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Chronicle gets $5.5 Million damage award story against Richard Thomas wrong : Indybay : “It May Take Up To Two Years For The Former Tenants Of Slumlord Richard Thomas To Receive A $5.5 Million Jury Award In Punitive Damages, And A November 7th Chronicle Article Has It Wrong By Stating That Attorney Laura Stevens Will Ask Alameda County Superior Court Judge Steven Brick To Award The $5.5 Million In Punitive Damages To Housing Agencies, Rather Than The Former Tenants! Oakland Attorney Laura Stevens Wants The Former Tenants Of Richard Thomas To Contact Her!”

Palo Alto Police Chief Resigns Amid Accusations of Racial Profiling : Indybay : “On November 20, the City of Palo Alto announced that its controversial police chief will retire on December 19. Chief Lynne Johnson sparked protests and a November 9 march on the city when she stated that she had instructed officers on her force to make "consensual contact" with African American men to counter a crime spike in Palo Alto. 

Her remarks were quoted in news reports worldwide and the topic of racial profiling became a much discussed issue at subsequent city council meetings. Some city officials took the opportunity to acknowledge that racial profiling exists and must be combatted, while others took the stance that the police chief "merely misspoke". Although the police chief made several attempts at apologizing, many residents of the city and surrounding communities were left wondering why she directed her officers to look for African Americans with do-rags when victims of

Oakland library hosting public reception to celebrate 90 years - Inside Bay Area : “The Temescal Branch of the Oakland Public Library will commemorate its 90th anniversary with a free public reception Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. Records show the branch, then known as the Alden Branch, was officially dedicated on Dec. 10, 1918, and was one of five libraries in Oakland built with funds donated by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. Early settler Solomon Ellsworth Alden, a New Englander who came west during the Gold Rush, acquired 600 acres between 44th and 60th Streets from Vicente Peralta and began farming in the late 1800s. Soon a horse car line, and later street cars, ran along a thoroughfare leading to Berkeley — today's Telegraph Avenue — and a small business district near Alden's property sprang up, files show.”

Theatre group tells labor struggle story - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — A crew of labor organizers and artists turned Latham Square into a stage Sunday afternoon, armed with a wardrobe of 1940s style clothing, some historical research and a cause of labor solidarity. The performance, called "Oakland 1946!," told the true story of a retail workers' strike, organized on that exact site, that eventually ballooned into a general labor strike, shutting down the city for two days. The audience of about 100 people was actively brought into the show. Some were given picket signs and drawn into a dance of celebration.”

New piece of Bailey slaying puzzle surfaces : “The leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery expressed satisfaction on the morning Chauncey Bailey was killed, saying the journalist got what he deserved for taking on the troubled organization in his reporting, a bakery member told Oakland police in a recently discovered account given the day after the slaying. Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV summoned the woman to watch a TV news story about three hours after Bailey, 57, was gunned down on his way to work on Aug. 2, 2007, she told homicide investigators. As they watched the report on the Oakland Post editor's slaying, Bey told her, "That will teach 'em to f- with me," she said. The woman worked at the bakery headquarters on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland and stayed in Bey's room there the night before Bailey was killed, she said. The Chronicle obtained a tape of her account and police notes of her interview, but is not naming her at the request of authorities who say her safety co

Barack Obama On Meet The Press - The Activist President-Elect : “President-Elect Barack Obama appeared on the last "Meet The Press" hosted by Tom Brokaw who filed-in masterfully to take the place of Tim Russert after Russert's untimely death earlier this year. On the telecast, Obama presented a plan which can be summed-up as the "Activist President." The convergence of economic problems and President Bush's horrible performance has paved the way for an economically aggressive agenda by Obama that's the child of necessity.”

Violence is why Oaklanders forsake the city The irony of this column by Chip Johnson of the SF Chronicle is that he and I were talking on Lakeshore the other day and he introduced me to someone he's acquainted with who was complaining to us about how vandals destroy locks on the news stands to get papers to then resell. This person confronted one of the vandals and got into a fight with him. The point is the essense of Oakland's crime problem is it's terrible economic development. Housing was never the way to go.

Hard times hit Bay Area restaurants : “Jojo, a neighborhood French restaurant in Oakland”

Oakland day care center shooter gets life in prison - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — If trying to kill two wives in the past two decades didn't make William "Mookie" Johnson a poster child for domestic violence, his attempt at killing his third wife certainly did, a judge declared Friday as he sentenced the three-time convicted felon to a life behind bars.”

As a preface to what I'm about to write, let me state that I'm generally one of the persons who's been very critical of Mayor Dellums' performance. Indeed, in the case of bringing in a new City Administrator, Dellums is dragging his feet beyond a reasonable degree of time. Thus, Oakland City Attorney John Russo's public charge last week that the Oakland City Charter is such that the Mayor may be violating it by not naming a City Administrator is shockingly sloppy in logic and approach. I'm frankly surprised Russo would take such a brazen road in trying to get the Mayor to act. It's the duty of the media to provide an informational check on these actions. And in this case, Russo's builying tactics cause me to wonder if it's overstepping the normal attorney-client relationship. Not that Dellums doesn't deserve it because it's obvious that he misread the City Charter. The Charter states: Section 502. Acting City Administrator. The

Rachel Maddow's the best choice to replace Tom Brokaw and the late Tim Russert before him. She would carry on Russert's tradition of fairness. As I stated earlier , she's a better choice for the role than NBC News Correspondent David Gregory.

This is one of the main programs that goes under publicized and leads to the feeling that "nothing is happening" -- not always so. Here's the information from the event: The Oakland Green Jobs Corps is a job training program providing green pathways out of poverty for young adults in Oakland facing barriers to employment. The program will provide job-readiness training, ongoing support services, and on-the-job training, enabling trainees to pursue careers in green industries. Graduates will be placed in full time jobs with solar firms and green construction contractors. Elected officials from various levels of government spoke at the press conference to show their support: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Assemblyman Sandre Swason, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (CA Senator-elect), Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Oakland City Councilmembers Jane Brunner and Nancy Nadel. H.R. 6815 the Metro Economies Green Act (MEGA) MEGA will provide targeted fed

This video, created on the early morning of the first day after the election -- like New Year's Day -- captured various Oaklanders who were getting coffee after what was a night of celebration of President-Elect Obama's win. It's cool to watch the day break as this is being made.

I placed this because in two weeks it's gotten only 13 views total and is an example of what I mean when I report that it's not enough to just stick a video on YouTube and leave it there. It's also a good and rare commercial video on a facility that, after seeing this, is not as bad as I thought it was. This is what they wrote: Going on vacation or taking a business trip? Whether business or pleasure, learn more about the property with a video before you book. MOTEL 6 OAKLAND - EMBARCADERO, located at 1801 EMBARCADERO, OAKLAND, California, 94606, USA. Contact the property directly at 510-436-0103 or visit our homepage.

This YouTuber is involved in a practice called Railfanning. This is what they wrote: Railfanning at Oakland Jack London Square Amtrak Capitol Corridor/Amtrak San Joaquin (Rare catch on the 3rd train) Train 1: Amtrak Capitol Corridor #728 departs Oakland and goes into street running with cab #8308 Train 2: Amtrak Capitol Corridor with F59PHI #2004 and cab #8306 goes through street running at Jack London Square Train 3: Amtrak San Joaquin with Dash 8-32BWH #2051 and cab #6963 goes through street running at Jack London Square Note: The SUPER RARE Pacific Surfliner repainted Superliner coach! Train 4: Amtrak San Joaquin with cab # 6961 and P42-DC #80 departs Oakland and goes into street running Train 5: Amtrak Capitol Corridor #733 arrives into Oakland Jack London Square with F59PHI #2001 and cab #8302 Thanks for watching! Video by Pilotkev170

Oakland A's pitcher and Stockton native Dallas Braden solicited donations from local businesses and individuals to serve 845 pounds of food to the needy at St. Mary's Interfaith Community Services on Nov. 26.

http://www.cbssports.com - The San Diego Chargers dominated the Oakland Raiders on Thursday night, winning 34-7 and keeping their hopes alive of winning the AFC West. Lauren Shehadi has the AFC West rivalry recap.

AC/DC at the Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA 12-4-08

This was on the Yahoo! Message Board:  Volunteer Opportunity Your help is greatly needed to stem the tide of truancy in Oakland .  Our beleaguered school clerks are often responsible for attendance as well as performing many other duties with constant interruptions.  Because of that, calls to parents to follow up on absences are often not made. If you have a daytime hour or two a week, you could help a school clerk make those calls to parents.  Volunteers will be trained and assigned to a convenient school.  A child back in school has great results: 1. The opportunity for learning, 2. Less likelihood of getting hurt or into trouble in the streets, and 3. Increased income for the school which is based on average daily attendance We have at least 10 schools in District 3, and 4 volunteers have signed up already.  It would be great to have 1 person for each day of the week for each school (50 volunteers).  Please share this email with someone you know who would be a trustwo

