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Stories, photos and local community current events from San Francisco, Oakland and around the bay. Send tips, story ideas and press releases to news@californiabeat.org.

[By Beat News Service | 27 Nov 2011 | No Comments]
Courtesy San Francisco Police Dept.

San Francisco Police asked for the public’s help to identify the man who purposely ran down a former U.S. Marine and CalFire firefighter during a Thanksgiving morning fight in the city’s Richmond District.

Police said the suspect fought with the victim inside a Jack in the Box restaurant at the corner of Geary Blvd. and 11th Ave. in the city’s Richmond District at 2:45 a.m. but were separated by other patrons.

[By Steven Luo | 15 Nov 2011 | No Comments]
Crime Scene investigators from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office place bags of evidence collected from the Haas School of Business Tuesday night. (CALIFORNIA BEAT PHOTO)

A UCPD officer shot and killed a Cal student who brandished a gun at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Tuesday afternoon in the first campus shooting in decades, police said.

Witnesses reported that police entered a computer lab at the business school at 2:19 p.m. and shot an unidentified man who was carrying a gun. The suspect was wounded and was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland.

UC Police officials said Wednesday morning that the man had died from the injury. No one else was hurt in the incident.

[By Beat News Service | 11 Nov 2011 | No Comments]

In another strongly worded letter addressing residents of the City of Oakland, the union representing Oakland Police officers called on Occupy Oakland protesters to leave Frank Ogawa Plaza “immediately” and with their “heads held up high.”

The union released the open letter Friday morning after a man was shot and killed in the city’s 101st homicide near the encampment Thursday evening. 

[By Steven Luo | 9 Nov 2011 | No Comments]
Alameda County Sheriff's Deputies and UC Police protect Sproul Hall. (CALIFORNIA BEAT PHOTO)

Dozens of riot-gear clad police officers prevented an Occupy Wall Street campsite from forming in front of the UC Berkeley administration building Wednesday during a day-long series of protests by students who said they were fighting double-digit tuition increases in the University of California system.

UC Police and sheriff’s deputies from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office arrested 39 Occupy Cal protesters, seven from an afternoon raid of the campsite, and 31 more during a contentious nighttime skirmish between an estimated crowd of more than 1,000 protesters. 

[By Beat News Service | 9 Nov 2011 | One Comment]
edlee

Edwin M. Lee will be elected Mayor of San Francisco after vote tallies released by the city’s Elections Department Wednesday afternoon showed the career bureaucrat gaining an insurmountable lead over second-choice candidate Supervisor John Avalos.

The Beat expects that Avalos will not receive enough of the remaining votes to overcome the deficit. Lee received 61 percent of the vote in the eleventh round of allocations in the city’s first ranked choice vote for Mayor. Avalos recieved 39 percent.

[By Steven Luo | 8 Nov 2011 | No Comments]
edlee

Welcome to the California Beat’s live coverage of tonight’s municipal elections in San Francisco and around the Bay Area. We’ll bring you the latest returns and reaction from the candidates; keep refreshing this page for the latest.

[By Beat News Service | 3 Nov 2011 | No Comments]
Repair crews fix a damaged window on 16th Street in Downtown Oakland Wednesday. (CALIFORNIA BEAT PHOTO)

City merchants, maintenance crews and Occupy Oakland protesters picked up scrub brushes and dust pans to clean up what became a violent clash between anarchists and police Wednesday morning that led to 80 arrests.

Police from several Bay Area law enforcement agencies lobbed tear gas at the anarchists after they were pelted with rocks, bottles and a homemade shield, interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said Thursday. 

[By Beat News Service | 2 Nov 2011 | 9 Comments]
Occupy Oakland protesters at 14th and Broadway in Downtown Oakland. (CALIFORNIA BEAT PHOTO)

Thousands of protesters joined a general strike called by the Occupy Oakland movement Wednesday, with marches and rallies occurring in Downtown Oakland throughout the day, and an evening blockade of the Port of Oakland shutting down commerce at the freight terminal for the rest of the day.

[By Steven Luo and Jennifer Courtney | 2 Nov 2011 | 3 Comments]
Occupy Oakland protesters marching at the Port of Oakland. (CALIFORNIA BEAT PHOTO)

More than 10,000 protesters filled the streets of Oakland Wednesday, marching, chanting, and demanding a better deal for ordinary people as part of a general strike called by the Occupy Oakland movement.

After marching through Downtown Oakland in the afternoon, stopping in front of branches of several large banks to protest, thousands moved toward the Port of Oakland, blocking truck traffic into and out of the area and effectively shutting one of the busiest ports on the U.S. West Coast.

[By Beat News Service | 1 Nov 2011 | One Comment]

The union representing Oakland Police officers released an unprecedented open letter to city residents on Tuesday criticizing Mayor Jean Quan for delivering “mixed messages” in the handling of the city’s Occupy Wall Street protests.

The message, posted on the Oakland Police Officers’ Association website, claims that rank-and-file officers are receiving no direction from the Mayor’s office about what to do during a citywide general strike set to occur on Wednesday.