Story by: Linsay Rousseau Burnett
With unemployment reaching new highs and the rate of foreclosures showing no sign of slowing, stability becomes a fleeting concept for families who find themselves out of work and out of a home. For children, this instability and impermanence could potentially jeopardize their education. Since 1987, a federal program has been in place to help assist these children and as their numbers rise, these services have become increasingly pertinent.

By Will Jason
On any given weekday, if there is a public lecture or seminar at the University of California, Berkeley, there is a good chance it is listed on Lowell Moorcroft’s online calendar.
For more than four years, Moorcroft, 62, has used university computers to publish “Lowell’s Listings — Intellectual Events Around U.C. Berkeley.” The site has developed a following among local retirees and others who come to the campus to learn about everything from the siege of Sarajevo to the capture and storage of greenhouse gases.

CLICK TO LISTEN

Gas prices dropped by one third in the past month, from $3.52 to $2.37.  But with the economy in convulsions, does anyone even notice?

By Adelaide Chen
Nothing could spoil election night for volunteers who had donated time and money to send freshman Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) back to Washington D.C. for a second term.
McNerney delivered his victory speech just before midnight at an election party a few hours after Barack Obama’s Presidential win.  A crowd had stayed under the white tent in the parking lot of a union hall in Dublin to see McNerney’s moment of triumph, although Obama’s televised acceptance speech had ended and the caterers had packed up.
McNerney had led former State Assemblyman and Republican Dean Andal throughout the evening on the big television screen. In the end, the vote would turn out 55.4 percent McNerney, 44.6 percent Andal.
Democrats scored a …

By Mateen Kaul
The United States needs greater economic and diplomatic efforts, rather than just a better military strategy, to improve the situation in Afghanistan, according to Afghans settled in Fremont.

Story by Linsay Rousseau Burnett
Hollywood often stereotypes librarians as mousy women in horn-rimmed glasses who hide behind books. But the work of a librarian is not limited to searching databases and silencing noisy patrons. As mandated by the Young Adult Services Association (part of the American Library Association), an element of advocacy underlies the work that librarians do. For one Alameda County Librarian, she took the mandate of advocacy to heart to ensure that her patrons, the inmates of the Alameda Juvenile Detention Hall, were not disenfranchised during the 2008 …

By Karen Weise
CLICK TO LISTEN:

Splashed across headlines and news channels, this was to be the year of the youth vote.
CBS clip: “On Tuesday, the election could very well come down to young voters.”
Low and behold, young voters did turn out in droves. Researchers at Tufts University estimated that 52 percent of eligible youth voted this year, rivaling previous record highs from 1992 and 1972.

By Adelaide Chen
Four generations of the Moal family have had an auto business on East 12th Street since 1946. Since then, two major changes have taken place. The company now specializes in building custom cars, and the area is no longer zoned for industrial use.

Reported by Tyler Sipe and Karen Weise using Federal Election Commission filings database between Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2008.
Graphic by Weise
Biographies by Sipe
Fremont residents donated about $739,809 to various political campaigns during 2008, according to newsmeat.com.  Fremont zip code 94539 contributed the most to political campaigns, amounting to $337,610, according to the Web site.  Below is a list of short biographies of Fremont’s top 10 political campaign contributors, in addition to where their money flowed.

High School Junior Andrea Shyu did not even know who the mayor of Fremont was before signing up to volunteer for his re-election campaign. Now, the 16-year-old spends up to eight hours a week canvassing door-to-door and putting up lawn signs.
Shyu is one of 130 students Mayor Bob Wasserman’s campaign recruited from high school classrooms and at school activities fairs. The campaign offered students like Shyu community service credit, an “intern” title for their resumes and college recommendation letters. While this all seemed like simply offering students campaign experience and …