Mendocino County Today, interim outage post, Wednesday, 12/24/2025

THE NEW FLOODGATE STORE

by Terry Sites

Anyone who has been in the Anderson Valley for any length of time is familiar with the Floodgate Store on Highway 128 in Philo. Over the years many businesses established there have had some prepared food component. Sometimes it was more of a general store, sometimes it was a restaurant and sometimes a deli. The current operator is John Paula. He has established a café featuring coffee drinks, panini grilled sandwiches and other freshly made deli items. The place has been refreshed on a shoestring budget and John has created a bright and cheerful space both inside and out. The interior is filled with light and plenty of room to sit at four good-sized interior tables and patio tables outside.

Floodgate-JohnPaula

John himself matches the café. He is pretty darn cheerful and creates an atmosphere that is friendly and bright. Born in the Anderson Valley and a graduate of Anderson Valley schools (AVHS Class of 2010). Sydney Fraser, Colter Winchester and Heather Knight were three of his classmates with Willy Schmitt one year ahead of him.

This new Floodgate store was originally started by John, his brother and his sister-in-law, but now John is going it alone with some occasional help from his mom Buffy and dad Butch. Although the building, owned by the family, is currently up for sale, the plan is to sign a lease with the prospective new owner to continue running the café after the sale.

John always liked toasted sandwiches and it seemed like paninis filled a niche as the Navarro Store has the BBQ market covered. As to his background in food John remembers getting an Emeril Lagasse cookbook as a kid and being into cooking up some of those recipes. Working at the Boonville Hotel in the summers he started as a server and was eventually assisting Brennan in the kitchen as a sous chef. He also helped Brooks Schmitt when he had his food truck. Buffy had her stint running the a store and deli in the mid 90s when John remembers bagging groceries and stacking kindling for sale after school at 5 or 6 years old.

The Paula family has owned the property for over 40 years. Butch (who came into the café and sat down with us during this interview) shared some of his memories. He was originally advised to buy the Floodgate by Claudina Pinoli. Claudina, a local healer of great reputation, was instrumental in healing Butch's dad (a dairyman in Petaluma) from crippling multiple sclerosis. Claudina became a friend of the family and when Butch said he wanted to buy the Navarro Store she said “No, buy the Floodgate.” At the time the Floodgate’s owners of 27 years duration were Marguerite and Sam Avery. They were not interested in selling to a “longhaired hippy” and it took cutting his hair short and shaving off his beard to get their attention.

Long story short, it took awhile. including a property swap of a house Butch built in Petaluma, for the store before it became a done deal. Butch remembers wondering how anyone could stay in the same place for 27 years! At the time it was mainly loggers, locals and tree planters who became his customers.

Some of the many businesses that have occupied the site include, The Bewildered Pig, Coq Au Vin, Kathy and Jerry Cox’s store, John Schmitt’s restaurant, an Italian restaurant and a Mexican store.

I asked John why he decided to settle in the valley as a young adult. He told me he likes the quiet life and being close to family. He has been in business since mid-May and things are going well. Although he will be closed for 10 days over the holidays, he will reopen from 7am to 5pm Thursday to Monday beginning January 3rd. You can phone in an order for one of his delicious paninis at 707 380-3154. Look online for a listing of his entire menu. Everything is fresh made — no frozen anything. I have had the mozzarella and dried tomato, also the pastrami — both excellent. I wanted to try the Jalapeno with bacon jam but it has always been sold out. There are many creative combinations to choose from. The sandwiches are not cheap, but they are in line with current prices elsewhere, the portions are very large and super high quality: worth the money. John’s goal is to offer good food consistently while putting some creativity into it. Mission accomplished!

When asked what he likes best about his new endeavor John says meeting new people and getting more contact with people he already knew is great. Describing himself as not exactly an extrovert, he is having a chance to be more engaged and he likes it. He is happy to share his knowledge of local history with those who express an interest. As a lifetime resident he is well placed to know what he’s talking about.

If you are not a panini person the deli case holds fresh garden salads, albacore salads, pickled beets, deviled eggs and a host of other treats. Also very popular are the homemade rice crispy treats, especially good paired with his savory coffee drinks. Get a friend to meet you at 1810 Highway 128 to enjoy a great breakfast (breakfast sandwiches on tap) or lunch or just a coffee break and a chat. It may be your first time at the new Floodgate, but I bet it won’t be your last.

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TENS OF MILLIONS OF UNCOLLECTED TAXES

by Mark Scaramella

While Mendocino County claims to be facing drastic cuts in budgets, staffing and programs, the recent State Audit points out that Mendo is owed tens of millions in uncollected taxes.

Official Mendo has known of the problem for years — but without knowing how big the uncollected amount has become. Mendo’s own financial documents have reported the growing collection deficit yearly for over a decade in what is called the Annual Consolidated Financial Report (ACFR).

One local news source misleadingly phrased the State Auditor’s observation this way: “On the issue of the county’s finances, the nearly 100-page [state audit] report found that Mendocino as of this month had $30.6 million in uncollected taxes, penalties, interest and fees related to default properties,”

But the State Audit Report actually phrased it this way:

“Mendocino has dealt with issues related to its property tax system, which have contributed to untimely assessments of properties to determine their taxable value and uncollected past due taxes. The county estimated that as of December 2025 it had $30.6 million in uncollected taxes, penalties, interest, and fees related to defaulted properties.”

And later, “…the county must collect more than $30 million in unpaid property taxes, penalties, interest, and fees related to properties in default status.”

“The list of properties in default status as of December 2025 that the county provided to us identifies that taxpayers owed $30.6 million in uncollected property taxes, penalties, interest, and fees pertaining to about 4,200 properties. $17.5 million of this owed amount was attributable to tax years 2023 through 2025.

“The county could hold a property tax auction, at which it could auction off defaulted properties to help recover some of its uncollected property tax revenue. In fact, state law requires county tax collectors to attempt to sell properties that are in tax default for a period of five years or more, or three years or more in the case of nonresidential commercial properties.

“However, as of November 2025, Mendocino had not held an auction since June 2019 [more than six years and counting], which has been the longest period without an auction among all counties in California except for one other according to publicly available information about each county in the State.

“When we asked the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector why the county had not held an auction in recent years, they cited the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector explained that the county lost staff who were knowledgeable about conducting auctions.”

“…the county lost staff who were knowledgeable about conducting auctions”?

Use of this pathetic passive voice is typical of audits, giving no indication of who was “lost” nor why, nor how or when the county mysteriously “lost staff.”

