The Oakland, Calif., man who was shot to death by police after killing four police officers Saturday had an extensive criminal record and was on parole for assault at the time of the incident, CNN reported. He also had prior convictions for grand theft. The gunman – Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland – was killed by SWAT officers Saturday following a fierce gunfight in an apartment complex. Read the rest.

Abortion clinic protester was arrested in Oakland. A California man who wanted to intervene on behalf of Black women seeking abortions could get jail time this week. Oakland pastor Walter Hoye was charged with unlawful intimidation of visitors to a medical clinic last summer when he stood on a sidewalk with a sign that read “Jesus Loves You and Your Baby. Can We Help You?” Lawyers for Hoye say that he offers to help Black women, in particular, because they form a majority of the more than 1 million annually who get abortions in America. Though a witness testified that he used no force, the pastor will go before a judge this week to be sentenced for allegedly violating statute. Supporters are rallying behind the pastor, who they say only exercised his free speech.

White House will review GM, Chrysler plans. Two of the former “Big Three” auto companies are expected to present their business plans for restructuring and longevity today in Washington. General Motors and Chrysler execs seeking government assistance in turning around their corporations will offer formal pitches to the Obama administration. “We’re anxious to look at the plans,” says Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman. Hindered by slow car sales and bleeding from worker layoffs, American automakers are another tender spot in the struggling economy. A boost in the form of government aid is sought by GM and Chrysler, in order to prevent the car industry from further collapsing. The companies will likely ask for billions in financial help.

 The Oakland, Calif., transit officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed, Black man on New Year’s Day is free after posting a $3 million bond. Read more here.

Media retracts info about outrage over killing. What was first publicized as damage to 300 businesses in Oakland, Calif. last week is now reported as no more than about 40 broken windows and a few garbage cans thrown into the street. Bay-area media outlets including KTVU Channel 2 have given what they say is more accurate information about the demonstrations that followed the killing of Oscar Grant by a transit authority cop. One police car was burned, but there were no gunshots, no robberies and no looters on the Wednesday night when 100 people were arrested hours after a peaceful demonstration shut down the rail stop where Grant was shot to death. Video shows that Grant, 22, was handcuffed and on the ground at a train station when officer Johannes Mehserle fired a bullet into his back. Grant had appeared to pose no threat to Mehserle or any other officer at the scene. Critics of the media who were so quick to paint a picture of savagery by Blacks after the seemingly racist murder include well-known hip hop journalist Davey D. The blogger writes: “…we had to endure endless news reports and commentary most likely fed from police accounts and echoed by newspaper reporters who were not even on the scene…” Grant, a grocery store butcher, was killed New Year’s Day. Mehserle quit the police force and has pleaded not guilty in Grant’s murder.

Annual event showcases 2009 vehicles. In spite of an ongoing money crisis that has left American auto-makers with an uncertain future, a leading car event has raised $2.6 million. The North American International Auto Show’s Charity Preview drew 7,000 people to the annual Michigan event on Friday. The proceeds will go to a host of community organizations and causes, including March of Dimes and the Boys and Girls Clubs. “In light of such tough economic times, it’s great to see so many kind hearts step up and answer the needs of the children…” spokesman Joe Serra says. Past celebrities who’ve attended the annual North American International Auto Show include Jay Z, 50 Cent, boxer Evander Holyfield and actress Rosie Perez. The Auto Show runs through Jan. 25.

The feds are hoping to quell tensions in Oakland, Calif., that have been boiling since the New Year’s Day shooting death of a handcuffed Black man by a White transit cop. U.S. Justice Department officials told members of the California Senate and the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus that they will meet with Black leaders, local law enforcement officials and members of the community in an attempt to cool the outrage and curtail future violence. The Justice Department’s Community Relations Service was provided for in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The officials will report on their findings and provide follow-up as needed.

 As prosecutors in Oakland, Calif., ponder whether to file criminal charges against the 27-year-old White transit cop who shot to death a handcuffed young Black man on New Year’s Day, officials for the agency that employed the officer say they’re perturbed by his attitude. “Nobody’s been able to talk to [Johannes Mehserle],” Linton Johnson, a spokesman for the Bay Area Rapid Transit, said of the BART officer who fired the fatal shot. “We’ve been trying aggressively to get him to come in, but he hasn’t. It’s been very frustrating.” Read more here.

