Hundreds of San Francisco Department of Health and Human Services employees have been ordered to work from home due to high crime rates in the office's area, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The department recommended employees work remotely “for the foreseeable future,” the report said, citing an Aug. 4 memo sent to employees, a copy of which the Chronicle said it obtained.

The advice was given to workers “in light of conditions at the (Federal Building),” said Cheryl R. Campbell, the department's assistant secretary for administration, according to the report.

The Federal Building is located at 90 7th Street in San Francisco, a known drug hotspot where drug dealers often hawk near or across the street from the building, the Chronicle reported.

Two men were indicted in May on suspicion of conducting drug deals in front of federal building surveillance cameras, according to a June news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

San Francisco has struggled with a drug epidemic and a homelessness crisis in recent years.

The California governor's office said in June that the California Highway Patrol had seized more than four kilos of fentanyl in the Tenderloin and the “immediate area” of San Francisco in just six weeks.

It was claimed that this was “enough to kill the entire population of the city almost three times over.”

Elon Musk has also spoken out about crime in the city where his company X, formerly known as Twitter, is headquartered.

“Violent crime in SF is terrible,” Musk said in a tweet in April.

After the fatal knife attack on Cash App inventor Bob Lee, many described San Francisco as a “lawless” place to live.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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San Francisco – Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that nearly $30 million in new federal funding is headed to San Francisco to support vital community projects. These investments – which will support neighborhood-serving organizations that are helping meet the needs of Bay Area families – were included in the government funding package signed into law today by President Biden.

“The new federal funding headed to our City for critical community projects is a major victory for San Francisco families,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “Thanks to Democrats’ tenacious negotiating, this year’s government funding package delivers deeply needed federal funds for projects across the country that help meet specific needs of our communities. From easing food insecurity and homelessness to expanding vital health services to caring for local veterans, these investments will help us seize the biggest opportunities and tackle the biggest challenges that San Franciscans face.”

A full list of San Francisco community projects receiving funding for Fiscal Year 2023 include:

• San Francisco General Hospital Foundation on behalf of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center – $1,000,000 for the Transform Mental and Behavioral Health Fund
• San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium – $2,200,000 for Community Health Center Improvements
• Larkin Street Youth Services – $1,550,000 for Services for Youth Experiencing Homelessness
• HealthRIGHT 360 – $2,500,000 for the Integrated Care Center
• Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. – $2,000,000 for Child Care Facilities Expansions
• The National AIDS Memorial – $750,000 for the Center for Health and Social Justice
• Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative – $2,500,000 for Edge on the Square Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative Building Renovation
• Friends of the Children – SF Bay Area – $750,000 for Friends of the Children Bayview Youth Center
• Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, Inc. (LYRIC) – $2,000,000 for Youth Center Renovation
• United Playaz, Inc. – $4,000,000 for 1044 Howard Building Purchase and Improvements
• Project OpenHand – $1,451,000 for Community Nutrition and Wellness Expansion
• San Francisco Recreation and Park Department – $3,000,000 for Japantown Peace Plaza Renovation
• The Friendship House Association of American Indians – $750,000 for the Village SF Urban Indian Project
• Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy – $3,000,000 for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area Energy Production and Storage Project
• San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency – $2,500,000 for Bayview Community-Based Transportation Implementation

“We are deeply appreciative of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership to secure funding to provide timely and comprehensive mental health services for San Francisco,” said Kim Meredith, CEO of San Francisco General Hospital Foundation. “Not only will our Transforming Mental and Behavioral Health program draw together experts to develop innovative models for treating the mental health needs of the predominately underserved and underinsured population that Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital serves, but it will also help find solutions to the national effort , including the systemic causes of homelessness not just in this District, but nationwide.”

“The San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium and its member clinics serve over 100,000 low income vulnerable San Franciscans,” said Deena Lahn, Vice President, Policy and External Affairs of San Francisco Community Clinics Consortium. “During the worst parts of the Covid pandemic and continuing today, our community clinics remained open to provide information, vaccinations and treatment to communities who would otherwise be ignored. The funds provided through the Community Project Funding will fund critical equipment and renovation to help meet the needs of our patients and ensure that we can continue to provide high quality, up to date medical care for our hard working patients, regardless of their ability to pay .”

