January 27, 2012 | 9:51 AM | By

The Blotter: Friday, January 27

The sheriff's legal woes continue.

Man fatally shot Thursday night in Berkeley The city’s first homicide of the year. (Inside Bay Area)

Stung by Bad PR City officials taking a new tact with Occupy Oakland. (alternet.org)

Judge refuses to lift Mirkarimi stay-away order The embattled sheriff disappointed. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Calif. Prisons Chief: Despite “bumps,” there’s hope in realignment. (Capital Public Radio | KXJZ)

San Diego jail inmates released to avoid crowding As realignment swings into full gear.  (Sacramento Bee)

January 26, 2012 | 12:50 PM | By

High school students comment on criminal justice system

By Nicole Jones

Tonight, Seniors at City Arts and Technology are flexing their filmmaking muscles and showcasing their short documentary films about the American prison system and mental health institutionalization. The screening is the result of a three week project combining work from government, world literature and art classes. Students learned about the criminal justice system in government class and chose topics like immigration detention, private prisons, solitary confinement and juvenile justice to report on. In literature class, students analyzed “One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest,” while in art class students created t-shirts, buttons and stickers to represent views on their selected issues.

The 3-5 minute student films will be shown tonight at City Arts & Technology High School, 325 La Grande Ave., San Francisco (Excelsior District) tonight at 6:30pm.

FILED UNDER: Community
January 26, 2012 | 11:47 AM | By

SF suspends medical marijuana licensing

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San Francisco Weekly reports that the city has suspended its medial marijuana dispensary permitting program:

Pending permits had been on hold since December, after a ruling in a state appeals court case halted similar permitting programs across California. That case was appealed to the state Supreme Court, and during the appeal, the city could resume processing permits, a spokesman for the City Attorney told SF Weekly last week.

But the city reversed its decision today. All medical cannabis dispensary permit applications are on hold indefinitely, according to Jim Soos, an assistant director of Policy and Planning with the city Department of Public Health, until the city can “receive assurance that it is in compliance with state and federal law.”

There’s speculation that the feds threatened San Francisco with a lawsuit.

FILED UNDER: Courts, Medical Marijuana, San Francisco
January 26, 2012 | 10:30 AM | By

The Blotter: Thursday, January 26

Henderson Images

Mission Station Gets new police captain. (Bay Area Reporter)

What it means to be green in prison San Quentin’s gardens and green jobs fairs. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Will OPD end upin receivership? The move seems more and more likely. (East Bay Express)

Judge strikes parole-revocation provisions in California law More legal trouble for the Victims Bill of Rights. (Sacramento Bee)

A day after”tyrant” remark Mirkarimi has new lawyer. (sfbayareaobserver.com)

January 12, 2012 | 11:52 AM | By

Oakland: Federal ammo running short for War on Crime

Ali Winston

This piece comes to us from City Limits, an independent, non-profit, investigative magazine based in New York City.

Around 1 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 8, Maria Teresa Ramirez was pushing a red plastic car with her 3-year-old son Carlos Fernandez Nava along International Boulevard in East Oakland, Calif. As Ramirez and her son drew close to a group of men standing outside a pizzeria near International and 64th Avenue, gunfire erupted from a passing car, striking Nava and two men on the corner. While the older men, the intended targets of the shooting, lived, Nava was fatally wounded by a bullet that passed through his neck. The murder, the 67th of 2011, sparked outrage. In a city where only a quarter of all murders are solved, police received a flood of tips and within a week arrested two men now charged with Nava’s death.

Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Police, Oakland, Oakland Police Department
January 10, 2012 | 8:13 AM | By

The Blotter: Tuesday, January 10

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Cafe Gratitude’s legal woes resolved And some locations will stay open. (The Bay Citizen)

Lost in detention Congress asks for investigation into immigration detention abuse allegations.  (pbs.org)

When American religion meets American mass incarceration New book looks interesting. (prisonlaw.wordpress.com)

Event raises awareness about sexism, homophobia within Occupy protests Women say they’re often shouted down, shut down by men.  (Oakland North)

40,000 new laws now in effect Including a Utah law banning happy hours.  (rightoncrime.com)

What has realignment of prisons wrought? More than advertised, if you ask some. (Bakersfield.com)