Monday Must Reads: #BlackBrunch Demonstrators Protest in Jack London; BlackOut Collective Demands that BART Drop $70,000 Fine

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. #BlackBrunch protesters demonstrated peacefully against police brutality on Sunday in Jack London district restaurants in Oakland, the LA Times$ reports. The African-American demonstration coincided with the first #BlackBrunch event in Manhattan. It was the second such protest in Oakland, following an earlier one in Rockridge.

2. BlackOut Collective members called on BART police to drop a proposed $70,000 fine to be levied on demonstrators who peacefully shut down the West Oakland BART station on Black Friday, the Trib$ reports. Demonstrators also want BART police to drop criminal charges filed against fourteen African-American protesters.

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3. Undocumented immigrants are streaming to DMV offices throughout the state to obtain driver’s licenses under the new California law that took effect on January 1, the Chron reports.

4. California’s $68 billion bullet train project is scheduled to break ground tomorrow, with crews beginning work on the first stretch of track in the Central Valley, the Mercury News$ reports. When complete, the high-speed rail project will connect the Bay Area to Los Angeles.

5. Two recent deaths on the UC Berkeley campus are being attributed to alcohol intoxication, the Chron reports.

6. And despite the heavy rains in December, the snowpack in the Sierra is just 33 percent of normal for this time of year, the LA Times$ reports.