John Grennan

North Oakland meets new police chief Batts

“The Wild West was not won by a guy riding in on a white horse,” new Oakland police chief Anthony Batts told the crowd that gathered to meet him today at Peralta Elementary. “It was won by communities that took a stand.”

Meet Serina Elliott, future kitchen champion

In this video, we follow Serina Elliott, a Kitchen of Champions student from North Oakland’s Golden Gate neighborhood. Just four weeks into her program, Elliot aspires to one day become “a Food Network star.”

Auto Row tempers troubled times with visions for the future

On Oakland’s Broadway Auto Row, a storefront at the corner of 28th Street marked “Bay Bridge Kia” doesn’t showcase cars with steel wheels or tinted windows. Instead, a lone mannequin in a wedding dress occupies the display window of the tan, flatiron-style 1920s building. Story by John Grennan/Oakland North

Game on: Lawn bowlers battle by the lake

On most weekend mornings in September, Oakland residents turn Lake Merritt into their outdoor track, with packs of joggers and cyclists circumnavigating the sunlit lake. But a canopy of gray clouds chilled the air one recent Saturday, making the morning in the emptier-than-usual park feel like winter rather than late summer.

North Oakland Now: No breakthrough in Campbell search

A volunteer-led search yesterday in the Oakland Hills for missing 5-year-old Hassani Campbell turned up a sweatshirt and a sock on Chabot Road near Highway 24, but Campbell’s foster parents said the clothing did not belong to the boy. “The sweatshirt was a different brand and a different size, and the sock was a big red sock — [Campbell] wasn’t wearing a red sock,” said John Burris, an attorney advising Campbell’s foster parents. At a press conference this afternoon, Oakland…

“Incredible teamwork” opens Bay Bridge Tuesday

Bay Area drivers breathed a sigh of relief as the Bay Bridge reopened this morning just before 7 a.m. The region coped without this major thoroughfare for four and a half days, but commuters improvised and managed to avoid worst-case scenarios. Caltrans shut the bridge for a special construction project over Labor Day weekend. During safety inspections unrelated to the construction project, however, workers discovered a crack in an eyebar, a vertical steel structure with loops or “eyes” on either…

Bay Bridge workday closure goes smoothly

Updated at 6:20 p.m. For the first time in 73 years, the boss let the Bay Bridge take a day off during the workweek. Even without the bridge, Friday’s morning commute went relatively smoothly, and no major messes were apparent by early evening. Caltrans closed the bridge at 8 p.m. last night and initiated a five-night, four-day special construction project to replace a 300-foot section of the span near Yerba Buena Island. Despite the loss of a bridge that carries…

A Taste of Italy

Deli manager Julio de La Cruz says more than 90 percent of the products on his store’s shelves come from Italy. This map shows parts of the Old Country where some of Genova’s most popular imported products originate. [This map is no longer available.]