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Last night's Hope for Haiti Now concert featured 19 performances from artists like Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, U2, Wyclef Jean, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, and Kid Rock Jennifer Hudson, Emeline Michel, The Edge, Dave Matthews and Neil Young. Here's the AP's video summary : And Hope for Haiti Now attracted stars who worked the phones like Colin Farrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Charlize Theron, Steven Spielberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, and Ben Stiller. Bill Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, and head of the Bush / Clinton Haiti Fund, gave this speech: The Hope for Haiti Now concert event was in Los Angeles, New York, and Haiti, where CNN's Anderson Cooper is working to repor...

The news is all over that Chevron's planning to close its Richmond Refinery, but in Richmond, California and the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, it's seen as kind of a joke. While Chevron reports that it would like to remain operating the 100-year-old facility, it also has been beset with a number of economic problems that have made the decision to remain in Richmond more of a business consideration and less of an emotional one. First, the World's new export king, China has planned to slow its country's economic growth by tightening its bank lending practices to curb inflation. While China's inflation problems have resulted in a stronger U.S. Dollar (proof that Congressman Ron Paul is consistently wrong in his criticism of U.S. economic stimulus spending), its causing a drop in crude oil futures. China is the largest consumer of crude oil, so this news will hurt that industry. Add to that the near-recessionary U.S. Economy and you have a problem that...

The Oakland Parking Problem has a number of Oaklanders upset, yet the City of Oakland just doesn't seem to get it. The Oakland Parking Problem has its second political reaction: Green Party Member Don Macleay is running for Mayor. Don Macleay was one of the first to start working on an Oakland Parking Initiative, but like this blogger feels the City of Oakland just doesn't care. For example, an Oakland Councilmember with an affinity for cocktails yelled in the year of this blogger at a downtown Oakland restaurant recently only because of the mention of the Oakland Parking Initiative and the desire to lower parking rates to more reasonable and affordable levels. When this was said, the Oakland Councilmember turned and gestured with the cocktail glass with "IF YOU DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO CUT, YOU'RE A LIAR!! A LIAR!!! I'LL CALL YOU THAT TO YOUR FACE!!! LIAR!!! Yes. Yelling really loud in the establishment , and just as it was wrote.  W...

The First Unitarian Church of Oakland is one of the oldest and most storied buildings in the East Bay. Built in 1891, it just underwent an $8.1 million retrofit and renovation and the community will celebrate Sunday, Jan. 24th at 3pm. This historic church is a California state landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It's so old that its steeple was used as the model for UC Berkeley's famous Campanile. It features incredible redwood arches and stained glass windows, and has been the site of many important events, most recently the memorial service for KPFA's Andrea Lewis. This Sunday, January 24, they are holding a rededication ceremony to officially reopen their sanctuary after the renovation work was completed late last year. It's at 3pm at the church, which is at 14th and Castro Streets -- right next to the 980 freeway -- in downtown Oakland. There will be speeches, a performance by Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir -- which was founded at the c...

Yesterday, the new Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts set himself apart from other lawmen. He's been making the rounds in community meetings throughout the city, but yesterday he spoke of his life mission and love of young people. In his passionate and charming talk as keynote for the Martin Luther King community celebration at the Taylor United Methodist Church in West Oakland, he spoke with honesty about his difficult upbringing in South Central Los Angeles, losing a young person on the streets of Long Beach, and finding the answer to the question"God, why am I here"? The crowd of 1000 got on their feet when he asked people to take a pledge to do anything it takes to prevent violence like the kind that paralyzed Christopher Rodriquez (who was in the audience). He asked the crowd, "What would you do if failure wasn't an option" and rejected the complacency and numbness that seems to follow violent street crimes. Could the police department finally have ...

[Aimee Allison] Mayor Dellums is finally using his city-chartered right to break a council tie by casting a vote for his appointee Michael Lighty to the Port Commission. The Mayor, who recently brokered a deal with port truckers and the state over tighter emissions regulations, is finally playing his hand at strong mayor. The Port Commission is one of the most powerful groups in city politics, and plays a key role in approving development project like the BART extension and housing, environmental fights as in the ongoing stand-off between truckers and the port, and jobs - as in whether local people are going to get the 6,000 jobs that will be created by the project at the old army base. More from Sanjiv Handa, East Bay News Service: Mayor Ron Dellums is still planning on attending the Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 19, to cast the tie-breaking vote approving the nomination of Michael Lighty to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of Oakland.It has been so long since a may...

The City of Oakland is in the process of breaking up the monopoly long-held by Oakland's Friendly Cab. According to a source who did not wish to be named, last week on Friday, Oakland Police Officers took taxi medallions away from Yellow Cab cars owned by Friendly Cab. The source reports that the cabs will be offered to the public "sometime around January 25th." According to the source, Surrender Singh, the owner of Friendly Cab, was making as much as $250,000 a week from operations; that's $12 million a year. But allegedly Friendly Cab was "abusive" to its drivers," said the source, who did not elaborate on the claim, "Something needed to be done." Before the City of Oakland's action to end their monopoly, you had to go to Friendly Cab to lease a taxi and the cost is $65 per day. All of the expenses are paid by the driver. Friendly Cab has 100 cars, so the 11 Yellow Cabs that will be lost should not be a large impact on its...