Week in review

Under the terms of the deal announced Monday, Redwood Shores-based Oracle will pay $10.66 per share in cash or stock for Siebel, whose products help manage companies' relations with customers.

The deal accelerates the drive by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to overtake SAP as the world's largest maker of business applications software, which automates a wide range of administrative tasks.

In the past nine months, Oracle has either completed or announced five takeovers in the field, an expansion that has cost more than $17.6 billion. Among the acquired was PeopleSoft Inc., which like Siebel Systems was run by a former Oracle executive who had developed a frosty relationship Ellison.

City hands out $200K to fight gangs

Redwood City leaders agreed to hire two extra police officers and spend $200,000 in overtime in an effort targeting gang suppression.

The financial allocation of $65,000 for the next three months came at the urging of the council's ad hoc task force on gangs, composed of Mayor Jeff Ira and Councilman Jim Hartnett. Ira told Bolanos not to hesitate to ask for more in the future and delay extra police funding for the new theater project to focus on gang activity.

At the end of last month, more than 100 residents gathered to voice concern over the events and call on officials to do something. At the meeting, Ira first agreed to release emergency funds to bolster anti-gang action.

Based on the concern raised at the meeting, the city is organizing a series of smaller meetings to be held in neighborhoods with heavy gang activity.

Rescued pets arrive from Gulf Coast

Hundreds of animals displaced by Hurricane Katrina were welcomed with open arms at San Francisco International Airport by humane officers ready to offer care, shelter and the potential for reunification with their owners.

The Peninsula Humane Society initially agreed to shelter 65 animals and turned its parking lot into an emergency holding area. About 15 of those dogs will be transferred to the Shamrock Ranch Kennels in Pacifica. More pets arrived later in the week and PHS head Ken White said he is willing to lose money to save the animals.

Shelter staff is keeping a list of potential "foster-to-adopt" homes, families and individuals willing to care for animals, and possibly adopt them after a period of time. The animals will be photographed and displayed on www.petfinder.com. If the pets are not claimed by their owners in the Gulf Coast, foster families and individuals will be allowed to adopt.

Millbrae dispatches dispatchers

The Millbrae City Council voted unanimously to contract police dispatch services out through the county, eliminating dispatch services within the city.

After a little more than two hours of public comment, Councilwoman Linda Larson finally moved for a resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement with San Mateo County for Communication Services. The consolidation is just part of City Manager Ralph Jaeck's five-year plan to put Millbrae in a better financial position. By Jaeck's estimations, this move will save the city $300,000 annually with a total five year savings of close to $1.5 million. The plan does not go into effect until January.

The item was met with much disapproval from the current dispatchers, the union and some Millbrae police officers.

Pledge declared unconstitutional

A U.S. District Court ruled the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional, saying the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.

The case may now move to the high court. Meanwhile, the 9th Circuit Court plans to issue a restraining order preventing the recitation of the pledge at the Elk Grove Unified, Rio Linda and Elverta Joint Elementary school districts in Sacramento County, where the plaintiffs' children attend. The order would not extend beyond those districts unless it is affirmed by the 9th Circuit, in which case it could apply to nine western states, or the Supreme Court, which would apply nationwide.

The Becket Fund, a religious rights group that is a party to the case, said it would immediately appeal the case to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If the court does not change its precedent, the group would go to the Supreme Court.