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The complex consisting of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels has seen its value drop by $1 billion, the San Francisco Business Times reported Monday, citing a note from real estate data firm Trepp. Additionally, a Moody’s Ratings report obtained by Hotel Dive was not kind, downgrading the complex’s bond classes “as a result of the properties’ continued underperformance.” Originally class A, the bonds have since fallen five levels to Baa1. It’s the latest hit for a market that’s already generated negative headlines in recent months. The bond class downgrades stem not only from the hotels’ underperformance, but also “continued weak fundamentals of the San Francisco downtown hotel market.”

The City of Chicago is effectively barring protestors from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) by denying and delaying permits. Despite allowing Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests without permits during the 2020 lockdown, Chicago now refuses permits for groups wanting to demonstrate at the DNC. The Department of Transportation has only recently turned over some permit applications, while other city agencies remain non-compliant. Protestors argue this is a deliberate stalling tactic to prevent lawful demonstrations. Legal battles continue as multiple groups sue the city, alleging unconstitutional actions. This double standard highlights the inconsistency in handling protests based on political alignment, raising concerns about freedom of speech and the right to protest. #ChicagoProtests #DNC2024 #FreedomToProtest

Seattle has become a hot spot for the theft of electric vehicle (EV) charging cords, which are rich in copper. Charging provider Electrify America reported that a single station in Georgetown had more than 50 cables stolen over the past couple years. In that same amount of time, a different station in University Village criminals nabbed more than 20. "Unfortunately, the theft of charging cables is on the rise," said Rachel Moses with Electrifying America.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he plans to address public safety issues by investing in people. Speaking at a public forum in the Little Village neighborhood, the mayor blamed Chicago’s violence on disinvestment by previous administrations. “My vision for safety in Chicago is that every single neighborhood has safe spaces, and that we are fully funding our public accommodations: education, transportation, healthcare, jobs,” Johnson explained. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said it is important for police and members of the community to work together.

A major farm supply retailer said it will eliminate DEI roles, end its carbon emissions goals and cut ties to an LGBTQ advocacy group following a social media campaign calling for the firm to revoke its “woke” policies. Tennessee-based Tractor Supply — an 85-year-old company with 2,250 stores — made the decision after conservative commentator Robby Starbuck called for a boycott over the past three weeks on X. “We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them,” Tractor Supply said in a statement on Thursday. “We have taken this feedback to heart.”

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Wednesday the city will be hiring 18 additional behavioral health responders after securing nearly $2 million in federal funding. The new responders will be part of the Community Assisted Response Engagement (CARE) department, which started in October. CARE was implemented to “diversify emergency response, help people in need receive appropriate assistance and ensure the highest priority incidents receive critical police and fire services,” as stated by the mayor’s office. CARE responders are sent out after a 911 call taker determines one would be appropriate for the situation. Examples are welfare checks and calls that don’t require law enforcement, such as nonviolent, nonemergency and nonmedical calls. The CARE team also assists officers who have called for backup but only after any violence has been subdued. “Our West Precinct officers have formed strong partnerships with CARE and often call for their assistance, even when not initially co-dispatched,” Seattle Interim Chief of Police Sue Rahr stated in a press release. “We share mutual respect and look forward to expanded opportunities to collaborate. Particularly with our current staffing crisis, officers appreciate the CARE Team and the assistance they provide.”

They say where there’s smoke there’s fire, which is why more than a dozen firefighters in south suburban Dolton are going public with their concerns about the controversies smoldering at village hall. On Monday, those firefighters confronted Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard at a village board meeting, demanding to know where their money is. "I’m here today with fellow members… looking for answers," said Adam Farej, Dolton Firefighter’s Union President. Farej came with a list of questions and grievances. On Tuesday, he told FOX 32 the firefighters spoke publicly at the meeting because they'd simply had enough. "With everything going on in the village and the media, at some point we have to put our foot down and get answers to the questions we have," Farej said. The Dolton firefighters have been working without a pay raise or a new contract for the past four years, and they worry Dolton isn’t paying their insurance premiums because they’re getting stuck with big medical bills.

