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.

Morning (late afternoon) News Round-Up – 12.04.08: Vallejo can't catch a break...or a movie...

And in the least surprising news of this week...the generous/egregious severance packages are getting a closer look at UC. That seems like a good idea, unless you want a full-fledged revolt on your hand.

A major Oakland development is coming to a halt. The City Walk development has stopped, half-finished -- which is the latest chapter in the storied/crappy history of the downtown development. In the most obvious quote of the day, the guy in charge of the project, Tony Bosowski, who is the Regional VP of the Olson Company, "It's not a good time to be in the business."

Neither the government nor businesses in Vallejo can catch a break. First the Vallejo City Government faces bankruptcy, and now the Empress Theatre (which was revamped to much fanfare) looks like it may be seeing its last days...All the energy that went into the facelift should have been put into getting people to actually catch a movie there.

The A's are rethinking their plans to move...but don't get too excited Oakland, they just want to move closer to BART in Fremont -- maybe. This is still good for Fremont and probably great for BART, but maybe bad news for Cisco Systems, the owners of the previous, proposed baseball site -- Cisco Systems.

The Oro Loma Sanitary District Board members just gave themselves a raise. This is generally something that Watch Dog gets all iritated over...but...it was onlly 4 percent, which will equal about 10 bucks a meeting -- meaning that they will get $260/meeting as opposed $250/meeting. Watch Dog will keep eyes on the District's rates...don't worry. By the way, click through to their website and see if you can resist running to the bathroom from the sound...