The Top 10 most widely read stories by The Standard included reporting on the attack on Paul Pelosi, the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, and a looming crash of San Francisco’s commercial real estate market.
Written by Kevin Truong, with research by Noah Baustin and contributions from Annie Gaus.
Like a slow-moving train, a collapse in San Francisco’s commercial real estate market is approaching after the pandemic hollowed out the city’s downtown core, thanks to the way it transformed work patterns in the city.
For a long time, Downtown San Francisco was the city’s economic powerhouse, accounting for most of San Francisco’s GDP, 70% of its sales tax revenue and 40% of the city’s jobs.
Written by Anna Tong and Liz Lindqwister.
Joseph Bankman, the Stanford Law School professor and father of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, canceled the classes he was set to teach during the upcoming semester following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, founded by his son Sam Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried’s parents have said their son’s legal problems could leave them in financial ruin, with Fried having since been charged with wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and a campaign finance violation.
Written by Joe Burn and Josh Koehn.
On Oct. 28, police identified David DePape, a Richmond resident, as the person suspected of attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Police said that officers who responded to a wellness check on Pelosi saw DePape striking the speaker’s husband with a hammer.
DePape now faces several criminal charges, including attempted murder, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Written by Anna Tong.
The collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX wiped out roughly $2 billion in investor cash, affecting high-profile celebrities, pension funds and lesser-known Bay Area billionaires.
The crypto firm, founded by Bay Area native Sam Bankman-Fried, included NFL star Tom Brady and ex-wife Gisele Bündchen as investors, as well as San Francisco-based Iconiq Capital, which manages money for Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey and the Canadian Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan fund, which invested $95 million.
Written by Joe Burn and Camille Cohen.
Self-described “energy healers” Raj Lahoti and Morgan King said they felt “the call” to help heal Elon Musk, and took a private jet to the Bay Area to visit Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, only to find Elon Musk wasn’t in Twitter’s office when they arrived.
“He’s being misunderstood right now,” Lahoti said of Musk. “He has super abilities, and also disabilities, Elon. And we have complementary abilities in making sure we can support him.”
Written by Ethan Kassel.
A San Francisco high school football team had to forfeit a game after seven parents refused to drive student athletes to the city of Richmond, citing safety concerns.
The cancellation was highly disappointing to Richmond High School’s head coach, Bryan Fisher, who said that parents’ fears were “completely unwarranted,” calling the school campus “one of the safest” in Contra Costa County.
Written by Garrett Leahy.
Store hours at a Whole Foods across from U.N. Plaza cut its operating hours due to rampant retail theft and security concerns from people acting hostile toward security guards.
As of Oct. 24, the store is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., three fewer hours than it was previously.
Written by Kevin Truong and Annie Gaus.
Long the vanguard of San Francisco’s tech boom, Uber racked up more than $32 billion in losses since its founding in 2009.
With the end of cheap rideshare prices buoyed by venture capital and amid a partnership with the very taxis Uber sought to replace, the company’s decline is taking place in the very city it was born in.
Written by Anna Tong, Joe Burn and Garrett Leahy.
Austin Hills, of the Hills Bros. Coffee fortune, thought he’d try his hand at being San Francisco’s top prosecutor, only for his bid to fizzle out as quickly as it began, because he needed to be an attorney to run, and he wasn’t.
Written by Kevin V. Nguyen.
NBA star Steph Curry and his wife, Ayesha, had agreed to throw down $8 million on a swanky SoMa condo just 2.5 miles from the Chase Center, only to ultimately pull out of the deal.
In 2019, the Currys had splashed out on the Bay Area’s priciest home of 2019, which is now their primary residence, in Atherton.