OAKLAND — Police are investigating a double shooting after a vehicle collision Sunday in East Oakland, authorities said.

At 2:07 p.m., police responded to a report of a shooting in the 2700 block of Ritchie Street at Hillside Street in the city’s Eastmont neighborhood, an Oakland police officer said.

When officers arrived, they found two victims suffering from gunshot wounds, one in the upper torso and one in a lower extremity.

Officers soon learned a collision had occurred between two vehicles just before a confrontation that led to the shooting.

Both victims received treatment at the scene for wounds before an ambulance took them to a hospital. Their conditions were not immediately available Sunday afternoon.

Officers had no motive or suspects in custody.

For information leading to the arrest of a suspect, police are offering up to $5,000 in the shooting. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers of Oakland at 510-777-8572.

Check back for updates.

BREAKING: Shooting at Hillside, sadly AKA as Hillside & Ritchie, in East Oakland. @oaklandpoliceca on scene. Multiple shots fired. @allaboutgeorge @OakTribNews @EastBayTimes pic.twitter.com/3BnGFXEAVj

— Tyska (@Tyska) November 3, 2019

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.

BRENTWOOD

Decades performs a variety of music at Summerset

Summerset Orchards will present Decades at the Summerset Orchards Lodge, 770 Centennial Place, at 3 p.m. on Nov. 10.

This Chico-based group, considered one of California’s most in-demand bands, is young, extremely gifted, fun, and ready to rock. Their concerts are highly energetic and showcase not only their amazing vocal skills, but also each of their versatile instrumentation skills, as they belt out pitch-perfect songs from every decade since the 1940s – from Chuck Berry to Katie Perry.

Doors open at 2 p.m.  Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the Lodge in advance, or if still available, at the door the day of the show.  For more information, call 925-513-2640.

BRENTWOOD

Open mic night at community center

Celebrate the written word at Open Mic Night at the Brentwood Community Center at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 14 with Brentwood Writes.

All short work — poetry, short story, nonfiction, or any other creative work — is welcome. Participants are allowed five minutes each to perform. Participants are encouraged to bring work on any subject, their own or that of another writer, as long as it is neither insulting nor abusive.

This event is free and open to the public. Open Mic is presented by Brentwood Writes, an affiliate of the Brentwood Art Society and the Brentwood Community Library.  It is hosted by Kati Short, Poet Laureate, katishort@yahoo.com or 925-634-6655.  The Brentwood Community Center is at 35 Oak St., Brentwood.

WALNUT CREEK

Organist to perform at St. Paul’s Church

Organist Jerome Lenk will perform “All-Bach Concert” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 7 p.m. Nov. 23.

Renowned organist and director of music at the Mission Dolores Basilica, Lenk has recently performed concerts at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the Oakland Cathedral, and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Located in downtown Walnut Creek, the St. Paul’s Concert Series offers monthly world-class performances to the local community for an affordable, donation-based cost.  Free parking is provided, or an easy walk three blocks from Walnut Creek BART.

The church is at 1924 Trinity Ave. Donation at the door: average $20, students $10 (all are welcome regardless of donation).

LIVERMORE

Illusionist performs at Bankhead

Master illusionist Vitaly Beckman will bring an engaging stage presence and breathtaking visuals together in an interactive theatrical experience, “An Evening of Wonders,” at the Bankhead Theater on Nov. 9.

Vitaly’s signature illusions bring art to life as he tells the story of his transformation, from a boy with a dream to a man with a vision. During the show, he creates a world where the rules of reality seemingly do not exist, paintings spring to life, photographs become mini-movies, and audience members see their faces vanish from their own driver’s licenses. Even time itself reverses as bare
broken branches visibly repair and renew themselves with the green leaves of spring.

Tickets are $20-$65 adults, $20 students/active military. Recommended for ages 8 and older. Call 925-373-6800. Visit www.lvpac.org

Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center is an independent nonprofit. The theater is at 2400 First St.

ANTIOCH

Musical tribute to big band leaders is Nov. 10

Tickets are: orchestra level (ground floor): $49; loge level (first level upstairs): $49; opera level (second level upstairs): $39; students: $25 (reserve by phone). Special offers for seniors, veterans and students. Call the box office to reserve tickets at 925-757-9500.

Turkish film about the Korean War to show at Campanil

The International Film Showcase presents the Turkish film “Ayla — The Daughter of War.” Winner of numerous international film awards, “Ayla” will screen at 2 p.m. Nov. 9 and Nov. 17 at El Campanil Theatre, 602 W. Second St.

Based on true events, the story is set in 1950 in Korea where Sgt. Süleyman stumbles upon a half-frozen young girl, with no parents and no help in sight. Frantic, scared and on the verge of death, this little girl captures the heart of Süleyman, who risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his Army base and out of harm’s way. Unable to communicate with her, Süleyman names her Ayla, in reminiscence of the moon on the fateful night during which they met.

The two form an instantaneous and inseparable bond, and Ayla, almost effortlessly, brings an uncanny joy to the Turkish brigade in the grip of war. As the war comes to a close, Süleyman is forced to give Ayla to an orphanage but doesn’t give up on the hope of one day reuniting with her. The film is in Korean, Turkish, Mandarin and English with subtitles. Tickets are $9 general admission, $8 children and seniors. Go to elcampaniltheatre.com. For more information, go to internationalshowcase.org.

BRENTWOOD

Teen theater troupe presents ‘Wizard of Oz’

Brentwood Teen Theater presents “The Wizard of Oz” Nov. 15-23 at Resurrection Ministries, 1275 Fairview Ave. Performances are Nov. 15, 16, 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Nov. 23. For tickets or more information, go to BrentwoodTeenTheater.com

LAFAYETTE

Town Hall has staged reading of ‘The River’

Town Hall Theatre’s first “In the Wings” staged reading of the 2019-20 season is a one-night-only performance of “The River,” a mysterious and lyrical new play about a man, woman and fishing, by Tony Award-winner Jez Butterworth. There will be one performance of the play on Nov. 11 at Town Hall Theatre Company, 3535 School St.  Tickets are $10 general admission and free to subscribers, and are available through the Box Office at 925-283-1557 or online at townhalltheatre.com.

In his subtly crafted play, Butterworth sets the story in a remote cabin on the cliffs beside a river. A man has invited a woman there, and he longs to share with her the ecstatic excitement of fishing for trout that night, a once-a-year moonless night. Darkness, the sound of the rushing river and lights come up on the man calling the police about a woman who has gone missing while fishing. He is interrupted by a door banging and another woman enters, seemingly having exchanged places.

Are we witnessing some kind of ritual unfold? Are we watching a ghost story, a thriller or an elegy?

Matthew Travisano directs the play, which features three Bay Area talents: Erin Gould as The Man, Sarah Ruby as The Woman and Cynthia Lagodzinski as The Other Woman. Tickets are $10. Call 925-283-1557 or go to townhalltheatre.com.

Town Hall plans to stage ‘Cinderella’

Town Hall Theatre celebrates the holidays with an original take on the classic Brothers Grimm story, “Cinderella: A Fairytale,” as part of its 75TH “Transformations” season. The play will have 12 performances, including two previews, Dec. 5-2 at Town Hall Theatre Co., 3535 School St., in Lafayette. Tickets are $18 to $30, and are available through the box office at 925-283-1557 or online at TownHallTheatre.com.

The troupe also will host three special events: an opening night gala on Dec. 7; LIT UP at Town Hall, a literary salon on the theme “Outcast/Cast Out” on Dec. 9; and Theatre Club, a post-show talk-back with complimentary wine, on Dec. 13.

Featuring original music, humor, dance and a love story, “Cinderalla” will appeal to audiences young and old. The story centers around little Ella, whose her father is teaching his daughter the names and calls of all the forest birds. They enjoy a happy life together … until he remarries and her life is upended. Surrounded by cruel relations, Ella’s only allies are a flock of very clever and magical birds. This imaginative new version of the classic folktale includes many fanciful twists: the actor playing the father transforms into the scheming stepmother (in a nod to British panto tradition), the prince is a geeky, asthmatic bird-watcher, and the slipper is a Doc Marten-type boot that shimmers.

