Employment Attorney in San Francisco, CA

Cecil, a western lowland silverback gorilla, is moving to the SF Zoo this summer, and visitors can expect to see him in fall 2025.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The San Francisco Zoo & Gardens will soon welcome Cecil the gorilla as its newest resident.

Cecil, a western lowland silverback (i.e. male), will join SF Zoo’s current gorilla group – Kimani, Monifa and Bawang, all female – in the Jones Family Gorilla Preserve this August. Zoo visitors can expect to see him sometime in the fall, shared Nancy Chan, SF Zoo's Director of Communications.

“We are excited to welcome Cecil to lead our gorilla troop,” said Eric Krussman, the SF Zoo’s Executive Vice President of Animal Care. “Cecil will enjoy a peaceful, serene grassy habitat with rocky structures and a cypress tree to climb and, of course, a new family group.”

Cecil spent the past 21 years in the “Gorilla Forest” at Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, where he lived with three fellow male “bachelor” gorillas. Groups like these are “modeled after wild gorilla behavior [and] allow maturing silverbacks to develop socially, physically and hormonally,” according to a news release.

Now 27-years-old and fully mature, Cecil is ready for the next chapter in his life — including the move from Kentucky to California.

"Moving a gorilla isn’t just about logistics — it’s about heart, science and timing," said Louisville Zoo General Curator, Ron Evans, who will personally accompany Cecil during his transport to San Francisco.

The Louisville Zoo and the SF Zoo are both Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA)-accredited institutions, which “meet the highest standards in animal care and welfare,” according to the AZA website. As noted in the news release, “AZA-accredited zoos emphasize patience and stability during transitions like these to ensure the animals’ wellbeing.”

Once Cecil arrives at the SF Zoo, his introduction to the three female gorillas will occur gradually over several months to form a social bond with his new companions and adapt to the nearly one-acre space in which he’ll reside.

The Gorilla Species Survival Plan (SSP) identified Cecil as a “promising candidate for the eventual leadership of a family group,” and his genetics “are a strong match for the female gorillas at SF Zoo,” the news release noted.

During a farewell event at the Louisville Zoo on Saturday, July 12, guests will be signing a goodbye card that will make its way to San Francisco with Cecil.

“We thank Louisville Zoo for giving Cecil a rousing send-off, as we know he is a fan favorite there,” said Krussman.

Those interested in SF Zoo & Gardens updates can subscribe to the “Animail” newsletter, sent via email.

If you tried to keep track of every new restaurant and bar in San Francisco, your head might spin. So just read this list instead. These are the openings that seem like they have the most potential. Although, keep in mind, we make no promises about the places we haven't visited yet. Go forth and be a pioneer—or just keep up with our Hit List to see which new restaurants we checked out and loved.

Missing out on great, new restaurants and bars keeps us awake at night, so we're always researching spots. Here you'll find every new opening from the past three months that caught our eye. While we haven’t visited them all yet, once we do, we’ll give you our honest review. Those we love will make it onto the Hit List.

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Leadbetter’s is an East Coast-based bakery that sold wholesale english muffins in the Bay for a while, and they’ve opened a cafe in the Castro. On top of flavors like sundried tomato and cherry chocolate, they also do breakfast sandwiches, pizza muffins, and other pastries.

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Bingo Street Coffee is a FiDi cafe with espresso, matcha, and breakfast dishes. The menu includes avocado toast, overnight oats, and a breakfast sandwich with cheese, Indian herbs, and mushroom or spinach.

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Yes, you read that right—Ciaorigato is the name of this new Japanese-Italian restaurant, located inside Union Square’s Hotel Bijou. It’s the sister spot to Modi, another fusion restaurant. Expect dishes like bucatini with tsukune curry, “focacciapan”—a combination of focaccia and milk bread—and sushi with pesto.

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Barrera’s Cocina Mexicana is a casual spot in Cole Valley with Mexican staples like tacos, enchiladas, and birria. Aguachile, ceviche, and calamari round out a handful of seafood options.

