Free Republic

"Hip Hop" Voter Bus Ready to Roll - Alameda County and AC Transit Join to Register Young Voters OAKLAND—Alameda County and AC Transit are hitting the road together again this fall with a unique Voter Registration Bus that is designed to attract more people — particularly younger voters — into the elections process. In a unique alliance, AC Transit and the County are setting out to register as many voters as possible — using a Voter Registration Bus with an eye-catching, "hip hop" design. The bus, believed to be the only one its kind in the nation, will travel...

Purple- and blue-shirted city workers crammed the council chamber Tuesday night to protest Mayor Ron Dellums' proposals to cut $42 million from Oakland's budget. The outcry came after Dellums addressed the council in the first string of meetings aimed at getting to the bottom of Oakland's fiscal mess and amid a national economic crisis that left city officials — including Dellums — concerned the problems would likely get worse before they get better. The council discussed, but took no action, on Dellums' proposed cuts. City employees represented by SEIU Local 1021 and the Professional and Technical Engineers Union Local 21...

Oakland -- A convicted rapist and murderer fatally stabbed his wife and slashed two of her relatives in Oakland on his 55th birthday last year, a prosecutor told jurors Monday. Jesus Jihad, now 56, stabbed his wife, Aisha Hendricks, 35, numerous times at the apartment they shared on the 2300 block of 92nd Avenue in East Oakland, said Deputy District Attorney Casey Bates. Police have said Jihad laughed during the attack July 8, 2007. "Consciously, callous, cold-blooded. Those are the three words to characterize the actions of Mr. Jihad," Bates said in his opening statement in Alameda County Superior Court...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland police are looking for a would-be robber who may be suffering from a gunshot wound after trying to steal a purse from the wrong person. Police say when a man with a gun approached a woman and demanded her purse near Oakland's Chinatown Monday, the woman pulled out her own handgun and opened fire. It turns out the woman was a U.S. Customs agent who was walking to work at the time of the incident. She fired one round. Police found blood at the scene, indicating her shot hit the would-be robber. The agent was taken...

From the day Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums took office nearly two years ago, residents have witnessed a steady decline in city government function as public confidence has withered. The city's administrative structure and finances are in deep distress. In the coming weeks, the city's elected officials must make significant cuts to balance a budget deficit that has grown to $50 million since the start of the fiscal year less than three months ago.There's also the question of who's in charge at City Hall after Dellums, under pressure, fired City Administrator Deborah Edgerly amid allegations that she tipped her nephew, a...

OAKLAND -- A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent opened fire today on an armed man who grabbed her purse in Oakland's Chinatown, police said. The off-duty agent was walking near Ninth and Franklin streets in downtown Oakland when she was accosted shortly after 6 a.m. A man with a gun demanded her purse, but the agent pulled out her own weapon and opened fire, police said.

If there's any good news coming out of Oakland's City Hall right now, we're having trouble finding it. The city faces a deficit that could exceed $50 million. Recently outsted city manager Deborah Edgerly is being investigated by the FBI for allegations of fraud and nepotism. City officials can't account for millions of dollars that have disappeared from the city's reserve funds. And as Oakland's already sky-high crime rates shift out of lower-income communities and into the city's restaurants and nail salons, city officials look not just negligent but downright clueless. (Which is something that those lower-income communities might have...

Oakland's finances appear to be far worse than suspected.Former City Manager Robert Bobb, who has parachuted into town at the request of Mayor Ron Dellums to try to sort out the fiscal mess, has discovered that Oakland's reserves have been drawn down by as much as $48 million in the past year, and accounting for most of the missing funds hasn't been easy.Just last year, Bobb said, the city reported a reserve of between $60 million and $70 million, but as of June, the account had dipped to $22 million. Bobb said that as far as he's been able to...