“We are incredibly grateful to Speaker Pelosi’s leadership for supporting our FY23 Community Project proposal,” said Sherilyn Adams, Executive Director of Larkin Street Youth Services. “With these critical resources Larkin Street will be able to amplify our efforts to stably house and improve economic Outcomes for youth experiencing homelessness in San Francisco by providing immediate access to shelter, transitional housing with intensive case management, and educational programming to help close the post-pandemic learning gap.This funding will also support progress towards our collective long-term goal of ending youth homelessness in San Francisco.”

“Congresswoman Pelosi’s community project funding to fully renovate the current administrative floor of HealthRIGHT 360’s Integrated Care Clinic in San Francisco will exponentially expand capacity of client assessments for substance use disorder treatment intakes, and will allow us to continue our focus of treatment on demand for those that need the most help by providing better access to treatment,” said Vitka Eisen, Chief Executive Officer of HealthRIGHT 360. “Thank you, Congresswoman Pelosi, for continuing to bring important federal funding home to San Francisco to address our underserved and often marginalized communities that need the most help, and for living our mantra that healthcare is a right, not a privilege.”

“The MNC Family is more than grateful and appreciative to Speaker Pelosi for her continued support and generosity, that will impact and improve young lives for generations ahead,” said Richard Ybarra, Chief Executive Officer of Mission Neighborhood Centers. “These funds will advance the completion of our new Inspiring Children early care campus at 1240 Valencia (former police station).”

“The National AIDS Memorial is deeply appreciative of Speaker Pelosi’s support of funding our work toward building a National Center for Health & Social Justice in San Francisco,” said John Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer of the National AIDS Memorial. “Still relevant today, the Center will transform the enormous human tragedy exacerbated by societal indifference and the triumphs and lessons of the AIDS crisis into an enduring movement so that never again will a community be harmed due to stigma, prejudice, discrimination, or hate. San Francisco has long stood at the forefront of our nation’s fight for social justice and the Center will educate and inspire compassion and action in its citizens, the nation, and the global community.”

“Speaker Pelosi’s ultimate legacy is that of a tireless and fearless public servant,” said Malcolm Yeung, Founding Board Member of the Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative. “No issue is too big and, equally important, no issue is too small. The Speaker’s leadership means everything to our Chinatown community.”

“This appropriation is a significant contribution to Edge On The Square, anticipated to be the soul and new icon of Chinatown,” said Mabel Teng, Executive Director and Founding Board Member of the Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative. “We are rolling up our sleeves to build the unprecedented Asian American storytelling platform with a just vision of America through the lens of immigrants.”

“Friends of the Children extends our sincere gratitude and thanks to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi for her unwavering commitment to supporting children in Bayview Hunters Point,” said Timothy Waters, Executive Director of Friends of the Children – SF Bay Area. “This funding to secure the acquisition of the Bayview Youth Center will enable Friends of the Children – SF Bay Area to continue on our path to mentor and serve 400 children. By creating an incredible space for our program, this support will positively impact generational change as our paid, professional mentors further the hopes and dreams of the youth and families we serve.”

“These federal funds will increase the current LYRIC space by 40% which will allow us to serve more LGBTQQ+ youth, especially trans and non-binary youth, here in San Francisco,” said Adam-Michael Royston, Vice President of LYRIC. “The LYRIC center is the second oldest LGBTQQ+ youth center in the country and with trans youth under attack across the country we have seen a tremendous increase in our services – specifically mental health and gender affirming care and these funds will allow us to serve more than 3,000 youth in San Francisco a year.”

“We are so appreciative to be included in the Community Project Funding!” said Rudy Corpuz, Executive Director of United Playaz. “Our project to purchase and rebuild 1044 Howard Street/United Playaz Way would not have happened without these important funds! This new building will become home to our literacy program Real Playaz Read and our growing ReEntry program serving individuals coming home from incarceration. It Takes The Hood To Save The Hood!”

“For 37 years, Project Open Hand’s mission has been to serve meals with love to the Bay Area, providing life-saving nutrition for residents who need it most,” said Paul Hepfer, Chief Executive Officer of Project Open Hand. “The funds allocated to our organization by Congresswoman Pelosi will ensure that our programs and capacity continue to reach those in critical need of the medically tailored meals that we provide. On behalf of our clients and our staff, Project Open Hand would like to convey our sincerest appreciation for this funding and recognition of the important work that our founder, Ruth Brinker, began back in 1985, and that we continue to this day.”

