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☆ Where in the World Are People Back in the Office?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In London, a politician wrote not-so-subtle notes to remote workers last year, hoping to persuade them to spend more time in the office: “Sorry you were out when I visited,” Jacob Rees-Mogg, then a government minister, recalled writing in messages left on the desks of Cabinet Office staff members who were working from home. When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in 2020, many industries across the world shifted to remote or hybrid work. It was an immense experiment that yielded different results for different cities — with long-term standoffs between executives and workers in some cases, and a sweeping return to the office in others. Whether a person is more likely to do work at a cubicle in a big office tower or on the living room couch now depends on where in the world those cubicles and couches are. Many Asian countries have lower levels of remote work than countries in Europe and North America.

Persons: ” Jacob Rees, Mogg, Jem Kim, videoconference, Autónomo, México Organizations: Sequoia, Stanford, Instituto, Ifo Institute Locations: London, Seoul, San Mateo, Calif, Europe, North America, Britain, Canada, United States

☆ It’s not just crime: What’s really going on with San Francisco’s shrinking retail district
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Mapping the exodusUnion Square has historically been a major commercial hub in the heart of San Francisco’s downtown. A complicated decline in downtownThe reasons for downtown San Francisco’s economic troubles are multi-faceted. In addition, San Francisco’s downtown has experienced a rise in its unhoused population. As San Francisco’s downtown area has emptied over the last three years, property crimes and retail thefts have risen, according to San Francisco Police Department data. Travel to San Francisco has yet to recover fully to pre-pandemic levels, according to data from San Francisco International Airport.

Persons: —, ”, Elon Musk, Tesla, Francisco, “, Lori Lincoln, San Francisco —, Lincoln, Breed, Alexander Quinn, Breed’s, Sarang Peruri Organizations: Los Angeles CNN, Lease, Google, city’s, Nordstrom, CNN, Westfield, San Francisco Centre, KGO, University of California, San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco International, San Francisco Travel, Tourism, San, Oxford Economics, Asia hasn’t, San Francisco Mayor London, Francisco’s, Oxford Capital Group, Ikea, IKEA Locations: Francisco’s, United States, San Francisco’s, Union, Westfield, San Francisco, San, California, Redfin, Palo Alto, Asia, Americas, Europe, Pacific, San Mateo, Lincoln, China, Downtown, Chicago

☆ San Francisco Archdiocese files for bankruptcy as it faces more than 500 sexual abuse lawsuits
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Jamiel Lynch | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Archdiocese of San Francisco has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it faces more than 500 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse. “We seriously doubt that the Archdiocese of San Francisco does not have the assets to settle these lawsuits,” the Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests said in a statement. The San Francisco filing comes after the Catholic Diocese of Oakland similarly filed for bankruptcy protection in May after it received more than 330 claims of sexual abuse. The Catholic Church as a whole has faced intense criticism over its response to multiple reports detailing decades of sexual abuse, systemic failures and cover-ups across multiple countries. The San Francisco Archdiocese serves more than 440,000 Catholics across the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin, according to its website.

Persons: Salvatore Cordileone, “, Priests, Cordileone, Pope Francis Organizations: CNN, Archdiocese, Survivors Network, Catholic Diocese of, Catholic, San, SNAP, San Francisco Archdiocese Locations: Archdiocese, San Francisco, California, Francisco, Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CNN Portugal, San Francisco Archdiocese, San Mateo, Marin

☆ San Mateo fatal stabbing video posted on Facebook, police say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Rebekah Riess | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —A Bay Area man faces a murder charge after allegedly stabbing a woman to death and posting video of her “last moments” on Facebook, San Mateo Police say. The Nye County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada notified San Mateo Police Wednesday afternoon that a caller reported having witnessed a stabbing on Facebook, police said in a statement. The caller provided the name and phone number of the man who posted the video, according to San Mateo police. The phone number was traced to an apartment complex in San Mateo. Anyone with information or security footage related to this homicide is asked to contact the San Mateo Police Department.

Persons: Mark Mechikoff, “, Mechikoff Organizations: CNN, Facebook, San Mateo Police, San, San Mateo police, Meta, San Mateo Police Department Locations: Nye, Nevada, San Mateo, San Jose

☆ $104,400 classes as a 'low' income for a single-person household in San Francisco, California's housing department says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

$104,400 is a "low" income in San Francisco County, according to California's housing department. Such a salary classes as a "low'" income in San Francisco County, according to California's Department of Housing and Community Development. In San Francisco County, the median income for a one-person household is listed as $122,500, per California's housing department. Making $18,400 a year is an "acutely low" income, $39,150 is "extremely low," $65,350 is "very low," and $104,400 is "low." Marin County, which is directly north of San Francisco County, and San Mateo County, to the south, both have the same income limits.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, California's Department of Housing, Community, Fox Business, US Department of Housing, Urban, Survey, Stanford University, San, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Locations: San Francisco County, Mississippi, San Francisco, Marin County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara, Jose, Google's, Palo Alto, New York City, Jersey City, San Francisco's

Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Not everyone with debt would have been covered under the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan. The Supreme Court has barred the Biden administration from carrying out its plan to extinguish up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt, and millions of borrowers will continue to struggle under the weight of their loans. Ms. Schmidt owes $64,000 in student debt, more than half of which is for her graduate work in nursing. But she’s already contemplating how she’ll finance her dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer, which typically requires an additional six figures in student debt. Yet her mother is still paying down student debt of her own.

Persons: Biden, Gina McDavitt, weren’t, Pell, “, ”, McDavitt, ” Ms, Ms, Monica Schmidt, Schmidt, Kevin Serna, Dorien Rogers, Rogers, Asha Anthony, she’s, —, Anthony, Mr, don’t, Joanna Leiserson, Brian Kaiser, “ I’m, Leiserson Organizations: Georgetown University, Biden, College of San, San Francisco State University, The New York Times, University of Phoenix, Northern Illinois University, Public, Schaun, Tax, Howard University, Salisbury University, The New York, Republicans Locations: Washington ,, College of San Mateo, Bay, Vallejo , Calif, Genoa, Ill, Germantown, Md, Credit, Montgomery County, Mesa, Maryland, Spokane, —, forbearance

☆ Woman who called police on Black bird-watcher in Central Park loses employment appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Cooper had been an insurance portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton, a unit of San Mateo, California-based Franklin Resources (BEN.N). The case arose from a May 25, 2020 video that went viral, in which Cooper confronted bird-watcher Christian Cooper, who is not related. Franklin Templeton fired Amy Cooper the next day, saying it had conducted an internal review and that "we do not tolerate racism of any kind." Franklin Templeton said it was pleased with the decision. The case is Cooper v Franklin Templeton Investments et al, 2nd U.S.

Persons: Amy Cooper, Karen, Cooper, Franklin Templeton, Christian Cooper, Franklin Templeton's, George Floyd, Cooper's, Jonathan Stempel, Richard Chang, Bill Berkrot Organizations: YORK, U.S, Circuit, Franklin Resources, Black, Franklin Templeton Investments, 2nd U.S, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, San Mateo , California, Minneapolis, 2nd, New York

☆ Opinion | The Great Debt Ceiling Drama’s Finale
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Of course I’m talking about the debt ceiling performance. Any 10th grader, if given the Constitution to read, would have deduced that the clause about the federal debt not ever being questioned — meaning that all our debts will be honored — says exactly what it says. Mike CaggianoSan Mateo, Calif.To the Editor:The passage of the debt limit bill demonstrates that Republicans and Democrats in Congress, working together, can pass useful legislation. Congress need not be taken hostage and paralyzed by a very small minority of radicals, either on the right or the left. There are more than enough moderate and reasonable representatives from both sides of the aisle to do the work of the people.

Persons: Biden, Anne, Marie Hislop Chicago, —, Mike Caggiano San Organizations: Democrats Locations: Mike Caggiano San Mateo, Calif

☆ House prices are declining in these 7 Western states while continuing to hit new heights across the rest of the country
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US house prices rose modestly in the first quarter, said the FHFA on Tuesday. The agency's House Price Index reached just under 400, hitting an all-time high with figures tracking back to 1991. "However, year over year prices in many western states have started to decline for the first time in over ten years." Over the last four quarters, house prices rose in 78 of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas, fronted by a 14% rise for the Miami area. The start of the spring selling season showed house price gains in March in a separate S&P CoreLogic report released Tuesday.

Persons: —, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Anju Vajja, Black Knight, San, FHFA Organizations: Service, Federal Housing Finance Agency, FHFA's Research, Statistics, of Columbia, Pacific, Federal Reserve, Black, Nationwide Locations: . Utah, Nevada, Washington, Idaho , Oregon, Colorado, West Coast, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami, San Mateo, Redwood City , California

He said Franklin Templeton might have worried about people seeing Cooper, a former insurance portfolio manager, display bad judgment and a short temper. Litt said Franklin Templeton crossed a line. Critics labeled Cooper "Central Park Karen," using a pejorative for an entitled white woman. Its lawyer Bryan Killian told the appeals court it was unreasonable to see the company's statements as "anything other than a response to the video." The case is Cooper v Franklin Templeton Investments et al, 2nd U.S.

