Oakland Ca

IN the early morning hours most weekends, finding hyphy isn't difficult, it's just a matter of knowing what to look for. Pull off Interstate 580 near the San Leandro line and head south toward the San Francisco Bay. Along a nearly deserted stretch of Foothill Boulevard you'll find them: scorched black curlicues marking the street every hundred yards or so for nearly 10 miles.

In the neighborhood where four Oakland police officers were killed last weekend, a large makeshift memorial still adorns a sidewalk with flowers, notes and photographs of the slain police. Across the street lies another, smaller sidewalk memorial -- this one for the parolee who killed the officers. A cluster of African American women in front of the police memorial argued last week about a candlelight vigil planned for the felon, whom police had just linked by DNA to the rape of a 12-year-old.

By day, it's far too quiet at the site of a planned housing and retail development on a former Navy base in Oakland. At night, neighbors can hear the thieves come out. They rip out copper wire, haul away pipes and take anything else they can steal from dozens of buildings on the site, abandoned after Irvine developer SunCal Cos. fell victim to the economy.

Gambling halls and arts education may make strange bedfellows. But over the last three years, five Los Angeles-area card clubs have showered more than $100,000 on a Bay Area school for the arts some 400 miles away. The gifts offered more than a chance to help inner-city kids. They were an opportunity to please the state official who asked for the money, directly oversees the clubs and is widely viewed as the front-runner to be California's next governor: state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown.

Just a few blocks off Oakland's busy Jack London Square, Walter Hoye, a soft-spoken Baptist minister, was standing outside an abortion clinic, doing his best not to get arrested. Dressed in black and wearing his "Got Jesus?" ball cap, Hoye, 52, of Union City, Calif., held the hand-lettered sign he always brings: "God loves you and your baby. Let us help you." His black wire-rimmed sunglasses, perched halfway down his nose, gave him a faintly Hollywood air.

The family of a 22-year-old man shot to death by a transit police officer on New Year's Day urged Oakland residents Thursday to remain calm and deplored the violence that erupted during a protest over the shooting a day earlier. The city bristled with anger and sorrow as store owners cleaned up the debris from the vandalism during Wednesday night's protest and officials announced that the Oakland Police Department would join in the investigation of Oscar J. Grant III's death.

With each graceful stroke through the water, the sinewy teen leaves one of the nation's lingering stereotypes farther behind in his wake. A fierce competitor, 13-year-old Piankhi Gibson is making waves as an African American swimmer in an arena long dominated by white athletes. In the largely solitary sport, black swimmers are still isolated. But that doesn't bother Gibson.

A jury Tuesday acquitted three former police officers on charges of beating and framing suspects and deadlocked on 27 other counts, bringing an inconclusive end to the longest criminal trial in Alameda County history. The conclusion to the yearlong case, likened by one legal expert to "a Rodney King verdict without the riots," may cement anti-police sentiment in Oakland's most crime-plagued neighborhoods.

The driver of a van that crashed into a Bay Bridge toll plaza building -- killing himself and a friend -- stabbed his parents to death in 1989, authorities said. Artists Ronald Wade McClave, 39, of Oakland and Mildred Harris, 71, of Emeryville died Saturday in the accident. They were on their way to an art exhibition in San Francisco, where they were to have displayed paintings. McClave was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the stabbing deaths of his parents in San Luis Obispo.

Jerome Young, 19, no longer hangs out on the streets selling drugs and living in fear of death threats. Steve Lent, 28, got tired of bouncing in and out of custody, a pattern he had known since he was 11. Both are residents of the Men of Valor Academy, a 2-year-old program in East Oakland that offers troubled men a chance to turn their lives around. The participants join the program voluntarily. "It evolved after looking at the homicides in the city of Oakland," said the Rev.

Gambling halls and arts education may make strange bedfellows. But over the last three years, five Los Angeles-area card clubs have showered more than $100,000 on a Bay Area school for the arts some 400 miles away. The gifts offered more than a chance to help inner-city kids. They were an opportunity to please the state official who asked for the money, directly oversees the clubs and is widely viewed as the front-runner to be California's next governor: state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown.

Oakland pot activists fresh off a victory at local polls on the taxing of medical marijuana took their first official step Tuesday toward asking California voters to legalize pot. A proposed ballot measure filed with the California attorney general's office would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of pot. Homeowners could grow marijuana for personal use on garden plots up to 25 square feet.

Just a few blocks off Oakland's busy Jack London Square, Walter Hoye, a soft-spoken Baptist minister, was standing outside an abortion clinic, doing his best not to get arrested. Dressed in black and wearing his "Got Jesus?" ball cap, Hoye, 52, of Union City, Calif., held the hand-lettered sign he always brings: "God loves you and your baby. Let us help you." His black wire-rimmed sunglasses, perched halfway down his nose, gave him a faintly Hollywood air.

A transit officer said Tuesday that an unarmed man who was fatally shot by another officer at an Oakland train station failed to obey her commands before his death. Bay Area Rapid Transit Officer Marysol Domenici testified during the fourth day of a hearing to determine whether former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle will stand trial for murder in the death of Oscar Grant.

A former bakery handyman pleaded guilty Thursday to killing two men, including an Oakland journalist who was writing about the bakery's finances. Devaughndre Broussard, 21, entered his plea to two counts of voluntary manslaughter as part of a deal with prosecutors. Broussard admitted to fatally shooting Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey in August 2007 and another man, Odell Roberson Jr., a month earlier. Bailey's sister, Lorelei Waqia, and father, Chauncey Bailey Sr.

In the neighborhood where four Oakland police officers were killed last weekend, a large makeshift memorial still adorns a sidewalk with flowers, notes and photographs of the slain police. Across the street lies another, smaller sidewalk memorial -- this one for the parolee who killed the officers. A cluster of African American women in front of the police memorial argued last week about a candlelight vigil planned for the felon, whom police had just linked by DNA to the rape of a 12-year-old.

A new Oakland-based union -- the product of a brutal fight between the elected leaders of healthcare workers in Northern California and their superiors in Washington -- announced Tuesday that it had gained its first members. North American Healthcare agreed to recognize the National Union of Healthcare Workers as the representative of more than 350 nursing home workers at four of the company's facilities in Northern California, the union said.

By day, it's far too quiet at the site of a planned housing and retail development on a former Navy base in Oakland. At night, neighbors can hear the thieves come out. They rip out copper wire, haul away pipes and take anything else they can steal from dozens of buildings on the site, abandoned after Irvine developer SunCal Cos. fell victim to the economy.

An outside party will take over the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency's investigation of all officers involved in the shooting of an unarmed man at a train station platform, BART officials said Thursday. Oscar Grant, 22, was fatally shot in the back while lying face down at the Fruitvale station early New Year's Day. Alameda County prosecutors have charged former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

The family of a 22-year-old man shot to death by a transit police officer on New Year's Day urged Oakland residents Thursday to remain calm and deplored the violence that erupted during a protest over the shooting a day earlier. The city bristled with anger and sorrow as store owners cleaned up the debris from the vandalism during Wednesday night's protest and officials announced that the Oakland Police Department would join in the investigation of Oscar J. Grant III's death.