“We are so grateful to Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her steadfast support of the Japantown Peace Plaza renovation,” Phil Ginsburg, General Manager of San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. “For 110 years, this space has been vital to generations of Japanese American, Asian American and Pacific Islander families and is one of only three Japantowns left in the US With $3 million in federal funding, the Peace Plaza will continue to flourish as an essential open space that is home to so many community organizations, small business, and artists.”

“This investment contributes to the development of the Village SF, a six-story building in the heart of the city that provides cultural programs, social services, housing, and medical and dental care, for the 9,000 Native Americans and Alaska Natives who live in San Francisco,” said Gabriel Pimentel (Apache), Executive Director of Friendship House Association of American Indians. “The Village SF is just the beginning of Friendship House’s vision for a thriving and healthy Native community in the heart of every city in America.”

“The park partners of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are grateful to Speaker Pelosi and for this federal community project funding that will bring to life the dream of a solar project within the Presidio. Addressing climate resilience in Bay Area national parks is a priority, as we continue to ensure these park lands serve as places of welcome and belonging for people from San Francisco and across the world for decades to come,” said Christine Lehnertz, President & CEO, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

“Installing solar panels in the Presidio will save energy costs and further our goal of being a carbon-neutral park,” said Jean Fraser, CEO of the Presidio Trust. “This project will educate the Presidio’s millions of visitors about the power Americans have to reduce climate change by using alternative energy sources.”

“This award will generate broad and important safety benefits that are directly aligned with community needs and values ​​in Bayview-Hunters Point,” said Jeffrey Tumlin, Director of Transportation at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. “It will have a direct impact by improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in the Bayview Neighborhood, one of San Francisco’s most disadvantaged communities. Specifically, this project will improve pedestrian safety along the 3rd St. corridor, improving resident access to transit, local businesses, parks, and community centers.”

The post Pelosi Proclaims San Francisco Will Obtain $30 Million for Group Tasks from Authorities Funding Bundle appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

This November, Proposition C will give San Francisco voters the opportunity to approve the creation of a new oversight commission for the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. This body would join the more than 100 commissions, committees, councils and working groups — supplemented by a city services auditor, a budget and legislative analyst, a city attorney, a district attorney, an ethics commission and a civil grand jury — already tasked with overseeing the delivery of municipal services.

Under the watchful eye of this impressive edifice, San Francisco ought to have the cleanest, most efficient government in the world. Instead, over the last 20 years, multiple city officials have been indicted on federal corruption charges, the mayor’s annual budget has ballooned from $5 billion to $14 billion, and the government’s performance on several key metrics has only gotten worse or remained stagnant. According to one ranking, San Francisco is the second worst-run city in America.

We think there’s a better way: municipal services oversight should be centralized in a unified agency that reports to a board of auditors, which would be elected every four years and empowered to summon witnesses, subpoena documents, impound wasteful spending and levy civil penalties.

Leading audit standards bodies, whether in the public or the private sector, agree that auditor independence is the sine qua non of effective oversight. But, in San Francisco, the entities charged with ensuring that taxpayers get what they pay for are instead kept to the very departments and agencies they’re supposed to oversee. For example, the city services auditor is hired by the city controller, who is appointed by the mayor, while commissioners are appointed by varying combinations of the mayor, the supervisors and other interested parties. The city attorney and district attorney are elected by the voters, but, as political offices, they have other priorities beyond investigating corruption and waste.

San Franciscans deserve the option to vote for oversight officials who answer directly to them, and who are politically incentivized to focus exclusively on cleaning up city hall. Creating the agency we propose would align San Francisco with other California counties and US states whose auditors (or controllers with audit powers) are elected, rather than appointed. It would also professionalize the city’s audit function by entrusting it to full-time, qualified civil servants, rather than a patronage network of politically connected activists moonlighting as commissioners. Our current system is the one that put Jon Jacobo, a legislative aide, on the Building Inspection Commission, and Victor Makras, a real estate developer, on the Police Commission. Jacobo resigned last year after being accused of sexual assault; Makras was found guilty last month of bank fraud.

Variations of this proposal have been put before the voters and the Board of Supervisors before, in 2016 and 2020, but were rejected due to cost, politicization and implementation concerns. Our proposal is responsive to those concerns. First, this new agency would supplant, not supplement, the existing oversight commissions in the city, and would be funded by the resultant savings. Is this feasible? Certainly. The budgets of San Francisco’s city services auditor, Ethics Commission and Department of Police Accountability alone combine to equal the entire budget of the California state auditor, or the audits division of the state controller. To be clear, this isn’t about eliminating funds for oversight programs; it’s about entrusting them to a body that has the proper expertise and incentives to conduct them effectively. Second, electing a board, each member of which is equally authorized to deploy resources, rather than a single official to lead this agency, alleviates concerns that it would spend four years investigating that one official’s political enemies and no one else. Finally, to ensure continuity of oversight, existing commissions could temporarily operate under the authority of the board of auditors during a phase-in period until the new agency is fully provisioned.

