that San Francisco created in 1984 for foreclosed properties, which Mahmood and Lurie argue has cost the city substantial revenue over the years.

According to Mission Local, the proposal already has support from several supervisors and is expected to qualify for the November ballot.

As SFist reported previously, the larger BUILD Act, which would have cut transfer taxes in half on property sales of $10 million or more, was shelved earlier this week. Mahmood cited the city's ongoing budget crisis and the need to identify replacement revenue before moving forward.

The aim of the BUILD Act was to increase housing development and construction jobs, but it drew criticism because it would have extended tax breaks to high-value property sales regardless of whether they produced new housing. It would have also reduced the city’s revenue by an estimated $400 million over the next several years.

Mahmood reportedly said the new foreclosure measure would ensure large lenders, hedge funds, and other financial institutions pay the same taxes as other sellers when they acquire or dispose of foreclosed properties.

The Chronicle reports that former Supervisor Dean Preston is developing a measure alongside the Democratic Socialists of America called the Affordable Housing Guarantee Act, which would preserve the current transfer tax rate and dedicate revenues to affordable housing, in the event the BUILD Act proposal is revived.

Previously: Lurie, Mahmood Shelve Proposal to Halve Transfer Taxes on Property Sales Over $10M

Image: Bilal Mahmood/Facebook

San Francisco firefighters were battling a one-alarm blaze Thursday afternoon which broke out just before 4 pm, with black smoke seen billowing from the vicinity of the restaurants Che Fico and Foghorn Taproom.

The SFFD is still on the scene Thursday of a one-alarm fire on the 800 block of Divisadero. The block, between Fulton and McAllister streets, is home to the restaurants Che Fico and Foghorn Taproom, and the fire appeared to be coming from the top of one or the other of these buildings.

A witness at the scene spoke to a Che Fico employee who said that staff there had evacuated after they started smelling smoke.

Video posted by the SFFD showed a ladder with firefighters climbing to the roof of Foghorn Taproom — which moved into the space two years ago after the closure of Little Star Pizza.

Update: An SFFD source tells SFist that the fire seems to have originated in the flue connected to Che Fico's grills and wood oven. The firefight reportedly required significant damage to the rear of the building that houses the restaurant.

No damage was reported inside the restaurant and the restaurant has not made any announcements about the situation. There were no injuries.

Update 2: Chef-owner David Nayfeld announced Friday morning that Che Fico would be closed for an indeterminate period of time as damages are repaired. SFFD Lt. Mariano Elias told the Chronicle that the fire originated in the flue connected to the kitchen of Foghorn Taproom next door, however Foghorn posted to Instagram Thursday that the fire occurred at Che Fico, and Foghonr was was able to reopen Thursday night.

This is a developing story.

Jollibee's much-anticipated Market Street location was nearing the end of San Francisco's years-long, draconian permitting process when a noise compliance issue surfaced, throwing yet another wrench into the company's already delayed opening plans.

Jollibee’s long-delayed Market Street outpost — slated to be the chain’s first San Francisco location in more than a decade — was on the brink of opening after years of stalled permitting, but a failed noise compliance test led to further delays, as the Chronicle reports.

As SFist reported previously, the Market Street Jollibee was initially slated to open in 2023, which got pushed to 2024 and later 2025. The restaurant, planned for the former Payless ShoeSource site at 934 Market Street near Hallidie Plaza, has reportedly been winding through city approvals since 2020, including historic preservation review, utility installation approvals, and coordination with multiple agencies due to its proximity to BART, Muni, and a dense residential corridor.

According to the Chronicle, the latest setback emerged during the health permit stage in January, when required noise testing of rooftop mechanical equipment flagged the installation as exceeding San Francisco’s strict limits for commercial properties. Independent acoustical consultants found the units — including a heat pump and refrigeration condensers — produced several decibels above allowable daytime and nighttime thresholds when measured against surrounding ambient conditions along Market Street.

Because the equipment sits adjacent to residential units and overlooks Hallidie Plaza, the city required mitigation before the health permit could move forward. Jollibee has since worked on insulating the rooftop machinery and exploring compliance options, including potential variances, but a second round of testing was reportedly compromised by procedural errors, forcing further delays.

The Chronicle reports that the project also faced earlier delays, including utility approvals from PG&E, coordination with BART for construction equipment staging, and a Board of Supervisors vote tied to underground infrastructure near the public plaza. City departments have also reportedly acknowledged internal missteps and miscommunications on both sides as contributing factors to the prolonged timeline.

One official noted that the project could be used as a “case study” for improving the city’s permitting process. There is still no confirmed opening date for Jollibee’s Market Street location.

As the Chronicle reported last week, Jollibee, which currently operates 12 Bay Area locations, is opening 15 additional stores in Northern California over the next eight years.

Previously: That New Jollibee Is Indeed Coming to the Former Payless Shoe Store at Market and Fifth Streets

Image: HONG KONG, HONG KONG - JUNE 14: A Jollibee Foods Corporation's mascot is seen at one of the company's restaurant in Hong Kong on 14 Jun 2018. As of April 2018, JFC had a total of about 1,200 Jollibee outlets worldwide, with presence in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Hong Kong, North America, and Italy. (Photo by S3studio/Getty Images)

The leader of a cultish religious group partly based in Oroville, in Butte County, was recently convicted of eight counts of child molestation and three counts of rape, and he's now been sentenced to 225 years to life — though he will be eligible for "elder parole."

58-year-old Sansue Bee Vang, the leader and prophet of a Hmong religious group founded in Wisconsin called Kev Ntseeg Leej Niam Kee Tiam Vaj Lis Thum (which loosely translates to "Belief in the Mother"), was found guilty on February 9 following a jury trial in Butte County. In 2020, Vang had moved select families in the cult-like group from Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Fresno to establish a new temple in Oroville, at the base of Table Mountain.

In 2024, an 11-year-old girl and her mother came forward to authorities with allegations that they had both been sexually assaulted by Vang, and according to the Butte County District Attorney's Office, a subsequent investigation led to disclosures of rape from four other women.

At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that the girl had been molested by Vang on five separate occasions when she was between the ages of 8 and 10 years old. The child, herself, testified to the multiple and escalating sexual acts she was forced to perform, and she told the court that Vang threatened to beat her if she ever told anyone.

Vang also reportedly threatened an adult woman and her family after forcibly raping her and making her swear to silence.

Another woman, who was around 19-year-old at the time of the incident, testified that Vang ordered her to have intercourse with him. According to the DA's office, "He told her that, as the prophet, he could see that terrible things would happen to her family and the Hmong community if she did not comply."

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Bennett argued at trial that not only was there no evidence to suggest the rape survivors were lying, but there was amply evidence that Vang had established his cult in order that he could "exploit the power he imagined for himself" for his own gratification, and use the group itself to force the women's silence.

The Hmong are an ethnic group with roots in southern China who migrated into Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam in the 18th and 19th centuries to escape persecution. Many Hmong families, escaping persecution under Communist rule in Laos in the 1970s, subequently emigrated to the US, settling primarily in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California.

While many Hmong rely on shamans to connect with the spiritual world and believe in Animism, the Oroville cult arose around a single charismatic leader, Vang, who claimed divine authority on his own.

It's unclear how many people belong to the Kev Ntseeg Leej Niam Kee Tiam Vaj Lis Thum, which had followers across multiple states. But dozens of families were reportedly in residence at the 170-acre compound they established in Oroville six years ago.

As the DA's office notes, despite the lengthy sentence, Vang will be eligible for "elder parole" in 20 years, if he survives that long.

Top image: Photo via Butte County Sheriff's Office