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.
This historic photograph shows a young Mark Twain in top hat signing autographs at Piedmont White Sulphur Springs in 1867. We're asking readers to help us pinpoint exactly where it was taken. Do you know?
Solano Avenue has its first covered bike rack. A new rack on upper Solano in Berkeley has a roof over its head, offering some protection from the rain and sun, at least when the rain falls straight down and the sun's directly overhead.
Charles Darwin's birthday on Feb. 12 is usually overlooked in the shadow of Abe Lincoln's birthday, except at UC Berkeley's Essig Museum of Entomology, which opened its usually closed doors Tuesday for "Darwin Day" public tours.
Berkeley has installed its first covered bike rack. A new rack on upper Solano Avenue has a roof over its head, offering some protection from the rain and sun, at least when the rain falls straight down and the sun's directly overhead.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge dismissed the suit against the City of Alameda by relatives of a man who drowned in an apparent suicide near Crown Beach while firefighters and police stood by under rules barring a rescue.
Thanks to primary organizer Ah-Lan Min and photographer Eric Li for these photos capturing some of the colorful and energetic performances of this year's Lunar New Year celebration at the Albany Twin theater.
For the first time in more than a decade, the women's soccer team at El Cerrito High are league champs, defeating Albany High 1-0 in the league playoff final Saturday. They meet Piedmont High Wednesday in round 1 of the regional tournament.
North Oakland Village, a paid-membership group with members in the Piedmont area and nearby parts of north Oakland, offers volunteer-provided transportation and other services to help seniors stay as long as possible in their homes.
North Oakland Village, a paid-membership group co-founded by Rockridge resident Sandra Davidson, offers volunteer-provided transportation and other services to help seniors stay as long as possible in their homes.
At Berkeley's Café Clem, the art is not on the walls but in the cookie jars and dessert trays featuring creations from local pastry chefs. "It was my economic rescue plan," says proprietor Dorothée Mitrani-Bell.
The City of El Cerrito is holding a public workshop Tuesday night, Feb. 12, to unveil its draft plan for cutting locally produced greenhouse gases and to begin receiving public feedback on the plan.
Albany City Manager Beth Pollard said Friday she is exploring options for fulfilling the duties of the fire chief. Piedmont this week opted to stop sharing its chief with the city. Pollard said she will report results to the City Council next month.
Yet another violent cell phone robbery occurred in downtown Berkeley Wednesday afternoon when a woman on an AC Transit bus at the BART station was punched in the face and had her cell phone stolen by three juveniles, police said.
A number of people this past week couldn't help but notice a large, red-and-yellow striped tent on the eastern side of Albany Hill, which faces virtually the entire city of Albany. Patch's investigative team confirmed what many suspected – fum
The Albany Community Center was filled Thursday afternoon with Chinese music and dance, not to mention camera-hoisting audience members and colorfully dressed young performers, as the city held a lively Chinese New Year celebration.
On the recommendation of City Administrator Geoffrey Grote, the Piedmont City Council voted to terminate its shared fire chief contract with Albany. Grote said a having a half-time chief did not meet the fire department's administrative needs.
On the recommendation of City Administrator Geoffrey Grote, the Piedmont City Council voted to terminate its shared fire chief contract with Albany. Grote said a having a half-time chief did not meet the fire department's administrative needs.
Theology scholars from Berkeley studied how quill-wielding medieval monks illustrated manuscripts on calfskin. Their modern interpretations on the old forms can now be seen in a special exhibit at the Alameda Free Library.
A Berkeley hills fire whose smoke could be seen for miles Wednesday caused an estimated $800,000 damage to a four-story home on Keith Avenue. No injuries were reported. A heater too close to a mattress was called the probable cause.
Berkeley police reported three recent robberies near the campus. One victim of knife-wielding robbers was taken to a hospital with injuries. Cell phones were taken in all three cases. All of the robbers escaped.