OAKLAND — A federal grand jury has subpoenaed the city for the personnel records of former City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, her closest City Hall adviser, and four of their relatives, sources said, less than two months after Edgerly was fired amid allegations of nepotism and interfering with a police investigation. The criminal subpoena is the clearest sign yet that federal authorities are interested in investigating City Hall, in a probe seemingly aimed, at least partially, at determining whether Edgerly gave preferential treatment to relatives during her tenure as the city's top nonelected official. The grand jury made the request earlier...

NEW YORK (TICKER) —NFL.com is reporting that Gene Upshaw, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and executive director of the NFL’s Players Association, died early Thursday morning after a bout with pancreatic cancer. He was 63. Upshaw, a former left guard for the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders, was named an All-Pro 11 times in his 16-year career. He also was selected to seven Pro Bowls between 1967 and 1981 and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1987 - his first year of eligibility. Upshaw was a member of the Oakland team that won the...

When bank robbery suspect Elmer Reyes crashed his getaway car on Interstate 880 in the East Bay, he told the officers who arrested him that the bad economy made him commit the crime. And when Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums responded to a spree of takeover robberies at restaurants in the city this month, he also blamed poor economic times as a motive for the crimes."The desperation of these crimes speaks to the broader issue of where we are in terms of this economy," the Quiet Mayor said. "When people become this desperate, they take desperate acts and we have to...

Among the casualties of Oakland’s new Cathedral of Christ the Light is Old St. Mary’s Church, a 155 year-old parish that will close permanently in September. Oakland Bishop Emeritus John Cummins celebrated a special Mass of thanksgiving on July 26 at Old St. Mary’s Church to honor former parishioners, alumni of the old parish school, and all those who had ministered at the parish since its founding in 1858. St. Mary’s parish, however, goes back a few more years. "Oakland's first Catholic chapel was established on this site in 1853," parishioner Grant Ute told the Oakland Tribune. "In the early...

OAKLAND -- The former head of Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland and an associate of the now-defunct business pleaded no contest today to vandalism in connection with the trashing of two liquor stores in the city in 2005. Yusuf Bey IV, 22, the son of the bakery's late leader, Yusuf Bey, pleaded no contest to all eight charges against him, including vandalism, false imprisonment, hate-crime and civil-rights violations. He is expected to be sentenced to three years in state prison.Bakery associate Dyamen Williams, 21, pleaded no contest to vandalism and could face up to a year in county jail.On...

After being led by two consecutive celebrity-politicians as mayor, the people of Oakland might be better served with a citizen-mayor, one with his - or her - feet firmly on the ground and familiar with residents' desires, government's challenges and the city's top priorities. With the scandal at City Hall in the past month as a backdrop, it's becoming increasingly clear that Oakland residents need a mayor with a ground-level view, not a fly-over assessment. Running a city where some crimes are skyrocketing, public schools are treading water and many residents are eager for independent leaders - who aren't beholden...

It has been 44 months since a federal corruption probe of state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata became public knowledge, and 43 months since federal agents searched his and his son's Oakland homes. Witnesses have testified before a federal grand jury. Thousands of pages of documents have been gathered under dozens of subpoenas issued to public agencies and private companies. Perata's legal defense fund has spent about $2 million, much of that either transferred from one of his campaign accounts or given by the state Democratic party. Almost four years on, some wonder whether it's time for the federal...

OAKLAND — Former employees and supporters of the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery have scheduled a rally for Aug. 2 — the one-year anniversary of journalist Chauncey Bailey's killing — to call for an investigation into the business's demise. "This is the anniversary of the closing of the bakery and the event is about getting to the truth, getting to justice and making sure that whoever is guilty of any crime be brought before the bar of justice, because right now the truth is not being told," said rally organizer Henry Clark. The date was chosen to commemorate "police attacking...

The FBI is investigating state Sen. Don Perata's role in the hiring of a Washington lobbyist to push for a road project sought by a major Perata contributor, documents show. At the urging of the powerful Oakland Democrat, local agencies in 2000 hired former Georgia congressman Dawson Mathis to lobby the Federal Aviation Administration regarding a multimillion-dollar expressway that today links Oakland International Airport with the Harbor Bay Business Park in Alameda. The park's developer, Ron Cowan, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Perata and other politicians, and for years he had sought this access road. Mathis' hiring...