Federal investigators say a California business owner used a karaoke-bar-turned-brothel to funnel campaign donations to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and other members of the city’s political class. Andy Duong, whose family works as Oakland’s curbside recycling contractor, is accused of having surrogates hand out $18,000 to various political candidates from 2016 to 2018, according to court documents obtained by Bay Area news outlets. An undercover sting at the brothel in 2018 led to three arrests over accusations of drug and human trafficking. A former manager arrested at the front business is one of the suspected “straw donors” in Mr. Duong’s alleged fundraising scheme.

Migrants sleeping on the floors of Boston's Logan International Airport will soon be banned from doing so and Massachusetts officials are telling migrants currently at the southern border that its shelter system is out of space. More than 100 migrants have been using the facility as a shelter -- lining the floors of Boston's main air hub with makeshift beds and air mattresses -- but they will be prohibited from doing so from July 9 and instead be offered free tax-payer-funded accommodation at a former minimum-security dorm-like facility in Norfolk, Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday. The state has refurbished Massachusetts' Bay State Correctional Center, a former minimum-security dorm-like facility, which opened last week and can accommodate 140 migrants and homeless families, or about 450 people. The facility is located on the grounds of Massachusetts Correctional Institution (MCI), a medium-security prison.

The U.S. Justice Department is pushing Boeing to plead guilty to criminal fraud in connection with two deadly plane crashes involving its 737 Max jetliners, according to several people who heard federal prosecutors detail a proposed offer Sunday. Boeing will have until the end of the coming week to accept or reject the offer, which includes the giant aerospace company agreeing to an independent monitor who would oversee its compliance with anti-fraud laws, they said. The case stems from the department’s determination that Boeing violated an agreement that was intended to resolve a 2021 charge of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. Prosecutors alleged at the time that Boeing misled regulators who approved the 737 Max and set pilot-training requirements to fly the plane. The company blamed two relatively low-level employees for the fraud. The Justice Department told relatives of some of the 346 people who died in the 2018 and 2019 crashes about the plea offer during a video meeting. The family members, who want Boeing to face a criminal trial and to pay a $24.8 billion fine, reacted angrily. One said prosecutors were gaslighting the families; another shouted at them for several minutes when given a chance to speak.

Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said the county will continue to hand out tents and tarps to houseless people in need, even as the city plans to enforce a camping ban. The announcement comes as the city begins enforcement of its camping ban on Monday. On Wednesday, Mayor Ted Wheeler criticized the county's tents and tarps policy. “It doesn’t make any sense that with 6,000 homeless people on our streets that we would hand out more than 6,000 tents and nearly five times that many tarps,” said the mayor. Meanwhile, the city and county are in the midst of negotiating on a new three-year homelessness response plan.

Just before 10 one recent morning, an LA neighborhood was rocked by loud explosions that residents say sounded like bombs going off. "There were two huge explosions, and when I looked out my apartment window I saw plumes of black smoke," said Jeanne Rice, who lives around the corner from a homeless encampment at Wilton Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard. Those plumes of smoke and fire were coming from a homeless tent that had exploded into a ball of fire, destroying the tent and other tents around it. The I-Team found this was just one of several encampment fires recently in this neighborhood dotted by new apartment and condo buildings.

An accused cop shooter who claimed a Venezuelan gang is smuggling guns into migrant facilities stayed at a shelter with a X-ray and magnetometer to scan for weapons, officials said. Security guards at the East Elmhurst shelter have been “retrained” on the proper use of handheld wands and scanning belongings since former resident Bernardo Raul Castro Mata, 19, allegedly shot two NYPD officers, city officials told The Post. But Mata’s stunning, but still-unverified claim that the bloodthirsty, Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang is using food delivery bags to sneak guns to members has prompted lawmakers of all stripes to call for heightened security at city-run migrant shelters.

