Free Republic

A local council meeting in an affluent San Francisco neighborhood descended into chaos when hundreds of 'rowdy' residents began booing plans to place homeless people in a nearby hotel. Crowds of angry Millbrae residents packed out their local community hall on Friday to protest 'Project Homekey' proposals to house 100 rough sleepers at the La Quinta hotel on El Camino Real, close to the city center. So many people turned up that hundreds had to stand outside the 300-man capacity hall to hear proposals outlined by San Mateo County Executive Mike Callagy. But Callagy's speech was quickly 'drowned out' by...

District administrator calls for 'privileged white voices' to be dismissed from curriculum plans in CaliforniaA California district administrator involved in overseeing curriculum, Samia Shoman, called for "privileged White voices" to be removed from influencing against a far-left ethnic studies curriculum. Shoman oversees curriculum in the San Mateo Union High School district as manager of English learners and academic support programs. The email was dated March 2021 and was obtained via public record request by Zachor Legal. Shoman contacted the California state superintendent, Tony Thurmond, in March 2021. Shoman blasted "white voices" and said they should have no part in influencing...

A Florida man has been arrested after driving through someone’s yard, losing his bumper, then being caught with Fentanyl. According to investigators, shortly before 12:30 a.m. on Monday, deputies stopped a vehicle missing a rear bumper. Prior to the traffic stop, dispatchers received a call in San Mateo that a vehicle drove through their yard and one occupant of the vehicle had jumped out. A rear bumper fell off when the car left the yard onto Kyte Road. The driver of the vehicle, Michael Givens, 27, of Palatka had a suspended license. Deputies conducted a search of the vehicle and...

Authorities seized about 15,000 pounds of illegal fireworks and $1 million in cash after a months-long investigation across several Bay Area counties, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office announced this week. Authorities arrested Jennifer Nguyen, 54, of San Jose and Sam San, 61, of San Francisco in connection to the sale and possession of illegal fireworks. Search warrants were served this week in San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda and Santa Clara counties as part of the investigation. Fireworks are illegal in San Mateo County and authorities warn of fines up to $1,000. To report fireworks in San Mateo County, residents...

Elections come and go, but the season for political advertising sometimes seems to never end. Facebook users in California, for example, may have noticed ads in recent months showing a woman with duct tape over her mouth and text that warns: “Legislators are leaving sexual assault survivors from public universities out to dry.” The ads urge readers to sign a petition seeking to add public universities to legislation that would give students at private universities more time to sue their schools over sexual assaults. […] Now, California legislators are considering a proposal by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin that would require groups...

San Mateo county officials are trying to prevent the opening of a Chick-Fil-A location in Redwood City, California, claiming that the fried chicken franchise is hostile to the LGBT community. David Canepa, a San Mateo county supervisor, is leading the effort to drive the franchise away from the San Francisco suburb. He claims that “when people think of the Chick-fil-A logo — what they think of is anti-LGBTQ.” Chick-Fil-A’s ownership has become the target of controversy for their Christian views in support of traditional marriage. Dan Cathy, the CEO of the company, has supported socially conservative organizations such as the...

An Uber driver targeted the San Mateo home of his passengers after dropping them off at the airport, police said Monday. But when he was scared off by the house alarm, he left and burglarized a home less than half a mile away, police said. Jackie Gordon Wilson, a 38-year-old resident of Rancho Cordova (Sacramento County) was arrested Friday night on suspicion of breaking into and ransacking a home, San Mateo police said. Officers responded at 5:37 p.m. to a report of a burglary on the 1700 block of Nash Drive, where they found a residence “completely ransacked,” said Michael...

Some justice has been served in the senseless killing of Melquiesha "Mel" Warren, a 23-year-old woman shot dead in a SoMa parking lot in 2013 over a fender bender, following a night in which she'd been celebrating her wife's birthday with friends. 26-year-old Michael Sione Green of San Mateo was found guilty Thursday on counts of murder, attempted murder, firing at a motor vehicle, assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed firearm, and carrying a loaded firearm, according to the DA's office in a release. District Attorney George Gascon says, "The jury sent a clear...

Full title: Red light tickets thrown out in San Mateo: City to reimburse 948 tickets issued over 45 days because cameras, signals in violation of new state lawsNearly 1,000 drivers who received a ticket for running a red light in San Mateo will be given a free pass after two of the city's red light cameras and traffic signals were found to be in violation of new state laws. The police department will toss out 948 tickets issued between Aug. 1 and Oct. 15 after a San Mateo County Superior Court judge sided with a Burlingame man who received a...

The American citizen Quinn Lucas Schansman, who was on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 when it was shot down over Ukraine on Thursday, had lived in the Bay Area for a while. Schansman, 19, had dual Dutch-U.S. citizenship, according to the State Department. Schansman's father, Thomas Schansman, worked as an account executive for the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, a company established by the Dutch embassy that had an office in San Mateo. Quinn Schansman lived in the Bay Area as a kid when his father worked for the embassy. His grandfather said Friday that he is devastated by the news....