Where did they go? Who are they? Are they senile? Are they still “lost”? Was any effort made to find them? Have missing person reports been filed? Has someone else been using their County credit cards?

The State Auditor didn’t explain how they (or the County) calculated the $30.6 million uncollected amount. But it looks like it was derived from information buried in Mendo’s latest ACFR entitled: “Property Tax Levies and Collections Last Ten Fiscal Years.”

Here’s the chart from the most recently published ACFR (the late 2024 edition):

DelinquencyRates2024

Notice that the “Delinquent Amount” started skyrocketing in 2021. Adding the uncollected amounts in those last five years comes to about $29 million in uncollected taxes due. But that amount does not include additional penalties and interest due. A 10% per year penalty is imposed on delinquent taxpayers and interest is imposed at 1.5% per month, or 18% per year. If the average delinquency amount per year is between $5 million and $6 million, then something like $20 or $30 million more could be owed in accrued penalties and interest.

Further compounding the problem is the column labeled “Collections in Subsequent Years” which in each year says “nda” — no data available. (The “[3]” in the chart’s column head refers to a note that blandly says, “3. Collections in Subsequent Years are not available from the County’s current property tax system.” Apparently no effort has been made to quantify the amount of uncollected taxes that may have been paid late – with penalties and interest.

Delinquent taxpayers are allowed to pay via a payment plan to repay the penalties and interest over up to five years. Recently Auditor-Controller/Treasurer Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison told the Supervisors that a few delinquent taxpayers have done just that — after receiving long-delayed tax bills. But no tally has been made of how much money that represents.

The phrase “no data available” is not explained. Does it mean that nobody knows how much uncollected taxes, penalties and interest has been paid late? Or does it mean that the County’s unworkable accounting software, the frequently derided scapegoat/excuse “Aumentum” computer program is unable to generate a report of the missing dollar amounts?

The State Auditor and the County Auditor are correct in pointing out that Covid delayed tax collection starting in fiscal year 2021. But what they avoid saying is the County’s intentional infliction of financial wounds on the Tax Collector’s office — damage that coincides with the recent spike in uncollected taxes and penalties and interest.

Against the advice of everyone who had an opinion, in 2021 the Supervisors rashly and unjustifiably voted to consolidate the Tax Collector’s office with the Auditor’s office after DA David Eyster denounced Acting Auditor Chamise Cubbison in October of 2021 and sent a memo to Supervisor Glenn McGourty laying out a proposed secret plan to get rid of Cubbison for questioning his asset forfeiture spending by combining the Tax Collector’s office with the Auditor’s office.

Not long after that consolidation, the two most senior Tax Collection officials, Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari Schapmire and Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector Julie Forrester abruptly retired saying they could no longer work with a Board of Supervisors that had such little regard for the Tax Collector’s office or its function.

The consolidation became effective in January of 2023 leaving newly elected Chamise Cubbison — whose background was in Auditing, not Tax Collection — to pick up the pieces of the unplanned, ill-considered consolidation.

In October of 2023, on the patently false pretext of District Attorney David Eyster’s bogus and ultimately dismissed “misappropriation” charges against Cubbison, Cubbison was unceremoniously suspended from her elected position in mid-consolidation, disrupting the Tax Collector’s office even more when inexperienced Deputy CEO Sara Pierce was put in “acting” charge of the combined offices including the decimated Tax Collector’s tiny remaining staff.

So sure, Covid gets some of the blame for tax collection delays. But remember, Biden’s big bailout bills generously compensated Mendo (et al) for that. In fact, those bailouts masked the problem Mendo had created and allowed County officials to irresponsibly sit on their hands while the problem got worse.

And yes, the decline of the pot trade has probably increased tax delinquencies and defaults and increased the overburdned office’s workload.

But the real cause of this huge tax collection fiasco falls right at the feet of the Supervisors who knowingly threw a grenade into the tax collector’s office by their rash decisions to consolidate the offices and then conspire to get rid of its beleaguered elected chief. They then refused to address the problem as it ramped up, even in the face of direct warnings from former supervisorial candidate Carrie Shattuck, coast realtor Dierdre Lamb, the AVA, the Sheriff, and their own fanatical reports showing that millions of dollars of taxes, penalties and interest were going uncollected by an understaffed and overworked tax collector’s office.

The Board of Supervisors often but abstractly declares that “revenue generating” staff positions are supposed to be exempt from budget and staff cuts, but they showed no concern for that after Schapmire and Forrester quit, and they have never asked what Tax Collector staff positions could be enhanced for revenue generation/tax collection — even after 1. they bemoaned the county’s growing deficit, 2. their own actions damaged the tax collector’s ability to collect taxes due, and 3. the numbers in their own ACFR were (belatedly) presented to them.

Now the Supervisors (and the State Auditor) say that they must make drastic staff cuts, that they must consider new taxes to address the County’s deteriorating roads, that they can’t afford the annual ambulance subsidies anymore, that they might discontinue the Measure P emergency services funds, that they face a multi-million dollar “structural deficit”… Yet no one (besides us, ahem) — including the State Auditor — has asked or is asking (or demanding to know) what’s being done to perform this core tax collection County government function and what must be done accelerate the collection of tens of millions in uncollected taxes, penalties and interest owed.

So what was the County’s response to the State Auditor’s observation about uncollected taxes, penalties and interest?

(To be continued…)

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DECADES IN THE MAKING: THE RETURN OF DEEP-END POET DON SHANLEY

Coming Soon from Don Shanley, now in his 82nd year: Another Evening of Poetry.

Shanley’s first Evening of Poetry was announced in the Mendocino Grapevine in April of 1978, some 47 years ago. Now the retired Marine, retired landscaper, and recovered knee surgery poet with decades of additional life experience will return for another Evening at a date soon to be announced.

From the Mendocio Grapevine of April 13, 1978:

“An Evening of Poetry At The Club Fort Bragg

(Mendocino News Service)

The works of poet Don Shanley are to be read at the swank Club Fort Bragg

Inside were a couple of gals in beehive hairdos shooting pool over in the corner, and some unsavory looking characters clutching onto the bar.

One of them turned out to be on Shanley.

Shanley said he had chosen the ostensibly incongruous location, The Club Fort Bragg, a honky-tonk bar and grill and the hub of Fort Bragg nocturnal activity, for poetry reading because he was tired of stained glass windows and hanging plants.

He preferred accessibility to suitability.

As it turned out, the performance was both suitable and accessible.

Just as the atmosphere of Club Fort Bragg wastes no time telling you what its about, so the poems spoke directly and honestly, not relying on simile, metaphor, or literary trick to convey meaning, but rather revealing themselves a the starkness of literal words.

