This is what's wrong with California's ballot measure rules. Even the backers were misled on where new sales tax money would go. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @mattmahansj.bsky.social

Rabbi says Richmond leader Eduardo Martinez is trying to shift the blame and make himself the victim www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/30/o... @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com

In this era of Trump election deceit, Californians deserve better from their leaders. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com

Transparency matters. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @facoalition.bsky.social @knightcolumbia.org @countyofsanmateo.bsky.social

UPDATE 7/2/25: Andrew's MEMORIAL will be held Sept. 7 in Walnut Creek. Please DM me with your email if you'd like to receive the details. Thanks, Dan

Star chamber. Transparency, due process lacking. @mercurynews.com www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/27/e...

Oakland’s huge, hidden pension tax expiring. Get ready for the next one. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/17/b...

Former Contra Costa Times city and copy desk editor Andrew McGall died Saturday night at Kaiser Hospital in Walnut Creek. He was 78. Andrew was a news hound, an excellent and meticulous editor, a voracious reader, a deep thinker and a wonderful, kind friend. Memorial details to follow.

Former school board members are speaking up. @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com www.eastbaytimes.com/2025/05/16/o...

What should be a moment of celebration for the Oakland Unified School District has morphed in the past two months into one of the worst periods of uncertainty in years.

"The Trump administration, under the guise of fighting antisemitism and DEI, is threatening the Bay Area’s world-renowned academic research centers and, in so doing, risks undermining the secret sauce of Silicon Valley." @mercurynews.com @eastbaytimes.com @maxtaves.bsky.social

Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee promised last week to unify warring political factions while addressing the city’s fiscal, public safety, housing and homeless challenges. But when it came to questions about the city’s budget, she punted. That can’t continue.

An excellent, smart debut column by Deputy Opinion Editor @maxtaves.bsky.social

Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is exactly right on this one.

Under subpoena from US Equal Employment Opportunity Comm investigating antisemitism, UC will be giving them my name, position, date of hire, personal phone number, personal email, employment status, because I signed Oct 2023 letter decrying attack by Hamas. Really? docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I'm Jewish, named after my uncle who was executed by the Nazis in a forced labor camp in Poland. My gradfather died in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Trump's use of antisemitism as a smokescreen to underminine free speech and destroy academic research is reprehensible. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/p...

Here's our take:

The details left out of the voter guide for Oakland's special election

As RFK rails against vaccines, here's why the HPV vaccine is so important.

Right objective, wrong method.

Independent probe long overdue

“Two councilmembers run amok”

Time for state action

This is a very important and thoughtful piece for Oakland residents to read. It's written by former acting City Administrator Steve Falk. The problem is not just the people elected, it's also an unusual government structure that lacks logical lines of authority. The result: No one is in charge.

Tornado: Why did San Francisco get a warning, but not Scotts Valley? www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/16/t... #tornado

The public defender's office, after accusing Pamela Price of political extortion in a murder case, is gonna subpoena her phone records. A judge says he will grant it: www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/11/e...

My latest on MTC’s deceptive accounting

Oakland braces for possible layoffs to clear nearly $130 million deficit City will eliminate police academies, pause fire stations, slash arts funding: www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/12/06/o...

An accounting mess.