California State Senate President pro tempore Don Perata's car was recovered today in Richmond after Saturday's carjacking. The auto theft happened while he as en route to Oakland City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente's house to deliver a holiday gift. It seems that while waiting at a stop light at 51st Street and Shattuck Avenue in his red four-door 2006 Dodge Charger - very masculine and patriotic, Senator - a young man came up to his driver side window and tapped the glass with his gun, , forcing Perata out of the car. more ›

The son of Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, Ignacio De La Fuente Jr., 34, got smacked upside the head with a 14-year prison sentence for raping four women. "All but one of whom were prostitutes," according to the Chronicle. (So, we guess three of them deserved it? It's more violating and traumatic for just one of them? We shouldn't be that upset?) more ›

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We somehow missed this, or more like didn't care, but Charles Barkley has now become Public Enemy #1 here in the Bay Area. This is because during the NBA Playoffs, Barkley has said a number of bad, bad things about the area. Among other things, he's said this about the Bay Area: "It's the dumping ground of people who can't afford to live in L.A." And this: "You know, we should take the show on the road. For the next game, we should go to hell - I mean, go to Golden State." And then there's this: "I would rather stay on Alcatraz than San Francisco or Oakland.'' He also talked trash about Sausalito . Sausalito! more ›

We've never been happier not to live in Oakland than when we got wind of Oakland mayoral candidate Ignacio De La Fuente's 32 page bio being distributed to voters this Saturday. more ›

Apparently the "Draft Dellums" posters can come down in our neighborhood now, as we see that Ron Dellums has announced his candidacy to replace Jerry Brown as Mayor of Oakland. Until today it seemed that City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente was a shoe-in for the job, despite the fact that nobody was particularly excited by the idea, aside from Jerry Brown himself (who has endorsed De La Fuente). Dellums, who once sat on the Berkeley City Council and represented Oakland (and nearby locales) in Congress for 28 years until local hero Barbara Lee took over, now seems the immediate front-runner. "If Ron Dellums running for mayor gives you hope, let's get on with it,'' he said today, and quite frankly, after the terrible (but predictable) disappointment of Jerry's eight years as Mayor, we're feeling pretty hopeful in Oakland this afternoon. more ›