The U.S. Department of Education launched an investigation into the University of California at Berkeley Tuesday over violence that erupted earlier this month at protests outside an event organized by conservative group Turning Point USA.
The department said it will investigate whether UC Berkeley violated the Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act, a federal law that requires colleges and universities that receive federal financial aid to record and report campus crime data.
The announcement comes as UC Berkeley also faces a Department of Justice investigation into the university’s handling of the event and protests, which resulted in at least four arrests and left one person injured after being struck in the head by a thrown object. Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that promotes conservative values on high school and college campuses, was co-founded by Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot in September during a tour stop at a university in Utah.
“Just two months after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was brutally assassinated on a college campus, UC Berkeley allowed a protest of a Turning Point USA event on its grounds to turn unruly and violent, jeopardizing the safety of its students and staff,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement Tuesday.
She said the department is reviewing UC Berkeley’s procedures to ensure that it maintains campus safety and security.
“This is not about students’ First Amendment rights to protest peacefully. This is about ensuring accurate and transparent reporting of crime statistics to the campus community and guaranteeing that every student can safely participate in educational programs and activities,” McMahon said. “The department will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that a recipient of federal funding is not allowing its students to be at risk.”
In a statement Tuesday, UC Berkeley said the university has “an unwavering commitment” to abide by the laws and will cooperate with the investigations, as well as continue to host speakers and events representing a variety of viewpoints “in a safe and respectful manner.”
The university said the campus provided public reports about two violent crimes that happened that evening — a fistfight over an attempted robbery and the person hit by a thrown object.
“The campus administration went to great lengths to support the First Amendment rights of all by deploying a large number of police officers from multiple jurisdictions and a large number of contracted private security personnel,” the university said Tuesday. “The campus also closed adjoining buildings and cordoned off part of the campus in order to prevent criminal activity, keep the peace, and ensure the event was not disrupted by protests.”
The Education Department’s office of Federal Student Aid will lead the investigation. It gave UC Berkeley 30 days to provide copies of the school’s annual security report, all incidents of crime from 2022-2024, all arrests made by law enforcement and referrals for disciplinary action against students or employees disclosed in the annual security report, daily crime logs from 2022-2025 and several other reports.
In 2020, UC Berkeley was fined $2.35 million for failing to comply with the Clery Act after a six-year federal review revealed thousands of crime incidents were misclassified — the majority of which were related to liquor, drug and weapons violations. UC Berkeley said the campus had referred students for disciplinary proceedings but wrongly classified the violations — many involving minors in possession of alcohol in residence halls — as a campus policy violation rather than a law violation, as required under the Clery Act.
The Department of Education’s investigation — started in July 2014 — also found a range of issues including failure to comply with sexual violence policies and procedures, failure to maintain accurate and complete daily crime logs, failure to disclose accurate hate crime statistics and failure to issue emergency notifications. UC Berkeley entered into a settlement agreement with the Education Department in 2020 and acknowledged that the campus had made “many administrative errors in the past,” but said it has taken aggressive steps toward improvement.
The Education Department’s investigation said the university failed to notify students of any violence until an hour after protests began to escalate — a delay the department said could have compromised community members’ safety. In a response to the department, UC Berkeley said the finding was based on an incorrect timeline of events and that it had alerted the community immediately after learning the protest had become violent.
In a recent meeting held behind closed doors, Contra Costa County and the city of Walnut Creek agreed to use over $6 million in funds from programs designed to promote highway safety and improvements to carve out a three-block-long bicycle path on Treat Boulevard.
The affected area runs from North Main St. to Jones Road, a stretch that currently handles over 40,000 vehicles a day. The proposed path duplicates the existing Canal Trail, which is dedicated to bikers and pedestrians, is located two blocks south of Treat Boulevard and connects directly to the Iron Horse Trail for access to the Pleasant Hill BART station.
The city acknowledged both the high risk to bikers using the proposed paths and the negative impacts on traffic in this highly congested area. So, why is this project going forward?
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) came out in opposition to an Alameda County Ethical Investment Policy at the Oct. 3 Board of Supervisors meeting. The supervisors passed the policy but delayed implementation.
The majority of Jews present at that meeting were mobilized by Jewish Voice for Peace and supported the policy.
A September Washington Post poll found that the majority of U.S. Jews do not support current Israeli policies. The JCRC’s position of opposing a pro-human rights policy is not a mainstream position, and it is not aligned with Jewish values.
The JCRC accused Israel’s critics of antisemitism and expressed concern about Jewish safety. Associating Jews with the acts of a murderous regime makes Jews less safe. Jews are safer in a world that works for all, including Palestinians.
We urge the supervisors to implement the Ethical Investment Policy as soon as possible.
The recent story harkens back to a pre-ACA time when people went without insurance because of the high costs of insurance premiums. What we need for California is a Cal-Care for all solution. However, this year, a Cal-Care bill was sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom, and he vetoed it. The main reason is that the federal government is not willing to give money that is due to us, which messes with the state budget.
Staying in the United States is not beneficial to California. In 2022, we gave $83 billion to the federal government, which ends up getting redistributed to other states. The California National Party is the only party that recognizes this and has universal health care (Cal-Care, or Medi-Cal for all) as part of its platform.
A letter writer opined that President Trump could seek a third term as president by being vice president on a ticket headed by JD Vance, and, after Vance won the presidency, Vance could, by prearrangement, resign, and Trump would become president.
However, the 12th Amendment of the Constitution stipulates that one who is constitutionally ineligible to be president is also ineligible to be vice president, which would presumably prevent Trump from becoming president under this subterfuge.
Trump could argue that the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution prohibits him only from being “elected” — but not actually serving — as president for a third term. But the Supreme Court would likely reject this subterfuge on grounds that it conflicts with the plain intent of the 22nd amendment to prevent a person from serving a third term as president through the electoral process, as Franklin Roosevelt did in the 1930s.
I am one of the people who have written to request that “Mallard Fillmore” be moved to the Opinion Page, since it is clearly political in nature. I’m not asking that it be censored or removed from the paper, just that it be recognized as political opinion.
In the past few days, “Mallard Fillmore” has implied that the media only looks for bad things about Donald Trump and twists the truth, that liberals are stealing our tax dollars to support their own political party, and only care about disease in an election year, and the media is hypocritically misleading us about the destruction of the White House East Wing. Meanwhile, “Pickles” taught Nelson to say I love you to his grandma, and “Luann” adopted a puppy. Which of these is not like the other?
Incidentally, “Doonesbury” is offering more-than-20-year-old strips. That’s not a fair balance.