A 10-year-old boy was among four Oakland youths who carried out a string of residential burglaries during the past month, stealing laptops, iPods and other electronic equipment, investigators say. The youths would travel into Alameda on bicycles during daylight hours and target properties where no one was home, making off with items that were easily carried in backpacks, according to police. The group includes two brothers, who are ages 10 and 15, and their 12-year-old sister. The third boy is 15 years old and their friend. Investigators did not disclose the names of the suspects because they are minors. When...

While Oakland officials dig out from their latest crisis - a criminal probe into the actions of City Hall's ousted chief administrator - the city's well-known gun violence and killings are again surging. In a city beset with social and structural ills, from political cronyism to budget and leadership shortfalls, about the only thing that seems to be on the rise in Oakland is the homicide rate. Since January, there have been 71 homicides in Oakland, 13 of them since police rounded up more than 50 alleged members of a violent street gang on June 17 - putting the city...

Software programmer Hans Reiser on Monday led authorities to the body of his missing wife off a hiking trail in the Oakland hills not far from his home, sources confirmed. Authorities declined to make any official comment on the discovery of the body, which was believed to have been in some sort of a bag and possibly buried. Reiser, accompanied by his attorney William Du Bois, led Oakland Police and Alameda County District Attorney's officials to the body early Monday afternoon. The body was down a steep hillside that runs next to a hiking trail in the 8200 block of...

Sometimes it pays to get fired. In addition to an estimated $148,000-a-year pension, freshly canned Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly is entitled to cash out her accrued and unused benefits totaling more than $90,000.The bennies include:-- Nine weeks of vacation.-- Two weeks of management leave.-- Three weeks of executive leave. -- Ten weeks of sick leave (paid out at 33 cents on the dollar).It's a grand total payment of $90,024, city officials confirmed.Mayor Ron Dellums fired Edgerly after she refused to go away quietly when she was accused of interfering in a police investigation that involved her nephew.Not that she'll...

San Francisco -- Saying enough is enough, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums fired embattled City Administrator Deborah Edgerly on Tuesday, four days after he put her on paid leave amid allegations that she may have interfered in a police investigation involving her nephew. Dellums sent out a letter informing the City Council of his decision and another letter via messenger to Edgerly's home. "Basically he just had enough of the situation," said one City Hall source close to the situation. "He felt that he has no other choice." The last straw was a letter Edgerly sent Monday to the mayor, informing...

He is incredibly compassionate.He is incredibly reticent when faced with making decisions. And as a result, his handling of the Deborah Edgerly affair was an incredible disaster.That's pretty much how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' aides, past aides, city department heads, politicos and longtime friends explained his apparent inability to deal with Edgerly after it came to light that the city administrator had possibly injected herself into a police investigation of her nephew."You have to understand, he's never fired anyone - that's not his style," said one friend who has worked with Dellums since his days as a congressman. "He always...

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums put embattled City Administrator Deborah Edgerly on paid leave Friday amid growing criticism that he allowed her to work in City Hall while she was the subject of a law enforcement investigation. Edgerly, 56, agreed Tuesday to retire July 31. But her refusal to relinquish her authority over the Police Department, which is investigating her possible interference in a crackdown on a violent Oakland street gang, prompted outrage from city leaders and residents. On Friday afternoon, Dellums decided that she had to go after at least three members of the City Council fired off angry letters...

Bay Area News Group East Bay undertook company-wide job cuts Friday, affecting every department, including the newsroom, advertising, circulation and production. Separately, Bay Area News Group-East Bay said it will notify a local labor union that it intends to reduce the newsroom rank-and-file workforce by nearly 13 percent. BANG-East Bay operates numerous papers in the East Bay and San Mateo County. BANG-East Bay would not specify the total number of job reductions across the company. The company also said it plans to lay off 29 out of 226 employees in a newsroom operation whose journalists voted this month to be...

