Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Ok. On the A's stadium issue I've read a lot of stuff from a lot of different people, sat in on my last Mayor's Office Sports and Entertainment Task Force Meeting (I quit), read and published John Russo's letter , and now I'm going to give the "once over" to Oakland A's Co-Owner Guy T. Saperstein's letters (plural) that have been bouncing around the Internet. I'm starting a plain old bare knuckles brawl here, as I'm throwing another set of punches to add to John Russo's Ali-like jabs of last week, only my punches are not jabs; I'm going for the knockout. A lot of people aren't going to like what I'm about to write, but others are going to be happy someone said it. Before I turn my anger to Mr. Saperstein, I have to give a tongue-lashing to three people: Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Oakland Planning Commisssioner Doug Boxer, and Oakland Chamber of Commerce Executive D

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Pican Restaurant is in the middle of the revived Uptown in Oakland. Ok. After blasting the organizers of the previous Oakland Blogger's Party for not inviting me and for it being an " All Whites gathering " Oakland Blogger VSmoothe ( A Better Oakland ) was cool enough to invite me to last Wednesday's party, and you know, it was a good event with some diversity in the house. My only misgiving is that the folks' of color were not all active Oakland Bloggers like me or Michael Caton ( An Oakland Citizen ), or...VSmoothe or the good folks who write the Myrtle Street Review , who didn't make it but I'll get them to the next one! (That's a bit of a prod to get it going, folks!) But that written, it was a total blast! I'm happy to see that Oakland has a vibrant culture of people who care enough to write about what's happening in it. I love that they're engaged and it's good to see

Assistant Alameda County District Attorney Chris Lamiero discusses the grand jury indictment of Yusuf Ali Bey IV for ordering the killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men.

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Business and civic leaders tried to sound a hopeful message Friday as they met to take stock of Oakland's economy in the midst of a national financial crisis. Their meeting at the Oakland Marriott marked the second anniversary of the creation of a public-private initiative called the Oakland Partnership, designed to attract 10,000 jobs to Oakland over a five-year period. Mayor Ron Dellums joined others in saying the partnership has seen success despite the economic doom and gloom, and that the Obama administration's stimulus package could give Oakland a significant boost.”

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! On Saturday, May 3rd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver and on Channel 9407 nationwide on the DISH Network , but it's on Comcast in Florida, and Fox and Insight cable systems. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully. If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org . or Zennie62.com This first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters and that was eye-opening. Then we focus on the words

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! In an article written by none other than Academy Award-Winning Actor Leonardo DiCaprio , Oakland's Van Jones was just named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People. DiCaprio writes: When Van Jones was tapped to serve as special adviser on green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality earlier this year, the appointment was heralded as a significant development for the green movement. And for good reason. A pioneer in fusing economic opportunity and social justice with environmentalism, Jones, 40, represents an important progression in our country's perception and thus our approach to combatting global warming. It's incredible and, well, just plain cool to see Van rise from Oakland to the White House where he works as Special Adviser on Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and be rewarded for something he would have done and has done without fanfare for years

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! YouTube , MySpace , Blip.tv , Stupid Videos , Sclipo and Viddler Supreme Court Judge David Souter plans to retire at 69 years of age, according to Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio and which she announced today. President Barack Obama has a great opportunity to begin to remake the Supreme Court by installing a real legal scholar who's work and life has impacted many people. That person is Professor Kathleen Sullivan . Professor Sullivan, like President Obama, is a constitutional law scholar which means she focuses on the interpretation and implementation of the U.S. Constitution. The importance of that can't be understated as we see a flurry of new laws to control speech and behavior (think laws curbing the use of "cuss" words for example) and their conflict with civil liberties. And as the Supreme Court is the place for the consideration fo the U.S. Constitution, it's logical to have a consti

Mehserle loses plea to have bail reduced - Inside Bay Area : “Although former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle is free on $3 million bail in his murder case, he recently sought but lost a plea to have it reduced, a court order obtained by the Tribune revealed. Michael Rains, Mehserle's defense attorney, sought a $2.9 million reduction of bail in the case, arguing that Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson "manipulated the facts" regarding his client's flight risk when the judge issued the original bail amount in January.”

