Free Republic

Just days after a mysterious incident in which she was reportedly attacked at a Newark motel by an ex-boyfriend, Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer said Tuesday that she has enrolled in a program to be treated for chemical dependency. Lockyer, 40, the wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, said in a statement that she entered a “wellness and recovery center” last week for treatment of the unspecified chemical dependency and “my injuries from the assault.”She also said she was being treated for “chronic pain from a past debilitating car accident,” without giving specifics.“Alcoholism and addiction are diseases from which many...

A federal appeals court on Monday once again decided to weigh in on an epic 12-year-old gun rights showdown over an Alameda County ordinance banning guns and ammunition on public property. In a brief order, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to rehear a legal challenge to the 1999 law, which restricts gun shows on county property, including Alameda County's fairgrounds. The order, which calls for an 11-judge 9th Circuit panel to hear the case, wipes out a ruling last May by three 9th Circuit judges who unanimously agreed to uphold the legality of the ordinance.

An Alameda County medical marijuana patient is reeling after sheriffs raided his garden and threatened to kill his pet dog today. Jason Rivera, a paraplegic who suffers severe chronic pain, was detained by sheriffs presenting a warrant at his recording studio. The warrant was based on the tip of an anonymous informant, said Rivera, recounting the statements of deputies on the scene. As sheriffs executed the warrant at the studio, one asked Rivera about searching his home. Rivera says the deputy threatened to kill his dog if he didn't cooperate. "We can do this the easy way and you can...

Chefs at the Alameda County Fair will attempt to grill a 625 pound hamburger on July 2. They'll cook up the gigantic ground beef patty on the world's largest barbeque. It will contain a whopping 1,375,000 calories and will be served up in 99 cent bites.

When a fully clothed, apparently suicidal man walked into the San Francisco Bay from Shoreline Drive, in Alamdea County, all the would-be rescuers could do was watch. For about an hour. Why their boots stayed dry is a matter of debate Wednesday, the day after 57-year-old Raymond Zack was pronounced dead at an Alameda County hospital. The water's depth and temperature may have played a role. As did budget cuts. The Alameda Fire Department's water rescue program was discontinued in 2009 because of budget cuts. "(The) Alameda Fire Department does not currently have, and is not certified, in land-based water...

OAKLAND -- An Alameda County court panel has overturned an anti-abortion pastor's convictions for illegally approaching patients outside an Oakland clinic, saying a judge's flawed instructions could have allowed jurors to find him guilty for conduct that was legal. Walter Hoye of Union City, a pastor at a Berkeley church, was the first person convicted under a 2008 Oakland ordinance that created an 8-foot "bubble" around patients entering reproductive health clinics. The law prohibited knowingly entering that zone to harass a client or offer counseling without the person's consent.A Superior Court judge sentenced Hoye to 30 days in jail in...

Alameda, an island long resistant to growth, threw a warm embrace around an unlikely suitor last year. The Southern California developer SunCal Companies proposed to build thousands of homes, sports fields, offices and a ferry terminal on 770 acres of a decommissioned naval base. The project promised to transform the island city, and its leaders lined up in support. City Manager Ann Marie Gallant and her staff homed in on the fine print of the ballot initiative. Their report raised concerns about an annual $4.8 million hit to the city’s general fund for city services; breaks on more than $82...

Victoria Kolakowski, who's running for Alameda Count Superior Court judge in a November runoff election, declares on her campaign Web site that she hopes to make history."If I am elected, I would be the first openly LGBT superior court judge elected in Alameda County, the first openly LGBT person elected countywide, and the first transgender trial court judge in the United States," it states. The question is how much it should matter. Kolakowski, 48, transitioned from male to female in 1989 during her last year in law school and had sex reassignment surgery in 1991. She has 21 years of...

Alameda voters embark today on a monthlong, mail-only election to decide whether taxes will be raised to support public schools. Both sides describe the outcome as Armageddon for the quiet island city. Measure E is a parcel tax that would give Alameda some of the highest school taxes in the Bay Area: Homeowners would pay $659 a year and business owners would owe up to $9,500 annually per parcel. If it passes, many small business owners, already struggling with the recession, say they'll be forced to close, stripping Alameda of its mom-and-pop charm. If the measure fails, the district's superintendent...

A dangerous dog and the people who allegedly helped break into the Alameda Animal Shelter and sprung him from doggie death row are all in police custody. Max the pit bull's 57-year-old owner was arrested Thursday on suspicion of stealing the dog from the shelter, Alameda police said. Max had been declared a dangerous dog and was condemned to death after biting two people. Richard Cochran was arrested on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy. He told investigators that he planned to steal the pit bull with his girlfriend, Melissa Perry, who was with the dog in Nevada. Reno police later...

