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Meet Frankie Gaetano Balistreri of Portofino’s in North Beach
When his mother, Lucrezia, was diagnosed with cancer, then 25-year-old Frankie Gaetano Balistreri cared for her at home. She craved her favorite Sicilian dishes, and she called out her wishes from her bed: “FRANKIE, PASTA CON SARDE!” (Pasta with sardines.)“FRANKIE, SFINGI!” (Sicilian donuts with ricotta filling, powdered sugar.)“I was running back and forth, up and down the hallway from the bedroom to the kitchen and she’d say, ‘YOU FORGOT TO ROAST THE PIGNOLI !’” (Pine nuts for the sardines.) “She’d taught me to cook and I knew the dishes, but she was particular: ‘Frankie! Pine nuts and currants!’” She passed away “in my arms,” Frankie said, in 1986.Frankie is short and barrel-chested, with powerful forearms and a charming, lopsided grin. He talks fast, his deep brown eyes glint with humor, and he often cracks himself up. Under his big apron, his T-shirt […]
Karl The Fog December 27, 2024
Judge signals that contempt hearing for Rudy Giuliani over his assets might not go well for him
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge is signaling that Rudy Giuliani’s contempt hearing next Friday might not end so well for the former New York City mayor and onetime personal lawyer for President-elect Donald Trump as two Georgia election poll workers try to collect a $148 million defamation award they won against him.Judge Lewis J. Liman in Manhattan issued an order Friday in which he was dismissive of what he described as attempts by Giuliani and his lawyer to dodge providing information to the election workers' lawyers.And he said the litigants should be ready at the contempt hearing to explain why he should not grant a request by lawyers for the two election workers that he make adverse inferences from evidence in the case that would put Giuliani's Palm Beach, Florida, condominium in danger of being surrendered to satisfy […]
Karl The Fog December 27, 2024
Sunset in The Mission
Mission Local produces enterprise reporting on San Francisco's most critical issues: police reform, corruption, public health, housing and homelessness. Learn more about us, and donate below keep us reporting.Subscribe to Mission Local's daily newsletter Source: missionlocal.org
Karl The Fog December 27, 2024
Nasa’s Parker probe phones home after ‘touching Sun’ in historic mission
Nasa has confirmed that its Parker Solar Probe is “operating normally” after making the closest-ever approach to the Sun by a spacecraft.The pioneering probe made its closest approach to the star on Christmas Eve, zipping past just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface at a speed of about 430,000 miles an hour. This is only about 4 per cent of the distance between the Earth and the Sun.Nasa did not have contact with the spacecraft during the historic feat as it endured temperatures of up to 982 degrees Celsius.The American space agency confirmed that it received signals from the probe on 26 December, just before midnight EST. “Parker Solar Probe has phoned home! After passing just 3.8 million miles from the solar surface on 24 December – the closest solar flyby in history – we have received Parker Solar […]
Karl The Fog December 27, 2024
District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí
District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí is terming out after serving his constituents and the neighborhoods at the southern end of the city, including the Excelsior, Outer Mission, Crocker-Amazon, and Ingleside. The district is welcoming Chyanne Chen as its new supervisor.Mission Local sat down with the incumbent for an hour to talk about his legacy in the district. Safaí also looked back at his relationship with the outgoing Mayor London Breed, and reflected on his alliance in the mayor’s race with Mark Farrell. He also explains why — despite polling far behind the others — he stayed in the race until the very end. Safaí shared his thoughts on the uncertainty in politics and in life as he reflected on the sudden death of late Mayor Ed Lee. But he also looked ahead: Threats the city faces, needs of District 11 that […]
Karl The Fog December 26, 2024
Mother who fought for justice in daughter’s murder case involving Kennedy cousin has died
Dorthy Moxley, the mother who fought for decades to bring her teenage daughter's killer to justice in a roller-coaster Connecticut murder case that captured the nation's attention for years, has died. She was 92.Moxley had stoically endured countless legal twists and turns, including many involving a prime suspect in the killing, Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, who was convicted of the crime and later freed after his murder conviction was vacated.Moxley's son John told The Associated Press on Thursday that his mother died Tuesday at her home in Summit, New Jersey, of complications from flu and possibly pneumonia.Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inboxSee for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.“Through all the ups and downs, she was the most glass-half-full person I’ve ever known,” Moxley said. He described his […]
