A KTVU reporter received exclusive information about the possible location of a change of venue for the former BART police officer charged with the murder of Oscar Grant III.

KTVU reporter Rita Williams allegedly received information from three unnamed sources stating that only two counties are being considered for the change—Los Angeles County and San Diego County.

Judge Morris Jacobson decided to change the venue for Johannes Mehserle after deciding that Alameda County residents possibly harbor too much bias in the landmark case.

The trial was originally slated to begin on Nov. 2, but the case has been delayed until Nov. 9, when the counties up for consideration will be discussed.

The Berkeley City Council passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan at Tuesday night’s meeting.

The resolution received considerable support from Berkeley residents and members of anti-war protest group Code Pink who held up signs saying “Stop Killing Americans Abroad,” while speakers in favor of the resolution came to the podium.

The resolution was passed by all council members except for one, Gordon Wozniak, who abstained.

According to the Berkeley Daily Planet, longtime AC Transit General Manager Rick Fernandez, who has held the position for ten years, announced his resignation last week with little prior notice. When exactly his resignation will become effective is still under discussion.

In a statement released by the district, Fernandez claimed personal reasons—including wanting to spend more time with his family—as the cause for his resignation.

Despite having done what AC Transit President Rocky Fernandez described as an “outstanding job for our riders, our staff and the taxpayers who support our bus system” in a statement to the Berkeley Daily Planet, there has been speculation that the resignation has come as a result of the AC Transit’s bleak fiscal outlook and internal politics.

The agency’s $57 million deficit is expected to result in service cuts, including the discontinuation of 17 bus routes in West Contra Costa County and North Alameda County, and a decrease in the frequency of other routes.

— Sarah Springfield

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a confidential report commissioned by BART in light of the shooting of Oscar Grant III by a BART police officer was released to attorneys on both sides of the pending murder trial.

In February of this year, BART hired an independent firm, Meyers Nave, to investigate the shooting of Grant at the Fruitvale BART station by former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

The 84-page report on the officers’ conduct by the firm was strictly confidential. However, Judge Morris Jacobson ruled that the report must be handed over to both Deputy District Attorney David Stein and Mehserle’s attorney Michael Rains, under strict protective guidelines.

The attorneys must receive Jacobson’s permission before they can use any part of the report in court.

Rains is appealing the decision to release the report.

Two wrongful death lawsuits filed by the family of Oscar Grant III were scheduled to be heard in court in a year, Bay City News reported yesterday.

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel set the date for Oct. 19, 2010.

The lawsuits were filed by Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, and girlfriend, Sophina Mesa, after Grant was shot by former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle on New Year’s Day.

Mehserle will face trial on Nov. 2, once Alameda County Judge Morris Jacobson decides on a change of venue for the case.

The lawsuit cannot go to court until the criminal trial is completed.

Judge Patel said that it has not been decided whether a third lawsuit, filed by Grant’s friends, will be included with the family’s lawsuits.

A UC Berkeley bomb squad was called over the weekend to remove a grenade found buried in a Novato resident’s backyard.

Novato police were contacted shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday by the resident who found the grenade while digging in his backyard.

In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News, Novato police Lt. John McCarthy said the bomb squad removed the grenade to a remote area, where it was rendered safe.

“As soon as he found it he called for help,” he said. “God knows how long it had been there.”

McCarthy said it was not clear how old the device was or how it ended up in that residential area. The homeowner had lived at the property for the past decade, he said.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office cold case unit is revisiting the case involving death of 47-year-old Winifred Christian “Chris” Douglas, a homeless woman with ties to Berkeley.

Douglas’s body was discovered dumped in bushes near the Interstate 780 Laurel Street freeway exit in Vallejo on March 3, 1996. An autopsy report showed that Douglas, who was not known to travel to Vallejo, had suffered traumatic injury, said Investigator Ronald Becker. He said the woman commonly spent time in an underground Berkeley parking garage.

“One of the pieces of the puzzle is … why Vallejo?” Becker said in an interview with the Contra Costa Times. “We don’t know any ties, any reason, that she would be brought to Vallejo. There’s a possibility — don’t know for sure — that she was killed elsewhere. Which is why we’re looking for anyone who may have known her in Vallejo.”

Investigators are asking anyone who may have associated with Douglas in the Vallejo area, or who might know her son Anthony Douglas to contact them at (707) 784-3088.

Berkeley City Council members voted unanimously Tuesday to comply with United Nations human rights treaties. The city has volunteered to report to the U.N. on the city’s compliance with treaties on civil liberties, racial discrimination and torture. It will be the the first city in the country to submit compliance records.

Councilman Max Anderson says he wants Berkeley to be an inspiration to other communities. However, supporters say that due to the city’s struggles with homelessness, lagging primary and secondary school achievement and John Yoo - a UC Berkeley law professor who, as a Justice Department lawyer, co-wrote legal memos that critics say were used to justify the torture of suspected terrorists - it is possible that Berkeley does not meet U.N. standards.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Berkeley may become the first city in the United States to sign onto United Nations treaties if the City Council passes a measure Tuesday night. (Click here to read more…)

Volunteers are expected to congregate along California’s shoreline and at various waterways tomorrow to participate in the state’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day. The event, now in its 25th year, attracted more than 70,000 participants and removed about 1,700,000 pounds of trash last year, and is considered the “premier volunteer event focused on the marine environment in the country,” according to the California Coastal Commission. (Click here to read more…)