An op/ed by the author of Gun Facts, published in the San Francisco Chronicle. As one commented on the Chronicle web site said "An editorial which makes sense? Wow, how did this get past the Chron's editorial board?" California and the Bay Area have tinkered with gun control for decades, and yet Oakland falls further into chaos. Despite politicians' efforts to eliminate private firearm ownership, homicide is nearly a daily event in Oaktown. ... I have lived in several places in the United States where everybody owns guns and nobody shoots anyone. The mere availability of firearms is not a...

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has shown little in the way of leadership since taking office in 2007, but at least he could follow the advice of the experts he has surrounded himself with. He didn't even do that much this week when he ignored their recommendations to remove City Administrator Deborah Edgerly, who is under investigation for possibly intervening in a police probe of a violent street gang. Against the better wisdom of his own staff and legal advice from the city attorney's office, Dellums chose to allow Edgerly, 56, to work in City Hall for another month until her...

OAKLAND — Mayor Ron Dellums announced Tuesday that City Administrator Deborah Edgerly will be allowed to stay at her post until July 31, even as she faces increasing criticism for possibly interfering with a police investigation. Dellums and Edgerly said that under a months-old agreement, Edgerly will retire July 31. Dellums said Edgerly's retirement has nothing to do with recent allegations that she intervened on behalf of a nephew, William Lovan, 27, in the police department's ongoing investigation of the Acorn gang of West Oakland. "What's important is that this is about the announcement of a decision that was made...

Up until now, the story of what got Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly into hot water when her nephew was swept up in a gang bust has been shrouded in mist. Here's the story:On the night of June 7, Edgerly - whose duties included overseeing the Police Department - showed up at a West Oakland liquor store just as her nephew's car was being towed by police as part of an operation against the Acorn gang.The nephew, 27-year-old William Lovan - who works for the city as a parking meter repairman - had left the car running and locked the...

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A 2-month investigation into the expenses of Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums has found a pattern of what appears to be extravagant spending at taxpayer expense, even as the mayor suggests shutting down City Hall for a dozen days and raising taxes. The expenses include stays at 5-star hotels in Washington D.C. such as the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton, on his many travels away from Oakland, although Dellums owns a luxurious home in the nearby exclusive enclave of Georgetown. The data obtained though the California Public Records Act also shows expensive meals, limousine services and even hundreds...

Click photo to enlargeTwo young girls play hand games as Congresswoman Barbara Lee and a panel of community leaders...«12345»OAKLAND — Pledging to "take them on big-time," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, sharply criticized the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Friday and declared she would push for measures to reduce the fear she said agents have caused East Bay immigrant families. The Oakland Democrat told a packed North Oakland church that she wants to "ensure that ICE is following the rules and that those rules are well-known and publicized — especially when it comes to actions at schools, hospitals, religious centers...

The leader of East Bay Catholics has gone beyond an accommodating message on same-sex marriages from bishops statewide to urge his parishioners to change the law."As faithful citizens, Catholics are called to bring our laws regarding marriage into conformity with what we know about the nature of marriage," said Bishop Allen Vigneron, head of the Oakland Diocese.Failing to do so would make Catholic life countercultural, he wrote in a statement published in the June 9 Diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Voice. "No government has the power to change the order which God has inscribed in our nature," Vigneron says in the...

Over in Oakland they like it loud - so loud that all 45 of the Police Department's Harley-Davidson motorcycles have been equipped with shiny new tailpipes, at a cost of $500 apiece, to rev up their roar.It seems the cops just didn't feel safe on toned-down bikes."There's an old motorcycle adage that you are heard before you are seen," said Deputy Chief Dave Kozicki, explaining the department's decision to toss the bikes' muted factory-issued mufflers in favor of the more high-volume pipes.Kozicki cited an accident three months ago in which an Oakland officer riding a toned-down cycle was struck by...

