While Luckin Coffee’s Manhattan debut in June 2025 drew wide coverage, signaling the arrival of a Chinese model for discount specialty coffee in the United States, another rapidly growing Chinese chain with an intertwined backstory had already been spreading throughout the country for more than a year, with less media fanfare. Cotti Coffee, which claims…
The former mayor of a Southern California city admitted in federal court Friday that she acted as an illegal agent of the Chinese government, formally pleading guilty in a case prosecutors have described as a brazen effort to spread Beijing-backed propaganda inside the United States. Eileen Li Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia, California, pleaded…
Global drug maker Pfizer and biotech firm Amgen, each valued at more than HK$1 trillion (US$153 billion), are among 22 strategic enterprises planning to open or expand offices in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source said on Monday that these industry leaders were among companies from the fintech, cloud computing…
The Trump administration announced nearly $890 million in federal funding Tuesday for water infrastructure projects across the Western United States, with California receiving about 60% of the total to repair sinking canals, modernize pumping systems, and plan an expansion of Shasta Dam. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the funding is aimed at strengthening water security,…
Humanoid robots are rapidly gaining hype, from battlefields to the factory floor. But there are clear growing pains when it comes to sharing spaces with our new automaton friends. Just this month, a video circulated online showing a robot being escorted away by cops after startling an old lady. Now, a different robot appears to…
Yamaha Motor Corporation’s headquarters in Cypress, Calif., on July 7, 2021. (DigitalIceAge via Wikimedia CC 4.0) Another California company has announced its decision to move all operations outside of the state. Yamaha Motor Corporation, known for creating motorized vehicles like motorcycles and WaveRunners, is set to relocate its headquarters to Kennesaw, Georgia, after more than 45…
A customer places a bag of food items into a shopping cart at Grocery Outlet in Oakland, Calif., on June 7, 2024. (Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE) Anyone who’s watched (regular) television in California can likely belt out the catchy “Grocery Outlet, Bargain Market” jingle by heart. Unfortunately, the Emeryville-based supermarket chain doesn’t have much to sing about these…
A flurry of temperature records were broken across the Bay Area on Friday and Saturday amid an early arrival of springlike weather. High temperatures climbed well into the 70s, and a few cities even reached the low 80s, 10 to 20 degrees above normal for late February. A humid air mass kept temperatures elevated at night,…
By the time the California Legislature opened its doors in Sacramento in early 2026, electric bicycles had already evolved far beyond novelty gadgets for weekend riders. In towns from San Francisco to San Diego, e‑bikes had become a lifeline for commuters, errands, delivery workers and students. Their quiet motors and nimble frames promised a cleaner…
After catching one of the biggest bass ever seen in California, kayak angler Damian Thao isn’t sure if it will be properly certified as a lake record. The nearly 19-pound largemouth is big enough to qualify as a record, but a strange state law that Thao inadvertently broke while transporting and weighing the fish could…