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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.  He

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 the Bey family be

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