Oakland

Schaaf Disappoints ‘Defund’ Advocates in Tie-Breaking Vote Against OPD Budget Cuts
The world turned its attention to Oakland when Oscar Grant was murdered by a BART police officer in 2009. The Black Lives Matter movement would not formally organize for another four years, but Grant’s death sparked a national dialogue and amplified calls for police reform. In that way, Oakland is

Racists among us: BLM movement shines light on the best and worst of the Bay Area Area
Prosecutors with the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office announced that they’ve filed felony criminal threat charges with a hate crime enhancement against a 55-year-old San Francisco man. Steven Cibotti, the accused, allegedly approached a family who were sitting down to eat together at Flights Restaurant in Burlingame on June

Nia Wilson’s Murderer Faces Sentencing Friday
John Lee Cowell, the man who murdered Nia Wilson and injured her sister on a BART station platform in 2018 will be sentenced Friday. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced in April, but court schedules have been delayed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The road to this

Protest Over George Floyd’s Death Happening in Oakland Tonight
As you well know by now, George Floyd was murdered on Monday by Minneapolis Police officers in what amounted to a public lynching. The video evidence is so irrefutable that even vile, racist, hate mongers like Rush Limbaugh and Mitch McConnell say the cops look guilty. You know it’s fucked

You Can Help Support Youth Creativity During COVID-19
With everyone sheltering in place, Youth Beat, a digital media training program in Oakland, quickly switched to a virtual classroom format. And it’s been a real lifeline for many of their students, who are almost all low-income, inner-city Oakland kids who’ve been hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Those kids

The Stork Club in Oakland Has Closed Down
Coronavirus has struck again and this time the casualty is the 102 year old Stork Club in Oakland. The storied venue has hosted just about every imaginable type of performance over the past century, so this is a big blow to the Oakland creative scene. The news broke yesterday when the

Oakland Educators Discuss Joining Upcoming Rent Strike
Educators in Oakland met in an electronic town hall on Saturday, April 25, to discuss a raft of problems caused in large measure by the novel coronavirus. Around 80 faculty, staff and community members chatted via Zoom in a conference organized by the Oakland Education Association to organize participation in

How to Stay Safe When No one is on the Streets
With so much information being shared on how to keep ourselves, and one another, healthy during COVID-19, it can feel overwhelming – believe me, I am inundated. With many of us existing in a world of seclusion, and rarely leaving our houses, physical safety seems like an afterthought. However, it