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Hot Oakland Stories
Born and raised in Oakland, screenwriter Dawn Blair is currently working on a movie titled, Ghetto Magnolia.
Inspired by Blair’s own life, Ghetto Magnolia is set in Oakland and chronicles the life of a "single songstress living ghetto fabulously in the fast lane". Tragedy then hits, sparking a dramatic change in the main character's life. Currently the film is in production and will be released in 2010.
Blair says it took her eight years to write Ghetto Magnolia. Check out the video for more:
LOS ANGELES - Was it a tragic accident or a deliberate act of aggression?
That’s the question facing the jury in the trial of Johannes Mehserle, an ex Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer accused of murder.
Closing statements are expected Thursday. Mehserle, 28, is on trial for the murder of Oscar Grant III, an unarmed black male.
Mehserle shot and killed Grant at the Fruitvale Bart platform on January 1st, 2009 in Oakland. Bystanders on the platform taped the shooting using cell phones. Those videos were seen thousands of times on the internet, and have played a key role in the trial. Both the prosecution and the defense have used the footage to tell their side of the story.
The trial centers on one main question: was the shooting intentional or accidental? Defense Attorney Michael Rains says his client intended to use his Taser on Oscar Grant, not his gun. But the prosecution has countered that Mehserle shot Oscar Grant intentionally, as the situation on the platform spiraled out of control.
The case has attracted widespread attention since it is the first time in California history that a law enforcement officer has been charged with murder in a shooting that happened in the line of duty.
“I think it’s important whenever you have a law enforcement officer who is actually facing murder charges,” said Laurie Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Law School and a former federal prosecutor.
She said that the implications go well beyond the Bay Area, “The issues are terribly important across the nation. What kind of conduct is happening with police officers? Are they involved in improper shootings? How often do they make mistakes? And why do they make them?”
One of the big unknowns in the case, centered around what instructions Judge Robert Perry will give to the jury. Both the defense and the prosecution have asked the judge for a different set of instructions about what charges the jury should consider. The defense has asked the judge only allow the jury to consider a second-degree murder charge, and not lesser charges of manslaughter. The prosecution believed all options should on the table for the jury.
After more than 15 days of testimony, Judge Perry has issued a ruling against the defense. Perry is allowing the jury to consider second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and voluntary manslaughter, but has ruled out first-degree murder charges, saying there is not enough evidence to suggest the shooting was pre-meditated.
“The whole point of manslaughter is that it is a compromise between deliberate killing and unpunished legal behavior,” said Frank Zimring, a law professor at the University of California Berkeley’s Boalt Law School. “It is not a compromise about bending fact. It is about evaluating facts--what you can determine when you have ambiguity of intent and a catastrophic mistake.”
But, Professor Laurie Levinson adds that historically juries have had a hard time convicting police officers to begin with. She says they might not like the conduct, but there is a feeling that law enforcement officers protect public safety.
That’s why, she says, the Mehserle case is rare. Normally, alleged acts of police misconduct are investigated internally or end up in civil courts. A criminal complaint is unusual. But this case, she adds, has been unusual from the beginning—especially since civilians caught the incident on tape.
Click here for more multimedia stories about the Oscar Grant case.
Oakland parking officers were asked to enforce parking citations in less wealthy areas of Oakland, like East and West Oakland. Parking officers have been asked to leave Oakland Hills and other areas un-patrolled for parking violations. Residents in those areas have received courtesy letters from Council members excepting them from being cited.
Parking officers held a rally on Thursday in front of Oakland’s City Hall to stand against this issue. Service Employees International Union 1021 (SEIU) sent a letter to City Administrator Dan Lindheim requesting that he investigates this issue. The letter also request that Noel Pinto, Oakland Parking Director to be immediately relieved of his duties as this issue gets investigated.
This is what parking officers had to say about this issue.
Oakland's City Council wants to update cabaret laws which would extend bar and club closing times to 5 AM. Members of the City Council see a potential increase in revenue if the current law is changed. But moving along with these changes may not be that easy. Some Oakland residents feel that in order to make this shift that the city needs to tone down its violenent crime rate first.
Currently the cabaret law states that club owners need to apply for "zoning approval, submit to background checks, and get fire and health inspections in order to play live music or music hosted by a disc jockey at their venues." Small and large venues pay the same fees for some permits. The new cabaret law would reduce permit fees for some bars to $600 from $2,200, create a smoother application process and extending closing time to 5AM from 2AM.
Changing the closing time for clubs would likely require a greater police presence at those hours. CQ press--an independent publisher--released in 2009 their annual city crime rankings and Oakland ranked as the third worst in the nation. The rankings were based on murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and vehicle theft. Is Oakland ready to have more people out at night?