The game was tied at seven in the first half Saturday, but that’s as close as Santa Teresa would get as SHC routed the Saints to advance to the section title game, where the Fightin’ Irish will play rival St. Ignatius next week. SHC used a 28-point second quarter to propel the San Francisco school to the win. Quarterback Michael Sargent accounted for six touchdowns – throwing for four and rushing for two. Running back Jaylen Malcom had three touchdowns for Santa Teresa, which finished 11-1. – Nathan Canilao
CCS Division V
No. 1 Piedmont Hills 41, No. 4 Jefferson 14
Piedmont Hills will play in its first section final since 2010 after making quick work of Jefferson at home. Senior Diego Arias was excellent on both sides of the ball, getting a 32-yard pick-six and throwing a 50-yard touchdown to Travis Linane. Running back Alijah Torres had two rushing scores. Quarterback John Palomo ran for a touchdown and kicker Cash Martinez knocked in field goals from 26 and 32 yards away. Jefferson quarterback Robert Saulny-Green accounted for both of his team’s touchdowns with a rushing score and a passing TD. The Pirates will play Sobrato for the D-V championship next week. They will try to avenge a 40-30 loss to the Morgan Hill school this season. Jefferson ended its season 9-2. – Nathan Canilao
No. 2 Sobrato 27, No. 3 Terra Nova 19
Brady Lennon rushed for 272 yards and three touchdowns to help Sobrato to the win and the program’s first appearance in a CCS title game. Lennon broke a 70-yard scoring run on the second play of the game. Brandon Huighes connected with Jacob Sorrentino on a 35-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0. After Terra Nova drew to within 20-19, Lennon’s 26-yard TD run with 1:46 left gave Sobrato (8-4) an eight-point lead. Then when kicker Kyle Gurney recovered a fumble on the subsequent kickoff, the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock. For Terra Nova (8-4), QB Joey Donati rushed for 93 yards and passed for 184 and touchdowns to Robbie Johnson and Holden Najar. – Glenn Reeves
NCS Division V
No. 2 Ferndale 35, No. 3 Salesian 7
Salesian traveled more than 250 miles up Highway 101 for its semifinal game against Ferndale, hoping to return home to Richmond with a shot to capture the program’s eighth NCS championship next week. For three quarters Saturday, there was still hope. The Pride trailed 14-7 with 12 minutes to play. But the home team found another gear down the stretch, scoring three touchdowns in the final quarter to advance to play top-seeded St. Vincent de Paul for the championship next Saturday at Rancho Cotate High in Rohnert Park. Instead of Salesian playing for an eighth NCS crown, Ferndale (12-0) will be seeking its 15th. Salesian finished 10-2. – Darren Sabedra
SAN JOSE — Few players in the NWSL cover more ground than Paige Metayer.
The former Cal midfielder has transformed into one of the league’s most versatile players. On Saturday, she brings that full-spectrum game back to the Bay Area as the Washington Spirit face Gotham FC in the NWSL championship at PayPal Park.
The third-year pro has played at forward, midfield, and fullback for the Spirit, and started at right back in last year’s 1-0 championship game loss to Orlando.
Bay FC’s Penelope Hocking advances on Gotham FC in Saturday night’s NWSL match in Harrison, N.J. Hocking scored Bay FC’s lone goal when she scored from close range in the 11th minute. It was Hocking’s fourth goal in her last five games. (Courtesy of Bay FC / NWSL)
Metayer started for four years at Cal, but didn’t receive all-conference recognition and went undrafted. But the Spirit offered her a preseason invite, and it took her just a few weeks to prove she belonged.
As a rookie in 2023, she started all 21 matches she appeared in, and scored three goals—every one of them a headed finish off a corner kick. Heading had never been a strength earlier in her career, but like so much else in her game, she developed it quickly, even unexpectedly.
“It wasn’t something I specialized in,” she said. “I wasn’t very tall growing up, so heading wasn’t really part of my game. But the service was great, and I was able to get my head on things. It became a strength I didn’t know I had.”
Cal coach Neil McGuire wasn’t surprised at Metayer’s professional evolution.
“She’s got incredible soccer intellect,” McGuire said. “She understands the game at a really high level, so positionally she can play in a number of spots. Athletically she’s extremely fit. Technically she’s gifted. She can deal with pressure, strike a ball over distance, receive with both feet—she just has a lot of strengths that make her right for the professional game.”
That combination of intelligence, composure, and athleticism turned her into one of the most adaptable players on the Spirit roster. In 2024 alone, she appeared in 20 regular-season matches, making 11 starts, and played across all three levels of the field.
Her first start at outside back came against Arsenal.
“I was like, ‘Oh, we’re playing Arsenal and I’m playing outside back,’” Metayer said. “But it worked out well. I’m grateful for the belief they had in me.”
Spirit head coach Adrián González sees that adaptability as a defining trait.
“It’s so positive for a player to have that many options,” he said. “She’s been open-minded. With her physicality and her quality, she can cover a lot of ground. Inside, outside, higher up, defensively—she can give us so much. And she’s improving. That type of versatility is important for her development and for our team.”
That growth stalled briefly this year when Metayer sustained a knee injury in preseason. Suddenly, a player known for covering ground couldn’t cover any. The timeline for her return was uncertain.
“Nothing’s ever guaranteed,” she said. “I was lucky it wasn’t season-ending, but I had to claw my way back.”
Metayer returned in the second half of the season, appearing in 11 matches, earning four starts, and playing 38 minutes in the quarterfinal against Racing Louisville that was decided on penalties. By the time the playoffs arrived, she felt fully herself again.
And now she’s back where she spent some of the most meaningful years of her life.
Cal’s women’s soccer alumni network is organizing a tailgate for Saturday’s final, and she expects plenty of familiar faces in the stands.
Returning now, with an NWSL title at stake, adds an extra layer of emotion—especially after the Spirit played in front of 40,000 fans at Oracle Park earlier this year.
The Bay FC takes on the Washington Spirit during the first half of an NWSL game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“That was very, very cool,” she said. “It showed how much the Bay Area wants to support women’s sports. To play the final here is special.”
In your report on the horrific killing of coach John Beam, Alameda County Chief Public Defender Brendon Woods argued that “Instead of more jail and prison, we should invest in more effective solutions, such as diversion, mentorship and violence interruption.”
Ironically, Coach Beam exemplified the diversion, mentorship and violence prevention programs that Woods advocates, but the effective result was Beam’s own murder. Stop coddling offenders and restore punishment as a societal norm.
The government shutdown is finally over. This is good news for the nearly 42 million people receiving SNAP, as their full benefits will resume soon. But there is something seriously wrong when our government can take benefits from low-income people (many of whom have jobs). Food banks, though important and appreciated, are simply not in a position to substitute for SNAP funding. Our government has trodden on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and my personal values that food is a right.
But Congress still must pass a budget that protects critical programs that reduce poverty and ensures that the money is spent as directed. They have until Jan. 30 to get it done. Email your representatives and senators now. Tell them to protecty health care, nutrition and housing programs, and include safeguards to ensure the administration spends taxpayer funds as Congress intended.
Sue Oehser Oakland
Healthy diets are good if you can get food
President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Casey Means, is a proponent of lifestyle changes, including healthy eating, over medical interventions to treat diseases.
While there is certainly wisdom in eating properly to lower the risk of some illnesses, SNAP benefits in this country are in peril, not just during the recent government shutdown, but from other messages coming out of this administration critical of helping the poor.
It is wrong to insist that people should eat healthy who don’t have the means to do so. It is ignorant to then expect people won’t need medical care to treat the problems that proper nutrition might prevent.
What’s impressive in our democracy is the decision that we, the people, will allot some of our funds to ensure that those in need will have enough to eat.
If Means is serious about changes to medical care, she must also insist that our government fully fund SNAP.
Teri Shikany Danville
Trump will play system again in Epstein case
President Trump suddenly switched his position on the Epstein files by encouraging the House and Senate to vote on its release while simultaneously suggesting the Department of Justice investigate other people he knows had relationships with Jeffrey Epstein and, possibly, Epstein’s underage girls.
Trump’s tactic of running out the clock in court was successful with the Jan. 6 charges against him and will likely achieve the same result when Attorney General Pam Bondi claims the Epstein files can not be opened while the other investigations are underway. They have their ducks lined up. The clock will tick well past the midterms and the ‘28 election as additional names are suggested. Nothing will be released.
While all this might seem legal, a coordinated effort by the DOJ and the president to bury anything about his own participation and avoid possible consequences is corruption … no more, no less.
