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Medical Malpractice is a large problem, and over 90 percent of doctors sued win their cases. But not in the case of Oakland Lawyer Robert G. Shock. Bob Schock represented the plaintiff, A'Daja Daniels -- a then-seven year old child (who's now 14 years old). He won a judgement of over $800,000, when he was expecting perhaps $300,000, but the jury was swayed by the severity of damage caused to her by doctor error and the impact it has on her ability to reach her economic potential, or to put it another way, to gain money from the best job for her. In this video, Bob talks about the case and his law practice. Bob's office is at 1970 Broadway in Oakland. His phone number is 839-7722 and website is Legalpros.org

If it's true that law follows society, then this is a sure sign of the end of the conservative era and the start of a period of fairness. BERKELEY Judge allows race as factor in enrollment Decision is first since Prop. 209 to let school district integrate Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Berkeley's public schools, the first in the nation to desegregate voluntarily, can consider the racial composition of a student's neighborhood in an enrollment system designed to keep each campus racially diverse, an Alameda County judge has ruled. The decision by Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith could lead to the first California appellate ruling on a school district's ability to maintain a voluntary integration program under Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that banned race and sex preferences in public education, employment and contracting. The case may also be affected by a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of school i...

This came from the Yahoo! Message Board. It details crimes in the Lakeshore Business District. To be frank, there's a history of young Black men from outside the neighborhood praying on those who are White or non-Black and living in the neighborhood. Why this is, I do not know. I can say that in the 16 years I've lived in this area, and walked home at all hours of the night, I've never even come close to being the victim of a crime. But I've walked with friends who are White and in one case, it seemed like a young brother on a bike basically aimed right at my friend -- until I intervened. Pretty weird. But I have a friend who's White and Blond and walked home at midnight from her job; nothing ever happened to her. She says it's for two reasons: 1) she's not scared, and 2) she keeps her head up. Here's the information from the group... To be more specific about patterns of robberies in the Grand Lake area, it seems that the Lakeshore Avenue Business...

Well, this should prove just how much Jerry and Gil Duran had to hide (its not the first time they've been accused of a cover-up) -- and how damaging his term was to Oakland. It should be against the law for anyone to do this, but hey, Jerry's AG now, he's really protected. And what about all the talk of wanting "open meetings"? Right! Who voted him in to that office? Mayoral files for Jerry Brown are missing By Thomas Peele and Heather MacDonald MEDIANEWS STAFF - CCTIMES Some public records of new state Attorney General Jerry Brown's eight years as Oakland mayor are missing and others were apparently improperly destroyed, raising questions about whether the state's top law-enforcement official has violated California's public records law. Two former Brown aides said they removed records from the office late last year. One of them, Gil Duran, said he consulted Michelle Abney, the public records coordinator in the city attorney's office, befor...

To say this is terrible is an understatement. Oakland school sustains damage in possible arson Firefighters get the blaze under control in about 45 minutes By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 03/28/2007 08:24:45 AM PDT OAKLAND — A possible arson fire tore through the once-serene courtyard of Peralta Elementary School late Monday night, damaging parts of the office, library and adjacent classrooms and possibly canceling school for the rest of the week. No one was injured in the 11:45 p.m. blaze, which Capt. Melinda Drayton of the Oakland Fire Department described as "a suspicious fire, possibly arson." But the destruction to the beloved school between Alcatraz Avenue and 63rd Street felt deeply personal to the close-knit group of teachers and parents who gathered outside the building Tuesday to survey the damage. "Who would want to hurt this school?" asked Kathy Rieves, a co-chair of the school's parent-teacher group. Firefighters had the blaze un...

I just spotted this blog post by A.W. Woodall , which must be read. The many Oaklands Fruitvale district: by day a sunny, colorful neighborhood where you are more likely to hear Spanish spoken than English. But at night the beasts come out. Friday afternoon my older daughter and I were hanging out in Fruitvale, devouring tamales and empenadas at World Cup Tamale near the BART station. Friday night a 19-year-old man was shot dead while walking with friends to a party. Even if the murder was more

The main question is why can't Oakland streamline its spending to smooth these wild swings in surplus and deficit? Are they conducting decent forecasts? I guess not. Oakland looking at budget shortfall City projected to be $13.5 million in the red for next fiscal year By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 03/23/2007 02:53:16 AM PDT OAKLAND — Less than a year after reveling in a $16 million surplus, the City Council must grapple with a projected budget deficit of nearly $13.5million. At a daylong retreat Monday at the Joaquin Miller Community Center, the council began working in earnest to craft a spending plan for the next two years. In addition to the deficit projected for 2007-08, the shortfall for 2008-09 is estimated to be $8.8 million. The council spent the surplus on a host of programs, including tree-trimming and roof repairs. In addition, each council member got $250,000 to spend as they wished on projects and programs in their districts. That windfal...