Many government employees are competent, conscious and committed. But, over time, even the most well-meaning public servant can’t fight waste and corruption in a system that holds no one accountable. The result is a city that spends $60,000 on a tent and $20,000 on a trash can. The Board of Supervisors is empowered to put a charter amendment on the ballot to create the agency we propose and put an end to this kind of irresponsible spending. Our system is broken — let’s live up to our reputation as the City That Knows How and fix it.

Jay Donde and Bill Jackson are co-founders of the San Francisco Briones Society, a center-right club that develops and advocates for consensus solutions to urgent local issues.

The post Find out how to actually repair San Francisco’s authorities appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — The city of San Francisco announced Thursday that it’s suing the federal government over its decision to cut off funding to Laguna Honda Hospital and the order forcing the nursing home to transfer all patients out of the facility by Sept. 13.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday against the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Secretary Xavier Becerra. It alleges that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which operates under HHS, forced the City to implement an unworkable closure and patient transfer plan that put them at risk and denies the City due process.

In April, CMS terminated Laguna Honda’s participation in its Medicare/Medicaid programs after the hospital was found out of compliance on multiple safety inspections, including finding contraband like drug paraphernalia on site, and failure to adhere to hand hygiene, documentation and infection prevention protocols.

Laguna Honda Hospital

CBS

As a result of being decertified, the hospital lost federal funding that financed more than two-thirds of its services for nearly 700 patients with complex medical needs and low incomes.

The federal government also directed the facility to wind down its patient population, and the hospital transferred several dozen patients over 10 weeks. At least four patients were reportedly dead within a few days after their relocation, including three that were sent to homeless shelters. A total of nine patients died within days or weeks after transfer or discharge, according to City Attorney David Chiu.

Last week, Laguna Honda maintained transfers for its remaining 600 patients following the deaths.

The complaint alleges the CMS imposed an arbitrary Sept. 13 deadline for patient transfers and required it to close before the city’s appeals could be decided, which might make the transfers unnecessary.

In a press release, Chiu said a second-class-action lawsuit against both the State of California and the federal government filed by former City Attorney Louise Renne alleges the closure and transfer process violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and denies patients and their families due process .

“The federal government has put Laguna Honda and our City in an impossible situation,” said Chiu in a prepared statement. “As the final safety net for many of our most vulnerable San Franciscans, Laguna Honda serves too critical a need to be closed due to an arbitrary, bureaucratic decision. The City has been forced into an unworkable closure and transfer plan that has done far more harm than good.”

The lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to eliminate the Sept. 13 deadline and extend federal funding to Laguna Honda at least until the appeals can be decided and all patients can be safely transferred or discharged.

“We are working hard to address issues that have been raised at Laguna Honda, and that important work will continue,” said Mayor London Breed in a prepared statement. “But closing this facility and forcing residents and families to go through the trauma of transfers should not be part of that process. This facility provides care and support for some of the most vulnerable people in our city, and that support must continue to keep them healthy and safe.”

“For over 150 years, San Franciscans have relied on Laguna Honda to provide critical care to our most vulnerable,” Renne said in a prepared statement. “We simply cannot allow Laguna Honda to close. The actions of CMS and the California Department of Health are illegal, unnecessary, and cruel.

Theresa Rutherford, the President-Elect of the SEIU 1021 and a longtime certified nursing assistant at Laguna Honda Hospital, released the following statement in response to the announcement of the lawsuits:

“Laguna Honda Hospital is more than just a hospital, it is a long-term home for many. Keeping patients at Laguna Honda, where they are provided some of the most unique and comprehensive care available in this country, must be a priority for our community and for elected officials at all levels.We support patients and families who are advocating to help stop the closure because we know it will save lives.

We understand how stressful and scary the last few months have been for workers and patients alike. Transfer trauma is a real danger for the people we care for, which is why our union is doing everything we can to get Laguna Honda Hospital recertified. We encourage community members to join us by contacting their elected leaders at all levels and asking them to stand with us.”