Golondrinas Mexican Grill is a casual Mexican spot in Oakland's Laurel District. They serve an extensive menu of staples like burritos, chicken mole, and huevos rancheros, plus desserts including flan and tres leches cake.

Bread Wynrz is a casual sandwich shop in SoMa. Many of their signature sandwiches are named after neighborhoods in the city—like the Japantown filled with teriyaki chicken and wasabi mayo, the chicken parm-like Marina, and the Pier 39, with tuna salad, naturally.

From the people behind the now-closed Daytrip comes Daytrip Counter, a casual rotisserie chicken-focused spot in Temescal. The menu covers bowls, salads, and fries, plus wine.

Pearly fright.

A “glamorous” California restaurant blogger tried calling out a century-old oyster bar for displaying a Trump hat before the family-owned business owners fired back.

Kat Ensign’s visit to San Francisco’s Swan Oyster Depot left her clammy after she noticed the Stars and Stripes-adorned black cap with “45” and “47” emblazoned on the front, referring to President Trump’s two terms, behind the shop’s counter.

The food influencer appeared disgusted by the apparent political alignment of the restaurant but waited several months to post the photo for optimum backlash against the 113-year-old business.

“Swan oyster depot -> absolutely not,” Ensign wrote on social media on July 8.

Ensign questioned whether she was the only one who didn’t know about the alleged Trump support at the family-owned business.

“Am I late to the game or did everyone else now [sic] this?” she asked on TikTok.

The food influencer has 36,600 followers on Instagram and another 16,000 on TikTok.

Ensign’s social media posts prompted a mass-review bombing of the restaurant featuring thousands of one-star reviews, according to SFGate.

Google and Yelp pages rate the eatery as a 4.6- and 4.2-star establishment, respectively.

The legendary establishment, opened in 1912, is located in the Polk Gulch neighborhood of San Francisco, one and a half miles west of the Financial District.

The Swan Oyster Depot’s owners claim they were given the hat by a guest and it was restaurant tradition to display such items inside.

“It was a gift from a customer, much like a lot of the stuff that ends up in our store, whether it’s rubber duckies or dollar bills from all over the world,” co-owner Kevin Sancimino told the outlet. “Our place is a collection of things that have come in over the years.”

Pictures of Ronald Reagan and a letter from former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have also been gifted to the family business, according to Sancimino.

The business also has a copy of “Hillary Rodham Clinton: Her Essential Wisdom” on display to show different viewpoints of customers.

Swan Oyster management accused Ensign of waiting to post the photo because the store has been closed since July 3 and the hat was taken down two weeks earlier for cleaning before the family went on a two-week vacation.

Ensign told the ownership she had taken the photo months earlier but waited to post it because she was still getting bad press from a local executive chef after she poorly reviewed his restaurant, SFGate reported.

Sancimino defended the decision to display the hat, saying he didn’t find it “super offensive” and it didn’t portray the family or employee’s political beliefs.

“People can have their different political views, and we can all coexist in the same space,” Sancimino said. “I just find it to be a little bit sad that somebody would try to make a pariah out of someone or their business for having an alternative political view. … It seems myopic. … Why does political belief not fall under the realm of inclusivity?”

Ensign faced backlash for her poor social media post allegedly attacking a family-owned business.

“At what point, as a country, did we decide that it’s okay to attack and shame a fellow citizen because they don’t have the same political view that we do? Asking for a friend…,” one Instagram user commented.

“Trying to destroy someone’s livelihood because of how they vote isn’t activism — it’s bullying in disguise. You don’t have to agree with someone’s politics to respect their right to earn a living. If your convictions are so fragile that they require silencing people instead of debating them, maybe the problem isn’t them — it’s you,” another comment read.

“Do something better with your following verses [sic] knocking down family-owned businesses,” said a third user.

“This is what you want to be known for? The oyster girl?” said another.

