Janie Har, Author at The Rapid City Post

Students from Columbus, Ohio, wait outside a barrier as U.S. Capitol Police watch over the East Plaza where congressional leaders will have a news conferences on the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Judge says she’s inclined to block the Trump administration from firing workers during the shutdown

October 15, 2025

A federal judge says she’s inclined to block President Donald Trump’s administration for now from firing workers during the government shutdown. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said at a hearing in San Francisco on Wednesday she believes the evidence would ultimately show the firings were illegal and in excess of authority. The hearing is continuing. The judge hasn’t issued a ruling. The White House budget office said Friday mass firings of federal workers had started. That announcement prompted labor unions for federal employees to ask the judge for a temporary restraining order blocking the Republican administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those already sent out.

A Waymo vehicle drives past a No U-Turn sign in San Bruno, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

California police pull over a self-driving Waymo for an illegal U-turn, but they can’t ticket

September 30, 2025

Police in Northern California pulled over a self-driving Waymo taxi after it made an illegal U-turn. But without a driver behind the wheel, they could not issue a moving violation ticket. The San Bruno Police Department wrote up the weekend encounter in social media posts that have gone viral. Police said that their “citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot’.” State law requires moving violations be issued to drivers or operators. A new state law that kicks in next year will allow law enforcement to report moving violations to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Waymo is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

Sunset Dunes Park is photographed Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

A car-free stretch of highway in San Francisco leads to recall vote and warning to politicians

September 15, 2025

A San Francisco supervisor who pushed to turn a 2-mile stretch of highway into a car-free park faces a recall vote in his district. Tuesday’s election is San Francisco’s third recall in four years. The recall of Supervisor Joel Engardio might prevent other politicians from making controversial decisions unpopular with their constituents. The supervisor’s critics say he betrayed his constituents and ignored their concerns. His supporters say the supervisor is being punished unfairly. Voters in San Francisco recalled three school board members and District Attorney Chesa Bousin in 2022.

FILE - The Theodore Roosevelt Building, location of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, is pictured, Feb. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Judge rules Trump administration illegally fired thousands of probationary workers

September 15, 2025

A judge has ruled that the Trump administration’s central human resources office acted illegally when it directed the mass firings of thousands of probationary workers. U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco said Friday the Office of Personnel Management exceeded its authority. He said he did not believe the government’s argument that the office was merely offering guidance to federal agencies. More than 25,000 probationary workers were terminated soon after President Donald Trump took office in January, as part of his efforts to downsize the federal workforce. The judge ordered agencies to update personnel records to show that employees were not terminated for poor performance.

United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem addresses the media during a visit to the Port of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Judge tells Trump to update immigration website for Venezuelans with temporary protected status

September 12, 2025

A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to update its immigration services website to reflect 600,000 Venezuelans with temporary protected status are legally allowed to live and work in the United States. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in California said Thursday his Sept. 5 order in favor of TPS holders went into effect immediately. Trump’s Republican administration is appealing his judgment that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem unlawfully canceled temporary protected status extensions for 1.1 million Venezuelans and Haitians granted by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration. Venezuelan TPS holders say they are stuck in detention centers and unable to work because the website does not reflect the judge’s order.

FILE - State Sen. President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, smiles as he reminisces about his time in the Legislature during a Capitol news conference held in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Unabashed California liberal and former US Rep. John Burton dies at 92

September 7, 2025

Former U.S. Rep. John Burton has died at age 92. Burton was a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class, children, and people who could not speak for themselves. He mentored countless politicians, including former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. Burton died Sunday after being in ill health for years. He was elected to the state Assembly and then to Congress, but opted against reelection in 1982 to address a cocaine addiction. He returned to politics in 1988, serving in the state Legislature until 2004, and headed up the California Democratic Party from 2009 to 2017.

Trixie Garcia, daughter of musician Jerry Garcia, speaks during a ceremony to unveil the naming of Jerry Garcia Street, in honor of the Grateful Dead musician, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia has childhood street named for him in San Francisco

August 1, 2025

Several hundred fans turned out to name a tiny street in San Francisco after celebrated Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. The legendary musician spent part of his childhood in the modest Excelsior neighborhood. City officials say the commemorative street name honors a San Francisco son who continues to bring joy with his music. The Grateful Dead celebrates its 60th with three days of live music and festivities throughout the city. Offshoot Dead & Company will perform three shows starting Friday at Golden Gate Park. Garcia, who died in 1995, would have turned 83 on Friday.