Barry Brynjulson Pleasanton
Stabilize energy costs before going green
Silicon Valley Power (SVP) will propose a 4% rate increase to the Santa Clara City Council in December.
We must help power companies stay solvent, but spiraling energy costs are not sustainable and are reflected in the cost of everything in California, from rent to food. We need nuclear and hydro to generate electricity, and we are way behind in developing those energy sources.
In the meantime, we must reauthorize natural gas. It’s the bridge fuel that’s supposed to sustain us until greener alternatives are online. California politicians burned that bridge before we could get across it. Imagine millions of electric cars returning home to recharge in 2035 with a grid that can’t support them. And dare I say it, we also need to pump more oil in California to make gas more affordable.
Green — yes, but on a realistic, science-based timeline.
Jim Stoch Carnelian Bay
No evidence Newsom cares about state either
On X, California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote that “He (President Trump) doesn’t give a damn about you.”
But considering that California’s record on homelessness, taxes and schools leaves much to be desired, I have to wonder whether Newsom truly gives a damn about California voters, besides getting their votes in the 2028 presidential election.
SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta spent $468,000 of his campaign cash on lawyers while reportedly being interviewed by federal authorities investigating Oakland’s former mayor and others in a sprawling federal bribery and corruption inquiry.
The longtime East Bay politician’s senior adviser, Dan Newman, told this news organization Wednesday that Bonta’s legal bills were for the sole purpose of “providing information that could be helpful to the investigation of those implicated” in the ongoing criminal probe.
Bonta — who lives in Alameda and has worked his way from city councilman to the state’s top prosecutor — was never a target of the investigation, Newman said.
“The AG’s involvement is over,” Newman added. “But this is an ongoing legal proceeding that we don’t want to hinder — with no relation to or involvement of the AG — so unable to provide further information.” He said the work required of those attorneys ended in 2024, the adviser said.
Newman initially told the KCRA this week that the attorney general used the campaign funds “to help his law enforcement partners pursue justice” in the East Bay corruption probe. The Sacramento station was the first to report Bonta’s legal spending.
Newman later changed that stance, claiming in a subsequent interview with KCRA that Bonta spent the money on attorneys for himself while being questioned by federal investigators. The adviser stressed Bonta was never a target of the investigation, and the funds were needed “because of the nature of the charges against the people implicated,” the station reported.
The size of Bonta’s legal bills appear historically large, and they reflect the fact that Bonta retained one of the premier law firms in Silicon Valley — Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati — which routinely charges four figures an hour for its work, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor. That also highlights the stakes Bonta faces as a politically ambitious state attorney general, particularly one who has taken a leading stand against the current White House administration by filing dozens of lawsuits against it, the professor said.
“His problems are the appearance of impropriety when he is the poster child against Donald Trump and the administration,” McCuan said. “So if he has an image problem that is created by this expenditure, then that is a problem for him.”
McCuan added that California campaign finance law is considered “murky” when it comes to when candidates can use campaign cash for legal help.
In general, campaign funding can only be used “if the litigation is directly related to activities of the committee that are consistent with its primary objectives,” said Shery Yang, a spokesperson for the Fair Political Practices Commission, in an email. While she said she couldn’t speak specifically to this case, instances where that money can be used include defending against claims that a candidate violated election laws, or ensuring compliance with state campaign disclosure reports.
The five payments to Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati were made two days before Bonta announced he would not run for governor and seek reelection as attorney general in February, the records show.
It all casts a fresh spotlight on Bonta’s ties to many of the main players charged in the ongoing bribery and pay-to-play probe that has roiled the East Bay’s political scene, including former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Andy Duong, who helps run a recycling company contracted by the city of Oakland.
In charges unsealed in January, federal prosecutors accused former Thao of accepting bribes from Andy Duong and his father, David, in the form of political favors and a $95,000 no-show job for Thao’s romantic partner, Andre Jones. In return, prosecutors claimed Thao promised to secure lucrative city contracts for a fledgling housing company co-founded by David Duong, as well as for Duongs recycling business, California Waste Solutions.
Thao, Jones and David and Andy Duong have all pleaded not guilty and could face trial by next year.
Bonta has known Andy Duong for years, even becoming a frequent presence on his Instagram page before federal agents raided the businessman’s house in June 2024.
In an August 2021 social media post, Bonta was seen standing alongside Andy Duong and the famed Filipino boxer and retired politician Manny Pacquiao, each of them giving a “thumbs up” to the camera. In another, Bonta appeared to be sitting in a limousine, smiling at the camera with one arm around Andy Duong and another around his wife, California Assemblymember Mia Bonta.
“Cannot wait to see what else the future has to offer to you,” wrote Andy Duong, calling the state’s top prosecutor a “brother” while recounting his rise from “Vice Mayor to State Assembly and now CA Attorney General.” The post included no less than nine other photos of the two together over the years, often at campaign events or, in one instance, together at a Golden State Warriors game.
Rob Bonta has since sought to distance himself from the Duongs. Shortly after the FBI and other federal authorities raided the family’s Oakland hills houses on June 20, 2024, Bonta said he planned to give back $155,000 in political contributions that he had previously received from the Duong family.
The political fortunes of Thao and Mia Bonta also nearly collided several years ago. Before running for mayor, Thao briefly considered campaigning for the state assembly seat once held by Rob Bonta before he became the state’s attorney general. Instead, Thao opted to run for the mayor of Oakland, while Mia Bonta ran and filled her husband’s post in Sacramento.
Bonta ties to people investigated in the corruption probe extend to an unnamed co-conspirator widely believed to be longtime Oakland political operative Mario Juarez. Bonta and Juarez enjoyed “close financial and political ties,” such as when Bonta helped secure a $3.4 million grant in 2017 from the California Energy Commission for a company that Juarez co-owned, according to a filing late last year by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
“They have publicly endorsed each other and have used the same office for their business dealings,” said the filing, adding that Juarez and the Bontas’ “extensive intertwined political and business dealings are widely known.”
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.
DEAR JOAN: There is something that I have noticed for years, and I finally decided to ask the only expert I know.
At the southbound Thornton Avenue exit to Interstate 880 in Newark, there are some power lines that extend all the way across the freeway. Every time I go that way I see many birds sitting on the lines, but only on the southbound side, never on the other side.
This is not a once-in-a-while thing; I’ve noticed it for many years.
I’ve never seen them fly away, they all just sit there. Can you think of anything special about these particular power lines?
Inquiring minds want to know.
— Sherry Hughes, Newark
DEAR SHERRY: Not being able to read bird minds, or the minds of any living beings, I can’t say for certain, although I’m sure they have an excellent reason. I can, however, list a few possibilities.
First off, birds really like sitting on elevated lines, whether those are power lines, telecommunication wires or cable lines. The high wires provide an excellent vantage point for surveying the area, giving them a bird’s eye view of the territory. From there, they can look around for food and watch out for predators.
The lines are also a convenient spot for taking a rest and as there are other birds on the line, a chance to converse. They come and go as they please, but it’s not likely they would all fly off at once unless something really frightened the entire flock. It might look like the birds sit there all day and night, but it’s a revolving cast.
Such gatherings also provide some communal support and protection from predators, and in the winter, the combined flocks can offer a little extra warmth.
Considering how much power is surging through the lines, we have to wonder how the birds can casually perch on them and avoid electrocution. The answer? Science.
