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Rachel Swan

Rachel Swan

Investigative Reporter at San Francisco Chronicle

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Email address
r*****@*******.comGet email address
Influence score
53
Phone
(XXX) XXX-XXXX Get mobile number
Location
United States
Languages
  • English
Covering topics
  • Crime
  • Local News

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Recent Articles

sfchronicle.com

S.F. removes controversial ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag from Civic Center Plaza, saying it has been co...

Eighteen flags have billowed over the neat rows of plane trees in San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza, among them a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, a Texas Lone Star flag and — until Saturday — an “Appeal to Heaven” flag like the one that has pitched Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito into controversy due to its association with the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Appeal to Heaven flag, which bears a pine tree on a white background with its titular slogan, was among the original 18 raised by the city o…
5 months ago
sfchronicle.com

Here is how much parking West Portal would lose under S.F. plan to ...

San Francisco transportation officials would remove up to eight parking spaces on two streets to reconfigure a busy intersection that abuts the West Portal Muni Station — plans that delight transit riders and pedestrian safety advocates, while infuriating some merchants. Under the proposal, the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency would shave up to six spots on Ulloa Street east of West Portal Avenue, all of which are now designated part-time for parking, and part-time for loading. This stretc…
6 months ago
sfchronicle.com

Family of man killed in S.F. crosswalk by driver on ‘joy ride’ decr...

A street racer whose 2020 thrill ride killed a man in the Western Addition made his final court appearance Tuesday — quietly ending a case that came to illustrate San Francisco’s battle to protect pedestrians from dangerous drivers. Raja Whitfield, 29, faced one count of felony vehicle manslaughter and spent several months in jail after a road rampage on Aug. 11, 2020, in which he struck and killed 50-year-old Mark Berman. Friends of the victim who spoke in court Tuesday noted that Whitfield had…
6 months ago
sfchronicle.com

Charts reveal stunning trend in S.F. traffic tickets — and point to...

For 10 years, as San Francisco leaders touted an ambitious Vision Zero goal to end traffic fatalities, police eased back on ticketing drivers. Citations plummeted, from 12,444 in March 2014 — two months after the Police Department launched a crackdown to deter scofflaw drivers — to 336 in December 2023, according to city records. The numbers are so stark that some frustrated observers wondered if officers had retreated from a fundamental part of their job, giving people the impression that roa…
7 months ago
sfchronicle.com

Berkeley engineer slipped poison in his co-worker’s water bottle. H...

David Xu, a suburban father and former engineer caught slipping heavy metals in his co-worker’s water bottle, stood before a judge at Alameda County Superior Court in March. He was poised to get two years of probation after pleading no contest to felony poisoning in connection with a chilling crime at a Berkeley consulting firm. Xu allegedly slipped toxic amounts of the metal cadmium into the food and water of a perceived workplace rival over a 17-month period in 2018 and 2019, seeking to elimin…
7 months ago
sfchronicle.com

S.F. police investigate Mission District shooting that killed 1 - S...

Police are investigating a shooting that left a man dead Friday afternoon in San Francisco’s Mission District. • Update: S.F. police arrest Mission District homicide suspect San Francisco Police Department officers said they arrived to the 2300 block of Mission Street at 1:37 p.m., after receiving calls that gunfire had erupted on the bustling strip of shops, restaurants and tapas bars. Officers found a man wounded by gunshots and began rendering CPR with assistance from paramedics. Despite thes…
7 months ago
sfchronicle.com

What led up to tragic West Portal crash? Here’s what S.F. police kn...

Just after noon last Saturday, a white Mercedes sport utility vehicle drove east down busy Ulloa Street in West Portal. Behind the wheel was a 78-year-old woman who lived a mile and a half away. She apparently wasn’t intoxicated, and the only mark on her driving record was a ticket last November. Then, catastrophe struck. Opinion: What Paris can teach San Francisco about safe streets in aftermath of West Portal crash The question now is why the 2014 GLK-Series SUV veered into an oncoming lane o…
7 months ago
sfchronicle.com

On this Bay Area bridge, a celebrated bike path might revert to bei...

Regulators are contemplating dramatic constraints for a 4-mile bike path along the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, long a source of controversy between cyclists and motorists. Soon, it may be open only Friday through Sunday. “This is an effort to strike a compromise between the interests of bicyclists and pedestrians, and the interests of the vastly greater number of people who travel through the corridor by car,” said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which…
8 months ago
sfchronicle.com

New San Francisco data reveals more on ‘drug tourism’ in city - San...

