During the morning rush hour, commuters in cities across the East Bay climb into a stranger’s car. It’s part of casual carpooling, an informal ride-share system to save time and money while crossing the Bay Bridge. But a recent toll increase is causing turmoil in the casual carpool community.
It was standing room only at City Hall Wednesday night as Oakland Athletics fans packed a planning commission meeting to cheer a proposal for a new baseball stadium near Jack London Square.
While it seems as if summer skipped the Bay Area this year, on Monday Oakland got a taste of August heat. Temperatures climbed as high as 80 degrees from Bake Sale Betty’s to the Grand Lake Theater, and the warmth lingered into the evening. But don’t worry—a local weather expert says this mini heat wave is nothing to get hot and bothered about. According to San Francisco State meteorology professor Jan Null, an area of high pressure over Nevada is…
In one of the most expensive local mayoral campaigns in recent memory, you get what you pay for—at least when it comes to first-choice votes. According to voting and campaign finance data compiled by Oakland North, the distribution of Oakland residents’ first-choice votes in this year’s still-undecided Oakland mayoral race directly reflects the spending by each of the candidates.
Oakland police officials say there was minimal damage Friday night as protesters marched through the city in response to the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle. By the end of the evening, two Oakland businesses sustained broken windows and six cars were damaged in the wake of the protest.
Oakland’s streets are quiet again. Peaceful protests turned into a night of vandalism Friday after the announcement of a two-year sentence for former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. Police officials said 152 people were arrested after protesters at a peaceful rally in Frank Ogawa Plaza stormed the streets of Oakland Friday night. Protesters marched through the downtown area and into East Oakland, blocking traffic, throwing rocks, breaking windows and jumping on cars along the way. Oakland police officials say protesters…
Updated 8:54 p.m.: Police have begun arresting protesters who have been wandering raucously around Oakland in response to the announcement of the Johannes Mehserle sentencing. Oakland Police spokesperson Jeff Thomason estimated that more than 100 protesters have been arrested.
Store owners boarded up windows and residents gathered in front of City Hall as news of a sentence in the Johannes Mehserle trial began to spread across Oakland Friday afternoon. The two-year sentence handed-down by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry is the lightest possible prison term for Mehserle’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Many Oakland residents were hoping for the maximum 14-year term while others wonder how Oakland will react as the day develops.
From a ninth-floor courtroom in downtown Los Angeles, Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Oscar Grant III, was sentenced this afternoon to two years in prison. The sentence, from Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry, will include credit for the time Mehserle has already spent in jail.
As Oakland awaits news from the Los Angeles sentencing of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, downtown businesses are preparing today for the possibility of violence. Storefronts around Frank Ogawa Plaza are boarded up including the Oakland police Internal Affairs office, the offices of Youth Radio and the Men’s Wearhouse and Foot Locker stores nearby.
Probation or prison? On Friday morning, the sentence of Johannes Mehserle, the former BART police officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Oscar Grant III, will rest in the hands of one man, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Perry.
In the same downtown court building that housed the O.J. Simpson trial, Perry is expected to juggle a wide range of sentencing options ranging from parole to 14 years in California state prison.
While walking the streets of East Oakland, Marcie Hodge is greeted by encouraging words from residents. But Hodge’s campaign spending and qualifications for office have been scrutinized, and as of Friday she had not filed mandatory campaign spending paperwork.
Grab some pizza and a pint—if J Moses Ceaser has his way, the Parkway Theater might be showing movies in Oakland again as early as next year.
The only twist: The Parkway may not be able to return to its original location.
“I’ve never been arrested. I never wanted to be arrested,” said Laura Wells, Green Party candidate for governor, who was taken into custody on Tuesday outside the debate between California’s leading candidates for governor, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown.
As the Giants hosted the San Diego Padres on October 3, a long white banner peeked above the right field wall of AT&T Park. The sign, attached to the rigging of a yacht anchored in what Giants fans call “McCovey Cove,” did not support either team. Instead, the banner spelled out a political message in black block letters: Free Johannes Mehserle. Strung along the base of the boat was another banner listing a website, Justice4Johannes.com.
Nurses in multi-colored scrubs lined the streets in front of Children’s Hospital Oakland Tuesday, striking against what they say is a proposed cut in their health care benefits. Passing cars, BART trains and fire engines honked in support of the hospital’s nearly 800 registered nurses as they began a three-day strike led by the California Nurses Association (CNA). The hospital will continue operating with over 100 replacement nurses until the strike is scheduled to end Friday morning.