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! The Worldwide sensation Susan Boyle, who was discovered to rave reviews on the show Britains' Got Talent is now faced with her second "big challenger" in as many weeks on the show, 10-year-old Hollie Steel and a process that threatens to dampen Boyle's chance for real success. The small girl from Britain wowed the crowd last Saturday on yet another show. Steel makes the second talent to emerge as a possible challenge to Boyle for the winner of the competition in as many weeks, as we were introduced to 12-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi just the weekend before, and calls into question the ability of Boyle to maintain the high level frenzy that catapulted her to stardome. What I fear is that as BGT rolls out new challengers, Boyle's ability to capture a high dollar record deal will be impacted. The only solution for Boyle is to drop out of Britains' Got Talent, and sign a record deal before the end of Ma

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! In a strongly worded letter I just received as of this writing from the office of Oakland City Attorney John Russo (and is reproduced in full at the end of this post), Oakland's lawyer penned what is without a doubt the strongest attack on the Oakland Athletics attempts to leave Oakland by and Oakland City Official. Russo writes: Oakland A’s managing partner Lew Wolff is a talented and smart businessman. But if Wolff thinks anybody is buying his sob story about why the A’s have to leave Oakland, he’s seriously underestimating the intelligence of the team’s fan base, the press and the people of this city.   Oakland City Attorney John Russo with me in 2008 in his office.  What started this has been a process of dissing and trying to excavate the team from Oakland almost since it was sold to Ken Schott and Steve Hoffman after the beloved Haas Family sold the organization in 1994; Schott and Hoffman then sold the t

More at Inside Bay Area : “he Oakland mayor's race is 18 months away, but you can add Alameda County deputy district attorney Scott Jackson's name to a growing list of those interested in the top post. Jackson, 39, said he was honored to be approached last year by a few people urging him to run for mayor. He is definitely interested and is "weighing his options" before making a final decision this summer. "I'm not saying yes, but I've been out there talking to people," he said. "I've got a lot support from families."”

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! The Oakland Raiders picked University of Maryland'Darrius Heyward-Bey even though he was rated by many behind Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree. Even in cyberspace, Crabtree's a better rated pass catcher. On Madden Football, Michael Crabtree is rated ahead of Darrius Heyward-Bey 84 to 79, but Darrius Heyward-Bey was taken ahead of Crabtree. For the Raiders, Draftniks here in NYC think it was a question of speed. Heyward-Bey runs a 4.3 40 yard dash versus Crabtree's 4.5 time, but Crabtree's a gamer. Still his underclassman status and his recent injury have caused Crabtree to be down-graded by some. But not so far that the San Francisco 49ers took him as the 10th pick. A number of people here at the Draft are questioning the Raiders decision to pass on him for the lower rated Heywood-Bey. Here's a video example: a conversation featuring our Bill Chachkes and Dewie from Yardbarker both in the Interv

More at Inside Bay Area : “U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder swore in Oakland attorney Tony West today as Assistant U.S. Attorney General in charge of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division. President Barack Obama nominated West to the post Jan. 22; his confirmation hearing last month went off without a hitch; and the U.S. Senate confirmed him Monday on an 82-4 vote. West, 43, most recently a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, has served as a Clinton Administration Justice Department official; a federal prosecutor in San Francisco; and a special assistant California Attorney General tasked with troubleshooting difficult issues. A candidate in the 23rd Assembly District's 2000 Democratic primary, he later served as a delegate for John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004 — meeting Obama there, soon after the speech that put the future president on many Americans' radar for the first time — and then for Obama in D

This video of a fight that started between a group of women at the Britnet Spears concert at the Oracle Arena on April 22nd was posted Thursday evening April 23rd. I have no idea who the people are but the YouTube channel it came from is called two28svn5. (For the record, I was not at the concert, nor in the Bay Area. I was in Georgia and now New York City.) If you listen to the video, at 1:31 someone says "back there by a partrol officer" so one can assume police stepped in.

An event for this " News Bash " at Spot.us Host: Spot.us Type: Causes - Fundraiser Network: Global Start Time: Thursday, April 30, 2009 at 9:00am End Time: Friday, May 1, 2009 at 2:00pm Location: New Delhi Restaurant Street: 160 Ellis Street, SF 94102 City/Town: San Francisco, CA Phone: 5103840788 Email: kara@spot.us

I just got a message about this: Host: Save The Parkway Speakeasy Theatre In Oakland Type: Other - Festival Network: Global Date: Sunday, April 26, 2009 Time: 1:00pm - 5:00pm Location: FM Smith Park (just up Park Blvd. from the Parkway) http://bit.ly/fmsmithmap Email: bbq@iliketheparkway.com On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=92788939965

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Have you ever walked by a group doing something interesting and yet never stopped to, or perhaps feared to, inquire what they were doing?  If so, this video-blog is for you .  I'm in Georgia as I write this and visiting my Mom, but two Saturdays ago I saw a YouTube video of people playing drums under the "Columns" at Lake Merritt in Oakland, where I live for those of you reading this in, er, Japan.  I said to myself, and wrote on the Oakland Focus Blog , that if I ever encountered that group I was going to have my camera at the ready and interview them (if they let me of course). Well that's what I did on that Saturday morning.  The group is called "Emeryville Taiko" at www.etaiko.org , and as Sensei Susan Horn informs us in the video, they were located in Emeryville, but are now at 27th and Harrison St, near the Whole Foods Market and near Lake Merritt.   But on Saturday's they have this Taiko c

Bloc Party performing 'Talons' live at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California on April 20, 2009.