Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

I totally remember Andrew Martinez, who would walk around Sproul Plaza in the buff. It was a weird experience to stand there talking to someone, then he walks by, so you immediately turn your head to avoid seeing him. For all of this, I didn't think anything was really mentally wrong with him until one day in -- I think 1993 -- he was a top some building on Telegraph Avenue throwing rocks at the Berkeley police. 'Naked Guy' ex-student dies in jail Berkeley nudist was in custody on assault, battery charges Saturday, May 20, 2006; Posted: 3:39 p.m. EDT (19:39 GMT) SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- The former college student known as the "Naked Guy," who gained notoriety in the early 1990s for attending class in the buff, has died in jail, authorities said. Andrew Martinez, 33, whose stripped-down strolls at the University of California, Berkeley, got him expelled and prompted the city to adopt a strict anti-nudity ordinance, was found unconscious Thursday in a Santa Cl...

City to pay millions to slain cop's family FROM STAFF REPORTS - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — The city of Oakland is expected to pay $3.5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed by the family of an undercover Oakland police officer shot to death by two fellow officers who mistook him for a criminal, officials said Friday. The settlement, which must be approved by U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney, would putan end to a case that was another blow to a department already reeling from the Riders police misconduct scandal. The approval of the Oakland City Council is not required. A spokeswoman for Oakland City Attorney John Russo said the city's insurance carrier will cover the cost of the settlement, not taxpayer funds. On Jan. 11, 2001, undercover Officer William Wilkins, 29, was arresting a car theft suspect at gunpoint near 90th Avenue and B Street in East Oakland after spending most of the evening working for the Alameda County Drug Task Force. At about 11:15 p.m., Officer...

OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jessica Reynolds May 19, 2006 510-594-0224 JOHN RUSSO & MATT GONZALEZ AT THE MOVIES – IN PERSON! Oakland City Attorney and Assembly Candidate John Russo and Former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Matt Gonzalez Host a Community Forum and Special Screening of the Movie Classic “Network” Oakland, CA – Local political luminaries, Oakland City Attorney and Assembly Candidate John Russo (www.johnrusso.com) and former San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Green Party Mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez will host a special forum on the “Uneasy Alliance Between the White House and Fox News,” a community discussion on spin-doctors and the mass media – followed by a movie screening of Sidney Lumet’s 1976 classic “Network” – at the Parkway Speakeasy Theater in Oakland on Sunday, May 21st at 5:00 p.m. Considered one of the A...

In his press conference of two days ago, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue stated that Oakland was one of several cities without a new stadium. To read this, click on the title of this post. It sends another signal: that in future dealings, the NFL and the Oakland Raiders will be aligned as one, whereas they were at war in the past.

To those who brag about Oakland's property values rising under Jerry Brown, here's proof that the rise has nothing to do with him and everything to do with the Bay Area market -- crime in Oakland. What Jerry should be able to reduce, he's not done and even cut the police budget. Oakland crime rate not helping Brown in attorney general bid Opponent jumps on spike in homicides By Kim Curtis ASSOCIATED PRESS March 6, 2006 OAKLAND – More than 20 homicides in just over two months: This is not what Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown needs as he campaigns for the state's top law enforcement job. The dramatic spike comes just three months before the primary election, and Brown's challenger for the Democratic nomination for attorney general is already accusing the former governor and presidential candidate of being “asleep at the switch.” Oakland police say the number of killings so far this year is nearly triple last year's rate. “He will be held responsible for that,” said El...

Someone just sent a comment to one of my posts -- that I published -- in which he attributes Oakland's property value boom to Jerry Brown. Gimme a break! Property values in Oakland started increasing just two year's before Jerry was elected and that was Bay Area wide; not just in Oakland -- memories are short. All of us in Elihu's administration said that Jerry was lucky: he was taking over as Mayor at a time when the Bay Area economy was booming and all of the office and housing projects Elihu helped to get off the ground were being constructed. From the new skycraper on 11th street and just behind the APL Building, to Old Oakland Housing Phase II, to The Rotunda, and all of the government buildings downtown. All of that -- the modern Oakland skyline -- was Elihu's stamp; not Jerry Brown's. Heck even Jerry himself said this. I was there when he did at the ceremony for the new Rotunda building. That structure was redeveloped by Phil Tagami and California Com...

Cops: Killing, holdup may be tied Police want to question man in crimes at liquor store, restaurant By Harry Harris, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — A liquor store holdup may be related to the robbery-slaying of a Grand Avenue restaurant manager four days later, homicide detectives said Tuesday. Killed in the April 24 robbery at Bangkok Palace, 3300 Grand Ave., was 29-year-old Sonethavy Phomsouvanhdara. "There is potential that (the liquor store) case is related to the robbery-murder," especially since the suspects in both cases are similar in appearance, homicide Sgt. Lou Cruz said Tuesday He declined to say more, except that the liquor store robber is "certainly someone I would like to talk to." Cruz released surveillance pictures taken of the gunman during the April 20 robbery at Grand Express Liquors, 363 Grand Ave., about a mile from Bangkok Palace. Cruz said the man entered the store through the front door about 9:50 p.m. and demanded money from the r...