Rose City Counter-Info, a self-described "anarchist" group based in Portland, Oregon, took credit Monday for having “torched” 15 police cars at the Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) training facility. The group says last week's attack was a "preemptive" one, pointing to recent police intervention at anti-Israel college campus protests nationwide. It noted on its blog members "cut through a fence, set ten fires and are happy it grew to burn fifteen cars!” “After seeing Humboldt, Columbia, UCLA and more we knew the occupation at [Portland State University] would be swept violently and wanted to attack PPB before,” the group wrote. “While we respect the student occupations, particularly the ones occupying buildings and causing damages to the colleges, we hate to see them passive and waiting to be attacked."

The Supreme Court cleared the way for cities to enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outside in public places on Friday, overturning a ruling from a California-based appeals court that found such laws amount to cruel and unusual punishment when shelter space is lacking. The case is the high court’s most significant ruling on the issue in decades and comes as a rising number of people in the U.S. are without a permanent place to live. In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the high court found that outdoor sleeping bans don’t violate the Eighth Amendment. Western cities had argued that the ruling made it harder to manage outdoor encampments in public spaces, but homeless advocates said punishing people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness.

Business owners and residents in Los Angeles criticized the city's decision to remove planters that locals said greatly reduced crime in the area. "I think it's a really terrible thing that they're doing because those planters were there to keep the encampments away," Hollywood resident Jacqui Antebi told NBC4 Los Angeles. Crews of workers removed the planters along Highland Boulevard in Hollywood on Monday after the city found that the planters were erected without proper approval from the government. Local business owners and residents initially put up planters in May to prevent homeless encampments from taking over the area, according to the report. "We understand the frustration that local businesses feel about this issue, and we encourage residents to follow the legal process and work with the city to obtain the proper permits to install community beautification projects in the public right of way," a spokesperson for Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez told NBC4. "This the first time I've been able to walk down the street in years because it's been filled with drug dealers, homeless people. It's been unsafe. I almost got ambushed once just trying to walk home," Antebi said of life after the planters were placed on the street. Some business owners pointed to the massive reduction in crime after the planters were erected in May.

The Sixth Street Bridge was celebrated at its 2022 opening as a new city landmark. At night, artistic lighting gave the span an iconic look, earning the nickname "Ribbon of Light." But the viaduct is much darker these days. Copper thieves have hit the bridge again and again, stripping some seven miles of wiring and leaving much of the structure in the dark. And six months after the city formed a task force to combat the thefts, the problem persists. Councilman Kevin de León authored the motion to form the task force back in January. Some arrests have been made since then.

The Hilton Hotel will close its Oakland airport location in August after 56 years in business, Port of Oakland officials said Monday morning. “We understand that the hospitality sector continues to be negatively impacted by larger economic trends post-pandemic,” port representatives said in a statement, adding that they will evaluate “the best use for this property moving forward.” Hilton has leased land from the port at One Hegenberger Road since 1968. Park Hotels & Resorts, operator of the Hilton, notified port officials that the airport hotel will shut its doors on Aug. 28.

A blue state has deployed officials to the southern border in Texas to warn migrants that their shelters are full, as it struggles to house the numbers of migrants it is seeing. Massachusetts' Democratic Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday announced that she had sent members of her administration to the border, citing "record" numbers of migrants coming to Boston. Officials will make connections with federal agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and migrant families "to educate them about the lack of shelter availability in Massachusetts." They will visit airports, migrant shelters, ports of entry and migrant welcome centers in San Antonio, McAllen, Hidalgo and Brownsville.

