Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.

Awkward Bank Robber Loses Fake Mustache During Holdup

An armed bank robber hoping to pull off his heist incognito managed to draw even more attention to himself when the phony mustache he was wearing started falling off mid-robbery. According to police, the robber walked into a Bank of America on El Camino Real in Burlingame Wednesday afternoon donni ... More >>

Sham Marriages: An Immigration Attorney's Tricks of the Trade

College Student's Suicide Caused by Doctor's Sexual Abuse, Parents Claim in Lawsuit

Parents of former UC Berkeley student Elgin Stafford claim that a doctor at the university health center molested their son, which caused trauma that eventually led to his suicide, according to a lawsuit filed last week in Alameda County.In their complaint, Annie and Mike Stafford accuse Dr. Robert ... More >>

School Officials Apologize Over Racist Comic in Newsletter

A Pleasant Hill school secretary reminded us today why it is so very important to proofread before hitting send. The substitute secretary accidentally sent out this racist cartoon below along with the school newsletter, somehow mistaking the offensive image for a harmless comic. Of course, it hasn't ... More >>

Oakland Tribune to Move Back to Downtown

Ironically, don't count on it to give you the correct time​Just two months ago, the Bay Area News Group announced sad news -- it was cutting jobs and consolidating newspapers, delivering most of its content under the name the East Bay Times. However, the media group is now reversing course, saying ... More >>

Ascending Ramen in Parkside, Falling Stars and Their Grilling Tips: This Week in Food Bloggery

My own favorite celebrity cookbook.​Highlights from the blog this week: 1. Carina Ost dredged the internet and pulled up 10 sopping, putrid celebrity cookbooks. Now that food has become the new rock, expect the System of a Down cupcake guide sometime soon. 2. Luis Chong continues to monitor San ... More >>

Released Mental Patient Steals Taxi

You never know...​Comedian George Carlin used to assemble lists of "things you never want to see." One memorable entry: "A man in a hospital gown driving a steamroller." Something along those lines came to pass in the East Bay over the weekend. Jermaine Grosse, a 26-year-old man who hailed a taxi ... More >>

Restaurant Critic Files the Ultimate in Challenging Reviews: Life on Food Stamps

Our favorite morsel from the Web. Is Ed Murrieta's story the kind of ultimate indignity that gives a face to America's new poverty? Murrieta's a food writer and restaurant critic who can't find work (including, apparently, at SF Weekly, where he seems to have applied for the job of food critic). So ... More >>

Elizabeth and Jeffery Easterling Died on First Sailing Trip 'Out the Gate'

Exclusive to SF WeeklyJeff and Beth Easterling's empty boat, the Barcarolle. This was, apparently, the couple's maiden voyage 'out the Gate.''​Jeff and Beth Easterling were experienced sailors. Their ship, the Barcarolle, was a good boat. But they had apparently never before experienced the condit ... More >>

Marin Pot Club: Kids Welcome!

​Lynnette Shaw, the Fairfax pot saleswoman famed for leading a fight 10 years ago to recall Marin County's district attorney for enforcing laws relating to marijuana, is now crusading to overturn a town restriction keeping kids out of her store, the Contra Costa Times reports.Speaking before the F ... More >>

Examiner, MediaNews to Partner on Bay Area Ad Sales Deal

Media mogul Dean Singleton is again seeking inroads to San Francisco's daily newspaper market, according to a report today in the Denver Business Journal.Will joint ad sales bring happy days back?​Apparently Singleton's MediaNews Group -- owner of legion Bay Area newspapers, including the Oakland ... More >>

Bay Area News Group East Bay's Newsrooms Just Got a Lot Roomier -- 17 Shown the Door

http://www.big13.netAnd the time for newsroom layoffs -- is nowAn e-mail ominously titled "staff changes" was moments ago circulated to employees of the Bay Area News Group in the East Bay. Kevin Keane -- the chain's executive editor and the author of the memo -- seems to have the same definition of ... More >>

MediaNews Lawyer Denies Ex-Reporter's Discrimination Claims

A lawyer for MediaNews Group says the newspaper chain plans to deny allegations of discrimination in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a former reporter at the Monterey County Herald. Andre Briscoe, a black man who worked at the MediaNews-owned Herald from August 2005 through January 2008, asse ... More >>

Dismissed Reporter Sues MediaNews Group, Alleges Race Discrimination

A former reporter at the Monterey County Herald has sued the Northern California newspaper and its parent company, MediaNews Group, alleging that he was underpaid and then fired because of his race. MediaNews, headed by press mogul Dean Singleton (pictured), is also a major presence in the Bay Area ... More >>

East Bay Newspapers Rescind Layoffs... Temporarily

By John Geluardi Bay Area News Group – East Bay) managers have rescinded the eight newsroom layoffs they announced last week after the company’s new union filed a complaint with the National Labors Relations Board. Managers told the eight employees who are part of the bargaining unit that ... More >>

East Bay Newspaper Managers Continue to Cut Jobs

Facing foreclosure? Con man Paul Noe II has a deal for you

Tell Newspaper Reporters What You REALLY Think

San Francisco Chronicle To Cut 125 Positions

Newspaper Management Strikes Back

Newspaper Union Stirring to Life in the East Bay

SF Weekly Letters

Bay Area News Group asks staff to devise a 'NewPaper'

Trying Time

Guardian's lawsuit against SF Weekly nearing trial after more than three years.

SF Weekly Letters

Paper Chase

The Guild is up against a cost-cutting mogul and declining revenues, but the union continues to seek converts

Chauncey Bailey Project Unites Local Media -- Except the Chronicle and the Express

Bay Area Journalism: A Little Less U-N-I-T-Y

Watchdog Catfight

Activists aren't happy about the deal struck between Clint Reilly and Bay Area media barons

Must Work for Free

By not paying their interns, some Bay Area publications may be violating the state labor code

Image Problem

Why have SFPD Chief Heather Fong and Mayor Gavin Newsom pursued an overblown pseudo-scandal when there’s so much else on the department’s plate?

Chron 2.0

A Bridge Too Far

Is it your fault that the seismic retrofit of the Bay Bridge will be years late, billions over budget, and uglier than ever? Maybe.

Letters to the Editor

Week of September 17, 2003

First SF Weekly Sharpie Literary Awards

DISCUSSED IN THIS REVIEW: Cons, Scams & Grifts, 2001, Mysterious Press, Confidence, 2003, Lion's Gate Films What Should I Do With My Life?, 2002, Random House

It Should Happen to You

A suddenly timely doc about terrorism -- plus other S.F. Sundance contenders

That Secret Shame

You don't have to be embarrassed to read romance novels anymore. With modern themes and better writing, Bay Area authors are helping to make the genre almost (gasp!) respectable.

A Chance for Respect?

How to tell whether the San Francisco Chronicle is becoming a great newspaper, or another nondescript Hearst money-machine

Panic or Attack?

Did this aspiring cover boy, who says he killed in a panic fit brought on by unwanted gay advances, get away with murder?

Letters

Unspun

Unspun

Unspun

Unspun

Unspun

Unspun

Unspun

Great Moments in the Bay Area Feel Good/Feel Better History

The Case For One Daily

The Joint Operating Agreement deprives the Chronicle of the resources it needs to produce a great newspaper; it also prevents the afternoon Examiner from connecting with the readers it needs to survive. Since the JOA makes it inevitable that only one wil