Sometimes he constructed the poem around a single word, weaving in and out, developing its neaning, changing its course to throw it back on itself.

A poem about running, begins rhythmically interspersing running amongst a list of botanical profusion.

Slowly sprinkling in images of log trucks among the pussy willow and pestamon, then increasing it until we find ourselves running through a suburban jungle of banks and real estate, more banks and real estate, where the plants exist only to serve the concrete environment as decoration.

We end up running wild.

The reading was held in the back room, past the burgers and the pinball machines. Every so often the juke box music wafting through the poems.

It was well attended by the intelligentsia and literati of the North Coast, who seemed to crawl out of the woodwork and the sauna for occasions such as this.

Even the video crew from the College of the Redwoods was there, with cameras and lights, to give the aura of a political news conference to the gathering.

Don Shanley's subjects were dealt with in such a directly analytical way that they took root not in abstract terms, but concretely, in the object of scrutiny, explaining themselves.

For example, the poem about furniture as reflections of attitude.

“Oh, I don't need all these antiques,

the Chippendale mahogany, the Gothic chair…

No, orange crates would be fine with me.

He was going to buy Ethan Allen furniture when he was discharged.

He said, it was the best furniture money could buy.

She only had rugs and a few large pillows.

No, she didn't want any furniture.

She got all her furniture at the Salvation Army…"

Sometimes Shanley uses the sharpness of his words to cut through the complexity of meaning, and to give simple and direct understanding to the listener.

“I slip by, stumbling, dazed wanting a grenade to explode in the middle of the street…

the plastic donuts and marble facades…

all this trendy cheese and wine

all this hygienic shine.”

And other times, he uses a single line to convey myriad layers of potential meaning, echoing through the mind.

He told us about a tree in Philadelphia that was called the Moon Tree, because it had been grown from seeds that had gone to the Moon with the astronauts.

It goes:

“In front of the Moon Tree, a crippled pigeon,

no toes,

chokes down a cracker jack.”

A vivid image that implicates life in its existence.

There were two sets with a break in between, filled with beer and peanuts and a musical interlude.

The highlight of the evening was provided by the Willits Fiddlers, whom Don had met while using the bathroom between sets.

A dynamic duo — one sang “Pop Goes The Weasel” while the other held a fiddle between his knees and played it, acrobatically juggling bow and body.

Soon his rubber face was crooning “I'm a red-hot sugar daddy-o, she loves my Cadillac and my money-o,” as the crowd went wild.

Here was the cross cultural pollenization that Shanley had been hoping for.

Toward the end of the reading, Don said something so revealing, that it seemed to be the keynote of his poems.

He said, “I want words that suck the sick breath, the stench… and exhale sunlight through sheets of rain.”

It could be that Don Shanley got what he wants.

---

The AVA will be posting more samples of Shanley’s poetry in the upcoming weeks in prepaation for Shanley’s Epic Return.

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SHERIFF SEEKS ID OF DROWNED WOMAN AT MCKERRICHER BEACH

On Monday, Decembrer 22, 2025 at approximately 2:00 P.M., Sheriff's Deputies with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the area of MacKerricher Beach at the MacKerricher State Park. The Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center was contacted by CalFire’s Howard Forest Dispatch Center, requesting deputies respond to assist medical and California State Parks personnel.

Sheriff's Deputies responded and learned a subject was knocked off a rock by a large wave and swept into the ocean. Bystanders who witnessed the incident were able to rescue the subject from the ocean and brought the female back to the shore. The female who was rescued from the ocean became unresponsive and lost consciousness after being brought to the nearby beach.

Advanced live-saving measures were performed but were unsuccessful and the female subject was pronounced deceased by fire and medical personnel at the scene. Sheriff's Deputies responded to conduct a coroner's investigation and determined nobody at the scene knew the female subject and nobody was visiting the MacKerricher State Park with the person who died. The decedent is described as an elderly, white, female adult in her 70s with no unique identifying features (scars / marks / tattoos etc.) and no identifying documents were located with the female.

No suspicious circumstances were found at the beach as the incident was witnessed by bystanders who rescued the subject from the ocean.

Additional investigative efforts were conducted to include checking unattended vehicles left at the parking area of MacKerricher State Park and inquiring with other local law enforcement agencies regarding possible missing person reports. Sheriff's Deputies are still attempting to positively identify the elderly female adult who died on December 22, 2025 and additional information will be released regarding this investigation once the decedent has been properly identified and their legal next-of-kin have been notified of the circumstances of this coroner's investigation.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office notified local and regional law enforcement of this investigation and requested to be contacted immediately if other law enforcement agencies are notified of a missing person matching the general description / age of the elderly female from this case.

A post-mortem examination will be conducted in the following week by a forensic pathologist. The official cause and manner of death will not be released until the pathologist completes their examination and investigative reports.

Anyone with information related to this investigation is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at 707-463-4086 (option 1).

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IN SEARCH OF THE YOUNG RESCUERS AT MACKERRICHER STATE PARK ON MONDAY

They did what they could. No one took their names. And then they were gone.

by Elise Cox (Mendolocal.news)

Monday was a beautiful day.

A pause between storms.

The kind of day that pulls people out of their houses and down to the water’s edge.

A group of friends went to MacKerricher State Park.

The air was clear. The ocean restless but dazzling.

There is a feeling of relief that follows pounding rain and wind — a sense that the worst has passed.

Then they saw the wave.

And the woman on the rock.

She was swept into the sea.

They did not stop to think.

They did not wait for instructions.

They ran into the water.

Others on the beach were calling for help.

The friends swam out through the cold, into the surge, against a strong undertow.

About 50 yards.

They pulled the woman back to shore.

Later, Steve Orsi, chief of the Fort Bragg Fire Department, said no one took their names.

In the chaos, there was no clipboard. No introductions.

No one was looking for credit.

The young rescuers did everything they could.

So did the fire and medical personnel who arrived soon after.

The woman — a white woman in her 70s — could not be revived.

Chief Orsi said the rescuers appeared focused on only one thing: helping a stranger.

They asked for nothing in return.

And then they were gone.

We do not know if they were locals, or visitors in Fort Bragg for the holiday.

We do know this: when the ocean took someone, they answered without hesitation.

If you were among those who ran into the water Monday — or if you know who they were — we hope you will come forward.

So the community can say thank you.

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MUSHROOMS!

