Alex Gecan

3 days ago | berkeleyside.org | Alex Gecan |Nico Savidge

Berkeley police and public works staff began removing tents and structures in the longstanding network of encampments around Eighth and Harrison streets Wednesday morning. Workers could be seen using heavy machinery to dismantle some of the larger makeshift shelters at the Northwest Berkeley camp. Police cordoned off roughly two blocks of Harrison Street and two blocks of Eighth Street during the operation. The city of Berkeley could not be reached immediately Wednesday morning.

4 days ago | berkeleyside.org | Alex Gecan

Police shut down sections of Gilman and Curtis streets in the Westbrae neighborhood Monday morning to investigate what they described as a “suspected bullet hole” in an apartment floor nearby. Someone first called police around 8:25 a.m., Berkeley police spokesperson Sgt. Kajahna Futch wrote in an email. “Officers attempted to make contact with the resident of the apartment believed to be the source of the suspected bullet hole, but were unable to get a response,” Futch said.

1 week ago | berkeleyside.org | Alex Gecan

A now-former music teacher at Berkeley’s private Bayhill High School has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a student. Jason L. Hoopes, 49, of El Cerrito is facing nearly two dozen felony charges spanning a monthslong campaign of alleged molestation beginning in March, according to court records.

1 week ago | berkeleyside.org | Alex Gecan

A temporary restraining order barring Berkeley from closing the longstanding homeless encampment around Eighth and Harrison streets ran out Friday, clearing a major legal obstacle for the city, which has been trying to close the camp all year. Meanwhile, as it warned two weeks ago, the city is planning to sweep an encampment across town at Ohlone Park, possibly as soon as May 28.

2 weeks ago | berkeleyside.org | Alex Gecan

A judge has sentenced an Oakland man to two years’ probation in a fatal shooting last August in South Berkeley. Another judge earlier threw out a murder charge, determining the man had most likely acted in self-defense. Darnell Anding, 42, who also goes by Marcel Bible, had pleaded no contest to a charge of gun possession by a felon before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Colwell sentenced him Thursday.