In May, Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote a letter to Becerra asking to reverse the CMS decision to terminate Laguna Honda’s participation in its programs and force the relocation of its vulnerable patients.

“If CMS does not reverse its decision, these patients would again be put at risk as they’re transferred to other facilities,” Feinstein said in a statement last month. “This is particularly concerning after some patients were reportedly sent to homeless shelters ill-equipped to provide the necessary medical services.”

The hospital remains open and licensed as it continues to work on rejoining the federal programs.

The post San Francisco sues federal authorities over Laguna Honda hospital closure following affected person deaths appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco’s current and former city attorneys filed a pair of lawsuits late Wednesday that they hope will bring a screeching halt to the federal government’s effort to shutter Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center next month.

City Attorney David Chiu is asking a US District Court judge to stop the federal government from cutting off funds to Laguna Honda as of Sept. 13, a deadline the city calls arbitrary and which would force the nursing home to shut down and displace 600 vulnerable residents .

Former City Attorney Louise Renne filed a separate, class-action lawsuit against state and federal officials on behalf of those residents. Most patients at the skilled nursing facility—one of the largest in the US—are medically fragile and often very poor. Some have lived there for decades.

The pending closure has caused an uproar among supporters of the city-run nursing home, especially after the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid forced Laguna Honda to begin transferring its frail patients in May in preparation for the closure. Of the 57 patients transferred or discharged, eight died within days or weeks of their moves.

An empty hallway at Laguna Honda hospital in San Francisco on July 20, 2022. The facility is required by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to transfer or discharge all patients by mid-September after the federal agency decertified it in April.

Bronte Wittpenn/The Chronicle

Because 14% of the relocated people have died, possibly as a result of the phenomenon known as “transfer trauma,” federal officials agreed last month to pause the transfers.

“Pausing is not enough,” Renne told The Chronicle. “We’re asking them to end the discharge. Period. Families are worried sick. The mere threat of a discharge is wrong.”

In the city’s lawsuit, Chiu argues that the federal agency known as CMS chose a random date — Sept. 13 — to halt funding of more than $200 million a year in the form of Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. The suit says shutting down the nursing home so quickly is illegal because San Francisco is appealing the agency’s decision to decertify Laguna Honda in the first place — and that appeal won’t be heard until at least October.

“We’re asking the federal government to exert compassion and common sense,” Chiu said. “Between the huge shortage of skilled nursing facility beds, we see potentially very negative consequences” if the facility is forced to shut down next month. “Individuals will become homeless. These people have nowhere to go.”

Renne put it more bluntly: “We’ve had eight deaths. Who knows if there would be more? (CMS) knows that as well as we do. How do they live with themselves?”

Chiu’s lawsuit notes that three patients discharged from Laguna Honda wound up in homeless shelters. And last month, when Laguna Honda officials called 1,400 nursing homes in a single week to try to comply with the transfer order, not one of them had a vacant bed eligible for Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement and with appropriate services for Laguna Honda’s patients, according to the suit.

“CMS’s unreasonable requirements are not only harmful to patients and impossible to achieve, they are also unlawful,” says the city’s lawsuit. Chiu argues that the agency shouldn’t be allowed to shut down Laguna Honda before the city can make its case that CMS was wrong to crack down so hard on the facility, and that closing it before the appeal is heard denies San Francisco due process.

CMS officials could not immediately be reached for comment after the suits were filed. In an interview on July 26, however, a CMS official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Chronicle that the agency could extend its deadline.

“The timing is something we can revisit,” the official said.

CMS decertified Laguna Honda in April, six months after state inspectors declared it to be “in a state of substandard care.” CMS set Sept. 13 as the date it would stop paying to care for the facility’s hundreds of residents. Laguna Honda depends on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements of nearly $18 million a month, or more than two-thirds of its $26 million monthly budget.

The city’s lawsuit acknowledges that Laguna Honda must fix deficiencies and prevent them from recurring. But it also says the California Public Health Department — which recommended that CMS withdraw the Medicare and Medicaid funding — overstated the severity of the deficiences its inspectors found at Laguna Honda between October and March, and that it never should have made that recommendation.

Renne’s class-action suit, which seeks a trial by jury, makes the same argument. It’s also the basis of Chiu’s appeal.

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu speaks at a press conference about abortion rights at City Hall on June 1, 2022.

Constanza Hevia H./Special to The Chronicle

Laguna Honda’s current troubles began in July 2021, after the facility reported that two patients had overdosed on illegal drugs and recovered. That report triggered the state visit in October, after which inspectors found the facility out of compliance.

