News Round-Up 12.11.08: An East Bay Cabinet Secretary but (perhaps) no baseball team...

First a Nobel Prize, then a seat on Obama's cabinet. Steven Chu will leave the Berkeley National Lab and head to 1000 Independence Avenue, D.C.

Fremont Site A, Fremont Site B, or San Jose? Are the Oakland A's that fickle or that brilliant...are they playing each area off one another in order to cut a deal and make a killing. (All the while fielding a team that is good, but not great.) The Merc. has the San Jose perspective, including some funny quotes from San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed that show that he isn't such a baseball fan...

• ...regarding A's owner Lew Wolff, Reed said, "I won't be calling...He's got my phone number."
• ...if the A's want to come, Reed said, "He'll (Wolff) have to bring his checkbook..."

That's some welcome mat Mayor Reed...unlike Mayor Reed, Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman does want the A's. He is going to meet with Catellus, who like the A's even less than Chuck Reed. They are concerned about traffic and they own a key piece of land for the Site A location off of 880. The folks around the being-built BART station at Warm Springs are also concerned about traffic. This is all to be continued and Watch Dog will be there (whether 'there' is Fremont, Fremont, or San Jose...)

In the least surprising news of the week, Senator Perata has found himself in the middle of some controversy. Perata is a major fundraiser -- his position in Sacramento didn't hurt in this respect. But the latest controversy involves Perata shifting/laundering $1.5 million from one of his Political Action Committees to his legal defense fund...which he will no doubt need...

There are some goings on in local higher-ed circles...

• Chabot College has plans to open a Union City Campus.
• Cal State East Bay continues with its master plan, which Sherman Lewis of the Hayward Planning Association called, "...inadequate on transportation."
• Berkeley and Cal are paying hefty legal bills for the tree-sitting law suits.

There are two items to add the "Only in Berkeley" file in the same story today. Item 1: The City Council support prosecution of former White House Counsel John Yoo, a recommendation that came from Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission. Which leads to Item 2: Berkeley has a Peace and Justice Commission.