SAN MATEO COUNTY (KRON) — Authorities and the family of a woman shot and killed by San Mateo County sheriff’s deputies are telling far different stories about the moments leading up to the shooting. The family tells KRON 4′s Mike Pelton the woman who was shot was 18-year old Yanira Serrano. Authorities say they got a call about an armed woman in the street in the Moondridge Housing Complex. “Deputies arrived on scene,” Sheriff’s department spokeswoman Rebecca Rosenblatt tells KRON 4. “Shortly thereafter there was a confrontation where the deputy was in fear for his life and as a result...

Police in the South Bay say they set up a suspected burglar on a “first date” he likely regrets. Marianne Favro reports.Police on the Peninsula say they set up a suspected burglar on a “first date” he likely regrets. Keveen Quintanilla, 31, of Burlingame, is accused of burglarizing Curry Up Now, a restaurant in the 100 block of South B Street in San Mateo. San Mateo police say he was caught in the act by employees in the early hours of Saturday morning, but he fled the scene before police could arrive. One of those employees, 22-year-old bartender Ashleigh Cullen,...

Fox News was able to break from Ted Kennedy coverage enough to give the 3am time slot back to Red Eye; for that I would like to say thank you. On the discussion board was the recent high school bombing of host Greg Gutfeld’s old stomping grounds of Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, California. Former student Alex Youshock decided to go into the school armed with pipe bombs as well as a sword and chainsaw. My first reaction was to wonder if this was a joke, sure sounds like it. I mean, who packs a sword and chainsaw? Sounds...

Columbine-Style Attack by Armed California Teen Thwarted by 'Heroic' Teachers August 25, 2009 A teen armed with a sword and chainsaw who had several pipe bombs strapped to his body was arrested Monday after two explosions rocked Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, Calif., KTVU reported. Police called the foiled attack that forced the evacuation of more than 1,200 students and teachers a Columbine-style plot, according to the station. San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer told KTVU that the 17-year-old boy came onto campus with the chainsaw, a 2-foot-long sword and 10 homemade pipe bombs attached to a tactical vest...

Hero Teacher Halted ‘Columbine-Style’ Attack Posted: 8:18 am PDT August 25, 2009Updated: 11:55 am PDT August 25, 2009SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Hillsdale High teacher Kennett Santana admitted Tuesday he was merely reacting to the chaos around him when he tackled and subdued a former student, who had entered the school armed with 10 pipe bombs, a sword and a chainsaw.Santana’s actions were being praised Tuesday for preventing a ‘Columbine-Style’ massacre at the San Mateo high school attended by more than 1,000 students.He told KTVU that his Monday had a pretty normal start. It was around 8 a.m. and he had...

This certainly wasn't the biggest event today - maybe about 100 people It didn't have any celebrities and it didn't have any speakers. It was just a bunch of Americans, young and old, standing on the sidewalk during rush hours, protesting the ruination of their country. Others drove by waving flags and honking horns. - A scene probably played out in countless communities throughout the United States today. But this is how the revolution will be won. City by city. Town by town. Neighborhood by neighborhood.

A Millbrae high school teacher who was arrested after installing a video camera in the ceiling of a girls' restroom at the school was sentenced this morning to two years in state prison, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. David Lista, 36, will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and was ordered to pay $6,700 in restitution to the San Mateo Union High School District, Wagstaffe said. Lista, a Belmont resident who taught English and leadership at Mills High School, pleaded no contest on Aug. 28 to felony...

A Petaluma high school teacher was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly setting up an illicit date with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl, police and prosecutors said. Scott Eugene Dietlin, 34, a teacher at Casa Grande High School, was arrested in San Mateo on Saturday after allegedly showing up for a date with "Jackie," a teenage persona created on MySpace by two teen boys, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The 15-year-old San Mateo County boys posted the online profile as a joke, Wagstaffe said. When Dietlin allegedly contacted "Jackie" in April, the boys...

A 34-year-old teacher from Petaluma was arrested Saturday morning in San Mateo on several felony charges relating to trying to meet and seduce a minor, according to Burlingame police detectives, who made the arrest. At approximately 9:45 a.m., Burlingame police detectives arrested Scott Eugene Dietlin on charges of sending harmful matter (via electronic e-mail) with the intent to seduce a minor, attempting to contact a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, and arranging to meet with a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, according to a police press release. This arrest was the culmination of a...

A San Mateo post office where assassinated Rep. Leo Ryan once had his congressional offices will be renamed in his honor at a ceremony Monday. The ceremony will take place one day before the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre in Guyana, when Ryan was gunned down by Peoples Temple members on orders from leader Jim Jones. More than 900 cult members died that day, most from ingesting cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid. Ryan was known for a hands-on, investigative approach to legislating that often took him far from his offices and the centers of power. Before his fateful trip to Jonestown, Ryan...