Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

An event for this " News Bash " at Spot.us Host: Spot.us Type: Causes - Fundraiser Network: Global Start Time: Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 9:00am End Time: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 2:00pm Location: New Delhi Restaurant Street: 160 Ellis Street, SF 94102 City/Town: San Francisco, CA Phone: 5103840788 Email: kara@spot.us

I just got a message about this: Host: Save The Parkway Speakeasy Theatre In Oakland Type: Other - Festival Network: Global Date: Sunday, April 26, 2009 Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm Location: FM Smith Park (just up Park Blvd. from the Parkway) http://bit.ly/fmsmithmap Email: bbq@iliketheparkway.com On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=92788939965

More at Inside Bay Area : “BERKELEY, Calif.—City officials say a student at the University of California, Berkeley has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The Berkeley Division of Public Health and the University's health services are contacting about 225 students and faculty who may have been in close contact with the infected student. Health officials say tuberculosis can spread when someone with the disease coughs or sneezes and people in close contact "directly inhale the TB germs over an extended period of time." Officials say brief or casual contact with an infected person does not spread the disease.”

More at East Bay Express I just saw this over at the Express Blog... “The East Bay Express is moving to Oakland's Jack London Square area on May 16. The Express has been in Emeryville for nearly eight years, after spending its first 23 years in Berkeley. The paper is leasing office space at 620 Third Street, between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Jefferson Street, three blocks west of Broadway.” GREAT! Welcome to Oakland Bob Gammon, but does that mean your newsroom staff will diversify? Would be nice to see a video with some people of color representing the Express. At any rate, welcome to Oakland.

  More at Zennie62.com   YouTube , MySpace , Metacafe , Blip.tv , Crackle , Stupid Videos , Sclipo , Viddler and Howcast Today, Easter Sunday, an after an kidnapping affair that lasted for several days, American sea Captain Richard Phillips was rescued after NAVY Seal Snipers took three precision shots and killed three pirates from Somalia. Conservative blogs and websites like "HotAir" have unintelligently called for us to go into Somalia "bomb" the pirates, but such saber-rattling will only kill innocent women and children. In other words, "American Machismo" worked to rescue the captain, but it will not work for the resolution of this problem. In what can be described as a "growth industry" pirating in Somalia is a function of the country's lack of a government, weak economy, little military funding, and lack of financial aid from the World. In order to stop these attacks, the people of Somalia themselves must be helped.

Security ambassadors making dent in Oakland crime - San Jose Mercury News : “OAKLAND, Calif.—Oakland officials are crediting the use of so-called "security ambassadors" with helping to clean things up a bit in the city's downtown. Since the eleven ambassadors hit the streets in early February, officials say they've booted out a drug dealer, helped police arrest a purse snatcher and are discouraging youths from hanging around the downtown area. Oakland Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki acknowledges the ambassadors are beginning to make a dent in low-level crimes.” -- I've never seen this presence in downtown Oakland. Where are they? And just 11 of them? I'm really in favor of helping people downtown get to know each other. That's the best deterent.

I created this video at the specific request of Tyson Chandler at CNN's iReport. The idea is to give viewers a look at the secret places in your town, so I made this one for Oakland: