New FBI files show wide range of Black Panther informant's activities // Oakland Tribune
"Newly released FBI records reveal that Richard Masato Aoki, widely revered as a radical hero in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1960s, had a deep relationship with the FBI, informing on his fellow Asian activists and on Black Panther Party leaders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale.
"...However, the newly released records do not indicate whether the FBI was aware of Aoki's role in arming the Panthers or whether the bureau was involved in it. If the FBI knew Aoki was arming the Panthers, or was involved in that, it would raise questions about whether the bureau was attempting to foment violence that would discredit the Panthers or set them up for a police crackdown."
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Our Local Green Future // East Bay Express
"...if all goes smoothly, by 2017 households and businesses from Fremont in the south, to Livermore in the east, and Berkeley in the north could be served by a public energy authority whose main mission will be reducing energy costs while building out a local green economy.
"Approved in 2002 by the California Legislature, community choice aggregation (CCA) allows local governments to purchase energy directly from producers, and to distribute it to customers at no extra charge through the existing investor-owned utility infrastructure.
"..So far, however, only Marin County and Sonoma County have successfully launched aggregation programs in the Bay Area. Other jurisdictions, including San Francisco, have run up against fierce opposition from PG&E, which sees the program as a threat to its profits. Some unions have also worried that CCAs could undermine job security for their members who work for PG&E and other utilities in the state."
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South Berkeley residents mobilize around plan to develop Adeline Street corridor / The Daily Cal
"South Berkeley residents are mobilizing around a city project to revitalize their neighborhood, which some worry could spell displacement and proliferate patterns of gentrification seen across the Bay Area.
"The approximately two-year process to outline a plan to develop Berkeley’s Adeline Street corridor is funded by a planning grant supporting a detailed study of the area, community outreach and the development of preliminary plans for improvements to the neighborhood. The city was awarded the $750,000 Priority Development Area planning grant from the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in May 2014."
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Obama administration doubles size of California marine sanctuaries// Contra Costa County Times
"In the largest expansion of national marine sanctuaries in California in 23 years, the Obama administration on Tuesday more than doubled the size of two Northern California marine sanctuaries, extending them by 50 miles up the rugged Sonoma and Mendocino coasts.
"Under the dramatic move by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the boundaries of the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries expand from Bodega Bay to Point Arena, permanently banning offshore oil drilling along that stretch of coast.
"'These waters represent an extraordinary marine ecosystem, one of the richest on our planet,' said Maria Brown, NOAA's superintendent of the Farallones sanctuary, headquartered in San Francisco."
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Juan Felipe Herrera named first Latino poet laureate of United States //SF Gate
Juan Felipe Herrera, the son of California migrant workers, has been named the new poet laureate of the United States. He will be the first Latino poet laureate since the position was established by the Library of Congress in 1936.
“'This is a mega-honor for me, for my family and my parents who came up north before and after the Mexican Revolution of 1910 — the honor is bigger than me,' Herrera, who lives in Fresno, said in a statement. 'I want to take everything I have in me, weave it, merge it with the beauty that is in the Library of Congress, all the resources, the guidance of the staff and departments, and launch it with the heart-shaped dreams of the people. It is a miracle of many of us coming together.'”
