Email: (See my email address at the bottom of the Albany Patch or Berkeley Patch homepage.)
Phone: 510-435-4127
Now in my fourth year with Patch.com, I'm the editor of and Albany Patch and Berkeley Patch.
I worked many years as a staff writer and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle until April of 2009, when I switched to freelancing. I then wrote for the Los Angeles Times and other publications, and I also took on editing assignments for UC Berkeley and the United Nations.
Being an East Bay reporter for Patch brings my career full circle in the East Bay. My first bylines appeared in the East Bay Review of the Performing Arts. I next worked as a reporter and editor at the Daily Californian while studying at UC Berkeley, where I obtained a master's in journalism. I was a reporter at the Contra Costa Independent, Berkeley Gazette and San Francisco Examiner before moving to the Chronicle, where I worked several years in the Berkeley bureau and in the main East Bay bureau in Oakland.
UC Berkeley has put a chain-link fence around the empty lot next to University Village in Albany that was occupied for three weekends by Occupy the Farm. The campus proposes to use the property for a Sprouts Farmers Market.
Fire broke out in an occupied home on Milvia Street in Berkeley shortly after midnight this morning, Wednesday, fire officials said. No injuries were reported, and damage was estimated at $90,000.
Berkeley police announced Tuesday night that a suspect has been arrested in the Feb. 4 murder of a 34-year-old man in broad daylight at San Pablo Avenue and Delaware in Berkeley.
A man died at the Hayward BART station Tuesday afternoon after leaping in front of a train, authorities said. The transit system was disrupted, causing major delays. The Hayward station reopened at 7:06 p.m. as delays continued on the system.
There were three more robberies in Albany last week, following Monday's holdup at Max's Liquors. One occurred Wednesday afternoon when two men pointed a semi-automatic at a father as he got out of his car with his son, police said.
About 5,800 PG&E customers lost power this morning, Tuesday, in the Berkeley hills, and all but about 650 had been restored by 11:30 a.m, with the remainder expected by mid-afternoon, the utility said. The cause was not known.
Patch is pleased to reprint a graduation-themed article from the Albany High School Cougar featuring brief interviews with a few earlier grads offering what may be encouraging words for those thrust abruptly from the familiar world of high school.
Since our reporting on honors for Albany students can be hit or miss, we are pleased to be able to publish this nearly full list of the senior honors for this year's graduating class at Albany High School.
A couple parked at a lookout on Grizzly Peak Boulevard in Berkeley were robbed early Saturday, and the man was beaten with a gun. The couple were treated for face cuts at a local hospital, after having been stopped by police for a traffic violation.
A 19-year-old man who committed an armed robbery in People's Park was captured by UC Berkleey police while fleeing in a white Dodge Durango with flames on the side, police said Monday.
A chase ended ignominiously this morning, Monday, when two Contra Costa Sheriff's patrol cars got stuck in ice plant and caught fire at Ashby Avenue and I-80 in Berkeley. No one was injured.
The Albany police log for June 8-9 includes a pitbull acting aggressively at Memorial Park, a dog barking at 4:30 a.m., camping and trash on Albany Hill, two driver arrests, and a person being told to pay for an unwanted bumper repair.
A Berkeley woman, 28-year-old Anna Bretan, won the women's division of the San Francisco Marathon in record-breaking time Sunday.
Gunfire rattled the campus southside neighborhood early Sunday morning, police said. Several shots were fired around Telegraph Avenue and Channing Way, two blocks south of the UC Berkeley. There were no known casualties, police said.
The Albany police log for June 7 includes two students arrested at Albany High on alleged debit/credit card fraud, a drunk/disorderly arrest, an arrest following the the theft of two bottles of liquor from Safeway, and repeated vandalism of tires.
The sun was turned up to high and the location was full classical as the Berkeley High School Class of 2013 received their diplomas at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre on Friday.
The Albany police log for June 5-6 includes a drunk and/or disorderly arrest at the Ivy Room, a drug-possession arrest, a man threatening to hit a passerby on Thousand Oaks and a young trash-strewing male living in a sleeping bag at the creek.
Berkeley's world-renowned Chez Panisse restaurant, which has been closed for repairs after a fire in March, plans to reopen for regular business on June 24.
Balloons, flowers, cheers and heartfelt applause greeted the Class of 2013 at Albany High School Friday as they filed into the gym for a lively graduation ceremony. A few glimpses of the opening moments can be seen in the attached brief video.
A fast-acting UC Berkeley Police officer spotted a fleeing, injured 55-year-old suspect from an alleged assault with a pole at People's Park and took him into custody in front of Peet's on Telegraph Avenue Thursday, UC said.