Just like water, and nature itself, electricity seeks a balance. It flows from high energy points to low energy points. A bird sitting on the wire doesn’t interrupt or redirect the flow, but if it was to have one foot on the wire (high energy) and another on the ground (low energy), the electricity would seek to balance, redirecting through the bird to complete the circuit, with deadly consequences. The birds are remarkably exact about the positioning on the lines, keeping a small but equal distance between them, and avoiding touching anything else.
Why the birds choose one wire and not the other most likely has to do with environmental factors. The wind might be stronger on that side, the wires might not provide the same vantage point, or there could be something on that side of the freeway or the lines themselves, that the birds just don’t care for.
The birds like a clear pathway when they fly off the wire, and the ones on the northbound side might be more advantageous.
Wish we knew for certain, but maybe one day the birds will talk.
The Animal Life column runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.
The Crusaders scored 28 points in the first quarter and didn’t look back in a rout of Salinas at home. Despite having four touchdowns called back because of penalties, the San Francisco school had no problem moving the ball against the Cowboys. The lead grew insurmountable in the second half as a running clock initiated in the third quarter. Riordan (10-0) will play Serra (7-4) for the Open Division title next week. – Nathan Canilao
No. 2 Serra 29, No. 7 Archbishop Mitty 13
The Padres rushed for 312 yards and shut down Mitty’s offensive attack to cruise to a 16-point win at home. Speedy receiver Charlie Walsh led Serra with a rushing and a receiving score. Kicker Saul Marks knocked in three field goals and Serra’s defense forced three turnovers.S Serra will get a rematch with Riordan – after falling to the Crusaders in the WCAL regular season finale – in the Open Division finals next week. Nathan Canilao was in San Mateo and has the story here.
CCS Division II
No. 2 Sacred Heart Cathedral 34, No. 7 Wilcox 21
After trailing by two at halftime, the Fightin’ Irish took over the game behind a second-half surge to down visiting Wilcox at City College of San Francisco. Three second half touchdowns from quarterback Michael Sargent charged SHC’s offense, and the San Francisco school’s defense held Wilcox to just one score in the final two periods to seal the win. SHC (5-6) will host another South Bay powerhouse in undefeated Santa Teresa (11-0) next week. – Nathan Canilao
No. 4 Menlo School 17, No. 5 The King’s Academy 7
Menlo earned a hard-fought postseason win, defeating TKA at home. Quarterback Jack Freehill threw a touchdown pass to Chuck Wynn and Trevor van der Pyl’s 82-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter sealed the win for Menlo. Dylan O’ Malley rounded out Menlo’s scoring with a 27-yard first-quarter field goal. Quarterback Jaiden Flores to wide receiver Ricky Gutierrez was the only score TKA had on Saturday. Menlo (9-2) will travel to top-seeded St. Ignatius next week for its semifinal game. TKA ends its season 9-2. – Nathan Canilao
CCS Division V
No. 2 Sobrato 28, No. 7 Santa Cruz 17
Sobrato advanced to the Division V semifinals after defeating Santa Cruz at home. Junior running back Brady Lennon led the way with rushing touchdowns from 35 and 10 yards. Jacob Sorrentino had a 75-yard touchdown grab and senior Jacob Kimerer had a 65-yard touchdown run. Sobrato improved to 7-4 and will host Terra Nova (8-3) next week.
NCS Division V
No. 3 Salesian 38, No. 6 Northgate 33
Quarterback Izeah Buchanan tossed four touchdown passes to lead the Pride to a win over Northgate at home. Basketball star Carlton Perrilliat Jr. caught two touchdown passes while Joseph Tarin had two receiving scores of his own as Salesian will advance to the section semifinals at Ferndale next Saturday. Senior Jahlil Lindsey had a 95-yard scoop-and-score and kicker Roberto Mora knocked in a 27-yard field goal to round out the scoring for Salesian. Northgate (5-6) ends its 2025 season one game under .500. – Nathan Canilao
From professional sports to high school sports, the outpouring of admiration and love for the 66-year-old former Oakland football coach who was gunned down on Thursday at Laney College and died Friday has been non-stop.
Beam coached Skyline High to 15 Oakland Athletic League championships from the 1980s to the early 2000s, then had similar success at Laney College before retiring from the sidelines last year and moving into his role as athletic director.
Along the way, the coach went from Oakland icon to nationally known when Netflix featured Beam’s Laney College program in its “Last Chance U” series in 2020.
Here is a sampling of what the local sports community is saying about Beam:
Bob Ladouceur, former De La Salle High football coach, on X: “John was good for Skyline, good for Laney, good for teenagers/young men. For all who coach college and High School…he was one of the best. He dedicated his life to his profession of making men out of boys.”
Damian Lillard, who played at Oakland High before becoming an NBA star, on Instagram: “This man is a true Oakland (l)egend and a GREAT man. Gave me my first job at Laney football games… Hundred(s) of kids all over Oakland became the type of men they are today because of this dude and for someone from that exact world to randomly come and take his life just ain’t right… this ain’t the Oakland I grew up in. Sh** sad!”
Charlie Ramirez, Pittsburg High football coach: “It’s extremely devastating, and honestly, simultaneously horrific and every other thing you could explain it to be. It was terrible. He was a mentor to me just like he was to so many coaches in the Bay Area. We were at their seven-on-seven this year, he’s come to my coaches clinics, not to mention he recruited the heck out of our guys at Laney, got a lot of them to the next level. Even though we’re out here in Pittsburg, he had a lot of strong ties with our program and he’s going to be extremely, extremely missed.”
Greg Calcagno, St. Francis football coach: “My dad (Ron) knew him really well. St. Francis played Skyline for a long time. And my dad spoke super highly of John. I knew John. He married a St. Francis alum, so I’d see him at the reunions. Just a great quality person, and the number of people that he helped, it’s just so sad to hear the news of his passing. It puts everything in perspective. This is a football game, right? And I get to coach kids that I love and coach with people that I love and against people that I respect. But this is just a football game. We can still smile at the end, sort of. But yeah, just super sad. A lot of our guys, they work out up at Laney, and they know all those guys. And so it was a tough day for them.”
Los Gatos High Head Coach Mark Krail takes part in a moment of silence honoring Laney College coach John Beam, who was killed during a shooting on Laney College’s campus, before the start of their Central Coast Section Open Division I playoff football game against Saint Francis High in Los Gatos, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
Mark Krail, Los Gatos football coach: “I never had the privilege (to meet him), but I certainly knew of him. And it broke my heart when we heard the news break, and then obviously the fact that he had passed was just awful. I mean, football in Oakland, his name is all over it, and it will be for a long, long time. It’s just a tragic, tragic loss for the city of Oakland, because there’s so many people that he helped their life go in the right direction. From what I understand, he was no-nonsense, and he would tell you how it was. A personality like that that is true to themselves, that’s full of integrity, that’s when guys rally around you and want to be a part of what you’re doing. And sometimes you get young kids, especially that have a tough upbringing, to see the light and see the right way of doing things. And he had 20 guys that were in the NFL, or something like that, I read. So that speaks to the success of him as a coach, but I think as a man, he was more highly regarded than that, just for his impact in the city of Oakland.”
Mike Cable, Liberty High football coach: “Coaching is so much more than X’s and O’s. It’s about the impact that you have in the lives of your players. It’s about the men that they grow up to be. He was the epitome of that.” Herc Pardi, former Pittsburg and Clayton Valley coach, in an email to Bay Area News Group: “UNBELIEVABLE!! My heart is crushed. What a tragedy. One of the more Dynamic coaches/teachers I ever met – period!! … Anytime I saw Coach down the road, we picked up right where we left off — FB chatter and some hearty laughs!! John was a CHANGE AGENT!! So sad.”
