Oscar Grant

Unmasking the Anarchists: Occupy Oakland Returns

Occupy Oakland to Take Over Vacant Building This Weekend

Erin SherbertThis has Occupy Oakland written all over it ​Occupy Oakland is still at it, with plans this weekend to move into a vacant building that protesters can call home. According to Occupy Oakland: "Like millions of people in this country, Occupy Oakland has no home. On January 28, Move-in ... More >>

Enter: A Superhero: The Ray Faced Down Cops to Help Occupy, But His True Mission Is Darker

Erin SherbertThis has Occupy Oakland written all over it ​Occupy Oakland is still at it, with plans this weekend to move into a vacant building that protesters can call home. According to Occupy Oakland: "Like millions of people in this country, Occupy Oakland has no home. On January 28, Move-in ... More >>

tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus on Her Creative Philosophy, Finding Inspiration in the Bay, and the Wisdom of Steve Jobs

By CHLOE ROTH In 2009, tUnE-yArDs frontwoman Merrill Garbus was lured from Montreal to Oakland by "Love and fear of illegal immigrant status in Canada." Lucky for us. "I started sadly playing a ukulele that my mom had given me," Garbus says. "Though it crossed my mind that being a doctor was probab ... More >>

Boots Riley: Oakland General Strike Is "Like Us Flashing Our Guns"

via EKA PhotographyBoots Riley at Occupy Oakland​ The Occupy movement doesn't have a leader, but Oakland activist-rapper Boots Riley is serving as one sort of de facto spokesman for his hometown's defiant occupation, lending the collective grievances a high-profile voice. Inspired by public g ... More >>

BART Police Using Force: Citizen Complaints Skyrocket Since Oscar Grant Shooting

​It's safe to say at this point those once lively Monday evening BART protests are now deemed dead on arrival. But perhaps a new audit of citizen complaints against BART police officers will flare protesters' tempers again.The transit today agency released an internal review that details the numbe ... More >>

BART Protest Rescheduled for Thursday; How Will it Benefit You?

Commuting for free​Don't think that a holiday on Monday meant a holiday from BART protests. The active mob of demonstrators informed the media that they will be in full swing on Thursday, promising to block the fare gates. But this protest, as strange as it sounds, might actually translate into a ... More >>

SF Weekly's Evening at the BART Rally

Riot police at Civic Center BART station​At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, a BART train pulls up to the Civic Center platform. The doors slide open and passengers disembark, looking around curiously once they realize each set of doors is flanked by two BART security guards in fluorescent yellow vests. In ... More >>

BART Shooting: Rally Planned Today Will Disrupt Transit Service

​Activists are planning  to slow BART service at the Civic Center Station this evening in response to the fatal July 3 BART police shooting. The protest, organized by a group called No Justice, No Bart, is scheduled to take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m and could draw as many as 300 people. N ... More >>

The Subversive Beauty of tUnE-yArDs

​Activists are planning  to slow BART service at the Civic Center Station this evening in response to the fatal July 3 BART police shooting. The protest, organized by a group called No Justice, No Bart, is scheduled to take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m and could draw as many as 300 people. N ... More >>

BART GM Dorothy Dugger Resigns with $1M Severance Package

Dorothy Dugger​BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger announced her resignation from the transit agency today, and will leave with close to $1 million in pay as part of a severance agreement, BART officials said.Dugger's resignation comes after BART's board of directors voted to fire her in February. ... More >>

BART Puts More Police On Trains

You want it, you got it ​Two years ago you more likely to see a BART cop on YouTube than you were to find them on a train. Even after scuffles between BART cops and passengers were caught on video and the emotionally-charged trial of Oscar Grant, riders still said they wanted to see more police on ... More >>

Johannes Mehserle Sentence 'Sends Wrong Message,' Lawyer Says

​A veteran civil rights attorney who has sued the Oakland and BART Police Departments more times than he can remember lamented ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle's two-year sentence -- the shortest sentence Judge Robert Perry could have handed down. Jim Chanin has represented more than 500 clients suin ... More >>

NPR Takes 'Web-First' Approach to Blogging. What Does That Mean?

Hello, Blogger...​Tomorrow, National Public Radio will formally launch the Argo Project, a group of 12 topic-based news blogs hosted by different NPR affiliates across the country. Two of the blogs are Bay Area-based: KALW's The Informant, which focuses on criminal justice issues, and KQED's MindS ... More >>

Taser Sued in San Francisco Following Death of Santa Rosa Man

One thing's for certain -- this photo wasn't taken in San Francisco​Whatever momentum those hoping to arm the San Francisco Police Department with Tasers didn't lose following the death of Oscar Grant may have been snuffed out this week in San Francisco District Court. The parents of a 39-year-old ... More >>

A Night of J Dilla Featuring ISM and the Fan-Tas-Tics at Madrone Art Bar

Hiroshi Okun​A Night of J Dillafeaturing ISM and The Fan-tas-tics @ Madrone Art Bar July 28, 2010 Better than: A night of Steve Milla.James Yancey, a.k.a. Jay Dee, a.k.a. J Dilla, is somewhere between 2Pac and Pimp C in the running for the title of hip-hop's hardest-working dead guy. His death of ... More >>

Pro-Johannes Mehserle Rally Still On For Today

Johannes Mehserle's fan club will rally in Walnut Creek today​Despite legions of Bay Area residents' simultaneously thinking "this will end poorly," the mysterious organizers of today's pro-Johannes Mehserle rally in Walnut Creek are still moving full speed ahead. Demonstrators are scheduled to ra ... More >>

