Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

If you bank with Bank of America in Oakland, be careful because according to the Oakland Tribune, BofA branches are being robbed of late . First there was the Diamond District, then just this week East Oakland. Who's next? No branch I hope. Be watchful.

Is the Oakland Tribune not far behind the SF Chronicle in lifespan ?  If this report by Editor and Publisher is to be believed:  Moody's Investors Service, the big credit rating agency, on Tuesday launched a new database and quarterly report of companies in the most serious danger of default -- and four newspaper companies are among those on the "Bottom Rung." Each of the four -- Freedom Communications, GateHouse Media Inc. MediaNews Group Inc. and Morris Publishing Group Inc. -- has a "probability of default" ratings that indicate they are at "substantial risk" of missing repayments if a so-called default event is triggered. On average there's about a 25% chance a company given those ratings will default within a year, going into bankruptcy or some other remedy. That means there's a one-quarter chance the Oakland Tribune could stop printing in the near future.  

More at Muni Diaries : “Former Oakland Tribune reporter Bill Brand has succombed to injuries sustained in a February 8 accident. Brand was hit by the N-Judah near Second and King Streets.” -- This is so sad. I remember Brand's work through the years and wondered what happened to him. I pray he finds peace in heaven.

More at Oakland Tribune : “The attorney for Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer charged with murder stemming from a shooting on New Year's Day, entered a not guilty plea for his client in an Oakland courtroom Thursday. Attorney Christopher Miller entered the plea in front of a packed courtroom with extra security. In a red Santa Rita Jail jumpsuit, Mehserle, who could barely be seen behind a protective clear encasing, waived his right to a quick preliminary hearing. Miller then asked Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert McGuiness for a bail hearing, which was set for Jan. 26 in Oakland. Mehserle was arrested on a no-bail warrant, and no bail has been set. The full courtroom included Mehserle's friends and family and those of Oscar Grant III, the man Mehserle is accused of killing Jan. 1 on the Fruitvale BART platform. Sheriff's deputies carefully let different groups into the courtroom separately to avoid any problems with heightened tensions.”

More at Inside Bay Area : “Geoffrey's Inner Circle, the popular black-owned and -operated nightclub in downtown Oakland, is closing. Owner Geoffrey Pete said little Tuesday other than he is transferring the lease to a church and a nonprofit. Pete has complained in the past, however, that police were unfairly targeting his night spot as well as other black-owned clubs downtown, many of which have closed in the past few years. Some of the clubs closed voluntarily or were pressured to do so by the city after crowds leaving the establishments were involved in fights, shootings and sideshows that resulted in injuries and death. Police said the incidents ate up overtaxed police resources as officers from beats around the city were called in to restore order and make arrests. Geoffrey's drew a mature, well-heeled crowd and had relatively few problems compared with other now-defunct nightclubs, such as Mingles and Sweet Jimmie's, but Oakland police Sgt. Kyle Thomas said that change...

More at Inside Bay Area : “The resolutions are in, and it's shaping up as a lean, mean new year for the Port of Oakland, which also operates Oakland International Airport. Despite layoffs and other cost-cutting measures this year, the port's number crunchers say the predicted gross revenues of $298.7 million this fiscal year will fall $12.1 million short unless steps are taken to reduce costs or increase operating revenues before then. Given the global economy, the dire state of the airline industry, and the declining number of shipments coming in and going out of the port's marine terminals, the former seems a more likely solution, said Marilyn Sandifur, the port's public information officer.”

More at San Francisco Business Times: : “Moody's Investors Services on Thursday rated MediaNews Group Inc. -- owner of 29 newspapers in Northern California -- as being in “substantial risk” of default on its debt. Denver-based MediaNews owns the Oakland Tribune, the Contra Costa Times, the Argus in Fremont, and the San Jose Mercury News, among other local papers. The ratings service downgraded its “corporate family rating” of the privately held media company to Caa3 from B3 on $962 million in debt. It also lowered its “probability of default” rating to Caa3 from Caa1.” -- And the Trib's plan to charge money to online readers for content access is not going to stop this slide.

More at Oakland Tribune : “The Raiders' all-around impressive 27-16 victory over the red-hot Houston Texans on Sunday had those who braved the cold and rain at the Coliseum roaring their approval and likely wondering if this was a one-game aberration or a harbinger of things to come.”