Mushrooms

This hearty crop of wild mushrooms was spotted just past the “Summer Wind” ranch on Highway 128 on the left side driving from Cloverdale to Yorkville. I have never seen such a profusion all in one spot.-

— Terry Sites of Yorkville

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LAKE COUNTY BURGLARS NABBED IN UKIAH

On December 23, 2025, at approximately 3:00 a.m., deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a burglary at the Forks Ranch Market in Ukiah. The suspects forced entry into the business and stole lottery tickets, currency, and other identifiable items from inside the store.

During the initial investigation, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office notified Mendocino County dispatch that they were actively investigating two commercial burglaries in their jurisdiction and had located a suspect vehicle in the area of Clearlake Oaks. Lake County deputies detained four suspects associated with the vehicle and observed property inside that was consistent with items reported stolen from the Forks Ranch Market, as well as from their recently discovered burglaries.​

Deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office responded to assist the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and confirmed that the suspects were in possession of stolen property from the Forks Ranch Market. Nearly all of the property stolen from the Forks Ranch Market was recovered and is currently in the process of being returned to the Forks Ranch Market. Investigators from the California Lottery also assisted with the investigation related to the stolen lottery products.​

Further investigation revealed that the suspect vehicle and additional property located within it matched the description of a vehicle and loss associated with a separate burglary in the City of Ukiah, which the Ukiah Police Department was investigating and which occurred around the same time as the Forks Ranch Market burglary. The connected investigations indicated that the burglaries shared the same suspect vehicle, a similar number of suspects, and consistent methods of operation.​

Due to strong collaboration and communication between community members, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Ukiah Police Department, and the California Lottery, the involved suspects were identified as:

Simeon Reed, 23-year-old male from Kelseyville

Daniel Goodwin, 24-year-old male from Sacramento

Tobias Menefee, 26-year-old male from Sacramento

Demare Burgess, 30-year-old male from Sacramento

The suspects were arrested by the Lake County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Lake County Correctional Facility on charges related to the series of burglaries and associated criminal conspiracy and each suspect is being held in custody in lieu of $150,000.00 bail. A large majority of the victims’ reported property from the affected businesses was located and is currently in the process of being returned.

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CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, December 24, 2025

LELAND BEAN JR., 48, Willits. Controlled substance with two or more priors, paraphernalia, county parole violation, resisting.

ELIZABETH BOXALL, 44, Oakland/Ukiah. DUI, misdemeanor hit&run, resisting.

CHRISTOPHER CARTER, 25, Covelo. Controlled substance with two or more priors, ammo possession by prohibited person, suspended license, probation revocation.

DUSTIN GOLYER, 34, Ukiah. Asault with deadly weapon not a gun, controlled substance, paraphernalia, failure to appear.

SADIE GRAVLEE, 27, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JEREMY HOLZ, 51, Ukiah. Public urination, evidence tampering, paraphernalia, resisting.

JUSTIN SANDERS, 40, Fort Bragg. Failure to appear.

RIORDAN WILHELMI, 42, Mendocino. Probation revocation.

DANIEL YEOMANS, 54, Fort Bragg. Disorderly conduct-alcohol, vandalism, tampering with fire alarm, probation revocation.

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WITH TWO GAMES TO GO, 49ERS KEEP BID TO WIN NFC WEST, TOP PLAYOFF SEED ALIVE

by Ann Killion

The San Francisco 49ers knew the assignment. And they completed it.

They knew coming into Monday night’s game at Lucas Oil Stadium that they had already clinched a playoff berth thanks to Detroit’s loss on Sunday. They know that they control their own destiny. That if they win out in their final three games they will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC, a possibility that seemed improbable just a few months ago.

So Step 1 was accomplished. That doesn’t mean that Step 2 and Step 3 got any easier.

The 49ers’ offensive explosion in a 48-27 victory over the Indianapolis Colts took them one step closer to a dream scenario: the top seed in the NFC and a playoff path to the Super Bowl that would never veer out of Santa Clara.

It wasn’t until the team meeting on Sunday night, moments after the 49ers learned they had clinched a spot, that Kyle Shanahan finally felt comfortable talking about the playoffs.

“Last night was the first time I mentioned anything,” Shanahan said. “I told them all year I didn’t want to talk about that. But when you know you’re in the playoffs, you shift your goals to what’s next. And that’s trying to make the playoffs the best situation we possibly can. So we’d love to try to try to play a home game at Levi’s.

“The only way to do that was to win tonight versus the Colts. We got that done.”

While the 49ers had the advantage of playing in the final game of Week 16 of the NFL schedule, knowing the outcomes of all the other games, that positioning didn’t provide much clarity. Though they were rewarded last Thursday night, when Seattle beat the Rams in overtime, preventing the Rams from all but clinching the NFC’s top seed, the 49ers’ road forward didn’t get any easier or any more in focus.

While the Rams appeared complacent and cocky with a big lead, as they have at other times this season, Seattle looked like a team to be reckoned with. The Seahawks — who the 49ers close the regular season with on Jan. 4 — became the NFC’s top seed (for the moment) by storming back in the fourth quarter to force the overtime, where they won the game on a two-point conversion.

The 49ers’ other remaining opponent, the Bears, also won in overtime on Saturday and are the hottest team in the NFL, having won seven of their last eight and moving into the No. 2 seed in the NFC. The Bears come to Levi’s next Sunday.

It’s a tough road going forward. With one more loss, the 49ers will likely be the No. 6 seed and be sent on the road, probably to Philadelphia.

“We’ve got two playoff teams coming up, so I’m just more excited to see how we match up,” Trent Williams said. “Can we continue to play the football that we’re proud of, the football that we played tonight? Because, there’s a great chance that we see one of those two teams in the playoffs. So the No. 1 seed is not the number one thing in our mind right now. We just have to get to the point where we’re playing the football that we know can win games.”

In a Monday Night Football showcase, the 49ers played that kind of winning football, at least on the offensive side of the ball. Of the three remaining games on their schedule, the MNF game against a battered and desperate Colts team appeared to be the easiest opponent left on the schedule.

But, at least in the first half, it didn’t exactly play out that way. Thanks to Grandpa Magic.

The national television audience was treated to one of the most surprising, amusing and in many ways inspiring stories in recent NFL memory. Philip Rivers, who turned 44 earlier this month, father of ten, grandfather of one and with hands unsullied by an NFL snap for almost five years of retirement until last week, engaged with Brock Purdy in a first half shootout. Yes, Purdy — like many players on the field on Monday — is young enough to be Rivers’ son.

Rivers, with the ultimate dad bod, still had his trademark command of the line of scrimmage. And with another full week of practice, he looked more comfortable than he did in his debut on the road against Seattle. It was his first true home game at Lucas Oil Stadium, where he played in front of empty stands in the pandemic before retiring. His family suite was packed with his many offspring, ranging in age from 23 to 2. The audience tuned in to a relatable story — a retiree wondering if he still has anything left in the tank, if he can still get the job done.