Nearly 40% of the people cited for drug use over the past year in San Francisco said they lived outside the city, according to new data released by the mayor’s office on Thursday. The office said just over 6% of those outside residents are receiving cash assistance from the city, a violation of state law.The figures covered a period in which Mayor London Breed cracked down on drug markets and directed police to arrest users, amid widespread complaints that San Francisco has become a destination…
8 months ago
sfchronicle.com

S.F. ankle monitor program to track crime suspects is failing. Case...

When San Francisco prosecutors looked at the criminal history of Shaun Bailey, they saw a pattern. They laid it out in a Jan. 22 motion, arguing that Bailey, facing a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure, should not be released from jail because he posed a danger to the public. In the past, they noted, Bailey had repeatedly failed to comply with the terms of his release. Over a span of three years, judges had placed Bailey on electronic monitoring four times — and all four times, Bailey viola…
8 months ago
sfchronicle.com

Piedmont man accused in deadly hit-and-run unlikely to serve jail t...

A Piedmont wealth manager who allegedly fled the scene of a hit-and-run — leaving his wife in the car and a dying man on the pavement — will likely avoid a jail sentence. Timothy Hamano, 67, pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges of felony vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of an accident, stemming from a Mother’s Day crash that left bystanders stunned. On the afternoon of May 9, 2021, police said Hamano plowed his white Lexus into a parked SUV on a leafy boulevard in Oakland, striking…
9 months ago
sfchronicle.com

In Oakland's crime wave, unique problem hits waterfront: ‘Pirates’ ...

UPDATE: The bay’s waterfront pirates hit a brazen target — a San Francisco fire boat Jonathan DeLong was sleeping in a berth of his sailboat at the shore of Oakland’s Jack London Square when he heard a thump. Startled awake, he knew trouble was right outside. A woman stood on the dock in the inky darkness while a man glided toward DeLong’s sailboat in a dinghy, both seemingly intent on boarding. To DeLong, the scene was familiar: Countless times, he’d seen people prowl the bay on small watercraf…
about 1 year ago
sfchronicle.com

Oakland mayor could see $75,000 salary bump despite historic budget...

UPDATE: Oakland mayor says she will reject large raise following public criticism As Oakland stares down a historic budget shortfall that required cuts across several departments and delays to programs, city staff are seeking a pay raise for the mayor — of about $75,000 a year. Mayor Sheng Thao said the proposed 37% earnings boost took her by surprise, though she welcomes it. “You know, to be really quite honest with you, I did not know that I was up for a raise until I read it in the paper,” sh…
over 1 year ago
sfchronicle.com

‘It’s unjust’: Mother of man slain in Oakland carjacking reacts to ...

The mother of a man killed during an Oakland carjacking in 2008 was angered and...
over 1 year ago
sfchronicle.com

A 17-year-old died from a fentanyl-laced pill. Was it an accident o...

As officials in rural and suburban Northern California counties scramble to confront a...
about 2 years ago
sfchronicle.com

San Francisco police just watch as burglary appears to unfold, susp...

Security footage shows an incident from a cannabis dispensary that was burglarized last...
almost 3 years ago
sfchronicle.com

E-bikes are wildly popular in the Bay Area. Can they really replace...

When Liza Lutzker threw her daughters a back-to-school party at the Berkeley Rose Garden, she and her husband packed all the provisions on their electric cargo bikes: two boxes of firewood, food for 30 people, a water dispenser, plates, napkins, glasses and two kids. Then they rode 2 miles from their home on Milvia Street to the terraced amphitheater on Euclid Avenue, high in the leafy-green hills. Six years ago, Lutzker would have hauled everything in a car. Now she travels almost exclusively b…
almost 5 years ago
sfchronicle.com

To curb racial bias, Oakland police are pulling fewer people over. ...

Oakland police, long criticized for using traffic violations to search and interrogate people of color, are trying something new: They’ve dramatically cut back on enforcement. Officers are declining to pull people over in most cases for low-level infractions like a broken windshield or taillight. They might not even stop motorists for rolling through a stop sign, if no one is crossing the street and the car doesn’t pose an imminent threat to public safety, said police Capt. Christopher Bolton. I…
almost 5 years ago
sfchronicle.com

Prop. 6: Californians reject gas tax repeal measure - San Francisco...

California’s new gas tax hike, which pays for new freeway lanes, girders, streets that gleam with fresh asphalt and well-functioning transit systems throughout the state, isn’t going anywhere. Voters on Tuesday shot down a measure to repeal the hike, which trailed throughout the night with 55 percent of voters opposed and 45 percent in favor. Proposition 6 takes aim at a $5 billion annual funding stream to pave potholed highways, repair crumbling bridges and purchase new bus fleets, among other…
almost 6 years ago