OAKLAND — Health care workers at both jails in Alameda County were not allowed to return to work today after they took to the picket lines Tuesday to protest six months of stalled contract negotiations and what they call unfair labor practices. Workers at the Dublin jail this morning told news outlets they were turned away by their supervisors. The workers, members of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, approved the one-day strike last month after working more than two months without a contract and making minimal headway on a new one with Tennessee-based Prison Health Services. That...

There are three kinds of faith: faith in God, faith in oneself, and faith in life. Think of these as building blocks. When the United States was founded, the big block on the bottom of the pile was faith in God. However, something happened through the course of American history: The blocks got restacked, and faith in self, or egocentrism, settled into the first position. Faith in self is very important, but it makes a poor foundation because it is not a perception of perfection. And the ego is shifty, so the other blocks tend to become unstable or fall...

ALAMEDA, Calif. – The school board blinked. Under the duress of a lawsuit and threats of recall, the Alameda Board of Education has voted to phase out an elementary school curriculum it adopted in May to prevent anti-gay bullying. The so-called Lesson 9, which had become an opposition centerpiece in a national anti-gay marriage campaign, will be replaced by a more generic anti-bullying message. But the board's action Tuesday night did little to ease the tension between gay parents, who want their children protected, and parents who who think elementary school is too early to talk to students about gay...

An Oakland man is expected to face an attempted murder charge after he stabbed another man in the heart during a fight inside a popular downtown restaurant early Sunday morning, police said. What sparked the argument inside La Piñata on Park Street — where another man was also stabbed multiple times and one hit on the head with a drinking glass — remains unclear, according to investigators. The melee among six men happened at the end of the Park Street Pub Crawl, an informal, non-city event that traditionally takes place among patrons of Alameda bars and restaurants on the first...

The Unified School District in Alameda California has passed a curriculum by a 3-2 vote that includes includes a compulsory 45-minute Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) lesson for kindergarten through fifth grade. The kindergarten lesson will study sexual orientation stereotypes with childrens books like "And Tango Makes Three" a story about two gay male penguins. School Officials say they will not allow parents to opt their kids out of the program because it falls under "anti-discrimination provisions of California law.Here is a video of the School Board Meeting. 3:03 Same Sex Lessons for Kindergartners! Gay penguins?Here are the Members...

ALAMEDA — School district leaders have approved lesson plans for kindergartners through fifth graders that aim to curb anti-gay bullying. Trustees voted 3-2 on Tuesday to adopt the Safe Schools curriculum, which supporters say will help children of gay parents feel welcome at school and help end anti-gay teasing and bullying on the playground. The lessons also aim to provide a safe environment for children to learn, as well as to offer a framework for teachers to break down stereotypes and teach kids about different types of families. "The need for this is real," said Beth Kromer, a fourth-grade teacher...

Utility’s cable television and Internet service has been sold to Comcast by the city council of Alameda, California. The reason for the sale was due to a listless growth of the company due to decline in cable subscription. The sale will help to clear off the Alameda Power & Telecom’s debt of $33 million.

Eight months ago, a Media News series detailed in shocking fashion how Oakland has become a booming hub for child prostitution. The Oakland Police Department found that during a 36-month period alone, 293 children under age 18 were being prostituted by at least 155 pimps. Of course, the trafficking of children isn't just an Oakland problem. A recent nationwide FBI sting targeting child prostitution ensnared 642 suspects in 29 cities. Forty-seven children were rescued, ranging in age from 13 to 17. It is a stomach-churning example of the law of supply and demand. Adults are willing to pay hundreds of...

Oakland, in the Jerry Brown years, practiced an unofficial policy of what might be called “community cleansing.” This is not to be confused with “ethnic cleansing,” the horrific activity in parts of, say, Eastern Europe or Central Africa where whole ethnic populations are violently and bloodily removed, either through exile or actual genocide. No, Mr. Brown’s “community cleansing” policies were far more genteel, involving little violence (though some—that’s what the whole Oakland Riders police scandal was about) and targeting not whole ethnic groups, but rather portions of the population that were considered as being “undesirables.” Part of this involved harassment,...

OAKLAND — Leon Wiley laughed as an Alameda County Superior Court Judge today ordered the 30-year old to spend the rest of his life in prison. The former member of the notorious "Nut Case Gang" chuckled some more when family members of one of the three people he either killed or ordered to be killed talked about their loved ones. And, as Wiley was led out of the courtroom after a stern talking-to by Judge Joseph Hurley, he made sure to look both the judge and then family members in the eyes as he shouted his allegiance to the gang...