The Colts won the coin toss and opted to receive, leading to jokes that the Colt’s offense needed to get started before grandpa’s bedtime. Rivers led the Colts down the field for a touchdown and then did it again on the Colts’ second possession. When they showed Rivers on the stadium big screen, the crowd went wild. Everyone else might be amused by Rivers’ un-retirement but to Colts fans he is their savior, their only hope of salvaging a once promising season.

The strange thing about the Rivers-directed passing game was that the Colts have the best running back in the league in Jonathan Taylor, and the 49ers have the 26th ranked rushing defense. Was Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen — Rivers’ BFF — so enamored with his new quarterback that he forgot how the Colts offense has had success this season? While the Rivers' pyrotechnics were fun to watch, and initially suprised the 49ers defense, the strategy was a bit mystifying.

Purdy’s precision passing and the Colts’ inability to stop the pass, stop the run or pressure the quarterback kept the 49ers comfortably in front in the second half. With the Colts trailing by two scores, Steichen decided to tap into his running game, but it was too little, too late. The 49ers keyed on Taylor and Steichen’s inside out game plan didn’t work.

As the night got late, the Grandpa Magic vanished. Rivers threw a pick-six and the 49ers ended up with their highest scoring game of the season.

One night after Shanahan was finally able to congratulate the team for making the playoffs, the 49ers took another step forward.

“Now that we’re in there, it’s time to position ourselves to try to do something special,” Shanahan said.

Monday’s assignment was completed, but the biggest tests still remain.

(SF Chronicle)

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ColtsFanHairdo

Indianapolis Colts Fan shows off his fabulous new hairdo

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NEW CALIFORNIA LAWS IN 2026 INCLUDE AN ADDITIONAL HOLIDAY, CHANGES TO TORTILLAS

Your State Legislature at Work

by Andrew Chamings & Katie Dowd

A handful of bills signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom are set to take effect in the new year. The 2026 slate of new California laws includes artificial intelligence chatbot protections, a ban on declawing cats and even a new tortilla ingredient.

Uber Eats refunds and customer service

Californians who order food through apps such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub will see changes in how delivery platforms handle refunds, tips and customer service under Assembly Bill 578, a consumer protection bill signed this fall by Newsom.

Under the new law, food delivery companies must give customers full refunds to their original payment methods when orders are late, wrong or never completed, instead of just offering credit toward future purchases. Platforms also have to offer a real person for customer support, not just chatbots or automated menus. Under the law, delivery apps must show an itemized breakdown of pay and fees and may no longer use tips or gratuities to offset a driver’s base pay.

The bill was inspired by its author Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s own experience ordering pizzas for her daughter’s bat mitzvah; she had paid for 12 pizzas, but only one showed up, as she shared in a Senate committee hearing earlier this year.

Parking ticket waivers

Local California governments can now ease the burden of parking fines by reducing, suspending or waiving penalties for people who show financial hardship, including homelessness or inability to pay. The law also lets individuals apply for a parking citation payment plan. Assembly Bill 1299 takes effect on Jan. 1 and applies statewide to local parking enforcement practices.

Tortillas require a new ingredient

A new law will require most commercially sold corn masa flour and corn tortillas to be fortified with folic acid. The B vitamin reduces the risk of birth defects during pregnancy. Corn masa products, common in many Latino households, were historically exempt from federal folic acid fortification rules that apply to wheat flour. State health officials estimate the change could help prevent dozens of severe birth defects each year. The law includes exemptions for certain small producers and fresh masa made on-site.

Ban on cat declawing

Veterinarians in California will be banned from declawing cats, except when the procedure is medically necessary to treat illness or injury. Declawing to prevent furniture scratching will no longer be allowed. Supporters say the surgery, which involves amputating the last bone of each toe, causes chronic pain. The practice is already banned across most of Europe and other countries.

A California crackdown on AI chatbots

AI chatbots designed to simulate emotional or personal relationships with users are the target of Senate Bill 243. Companies operating chatbots in California must clearly disclose that users are interacting with artificial intelligence, not a human. The law also requires platforms to implement safeguards to reduce the risk of self-harm, including protocols for responding to suicidal ideation and providing crisis resources. Lawmakers describe the bill as a first-in-the-nation attempt to put guardrails around a rapidly expanding corner of consumer AI.

Law enforcement must disclose AI use

As the use of artificial intelligence becomes more and more common in workplaces, Senate Bill 524, signed into law in October, requires law enforcement agencies to disclose if they used AI to write official reports. Law enforcement agencies are now required to have an AI disclosure policy where they clearly mark that “this report was written either fully or in part using artificial intelligence.” In addition, the officer who made the report must sign their name to the document and confirm they verified the information in it.

California law limits immigration enforcement at schools

California’s Assembly Bill 49, also known as the Safe Haven Schools Act, strengthens protections for students and families by restricting immigration enforcement on K-12 campuses. The law bars school officials from allowing immigration agents into nonpublic areas of schools unless they present a judicial warrant or court order, and it limits the sharing of student or family records with immigration authorities without proper legal authorization.

“California is home to over 750,000 K-12 students with undocumented parents and fear of immigration enforcement disrupts their ability to learn and thrive,” Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, author of the bill, said in a statement. “AB49 ensures that schools continue to be safe havens where all students, regardless of their family’s immigration status, can pursue their education without the looming threat of deportation.”

California gets a new state holiday

Mark your calendars: In 2026, Californians will get the day off to celebrate Diwali, one of the most important holidays of the year for Indian Americans and South Asian Americans. The festival of lights is set by the lunar calendar, which means its date changes from year to year. Diwali always takes place in the fall, and the Bay Area is home to the largest Diwali celebration in North America. In 2026, it falls on Nov. 8, which means the holiday will be observed on Monday, Nov. 9.

More protections for employees who get tips

Employees who receive tips from patrons already have a number of protections in California, but Senate Bill 648 adds a few more. Employers cannot deduct a credit card fee from tips, and employees are owed their tips left by credit card no later than “next regular payday following the date the patron authorized the credit card payment.” Employers who violate these rules can be investigated by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office, which can cite them or file a lawsuit in civil court against them.

Single-use plastic bag ban — but for real this time

Single-use plastic bags have already been banned in much of California for years. But according to legislators, a loophole in the law was allowing manufacturers to still supply plastic bags to grocery stores. Thicker plastic bags, like the kind at Safeway checkout counters, were considered reusable, thus allowing for their sale to customers who didn’t bring their own bags. Those will no longer be allowed under the new law, which means plastic bags will now disappear entirely from supermarkets. So be sure to bring your totes on your next shopping trip.

