tagged w/ SF Bay Area
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As they do each year around this time, the Chairmen of the corporations that own the corporate media outlets in America met in a subterranean conference room, one mile beneath the Fox News Headquarters in Manhattan.
We have obtained a draft of the minutes of their most recent meeting. I cannot tell you how, so do not ask. Lives are at stake.
http://www.billschmalfeldt.com/featured/meet-the-legion-of-super-media-villains/As they do each year around this time, the Chairmen of the corporations that own the... more
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East Bay Area parents are fortunate again this year to have many 4th of July festivities Independence Day 2010 brings the usual pancake breakfasts, parades and fireworks. But you can also enjoy dog parades, car shows, rock climbing walls, free sailboat rides, train rides, petting zoos and more.East Bay Area parents are fortunate again this year to have many 4th of July... more
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Family members of Oscar Grant, the unarmed BART rider shot to death by a transit agency police officer early New Year's Day, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday that seeks $50 million from the agency, its chief of police and three officers.
John Burris, an attorney for the family, had asked for $25 million in a legal claim against BART after Officer Johannes Mehserle shot Grant on the platform of the Fruitvale Station in Oakland.
Grant, 22, of Hayward, and several other young men had been pulled off a Dublin-Pleasanton train by police investigating reports of a fight. He was face-down on the station platform when he was shot, an incident that several passengers recorded on cell-phone cameras.
Mehserle, 27, quit the BART force Jan. 7 and was subsequently charged with murder. His attorney said Mehserle had meant to fire his Taser when he fired a single shot with his pistol.
Burris said Monday that the actions by Mehserle and by BART Officer Tony Pirone, who first detained Grant and five of his friends in the aftermath of the fight, were "more egregious than I initially thought."
The lawsuit Burris filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland on the Grant family's behalf also named Pirone's partner, Marysol Domenici, and Police Chief Gary Gee. The attorney suggested that racism had played a role in Grant's detention and death, an accusation that a lawyer for BART said is not supported by evidence.
Burris wrote that an unidentified officer "directed a racial slur at one of the young men" after they were detained. Grant was African American, and the other detained men were black and Latino, Burris said in the suit.
Dale Allen, an attorney representing BART and the officers in civil court, said Monday that Grant's death was "a tragic accident," citing Mehserle's explanation about trying to fire his Taser.
"BART has been discussing mediation with Mr. Burris in an attempt to bring closure to the Grant family, and will continue to do so," Allen said.
Allen said evidence in the case will show that Grant and his friends "had been identified as having been involved in an altercation on the train" and that officers had properly detained them. He said racism was not a factor in the case and that officers had uttered "absolutely no racial slurs."
Burris said Pirone struck Grant without good reason minutes before Grant was shot, and that Domenici threatened to "tase" the young men in the face. Pirone's attorney, Bill Rapoport, has said Grant provoked Pirone's blow by trying to knee the officer in the groin.
Burris filed the lawsuit on behalf of Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, as well as Sophina Mesa, who was Grant's girlfriend and is raising the couple's 4-year-old daughter.
BART spokesman Linton Johnson said Monday that a criminal investigation into the actions of Pirone and the other officers on the platform will soon be turned over to Alameda County prosecutors for a decision on possible charges.Family members of Oscar Grant, the unarmed BART rider shot to death by a transit... more
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Oakland police said 18 people were arrested Wednesday night after a peaceful protest of the BART shooting turned violent with a splinter group going on a window-smashing rampage. It was a week ago Wednesday that a similar protest had also turned violent.
Elsewhere, about 50 people were evacuated from their Napa homes Wednesday night after the parents of the arrested ex-officer, Johannes Mehserle, found two suspicious packages on their porch. After days of receiving threats, the family feared the items could be explosives.Oakland police said 18 people were arrested Wednesday night after a peaceful protest... more
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An Oakland protest over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on a train platform by Bay Area Rapid Transit police turned violent Wednesday night, with fires set, cars vandalized, and windows smashed - just hours after the officer who fired the deadly shot resigned.
[Update 1/10/09]
This shouldn't have happened. It doesn't solve the problem and this is a BART policeman who did this not the Oakland Police nor the Oakland citizens who got their windows smashed and cars ruined by fire. Unnecessary. The day after the riot, the family and friends of Oscar Grant pleas the "protesters" to stop the violence during a news conference.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Saturday dispatched a state prosecutor to monitor Alameda County's investigation into the New Year's Day slaying of the unarmed man by a transit police officer that was recorded on videotape.
Here is the link of the updates including Jerry Brown talking about the investigation and how the riot affected residents and business in Downtown Oakland:
http://cbs5.com/crime/BART.shooting.investigation.2.904894.htmlAn Oakland protest over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on a train platform by... more
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Letter to the Editor
Article Launched: 11/17/2008 12:00:00 AM PST
Noise unhealthy
Letter from Louis Hagler, MD to Contra Costa Times
I am a retired physician with an interest in the medical, social and economic effects of noise pollution. Opposition to a proposed noise ordinance in Concord is short-sighted and misguided in the extreme. As a matter of public health, the City Council has no issue that is more pressing.
You can read the whole story here;
http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_10976598Letter to the Editor
Article Launched: 11/17/2008 12:00:00 AM PST
Noise unhealthy... more
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His eyewear store in a San Rafael mall was ransacked and some $200,000 in cash and merchandise stolen, but optometrist Hermann Dungs was upbeat: Burglars missed his most valuable item — a pair of John Lennon's eyeglasses.His eyewear store in a San Rafael mall was ransacked and some $200,000 in cash and... more
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