☆ The doctor who drove his Tesla off a cliff with his family inside says he was pulling over to check his tire pressure, but his wife says he was trying 'to kill everyone:' report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The doctor accused of driving his family off a cliff told officials he was checking his tire pressure. But his wife said the crash was intentional, per The San Francisco Chronicle citing court documents. All four family members in the car, including the couple's 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son miraculously survived the steep fall. But Patel's wife, Neha Patel, told first responders "multiple times" that her husband intentionally drove the car off the cliff, the outlet reported, citing court records. In February, an attorney for Patel said in court that the man's wife did not want him to be prosecuted.

☆ AI lending firm Upstart jumps as $2 bln funding news squeezes bears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 10 (Reuters) - Shares of highly shorted Upstart Holdings (UPST.O) jumped 32% in premarket trading on Wednesday, squeezing out bearish investors, after the artificial intelligence-driven lending marketplace secured an additional $2 billion in funding. "(The) committed funding agreements are a concrete step towards stabilizing Upstart's business," said James Faucette, analyst at Morgan Stanley, raising its price target on the stock to $13 from $10. At current levels, short sellers stand to lose about $122 million, according to analytics firm Ortex. When there is a rush of demand from short sellers looking to exit bearish bets due to a rise in a stock's price, it pushes prices even higher, resulting in a short squeeze. The company's net loss per share, excluding items, was 47 cents, beating analysts' estimates of 81 cents loss per share, according to Refinitiv.

☆ AI lending firm Upstart jumps as $2 bln funding squeezes bears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Medha Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 10 (Reuters) - Shares of highly shorted Upstart Holdings (UPST.O) jumped 32% in early trading on Wednesday, squeezing out bearish investors, after the artificial intelligence-driven lending marketplace secured an additional $2 billion in funding. "(The) committed funding agreements are a concrete step towards stabilizing Upstart's business," said James Faucette, analyst at Morgan Stanley, raising its price target on the stock to $13 from $10. At current levels, short sellers stand to lose about $122 million, according to analytics firm Ortex. "With the price in Upstart jumping up over 30%, some short sellers will try to close their positions... adding additional buy pressure on the stock," said Peter Hillerberg, co-founder of Ortex. The company's net loss per share, excluding items, was 47 cents, beating analysts' estimates of 81 cents loss per share, according to Refinitiv.

☆ Freshworks tops revenue estimates as lower-priced offerings boost demand
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 2 (Reuters) - Freshworks Inc (FRSH.O) beat quarterly revenue estimates on Tuesday and posted its first adjusted operating profit as more businesses sought its lower-priced customer engagement software in a tough economy. Freshworks, whose products compete with Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) and Zendesk, told Reuters that the downturn was driving more companies to its more affordable offerings. The San Mateo, California-based company's revenue rose 20% in the first quarter ended March to $137.7 million, compared with analysts' estimates of $134.3 million, according to Refinitiv. It posted an adjusted operating profit of $3.9 million. The company forecast second-quarter revenue largely in line with estimates, while its forecast for adjusted profit was above estimates.

☆ What Young Workers Miss Without the ‘Power of Proximity’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Emma Goldberg | Ben Casselman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At least 10 times a day, Erika Becker, who works as a sales development manager at a technology company called Verkada, turns to her boss with questions. “What could I have done better?”Ms. Becker, 28, comes into her office in San Mateo, Calif., five days a week, along with all her colleagues. “It’s like if there’s something in my teeth, I want you to tell me,” she said. More than 50 million Americans, largely in white-collar jobs, began working from home at least part of the time. In recent months, as large employers — including Amazon, Disney and Starbucks — have tried to call workers back to the office, thousands of employees have objected, pointing to a track record of productivity at home.

The justices turned away five appeals by the oil companies of lower court decisions that determined that the lawsuits belonged in state court, a venue often seen as more favorable to plaintiffs than federal court. A separate appeal filed by the oil companies challenging lower court decisions in cases out of New Jersey and Delaware is still pending before the Supreme Court. Theodore Boutrous, an attorney for Chevron, expressed confidence that the cases will be dismissed in state court. That decision prompted other federal appeals courts to reconsider whether they should send similar lawsuits by state and local governments back to state courts. Four other appeals courts reached similar conclusions in the lawsuits by Rhode Island and jurisdictions in California, Colorado, Hawaii and Maryland.

To report this story, Reuters contacted more than 300 former Tesla employees who had worked at the company over the past nine years and were involved in developing its self-driving system. The company requires car owners to grant permission on the cars’ touchscreens before Tesla collects their vehicles’ data. Reuters found that Tesla employees shared clips that captured sensitive and embarrassing personal moments. Tesla’s own data labelers initially worked in the San Francisco Bay area, including the office in San Mateo. According to several ex-employees, some labelers shared screenshots, sometimes marked up using Adobe Photoshop, in private group chats on Mattermost, Tesla’s internal messaging system.