Insulin price cap

Starting Jan. 1, large health insurers in California will be required to cap the insulin copay at $35 for a 30-day supply. Individual and small-group plans will face the same price cap in 2027. Around 2 million Americans have insulin-dependent diabetes and require insulin to live. The move has been applauded by the American Diabetes Association.

“For far too long, many Americans with diabetes have made the difficult decision to ration this lifesaving medication to pay for other necessities, such as groceries or rent,” the organization said in a statement. “This legislation will provide much-needed financial relief for people living with insulin-dependent diabetes.”

Landlords must provide a stove and fridge

Tenants who sign, amend or extend leases after Jan. 1 have the right to a stove and a refrigerator, thanks to Assembly Bill 628. The law stipulates landlords must provide tenants with these appliances, in good working order, unless a tenant agrees when signing the lease to provide their own. Landlords must also make sure stoves and fridges are repaired or replaced within 30 days if the appliances are subject to a recall.

(SFGate.com)

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VENEZUELAN TANKER AND AMERICA’S ADDICTION TO OIL

Editor:

Given that our abject dependence on oil-burning vehicles is killing so many of us — from crashes, air pollution, extreme climate and weather events and oil wars — is Donald Trump’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker just an expansion of his war to protect Americans from their addictions?

Bruce Hagen

Petaluma

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ABANDONED DOG

They dumped it on the lonely road,

… Then like a streak they sped;

And as along the way I strode

… I thought that it was dead:

And then I saw that yelping pup

… Rise, race to catch them up.

.

You know how silly wee dogs are.

… It thought they were in fun.

Trying to overtake their car

… I saw it run and run:

But as they faster, faster went,

… It stumbled, sore and spent.

.

I found it prone upon the way;

… Of life was little token.

As limply in the dust it lay

… I thought its heart was broken:

Then one dim eye it opened and

… It sought to lick my hand.

.

Of course I took it gently up

… And brought it to my wife

Who loves all dogs, and now that pup

… Shares in our happy life:

Yet how I curse the bastards who

… Its good luck never knew!

— Robert Service

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ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Epstein was a pimp and high-priced brothel owner. With a very predictable cast of characters.

I am not sure why there has been so much fuss over this. According to the definition of it….he was not a Pedophile. Just in the sex trade, with mainly older teenage girls who appear to have gone along willingly.

For any underage girls, where were their parents or Social Services in this scenario?

Now enough about this tawdry set-up, which is old as the hills.

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FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul

With corn cob pipe and a button nose

And two eyes made out of coal

Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale they say

He was made of snow

But the children know how he came to life one day

There must have been some magic in

That old silk cap they found

For when they placed it on his head

He began to dance around

Frosty the snowman was alive as he could be

And the children say he could laugh and play

Just the same as you and me

Frosty the snowman knew the snow was hot that day

So he said lets run and have some fun

Now before I melt away

Down to the village with a broom stick in his hand

Running here and there all around the square

Saying catch me if you can

He led them down the streets of town

Right to the traffic cop

And he only paused a moment when

He heard him holler stop

Frosty the snowman had to hurry on this way

But he waved goodbye saying don’t you cry

I’ll be back again some day

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895 QUEEN ANNE John Daly House in San Francisco, California

JohnDalyHouse

900 Guerrero Street was the private home of John Daly, who made his fortune as a successful dairy farmer in neighboring San Mateo County. After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, John Daly subdivided 250 acres of his land and sold the plots to refugees displaced by the earthquake and subsequent fires. In 1911, the area was incorporated and named Daly City in his honor.

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DECK THE HALLS

(Sung by Love to Sing ‧ 2012)

Deck the halls with boughs of holly

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

'Tis the season to be jolly

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Don we now our gay apparel

Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la

Troll the ancient Yuletide carol

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

See the blazing Yule before us

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Strike the harp and join the chorus

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Follow me in merry measure

Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la

While I tell of Yuletide treasure

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Fast away the old year passes

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Sing we joyous all together

Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la

Heedless of the wind and weather

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

— Traditional

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HOW HIGH'S THE WATER

How high's the water, Mama?

Two feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Papa?

She said it's two feet high and risin'

We can make it to the road in a homemade boat

That's the only thing we got left that'll float

It's already over all the wheat and the oats

Two feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Mama?

Three feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Papa?

She said it's three feet high and risin'

Well, the hives are gone

I've lost my bees

The chickens are sleepin'

In the willow trees

Cow's in water up past her knees

Three feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Mama?

Four feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Papa?

She said it's Four feet high and risin'

Hey, come look through the window pane

The bus is comin', gonna take us to the train

Looks like we'll be blessed with a little more rain

Four feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Mama?

Five feet high and risin'

How high's the water, Papa?

She said it's five feet high and risin'

Well, the rails are washed out north of town

We gotta head for higher ground

We can't come back till the water goes down

Five feet high and risin'

Well, it's five feet high and risin'

— Johnny R. Cash

========

INSIDE CALIFORNIA’S WILD CHRISTMAS TREE HARVEST

Inside California’s wild Christmas tree harvest

High Country News

(via Bruce McEwen)

========

ROBERT HUNTER:

Trump called Wall Street the biggest casino in the world, which is about right although the city of London might disagree. Basically it allows the clever people to make money without working or creating wealth. Capitalism may have started out as a better alternative to the existing systems but now it's mostly just glorified gambling producing nothing and living off those who do produce wealth or provide useful services. It takes a lot of indoctrination to get the population of workers to accept the minority of the parasite class living off them from around the world.

========

HOW SOME CALIFORNIA WINE COMPANIES TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE INDUSTRY DOWNTURN THIS YEAR

by Esther Mobley

One helpful way to understand the state of the U.S. wine industry is to examine its acquisition activity in a given year — to see what appetite there was for buying and selling wineries and vineyards. This year’s merger-and-acquisition landscape reflects the industry’s desperate state, but also shows how some canny players are trying to take advantage of the downturn to get ahead.

In 2025, there were relatively few notable transactions: 27 as of October, according to Wine Business, though there have been some major purchases since then, including of Napa’s Mumm and Washington state’s Chateau Ste. Michelle. (Last year, there were at least 45 — significantly more.)

It’s not surprising that the market for wineries and vineyards would be sluggish right now. The industry is struggling with the effects of declining wine consumption. Many vineyard owners, unable to sell their grapes, are ripping out their vines altogether. That doesn’t exactly make the vineyard look like an appealing asset.