The city’s lawsuit says the state’s finding was based on a “failure to eliminate all illicit drugs and contraband (such as cigarette lighters),” which in turn led to the recommendation that CMS terminate its contract with Laguna Honda on April 14 if the nursing home was still out of compliance.

Chiu argues that instead of allowing CMS to hastily shut down a vital institution, especially when there are virtually no adequate alternatives for most residents, the courts should give San Francisco time to make its case that decertifying Laguna Honda was done in error.

Laguna Honda is also correcting its deficiencies and should be allowed to complete that process, the lawsuit says. The nursing home “is confident that it will submit an application allowing it to be recertified as a Medicare and Medicaid provider by the end of the year.”

But if it has to shut down, Laguna Honda will need until Nov. 2023 to do so safely, the suit says.

In all, Chiu’s lawsuit paints a picture of a Catch-22 — an “impossible situation” — that CMS has forced on Laguna Honda, the city and the patients who depend on it. “Laguna Honda cannot stay open and it cannot close,” the suit says.

The city attorney said that “the federal government has left us with no choice” but to sue. “We’re hoping that CMS will come to the table and work with us to preserve this critical safety net.”

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov

The post San Francisco sues federal authorities over Laguna Honda closure appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Here are your FOX Business Flash top headlines for March 25.

One expert is claiming that Facebook and Twitter are moving at a “slow speed” in their enforcement of Russian government propaganda and disinformation on social media.

After Russian forces bombed a maternity hospital on March 9 in Mariupol, the Russian embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted pictures from the blast captioned with the word “FAKE” over them, implying that the hospital only had military troops inside.

The embassy also targeted Ukrainian blogger Marianna Podgurskaya, stating that she “played” the role of a pregnant woman with “very realistic make-up,” that looked like blood.

“It’s the indeed pregnant [Ukraine] beauty blogger Marianna Podgurskaya,” the embassy tweeted, according to the New York Post. “She actually played roles of both pregnant women in the photos.”

UKRAINE CRISIS: KREMLIN BLOCKING RUSSIANS’ ACCESS TO TWITTER AMID PROTESTS, CRITICISM: RESEARCHER

IRPIN, UKRAINE – MARCH 07: Residents of Irpin flee heavy fighting via a destroyed bridge as Russian forces entered the city on March 07, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine. Russia continues its assault on Ukraine’s major cities, including the capital Kyiv, more (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The posts were removed from Twitter, but only after government officials in the United Kingdom expressed outrage, according to the report.

Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, told FOX Business that this is a prime example of social media companies moving at a “slow speed” to combat propaganda coming from Russian government accounts.

“What has troubled me most is the slow speed of enforcement in cases where Russia is using its government presence or it’s continuing the existence of government accounts clearly to spread disinformation,” Brooking said. “In the case of the Russian embassy that was personally maligning a bomb victim in Mariupol, claiming that this woman was a crisis actor and was an outrageous, personally directed attack and the attack lasted for several hours on Twitter before it was removed and got significant shares.”

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Facebook and Twitter have taken actions targeting the Russian government as well as some aimed at helping keep individuals informed.

UKRAINE WAR: META SAYS IT WILL RESTRICT RUSSIAN STATE-OWNED MEDIA RT AND SPUTNIK IN EUROPE AMID INVASION

In this photo illustration the Facebook logo seen displayed on a smartphone. (Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Twitter suspended advertisements in Russia and Ukraine on Feb. 25 in an effort to ensure “critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it,” according to the company.

A Twitter spokesperson pointed to FOX Business to a blog post explaining their approach to the war in Ukraine, which includes de-amplifying content that isn’t associated with a risk for immediate harm but may be out of context and mislead people. If a tweet is in violation of the Twitter rules, action will be taken against it, the blog post states.

One day after Twitter made the announcement, Meta announced that it is banning Russian state media from “running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world.” Meta also announced the establishment of a “Special Operations Center to respond in real time.”

Meta also announced on Feb. 28 that it is restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the European Union.

TWITTER SUSPENDS ADVERTISEMENTS IN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE AMID WAR

Brooking, however, says that there is a difference between that type of content and press releases or government statements that are shared on Russian government accounts.

