The Oakland mayoral race is a close call between progressive Barbara Lee and moderate challenger Loren Taylor. In SF, Mayor Daniel Lurie rounds out his first 100 days.

A cinematic heist in Downtown Los Angeles: Thieves recently tunneled from a historic theater through “castle-like” walls into a store packed with bling.

Hungarian Susan Polgar earned chess’ highest honor at age 15. She and her family faced antisemitism and harassment from the ruling Communist Party, and sexism from opponents and officials in chess. Her new memoir is “Rebel Queen.”

What’s the relationship between art and democracy? After his firing from the Kennedy Center, poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph has some thoughts.