Shawn Chitnis

As a nurse in training, a Cal State East Bay student says there is so much she looks forward to in her career and believes she can make a difference for those who need it most, especially for underserved communities.It’s a sentiment that captures the theme of this year’s National Nurses Week honoring the compassion and care they provide each day. “It’s been really fun and I feel like I’ve developed a lot of new skills and have grown both as a nurse and as a person during my time here,” said nur…

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Art Fair takes over the Fort Mason Festival Pavillion this weekend showcasing pieces from 85 galleries that represent countries around the world. Among the collections, a curated section focused on celebrating the positive aspects of San Francisco. “San Francisco’s really been thriving and anyone who takes a look at all of the great artworks, a lot of new businesses and galleries which have opened in San Francisco since the pandemic, is really a story of resil…

The 67th San Francisco International Film Festival begins Wednesday with a variety of screenings including the documentary “Counted Out,” which will have its West Coast premiere Sunday.The film takes a critical look at mathematics and the growing importance it has in our lives while exploring the fear and trauma many people have around the subject from school. “In the 21st century with the technology that is driving our work, our lives, our play, and math is beneath the surface of that technolog…

San Francisco city leaders, historians, and community members woke up early Thursday morning to commemorate 118 years since a massive earthquake and fire destroyed much of the city in 1906. The tradition brings people together at different landmarks around San Francisco and serves as a reminder for government, public safety, and residents to be ready for the next major natural disaster. Earthquake Preparedness California Office of Emergency ServicesSan Francisco Department of Emergency Managemen…

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — Businesses in the San Francisco Excelsior District hope to get more customers in the neighborhood with the help of a community design project.Leaders of the initiative chose one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city as the next place to continue the work that has revitalized shops in other parts of San Francisco and in Spain. “I wanted to settle and lay roots in a foundation for myself, as women of color, a multiracial background, and I have kids now,” said Lea S…

A longtime advocate for organ donations shared his personal story of helping a stranger earlier this year in an effort to inspire more people to donate life. The recipient, a woman who lives on the other side of the country, received a kidney transplant from Luis Mayen, who works as the vice president of external affairs at Donor Network West. He hopes National Living Donor Day on April 3 raised awareness about the impact you can have on someone you know and love or someone you may never me…

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tori Roze and the Hot Mess are among many musical acts trying to draw a crowd -- not just for their performances but also for the San Francisco neighborhood hosting them.“Busk It!” is a series of live-music events hosted by the Mid-Market Foundation’s Market Street Arts initiative to attract visitors and keep them around to support local businesses. “We’re having a great time doing this, really. You see people from every walk of life going down the street,” Roze said. “Let peopl…

While the uncertainty over the future of the Oakland Athletics casts a shadow on opening day for Major League Baseball on Thursday, one fan is determined to brighten the mood and faces of dedicated stadium staff. Longtime A’s fan Todd Schwenk started his tradition of handing out roses to Oakland Coliseum ushers when fans first returned to watching games in person after the pandemic. He said he will continue that tradition in what may be the team’s final season at the venue. Schwenk gives out y…

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — A dating app for the LGBTQ+ community focused on queer women and gender-diverse people continues to grow with more than 13 million users around the world in the almost 10 years since it launched. HER and its creator helped highlight the diversity in stories that contribute to Women’s History Month this March. “It’s been incredible. It’s been a journey and a labor of love,” said Robyn Exton, CEO and founder of the HER app. HER is now available in 113 countries and in five…

Improving the representation of women in the video game industry at all levels will be one of the discussions on diversity taking place this week at the 38th edition of the Game Developers Conference at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Men make up a large majority of developers according to some estimates, but those in key roles around the world say they’re seeing progress and finding more ways to increase participation among women. “It’s really important for women to be out there making video g…

