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Lester Black

Lester Black

Daily Intelligencer

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Despite Newsom's approval, SF won't let pot cafes open

Don’t expect to buy a latte and smoke a joint inside a San Francisco cannabis cafe anytime soon.  Despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s legalizing cannabis...

11.01.2025 20

SFGate

Lester Black

One of LA's most famous high schools barely survives Palisades Fire

One of LA's most famous high schools barely survives Palisades Fire
09.01.2025 30

SFGate

Lester Black

Palisades, Eaton fires leave 400,000 LA residents without power

Palisades, Eaton fires leave 400,000 LA residents without power
09.01.2025 3

SFGate

Lester Black

Trendy Bay Area mall to gain huge eatery from SF restaurateurs

Trendy Bay Area mall to gain huge eatery from SF restaurateurs
09.01.2025 6

SFGate

Lester Black

Steve Kerr's Warriors frustration came tumbling out after 1 reporter's question

09.01.2025 10

SFGate

Lester Black

Pacific Palisades fire hydrants run dry as wildfire rips through LA

Pacific Palisades fire hydrants run dry as wildfire rips through LA
09.01.2025 10

SFGate

Lester Black

The truth behind that viral video showing a long line at a Calif. ski resort

Mammoth Mountain has the highest lift-accessible ski terrain in California.  A viral video shot at Mammoth Mountain that is racking up millions...

28.12.2024 10

SFGate

Lester Black

'Biggest mavs ever!': Epic Calif. swell delivers historic surfing conditions

25.12.2024 100

SFGate

Lester Black

Buster Posey is facing his first true test as an SF Giants exec

Buster Posey speaks during a press conference announcing his new role as the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations at Oracle Park...

12.12.2024 3

SFGate

Lester Black

San Francisco officials delay crackdown on parking law

FILE: Pedestrians cross a downtown intersection in San Francisco on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. San Francisco authorities are holding off on issuing...

11.12.2024 2

SFGate

Lester Black

Despite community backlash, SF Safeway to close in February

The Safeway at 1335 Webster St., San Francisco, is scheduled to close in February 2025. Safeway has announced that it will close its Webster Street...

11.12.2024 4

SFGate

Lester Black

Disneyland's oldest holiday tradition has surprise celebrity guests

It’s a sight to behold: 600 robed singers walking down Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A., each glowing in the soft light of a candle and solemnly...

11.12.2024 3

SFGate

Lester Black

In Latin America's largest Warriors fan group, 'Chefsito' can do no wrong

“Golazo” isn’t a phrase you’ll hear inside Chase Center after a smooth Andrew Wiggins layup beneath the rim. In the Bay Area, you also won’t...

11.12.2024 20

SFGate

Lester Black

Wealthy California city approves luxury hotel despite public outcry

The fate of a large swath of Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone neighborhood — the converted industrial oceanfront area that’s now home to many of the...

11.12.2024 3

SFGate

Lester Black

Even SF's magic mushroom church can't afford the city's wild permit costs

San Francisco’s expensive and byzantine building permit system is often blamed for many of the city’s problems, whether it’s delaying...

11.12.2024 10

SFGate

Lester Black

Stop of RV on Calif. highway uncovers woman's kidnapping, officials say

A California man has been charged with kidnapping after a traffic stop discovered a domestic violence situation, officials said in Nov. 2024. A...

18.11.2024 3

SFGate

Lester Black

'Impressive' atmospheric river, first of the season, takes aim at California

18.11.2024 100

SFGate

Lester Black

Dozens are sickened and 1 person dead after eating carrots from Calif. farm

18.11.2024 10

SFGate

Lester Black

Former SF tech exec shares moving goodbye as he enters hospice

18.11.2024 9

SFGate

Lester Black

A 'monstrous problem' created 7 years ago haunts Calif.'s weed industry

Jason Matthys, a cannabis breeder and activist in Mendocino County, said almost every entrepreneur he knows has left California’s legal cannabis...

18.11.2024 80

SFGate

Lester Black

This six-pack of California beer costs $120. It's worth every penny.

Hanabi Lager Co. shocked the beverage world when it released its first beer in late 2020, charging $90 for a six-pack. It was a pilsner, a style...

18.10.2024 1

SFGate

Lester Black

California smoke shops are breaking Newsom's hemp THC ban

When Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced an emergency ban on hemp THC products last month, he said it was a response to a dire public health emergency...

08.10.2024 2

SFGate

Lester Black

Bay Area startup shuts down, lays off 500 workers

An airplane descends to land at Los Angeles International Airport above a billboard advertising the marijuana delivery service Eaze on July 12,...

07.10.2024 2

SFGate

Lester Black

'Perfect': People are falling in love with South San Francisco's newest park

Daniel DeSanto kickflips over an embankment at South San Francisco’s new skate plaza. South San Francisco’s new skate park doesn’t look like...

03.10.2024 6

SFGate

Lester Black

Newsom signs celebrity-backed cannabis cafe bill

FILE: Phil Crew, owner of Mendocino Family Farms, smokes a joint of his own cannabis during a farmers market at a cannabis consumption lounge....

30.09.2024 3

SFGate

Lester Black

Historic Bay Area dispensary launched legal marijuana movement. Now it’s broke.

FILE: Customer Jose Medina (left) and nephew Stevie Medina excitedly purchase plants in the early hours of the morning at Harborside Health Center...

28.09.2024 40

SFGate

Lester Black

Newsom's controversial hemp THC ban approved, effective immediately

FILE: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, pictured during a May 2023 conference, has succeeded in making hemp THC illegal across the state. Gov. Gavin...

24.09.2024 100

SFGate

Lester Black

‘Do the right thing’: Celebrities urge Newsom to sign Calif. bill

FILE: Alex Korsin has a smoke and a meal at Irie, a weed and food restaurant upstairs from Pleasure Med cannabis dispensary in Los Angeles. ...

20.09.2024 1

SFGate

Lester Black

College football is hungry for cash. Cannabis might be the answer.

Gilbert “Berner” Milam Jr. never thought the University of Southern California would say yes. When the founder and CEO of the cannabis brand...

20.09.2024 4

SFGate

Lester Black

Californians are 'panic buying' hemp before an expected THC ban

Gov. Gavin Newsom has set off a surge of “panic buying” hemp after his announcement earlier this month that he’s attempting to outlaw all hemp...

18.09.2024 1

SFGate

Lester Black

Whistleblower: Calif. knew about toxic pot products, looked the other way

FILE: Cannabis plants growing at a California cannabis farm. A former senior official with California’s Department of Cannabis Control is accusing...

13.09.2024 10

SFGate

Lester Black

'Just smoke': Why one Bay Area doctor says you should never use pot vapes

Dr. Laurie Vollen has been encouraging people to use cannabis for decades, recommending thousands of her patients smoke marijuana to treat a wide...

12.09.2024 2

SFGate

Lester Black

Newsom proposes outright ban on hemp THC in California

Numerous laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom take effect in California on July 1, 2024.  Gov. Gavin Newsom fired a direct attack Friday on the...

06.09.2024 1

SFGate

Lester Black

Calif. could get pot cafes and weed farmers markets, if Newsom says yes

Forrest Gauder shows off a cannabis flower grown at his Sun Roots Farm in Mendocino County. Californians could soon win the right to smoke weed at...

30.08.2024 2

SFGate

Lester Black