Intel Corp. has notified state officials that it will lay off 584 employees in Northern California this month, part of a sweeping global restructuring effort by the embattled Silicon Valley semiconductor giant.

The permanent layoffs, set to take effect July 15, will impact six locations in Santa Clara.

The largest cut is at Intel’s Robert Noyce Building at 2200 Mission College Blvd., where 184 jobs will be eliminated. Additional reductions include 179 positions at 3600 Juliette Lane, 37 at 3601 Juliette Lane, eight at 2191 Laurelwood Road and two employees at 3065 Bowers Ave., according to filings with California’s Employment Development Department.

Separately, 174 employees will be laid off at Intel’s campus in Folsom, northeast of Sacramento.

The cuts come as Intel embarks on a major cost-cutting campaign across its global operations. The company is eliminating thousands of positions — reportedly up to 20% of its factory workforce — amid slumping chip sales, rising competition in the artificial intelligence sector and a strategic overhaul under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan.

“Twenty, 30 years ago, we were really the leader. Now I think the world has changed. We are not in the top 10 semiconductor companies,” Tan told employees during a recent internal meeting, referring to Intel’s current position in terms of market capitalization, according to a transcript obtained by OregonLive.

Intel also issued layoff notices in Oregon, Arizona and Texas — with 529 jobs cut in Oregon alone. The company is also shuttering its automotive technology division and outsourcing parts of its marketing operations to consulting giant Accenture.

The company is also winding down its automotive technology division and outsourcing parts of its marketing operation to Accenture.

“These are difficult actions but essential to meet our affordability challenges and current financial position of the company,” Naga Chandrasekaran, Intel’s manufacturing vice president, wrote in an internal memo.

Once the undisputed leader in semiconductors, Intel is now betting on a renewed focus on core computing and emerging AI technologies to regain its footing in a rapidly shifting industry.

By Abhirup Roy

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Tesla will expand its robotaxi service to the San Francisco Bay Area "in a month or two", depending on regulatory approvals, CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday.

Tesla last month rolled out a test of the long-promised service in a limited area of Austin, Texas, with about a dozen vehicles, a select group of passengers and many restrictions, including a safety monitor in the front passenger seat.

Tesla will expand the service to "a larger area in Austin this weekend," Musk said on his social media platform X in response to a post from a user about the lack of an update on expansion. Musk did not specify the location or size of the expansion.

Another X user - Tesla Owners Silicon Valley - then asked about an expansion to the Bay Area, and Musk replied, "Waiting on regulatory approvals, but probably in a month or two."

The successful expansion of robotaxis will be crucial to Tesla's future as sales of its aging lineup of electric vehicles have slumped amid rising competition and a backlash against Musk's embrace of far-right political views. Much of the company's trillion-dollar valuation hangs on Musk's bet on robotaxis and humanoid robots that are powered by artificial intelligence.

Commercializing autonomous vehicles has been harder than anticipated with high costs, tight regulations and investigations forcing many, including General Motors' Cruise unit, to shut down. Until Tesla's recent rollout, Alphabet's Waymo was the only company running driverless robotaxis charging fees from passengers.

Waymo with about 1,500 vehicles has been expanding its service cautiously for years and is currently available in San Francisco and other cities in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta. Musk has said Tesla will ramp up the service rapidly to other U.S. cities.

But while Tesla faced almost no regulation in Texas, California tightly controls where and how firms can operate autonomous vehicles and requires testing data for permits.

In California, Tesla would need a series of permits from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to operate a fully autonomous robotaxi service that charges customers.

The CPUC in March gave Tesla the first in a series of approvals required to eventually launch the service. The DMV and CPUC did not respond to Reuters' requests for comments outside of regular business hours.

Tesla's public test in Austin led to multiple traffic problems and driving issues, social media videos from the company-selected riders showed over the first few days.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Kim Coghill, Sayantani Ghosh and Christian Schmollinger)