Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

You may have heard of Rachel Howard as she's the dance critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. But Rachel's also an accomplished book author. Her work " The Lost Night : A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder" is about the murder of her father Stan Howard and how she's coped with not just the loss of her father, but the fact that the killer was never found. On November 2nd, Rachel shares her story with Ira Glass on his show, "This American Life." Please tune in. The stations that have the show are listed here: San Francisco, CA KQED-FM 88.5 Sa 12:00 PM 12:59 PM 1/1/1998 Sacramento, CA KQEI-FM 89.3 Sa 12:00 PM 12:59 PM 1/1/1998 San Francisco, CA KALW-FM 91.7 Su 1:00 PM 1:59 PM 7/7/1996 San Francisco, CA KQED-FM 88.5 Sa 10:00 PM 10:59 PM 8/4/1996 Sacramento, CA KQEI-FM 89.3 Sa 10:00 PM 10:59 PM 8/4/1996 San Francisco, CA KALW-FM 91.7 F 1:00 PM 1:59 PM 7/11/1997

Oakland's Grand Avenue Business Association (GABA) held the 2nd annual Proud Parents Stroll along Grand Avenue. I guess you can call it a shop-hop.

The start of this video's a tad disturbing as the lady who's protesting is so far away from Senator Clinton, it wasn't worth the effort of this Hillary volunteer in the video. The Clinton camp at work, controlling the crowd. The Obama Rally didn't have such problem volunteers. I mean this is an elderly woman!

From what I was told, it was a kick-ass concert. Here's a sample.

I'll get back to politics, but here's some fun. My good friend Beth Schnitzer invited me to Pier 39s Fleet Week Party held October 5th 2007 on the roof of the parking lot at Pier 39 in San Francisco. It's a killer event that drew over 600 people and provided a great backdrop for products and events from various sponsors from Bauer's Limousines -- http://www.bauerslimousines.com -- to Sheri's Berries. There's great food and music and people, like Movie Critic Jan Wahl. This is the first movie in a series.

From SFGate.com today (10-24) 08:50 PDT OAKLAND -- Law enforcement officials raided numerous locations in Oakland today as part of a multi-agency investigation into heroin trafficking, authorities said. The citywide busts occurred at 6 a.m. and involved Oakland police officers, Alameda County sheriff's deputies and agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. San Francisco police and Internal Revenue Service agents also were involved, said Officer Roland Holmgren, an Oakland police spokesman. The raids focused on a tar heroin trafficking organization based in the Central Valley with distribution cells in Oakland and elsewhere in the Bay Area, Holmgren said. The group had the capacity to distribute between to 50 and 100 pounds of tar heroin a month, police said. Officials plan to release more details at a news conference this afternoon. That's all the information provided.

From Rockridge News, which really needs to be in blog form. An interview with City Councilwoman Jane Brunner by Stuart Flashman, RCPC boardmember, and member, RCPC Planning and Project Review Committee In 1998, the city of Oakland updated itsGeneral Plan, the fundamental document defining the city’s land use patterns. Almost 10 years later, the city has not yet revised all of its zoning ordinance to fit with what the General Plan says. The Rockridge News talked to Jane Brunner, city councilwoman for North Oakland, about this zoning upd a t e process and what it might mean for Rockridge. Councilwoman Brunner will be an invited speaker at the RCPC’s October 18 General Meeting on the topic of the Rockridge/ Temescal Zoning Update and the future of Rockridge. Rockridge News: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me about zoning in Rockridge and Temescal. Let’s start with a simple question – what is zoning about? Jane Brunner: Zoning really is taking a look at how many housing units,