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BusinessWorld Online: Chevron eyes higher production of ethanol-blended fuel

Chronicle gets $5.5 Million damage award story against Richard Thomas wrong : Indybay : “It May Take Up To Two Years For The Former Tenants Of Slumlord Richard Thomas To Receive A $5.5 Million Jury Award In Punitive Damages, And A November 7th Chronicle Article Has It Wrong By Stating That Attorney Laura Stevens Will Ask Alameda County Superior Court Judge Steven Brick To Award The $5.5 Million In Punitive Damages To Housing Agencies, Rather Than The Former Tenants! Oakland Attorney Laura Stevens Wants The Former Tenants Of Richard Thomas To Contact Her!”

Palo Alto Police Chief Resigns Amid Accusations of Racial Profiling : Indybay : “On November 20, the City of Palo Alto announced that its controversial police chief will retire on December 19. Chief Lynne Johnson sparked protests and a November 9 march on the city when she stated that she had instructed officers on her force to make "consensual contact" with African American men to counter a crime spike in Palo Alto. 

Her remarks were quoted in news reports worldwide and the topic of racial profiling became a much discussed issue at subsequent city council meetings. Some city officials took the opportunity to acknowledge that racial profiling exists and must be combatted, while others took the stance that the police chief "merely misspoke". Although the police chief made several attempts at apologizing, many residents of the city and surrounding communities were left wondering why she directed her officers to look for African Americans with do-rags when victims of ...

Oakland library hosting public reception to celebrate 90 years - Inside Bay Area : “The Temescal Branch of the Oakland Public Library will commemorate its 90th anniversary with a free public reception Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. Records show the branch, then known as the Alden Branch, was officially dedicated on Dec. 10, 1918, and was one of five libraries in Oakland built with funds donated by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. Early settler Solomon Ellsworth Alden, a New Englander who came west during the Gold Rush, acquired 600 acres between 44th and 60th Streets from Vicente Peralta and began farming in the late 1800s. Soon a horse car line, and later street cars, ran along a thoroughfare leading to Berkeley — today's Telegraph Avenue — and a small business district near Alden's property sprang up, files show.”

Theatre group tells labor struggle story - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — A crew of labor organizers and artists turned Latham Square into a stage Sunday afternoon, armed with a wardrobe of 1940s style clothing, some historical research and a cause of labor solidarity. The performance, called "Oakland 1946!," told the true story of a retail workers' strike, organized on that exact site, that eventually ballooned into a general labor strike, shutting down the city for two days. The audience of about 100 people was actively brought into the show. Some were given picket signs and drawn into a dance of celebration.”

New piece of Bailey slaying puzzle surfaces : “The leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery expressed satisfaction on the morning Chauncey Bailey was killed, saying the journalist got what he deserved for taking on the troubled organization in his reporting, a bakery member told Oakland police in a recently discovered account given the day after the slaying. Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV summoned the woman to watch a TV news story about three hours after Bailey, 57, was gunned down on his way to work on Aug. 2, 2007, she told homicide investigators. As they watched the report on the Oakland Post editor's slaying, Bey told her, "That will teach 'em to f- with me," she said. The woman worked at the bakery headquarters on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland and stayed in Bey's room there the night before Bailey was killed, she said. The Chronicle obtained a tape of her account and police notes of her interview, but is not naming her at the request of authorities who say her safety co...

Barack Obama On Meet The Press - The Activist President-Elect : “President-Elect Barack Obama appeared on the last "Meet The Press" hosted by Tom Brokaw who filed-in masterfully to take the place of Tim Russert after Russert's untimely death earlier this year. On the telecast, Obama presented a plan which can be summed-up as the "Activist President." The convergence of economic problems and President Bush's horrible performance has paved the way for an economically aggressive agenda by Obama that's the child of necessity.”