Le Journal

San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood started their day without power on Monday morning. The planned power outage was scheduled in order for PG&E crews to figure out the extent of damage caused by the substation fire last month that wiped out power for thousands. Lights are back on for many of the approximately 3,600 customers impacted by this planned power outage, indicating progress toward the goal of fully restoring power by noon. Though the power outage did not impact many areas in San Francisco, videos from Monday morning show PG&E trucks and outages outside City Hall and the former Twitter headquarters. The lights were also out at Civic Center Plaza and some traffic light intersections in that area. The Civic Center area was one that did not get their lights back on until days later during the December substation fire. PG&E has agreed to a hearing with San Francisco’s city leaders on Feb. 12 to discuss thoroughly what happened during that massive outage in December. There is a second planned outage scheduled for Tuesday in the Richmond district. The outage will affect 14,000 customers but is only expected to last a couple of hours.

Several faith leaders called urgently for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants after anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted a service at a Southern Baptist church in Minnesota. About three dozen protesters entered the Cities Church in St. Paul during Sunday service, some walking right up to the pulpit, others loudly chanting “ICE out” and “Renee Good,” referring to a woman who was fatally shot on Jan. 7 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis. One of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, leads the local ICE field office, and one of the leaders of the protest and prominent local activist Nekima Levy Armstrong said she’s also an ordained pastor. The Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention called what happened “an unacceptable trauma,” saying the service was ”forced to end prematurely” as protesters shouted “insults and accusations at youth, children, and families.” “I believe we must be resolute in two areas: encouraging our churches to provide compassionate pastoral care to these (migrant) families and standing firm for the sanctity of our houses of worship,” Trey Turner, who leads the convention, told The Associated Press on Monday. Cities Church belongs to the convention. The U.S. Department of Justice said it has opened a civil rights investigation. Minnesota Jan 18 FBI asks agents to travel to Minneapolis for temporary assignments amid protests, sources say Immigration Jan 17 Federal officials investigating Renee Good's widow in shooting probe, sources say The recent surge in operations in Minnesota has pitted more than 2,000 federal immigration officers against community activists and protesters. The Trump administration and Minnesota officials have traded blame for the heightened tensions. “No cause — political or otherwise — justifies the desecration of a sacred space or the intimidation and trauma inflicted on families gathered peacefully in the house of God,” Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, said in a statement. “What occurred was not protest; it was lawless harassment.” Jonathan Parnell, the pastor who led the disrupted service, is a missionary with Ezell’s group and serves dozens of Southern Baptist churches in the area. Cities Church, housed in a Gothic-style, century-old stone building next to a college campus on one of the Twin Cities’ landmark boulevards, has not returned AP requests for comment. Christians disagree on immigration enforcement Christians in the United States are divided on the moral and legal dilemmas raised by immigration, including the presence of an estimated 11 million people who are in the country illegally and the spike in illegal border crossings and asylum requests during the Biden administration. Opinions differ between and within denominations on whether Christians must prioritize care for strangers and neighbors or the immigration enforcement push in the name of security. White evangelicals tend to support strong enforcement, while Catholic leaders have spoken in favor of migrant rights. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. and has a conservative evangelical theology. Miles Mullin, the vice-president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said faith leaders can and often have led protests on social issues, but those should never prevent others from worshipping. “This is something that just shouldn’t happen in America,” Mullin said. “For Baptists, our worship services are sacred.” On Facebook, Levy Armstrong wrote about Sunday’s protest in religious terms: “It’s time for judgment to begin and it will begin in the House of God!!!” But Albert Mohler, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, called the protesters’ tactics unjustifiable. “For Christians, the precedent of invading a congregation at worship should be unthinkable,” Mohler said in an interview.…

The San Francisco 49ers packed up their belongings and headed home as work was being done around their home venue to get Levi’s Stadium ready to host the Super Bowl next month. A season that featured many bright spots as the Niners overcame a string of injuries to star players to reach the divisional round ended in disappointment when San Francisco lost 41-6 to Seattle on Saturday night just two games shy of a home Super Bowl appearance. “It hurt,” cornerback Deommodore Lenoir said about seeing the Super Bowl signs outside the stadium as he arrived Monday. “Because this whole season I was telling myself, if we hosted the Super Bowl, we have to be there. So it hurts.” But the overriding emotion for the 49ers echoed the message that coach Kyle Shanahan gave the team in the losing locker room in Seattle about being proud of how much they overcame this season to go 12-5 in the regular season and beat Philadelphia in the wild-card round. The Niners played eight games without starting quarterback Brock Purdy, lost star defensive end Nick Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner to season-ending injuries early in the season, played significant time without receiver Ricky Pearsall and lost Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle to an Achilles tendon injury in the win over the Eagles. “I really do think it was a special year,” Purdy said. “Given the circumstances that we were put in and dealt with and guys going down. You see across the league that sometimes teams don’t really have what it takes to have these kind of circumstances and then push forward and make it to the playoffs and have a chance to be the one seed at the end of the year. All the things that we were able to accomplish, a lot of teams would have thrown in the towel.” George Kittle 7 hours ago 49ers' George Kittle shares encouraging update after successful Achilles surgery Brock Purdy Jan 18 Why Brock Purdy still believes 49ers can win Super Bowl after season-ending loss 49ers Reaction Jan 18 Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch proud of 49ers' unwavering character throughout season Health report Kittle gave an encouraging update on his health, saying that doctors told him his injury was a “best-case scenario” and should have a shorter recovery time than some Achilles tendon injuries. Kittle wouldn’t put a timeline on when he would be ready to play. Warner said he would have been able to get back on the field from his broken ankle had the Niners made it to the NFC title game. Now he will dial back his rehabilitation a bit to start preparing for next season. Purdy said he won’t need any surgery on the injured toe that sidelined him for half of the season. McCaffrey’s workload In a season filled with injuries, one player remained surprisingly healthy with All-Pro Christian McCaffrey playing all 19 games and leading all running backs with 1,010 offensive snaps in the regular season and playoffs, to go along with 450 touches for 2,314 yards at age 29. Keeping McCaffrey healthy again next season will be a big key to success for the 49ers as he is a major part of the offense. The other two times McCaffrey had such a heavy workload in one season he dealt with injuries the next, playing only three games in 2020 and four in 2024. “I think this was one of the most impressive seasons by an individual player ever,” Shanahan said. “The dude was unbelievable. His dedication to really empty the tank every single game and to be able to do that many games in a row is something that I’ve never really seen before.” Coordinator moves The return of Robert Saleh as defensive coordinator this season helped the Niners survive the rash of injuries on defense and remain competitive. Now there’s a question about whether Saleh will be back next season or if San Francisco will need a fifth defensive coordinator in five seasons. Saleh is a candidate for several open head coaching jobs and could be on the move. Offense coordinator Klay Kubiak also is a candidate to be a head coach…

Tourists aren’t the only ones visiting Alcatraz Island these days. A guest relations employee for Alcatraz City Cruises sent NBC Bay Area a video showing a coyote swimming near the southern edge of the island last Wednesday. The employee said the video was sent to him by a tourist who captured the rare sighting on their phone, adding that he’s never seen it recorded before. The captain of the boat told the employee unusual currents in San Francisco Bay made for tough swimming conditions, likely due to storm runoff. Where exactly the coyote came from wasn’t immediately known.