Oakland Ballers baseball team on X: “Our hearts are broken. Coach Beam was one of the first people to believe in the Oakland Ballers. He was part of our secret meetings, and he helped us make important connections within the Oakland community. As the Ballers grew, Coach Beam was a mentor, an advisor, an investor, and a friend of the team. We will miss him dearly, but his legacy and impact on the Oakland community will never be forgotten. Rest easy, Coach.”
Las Vegas Raiders on X: “The Raiders Family is tremendously saddened by the loss of John Beam, a coach, mentor, and friend to so many in Oakland and the entire Bay Area. John was an influential and guiding force both on and off the field for young athletes, and his decades of service will forever be woven into the fabric of football in the East Bay. The prayers of the entire Raider Nation are with John’s family, the Laney College community, and everyone else whose life he touched.”
Oakland Roots soccer team on X: “Today, our hearts are filled with tremendous sadness and grief at the passing of an Oakland icon, Coach John Beam. While his name was John Beam, everyone in Oakland knew him as Coach Beam – not only because he commanded deep respect, but because he was, and always will be, Oakland’s Coach. No one cared more about the past, present, and future of this great city and its youth.”
In the fall of 2023, Laney coach John Beam speaks with Oakland Section commissioner Franky Navarro before the Silver Bowl, the annual McClymonds vs Oakland Tech game and the Oakland Athletic League football championship game at McClymonds High School in Oakland. Beam was shot on Thursday and has died at the age of 66. (Joseph Dycus/Bay Area News Group) John Beam, Skyline head football coach, the All-ANG Coach of the Year Dec. 17, 2002. (D. Ross Cameron/ Tribune Archive)
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Darren Sabedra, Justice delos Santos, Christian Babcock
BERKELEY — Police scanners in Berkeley will officially be encrypted starting Thursday morning, officials said Wednesday.
Scanner encryption, the process of shifting officers and dispatch communication to a private channel, will align the city’s police department with other law enforcement offices in the East Bay that began encrypting their feeds in October.
Berkeley’s decision to fully encrypt has been influenced by multiple factors.
A 2020 memo by former Attorney General Xavier Becerra called on agencies to protect peoples’ sensitive identifiable information like their names, addresses, birthdates and social security numbers from scanner traffic that was available to the public.
That directive allowed agencies to keep feeds open while securely sharing sensitive information through other channels. The Berkeley Police Department has argued its dispatch staffing levels are too low to manage multiple feeds and the public feed has put officers in danger or enabled suspects to attempt to flee arrest.
“The Berkeley Police Department appreciates the community’s understanding and continued partnership as we enhance our systems to better serve Berkeley. These changes ensure the protection of sensitive information while maintaining the highest possible level of transparency and accessibility,” the department said in a statement.
As a compromise, the department has developed a real-time call log that will display information from the Computer-Aided Dispatch system including the date and time of the call, incident number, call type, source of call, priority level and general location of the incident. That log will be updated with a 10-minute delay and a 10-minute refresh.
Some incident information can also still be heard through the fire department’s radio feed which will remain unencrypted. Police department updates will also be shared through Nixle, an emergency response communication tool, and on social media, the department said.
An October vote by the Berkeley City Council enabled the department to encrypt by reversing a 2021 policy that prohibited encryption in most cases. All but one councilmember agreed the department needed to silence their radios to the public to ensure Berkeley did not become a target for crime and to keep officers and potential victims safe.
Opponents of the move, including those with Berkeley Copwatch, a civilian police oversight organization operating in the city for more than three decades, said the city was giving away an important tool for holding officers accountable.
OAKLAND — BART passengers were experiencing delays Sunday due to maintenance operations and police activity that hampered trips on sections of the Bay Area transit system.
In one occurrence, a 10-minute delay had occurred Sunday morning at the Coliseum station in Oakland in the direction of Daly City due to police activity. It wasn’t disclosed which law enforcement agency was involved. By 9:30 a.m., that delay had ended.
BART also reported Sunday morning that a 10-minute delay was underway on the San Francisco line in the direction of Berryessa in San Jose, Antioch, and Millbrae due to overnight track maintenance. By 10 a.m., that advisory had ended.
In recent months, BART passengers have suffered through mammoth delays and systemwide shutdowns that snarled the regional transit system.
BERKELEY — Cal has lost two games in a row for the first time this season, again missing a chance to earn bowl eligibility in a 31-21 setback to No. 15 Virginia in front of 30,893 at Memorial Stadium on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 24-21, Cal got one last chance after Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris threw incomplete on fourth-and-2 from the Bears’ 14-yard line.
Cal took over with 45 seconds left and on first down Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele threw down the field into double coverage. He was picked off by linebacker Kam Robinson, who returned it 35 yards untouched into the end zone with 29 seconds left.
The Bears (5-4, 2-3 ACC) travel next week to No. 16 Louisville, which improved to 7-1 with a 28-16 win over Virginia Tech. Cal still is one win shy of securing bowl eligibility for the third straight season, and its chances are dwindling to put together the kind of season that will ensure ninth-year coach Justin Wilcox has job security.
Cal fell behind 10-0 early and could not muster enough consistency on offense to overtake the Cavaliers (8-1, 5-0), whose first victory ever in the Pacific time zone gives them seven straight wins this season.
The Bears finished with a season-low 263 yards. Sagapolutele was 19 for 30 for 213 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He played turnover-free the two previous weeks. He was sacked three times, contributing to Cal’s net rushing total of 8 yards.
The Bears played much of the game without star linebacker Cade Uluave, who had one pass breakup but no tackles before coming out with an undisclosed injury. He was on the sidelines with his helmet off all of the second quarter and was in a T-shirt after halftime.
The ACC’s leading tackler had a career-best 19 tackles a week ago in the Bears’ 42-34 double-overtime loss at Virginia Tech.
Cal drew within three points for the second time in the second half, thanks in part to a 14-yard punt that skidded off the foot of Virginia’s Daniel Sparks. That set up the Bears at the 25-yard line and they needed just two plays to get into the end zone.
Sagapolutele completed a 24-yard pass to tight end Mason Mini to the 1-yard line, but the Cal freshman QB stayed on the ground afterward and had to come out of the game for one play.
Redshirt freshman EJ Caminong came on and handed off to Raphael Kendrick, who powered in from the 1 for his third touchdown of the game, his sixth in two weeks. That enabled the Bears to close within 24-21 with 12:57 left in the fourth quarter.
The Bears had used some razzle-dazzle to get within 17-14 midway through the third quarter.
Jacob De Jesus set the Bears up at the Virginia 42-yard line with an 18-yard punt return.
Sagapolutele then threw a lateral pass to the left flat to Mini, who uncorked a deep ball down the right side of the field to Raphael, who took it in with 6:08 left in the period.
Virginia answered immediately, assembling an 11-play, 75-yard drive, climaxed by Chandler Morris throwing a lateral pass to tight end Eli Wood, who ran in from the 4-yard line for a 24-14 lead with 1:51 left in the third period.
The Cavaliers scored on their first possession and never trailed on the way to a 17-7 halftime lead.
Cal was down 10-0 when it assembled its only scoring drive of the half a 14-play, 75-yard march that was capped by a 2-yard run by Raphael, who took a direct snap on a first-down play with 13:00 left in the second quarter.
A Sonoma County judge allowed Asia Lozano Morton to await trial outside jail under strict supervision and set her next court date for Dec. 4, according to court records.
Morton must wear a GPS ankle monitor, surrender her passport and get permission from the court before leaving California. She’s also barred from owning guns or using drugs and from contacting her boyfriend, Richard Lund.
