Politics
Par BAGASSI KOURA Nov. 6 — O.N.’s Bagassi Koura, whose home country is the West African nation of Burkina Faso, worked hard throughout voting day last Tuesday. But his cellphone kept interrupting–one after another, calls from Burkina Faso, demanding updates on the American election. We asked Koura, a former Agence France-Presse reporter, to describe in French his efforts to reassure his friends that all would be well. An English translation follows. Le mardi 04 novembre, les Américains se rendaient…
By OAKLAND NORTH STAFF Nov. 6 – Before Dan Lopez left his house Tuesday night, he didn’t check to see whether a hot iron was plugged in or a pot of water left to boil over on the stove–he double-checked the digital video recorder. He needed to make sure he’d gotten it all. Lopez drove to the Rockridge BART station to pick up his wife, Meghan. Meghan was trying to ignore her cell phone, buzzing with text messages from friends…
By HENRY JONES and SAMSON REINY Nov. 6–The passage of Proposition 8 has set off statewide legal confusion as same-sex marriage advocates filed petitions before the California Supreme Court yesterday, calling for the suspension of the gay marriage ban until the court decides if the amendment is unconstitutional. Californians voted on Tuesday by a 52 to 48 percent margin in favor of the ballot measure, which amended the state’s constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman….
By CLARE MAJOR Nov. 5 — A proposition to give additional funds to children’s hospitals passed with 54 percent of votes in favor and 45 percent against. Proposition 3 authorizes $980 million in general obligation bonds to fund grants for the construction, renovation, or related improvements of California children’s hospitals. The bonds will be repaid over 30 years, for a total estimated cost to the state of $2 billion, or $64 million per year.
By CHRISTINA SALERNO and MARTIN RICARD Nov. 5 – AC Transit board member Rebecca Kaplan won the race tonight for the at-large seat on the Oakland City Council, with 61 percent of the vote. Her opponent, Oakland school board member Kerry Hamill, trailed with 38 percent.
By MARTIN RICARD Nov. 4 — When Steve Kirkendoll was 4 years old, in 1960, he remembers sitting on his mother’s lap and watching on TV as black people in the South got hosed down and bitten by police dogs just for trying to register to vote. Kirkendall is 52 now. And after what he saw tonight, he said, he can now sit his 4-year-old granddaughter on his lap and tell her what happened on Nov. 4, 2008, when the…
By OAKLAND NORTH STAFF Nov. 4 – Cheering, honking, weeping mobs overtook the streets of North Oakland tonight when Barack Obama became the next president-elect of the United States. When the news hit at 8 p.m., the city went wild. From the Democratic Election party held at the Oakland Marriott, to neighborhood block parties, the excitement spilled out into the streets.
Nov. 5 – Measure NN, which would have increased taxes to expand the city’s police force, won 54 percent of the vote, but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass.
By BAGASSI KOURA Nov. 5 — Measure WW, which raises up to $500 million for East Bay Regional Parks through government bonds, passed overwhelmingly with 71 percent of the vote. Measure WW was introduced by park officials in August. The money raised will replenish dwindling funds that have been levied since 1988 by Measure AA, the last bond issue aimed at East Bay parks. Measure AA raised $225 million for the park system, less than half the amount allotted for Measure WW.