Playwright/Director Sally Cookson says she chose the fairytale of Cinderella because it’s such an old story, around long before the Grimm Brothers and before Perrault (whose version is used by Walt Disney in his 1950s film). Grimm’s adaptation appealed to her because it is less “syrupy,” embracing the darker elements but also packed with humor.

DANVILLE

‘Affordable Art Show’ at Village Theatre gallery

The Village Theatre Art Gallery presents “The Affordable Art Show,” an exhibition featuring the artwork of 65 Bay Area artists through Dec.17. With the idea that art is for everyone, the Town of Danville presents its first art exhibition emphasizing affordable art. All the artwork in The Affordable Art show will be for sale, priced at $199 or less. From landscapes to seascapes, abstract masterpieces to depictions of cuddly creatures, this exhibition includes a variety of media from paintings, encaustic works on panel, photography, and original sculptures made of marble, fine stone and more.

The Village Theatre and Art Gallery is open to visitors Wednesday through Friday noon to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and an hour before every theater performance as well as Monday and Tuesday by appointment. The Art Gallery is closed on Sundays.  Admission is free. The Village Theatre Art Gallery is at 233 Front St. For more information, contact Visual Arts Coordinator Marija Nelson Bleier at 925-314-3460 or mnelsonbleier@danville.ca.gov.

PITTSBURG

PCT to present ‘Annie’ at Calfornia Theatre Nov. 9-24

Pittsburg Community Theatre will present one of America’s most beloved musicals, “Annie,” Nov. 9-24 at the California Theatre, 351 Railroad Ave.

Tickets are available through the California Theatre box office at 925-427-1611 or online at PittsburgCaliforniaTheatre.com. Tickets $22-$27. Group tickets available for groups 10+ for a single show.

WALNUT CREEK

Gallery celebrates 70 years with show, sale

“Celebrating 70 Years of Fine Art” continues through Nov. 9 at the Valley Art Gallery, 661 Botelho Drive, Suite 110.

With more than 300 fresh pieces representing the best from the best of East Bay artists assembled for its 70th Annual Fall Show, all works are available for sale or rent. Also on hand is a wide-ranging juried selection of locally created fine crafts and jewelry.

In addition, the gallery features selected works by gallery artists on its unique sliding walls. Reflecting a wide range of motifs, styles and media, the show continues its mission to represent the best of more than 100 East Bay artists.

Valley Art Gallery is a volunteer run, nonprofit organization that has been representing artists of the Bay Area since 1949. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, go to www.valleyartgallery.org or call 925-935-4311.

Submit area On Tap items to Judith Prieve at jprieve@bayareanewsgroup.com.

ALAMEDA — Vehicles have hit five children walking or cycling outside schools since classes started in August, prompting parents to push for drivers to slow down and demand the city do more to make streets safer.

Among the students was a boy from Love Elementary School who was struck as he was crossing Lincoln Avenue and Willow Street on Oct. 1.

Three days later, a vehicle hit a first-grader from Edison Elementary School cycling at Lincoln and Versailles avenues.

“Everybody agrees that is a problem and we want to get down to solutions as fast as possible,” Vice Mayor John Knox White said Wednesday about improving traffic safety, especially around schools.

Two middle school students, including one from Wood Middle School on Grand Street, were struck during separate collisions as they rode bicycles in September.

The most recent collision happened Oct. 24, when a student heading to school on a bicycle was hit and suffered minor injuries, the city announced on Facebook. The location and other details were not provided.

Knox White said a vehicle also hit a 15-year-old walking at High Street and Fernside Boulevard on Oct. 3, although it was not clear if the teen was on a school trip.

More details were not available about any of the collisions, including the extent of any injuries, time of day and whether the visibility of drivers was a factor, such as being blinded by sunlight.

On Tuesday, parents, teachers and others will rally at 6:45 p.m. on the steps of City Hall to call for more traffic safety around schools.

Among the recommendations the city should consider is reducing the speed limit within 500 feet of schools to 15 mph, Love school PTA President Rachel Plato said in an open letter to the City Council. The speed limit through most of the city is 25 mph.

Along with Lincoln and Willow, the intersection of Lincoln and Chestnut Street is also dangerous for the 540 students who attend Love school, Plato said.

“There have been other instances of children being hit, or nearly hit, at these intersections over the years, and there are far too many close calls on a regular basis,” she said. “It’s crucial that the city take immediate action to prevent further accidents.”

More signs, flashing lights and potential speed bumps could help notify drivers they are entering a school zone, Plato said.

Tuesday’s rally outside City Hall will coincide with the council considering adopting a policy reflecting “Vision Zero,” an international movement that pushes for safety to be the top priority when designing and managing roadways.

If the council approves the policy, representatives from the police, firefighters, public works and other departments would work together to coordinate transportation planning, enforcement and education, city spokeswoman Sarah Henry said.

The Alameda Unified School District also likely would be involved.

The task force is expected to make recommendations about vehicle and bicycle lane widths, crosswalk placement and design, and any installation of bulb-outs. It would make an annual report on progress of making the streets safer.

Fremont, San Francisco, San Jose and Monterey are among the cities that have Vision Zero policies.

“Nobody should think that our city staff and the City Council are not aware that getting increased safety measures in place is not important and that we are not taking action,” Knox White said.

The idea of adopting the policy in Alameda was on the council’s agenda before the upcoming rally was announced, Henry said.

“The timing turned out to be perfect, because the issue of traffic safety is now on people’s minds,” she said.

Crossing guards are stationed outside the city’s elementary schools.

From 2011 to 2018, 16 people died and 82 others suffered severe, life-changing injuries on Alameda streets, an average of two deaths and 10 severe injuries each year, according to a city report.

“Of those killed, half were walking when the crashes occurred,” Rochelle Wheeler, the city’s senior transportation coordinator, said in the report. “In addition, more than 1,750 people reported pain or mild-to-moderate injuries from traffic collisions of all modes during this time period, plus there are an unknown number of unreported collisions or near-misses.”

Sarah Burningham, a parent at Love school who supports beefed-up safety measures around the Santa Clara Avenue campus, said she believes the number of children getting hit has caught the city off-guard.

“The city has been really unprepared for this, and I think that is increasing the problem,” Burningham said.

The upcoming rally in Alameda follows a hit-and-run outside Oakland’s Garfield Elementary School in September that left Huong Thi Truong, 45, dead and her 4-year-old niece hospitalized. Truong and the girl were in a marked crosswalk.

Traffic safety rally

Parents, teachers and others will rally to promote increased traffic safety around schools

When: 6:45 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Outside Alameda City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Ave.

Give Mike Lefkow credit. He went out on a limb and picked Serra to beat Valley Christian even though Serra had just lost its star quarterback.

Serra beat Valley Christian 10-0.

Lefkow also took St. Ignatius to beat Mitty and the Wildcats came through with a 21-7 win.

But with help from San Mateo and Encinal, I finished with a better record than Lefkow for the weekend, winning eight of 10 games.

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With six weekends left in the season, Lefkow’s lead in this all-in-fun competition is six games.

Here are the scorecards:

Valley Christian at Serra

Sabedra: Covered the game

Lefkow: Serra 17, Valley Christian 13 (W)

Actual score: Serra 10, Valley Christian 0

Antioch at Pittsburg

Sabedra: Pittsburg 38, Antioch 14 (W)

Lefkow: Covered the game.