An amended complaint was filed earlier this month in Cook County Circuit Court naming Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard in her individual capacity, Dolton Police Chief Lewis Lacey in his individual capacity, and Dolton Board of Fire and Police Commissioners (“BOFPC”) Board Member DeVonte Stewart in his official capacity as Defendants. The Complaint alleges falsified police sergeant tests scores, unlawful promotions, and that the BOFPC is required to have three commissioners, however, Mayor Henyard has yet to appoint any replacements for the two vacancies on the commission. The result of the two vacancies is that no business may be conducted, and no official action of the commission can happen due to lack of quorum, even though “pseudo official” action has purportedly taken place. Promotional testing for Police Sergeant was conducted, with “all promotions shall be made from the three having the highest rating” according to the Rules and Regulations of the Commission.

The latest figures from the City of Chicago’s spending dashboard shows the city has spent more than $400 million over the past two years on migrants – with the bulk of that money going to private companies that helped forge lease agreements or provided staffing for migrants shelters. Since August of 2022, more than 42,000 migrants have made their way to Chicago. The lion’s share of the money – nearly $253 million – has gone to one private company, Kansas-based Favorite Healthcare Staffing, which staffs the city-run migrant shelters. More than $76 million - $30 million of which came directly from Chicago tax dollars - has gone to Louisville, Ky.-based Equitable Social Solutions, according to the city’s cost dashboard. According to the city, Equitable partnered with another company called, Reloshare, which worked to identify and craft lease agreements with the property owners of the buildings that eventually became migrant shelters.

A home in an upscale San Francisco neighborhood with properties typically valued at millions of dollars is on the market for under $500,000 – but it may be a while before the new buyer can move in. The seller is asking $488,000 for the three-bedroom home located in the city’s Russian Hill neighborhood, and an "as-is sale," according to the listing with Park North Real Estate. The property, which spans a total of about 3,200 square feet, has received attention in recent days for both its low asking price and how long the tenant may get to stay in the home.

Firefighters in Dolton, Illinois, are raising serious concerns about the management of their retirement funds and health care benefits. According to the International Association of Firefighters Local 3766, deductions for retirement plans intended to go to Nationwide have not been properly allocated for over six months. Additionally, premiums for their health insurance, paid by the village, have reportedly not been received, leading to denied claims. These issues arise amid a lack of contract negotiations for nearly five years. Village officials claim they are working to resolve these problems, but union members express frustration over the lack of transparency and fear retaliation for speaking out. This situation highlights significant mismanagement and financial misallocation concerns within the village administration, impacting the firefighters' financial security and well-being. #FirefighterRights #GovernmentAccountability #UnionStrong

The so-called "Belltown Hellcat" driver accused of racing his Dodge Charger through city streets and waking people up with his loud exhaust was ordered to pay more than $83,000 in fines during an appearance in Seattle Municipal Court on Tuesday. Court filings by the city attorney allege Miles Hudson, 20, was supposed to submit proof that the car's exhaust system has been fixed, but prosecutors said he has failed to comply with the order. Hudson is subject to fines of $1,300 every day his car is not fixed, according to court records. Hudson was served with the court documents on May 31, and according to the city prosecutor, failed to adequately respond. The city requested a default judgment, asking the judge to declare a verdict without holding a trial. During Tuesday's hearing, Seattle Municipal Court Judge Faye Chess sided with the city and ordered Hudson to pay the fines, which now total more than $83,000.

A family-owned Arby’s Roast Beef that has been a fixture on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood for 55 years shut its doors, blaming California’s recently enacted $20-an-hour minimum wage law as the final “nail in the coffin.” The fast food joint’s iconic cowboy hat sign was captured by FOX 11’s SkyFOX camera on Tuesday reading, “Farewell Hollywood. TY for 55 great years.” The restaurant, near Bronson Avenue, closed on Saturday, according to local reports. “With inflation, food costs have gone way up and the $20-an-hour minimum wage has been the nail in the coffin,” Gary Husch, general manager of the Arby’s location, told Los Angeles Times. Husch is the son-in-law of 91-year-old Marilyn Leviton, who opened the Arby’s franchise at 5920 Sunset Boulevard in January1969, six months before the moon landing. But on Friday, Arby’s workers arriving for their shift were told they were being let go.