08
New Oakland council prez
Maitri fills retail space
ARTS
02
16
Johannes Brus
23
Arts Events
The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Knoller case may be headed to Newsom’s desk
Lara breaks through pink ceiling
by Ed Walsh
Vol. 49 • No. 02 • January 10-16, 2019
Ricardo Lara greeted his colleagues, friends, and family following his swearing-in as California’s insurance commissioner Monday.
G
overnor Gavin Newsom may be confronted with an unprecedented ethical faceoff next month in connection with San Francisco’s infamous 2001 dog-mauling case. Courtesy CDCR The Bay Area ReMarjorie Knoller porter has learned that the issue involves Newsom’s marriage to Kimberly Guilfoyle, who, along with former assistant district attorney Jim Hammer, prosecuted Marjorie Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, for the fatal attack on lesbian Diane Whipple. Knoller, 63, is scheduled for a parole hearing February 6 at the California Institution for Women in Chino, in San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles. If a two-member panel votes to release her, the decision will likely be rubber-stamped by the parole board’s legal counsel before being sent to the governor, who could reverse or affirm the decision. Newsom would also have the option of See page 13 >>
by Matthew S. Bajko
A
t a ceremony that put the historic significance of his swearing-in front and center, Ricardo Lara took his oath of office as state insurance commissioner Monday to become California’s first LGBT elected statewide officer. Gay retired U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, whose historic ruling in a federal
same-sex marriage case paved the way for marriage equality to return to California, administered the oath of office to Lara at the January 7 ceremony in downtown Sacramento. Lara, 44, who stepped down that day from his state Senate seat, took his oath as the eighth insurance commissioner since voters created the position in 1988 on a facsimile of the state’s first Constitution from 1849 in its original Spanish translation.
By winning his now historic campaign to succeed Dave Jones, Lara broke through a rainbow political glass ceiling no other out LGBT candidate in the state had been able to do over the last two decades. He defeated former insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, in a nail-biter of a race that took weeks to determine. See page 14 >> Rick Gerharter
Appel, Bernstein remain in serious condition after struck by car
by Alex Madison Jane Philomen Cleland
New San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, left, received congratulations from Mayor London Breed Tuesday.
Yee elected SF board prez by Matthew S. Bajko
B
y a 7-4 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors elected District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee its new president Tuesday after hearing hours of testimony from the public about who should be handed the gavel. The outcome ended a monthslong battle for control of the board that grew particularly contentious, with District 9 Supervisor Hillary Ronen and her supporters decrying the sexist and misogynist comments made regarding her bid for the presidency. In the See page 2 >>
J
udy Appel, president of the Berkeley school board, and her wife, attorney Alison Bernstein, are in “critical, but stable condition” after being hit by a car while walking a block from their home over the weekend, according to Terry Lightfoot, public information officer for Highland Hospital in Oakland. According to Berkeleyside, which first reported the incident, the women are “healing” and “they’re both doing well,” a family member who asked not to be named told the online site. Appel and Bernstein, ages 53 and 54, were crossing Martin Luther King Jr. Way in a crosswalk near Stuart Street when they were struck by a northbound vehicle shortly after midnight January 5, according to Bryon White, public information officer for the Berkeley Police Department. The couple, who have two children, were hit by an 81-year-old man who lives in Berkeley, police said. The man is cooperating with investigators. The cause of the crash is still unknown and is under active investigation, White said. No arrests have been made. A GoFundMe account has been set up for the women’s medical costs and has raised nearly $4,000 as of Tuesday. Appel was the first out lesbian to be elected
Courtesy Facebook
Alison Bernstein, left, and her wife, Judy Appel, were seriously injured when they were struck by a car early Saturday in Berkeley.
to the Berkeley school board in 2012. She was re-elected in 2016 and in December began her latest term as president. In June 2018, Appel unsuccessfully ran in the primary for the 15th Assembly District seat. Former Obama staffer Buffy Wicks was elected to the position in November. Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Donald Evans told the Bay Area Reporter
{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS }
Monday that the district is highly concerned. “We are deeply distressed to report that Berkeley school board President Judy Appel and her wife, Alison Bernstein, were seriously injured on Saturday, January 5, shortly after midnight, when they were struck by a vehicle as they were walking in Berkeley,” Evans said in an email statement. “We will be offering whatever See page 13 >>