Actual score: Pittsburg 42, Antioch 41

Clayton Valley Charter at De La Salle

Sabedra: De La Salle 49, Clayton Valley 6 (W)

Lefkow: Covered the game

Actual score: De La Salle 56, Clayton Valley 14

St. Ignatius vs. Mitty

Sabedra: Mitty 27, St. Ignatius 24 (L)

Lefkow: St. Ignatius 27, Mitty 24 )W)

Actual score: St. Ignatius 21, Mitty 7

Miramonte at Campolindo

Sabedra: Campolindo 44, Miramonte 17 (W)

Lefkow: Campolindo 35, Miramonte 21 (W)

Actual score: Campolindo 35, Miramonte 7

Monte Vista at San Ramon Valley

Sabedra: Monte Vista 21, San Ramon Valley 17 (L)

Lefkow: Monte Vista 20, San Ramon Valley 14 (L)

Actual score: San Ramon Valley 17, Monte Vista 16 (2 OT)

Encinal at Bishop O’Dowd

Sabedra: Encinal 27, Bishop O’Dowd 10 (W)

Lefkow: Bishop O’Dowd 16, Encinal 14 (L)

Actual score: Encinal 10, Bishop O’Dowd 7

Mt..Eden at Hayward

Sabedra: Hayward 20, Mt. Eden 19 (W)

Lefkow: Hayward 28, Mt. Eden 19 (W)

Actual score: Hayward 28, Mt. Eden 13

Oak Grove at Leland

Sabedra: Oak Grove 44, Leland 17 (W)

Lefkow: Oak Grove 38, Leland 28 (W)

Actual score: Oak Grove 41, Leland 0

Branham at Leigh

Sabedra: Branham 41, Leigh 17 (W)

Lefkow: Branham 30, Leigh 14 (W)

Actual score: Branham 40, Leigh 14

Mountain View at Palo Alto

Sabedra: Palo Alto 38, Mountain View 14 (W)

Lefkow: Palo Alto 33, Mountain View 13 (W)

Actual score: Palo Alto 36, Mountain View 7

San Mateo at Hillsdale

Sabedra: Not picking this game

Lefkow: Hillsdale 21, San Mateo 19 (L)

Actual score: San Mateo 20, Hillsdale 10

For the week

Sabedra: 8-2

Lefkow: 7-3

Season standings

Lefkow: 68-20 (.773 winning percentage)

Sabedra: 62-26 (.705 winning percentage)

**NOTE: Our guys are not allowed to predict the games they are covering for the Mercury News and East Bay Times websites.

**NOTE II: We will let you know how they did each week. The highest winning percentage at season’s end gets the bragging rights.

DEAR JOAN: This is the first year I have seen a lot of grasshoppers in my front and back yards. I do not have grass; just bare ground right now, with a few plants around in the ground and in pots.

I’m not sure what they would be eating, or why so many of them are in my yard.  Any ideas?

Deborah, Livermore

DEAR DEBORAH: California is home to about 200 species of grasshoppers, some of which migrate through, and there do seem to be a lot of grasshoppers out and about. Without seeing it, I can’t give you an identification, but the most likely one would be the pallid-winged grasshopper (Trimerotropis pallidipennis).

In late July, Las Vegas had a huge number of pallid-winged grasshoppers migrating through in a mass so large, the National Weather Service radar picked them up.

Pallid-winged grasshoppers prefer grasslands and deserts, and while they can be found at elevations of 8,500 feet, they prefer the lowlands and are common in weedy lots in developed areas. One description of them says they aren’t picky and can turn up all over the place.

We’re most likely to see the pallid-winged grasshoppers in June through October. They feed on grasses and forbs, which are herbaceous plants with soft, green stems.

As to what they were doing in your spartan yard, entomologists theorize that dry conditions in open space have drawn many to our irrigated landscapes. They might also be laying eggs, which will spend the winter in the ground and hatch when the soil warms, unless other insects and creatures find and eat them.

That doesn’t mean you’ll have a plague of grasshoppers next spring, because the nymphs will quickly move to locations with plenty of food, and that likely will be in the open space and foothills.

Grasshopper populations vary year to year, with mass infestations occurring every eight to 10 years. However, it depends a lot on the weather. A warm, wet spring that produces a lot of food in the foothills can encourage outbreaks.

DEAR JOAN: What do I feed a wild lizard?

A.H., Bay Area

DEAR A.H.: You don’t have to feed a wild lizard anything, presuming it’s still in the wild. If you’ve captured one as a pet, please release it as they don’t do well in captivity.

Our most common lizards — the Western fence lizard, also known as a blue belly, and the alligator lizard — both eat insects and slugs, and the alligator also will eat snails.

They prefer hunting and eating live creatures, and you can help in that regard by keeping your yard as pesticide free as you can. The more bugs you have in your yard, the happier the lizards will be.

You’ll likely be seeing fewer lizards around as they tend to nap through the colder months.

St. Ignatius and San Ramon Valley were the big movers this week as each climbed five spots after noteworthy wins over the weekend.

S.I. is now knocking on the Top 10 door after toppling Mitty 21-7 in what turned out to be a battle of backup quarterbacks Friday.

The Wildcats are ranked 11th.

San Ramon Valley cracked the Top 20 after outlasting rival Monte Vista 17-16 in a double-overtime thriller Friday.

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If you have not already, we strongly encourage you to sign up for a digital subscription, which gives you access to all content on the Mercury News and East Bay Times websites. With your support, we can continue bringing these stories — and much more — to your screens. Here’s where to sign up for the season pass: Mercury News, East Bay Times.

The Wolves came in at No. 20.

Other news:

Serra and Valley Christian traded spots after the Padres’ 10-0 win over Valley on Saturday. Serra is now No. 2, one position ahead of Valley.

Half Moon Bay continues to roll through overmatched Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division opponents and is now ranked 10th.

Votes are cast by Bay Area Preps HQ’s Darren Sabedra, Vytas Mazeika, Phil Jensen, Mike Lefkow and Matt Schwab, with first-place votes worth 25 points, second-place 24, third-place 23 and so on.

On to the rankings …

No. 1 De La Salle (9-1)

Voting points: 125

Last week No. 1: Beat Clayton Valley Charter 56-14

Up next: TBD

No. 2 Serra (9-0)

Voting points: 120

Last week No. 3: Beat Valley Christian 10-0

Up next: Saturday vs. St. Ignatius, 1 p.m.

No. 3 Valley Christian (8-1)

Voting points: 112

Last week No. 2: Lost to Serra 10-0

Up next: Friday vs. Mitty, 7 p.m.

No. 4 McClymonds (8-0)

Voting points: 109

Last week No. 4: Beat Oakland 68-0

Up next: Friday at Oakland Tech, 7:15 p.m.

No. 5 Pittsburg (9-1)

Voting points: 107

Last week No. 5: Beat Antioch 42-41

Up next: TBD

No. 6 Liberty (9-1)

Voting points: 102

Last week No. 6: Beat Heritage 59-6

Up next: TBD

No. 7 Cardinal Newman (7-1)

Voting points: 94

Last week No. 7: Did not play.

Up next: Monday at Maria Carrillo, 7 p.m.; Friday at Analy, 7 p.m.

No. 8 Wilcox (7-2)

Voting points: 89

Last week No. 8: Beat Santa Clara 63-7

Up next: Friday vs. Fremont-Sunnyvale, 7 p.m.

No. 9 Marin Catholic (9-1)

Voting points: 85

Last week No. 10: Beat Tamalpais 56-7

Up next: TBD

No. 10 Half Moon Bay (9-0)

Voting points: 79

Last week No. 11: Beat Carlmont 56-7

Up next: Friday at Terra Nova, 7 p.m.

No. 11 St. Ignatius (7-2)

Voting points: 72

Last week No. 16: Beat Mitty 21-7

Up next: Saturday vs. Serra, 1 p.m.

No. 12 Salinas (7-1)

Voting points: 61

Last week No. 13: Beat San Benito 24-17

Up next: Friday at Aptos, 7:30 p.m.

No. 13 Menlo-Atherton (6-3)

Voting points: 58*

Last week No. 15: Beat Aragon, forfeit

Up next: Friday at The King’s Academy, 7 p.m.