Don Perata shifted $1.5 million from PAC to his legal defense - Inside Bay Area : “By Josh Richman Oakland Tribune Contributors to Don Perata's political action committee this year might have thought their money would bankroll the attempted recall of state Sen. Jeff Denham or opposition to a legislative redistricting reform measure. But a day after the Nov. 4 election, and with only a few weeks left as state Senate President Pro Tem, the Oakland Democrat moved $1.5 million from Leadership California into his own legal defense fund, formed to counter a years-long FBI corruption probe. This sum dwarfs the California Democratic Party's $450,000 contribution to Perata's legal fund over the past year, which had caused an outcry from some party activists. It also towers above the $555,000 Perata had moved from his Taxpayers for Perata committee — ostensibly created for a 2010 Board of Equalization run — into his legal defense fund in several chunks since 2005. The transferred amo...

In a kind of retrospective, Oakland Tribune reporter Josh Richman looks back on California Senator Don Perata's record and sorts them into the good and the bad.  He give Perata praise for standing up to Governior Schwartzenegger, and pans for Perata's way of handling campaign cash, but those aren't the only actions Richman points to.  You've got to read the rest here:   Click Trib  .  

Remember our blog post featuring a chilling video showing how Oakland Unified School District Police Chief Art Michel verbally abused and detained Oakland Tribune photographer Jane Tyska? To refresh, Chief Michel claims that Tyska hit his police cruiser with her camera, where Tyska says she did not and indeed, the video shows that she was making a video of a protest. Michel used his claim to launch a verbally abusive tirade against Tyska, an event that he's reportedly very remorseful about.   (If you've not seen the video, it's here: Well, I just talked with a good friend of mine who will not be revealed, and who reports that this episode was not the first time Tyska has had a "run-in" -- as my friend put it -- with Art Michel. My source is not clear regarding the reasons for Michel's dislike for Tyska, but it's clear he's got something against her. My source also personally has known Police Chief Michel for some time but has n...

Oakland Tribune photographer Jane Tyska was just doing her job when an Oakland Police Officer named Art Michel alledgedly hit Tyska as she was filming.  It's too bad Jane didn't get a shot of the car as it went by -- I'd have done that right off.  But it's clear the Oakland Police are developing a kind of track record of hostility to the press.  First there's the matter of Chauncey Bailey, then there's this issue of the way Jane was treated and detained. Police should consider journalists as off-limits to their treatment.  To treat someone the way Michel handled Jane, who I know, is not only terrible, it should be grounds for dismissal.  I view it as interfering with a journalist's job, just as a police officer has the right to charge a person who keeps them from doing their job.  It's obvious Officer Michel was being unnecessarily harsh with Tyska.  He should be forced to at the very least apologize to Jane.  Michel was out of line....

In the ongoing, but not well-progressing process of determining who killed Chauncey Bailey ( see my conversation with Paul Cobb of the Oakland Post  ) and why, The Chauncey Bailey Project has uncovered a problem: the alledged actions of Oakland Police Sargent   Derwin Longmire that are related to Yusuf Bey, the former CEO of Your Black Muslim Bakery.  The Oakland Tribune Reports: OAKLAND - Well before the August 2007 killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey, detective Sgt. Derwin Longmire twice interfered in felony investigations of former Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV, according to police documents obtained and interviews conducted during a yearlong investigation by the Chauncey Bailey Project. In both cases, Bey IV was charged with crimes despite Longmire's actions. In one, he continued to talk to Bey IV about one case after an investigator told him not to, according to police documents. In the other case, he tried to get evidence returned to th...

In what has to be the greatest example of editorial contrast in mainstream media, we have the Oakland Tribune's loving praise for Senate Pro Tem Don Perata's political style during sessions on the California budget, and then East Bay Express reporting on his rumored investigation by the FBI. On that, Robert Gammon, who was with the Tribune until about six years ago, seems to have spent much of his adult life trying to get Perata for this of that. If not him, then it was the SF Bay Guardian for a time takikng wacks at him. It's like an old saw. It can only sell papers for so long. Now, the industry's in free fall. But I digress. You be the judge. Here's the Oakland Tribune : Perata takes "textured" approach to foes By Steven Harmon MediaNews Sacramento Bureau Article Last Updated: 07/14/2008 06:54:25 AM PDT SACRAMENTO — Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata has what experts say is a textured approach to dealing with his Republican foes on the budget. Th...

