News

A homemade bottle bomb found in Berkeley's Tilden Regional Park late Friday morning was determined to be safe, police said today. -more-

What follows is an account of what I saw and experienced last night, and an account from my friend who experienced police brutality and arrest at the demonstration and afterwards. She was not released until late this morning. -more-

OAKLAND (BCN)— Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums said today that he's "incredibly, extraordinarily, unwaveringly proud" of the way city residents responded to the involuntary manslaughter conviction for former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle for the death of Oscar Grant III. -more-

  OAKLAND (BCN)--    A total of 78 people were arrested Thursday night in downtown Oakland during protests that followed the announcement of the verdict in the Johannes Mehserle trial, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said today.  

As the Oakland community begins to understand the meaning of Johannes Mehserle’s involuntary manslaughter verdict, the streets exploded angrily last night. -more-

OAKLAND (BCN)-- Relative calm has returned to the streets of downtown Oakland this morning as most protesters unhappy with the verdict in the Johannes Mehserle trial have abandoned the area and police and business owners continue to assess the damage inflicted by rioters Thursday night. -more-

Police have arrested about 50 people in Oakland and expect to double that number by the end of the night as officers respond to protests following the Johannes Mehserle verdict, police Chief Anthony Batts said. -more-

Police have issued an unlawful assembly order and made several arrests in downtown Oakland as responses to the Johannes Mehserle verdict have begun to turn violent, police Chief Anthony Batts said. -more-

Regardless of the outcome of the criminal trial, BART has always taken responsibility as a civil matter for the terrible tragedy that occurred on the platform of the Fruitvale BART Station on the morning of January 1, 2009. -more-

Protests in downtown Oakland sparked by the verdict in the Johannes Mehserle trial appear to be taking a violent turn. -more-

The U.S. Department of Justice will conduct an independent review of the Johannes Mehserle case in order to determine whether or not the shooting merits federal prosecution, according the department. -more-

Several groups are gathering in downtown Oakland this evening in the wake of the involuntary manslaughter conviction of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle. -more-

District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley announces that the Los Angeles jury in the case of People v. Johannes Mehserle returned a guilty verdict of involuntary manslaughter against the defendant. The jury also found true the allegation that the defendant used a gun and rejected the defense that the defendant believed he was using his taser. The verdict reflects that the killing was unlawful and done with criminal negligence and recklessness. -more-

The San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLGSF) condemns the involuntary manslaughter verdict in the criminal case against former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. The trial judge, Robert Perry, acted inappropriately by allowing irrelevant information about the victim, Oscar Grant, before the jury. -more-

A Los Angeles jury has convicted former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter. -more-

Jurors in the trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle have reached a verdict. -more-

BART officials are asking passengers -- especially those riding near the downtown San Francisco and downtown Oakland stations -- to be patient with service because the trains are very full as a result of the Mehserle verdict. -more-

Berkeley police spokesperson Sgt. Mary Kusmiss today confirmed anecdotal reports to the Planet that a woman was found dead in the Berkeley YMCA on June 30. Based on their preliminary investigation, police believe that she hid in the building until it closed and then committed suicide by hanging herself in a first floor restroom. The Alameda County coroner has identified the dead woman as Amy Gitelman, 47, and has notified next of kin. -more-

The shooting of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station was a devastating event for one young man, his friends and family and his whole community. A jury is currently deliberating on the fate of his accused shooter Johannes Mehserle, and a verdict is expected in the very near future. We would like to invite you to a community rally to promote healing and support Oscar Grant’s family, friends and community. The event is to be held in front of City Hall on the day of the verdict. -more-

The trial of Johannes Mehserle, the cop who killed Oscar Grant, has reawakened a rebellious campaign against police brutality in Oakland, California. Oscar Grant, of course, was the unarmed young father who was pulled off a BART car for allegedly fighting early in the morning of January 1, 2009. After being detained by police, along with a group of his friends, he was shot in the back by Mehserle while lying on his belly on the BART platform. All this, of course, in front of a train full of witnesses, many of whom recorded the killing on cameras and cell phones. Although there is no doubt in the minds of many community members who have seen those videos as to what happened on that BART platform, the jury at Mehserle’s trial in Los Angeles may see something differently. -more-

Starting today, Berkeley residents and building owners can apply online for cash rebates through the Money for Energy Efficiency (ME2) Program. ME2 is a federally funded program that provides rebates, incentives and direct installation of energy upgrades such as attic, wall and floor insulation and draft and duct sealing for Berkeley homes and businesses. The program covers Berkeley residential units at all income levels as well as commercial, industrial, and multifamily buildings. -more-

A 23-year-old woman was robbed at knifepoint on the University of California at Berkeley campus this weekend, according to police. -more-

A 21-year-old man died after suffering a head injury near the University of California at Berkeley campus on Friday morning, but how he suffered that injury is still not clear, a police captain said today. -more-

The University of California Police Department has announced that it is seeking the public’s assistance for information about the suspicious death of a young man who was found unconscious in the south campus area early Friday morning. -more-

A popular video rental store in Berkeley is asking for donations from community members and movie lovers as it fights to stay in business after its parent company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. -more-

Jury deliberations in the murder trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle were suspended today because one of the jurors is sick. -more-

A cigarette apparently sparked an early morning fire that caused about $700,000 in damage at a home in Berkeley, an assistant fire chief said. -more-

A tent city has sprouted up for the second time in as many months on the median of a Berkeley street in protest of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts to in-home support services, an organizer said today. -more-

I came home last night for another brief R&R before returning to ArnieVille in an hour or so...What a difference hot water & shampoo make! -more-

AC Transit's board of directors has imposed a new contract on the bus agency's 1,600 union employees after talks on a new contract stalled. -more-

Rebecca's Books, the homey little community-oriented poetry bookshop at 3268 Adeline, is featuring a storewide sale over the next few weeks in July, anticipating its closing, said founder Mary Ann Braithwaite. -more-

Most Americans are not quite sure what to make of the sprawling right-wing Tea Party, which gradually emerged in 2009 and became a household name after it held nationwide Tea Party rallies on April 15th 2010, to protest paying taxes. Throwing tea overboard, as you may remember, is an important symbolic image of the colonial anger at Britain’s policy of “taxation without representation.” -more-

As of June 2009, there were an estimated 4.3 billion cell phone (mobile phones) users worldwide.In the United States, it is estimated that more than fifty percent of children own their own personal cell phones.A growing body of scientific evidence shows that there are significant health hazards to their use, including brain tumors; damage to DNA, an undisputed cause of cancer; blood-brain barriers (BBB) leakage (BBB protects the brain from many molecules that are toxic to the brain; and male fertility damage by cell phone use because men, especially teenagers, put their cell phones in their pockets when not in use, causing a deleterious effect on sperm count and sperm motility. -more-

Ithaca, NY—As oil washes ashore along the Gulf Coast, theCornell Lab of Ornithology is asking birders to keep an eye on nesting birds—not just near water, but hundreds of miles inland. -more-

Barry Elbasani, an architect whose master plans and buildings were frameworks for revitalizing downtowns throughout the country, died on Tuesday, June 29, 2010, at his home in Berkeley, California. He was 69. -more-

Prosecutor David Stein and defense attorney Michael Rains completed their closing arguments today in the trial of former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle on a murder charge for the fatal shooting of unarmed passenger Oscar Grant III. -more-

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