No. 14 Monte Vista (7-3)

Voting points: 58*

Last week No. 9: Lost to San Ramon Valley 17-16, 2 OT

Up next: TBD

No. 15 Campolindo (8-2)

Voting points: 56

Last week No. 14: Beat Miramonte 35-7

Up next: TBD

No. 16 Archbishop Mitty (6-3)

Voting points: 49

Last week No. 12: Lost to St. Ignatius 21-7

Up next: Friday at Valley Christian, 7 p.m.

No. 17 Las Lomas (9-1)

Voting points: 44

Last week No. 17: Beat Northgate 56-10

Up next: TBD

No. 18 Los Gatos (8-1)

Voting points: 42

Last week No. 18: Bye

Up next: Friday at Mountain View, 7 p.m.

No. 19 James Logan (9-1)

Voting points: 35*

Last week No. 20: Beat Kennedy-Fremont 49-0

Up next: TBD

No. 20 San Ramon Valley (7-3)

Voting points: 35*

Last week No. 25: Beat Monte Vista 17-16, 2 OT

Up next: TBD

No. 21 Acalanes (8-2)

Voting points: 28

Last week 21: Beat Alhambra 56-7

Up next: TBD

No. 22 Rancho Cotate (6-3)

Voting points: 19

Last week No. 22: Did not play

Up next: Friday at Ukiah, 7 p.m.

No. 23 Encinal (9-1)

Voting points: 15

Last week No. 24: Beat Bishop O’Dowd 10-7

Up next: TBD

No. 24 Piner (9-0)

Voting points: 14

Last week No. 23: Did not play

Up next: Friday at Santa Rosa, 7 p.m.

No. 25 California (7-3)

Voting points: 13

Last week not ranked: Beat Foothill 25-12

Up next: TBD

Also received voting points: Palo Alto 2, Sacred Heart Prep 2

*Tiebreaker determined by each team’s highest and lowest vote totals.

In each of her previous San Francisco Opera appearances, soprano Lianna Haroutounian has dazzled audiences with her dramatic intensity and rich-toned, beautifully colored vocalism.

Haroutounian returns this week to sing the title role in “Manon Lescaut.” Puccini’s 1893 opera was the composer’s breakout hit, one that set the stage for enduring works such as “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly,” both of which Haroutounian has sung here in previous seasons; it traces the title character’s sad decline in beautifully Italianate music.

Tenor Brian Jagde is Haroutounian’s Chevalier des Grieux, with Rafael Davila assuming the role for one performance on Nov. 26. This revival brings the return of former music director Nicola Luisotti, who conducts; Olivier Tambosi directs. Details: Nov. 8-26, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco; $26-$398; 415-864-3330; sfopera.com.

For love of Lou: Pianist Sarah Cahill often collaborated with the late composer Lou Harrison, and throughout her career has championed his works in the Bay Area and beyond. This weekend, she gives a rare performance of Harrison’s “Concerto for Piano with Javanese Gamelan,” a work that requires a radical retuning of the piano to match the gamelan’s sonorities.

Joined by Gamelan Sari Raras and vocalist Heni Savitri, Cahill’s performance pays tribute to Harrison, whose music was one of a kind. Details: 8 p.m. Nov. 8, Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley; $16 general, $12 students/seniors, $5 UC Berkeley students; 510-642-9988; events.berkeley.edu.

Harmony from Strife: The King’s Singers come to Stanford with a program titled “Finding Harmony,” featuring vocal works from the Protestant Reformation of the 1500s to the rise and fall of apartheid in South Africa. Details: 2:30 p.m. Nov. 10, Bing Concert Hall, Stanford; $35-$75; 650-724-2464; live.stanford.edu.

MORAGA — Four suspects were arrested Sunday night in a residential armed robbery where more than 10 pounds of marijuana and a wallet were taken, police said Monday.

Police Chief Jon King said police have determined one of the suspects had bought a large quantity of marijuana at the house Saturday which was why the home was targeted.

The robbery happened about 9:26 p.m. Sunday at the home in the 100 block of Donald Drive where  four adults and a juvenile were inside. It was not known if all of them lived at the home.

Police received a call from the home that three to four suspects wearing hooded sweatshirts and armed with baseball bats and a gun entered the home and taken marijuana and a wallet. The suspects had entered the home through an unlocked door, King said

Officers responding to the call saw a vehicle turning  onto Moraga Road from Donald Drive and stopped the vehicle on Moraga Road near Moraga Way and detained the four suspects without incident.

King said all four were later identified by the victims as being involved in the robbery.  A baseball bat and a loaded gun, that turned out to have been stolen in Las Vegas, were found in the vehicle as was the stolen marijuana and wallet.

The suspects were identified as Emarieay Prescott, 21, Domenico Delgado Caramagno,  20, and Thomas Lloyd III 20, all of Oakland and Azrael Vargas, 19, of Berkeley.  Police did not say which one made the previous weed purchase.

They were arrested on suspicion of  robbery, burglary, conspiracy, and possession of a firearm.  Prescott was also booked for violating probation which he was placed on after being convicted of being  an accessory to a robbery in Alameda County. They were all booked at the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez.

Anyone with information about the  robbery is asked to call Moraga police at 925-888-7056 or 925-888-7055.

Check back for updates.

MARTINEZ — More than seven years after Bay Area rapper Rene Garcia, aka Lil’ G the Great, was set up, ambushed and gunned down as he ran for his life through a North Richmond park, the trial for three suspects is underway.

Marcos Figueroa, 32; Jonathan “Black” Barrera, 31; and Gabriel “G-Baby” Schroeder, 24, are accused of playing different roles in Garcia’s killing. The trial, according to prosecutors, will expose the “criminal underworld” in the Richmond area, including violent rivalries, witness retaliation and the structure of a group with ties to the Mexican Mafia prison gang.

A fourth man, Jose “Vato” Rodriguez, has been identified by police as a shooter, but won’t be tried. He was gunned down in Vallejo, years after Garcia’s death, in a confrontation that police say is unrelated.

The case against the three is expected to last several months, and will focus on a notorious North Richmond Sureño subset gang known as Varrio Frontera Locos, or VFL. Mahalich described the gang as “street soldiers” for the Mexican Mafia and said a gang expert would testify as much.

The suspects, as well as key witnesses, are all associated with VFL, which prosecuting attorney Chad Mahalich told jurors was motivated to kill Garcia because of “betrayal, disrespect, and gang rivalry.” Defense attorneys, though, argued that District Attorney investigators were “desperate” to solve the case and pinned it on the defendants, using dirty tricks to compel witnesses to saying what police wanted to hear.

The initial Richmond police investigation was “even-handed,” but after the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office got involved in 2015, that changed, Schroeder’s attorney, David Briggs said. He added it was far from an open and shut case, and that Garcia’s girlfriend, who was present for the shooting, had identified a different man as the robber who police believe was Schroeder.

“There’s no DNA, there’s no fingerprints, there’s no murder weapon and there’s no confession,” Briggs said.

The prosecution theory is simple: Garcia had angered VFL members by associating with rivals in central Richmond, and through a feud with an alleged VFL member named Bryan “White Boi” Escalante. Garcia was best friends with Figueroa, who allegedly conspired with VFL members to rob Garcia and Garcia’s girlfriend.

The gang was also jealous of Garcia’s rising fame, Mahalich said, and resentful that Garcia dubbed himself the “Prince of Richmond.” Garcia’s  music garnered hundreds of thousands of plays online, and he had collaborated with well-established Bay Area rappers. Garcia was not a gang member, but shot music videos featuring VFL members, and later, members of central Richmond gangs.

Describing Garcia’s death as a “cold, calculated gang execution,” Mahalich told the jury that on Feb. 21, 2012, Figueroa lured Garcia to North Richmond, saying he wanted to sell Garcia a gun. When Garcia and his girlfriend drove to the agreed-upon location, they were attacked and robbed.

Garcia was “scared” to go to North Richmond because of ongoing problems with VFL, but eventually agreed to it, Mahalich said.

“He trusted defendant Figueroa. They were best friends, after all,” Mahalich said.