But there are always winners in a downturn, and the folks who are able to make investments right now are likely getting favorable terms (even if interest rates remain high). Wine companies that intend to ride out the storm will still need grapes when it clears. A number of legacy wineries this year — Dominus, Antinori, Cliff Lede, Chateau Montelena and Simon Family — snatched up new vineyards, and though prices were not disclosed, it’s safe to assume they probably got better deals than they would have five years ago.

Not everyone was seeking land, however. WarRoom Cellars, a relative newcomer that has a habit of buying up established wine brands without taking on any of their facilities or vineyards, acquired Simi Winery, founded in Healdsburg in 1876, and Iris Vineyards, a pioneering Oregon operation. They join a portfolio that includes Bonny Doon, Parducci and Toad Hollow. WarRoom is one to watch — they’re on a tear, and their brand-only acquisition model (they’ve consolidated winemaking at just a few locations) seems to be allowing them to grow quickly.

That brand-versus-land question brings us to Gallo, the country’s largest wine company, which was involved in two transactions this year, one as buyer and one as seller. In January, it sold Edna Valley Vineyards’ winery, tasting room and vineyards in San Luis Obispo County to a group of local businesspeople (though Gallo retained the Edna Valley brand rights). Then, in September, in one of the year’s most eye-catching acquisitions, Gallo bought Whiny Baby, the Gen Z-oriented brand whose chaotic front label descriptions include “tastes like fruit punch.”

The Whiny Baby deal felt like an acknowledgement that established wine companies like Gallo are at a loss for how to reach younger drinkers and will pay presumably big bucks for a company that appears to be doing it well. (Of course, Gallo’s spirits division, which produces High Noon, is having no trouble reaching the twentysomethings.) To my palate, the Whiny Baby wines are unconscionably sweet, but the best-case scenario is that they become this generation’s wine cooler — a gateway wine that eventually leads them to the better stuff.

A handful of other large wine corporations went shopping this year — Trinchero buying Mumm, the Wine Group buying a host of cheap wine brands from Constellation, Bronco buying Wine Hooligans — but for the most part, the powerful trend in 2025’s M&A activity was the rise of the individual buyer. This year, more so than in the past few, the buying pool featured quite a few opportunistic private citizens. Some of them are so private, in fact, that their names were never disclosed — as in the case of the Edna Valley deal and Carmel Valley’s Massa Estate.

Two buddies, newcomers to the wine industry, bought Napa Valley’s Newton Vineyards from Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, while a small group of Napa locals bought Accendo Cellars from the well-known Araujo family. And then there was the mystery buyer from China, whose broker identified them only as being “in the manufacturing business,” who paid $16.8 million in cash for Napa’s Calmere Estate, a year after paying $24 million for another Carneros vineyard.

The private-buyer trend speaks to the power of wine as a passion project: Even when the market is down, some people with means just can’t resist the allure of becoming a vintner.

(SF Chronicle)

========

SF GROCERY STORE CASHIER HAS BEEN QUIETLY POLLING HIS NEIGHBORHOOD FOR MONTHS

The conversation-starting questions at Luke's Local have made it all the way to Salesforce

by Jessie Fisher

For the past six months, customers at Luke’s Local in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow have been getting something extra with their groceries: a question of the day, courtesy of cashier Thomas Viollier, a French-born, beanie-wearing Daft Punk devotee who conducts polls between scanning avocados.

No one asked Viollier to do this. He just felt like it. And since he got started, more than 100 head-scratching questions have passed through his black Sharpie onto brown paper bags, each one earning a small, earnest tally mark as customers share — and sometimes revise — their answers.

The polls may be flimsy in material, but they’ve proved surprisingly sturdy in effect. Easily 10 times per day, a customer will ask Viollier for the question if he hasn’t already offered it, or if it’s not in eyeshot from the checkout line.

They’ve become such a fixture that regulars say the day’s question has kept them up at night.

Some customers will circle back with a response they’ve been mulling over since last week. Others will recall a question from a month earlier and report that they’ve changed their mind, while Viollier gently tucks an $11.99 carton of eggs into their canvas tote.

One customer, who works at Salesforce, told Viollier they’d started using his poll prompts to kick off team meetings in the tower.

For regulars Sunita Rao and Nick Eppinger, who recently moved to Cow Hollow from New York, the questions have helped make a new neighborhood feel like home. On days when Viollier is working, their errand run comes with an element of surprise. “We chat about potential questions as we shop around for our groceries before checkout,” they told SFGATE.

The questions range from the techno-moral (“Do you prefer your car with or without a human driver?”) to the food-related (“Which kind of tomato is best for a caprese salad?”) to the unexpectedly probing (“How do you evaluate expired foods?”) — with the occasional soft, sensory confessional tossed in (“Does rain help you sleep?”).

On Sundays, the questions get bigger and more soul-searching. In September, Viollier asked Cow Hollow: “What is the proudest you have ever felt about yourself or a loved one?” In October: “What is the most fun you’ve ever had?” By November: “What is the biggest opportunity that you have missed out on?” And most recently: “What is your warmest memory?”

“Some of them are fairly provocative,” he said.

Every now and then, a customer will get so caught up in the back-and-forth that they start to leave without paying, Viollier told SFGATE, and he’ll have to gently reel them back in for a quick card-tap.

Answering the question of the day is only one part of the fun. The real intrigue, for many, is seeing where the rest of the neighborhood landed. For one, Cow Hollow thinks that San Francisco needs more slow streets (120-19). It also leans toward thinking that avocado toast should be topped with a dash of olive oil, as opposed to a pinch of pickled onion (82-69).

The neighborhood chose to give up sandwiches over pasta (195-157), and to snack on raspberries in Golden Gate Park’s Rose Garden instead of pastries at Twin Peaks (160-135). On protein intake, it was an even split: 130 felt they got enough, and 130 felt they didn’t.

When Viollier asked shoppers what they value most, the results came back as 50% play, 39% rest, 11% work.

This tracks with what he’s seen from behind the counter, where person after person ends up playing along. Sure, some roll their eyes and keep moving — Viollier says he gets one to five of those a day — but that’s part of the experiment. More often, he watches moods lift as customers slip into the easy back-and-forth.

The reason that the polls work has a lot to do with Viollier himself. He brings a psychology degree, a bit of UX design training and a stint at Butter Love Bakeshop on Balboa Street to the checkout counter. After reading Charles Duhigg’s “Supercommunicators,” he decided to apply its teachings to the register too — his own little communication lab.