A new novel by Bay Area author Kyla Zhao takes a critical look at the experience women have in the male-dominated tech industry, hoping to provide greater representation in publishing by building the story around an Asian woman. “Valley Verified” is the second novel by the Stanford graduate who has worked as a data analyst while writing stories about her community locally and abroad. “I grew up reading stories, but it felt like the main character was always white, always blonde, blue-eyed. And f…

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco Animal Care and Control said it is overcapacity as a shelter and asks families to try to delay surrendering dogs to them as much as possible.A backlog in spaying and neutering animals nationally has impacted shelters around the Bay Area. “The problem we have right now is we’re overcapacity, so we have animals that are available for adoption, we’d love for people to come and adopt them, but we’re also packed full of stray animals and a group we called custody anima…

A restaurant owner in San Francisco’s Mission District recently responded to concerns from a customer about the rising cost of one of the burritos on his menu.The customer wrote a review online about how the price of the burrito doubled to $22 in two years. The owner explained that the $22 burrito factors in the rising expenses of ingredients and labor as well as his efforts to improve the quality at the same time. “I struggled — as a cook — to really find who our customer base was,” said Ric…

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) - Members of the Bay Area Host Committee say they have a lot to celebrate during March, Women’s History Month, as they highlight their leadership team and a new generation of women working in sports management.The progress their organization sees with inclusion comes ahead of three major sporting events in the next two years across the Bay Area. “I always knew I wanted sport to be a part of my life,” said Becca Smith, the manager of asset development for the BAHC. “Transitio…

PITTSBURG -- The construction industry remains male dominated. Female workers make up only 11 percent of employees, according to the federal government.Women in Construction Week -- March 3 to March 9 -- affords a chance to raise awareness of women already in the field and about opportunities for more to join their ranks. “In this division of the Bay Area, I am the only woman superintendent here, so that’s pretty cool,” said Adrea Vladyka with the home building company Taylor Morrison. Vladyka…

The buzz around a blizzard hitting the Sierra this week was all around Berkeley’s California Ski Company on Thursday as staff helped customers in the store and prepared for more to show up. “Oh man, this is really exciting because we haven’t seen a storm like this in probably three years or so, four maybe,” said store manager Greg Winkels. “We’ve been getting calls, we’ve getting emails, people are trying to come in and buy the widest skis we have to get some of that deeper snow. I mean, this i…

The corpse flower at the California Academy of Sciences bloomed Tuesday, and visitors will have to make their way over quickly to get a glimpse, and a whiff, of the flower. Cal Academy expected “Mirage,” their first corpse flower, to bloom sometime between Feb. 25 and Feb. 29. Ar around 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, it tweeted the flower was blooming, a moment staff have waited five years to arrive ever since the plant came to the museum. Blooms of the plant amorphophallus titanum can reach 10 feet high a…

The Erickson family of Oakland looks forward to Feb. 29 every four years with joy and gratitude thanks to the special meaning it holds in their lives. Their twin boys were born 11 minutes apart, one arriving in the final minutes of Feb. 28, 2016, and the other in the first minutes of Leap Day. “Mornings are chaos as you might imagine with three boys,” said Summer Erickson, the twin’s mother, on the birthday of the older twin, Miles. It was just like any other in their household. “You know, begg…

A small business owner is celebrating her grand opening in Oakland during Black History Month after a yearlong search to find the right retail spot, even as many retailers have closed their doors amid a rise in crime.A physical store felt like the logical next step for Prideful Patchez to grow from the days Regina Harris was working events as a vendor and online seller.“It means a lot and even my customers, they are very happy to have a space that they can come to,” Harris told KPIX. “Just to ha…

Irregular heart rhythms benched a dedicated high school basketball player until his doctor and family used a smartwatch to help diagnose and create a plan to treat his condition. The innovative approach has led to a study encouraging more use of the wearable tech, and research with more patients at Stanford Children’s Health.“It was scary at first, especially not knowing what was wrong,” said 15-year-old Connor Heinz, a freshman at Menlo-Atherton High School. He first started having episodes a c…