Long time Oakland Tribune reporters Bill Soliday and Dave Del Grande were two of the 24 Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times reporters let go for "financial reasons" as the newspaper industry continues to fall with the steady transfer of ad dollars from print media to online sources. I leaned of the two reporter's demise while out with friends. This story on the blog Mediafade, fills in some blanks. One reporter thinks their layoffs have to do with support of the union, The Newspaper Guild. Ha. She does not get it. Many old media folks don't get it. Just last year, the top ad buyers shifted $1 billion away from print and TV and to the Internet . It giving way to publicaions like, for example, Zennie's Zeitgeist , which is rounding up sponsors for its DNC Convention coverage. The times are a changin.

Here are the Oakland Tribune endorsements released today, election day: Oakland Tribune endorsements Article Created: 06/02/2008 01:38:10 PM PDT - State Senate District 9: (Richmond and stretches south through Berkeley, Piedmont, Oakland and eastward to Castro Valley, Dublin, Livermore and the county line) This is termed-out Sen. Don Perata's district. Democrat nomination: Wilma Chan. - Assembly District 14: (Richmond, Berkeley and stretches eastward to Pleasant Hill, Lamorinda) Democratic nomination: Tony Thurmond. - Assembly District 18: (Dublin, portions of Pleasanton, Castro Valley, Hayward and Sa - Leandro) Democratic nomination: Mary Hayashi (I). - Alameda County Board of Supervisors, District 4: (East Oakland, Oakland Hills, Castro Valley, Ashland, Cherryland, Fairview and Dublin) No Recommendation - Alameda County Board of Education District 3: John Bernard; District 2: Conchita Tucker - Alameda County Superior Court Judge: John Bernard OAKLAND - Oakland City Council Distri...

A "redirect" is when one types "oaklandtribune.com" and is taken to "www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune" where the Oakland Tribune's website is actually located. But guess what, folks, as of 1:24 PM on Sunday, March 2nd, that "redirect" does not work. The report is that "Safari can’t open the page “http://oaklandtribune.com/” because it could not connect to the server “oaklandtribune.com”." No kidding. Try it and let me know if that happens for you. This points to the overall problem of news in Oakland in the 21st Century. That few people care about what's happening and such that a "large" newspaper like the Oakland Tribune would allow it's redirect to not work. People aren't used to typing www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune, as much as just simply "Oakland Tribune" -- that's just a fact. What's going on here is a crisis of lack of concern about news in Oakland, and the Tribune...

Oakland journalist shot dead in street Motive not known in slaying of Post editor By Harry Harris and Angela Hill, STAFF WRITERS Article Last Updated: 08/03/2007 07:33:11 AM PDT Unidentified mourners observe a moment of prayer at the spot where Oakland Post editor Chauncey... OAKLAND — In what police called a targeted killing, longtime Bay Area journalist Chauncey Bailey was ambushed and fatally shot Thursday morning at 14th and Alice streets in downtown as he walked to the Oakland Post, where he recently had been named editor. Investigators so far have only a vague description of the gunman and no motive in the shooting. "We have not ruled out anything, including whether it was work-related or a personal dispute," said Oakland homicide Sgt. Derwin Longmire. "But this was no random act. He was the target of a deliberate murder." About 7:25 a.m., Bailey, 57, a former Oakland Tribune reporter, was walking to work from an apartment where he had recently been living nea...

Area journalist sets jail-time record Blogger resists subpoena 169 days By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER - Oakland Tribune Article Last Updated: 02/07/2007 08:48:46 AM PST SAN FRANCISCO — Freelance videographer and blogger Josh Wolf became a full-fledged media martyr Tuesday, surpassing the U.S. record for most time spent in jail by a journalist who refused to comply with a subpoena. Tuesday was the 169th day that Wolf, 24, of San Francisco spent in a federal prison cell in Dublin after refusing to give a federal grand jury footage he shot of a 2005 political protest in San Francisco's Mission District. Journalists, civil libertarians and politicians gathered on the steps of City Hall to mark the occasion. "Josh Wolf is in jail for every one of you out there who's holding a camera ... a notepad ... a microphone," said David Greene, executive director of the Oakland-based First Amendment Project. "This is not a selfish act, he has nothing to gain personally by being ...