“It’s legitimately fun for me, so I spend a lot of time giving it my best, despite not earning any tips,” Viollier said.

He’s hopeful that the low-production-value ritual will keep delivering a surprisingly high emotional yield. The goal continues to be to make people pause — to shake them loose from their own little worlds.

Grocery shopping is habit-driven, like driving, a time when the mind slips into autopilot. But it’s also one of the few built-in opportunities we get to be present. Viollier wants his questions to tip people toward connection instead of drift.

He also wants his questions to work toward a friendlier world. “It’s up to everyone to raise the standard of decency,” Viollier told SFGATE, quoting a podcast he heard once, while walking past the granola section. He believes that, so he’s doing his part — one query at a time.

“Part of me feels like I might be well-suited to run for politics like AOC did, as a fighter for the people,” Viollier said. Later, passing the produce, he added that everyone in Washington, D.C., could stand to spend a week at the register.

The political question he’s hung up on right now is wealth distribution. It’s hard to ignore, he said, when you’re handling fives and singles all day while so many people — some of them living blocks away — are sitting on fortunes.

What Viollier has been doing at the checkout line fits neatly into the broader ethos at Luke’s Local, a four-location, San Francisco-only neighborhood market that has prioritized hospitality since its founding.

Kayleigh Khan, who joined Luke’s 11 years ago as a part-time customer service associate and worked her way up to chief operating officer, said the team has long encouraged employees to help make the stores warm, community-minded spaces.

“We’ve seen the staff engage with the customers in creative ways,” she told SFGATE over the phone. She referenced one barista who works at both the Cole Valley and Inner Sunset locations, where she is known to cut up cheese so neighborhood dogs can have samples of their own. She also mentioned the kitchen ops coordinator, who helped a customer fulfill a custom Thanksgiving order to make sure he had enough food for everyone he was hosting. On Thanksgiving Day, the customer emailed back a selfie of the whole party.

Even in a place already steeped in the kinds of gestures that make Luke’s feel local — like a community joy wall where shoppers jot down things that made them smile — Khan was still “taken aback to see how well the polls landed with the community.” Her favorite from the archive is “Have you laughed yet today?”

She also noted that more and more regulars now greet Viollier by name. And that one night, while the two of them were closing the Union Street shop, people popped in solely to ask what the question of the day was — proof, she said, that “he’d figured something out about the neighborhood.”

Cow Hollow, it turns out, has a taste for spontaneous interaction: the frivolous, reflective, beautifully inefficient moments that happen only when you’re physically in the mix and willing to talk to a stranger. Luke’s Local, Khan told SFGATE, has been betting on the power of those moments from the start.

“The goal has always been to bring back that more old-school, in-person small market grocery shopping experience,” she said.

But, of course, getting that sort of interaction going in a plugged-in world isn’t easy, especially when a good chunk of shoppers hit the counter with their AirPods still in. Viollier thinks it’s roughly 25%, which inspired one of his more pointed questions: “Is it rude to wear headphones or earbuds at checkout?”

That one earned him some pushback — a tad too prickly for the higher-ups. Khan didn’t want his prompts to offend customers or make anyone feel called out, so she looped in HR and Luke’s formalized the polls, adding guardrails to keep things socially smooth. The new rules say to keep the questions light, quick and conversational and to run them past a manager, Khan or HR before putting them onto a brown paper bag.

But the rules are really a statement of purpose. They spell out what Viollier has been aiming for all along — the small human exchange tucked inside an everyday errand. You walk in looking for arugula and toothpaste. You walk out with a line of dialogue and a sharper sense of yourself. The big-bucks supermarkets could never replicate what’s happening here. Viollier started these polls to spice up his shift, but somewhere along the way, the neighborhood began using them to take its own temperature.

“I like the questions because they take me out of my phone,” shopper Ingrid Carney said. “It’s nice to pause and think about something I wouldn’t otherwise think of.”

When Viollier asked her, “What is your most prominent strength?” she laughed and then answered, “It’s definitely not decision-making.”

(SFGate.com)

========

BILL KIMBERLIN:

From The Guardian UK News 12-23-25

"The Department of Justice said on Tuesday afternoon that a disturbing letter released as part of the Epstein files and appearing to be from the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to convicted sex abuser and former Olympic gymnastics coach Larry Nassar is a fake.

The contents of the purported letter dated 2019 were released by the DoJ early on Tuesday and had appeared to have been written by Epstein to Nassar and discussed a love of “young ladies”.

The letter, now exposed as a fake, said: “As you will know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home,” the letter, which appears to have been signed from Epstein to Nassar, reads. “Good luck! We shared one thing … our love & caring for young ladies and the hope they reach their full potential.” It continued: “Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch’, whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system.”

The letter was signed: “Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.”

The existence of the letter was first reported in 2023 by the Associated Press after it was discovered in the midst of more than 4,000 pages of documents held by the Bureau of Prisons.

The letter is postmarked 13 August 2019, notably three days after Epstein died in custody in what was ruled a suicide. It was found by investigators in the jail mail room weeks later after it was returned from a prison in Arizona and marked “no longer at this address”.

“It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him,” the investigator told a prison official in an email included in the documents. “I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?

That "grabbing" quote mirrors the video in which Trump was recorded bragging about his doing just that.

ED NOTE: Obvious hoax.

========

50 YEARS AGO, American author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings passed away. Rawlings was best known for her evocative and poignant depictions of rural Florida life. Her breakthrough came with the publication of her first novel, SOUTH MOON UNDER in 1933, which depicted the struggles of a backwoods family in Florida. However, it was her second novel, THE YEARLING, that shot her to literary fame. The novel, set in the Florida scrublands, tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy and his relationship with a fawn. THE YEARLING earned Rawlings the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1939 and became a classic of American literature.

MarjorieRawlings

Despite her relatively brief career, her impact on American literature remains significant, and her contributions to the portrayal of the rural South endure through her timeless works. The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park, located at her former home in Cross Creek, Florida, preserves her legacy and allows visitors to explore the environment that inspired her writing.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KENNETH REXROTH (Dec. 22, 1905 - June 6, 1982).

KennethRexroth

Pacifist. Anarchist. Poet. Soapbox speaker. Wobbly (member of the Industrial Workers of the World). Conscientious objector during World War II.

Author of "Communalism: From Its Origins to the Twentieth Century" (1974), "The Love Poems of Marichiko" (1978), and "Between Two Wars" (1982), among many other works.

Quotable quote: "I've had it with these cheap sons of bitches who claim they love poetry but never buy a book."

Born in South Bend, Indiana. Died in Montecito, California. Buried in Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, California.