How has life in the Bay Area changed over the last 20 years? These stories straight from our Bay City News archives capture news of the day from 5, 10, and 20 years ago – as originally published at the time. Explore these history snapshots and ponder how today’s news compares to that of years past.
MAY 15, 2021
All San Francisco subway stations reopened for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced major service cuts more than a year earlier. The return remains tied to San Francisco’s larger recovery questions around transit reliability, downtown activity, and whether public transportation can support a durable rebound.
Bay City News Reported:
“Muni Subway Service Returns After Pandemic Shutdown“
All San Francisco subway stations reopened Saturday for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced major cuts to service over a year ago. Additionally, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s full F-Market and Wharves route from Fisherman’s Wharf to Market and Castro streets returned, providing service in historic streetcars. Service along the N-Judah rail also resumed its full route between Ocean Beach and Fourth and King streets to connect with the Caltrain station, and the T-Third line has been extended to West Portal and continuing on, running as the K-Ingleside, to Balboa Park Station.
During the extended shutdown, crews were able to add new improvements, including Wi-Fi service for riders at stations and in underground tunnels. “Muni is the lifeblood of San Francisco. It’s how our essential workers get to work. It’s how City College students get to school. It is how people get around and it’s what makes it possible for downtown San Francisco to function as a place,” SFMTA Director Jeffery Tumlin said during a news conference on Friday. “Bringing service back is absolutely essential to San Francisco’s economy.”
“As we begin to open our city and begin down the path of recovery, having a good public transportation system is going to be critical,” Mayor London Breed said. “A lot of the work we were able to do (during the closure) is going to make Muni more efficient than ever. It was a struggle, yes, but we are in a very good place.”
Muni officials also launched a temporary new combined bus route called the 36/52-Special to serve the Forest Hill, Miraloma and Sunnyside neighborhoods. It will run in a loop between Forest Hill Station and Glen Park Station. Despite recent updates regarding masks from local, state and federal health officials, all Muni riders are required to wear masks aboard trains and buses.
MAY 15, 2016
A Texas runner won the men’s elite division and an Auburn runner won the women’s elite division in San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers race. The race remains part of the city’s civic identity, linking public space, tourism, neighborhood disruption, and the challenge of sustaining large public traditions.
Bay City News reported:
“Bay To Breakers Draws Thousands Across San Francisco“
A Texas man won the Bay to Breakers race this morning in San Francisco, according to event organizers. Isaac Mukundi of Grand Prairie, Texas took first place in the Men’s Elite division with a time of 35 minutes and 23 seconds. Jane Kibii of Auburn won the Female’s Elite division with a time of 40 minutes and 47 seconds, event organizers said.
The race began near the Embarcadero around 8 a.m. and finished at Ocean Beach. The race dates back to 1912 and is considered one of the largest footraces in the world, attracting some 50,000 participants and more 100,000 spectators annually, according to event organizers.
MAY 15, 2006
The U.S. government asked a federal judge in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit accusing AT&T of giving domestic phone and email records to the National Security Agency. The case remains highly relevant to public debates over surveillance, privacy, national security claims, and whether courts can review secret government programs.
Bay City News reported:
“Government Seeks Dismissal Of AT&T Surveillance Lawsuit“
The U.S. government has asked a federal judge in San Francisco to dismiss a lawsuit filed against AT&T Corp. for allegedly giving the National Security Agency records of domestic phone calls and e-mail communications in the United States. The government motion, filed on Saturday, says that allowing the lawsuit to proceed “would cause exceptionally grave harm to the national security of the United States.”
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will hold a hearing on the motion on June 21. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco in January by lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights organization, on behalf of two San Jose residents and a Los Angeles man. A fourth plaintiff from Petaluma was added in February. The suit seeks to be certified as a class action on behalf of all AT&T customers nationwide.
The lawsuit was filed after the New York Times reported in December that the NSA had gained the cooperation of telecommunications companies in handing over records of Americans’ telephone and e-mail communications without court authorization. The lawsuit claims AT&T’s alleged actions violate the constitutional ban on unreasonable searches as well as telecommunications privacy laws.
National controversy about the NSA program increased after USA Today reported last week that three of the nation’s largest communications companies – AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth — have allegedly given the government records of domestic phone calls and e-mails of millions of Americans. The government request for dismissal of the lawsuit is based on a doctrine known as the state secrets privilege, under which information vital to the nation’s security or diplomatic relations is protected from disclosure.
The government brief was accompanied by sworn statements by Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and NSA Director Keith Alexander. Parts of the three documents explaining why national security is at stake were filed under seal. Negroponte said in the public part of his statement that the government could not confirm or deny the lawsuit’s allegations about the roles of NSA and AT&T because doing so “would tend to reveal the methods being used to conduct surveillance.” The public part of the government brief argues that “every step in this case . . . runs into privileged information.”
Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, “The government is trying to lock out any judicial inquiry into AT&T’s and the NSA’s illegal spying operation.” Opsahl said, “It is illegal for major telecommunications companies to simply hand over private customer information to the government. They should not be allowed to hide their illegal activity behind government assertions of ‘state secrets’ to prevent the judiciary from stepping in to expose and punish the illegal behavior,” Opsahl said.
The lawsuit was filed against only AT&T and not the government, but the government has sought to intervene and become a party in the case for the purpose of seeking dismissal of the case. The government’s motion to intervene will also be heard by Walker on June 21. Walker will hold a separate hearing May 17 on the foundation’s request to unseal several documents offered as evidence in the case. The currently sealed documents include a declaration in which retired AT&T technician Mark Klein related his observations about the alleged surveillance program. According to a brief submitted by Klein in support of unsealing the material, his sealed statement said that he observed that the signal carrying Internet data from all over the world through AT&T’s San Francisco central switch was “split” so that an exact copy of the data was redirected to the National Security Agency. Klein’s brief argues that his observations are not a state secret and are “relevant to a robust national debate currently taking place around the country.” AT&T contends in a brief filed last month that Klein’s statement and other documents should be kept confidential because they contain trade secrets.
Editor’s Note: All the reporting, writing, and editing of this content was done by human journalists at the time of initial publication. AI tools were used to surface these stories from our internal Bay City News archives and provide the introductory context.