Oakland -- Immigration arrests at homes in Berkeley and Oakland on Tuesday sent a wave of panic among parents in both cities, as authorities mistakenly believed immigration agents were raiding schools. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in both cities Tuesday, performing routine fugitive operations, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. Teams go out virtually every day looking for specific "immigration fugitives," she said. Officers arrested four family members at a Berkeley home and a woman at an Oakland residence. They were not at schools. Yet, within the next few hours, rumors of raids circulated throughout the communities. In Berkeley, school...

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, nearly 18 months in office, still reacts like a rookie to the most important events that affect the lives of city residents. When major breaking news has occurred while he was away, Dellums' office has issued generic, one-paragraph statements that are not only vague but leave the impression that he doesn't understand the city and the impact that such events have on the people who live there. His dispatches from afar no doubt are intended to convey a sense that the mayor is on the case, but they have the opposite effect - highlighting his emotional,...

Anthony Cataldo of Oakland first raised concerns about aggressive bullying at his son's elementary school last year after Zachary lost four teeth on the playground - but he said he received only a verbal assurance that things would change. Cataldo said he complained again when some boys at school kicked 7-year-old Zachary in the stomach three months ago but got no response. Now - two days after an older student slammed Zachary against a tree, fracturing his skull and sending the first-grader to intensive care - Cataldo is hiring a lawyer, and school officials are paying attention.

With Oakland citizens fearful and angry about crime, and some even fighting back against robbers and intruders, a top Oakland police official told city leaders Tuesday night that police alone can't solve the violence. "Right now, it's pretty clear we are in a time of increased crime," said Oakland police Deputy Chief Dave Kozicki, adding that crime nationwide is up due to the faltering economy. "But the bottom line is we believe we cannot arrest our way out of these problems." Oakland's crime problems are deeply rooted in economics and family values, and Kozicki called on the city's schools, families,...

A North Oakland resident shot and critically injured a suspected burglar this morning in the resident's home, police said, the third time in a week that a would-be crime victim in the city has fought back with gunfire. The shooting happened about 8 a.m. in a home on the 600 block of 59th Street near Shattuck Avenue, police spokesman Officer Roland Holmgren said. Police did not immediately release the name of the suspect or the resident. Today's shooting took place a block from where 59th Street resident Patrick McCullough shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy outside his home in February...

OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS) -- Oakland police are worried that more and more people will take the law into their own hands, after two store owners shot two robbers in recent days. People have a right to protect themselves, but things can get out of hand quickly if everyone starts packing a weapon, said Deputy Police Chief Dave Kozicki. "That's a concern that law enforcement has all the time, that people will engage in vigilantism," said Kozicki. A 22-year-old Oakland man was shot at least three times and critically wounded when he tried to hold up a liquor store Saturday night....

I've been in neighborhoods in Detroit, Chicago and South Philly where store clerks do business from behind a formidable barrier of bulletproof glass - and customers place their money in a turnstile. In Oakland, some store owners are choosing hot lead as the best material to put between themselves and would-be robbers. On Saturday night, the owner of Ed's Liquors in the 2700 block of 23rd Avenue returned fire after being wounded in the leg and shot the gunman, an 18-year-old Pittsburg man, at least three times, authorities said. And two days earlier, a clerk at Wah Fay 8th Avenue...

OAKLAND _ A six-month pilot program where Oakland police officers would knock on doors and ask permission to search homes for guns got the green light from the City Council's public safety committee Tuesday night. It goes to the full council Tuesday, when the council will meet at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza. The consent-to-search program, as it is called, is based closely on a similar effort launched in St. Louis in 1994 and on ongoing programs in Boston and Washington, D.C. The idea is simple: To ask parents for permission to search their homes for...

On a June night in 1986, police discovered a twice-shot, blood-smeared body spilling out of a red Ford van on Marshall Street in North Oakland.Police identified the victim as Peter August Kaufman and, according to a brief news report from the time, figured robbery might be the motive. Nearly 22 years later, the killing remains unsolved.Now, through interviews and documents — including a three-paragraph news account, a death certificate, coroner and police reports and court testimony — the Chauncey Bailey Project has uncovered a link between Kaufman's killing and Yusuf Ali Bey, the late founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery...