Tuesday’s hearing was Morton’s first court appearance since her arrest Friday in the Oct. 3 shooting death of Mark Calcagni.
Lund, 43, remains in custody without bail. Police say he’s accused of shooting Calcagni five times near Calcagni’s home on Brookwood Avenue before driving off in a Toyota RAV4.
Investigators believe the killing was planned and may be connected to Calcagni’s decision to fire Lund and Morton from their jobs at the Condor Club, a North Beach landmark known as the nation’s first topless bar.
Police arrested Lund at his home in Dublin. Morton was taken into custody at San Francisco International Airport when she returned from a trip to Spain.
Police said Calcagni had returned home from work around 5 a.m. when he was shot. A passerby found his body on a nearby sidewalk about 90 minutes later.
James Logan bounced back from a tough loss to San Leandro to seize control of the WACC Foothill race with a convincing win over Bishop O’Dowd, putting itself one win away from a league title.
From classic movies with live music to new tunes from Vampire Weekend and a Grateful Dead Celtic band, there’s a lot to see and hear this weekend in the Bay Area.
Here’s a partial rundown.
Classical picks: Hitchcock + orchestra; New Century
This week’s events light up the classical music scene with an iconic film score, a symphony at the opera, and a tribute to the seasons.
Halloween-appropriate: Scary enough? It has to be, when the San Francisco Symphony’s “Film with Live Orchestra” series presents Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” featuring composer Bernard Herrmann’s brilliantly spooky score. With the film on the big screen, conductor Conner Gray Covington will lead the orchestra in a live performance of the spine-tingling music. Come early to see the Symphony’s latest Art Installation, “Dia de los Muertos,” for a pre-show treat.
Symphony at the Opera: Since the start of fall, San Francisco Opera has brought dazzling productions to the stage; now, with “Parsifal” up and running and “The Monkey King” still to come, the company is presenting a concert conducted by company Music Director Eun Sun Kim. This one-night-only event features mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack singing works by Manuel de Falla; Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony completes the 90-minute program.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1; War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $29-$250; sfopera.com.
New Century, new “Seasons”: The New Century Chamber Orchestra starts the fall season with Vivaldi’s beloved “Four Seasons,” along with works by Dvorak and Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova; conducted by company music director Daniel Hope, four performances are on the schedule.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at First Church UCC, Berkeley; 7:30 Oct. 31 at Empress Theatre, Vallejo; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; and 2 p.m. Nov. 2 at Osher Marin JCC, San Rafael; tickets $35-up; ncco.org.
— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent
More movies and music
Fans of classic silent films can catch two of them — “Phantom of the Opera” and “Nosferatu” — at Grace Cathedral this weekend. But the real star of the events won’t be on the screen but seated at Grace Cathedral’s famed 7,500-pipe Aeolian-Skinner organ, which has been a key facet of the church since it was installed in 1934. The organ will be played by musician Dorothy Papadakos, who started out as a jazz pianist in her native Reno and has evolved into a world-renowned organ player, thanks in part to her long stint as organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York as well as her Grammy-winning stint with the Paul Winter Consort (their live album “Silver Solstice” remains a New Age/ambient classic).
Papadakos is, among other things, considered a talented improviser, which will come in hand in these gigs. She’ll accompany the 1925 silent version of “Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney, at 8 p.m. Oct. 30, and the 1922 version of “Nosferatu” — a film that was once ordered destroyed because it was deemed to be an unauthorized adaptation (read: ripoff) of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” — at 8 p.m. Oct. 31. The church — which is a San Francisco landmark and always worth a visit — is at Taylor and California streets in San Francisco. Tickets are $34.50-$44.50; go to www.sfjazz.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Cool shows, great album
In late October of last year, Vampire Weekend performed two memorable sold-out shows — an evening gig, followed the very next day by a matinee performance — at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City. The shows included many longtime Vampire Weekend fan favorites, of course, such as “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “A-Punk” and “Oxford Comma.”
Yet, the NYC-born indie-pop act — led by vocalist-lyricist-guitarist Ezra Koenig — also performed a wonderful assortment of cover songs during those two shows. The list includes a number of Big Apple-appropriate tunes, such as the easily recognizable “Seinfeld Theme,” the Frank Sinatra favorite “Theme From New York, New York,” the Ramones’ blistering “Blitzkrieg Bop” and Billy Joel’s classic “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” the latter of which was reportedly performed with a candlelit table and waiter in a tux on the Garden stage.
Other cuts to make the Vampire Weekend setlist were The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside,” Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” The Surfaris’ “Wipe Out,” Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” and Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town.”
Now all VW fans can experience the shows thanks to “Weekend at the Garden,” a limited edition double-LP recorded during that epic NYC stand. The offering, which includes portions of the two performances rather than the complete shows, is part of the band’s Frog on the Bass Drum vinyl series.
The Shaker Theater is showing the original 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” in a warehouse with a haunted maze in October 2025 in Oakland. (Shaker Theater)
Pop-up theater brings scares to Bay Area
This Halloween, you can see a scary movie in your local AMC theater. Or you can watch one as perhaps it was meant to be watched: In a dark warehouse full of horrific decor, where it feels like zombies could break down the door any minute.
The Shaker Theater is a new underground pop-up cinema in a residential part of northern Oakland. For its inaugural run, it’s been playing George Romero’s 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” during October, with final runs up until Halloween evening. It’s the uncensored, 96-minute original preserved on real celluloid. There will be popcorn and soda and, for more fun, before the movie the theater is playing clips from its “deep archives of rare and bizarre material.” Think Halloween safety films, forgotten trailers and classic monster-movie moments.
To get into the screening, visitors must first navigate a “Corridor of Horror” designed by local artist Rob Vertigo. Picture a classic haunted house, but turned into spooky-maze form. Did your group just lose a member? It’s probably nothing to worry about, they’re no doubt right behind you …. Wait, that’s not Chad! (Screams.)
Details: Preshow begins at 6:30 p.m. and movie starts at 8 p.m.; 950 54th St., Oakland; $18 online or $20 at the door; instagram.com/shakertheater.
— John Metcalfe, Staff
Freebie of the week
We tend to think of great film experiences as those that expose us to brilliant camerawork, incisive dialogue, or a poignant or hilarious reflection on the world at large. But let’s not forget the joys that await us at the other end of the spectrum. There is nothing quite like experiencing a truly terrible film with a room full of gleefully derisive bad-movie fans. There’s a reason why “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” spawned three sequels and too many spoofs and homages to count, and it wasn’t John K. Culley’s nuanced cinematography. Halloween, it seems, is a favorite time to indulge in bad-movie bliss, probably because violent mutant vegetables and irritable aliens fit most comfortably in the horror genre.
And so it is that this week delivers the opportunity to view one of the most glorious and beloved bad movies of all time, “Robot Monster.” The film, in case the clever title doesn’t make it obvious, is about an alien robot sent to destroy Earth but who defies its orders when it saves an imperiled woman from certain death. The 1953 film took four days and $20,000 to make, $4,000 of which was spent on incorporating 3D technology. One of the stars was cast because he already owned a gorilla suit and therefore didn’t need to be costumed. So, yeah, this was not an extravagant production. Yet, it grossed $1 million in its first year and has gone on to be a favorite among those who revel in the wonders of wretched filmmaking. If such a buffet of bad moviemaking – in 3D!! – is your thing, “Robot Monster” will screen at 6 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Internet Archive, 300 Funston Ave., San Francisco. The screening is free but if you feel like making a donation to the Internet Archive or co-presenter the Golden Gate Stereoscopic Society — both of which are dedicated to preserving humankind’s digital history — certainly no one would hold it against you.