Figueroa’s attorney, Jane Eliot, described him as Garcia’s “best friend” who was not involved in the plot to rob Garcia. She admitted Figueroa was present at the scene, but denied Garcia was going to buy a gun from Figueroa, asserting instead that it was a drug deal.

“One of (Garcia’s) songs was called, ‘Free Marcos,’” Eliot said, and about Garcia wanting his friend to be freed from jail. The prosecution’s case against Figueroa, Elliot said, was “speculation” based on purported tension between them.

The robbery and shooting were caught on a resident’s security camera across the street. The video shows two men get into Garcia’s car, then pull him forcefully through the back seat and outside of the vehicle after a few seconds. Two other assailants run up.

Garcia is able to break away from his attackers and runs from the area. He shouted at his girlfriend, “Go,” and she drove away, Mahalich said. The video then shows three men, identified by police as Schroeder, Barrera and Rodriguez, open fire on Garcia as he runs through a basketball court.

More than 20 shots were fired. Garcia was struck twice in the back and killed.

The case remained unsolved for years, though Mahalich said Monday that Figueroa and Schroeder were identified as suspects almost immediately.

The pieces did not fully come together until 2015, when a former VFL “shot caller,” or gang leader, decided he had had enough of that life and came forward, Mahalich said. The man’s name is Luis Hernandez, and he knows firsthand the danger that can come when a gang member agrees to cooperate with police.

Hernandez was one of several VFL members who confronted a gang dropout in the bathroom of a Bay Point bar in 2013, beating him severely as punishment for his work on a 2008 major law enforcement operation targeting VFL. The 2008 operation resulted in more than half a dozen gang members’ convictions on murder and other charges.

After participating in the beating, Hernandez “decided he didn’t want to be part of that life anymore,” Mahalich said. As a result, he was “greenlit,” meaning targeted for murder, and police subsequently placed him into a witness protection program. Assault charges from the beating were also dropped.

Hernandez is expected to testify that after Garcia was killed, he spoke to Barrera about what had happened. He told police Barrera confessed, implicating himself, Schroeder and Rodriguez as shooters, and explaining that Figueroa was used as the “set-up man,” Mahalich said.

But on Monday afternoon, defense attorneys warned jurors not to believe Hernandez. He was “desperate,” and “a liar,” according to Barrera’s attorney, Alex Guilmartin. Briggs called Hernandez the “$64,000 man,” referencing the amount of money Hernandez received in rent from witness protection.

Guilmartin said that in 2013, when Hernandez cooperated in an unrelated homicide case involving VFL, he had said he didn’t know of unsolved crimes connected to Barrera. When he finally offered up information on Garcia’s death two years later, he gave police two versions. One named a different man as a co-conspirator with the other alleged participants, and the other version involved Barrera.

“Police just had to choose which story they preferred,” Guilmartin said.

OAKLAND — The city plans to clean up and clear a large homeless encampment on Wood Street in West Oakland on Tuesday and Wednesday, potentially towing more than 100 cars parked on the property.

Residents of the encampment and homeless activists plan to protest the closure. Some say they feel it isn’t fair for the city to ask the encampment residents to leave without providing them somewhere else to go. They are demanding that the city not tow the vehicles and instead offer residents resources and pathways into permanent housing.

The encampment sits on a 4-acre lot owned by GameChanger, the Alameda County Assessor’s Office confirmed; the lot has been vacant for years. City officials say the company has agreed to lease the land to Oakland at no cost to use as a sanctioned RV-dweller park for the next two to three years.

City officials, in a statement issued Monday afternoon, said people have been camping on the property for the past 18 months in RVs, buses, and other vehicles and makeshift structures.

Dayton Andrews, who is organizing the protest Tuesday, said that many of the encampment’s residents went there after being driven out of other parts of town. Andrews said police officers and other city representatives had told people to go to Wood Street after other encampments were cleared. Anywhere from 50 to 120 people live at the encampment at any given time, Andrews said, and have had tow notices put on their cars over the past three weeks.

“People are nervous. They stand to lose everything,” Andrews said in an interview.

Oakland officials said the property also is littered with abandoned vehicles that appear to have been dumped on the lot. Of the 139 vehicles on the property, more than 100 are in disrepair or are inoperable, according to the city.

But Andrews said the vast majority of the vehicles belong to the residents and are being used for either shelter or transportation. Only 12 or so have actually been abandoned, he said.

After clearing the site, Oakland plans to have it graded and fenced off, and have electrical lines and other amenities installed.

Outreach workers started informing the encampment’s residents of the city’s intentions to turn it into a safe parking site in August, according to the city. Andrews, however, said that the city hasn’t been clear about when the site would actually be cleared, causing the residents confusion and anxiety.

A few residents have been offered parking spots at Oakland’s other two safe parking sites while the construction is taking place. The city will avoid impounding vehicles that people are living in, according to a news release.

This story is developing. Check back for more information.

OAKLAND — It was just “another day at work” for BART worker John O’Connor, who is now being called a hero for his quick thinking in saving a man from a fast-moving train just seconds before potential disaster.

A young man in his 20s stumbled onto the BART Coliseum tracks from the platform on Sunday night around 5:30 p.m. after a Raider’s game. In a matter of seconds, O’Connor saw him fall out of the corner of his eye, managed to pull him up — and save his life.

“When I looked, I saw the headlights (of the train), and I saw him and it was like ‘He ain’t going to make it,’ ” O’Connor said Monday afternoon.

O’Connor said he wasn’t even thinking about his own safety in those mere seconds, as he grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to safety on the platform. In that moment, he thought, “I don’t want to see this kid die today.”

Released video surveillance from BART shows the harrowing moments when O’Connor pulled the man to safety.

“God put me there for a reason, right?” he said.

He said the young man “has a lot of life ahead of him” and he hopes he has a good one.

O’Connor, who repeatedly said he felt awkward talking about what happened Sunday, doesn’t want to be called a hero. He got emotional when he talked about how police, fire and military personnel are the real heroes.

“It’s what we’re supposed to do,” he said, taking a pause to gather his thoughts as he got emotional. “We’re all human beings. Life is precious. Thank God he gets to see another day.”

A video captured by another rider Tony Badilla shows O’Connor embracing the young man on the platform after he was safe. O’Connor said he later gave him a fist bump, and told him to “pay it forward.”

This #BART worker just saved this man from falling onto the tracks as the train was approaching! Amazing!! pic.twitter.com/RX3zD36853

— Tony Badilla (@TonyBadilla) November 4, 2019

The young man, who BART officials say was intoxicated, was “disoriented” and didn’t say much to O’Connor except some “thank-you’s.” O’Connor admits he was even a little angry with him at first, but then the gravity of what happened hit him. He gave him a “big ‘ol hug,” he said.

“I don’t feel like it was anything special, honestly. That’s what I’m here for. That’s what we’re all here for,” he said.

The young man, whose identity has not been released, was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated to make sure he was OK. O’Connor said later he even helped retrieve the man’s cellphone from the tracks.

When asked if he thought the man was heavy, O’Connor said “not at the moment,” with a laugh, though he said he doubts if he could lift him again. When he saw the video that BART released of the rescue from surveillance cameras, he was shocked that it was such a close call.

O’Connor has been with BART for 24 years, most of that time as a train operator himself. He’s been in the same seat Sunday night’s train operator was in, moments before potential disaster, when people fall in front of his trains or jump to grab a lost hat. Now, he’s a transportation supervisor and was working on Sunday to keep people safe on the platforms after the game, and for general crowd control.

“We preach safety, we practice safety,” he said.

His own boss, Tara Hankins, who is the assistant chief transportation officer, said the two started at BART around the same time 24 years ago. She called him a “hard worker.”

“We’re so proud of John. He’s a very humble person,” she said.

“I’d like to think anybody else would have done the same,” O’Connor said.

BART has at least six fatal collisions on its tracks this year alone, and death tolls seem to be rising from recent years.