“I want to distinguish that kind of content from press releases or government statements, or the things that are typically released via these channels,” Brooking said. “That’s the sort of content, even if we find it despicable, that I think should continue to circulate in the digital space.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

FILE – This July 9, 2019, file photo shows a sign outside of the Twitter office building in San Francisco. Twitter posted solid results for the last three months of 2020, capping what CEO Jack Dorsey called “an extraordinary year” for the platform. ( (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu / AP Images)

Brooking says that social media companies face a constant battle to maintain balance.

“For these companies, it is always a balancing act. And if Russia continues to use its official voices to engage in such personal and repugnant attacks, then I think their access to these platforms should be totally removed,” Brooking said.

FOX Business’ Michael Ruiz contributed to this report

The post Fb, Twitter shifting at a ‘sluggish pace’ to fight Russian authorities disinformation, knowledgeable says appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The first domino fell in January 2020.

Then-director of the San Francisco Department of Public Works, Mohammed Nuru, has been charged with a series of federal corruption charges, including lied to the FBI – crimes that could land him in jail for up to 25 years.

At that time, US Attorney David Anderson commented on the allegations with the words: “Corruption flows into San Francisco from all over the world”.

The next two years seem to prove him right. Several heads of the city administrations have since been dismissed from their offices on charges of corruption. City workers and contractors have pleaded guilty to charges of bribery, money laundering and fraud; others confess their innocence as the charges continue to mount.

The state and local investigation has touched building inspectors, real estate agents and even a Chinese billionaire. From the public works to the mayor’s office to the public utility commission, new fees arise month after month, hydra-like.

With so many interconnected allegations floating around town, it can be difficult to keep track of exactly who is involved in what. Based on the coverage of Joe Eskenazi, we created an interactive website to show the connections between the people and organizations that play a large role in the investigation. As more and more players are swallowed up – and as connections are made between players – we will update this item.

Click the circles below to learn more. Click on the lines between the circles to understand why the two are connected. This diagram works best on a large screen.

Some were calculatedto have others pleaded guilty. Others had no charge was brought. See how they’re connected.

A full screen version of the diagram can be found here.

Please note that inclusion in this table does not necessarily mean misconduct, but is only in connection with city investigations. The table does not claim to be complete either – there will be links that are not included here. We will update the table as the investigation progresses.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know the corruption scandal that rocked San Francisco for the past two years? Click the question fields to view the answers.

Question 1: Who pleaded guilty to bribing Mohammed Nuru with a Rolex worth nearly $ 40,000?

Question 2: How many of all the individuals and organizations on our map who have pleaded guilty to the indictment are directly linked to Mohammed Nuru?

All of them. At least 8 people and the disposal company Recology have pleaded guilty to the charges in connection with the corruption investigation in the town hall. They are all directly related to Mohammed Nuru.

Question 3: How Much has Recology over-billed San Francisco taxpayers since 2017?

Question 4: How are former Public Utilities Commission chief Harlan Kelly and former Chief Inspector Bernie Curran connected?

Question 5: How are Mayor London Breed and federally indicted restaurateur Nick Bovis connected?

Question 6: How many jumps can you make from Balmore Hernandez to Rodrigo Santos the least?

We think the answer is three – from Hernandez to Mohammed Nuru, to Tom Hui, to Santos.

Question 7: Who oversaw the wedding of Former City Administrator Naomi Kelly and Former Director General of the Public Utilities Commission, Harlan Kelly?

Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco.

Question 8: What non-profit had a sub-account that was used by Mohammed Nuru as a slush fund? The San Francisco Parks Alliance. Funds were deposited into the account by Recology executives as part of a bribery program and allegedly used to fund lavish parties.

Question 9: What service did Walter Wong affiliate Alternate Choice LLC in San Francisco provide? Alternate Choice LLC provided the city’s much maligned Renaissance trash cans. The poorly made cans aggravated the San Francisco garbage problem and added to Public Works’ expensive, ongoing efforts to build their own perfect custom garbage can.

Question 10: What did Balmore Hernandez, Alan Verela and William Gilmartin plead guilty to in bribing Mohammed Nuru? A $ 40,000 John Deere tractor. It was allegedly sent to Nuru (using the name of his girlfriend Sandra Zuniga) to be acquired on a deal for an asphalt factory.

The post Internet of corruption: Discover the cronyism, lies, and federal crimes on the coronary heart of San Francisco’s authorities appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Denver City Council will be considering two proposals from Clerk and Recorder Paul López in the coming weeks that would change the way the city holds local elections.

The first proposal would postpone the Denver local elections in May to April and keep the runoff election in June. The second proposal would implement a ranked voting model that would remove the city’s current runoff structure.

