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Renowned barber college still stylin' in new location Moler transplanted to Telegraph Avenue By Cecily Burt, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — The spacious Moler Barber College salon on Telegraph Avenue was crowded with would-be barbers and stylists giving shaves and facials early one recent morning. Despite being a normally talkative bunch, no one uttered a peep. For a full hour, the students silently honed their straight-razor shaving techniques, folded hot towels in the precise way and perfected the art of rejuvenating facial massages — all in preparation for rigorous practical state board exams in March. That this scene happened at all is amazing, because it wasn't so long ago that Oakland's 95-year-old barberschool — one of the few in the Bay Area — was in danger of closing for good. Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, which is expanding its North Oakland campus, had purchased the storefront building on Broadway, where Moler students had shampooed, shaped and styl...

Click here to read my post on this over at SBS NFL Business Blog.

This was from the Yahoo! Message board today I wanted to report an armed robbery. My husband and I were robbed at gun point at 1:20A this morning in front of our apartment building at 376 Staten Avenue . Three young black youths dresses in Black-hooded sweatshirts and baggy jeans, with shoes with rubber soles. They held a gun on my husband, took his wallet, and took my purse with wallet, cell phone, make-up, etc. inside. We did call the police, they came out, we made a report. The youth used two of our credit cards at three gas stations: An Oakland 76 Station, A McArthur Valero, and Son T. Nguygen station at 3:00Am, 3:05 AM, and 3:15 AM. Hopefully this will give the police something to go on. We want to let you all know.

As a note, I ran into Rep. Barbara Lee at the Montclarion Albertson's while shopping late with my mother. Rep. Lee informed us that she'd been flying the red-eye back and forth from here to Washington DC. Lots of work to be done, as this article will reveal. Lee hits ground running in 110th Congress By Josh Richman MEDIANEWS STAFF Rep. Barbara Lee clearly doesn't believe in starting slowly. While five Bay Area members of Congress have yet to introduce a bill in the 110th Congress convened last week and four more have introduced one bill each so far, Lee already has introduced 17 pieces of legislation. For Lee, D-Oakland, the early blitz is partly a matter of staking out her turf. "These are critical issues, not only to the people of my district but to the entire nation, and I am not going to wait for an invitation to stake out my position or take a leadership role," she said Tuesday. "These are issues that I have been working on, many of them for years, an...

THE TOWN CRIER: GINNY PRIOR Of The Montclarion Beast dwells in murky waters of Lake Merritt I've always suspected something was lurking, just below the murky green surface. Now it's been confirmed -- Oakland's Lake Merritt has a monster. Like Scotland's Loch Ness and Lake Champlain's Champ, this creature eludes all but the most vigilant observers. Richard Bailey, the resident expert, has seen the great head of the beast -- with its glowing red eyes and spiked horns. "It's got six or seven humps like you'd see on the Loch Ness," he proclaims, adding that the creature measures more than 10 feet in length. Frightening? You bet! But Bailey says it's also a tourist attraction, if you don't get too close. He's sent out a letter to the City Council asking that the creature be protected as an endangered species. Perhaps the company Monster.com would like to buy the naming rights.

Plummer ends five-decade career in law enforcement Outspoken Alameda County sheriff started with Berkeley police in 1952 By Chris Metinko STAFF WRITER - THE MONTCLARION After more than 50 years in one career, it's not uncommon to think about what one would have done differently. Monday, on his last day on the job, Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer had his own thoughts. After a retirement ceremony that included helicopter flyovers, bagpipes and what seemed like thousands of handshakes, the former Berkeley and Hayward chief of police sat in his office afterward and voiced that one regret. "I wish I would have hit some people harder during the riots," said Plummer, speaking of the riots in Berkeley in the late-1960s. "I regret that." It was a fitting answer for a man who has made a 54-year career not just out of law enforcement, but also out of speaking exactly what was on his mind -- usually using the kind of spicy language shied away from by most public offi...

Starting today, Rich Lieberman, the Oakland-native and Skyline High graduate commonly known as "Big Vinny" from his two-year stint as the character "Big Vinny" for Round Table Pizza, has joined the Blogsphere. Currently, Rich appears in the online column section for Matier and Ross in the San Francisco Chronicle. Rich has a long history in Bay Area media circles and knows what's going on with whom and where. Rich's new Blog is called "Big Vinny's Bay Area" and features items, jokes, and news from one of the best connected people in the Bay Area. Visit http://bigvinnysbayarea.blogspot.com