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide : “Mortgage Delinquencies, Foreclosures Rise to Record ”

If you remember a year ago in November, I went out with my video camera and talked to two groups: SF Women in Black and SF Voice for Israel. If you shop at the Oakland Farmers Market, you remember a man carrying a large Israeli flag in front of the Grand Lake Theater. That man was Dan Kilman. This is that video series: Part One: Part Two Well, the person in the video with the beard is one I came to call a friend; this a key part of Oakland culture, died recently. He supposedly died from falling down an elevator shaft after trying to climb out of a car stuck between floors. According to the website for "SF Voice for Israel" and where Dan was an active member, Kilman was found dead on December 1st at the bottom of an elevator shaft in a building located at 55 New Montgomery Street in San Francisco called the Sharon Building.   But some think fowl-play in the form of a hate crime had been committed. Red County reports that Kilman had been assaulted

My good friend Hala Hijazi  has a firm called " Professionals VIP  " which over the past five years has developed into a kind of meeting place for the Bay Area's movers and shakers and last night's event, held at the Neiman Marcus Rotunda and hosting Morisson and Forrester Partner and Obama For America Northern California Chair Attorney Tony West, was no exception with about 150 people in attendance. At the affair I had the pleasure of talking with both former Mayors of Oakland and San Francisco respectively Elihu Harris and Willie Brown about the chances of Don Perata winning the Oakland Mayor's Race and both gave answers at separate times but said the same thing: that Perata would win the Mayor's Race...if he's not indicted, first.   Sources including those reported earlier this year in the East Bay Express  , believe that the State Senator will be indicted on public corruption charges, but that was as far back as July; it's December and nothin

East Bay Express | Blogs | Dellums Gets Off His Ass. Kinda.

East Bay Express | News | Arrests Are Down, and Crime Is Up

President-elect's team weighing auto industry options - CNN.com

O.J. Simpson gets at least 15 years in prison - CNN.com A sad tale of stupidity. O.J. should know these folks have it in for him because of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, for which he was found not-guilty. But O.J. could not seem to stay away from the limelight surrounding the case, and even participated in a book called "If I Did It." In the Las Vegas case, he should have called the police first let them handle it. Well, it's too late for that now, but an appeal is in order.

El Sobrante man who terrorized ex-girlfriend is convicted of murder

Gannett Blog: Day 3: Job losses near 1,800; Salinas whacks 31% Gannett Blog: Day 3: Job losses near 1,800; Salinas whacks 31% The Salinas Californian cut 130 jobs in that small town. Ouch.

Oakland North Continuing on the warpath against the "Whites Only" Oakland Blogger establishment, I point to "Oakland North", a blog I enjoy reading but am constantly upset by because it seems to reflect not just Oakland's north side, but it's totally devoid of any coverage of Oakland's poorest residents: West Oakland's black and latino persons. It's very much part of a culture I'm used to which is "Berkeley-esque" and well-educated and rather narrow-minded in its interests. Thus we have coverage of an AIDS conference, or art and recycling, but nothing about the Oakland Army Base Development or commentary on how West Oakland's so poorly served by public transit to this day. Not good considering they've got a team of writers over there. See, what's happening is that this groups is only showing Oakland from one point of view and not seeking to expand out of that view. It's not doing Oakland any good at all.

Oakland recognizes local leaders in AIDS prevention | Oakland North

Loading “Relaxation on gun control, unlicensed sales contribute to gun violence in Oakland - Inside Bay Area”

Raiders-Chargers game will be shown in 3D - Inside Bay Area

Loading “Oakland's City Walk all wrapped up for holiday season - Inside Bay Area”

Grand Lake Guardian This once great news site has not been updated since February. What's going on? We're down to an handful of blogs -- this one, which is still the overall traffic leader when videos are counted (in face, we blow everyone else away here) and two others I will not mention because well, they've succeeded in creating what I call a "whites only" club of Oakland Bloggers -- and I state that because there's not a Black blogger they stay in constant touch with or seem to be sensitive to Black issues and perspectives -- that engage in a kind of group think that in point of fact keeps certain stories from not getting noticed. But what I know is their websites are so poorly designed that whatever is posted here outranks them. Plus, certain poiticos think these guys are in their pockets. Not here. This is the only Oakland blog updated every day, each day. And many cases our SERPs outrank the Oakland Tribune's website -- which is a disaster.