BART General Manager Bob Powers in September pushed back a pilot program that would install a barrier between the platform and tracks at Oakland’s 12 Street Station. The barriers are designed to stop people from falling, or jumping, onto the tracks and in the pathway of trains. The pilot was delayed until the agency phases out its older fleet of train cars.

When asked about such a barrier, O’Connor said while it could probably help, he still thinks people need to be on scene.

“But anytime you have moving parts, things break down. You need people on the scene, too. Anything that makes anything safer, you can’t argue with that,” he said.

Bay Area filmmaker Richard Levien didn’t have to search far for the inspiration for “Collisions,” his heralded immigration-themed film that opens in San Francisco and Berkeley this week.

“When I began work on the script,” Levien says in a statement, “my wife was a third grade teacher, and a child in her class recently had her father taken away and deported. It took weeks of building trust to find out why this girl, previously bright and engaged in class, was suddenly listless and prone to anger or tears at the slightest provocation. I interviewed her as part of my research. Her sadness, but also her bravery, hit me in the gut in a way that no headline or statistic ever could.”

The San Francisco-set film “Collisions” centers on a 12-year-old girl, Itan, who returns from school one day to find her home in disarray and her mother missing. After learning her mother has been detained in an ICE raid, she and her younger brother are placed with an estranged uncle, with whom they have a troubled relationship, at best.

The film follows the trio as they try to locate Itan’s mother in an Arizona detention center. “Collisions” has garnered 13 film festival awards, including the Audience Award at the 2018 Mill Valley Film Festival and a Best Narrative Feature award at the SF Indie Fest earlier this year.

“The policies of U.S. President Trump constantly thrust immigration into the headlines,” says Levien, a New Zealand native who now lives in San Francisco’s Mission District. “but there is not so much media attention given to the real families affected by these policies.”

Details: Opens Nov. 8 at the Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley (details TK at www.rialtocinemas.com) and Roxie theater in San Francisco; $8-13; www.roxie.com

From high gas prices to soul-sucking commutes, and from astronomical housing costs to PG&E blackouts, Californians deal with a lot of stressful issues on a daily basis.

But, on the whole, being fat isn’t one of them.

According to a new study by personal finance website WalletHub, California ranks right near the bottom of U.S. states and the District of Columbia when it comes to the fattest states in America. WalletHub said that California came in 47th place in terms of the ranking of fat states in the country, with a score of 48.48 out of 100.

WalletHub based its conclusions on data acquired from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Gallup and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All states were scored on 29 different measurable metrics that were then included in three data groups: obesity and overweight prevalence, health consequences and food and fitness.

Lack of physical activity, genetic factors such as high cholesterol, and the prevalence of eating one or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day were among the subjects given point rankings in the WalletHub study.

California ended up with an obesity and overweight prevalence ranking of 39, came in 50th place for health consequences, and came in 48th place for food and fitness. The state also had the 48th-lowest percentage of adults classified as obese, and ranked No. 49 in terms of lowest percentage of physically inactive adults.

So, with California far down the rankings of a list where coming in near the bottom is a good thing, what states are at the opposite end in when it comes to being fat?

Taking the top spot is Mississippi, with an overall overweight score of 70.66. Mississippi was also No. 1 for obesity and overweight prevalence, No. 7 for health consequences, and No. 10 in terms of food and fitness. After Mississippi, the rest of the top five fattest states, in order, are West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama.

With food being a factor in individuals’ ability to maintain a healthy weight, WalletHub also looked at the most-popular comfort foods in each state. Such foods tend to reflect favorites that often have a long-established tie to a specific state or geographical area.

Which is why it should be no surprise that the favorite comfort food in Illinois is deep-dish pizza. Residents of Delaware like their scrapple (pork scraps that are combined with cornmeal and flour into a loaf). In Hawaii, the locals go for ahi tuna poke.

And in California, the favorite comfort food is…Fish tacos.

At a time when right wingers and middle-of-the-road equivocators alike rush to condemn antifascist activists more than the fascists they resist, Berkeley’s Theatre Lunatico has a new play to remind audience what the stakes of antifascist resistance are.

A collectively devised production helmed by artistic director Tina Taylor, “Convoy 31000” is based on the true stories of 230 women — not from any one particular group or region but generally active in the French Resistance in Nazi-occupied France — who were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz in 1943. Only 49 of the 230 survived.

The title is taken from the name of the transport that carried the women to the death camp, “Convoi des 31000.” All the numbers tattooed on the arms of people in that transport were in the 31,000s.

Performers chose their own characters from these women of the Resistance, and the show evolved through improvised scenes around their characters and their true stories. The formerly Marin-based Lunatico is the current company in residence at La Val’s Subterranean Theater, the North Berkeley pizza parlor basement black-box space that spawned Impact Theatre, Subterranean Shakespeare and Shotgun Players.

Details: Through Nov. 24; La Val’s Subterranean Theater, 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley; $15-$25; www.theatrelunatico.org.

SAN FRANCISCO – A former defense attorney suspended from her practice since 2014 for smuggling out of jail what prosecutors called a hit list of witnesses in a sensational Bay Area murder case isn’t getting her law license back.

Lorna P. Brown was defending Yusuf Bey IV, the leader of the now-defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland, in 2010 for the brazen, daylight murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey when she took papers out of the the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on which Bey had written instructions about witnesses prosecutors believed he wanted killed.

She also brought out a sealed envelope that contained instructions to destroy evidence in the case. Brown has claimed that she thought it contained a love note Bey penned to the mother of his children.

Brown has admitted she passed the papers to a member of the Bey family during a street-corner hand off, but that she had no knowledge that her client was plotting murders. Bey, she said, played her.

State Bar Court Judge Manjari Chawla rejected Brown’s attempt to be reinstated as a practicing lawyer, writing in a decision that Brown seems more concerned with how the suspension impacted her than showing contrition that her actions could have gotten people killed.

“She appeared more concerned with how her misconduct has changed her life, rather than how her misconduct affected the safety of witnesses in a criminal trial or the administration of justice,” Judge Chawla wrote in a 13-page decision dated Nov. 1.

The murder on Aug. 2, 2007 shocked Oakland. Bailey was a well-known journalist who had worked for the Oakland Tribune before becoming the editor of the Oakland Post. He was gunned down at 14th and Alice streets as he walked to work.

Brown had claimed in a lengthy deposition that she became deeply depressed after the suspension, was afraid at times to leave her home and that she suffered post traumatic stress syndrome from the ordeal.

Her original four-year suspension did not come with automatic reinstatement. Rather, it allowed her to apply to get her license back , a process she began over the summer. It was aggressively opposed by the state bar, which argued Brown has never taken enough responsibility for the plot.

Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a message Tuesday. Brown can appeal Chawla’s decision to the Review Department of State Bar Court, a spokeswoman for the Bar said. Or Brown can make another motion for reinstatement after six months.

Thanks to a tip, inspectors in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office found the transcripts in a car being driven by Gary Popoff, a long time bakery associate who has described himself as Bey’s “Number One soldier.” No one was hurt.

Popoff was arrested on a parole violation. Brown never faced criminal charges. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley has said she believed that Brown losing her law license was sufficient punishment and cooperated with the State Bar investigation.

In addition to criticizing Brown for focusing on her own plight, Chawla also wrote she was troubled that Brown — while suspended — continued to identify herself as an “attorney at law” on state bar web listings that lawyers are required to keep updated.

“An attorney on suspension is barred not only from practicing law but also from holding herself out as entitled to practice law during the suspension period,” the judge wrote. “Both express and implied representations of ability to practice are prohibited.

After the plot unraveled, Bey was forced to switch lawyers. The trigger man in Bailey’s death, bakery worker Devaundre Broussard, made a plea deal and testified that Bey ordered the killing of Bailey over a story the journalist was writing.

Bey was eventually convicted in 2011 and sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

Among the notes Bey had written on the papers Brown brought out of jail was mention of the Bay View-Hunter’s Point neighborhood in San Francisco where Broussard is from, with the words “that’s where his people stay at.”

