Crime

Batts touts police improvements, says tough choices ahead

“What I have to do is take what I have and make that as efficient as I possibly can, ” new police chief Anthony Batts told reporters. “We can’t do twenty things. But we can do the top two or three or four or five that this city says it wants to do.”

O’Malley looks to maintain “superior tradition” at Alameda County DA office

Newly appointed Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, who comes from a Bay Area family of judges and prosecutors, steps into the job at a time of budget cuts and high-profile homicide cases. “It’s still looked at as one of the best D.A. offices in the country,” she said during an extensive interview last week. “I take the job very, very seriously.”

Art, live from Death Row

At 23rd and Telegraph, inside a storefront/gallery/craft space called Rock Paper Scissors, neatly hung canvas paintings and framed ink drawings lined the walls. Cards below each piece identified the artist: all are prisoners at San Quentin.