A tour van featuring a painting of musician Jerry Garcia travels through Haight Street in San Francisco, Saturday, July 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

The Grateful Dead toasts its 60th with concerts at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park

July 29, 2025

Tens of thousands of Deadheads are pouring into San Francisco for three days of Dead & Company concerts in honor of the Grateful Dead’s 60th anniversary. Fans say it’s appropriate that the jam band nearly synonymous with psychedelic San Francisco celebrate in their city of origin, and in Golden Gate Park. Members lived in a dirt-cheap Victorian in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood and became a significant part of the Summer of Love. San Francisco has planned a long weekend of events, including renaming a street for city native and guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Hagerstown Regional Airport, in Hagerstown, Md., on his was to Camp David, Md., Sunday, June 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Judge blocks administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders

June 9, 2025

A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders that LGBTQ+ rights organizations say are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said that the grant funding provisions reflected an attempt to censor constitutionally protected speech and services. Several nonprofit groups serving LGBTQ+ health care sued President Donald Trump in February. They are challenging the legality of two orders eliminating DEI programs and one eliminating the existence of transgender people. Government lawyers say that the president is permitted to “align government funding and enforcement strategies” with his policies.

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) conducts a replenishment at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 13, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky/U.S. Navy via AP))

San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk’s name from ship

June 4, 2025

Leaders in San Francisco are blasting the Trump administration for stripping the name of gay icon Harvey Milk from a U.S. naval ship. Milk is a revered figure in San Francisco history. He was a city supervisor who was fatally shot along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Just last month, California marked what would have been Milk’s 95th birthday with proclamations heralding his kindness and calls for unity. Milk’s close friend Cleve Jones called the move an attempt by the Republican administration to distract the public from more serious issues.

Employees work inside a franchise of "Sabor Venezolano," one of 18 businesses owned by Wilmer Escaray which employ scores of Venezuelan immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who are now potentially exposed to deportation, in Doral, Fla., Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Judge blocks administration from revoking protected status for small subset of Venezuelans

June 2, 2025

A federal judge says an estimated 5,000 Venezuelans granted temporary protected status can continue to work and live in the U.S. despite a Supreme Court ruling revoking protections. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled Friday that Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was extended to October 2026 are not affected by the Supreme Court’s order. The Supreme Court last month gave the go-ahead for the Republican administration to strip TPS from an estimated 350,000 Venezuelans, exposing them to possible deportation. Chen’s court continues to hear the underlying claim that the revocations by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were unlawful.

FILE - A person carries a sign in support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) workers, as they carry their personal belongings after retrieving them from the USAID's headquarters in Washington, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Appeals court keeps block on Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce

May 30, 2025

An appeals court is keeping in place a court block on the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal workforce. The order was issued Friday. The Republican administration had sought an emergency stay of a California judge’s order freezing personnel reductions and reorganizations. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said voters gave him a mandate to remake a federal government he calls bloated and expensive. But U.S. Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco said the president must get the cooperation of Congress to do so. The Trump administration has previously appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Cindy McPherson, with the Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity, listens to speakers during a news conference and rally by immigrant justice organizations and advocates to protest ICE arrests in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Immigrant rights advocates rally against ICE courthouse arrests in San Francisco

May 28, 2025

Immigrant rights advocates rallied outside San Francisco’s immigration court to condemn the Trump administration’s latest deportation tactics. At a rally Wednesday, they also implored asylum-seekers and other migrants trying to stay in the United States to keep their court dates despite possible detention by ICE agents. Advocates say eight people were arrested in the San Francisco and Concord immigrant courthouses Tuesday. They say lawyers are on standby and volunteers are available to accompany people to their hearings. They say immigrants who skip out on hearings are often subject to a removal order and deportation. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FILE - A group of Florida International University students protest against cuts in federal funding and an agreement by campus police to partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on the FIU campus on a day of protests around the country in support of higher education, April 17, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

Federal judge blocks immigration authorities from revoking international students’ legal status

May 22, 2025

A judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from terminating the legal status of international students nationwide while a court case challenging previous terminations plays out. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White on Thursday barred the government from reversing the students’ legal status, arresting or transferring them until the case is resolved. They could still be arrested in cases like violent crimes. White said the government’s actions “wreaked havoc not only on the lives of Plaintiffs here but on similarly situated F-1 nonimmigrants across the United States and continues do so.” More than 4,700 international students had their permission to study in the U.S. canceled this spring and then abruptly reinstated.

Janie Har.