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OAKLAND — Tow trucks showed up Tuesday at a West Oakland homeless encampment and started towing out dozens of cars and RVs — to get the parcel ready as a sanctioned RV site.

But the vehicles weren’t towed far — just onto the nearby street.

The city is prepping the 4-acre lot on Wood Street between 28th Street and West Grand Avenue to be the city’s third sanctioned RV camp, which will have room for at least 60 of the people who were living at the encampment. City officials wouldn’t say how long it will be before the site is ready for people to move in, though.

Around two dozen people showed up Tuesday morning to protest the clearing of the lot, chanting “shame” and yelling at police officers and tow truck drivers.

Most of the encampment residents were either gone or were preparing their RVs and cars to be moved to the street. Advocates also were taking pictures and keeping an eye on things to make sure the city lived up to its promise that it won’t impound any of the vehicles used to shelter people.

Homeless supporters said Oakland should leave the vehicle dwellers alone and instead invest more money into providing permanent housing for the homeless.

Well over 100 homeless people currently live at the lot in RVs, cars and makeshift structures. The lot’s owner, GameChanger, has agreed to lease it to the city at no cost for the next two to three years, and pay the estimated $250,000 bill to tow more than 100 vehicles out Tuesday and Wednesday. The city will then pay for the lot to be cleaned and graded and have electrical lines and other amenities put in.

While the RV park is being prepared, the city is allowing the encampment residents to move onto Wood Street itself. Tow trucks on Tuesday morning were moving most of the vehicles — even ones without wheels — onto the Wood Street curbside.

The encampment residents had mixed feelings about it being cleared out. “Metal Bob” Rosenberg said the lot needed to be cleared, but he’s not in favor of a city-sanctioned RV lot.

Phavia Mapp, whose RV was towed out of the lot Tuesday morning, said she is glad the city is cleaning up the lot, since it was filled with debris, but felt less safe having her RV on the street.

“I don’t know if I’m going to get robbed, or if I’m going to get towed,” Mapp said.

“It’s been like this for years. It’s always been unclean, and people made dwellings work. I don’t understand why they want to take everybody’s homes,” Smith said.

Mavin Carter-Griffin, who runs one of the groups called the “Wood Street Collective,” said she was in favor of the RV park. She said the debris and broken-down cars scattered around the lot have become a health hazard. But she hopes that when the RV park does open that it offers more activities and freedom than the sanctioned RV parks and the Tuff Shed sites, and that the residents can have a say in how the park is operated.

When the park does open, it will accommodate at least 60 vehicles, Assistant to the City Administrator Joe DeVries said Monday. Residents whose vehicles were working were encouraged to either go to the Beach Street RV park, where a handful of spots are open, or park at one of the nearby churches that are willing to let RV dwellers stay overnight in their parking lots.

OAKLAND — The June 27 armed heist of an armored truck outside an East Oakland bank where more than $100,000 in cash was stolen was an “inside job” that has resulted in robbery and other charges being filed against a guard driving the vehicle that day and his uncle, according to authorities and court records.

The girlfriend of the guard has been also been charged in the case with helping hide the money and other suspects are being sought, authorities said.

Charged with second degree robbery in the Loomis Armored Car Company truck robbery are Damien Jackson, 23, who authorities said was driving the truck that day, and his uncle Duane Jackson, 35. Damien Jackson is from San Leandro and his uncle lives in Oakland.

According to court records Damien Jackson has admitted his involvement in the robbery.

Although police never released the exact amount of cash taken, according to a special allegation contained in the criminal complaint against the pair, the loss was over $100,000. Authorities said some of the stolen money was used to buy vehicles and a motorcycle.

Duane Jackson, a convicted felon, is also charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, and illegal possession of body armor.  Damien Jackson is also charged with possession of an assault rifle and third degree criminal firearm storage.

Damien Jackson’s girlfriend, Mercadiez Moore, 25, who authorities said aided the suspects afterward, is charged with receiving stolen property and third degree criminal firearm storage.

Some of the stolen money has been recovered, but authorities have not said how much.

Police Lt. Steve Nowak, commander of the robbery unit,  credited investigators Officer Michael Khem and Officer Jorge Garcia, who he said “worked tirelessly with specialized units in identifying the responsible persons in this crime which resulted in key arrests, confessions and a cache of illegal firearms.”

As part of the investigation, nine search warrants were served, many by the police department’s Tactical Team. With the assistance of other law enforcement agencies, warrants were served in Oakland, San Leandro, Antioch and Stockton.

A total of 11 firearms were recovered, among them handguns, shotguns, rifles and assault rifles, police said.

Duane Jackson was arrested Oct. 16 at his East Oakland home where police recovered three handguns and a rifle. According to court documents he admitted owning the rifle. Damien Jackson and Moore were arrested Oct. 17 at the San Leandro apartment where they lived.

Three handguns and two rifles, all unregistered, were found at the apartment, according to court documents. Another handgun was found inside a car Moore was driving.

The robbery happened about 10:50 a.m. June 27 in a parking lot outside a Wells Fargo Bank branch in the Foothill Square Shopping Center, 10700 MacArthur Blvd. where a delivery of cash was about to be made. Authorities said Damien Jackson was driving the armored truck.

Two masked men, one armed with an assault rifle and the other with a pistol, confronted Damien Jackson and the truck’s other guard and fled with the cash in a car.  Authorities said Duane Jackson was one of the masked robbers and police are still  trying to identify the second man.

No one was injured and the robbers never entered the bank.  Loomis did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.

According to court documents, Duane Jackson has two prior felony convictions, one for first degree residential burglary in Sacramento County in December 2009 and another for second degree burglary in Contra Costa County in December 2009.  He was placed on probation in both cases.

Duane Jackson is being held in lieu of $635,000  bail and Damien Jackson is being held in lieu of $230,000.  Moore is free on $40,000 bail. They are all scheduled to appear in court Nov. 22 to enter pleas.

Oakland police thanked other agencies for their support and assistance in the investigation.  They include the FBI Tactical Team, the United States Marshals Tactical Team, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the California State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Team.

Reward money is still available  in the case. Oakland police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of other suspects and Loomis is offering up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of suspects. anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3326.

Check back for updates

Angela Ruggiero contributed to this report

—

DUBLIN — The hunger strike at the Santa Rita Jail over unsanitary conditions, including reports of vermin and insects on food, has reportedly stopped after about six days.

An attorney for the inmates estimated that up to 500 people participated at the height of the hunger strike, which began Wednesday. But the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office estimates the number to be around 100 inmates, some of whom it alleges were coerced into participating.

Attorney Yolanda Huang, who represents the men, announced the strike on Wednesday, which began in Housing Unit 31 and grew to Housing Unit 34 at Alameda County’s jail. Each housing unit holds about 250 inmates.

The inmates are alleging unsanitary conditions, including insects and vermin on their food. Huang said that the inmates also are considering filing a lawsuit against the county.

On Monday, Huang said that Housing Unit 31 had to stop the strike because of some inmates who had medical conditions, such as diabetes. But the strike continued with Housing Unit 34 into Tuesday.

Alameda County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly said Tuesday afternoon that the strike appeared to be over: The inmates did not take their breakfast trays, but did take their lunches, he said.

He also commented that not all inmates were on a complete hunger strike — some were still eating food from the commissary, just not eat the jail food.

Some inmates also stopped working inside the jails — inmates have jobs such as doing laundry, cleaning, cooking and packaging food. Huang said that the inmates were “fired” from these jobs over the weekend, and heard that the female inmates were corraled into working. At first, female inmates were asked to volunteer, and then were assigned to positions, she said.

However, Kelly said when inmates didn’t show up to work, officials took that to mean that they quit their jobs. So yes, some females were offered some jobs, including working in the kitchen, he said.

“They were so happy to be able to work in the kitchen. They jumped at the opportunity,” he said.