Karl The Fog December 26, 2024
Related
Meet Frankie Gaetano Balistreri of Portofino’s in North Beach
When his mother, Lucrezia, was diagnosed with cancer, then 25-year-old Frankie Gaetano Balistreri cared for her at home. She craved her favorite Sicilian dishes, and she called out her wishes from her bed: “FRANKIE, PASTA CON SARDE!” (Pasta with sardines.)“FRANKIE, SFINGI!” (Sicilian donuts with ricotta filling, powdered sugar.)“I was running back and forth, up and down the hallway from the bedroom to the kitchen and she’d say, ‘YOU FORGOT TO ROAST THE PIGNOLI !’” (Pine nuts for the sardines.) “She’d taught me to cook and I knew the dishes, but she was particular: ‘Frankie! Pine nuts and currants!’” She passed away “in my arms,” Frankie said, in 1986.Frankie is short and barrel-chested, with powerful forearms and a charming, lopsided grin. He talks fast, his deep brown eyes glint with humor, and he often cracks himself up. Under his big apron, his T-shirt […]
Karl The Fog December 27, 2024
District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí
District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí is terming out after serving his constituents and the neighborhoods at the southern end of the city, including the Excelsior, Outer Mission, Crocker-Amazon, and Ingleside. The district is welcoming Chyanne Chen as its new supervisor.Mission Local sat down with the incumbent for an hour to talk about his legacy in the district. Safaí also looked back at his relationship with the outgoing Mayor London Breed, and reflected on his alliance in the mayor’s race with Mark Farrell. He also explains why — despite polling far behind the others — he stayed in the race until the very end. Safaí shared his thoughts on the uncertainty in politics and in life as he reflected on the sudden death of late Mayor Ed Lee. But he also looked ahead: Threats the city faces, needs of District 11 that […]
Karl The Fog December 26, 2024
Mission Bar
Mission Local produces enterprise reporting on San Francisco's most critical issues: police reform, corruption, public health, housing and homelessness. Learn more about us, and donate below keep us reporting.Subscribe to Mission Local's daily newsletter Source: missionlocal.org
Karl The Fog December 26, 2024
Mission artist animates green utility boxes with a flock of birds
Read Mission Local often?Help grow our newsroom during end-of-year fundraising, joining the hundreds of San Franciscans who support us by donating below. Chestnut-backed chickadees, yellow warblers and other feathered birds have landed this winter on the unassuming green utility boxes along South Van Ness Avenue and Bryant Street in the Mission.The 20 feathered friends are the creation of Claudio Talavera-Ballón, a Mission-based Peruvian painter sponsored by the nonprofit Paint the Void sponsored to paint 10 Mission utility boxes, part of a project to remake 250 utility boxes across San Francisco.It’s an effort to color the utility boxes that store infrastructure for nearby traffic lights across the city. Elsewhere, dozens of artists have covered the “municipal green” boxes with pandas, a girl on the swing, and a naughty astronaut. Talavera-Ballón’s flock, all Bay Area species, can be seen at almost every intersection […]
Karl The Fog December 25, 2024
S.F. police shooting victim idolized cops, law enforcement
The Central Valley man who police killed last week — purportedly attempting to arrest him for an alleged hit-and-run in San Francisco — thought very highly of law enforcement, his social media presence shows. Hodge, whose identity has been reported widely in the media but remains unconfirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, ran his own private security firm called Covert Guardian Solutions based in Lodi, in San Joaquin County. Hodge and his company are licensed with the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. His company website advertises protection for high-profile individuals as well as security and surveillance for businesses. On his social media page, Hodge posted photos of a vehicle, labeled with Covert Guardian Solutions branding, outside both the Dior store and the nearby Louis Vuitton store. Police believe that Hodge was working as a security guard outside the […]
Karl The Fog December 24, 2024
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