“The Denver Charter is out of date with the way modern elections are to be conducted,” said López, Denver’s chief electoral commissioner. “Both models are viable options and we are ready to manage each option with the standard of excellence our office is known for.”

López proposed the changes to bring the Denver local elections into line with a federal regulation recently adopted by Colorado. Under the new requirement, cities will have to cast ballot papers to foreign and military voters 45 days before the elections. The requirement became an issue as the Denver local elections were followed by runoff elections 30 days later, with only the top two candidates appearing on the runoff.

In the ranked election, known as RCV, voters rank candidates according to their preference on their ballot papers. If no candidate receives a majority of the first-vote votes, the candidate with the fewest first-vote votes is eliminated and any ballot papers that selected that candidate first go to their second preference. This is repeated until one candidate has a majority.

Denver used the RCV model in its local elections in 1916 until voters repealed it in 1935 and replaced it with the current runoff system.

Leader board voting advocates argue that this ensures that most voters are not against the victorious candidates, even if the winner is not their first choice, and allows voters to make their true choices rather than having to choose between the two best candidate to feel limited. RCV also avoids voter fatigue and saves time and money by requiring only one election, a benefit López recognizes in his proposal.

“We can join the growing number of cities using RCV, or we can spend well over $ 1.2 million on a second, three-month election,” said Linda Templin, RCV executive director for Colorado. “There is a better way and it is available.”

Opponents say ranked voting is not a guarantee of a majority of candidates, as it is in runoff elections, and it can incapacitate voters by discarding ballot papers that do not rate the most popular candidates.

For example, the winning candidate in an RCV election in San Francisco in 2010 was only listed on 4,321 out of 20,440 ballots cast, meaning only 21.1% of voters voted for the candidate and about half of them rated the candidate Second, third or lower selection.

The candidate won the election after 20 elimination rounds because 21 candidates ran and the majority of voters did not put all 21 on their ballot papers, according to the San Francisco Department of Elections.

Problems were also reported when New York City held its first ranked election in June, with the results being falsely reported. It took more than two weeks for all of the winners to be announced.

Denver City Councilor Kevin Flynn, a member of the clerk’s advisory committee, argues that the intricate nature of the RCV could result in lower voter turnouts and higher rejections of incorrectly completed ballot papers.

“Denver already has a superior runoff system and the timing problem can be easily fixed by changing the date,” said Flynn. “The runoff is the only electoral system that guarantees a majority winner every time. Not only can RCV not guarantee a majority winner, it even does so as a matter of routine. “

Five of the seven members of the case handler’s advisory committee recommended postponing the local elections to April in order to implement ranked voting, Flynn said.

Postponing the local elections to April would create problems of its own.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s census data has been delayed by six months and won’t be delivered to the states until September 30th. The delay has resulted in significant delays in the Denver redistribution process, which could disrupt the 2023 city council election.

To run for the Denver City Council, candidates must have lived in their borough for at least one year. But if the redistribution is not completed by May 2022 – a year before the next council election – council members and potential candidates whose district is switched will not be able to run.

And moving the elections from May to April would give the council one month less to complete the month-long reallocation process on time, which may not be possible.

López said he was considering other solutions to the voting problem, including rescheduling local elections to November, moving elections to a pluralism model, and moving to affirmative elections, where voters could choose as many candidates as they want.

His last two suggestions were the most popular options chosen during his public relations and engagement, López said.

“Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for voters to decide who will run our city,” he said.

If any of the proposals are accepted by the city council, members will be added to the November 2021 ballot for voters to consider.

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SANTA ROSA (BCN) – Sonoma County reopened most of its government offices on Monday after moving into the orange tier of the COVID-19 reopening state business system.

District offices overseeing regional parks, permits, public works, child support services, and tax collection are among those that have reopened with limited hours. According to district officials, each department will have its own schedule during the week.

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Sonoma County moved to the orange category on April 6th, allowing office workers to return to work in person without changes and without capacity constraints.

Masking and social distancing guidelines are mandatory in every reopening office, according to the county.

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“During the pandemic, our employees never stopped working for our residents,” said Sheryl Bratton, Sonoma County administrator. “Many were just doing their work remotely, while others were working on site to perform important functions. We look forward to seeing people again – mask by mask. “

A list of the reopening offices and their operating hours can be found at https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/CAO/Press-Releases/Sonoma-County-offices-to-reopen-for-in-person-service-on-April -19- 2021.

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