When you think about it, Wake the Dead would be a tremendous name for a screeching-loud punk band or maybe a Goth band. But the real Wake the Dead is neither of those things. It is a collection of very talented Bay Area musicians merging two of their musical passions – Grateful Dead classics and Irish/Celtic music. The name is certainly appropriate, as it references the Dead as well as Irish wakes, which are known to be deeply heartfelt and celebratory affairs. The moniker also mirrors the title of the Dead’s 1973 album “Wake of the Flood,” the first recording the band released acting as its own label. Adding to the plays on words, the band’s annual gig at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley celebrates the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos), the holiday widely observed in Mexico, in which family members and friends gather to honor loved ones who have passed away.
If all this is simply too much to ponder, just know that Wake the Dead will, per tradition, return to the Freight & Salvage on Nov. 1 to perform a Day of the Dead-themed show at which you are likely to hear high-energy Celtic takes on such Dead classics as “China Cat Sunflower” and “Eyes of the World.”
Details: The show begins at 8 p.m.; tickets are $26.50-$44; or you can livestream the show for $25; more information is at thefreight.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
Celebrating Día de los Muertos
The skeletons are dangling from the windows and looming merrily overhead the staircase in the festive lobby of Davies Hall, as the San Francisco Symphony gears up at 3 p.m. Nov. 1 to mount its 18th annual celebration of the Day of the Dead, the joyous Mexican tradition held to pay love and respect to ancestors who have passed on. The centerpiece of the festivities is a symphony concert, but multiple preconcert family-friendly activities are planned in the lobby and upper floors, including marigold flower making, offering-altar installations, a mariachi instrument petting zoo, sugar skull decorating and costumed dancers from Casa Círculo Cultural. The Symphony, conducted by Lina González-Granados, will perform traditional and contemporary Latin American music associated with the holiday, including Gabriela Ortiz’s “Kauyumari,” selections from Arturo Márquez’s “Espejos en la Arena,” the Intermezzo from Ricardo Castro’s “Atzimba” opera, Paul Desenne’s “Hipnosis Mariposa,” Jimmy Lopez’s “Loud,” Márquez’s popular Danzón No. 2 and Gabriela Lena Frank’s “The Mestizo Waltz.”
Details: Tickets, which are 50 percent off for those under 18, range from $27.50-$175; go to www.sfsymphony.org.
— Bay City News Foundation
An orchestral showcase
The San Francisco Opera takes a breather from its usual regimen of presenting full-fledged and lavish operatic productions to let Music Director Eun Sun Kim shine a solo spotlight on her instrumentalists in a single night concert of music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Manuel de Falla at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 1 in War Memorial Opera House. The program opens with “Siete Canciones Populares Españolas,” a set of songs inspired by de Falla’s home country of Spain, sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, and continues with the second orchestral suite from the same composer’s ballet “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”). Following the intermission, the concert will conclude with Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony. Tickets, $29-$250, can be purchased through www.sfopera.com.
OAKLAND – A person was arrested in connection with a shooting Monday in Oakland, police said.
The incident happened around 8 p.m. in the 1400 block of 18th Avenue, according to the Oakland Police Department. Officers arrived to find evidence of a shooting but no victims.
Surveillance cameras captured both the incident and the suspect vehicle, police said.
Roughly an hour and a half after the shooting, officers found two people inside the suspect vehicle in the 1400 block of 13th Avenue.
In addition to arresting one of the occupants, officers recovered two unregistered firearms, police said.
BERKELEY — Significant bicycle and pedestrian improvements have been completed at the North Berkeley BART Station, paving the way for better connections for hundreds of future neighborhood residents.
Berkeley councilmembers, electeds from neighboring cities, city staff and community members gathered Monday to celebrate the completion of the North Berkeley Bicycle and Pedestrian Access Project.
As part of the project, a section of the Ohlone Greenway, a 5.3-mile bike and pedestrian path, was widened between Acton and Virginia streets. Also added were separate two-way cycle tracks leading to BART entrances from Acton and Sacramento streets and two new bike lockers in the plaza, among other improvements.
The project was funded partly by the transportation agency’s Safe Routes to BART grant program which is supported by BART Measure RR funds, a tax measure approved by voters in 2016. An additional $3.4 million in grants were awarded to the project through the state’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program.
“As Senator, I am proud that the state supports sustainable transportation projects,” State Sen. Jesse Arreguín, D-Oakland, said in a statement. Arreguín also noted his support for similar projects when he served as Berkeley mayor.
About 61% of all trips made to the North Berkeley BART Station are done by walking or biking, according to the agency’s 2015 Station Profile Study. The improvements are meant to support those already walking and biking to the station while making those modes of transportation more appealing to others.
BART Director Barnali Ghosh said he’s “thrilled” to see the project complete.
“These improvements make it safer and easier for people to walk, bike, and connect to BART. Delivering these community benefits years before the first North Berkeley TOD building opens reflects BART’s strong and lasting commitment to North Berkeley,” Ghosh said in a statement.
The project is part of a larger overhaul of the North Berkeley BART Station property. Working with the city and a team of housing developers, the transportation agency plans to welcome nearly 750 new homes on about 5.5 acres of land currently being used for station parking.
North Berkeley Housing Partners, the development team, is made up of three affordable housing nonprofits – BRIDGE Housing, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation and Insight Housing – and one market-rate housing developer, AvalonBay Communities.
The new homes will be spread across five buildings that will be developed in phases. Construction was expected to begin in either 2025 or 2026. Half of the new units will be listed as affordable to people making up to 80% of the area median income. That’s about $127,000 annually for a family of four living in Alameda County, according to the state’s 2025 income limits.
Bound by Delaware, Sacramento, Virginia and Acton streets, the project site will also feature about 60,000 square feet of open space, a diagonal connection to the Ohlone Greenway that cuts through the center of the site and ground floor retail and childcare.
“The North Berkeley access improvements are just the beginning,” Mayor Adena Ishii said in a statement. “With more than 700 homes approved at North Berkeley BART and a similar number planned at Ashby, we’re showing that Berkeley can build more housing while making it easier for everyone to move safely and sustainably through our community.”
In 2010, Californians voted to create a nonpartisan Citizens Redistricting Commission to stop decades of gerrymandering. That reform was meant to restore fairness and ensure that all Californians — regardless of political affiliation — had a meaningful voice in representation.
Today, Proposition 50 threatens to undo that progress. If passed, it would allow California’s Democratic supermajority to tighten its control even further, reducing Republican representation in Congress from an already disproportionate 17% to just 8%, despite conservatives about 28% of likely voters.
Gov. Newsom’s support for this measure shows a willingness to suppress representation in pursuit of partisan gain. Such actions contradict the very principles of democracy and reveal a troubling hypocrisy. California deserves fairness — not one-party rule masquerading as reform.
Allowing private donors to pay government expenses — and especially allowing them to specify which government expenses they pay — is a terrible idea, regardless of its legality. (It’s probably illegal, as noted in the article.) That’s true whether it involves military salaries or a new wing on the White House.
Congress controls how much the government spends and on what. If the people don’t approve of the way Congress appropriates tax dollars, they can complain to their representatives or vote them out of office. Acknowledging that Congress isn’t functioning particularly well right now, if ultra-wealthy individuals fund government and the people don’t approve, what recourse do we have? That’s government by the wealthy, for the wealthy (aka, oligarchy), and the rest of us will be left with even less power than we have now.