Twitter Hates KRON-4 Coverage of Oscar Grant Protests

Mike Monteiro​The verdict is in: Twitter thinks KRON's coverage of last night's protests in downtown Oakland was terrible, funny, and practically begging for police to tear into protesters. Around 11 p.m., as things appeared to be winding down, Mike Monteiro tweeted, "Thankfully, most of the prote ... More >>

Johannes Mehserle Jury Reaches Verdict, Announcement Pending

How will Mehserle's day go? ​Jury ready after minimal deliberations. Does this portend an acquittal? The jury of ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle, accused of murdering unarmed passenger Oscar Grant, has reportedly reached a verdict. It will apparently make its announcement at roughly 4 p.m. Jurors ha ... More >>

Johannes Mehserle Guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter

Involuntary manslaughter for Mehserle​Check back for updatesEx-BART cop Johannes Mehserle has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of unarmed BART passenger Oscar Grant. The jury could have convicted Mehserle of either second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter - ... More >>

'Speechless': Bay Area Music Community Reacts to Grant Verdict on Twitter

Twitter heated up today as the Oscar Grant verdict came in. Here are some reactions to the news from members of the Bay Area's music community:Oakland dance-pop diva OONA:​Vallejo rapper Moe Green:

Pics From Oscar Grant Demonstration -- and Riot

Thursday's involuntary manslaughter conviction in the Johannes Mehserle trial led to peaceful protests, peaceful posing, not-so-peaceful protests and posing, and, finally, heavy vandalism and looting in city's downtown. Yes, men and women wearing masks of slain Oscar Grant's face were helping themse ... More >>

Would Manslaughter Conviction in Mehserle Case Stave Off Riot?

​In a massive development in Johannes Mehserle's murder trial, Judge Robert Perry today gave jurors the option of doing more than either convicting the former BART cop of cold-blooded murder or acquitting him outright for shooting dead unarmed passenger Oscar Grant. Perry tossed out the possibilit ... More >>

City, County Officials Whisper 'Bankruptcy' to Solve Pension Woes

Wheeee!McClatchy Newspapers Pension Investigation: More Local Government Accounts Looking As Red As Bankrupt Vallejo's; California's 80 Largest City and County Governments Face $28 Billion Shortfall.SF Weekly Follow: Failure is no obstacle to the pension good life: CalPers records show $197,421 ... More >>

Legal Weapon

Don Cameron trains cops in how to use force, and then defends them in court when they're accused of going too far.

Train patrol: BART plans increased police presence

Don Cameron trains cops in how to use force, and then defends them in court when they're accused of going too far.

Cops: S.F. Policies Would Likely Have Prevented BART's Glass-Shattering Incident Here

While being tossed through a plate-glass window is a staple of the action movie genre, it is less pleasant -- or common -- in reality. So when a BART police officer was caught over the weekend at West Oakland Station in a YouTube video titled "Officer Breaks Window With Drunks Face" it quickly beca ... More >>

Mission Protests for the Return of President Zelaya to Honduras (And Justice For Oscar Grant)

Mission progressives descended on the 24th Street BART plaza this evening to protest for the return of President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras after the military coup on Sunday. Eric Quezada of Dolores Street Community Services and former District 9 supervisor candidate led the crowd of about 200 in a ... More >>

Chela Simone Tonight at Levende

Back to Burn: Chela SimoneLevende Lounge's weekly emerging talent showcase "We All We Got" heats up tonight with an appearance by Chela Simone, one of the Bay Area's rawest female emcees. Imagine the lyrical finesse of MC Lyte with the revolutionary intellectualism of Sister Souljah--but coming fr ... More >>

Green Day Featured in New York Times

Jim Wilson/New York TimesIn the(ir) DNA: Green Day We've still got a few days to go before Green Day's new album, 21st Century Breakdown, drops (on May 15, if you're wondering). And Bay Area audiences might be sick of the pop-punk superstars already, after a recent frenzy of live shows at mostly sm ... More >>

Here's a Shock: Cop Sues Taser Over Stun-Gun Safety

Apparently, Taser training's not as fun as it looksThere are times when real-world events conspire overwhelmingly to defeat arguments for a policy or theory. Think about the fate of Soviet-style collective farming, say, or -- to pull an example from the past year's headlines -- the idea that unregul ... More >>

Hey, FOX News: San Francisco Has Enough Problems. Don't Pin Oscar Grant's Killing on Us.

They 'report,' we decideConspiracy theories are not our thing. But considering the vitriol directed against San Francisco by FOX news' talking heads, it's a bit harder to shake off the above headline as a mere copy editor's boo-boo. To wit: Oscar Grant, who hailed from Hayward, was shot to death at ... More >>

S.F. park rangers want more power, guns

They 'report,' we decideConspiracy theories are not our thing. But considering the vitriol directed against San Francisco by FOX news' talking heads, it's a bit harder to shake off the above headline as a mere copy editor's boo-boo. To wit: Oscar Grant, who hailed from Hayward, was shot to death at ... More >>

UCSF Study Shows Huge Spike in Deaths Immedately After Cops Adopt Tasers

Over the past several years, police departments across the country have adopted the Taser, a brand of electroshock weapon, as a "less-lethal" alternative for when things get hot. The stun guns have been touted for their ability to reduce fatalities in law enforcement, b ... More >>

BART Erases Graffiti About Oscar Grant's Killing

By Lauren SmileyIt seems riders' camera phones are BART's second worst nightmare these days. Second, of course, to Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop involved in the shooting death of Oscar Grant III on New Year's Day. BART officials bemoaned in the Chron that the footage captured by passengers of the ... More >>