Those who work in the kitchens, for example, get better and extra food. Jobs, in general, give inmates more freedom and more mobility, Kelly said.

But much like in the real world, “If you quit your job, you don’t have the right to come back to your job,” he said.

On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office received a letter signed by about 80 inmates who lost their job. They apologized and were asking for their jobs back, Kelly said.

The sheriff’s office will consider it, particularly inmates who may have been coerced into joining on the strike or work stoppage, he said.

Huang said she got calls from some of the inmates she represents, saying that they were cited for allegedly disrupting jail operations, and had 30 days added to their sentences. She said she’s investigating to see if the sheriff’s office has a right to coerce inmates to work.

But Kelly said that indications that inmates could have more time added to their sentence if they did not work are not true. He said no inmates have been disciplined as a result of the strike, or work stoppage.

Inmates could have time added to their sentence if they break the rules, not including the hunger strike or work stoppage, he said.

The hunger strike list of 26 demands from the inmates included better food, fair prices at the commissary and for telephone calls, access to the law library, ability for inmates to clean their cell pods at least twice a week, personal disinfectants added to the commissary, mandatory meal times and the use of body scanners instead of strip searches, among other things.

“Santa Rita needs to evolve its system and methods away from this punitive justice system and demoralizing, inhumane treatment of citizens and drug addicts to a modernized system and methods of restorative justice!” the demand list states.

“We need to build people up, make them productive and restore their health and vitality,” the note said.

Huang said that she met with a representative from the Alameda County counsel’s office, who listened to the inmates’ demands and said she would take their issues to Sheriff Greg Ahern. At a minimum, Huang is asking for “low-hanging fruit,” such as giving the inmates cleaning supplies for more than just 15 minutes, once a week to clean their cells.

“We do not respond to demands, but we will negotiate,” Kelly said.

The strike began after men in Housing Unit 31 E did not receive their food until late in the day. And on Oct. 25, an inmate died of an apparent drug overdose after being booked on driving under the influence-related charges. Inmates claim guards didn’t respond until the man stopped breathing.

The attitude of deputies inside the jail is that “if you are in pain, if you are suffering, then you are a criminal and you deserve it,” Huang said in a statement. At least nine inmates have died in Santa Rita Jail custody in 2019, she said.

FREMONT — Police presented the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with a case Tuesday against a woman arrested on suspicion of carjacking and assault, and are asking for the public’s help in finding a second suspect.

Around 10:20 a.m. Oct. 28, a driver was returning to her vehicle in a parking lot in the 47500 block of Seabridge Drive after a food delivery when a man and woman approached her, police said.

The woman grabbed the driver, dragging her out of the vehicle before she and the man slammed the driver into the asphalt, hitting her with large river rocks and pulling her hair.

The man and woman then got into the vehicle and drove away. When officers arrived, they saw the driver’s visible injuries and spoke with witnesses who saw the attack. Investigators later recovered surveillance-camera footage that showed the man and woman roaming the lot before  violently battering the driver.

After officers issued an alert to other law-enforcement agencies, Daly City officers noticed when an automated license-plate reader got a hit for the vehicle around 11 p.m. Sunday.

Officers carried out a traffic stop at Mission Street and Citrus Drive, and took a woman driver later identified as Naomi Melendez, 19, and two other people into custody. Inside the vehicle, officers found evidence linking Melendez to the carjacking and assault.

After questioning, officers determined the two others were not involved in the case, and Melendez was arrested on suspicion of felony carjacking and possession of a stolen vehicle. She was booked into Fremont city jail and faced arraignment Tuesday at East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, police said.

Anyone with information should call Fremont police’s investigative unit at  510-790-6954, or send an anonymous tip by texting TIP FREMONTPD followed by a message to 888-777, or online by visiting https://local.nixle.com/tip/alert/6216337.

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.

OAKLAND — Cedric Lathan was not surprised to hear that, according to a new report, Oakland’s streets continue to rank among the bumpiest in the Bay Area.

“Lower than low” is how the 62-year-old sound engineer described the quality of the roads that rattle his car’s suspension and once bent a rim on his bike.

He recalled a particularly rough stretch of Harold Street in the Dimond District that runs parallel to Interstate 580. For years, he said, the one-way street looked half-finished: One lane was relatively smooth, while the other was so full of potholes you wouldn’t dare drive on it.

“It looked like it was bombed,” Lathan said.

But the roads that have had Lathan and other Bay Area drivers slaloming around potholes and bracing for bumps are slowly but steadily improving, according to the latest edition of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s annual pavement quality report. 

On the whole, the survey found, the Bay Area’s roads in 2018 rated a 68 out of 100 possible points, up one point from last year, placing them at the upper end of the “fair” range.  The region’s three-year average of 67 has risen four points since 2003. The annual survey is based on data collected by local governments that is fed back to the commission, which uses a software program to determine each city’s score.

“The trend line is very, very encouraging,” said John Goodwin, a spokesman for the commission.

Goodwin added that transportation officials believe the improvements are “poised to accelerate,” because 2018 was the first full year that money raised by California’s gas tax increase, known as SB1, began flowing to local governments to fund road repairs. Voters shot down an attempt to repeal the tax last fall.

“It’s going to take years to whittle down the backlogs of deferred maintenance that have accumulated,” Goodwin said. “But you can already see the momentum moving in the right direction.”

There is still a big gap between the Bay Area’s smoothest streets and its bumpiest.

Dublin again topped the survey with a three-year average grade of 86 — classified as “very good/excellent” pavement with “few if any signs of distress.” Clayton was not far behind at 84, while Palo Alto, El Cerrito and Daly City scored an 83.

Petaluma, with a score of 45, replaced Larkspur as the city with the Bay Area’s worst roads. In 2018, Larkspur received 42 points, but this year increased its score slightly, to 46.

These scores, falling into the reports’ “poor” category, indicate that a city’s pavement is so bad it significantly affects the speed and flow of traffic and needs “major rehabilitation or reconstruction.”

San Jose’s roads scored a 65 in the MTC’s survey, while San Francisco’s were considered “good” at 72.

The Oakland roads that Lathan and other residents have complained about were rated “at risk,” with a three-year average of 54, meaning they have “deteriorated” and “require immediate attention.”

Amid a chorus of complaints from residents — some of whom started leaving cones in rough spots to warn others, or took to smoothing out blocks themselves as “Pothole Vigilantes” — Oakland launched a $100 million, three-year repaving program earlier this year. That notorious stretch of Harold Street was finally fixed over the summer.

Some Bay Area cities with the best streets achieved their high scores thanks to new taxes that voters approved to give themselves smoother rides.

El Cerrito residents passed a half-cent sales tax in 2008 that funded repairs to aging streets, which Goodwin credited for an impressive turnaround. No city has improved its streets over the past decade as much as El Cerrito, according to the MTC report, which increased its pavement quality score by 33 points since 2008. The increase moved  the city from the “at risk” range to the “very good/excellent” category.

Seeing El Cerrito’s success, other cities, including Orinda and Moraga, have passed similar measures,Goodwin said. And more are eyeing such taxes as a path to better streets.

The biggest decline in the Bay Area was Concord’s, whose roads have dropped by 18 points on the MTC’s scale since 2008, leaving the city with a 60-point score that puts it at the bottom of the “fair” range. City spokeswoman Jennifer Ortega said the decline came after Concord’s city council cut funding for road maintenance during the recession to preserve money for other services.

“Without regular maintenance, we see the roads deteriorating faster,” Ortega said.

Recently, though, Concord has tried to turn the ship around. The city council approved a five-year, $27 million maintenance plan in spring, 2018, that funded repairs to busy streets such as Farm Bureau Road and Ygnacio Valley Road. But the plan will have to compete for funding in the city’s budget process, which Ortega said is shaping up to be tight this year.

She said Concord is now looking into whether a new tax like the one El Cerrito passed could be a way to fund those improvements, with discussions expected to ramp up next year.

“We certainly are going to need a larger allocation” for road maintenance, Ortega said. “Our city council is considering all options.”