There’s a reason that government agencies are allowed to spend only amounts appropriated by Congress.
Phil Sanders Fremont
Hegseth and Trump celebrate a slaughter
On Dec. 29, 1890, 300 Lakota Indian men, women and children were massacred by the United States Cavalry at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. A few days later, they were buried in unmarked graves. The soldiers who took part in the massacre were awarded Medals of Honor. The myth was that Wounded Knee was a battle when, in reality, it was a massacre.
There was an attempt by Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, to revoke the medals from the soldiers by ordering a review. However, the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, stopped the review, saying that the soldiers should keep their medals. For his action, Hegseth, along with his boss, President Trump, are celebrating the massacre of American Indians.
Republicans claim they cannot provide SNAP benefits on Nov. 1 if the government remains shut down. That’s not true. SNAP has a $5 billion-$6 billion contingency fund. Republicans are shamefully using the more than 40 million Americans who rely on SNAP as pawns, creating a hunger crisis to pressure Democrats to submit to Donald Trump’s will.
However, Democrats should not give up their fight to save our health care. Congress only has two weeks left to extend the ACA premium tax credits. Once open enrollment ends, the dramatic increases in health insurance premiums will be locked in — even if Congress acts later.
Meanwhile, this shutdown is really expensive. According to White House’s Council of Economic Advisors, this shutdown could cost the U.S. economy $15 billion a week.
What are we doing? Trump and Congress need to start negotiating on a bipartisan basis in good faith to reopen the government and extend ACA premium tax credits.
Jennifer Huber El Sobrante
In fact, GOP isn’t so tough on crime
The Trump administration is now using the National Guard for law enforcement in cities with shrinking crime statistics, in direct conflict with local officials and likely even federal law.
The president also pardoned 1,500 people for assaulting local and federal police officers while storming our nation’s Capitol and threatening to execute elected federal officials. Similarly, Trump commuted most of George Santos’ sentence and the administration granted favorable treatment to Ghislaine Maxwell.
All this while firing many senior officials in the Department of Justice, reducing federal funds for local law enforcement and prosecuting political enemies.
That is under the leadership of a draft-dodger, adjudicated sex offender and convicted fraudster. Don’t forget the never-completed efforts to prosecute him for election fraud and classified document cases.
Yet, the president has faced no resistance or objection from a Republican-controlled Congress. Are they strong on crime? I don’t think so.
Jim Kenna Brentwood
We should make health care a human right
Health care access and affordability has been an ongoing ethical issue. Millions of people are having a difficult time affording medical care, insurance and medication, and it is affecting their overall health and quality of life.
A couple of factors that are limiting their access to health care are income and location. I strongly believe that to prevent suffering, health care should be a human right and not a business for profit.
Health care access, affordable medication, health programs and insurance should be prioritized for our well-being, as well as protecting everyone, promoting public health and building strength in our communities.
OAKLAND — The Raiders may have departed Oakland years ago for Las Vegas, but Carol Davis had remained nearby in Piedmont, at a longtime home of the family that reigned over one of sports’ most memorable teams.
Indeed, the storied NFL franchise’s “First Lady” kept a residence on Mountain Avenue up until her death Friday at 93. It was the culmination of a life linked intrinsically to the East Bay and football alike, the kind that her son, Mark Davis, described Sunday as “wrapped in a cloak of immortality.”
“I love you mom; you will be missed,” said Mark, who shared a “controlling interest” in the now-Las Vegas Raiders with Carol, a stake inherited from the family patriarch, Al Davis, one of the iconic figures in the history of American sports.
Carol Davis was omniscient in the owners’ suite at games; she gave the team’s star players and executives a hug “hello,” they remembered, and would demonstrate a watchful eye about everything happening in the organization — even, for instance, a team employee’s divorce that Davis would not be expected to know about.
Her passing was the latest notable death among memorable Raiders figures from the team’s history. George Atkinson, the last member of the team’s beloved defense in the 1970s known for its unprecedented physicality, died Monday at 78.
Al Davis, a swashbuckling head coach with an unmistakable Brooklyn accent, simply “adored” his wife, the legendary Raiders quarterback and head coach Tom Flores remembered. Al and Carol ran in a tight inner circle of team officials and Bay Area businessmen, even amid the Raiders’ 13-year stint in Los Angeles.
Al Davis ended his long streak of joining the Raiders on road trips to work out of the Oakland hospital while Carol recovered from a massive heart attack and stroke in 1979 that kept her in a coma for 23 days. Carol miraculously recovered, earning a reputation for toughness that the Raiders themselves rallied behind on the football turf, winning the Super Bowl the very next season.
“She was a very intelligent and very dedicated woman,” recalled former Raiders executive John Herrera, an Oakland native who began working for the franchise as a teen in the 1960’s and finally departed in 2012. “She was a very interesting person to be around — and she kept up with everything that was going on, not just in sports but in the world.”
Through it all, Carol Davis remained committed to the idea of the Raiders as a model of teamwork, the kind of ideal that made the football team a storied fixture of NFL history, but an ambition that slumped in the 21st century before the team limped to a sleek new stadium in Las Vegas.
“She was a strong behind-the-scenes figure,” said Ignacio De La Fuente, the former Oakland City Council president who in 1995 recruited the Raiders back for their second stint in Oakland. “My perception was that she would keep Al realistic about things in our negotiations.”
Born Carol Sagal in New York City, she had been a buyer for retail stores even after Al finished military service and before his start as a pro football coach. The couple married in a Brooklyn synagogue but quickly formed roots in the East Bay once Al began with the Raiders ahead of the 1963 season.
During the team’s most storied years — an AFL championship in 1967 and a pair of Super Bowl victories in 1976 and 1980 — Carol stayed mostly behind the scenes, those who knew her recalled, though she always demonstrated an awareness of what was happening on the field.
“There were so many instances where she would say something that would cause me to giggle, at times where I should not have been,” said Amy Trask, a longtime former Raiders executive and the first former woman to serve as an NFL team’s CEO.
“They tended to be at Raiders business dinners,” Trask added about these occasions, “and usually involved a wise, keen observation about someone in attendance.”
Carol read newspapers every morning, always offering fresh insight about the country’s politics or society at large, friends remembered — a fitting description of a woman who led a team that broke new ground in diverse hiring.
Flores, the league’s first Mexican-American quarterback and head coach, recalled the warmth that Carol showed the team’s players, despite her and Al’s penchant for keeping their business private.
“To them, people were Raiders — it didn’t matter which color you were, what ethnic group you belonged to,” recalled Flores, who is 88 and lives in Palm Springs. “She was just very proud of you when you finished your journey.”
Al’s passing in 2011, seen as a pivotal moment in the franchise’s history, had Carol lined up in the succession plan as controlling owner. Trask, though, found herself notifying the league that Carol’s son, Mark, would take over operations instead, the outcome of discussions between mother and son that altered how the torch would be passed.
Trask departed from the franchise not long afterward, and the Raiders — fed up after stalled talks with Oakland for a new stadium — departed for Vegas.
Carol, though, stuck around in the house in Piedmont that Herrera had helped the family secure.
“I never tried to impose any of my beliefs on Carol — it wouldn’t have done any good either way,” Herrera said. “She was very strong in her opinions and she did exactly what she thought was right.”
Still, until her passing last Friday, those who knew her remembered her the way they do the Oakland Raiders: a football team with tall aspirations and a swagger.
“As the originals, we all had the same dream, but we didn’t know how to get there,” Flores said. “Al and Carol had that dream — and they knew how to do it. They brought us where we wanted to go.”