Cop accused of shooting handcuffed man quits. Hundreds of Oakland businesses are still cleaning up damage to buildings after a violent downtown protest. In a scene resembling the Los Angeles uprisings after 1992’s Rodney King beating trial verdict, about 100 people were arrested after breaking windows and trashing stores days after a 22-year-old Black man’s death. But as others had done in L.A., some of those vandalizing in outrage over the police shooting of Oscar Grant III left Black-owned establishments damaged, knowingly or otherwise. Read the rest here.

Blacks are evaporating in Oakland. Oakland, Calif., is hemorrhaging Black folks. Less than three decades ago, the city on California’s East Bay was nearly half African American; today that number has declined to fewer than a third, according to new estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week. The figures show that Oakland has lost 27,000 African Americans since 2000, although some question the method the federal government is using to conclude the dramatic decline. Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid is not one of those who doubts the numbers. He says that in his East Oakland district Blacks represent the majority, but he believes that will not be the case in the next half-decade. “We have an incredibly fast-growing Latino population. It’s been that way for about the last seven to eight years,” he told The Oakland Tribune, noting that many Blacks are fleeing to larger, cheaper homes in other Bay-Area communities, such as Tracy and Stockton. “African-Americans are no different from any other people. They want to send their kids to good schools. They want to feel their neighborhood and their kids are safe.” In 1980, about 47 percent of Oakland residents were African-American; now that number is closer to 31 percent.

The county chief is being accused of hatching a very un-American plot

The head of the Michigan’s Macomb County Republican Party, which is in a key swing county in the upcoming presidential election, denied charges late Thursday that he had hatched a plot to block residents with foreclosed homes from voting in November. Read more about the alleged plot at BET.com/News.

The neighbors say they were shocked by the discovery.
Historic D.C.-area church is defaced. Members of the First Baptist Church of Chesterbrook got the word last Sunday – the “N”-word, spray-painted in bold, block letters right next to the front door. “It was a very upsetting time,” Andre Johnson, a longtime member of the historic African-American church, told The Washington Post, adding that many of the congregants are concerned. “It was very disturbing to the membership” and “to me,” said James R. King, chairman of the board of deacons at the church, which traces its history to the Civil War era, when the neighborhood was known as Lincolnville. “That you would deface a house of worship . . . shocked us more than anything,” King said. It was the first racist incident he could recall in about 30 years – when somebody burned a cross on the front lawn of the edifice. The community has been very supportive, he said. “It’s a sick person who did that, [and] not an indication of what the community around us is like.”

White man files $6 million discrimination suit. Kevin Stevens, a 46-year-old air-conditioning maintenance worker, is suing the school board in Annapolis for $6 million, saying he’s been getting passed over for manager posts because he’s White. Stevens, who has been with the county school system for the past 28 years, says that he has been trying to move up for the past year and a half. “The hiring authority won’t allow me to advance,” Stevens told The Capital newspaper. “You work so hard, and you attain all these licenses and advanced education, and when no one will allow you to move, it’s very frustrating.” Stevens fixes heating and air-conditioning systems in county schools, but a year ago, he sought a post as night quality-control manager, according to his lawsuit. In that capacity, he would have been in charge of supervising night housekeeping crews in the schools. The Black man promoted instead worked under him for the past several years, says Stevens, noting that he has received high ratings on his evaluations and “has more letters of recommendation and more experience than the man who got the job,” the Capital reports. The supervisor of the operations division is also African American, which Stevens says is the reason he was not promoted.

Black weekly ceases printing amid money woes. After 16 years, The Bay View has bottled up the ink. From now on, according to founder Mary Ratcliff, the Oakland-based African-American weekly will be available online only. “This is not a goodbye to you, our beloved readers, though,” she promised her readers. “As the headline suggests, the Bay View’s not dead; we’ll see you on the Web! We’re pouring all our energy into improving our Web site, www.sfbayview.com, which has already recovered from a bad hacking enough to draw over a million hits a month.” She said that the printed version of the newspaper has been “a labor of love and the love,” but she and husband Willie Ratcliff were never able to make it profitable – or even sustainable. “Now we’ve had to face the reality that we’re flat out of funds or any source to tap.”