Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Matt Gonsalez calls for zero tolerance of SFPD police misconduct

Jeff Adachi talks new SF Police misconduct video now

@YouTube must block use of the N-Word in the comments of videos. It is out of hand.

Recalling an excellent salmon salad at the Capital Grill across Broadway and 1/2 down 50th from Radio City in NYC

Microsoft Acquires Skype for 8 billion! I remember when Skype was a small startup with a handful of users.

United Airlines B Concourse photo

United Airlines O'Hare Terminal photo

Sears Tower in Chicago in photo. I like the old name.

Man. Tyler Gabbert trending without entering the @NFL Draft

Must be a lovely day all over for kutschool to be hot hashtag. SaveFerris is next

just joined Ping.fm and linked 10 accounts. Wild platform app

Man! Lovely Chicago day! Sun is out and it's getting warm!

Mother's Day is special, and not just to all mothers. Mother's Day is for sons and daughters, too. As an only child and a product of a single-mom family, I have a unique place in life that brings me to visit my Mother each month. I'm fortunate to be able to do this. But some who also can do that, don't. It's to them I say, call your folks. Call your Mom. See your Mom. Because when your Mom passes on, you will regret not having done so. Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's out there! Now, in San Francisco and Oakland news in brief.. Jennifer Solorio, like my Mom, a breast cancer survivor, will be the honorary bat girl at today's San Francisco Giants baseball game. She was selected from 1,500 applicants, at the website www.HonoraryBatGirl.com And from emails... Supervisor Scott Wiener, SF Rec & Park, Recology and Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. kicked off the start of increased waste and recycling services at Dolores Park in Sa

Well, today is not only Star Wars Day, but the birthday of The City of Oakland, California, my town. To that, this blogger says, Happy Birthday, Oakland! Oakland turns 159 years young today, May 4th, and has only gotten better with age. Oakland is a city Oaklanders care about because of its - and yes, even in today's diverse society - incredibly high level of diversity and small town / big city feel. Oakland's an easy place to get to know and to love. It deserves many more birthdays. And while we're celebrating, congratulations to my friend John Russo, who officially accepted the position of Alameda City Manager, and leaves a 16-year legacy of excellent political and policy work in Oakland. Now, John can focus on the redevelopment of what was once the Alameda Naval Air Station and have that city play catch-up with its own development time table. It's going to be fun to watch John move Alameda out of its Mayberry RFD (remember the TV show?) pace and into a

The Oakland Coliseum is continuing a tradition of bad naming rights deals that goes all the way back to when it was called Network Associates Coliseum for just $6 million in 1998. This time, over a decade later, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum authority approved a deal for Overstock.com to place its name on the stadium where the Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics play for just $7 million for six years. Let's see, just a million bucks more over that time? Overstock.com Chairman and CEO Patrick Byrne said, "Overstock.com is thrilled to become a part of Oakland and Alameda County, and to be associated with the Raiders and the A’s—two globally-recognized championship teams" What Byrne should have said is "I'm so happy to deal with an organization that routinely gives so much globally-recognized value away for so little money." Overstock gets to put its name on stadium signage, internet, television, radio and print promotion, and all for just $

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead. President Barack Obama made the stunning announcement at 11:39 PM EDT Sunday, as this blogger sat in a position of stasis. For almost 10 years, the name Osama Bin Laden had become an indelible part of American Culture, and with an image just equal to that of Adolf Hitler. The Mastermind of the September 11th 2001 events we call 9-11 and that led to the total destruction of the twin towers of The World Trade Center in New York City was on the run, seemingly forever. Not any more... And while the media points to a intelligence gathering process that started back in 2001, the truth is that America's political leaders in charge for much of that time wrongly focused American military resources on Irag, and not Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now, almost a trillion dollars, and 4,000 lost lives by 2007, then-Senator Barack Obama, just starting what would become his successful presidential run, said that he would end the Iraq War, and go on the hunt for