Oakland's hills are but a few miles from the flatlands of West Oakland, but the landscaped front yards up the hill and the unforgiving streets of the flatlands are culturally a world away from each other. When residents of Montclair hear gunfire, it's usually a distant popping sound, hardly distinguishable from a car backfiring, but no one in West Oakland would mistake it because warring groups there have turned the community into a combat zone. Whenever war has erupted on the streets, no one in the community feels safe. And everyone is traumatized one way or another. The latest violence,...

Under the vaulted ceilings of St. Margaret Mary's Church in Oakland, a revered tradition once forsaken has gained new life. About 300 Roman Catholics go there every Sunday to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, a rite rich in symbolism that has been on the margins of Catholic life for more than four decades. But over the past year, decrees by Pope Benedict XVI have given the traditional Latin Mass greater official standing in the Catholic Church, opening the door for some churches to go back to it. Now, at St. Margaret Mary's, grandparents practice the rituals of their childhood. Young...

Arriving in the Port of Oakland at 6 a.m. last Thursday, the grey-blue colossus auto carrier Century Highway No. 3 carries enough cars to fill all the parking lots surrounding the Giants stadium — a mere fraction of the average 368 million annual tons of autos, toys, and other goods moving through the 29 ports along America's Pacific coast. Could there be a force of man or nature powerful enough to interrupt this perpetual merchandise tsunami? Would you believe — San Francisco radical peaceniks? On May 1, the usually bustling ports along the West Coast will become still, as members...

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / BCN) ― A man who was shot late Thursday night at an Oakland taco truck died less than an hour later at a hospital, police said Friday. Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the 3800 block of Foothill Boulevard just before 11 p.m., according to officials. When police arrived they learned the male adult victim, identified as Brandon Quilice of Oakland, had been driven to a local hospital by a friend, officials said. Police then went to the hospital where they learned the victim had been pronounced dead shortly after arriving, according to officials....

SAN LEANDRO — It was a tragic and unlikely end for an aspiring Bay Area rap artist. Kenneth Poynter, 27, also known as KDoe, had just finished talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone when he was struck and killed by an Amtrak train about 8 p.m. Feb. 7, while walking on Hesperian Boulevard. According to Poynter's best friend and music partner, D. Labri, 29, of Oakland, Poynter was an Oakland rapper who was deeply involved in trying to make his community a better place. "He was out there preaching this message of positivity and stopping the violence, and...

Oakland, Calif. (AP) -- The man accused of killing journalist Chauncey Bailey said in an interview with CBS'"60 Minutes" that he will reveal who the real murderer is when his case goes to trial. The interview with Devaughndre Broussard, scheduled to air on Sunday, is part of a bigger story the show is doing on Bailey, the former editor of the Oakland Post who was named this week as a posthumous recipient of the prestigious George Polk award for journalism. Bailey was gunned down in August in broad daylight as he walked to his downtown office at the Oakland Post....

Oakland -- The Oakland City Council on Tuesday delayed a plan pushed by Mayor Ron Dellums to increase the number of police officers on the streets by 70 officers this year. Dellums, under increasing pressure from residents clamoring for more officers to combat high crime, has pledged to bring Oakland to full police staffing levels by the end of 2008 and has directed Police Chief Wayne Tucker and city personnel officials to reach that goal. The department is now about 70 officers short of its authorized strength of 803 officers. Tucker presented a plan Tuesday to use $7.7 million to...

State Senate Boss Don Perata's gun buyback event last Saturday may cost the city of Oakland $170,000 because it attracted too many guns, the Oakland Tribune reported today. Reporters Cecily Burt and Jenna Loceff noted that the first two people in line at one of the buyback centers were "gun dealers with 60 guns in the trunk of their car." Organizers instituted a five-gun limit, but the event still drew more than 1,000 guns — 700 more than Perata had bargained for or raised money to buy. That meant Oakland police had to hand out vouchers valued at $170,000. Gun...