So that’s what it’s like to get hit by a car… « Living in the O

Three mornings a week, as the sun casts its first early glow over the city, scores of Oakland teenagers in heavy sweatshirts and winter coats are lacing up their skates at the downtown Oakland Ice Center. The session begins at 7 a.m., more than an hour before they need to be at Oakland Technical High School, but they come anyway. The new 50-minute class, run by physical education teacher Kelley Haskins and coaches from the ice center, is wildly and unexpectedly popular. More than 100 teens pack the rink for each lesson...... (read the full story)

This story just blows my mind. This is pretty terrible. ... Police say fight over woman in Oakland leads to shooting, crash By Sean Maher Oakland Tribune Updated: 12/03/2008 04:05:57 PM PST OAKLAND — A clash between a woman's ex-boyfriend and her new one left both men in jail and the woman in a hospital after a shooting, a car chase, a crash and a fistfight Tuesday night, police said. The 25-year-old woman and her 30-year-old boyfriend, both Oakland residents, were riding in a white 1991 Ford Mustang down 73rd Avenue about 9:30 p.m. when they encountered the woman's ex-boyfriend, a 32-year-old San Francisco man who was driving a silver 1997 four-door Cadillac Seville, police said. The boyfriend, who was driving the Mustang, fired a gun at the ex-boyfriend, though he didn't appear to hit anyone, police said. The Mustang took off down the road with the uninjured Seville driver in pursuit. The Seville driver began ramming the Mustang with his car, police

I asked Microsoft Founder Bill Gates this question which was selected to be used in Wolf Blitzer's inteview with Gates on CNN's The Situation Room   today: The Huffington Post, a website, was valued at $100 million, more than many newspapers. What should newspapers do to survive in the 21st Century? What do you think? What should newspapers do?  This is the iReport version: Zennie62 on CNN  

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids. In short, they don't perform as well. In a study recently published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, scientists said that normal 9- and 10-year-olds, differing only.. read more | digg story

The Chargers beat the Raiders earlier this season thanks to a 15 point comeback led by LaDainian Tomlinson’s two touchdowns. AccuScore simulations forecast Tomlinson to run all over Oakland again this week, as the Chargers and Raiders square off on Thursday Night. read more | digg story

Hello Raider fans and football fans alike... A word for this season is "frustrating"... but I will tell you what pumps this team up... a great defensive stand and 3 n outs... read more | digg story

Today's Oakland Tribune has a story in it where Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente received free parking at San Francisco International Airport between 2005 and 2006.  The total of the cost of the parking came to a whopping $2,331, which if you think about it, means either he parked there a whole lot or SFO added the penalty cost of parking to the basic bill.   Now, the FPPC -- the California Fair Political Practices Commission -- has stepped in and is stating that De La Fuente may have to pay an addional $1,500 as a fine.  Well, here's my point: if -- if SFO added on the penalty cost to the basic parking rate, then technically the FPPC would be causing De La Fuente to be punished for the same violation twice.   That's unconstitutional.   Now, your counter is that he violated an FPPC rule, and my counter to that is De La Fuente made his payments to SFO because he realized he was not following FPPC rules and it seems paid a premium penalty in the process.  So with tha

The Oakland Fox Theater has rested dormant for over 30 years until California Commericial Investments and Phil Tagami worked with the City of Oakland to restore this architectural gem. All of the work will come to an end when the Fox Theater opens on February 5th 2009. read more | digg story

ate at Pizzaiolo Restaurant. He ate the wood fired pizza and gave us this review. Decor, Vibe - Dimly lite, exposed brick with lots of wooden booths. read more | digg story

Almost immediately after winning his 3rd and final seat in the California State Assembly, Chuck DeVore, a Repubican from Irvine has announced that he will be running to replace incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer in the Senate. Boxer is a Democrat from Oakland. read more | digg story

The Oakland Raiders had the opportunity to clinch a non-losing record for the first time since their AFC championship season in 2002, but could not muster anything against the Kansas City Chiefs, and fell to defeat 20-13. read more | digg story

As increasingly large percentage of our vehicles administer an environmentally "clean" alternative to commonly used fuels, Since compressed natural gas (CNG) is lighter than air, in the event of an oil spill, it disperses quickly when leaked or spilled. this is just one of the ways we are doing our part in keeping paradise from being paved in CA. read more | digg story

Former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin was introduced today as the Vols. head football coach. His six-year contract will pay him $2 million for the first year. read more | digg story

Its that time of year again. The fan voting has begun for the annual AFC-NFC Pro Bowl. The fans don't get the carte blanche to select the starters in the NFL, as they do in Major League Baseball, but the fan vote does count. read more | digg story

Article talking about www.broadwaykings.com and last minute AC/DC tickets. read more | digg story