☆ I transform garages into upscale apartments so homeowners can rent them out and make passive income
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

So I designed a product that's modular — that can go inside a garage — and San Jose preapproved it. Then they are trucked to the site of the garage, along with the wall panels, and installed inside the garage. So far, I've built four units — with five more in the pipeline — throughout San Jose, San Mateo, and Mountain View. The floors are cork and bamboo, and there are solid-core barn doors inside the units. I really started doing this as a way to to solve a problem.

☆ How First Republic's courtship of the wealthy led to meltdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Lawrence Delevingne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

March 27 (Reuters) - First Republic Bank (FRC.N) became the epicenter of the U.S. regional banking crisis after the wealthy clients it courted to fuel its breakneck growth started withdrawing deposits and left the bank reeling. Reuters GraphicsFor years, First Republic lured high net-worth customers with preferential rates on mortgages and loans. Morgan Stanley analysts estimated a deposit outflow of nearly half of total deposits according to a March 20 note. First Republic's loan book and investment portfolio also became less valuable as interest rates rose, which is hampering a capital raise. "Wealthy customers were drawn to First Republic in part because they could get large mortgages at rock-bottom interest rates," said McCoy.

☆ A woman left her AirPods on a plane and tracked them down to an airport worker's home, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A passenger left her Apple AirPods on a plane after landing in San Francisco from Tokyo. Alisabeth Hayden told CNN a police officer helped her trace the AirPods to an airport worker's home. Shortly after getting off the plane on a layover at San Francisco International Airport, she realized she'd left her jacket behind. Hayden told CNN she enlisted the help of a detective at San Mateo police force who was working at SFO. She told CNN United gave her $271 and 5,000 air miles after complaining about the condition of the headphones.

☆ Why Bucks County, Pennsylvania, is suing social media companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The lawsuit, which was filed in California federal court, said “the need is great” to continue to fund mental health outpatient programs, mobile crisis units, family-based mental health services, and in-school mental health programming and training to address the mental health of young people. Bucks County is joining a small but growing number of of school districts and families who have filed lawsuits against social media companies for their alleged impact on teen mental health. Some families have also filed wrongful death lawsuits against tech platforms, alleging their children’s social media addiction contributed to their suicides. Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, believes it will be “difficult” for counties and school districts to win lawsuits against social media companies. “There will be the issues of showing that the social media content was the cause of the harm that befell the children,” he said.

☆ Midmarket Firms Re-Evaluate Regional Bank Risk Following Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Maria Armental | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Midmarket private-equity firms are increasingly moving business to a wider range of banks—especially to those bigger in size—to hedge against the fallout from the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, a major lender to private-market fund managers and their companies. “There’s definitely a flight to quality, to have at least one bank account with kind of a bulge bracket, top-four bank,” said Richard de Silva, the founder and managing partner of private-equity firm Lateral Investment Management in San Mateo, Calif.A...

☆ Walmart says it's closing a store in Albuquerque because it's underperforming. Some shoppers say it was rampant with crime, and police visited hundreds of times last year.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The store has 287 workers who are eligible to transfer to another store, per a Walmart spokeswoman. It's "very sad," he told Insider, because there aren't many retailers with stores in that part of Albuquerque. The San Mateo Boulevard store is set to close on March 10 after opening in July 1985, according to Walmart spokeswoman Lauren Willis. Albuquerque city officials are now looking into buying and repurposing the closing Walmart store. The Walmart is one of at least eight stores closing soon across five states and the District of Columbia.

☆ Should I Refinance My Mortgage?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

By Michele LernerFor most people, the prime reason to refinance a mortgage is to lower their interest rate and monthly payments. While there are many reasons people refinance (more on that later), normally when someone has a low mortgage rate, they don’t refinance into a higher one, says Erin Wood, a financial planner with the Carson Group in Omaha, Neb. Here are a few reasons to refinance your mortgage:To reduce your paymentsThe simplest way to lower your monthly payments is if you can refinance into a lower mortgage rate, which reduces the interest you pay on your loan. Generally, closing costs for a mortgage refinance range from 2% to 5% of the new loan amount. That expense means it only makes sense to refinance if you can reduce your mortgage rate by half a percentage point or more, says Middleman.

☆ China tech companies are closely watching ChatGPT's A.I. skills. Here's what they're doing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Big tech companies in the U.S. and China rushed this month to announce they are working on similar AI tools. PingCap launched "Chat2Query" for customers outside China in January that uses a publicly available application programming interface from OpenAI. "We think the revolution may not be in AI search but in every business," he said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. Transformative potentialFang said he was directly inspired by OpenAI's early version of ChatGPT tech in 2020. In contrast, he said generative AI tech can immediately provide value since it operates where users are already producing and consuming content.

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