Evan Wagstaff

One fan’s campaign to keep the A’s in Oakland

Jorge Leon was removed at an A’s game last year for holding a sign that read “Wolff lied, he never tried” to protest the move. Reporter Evan Wagstaff sat down with Leon to ask what he’s done since then to keep the team in Oakland.

Think Oakland’s deficit is easy to fix? Use this to do it yourself

After studying a recent New York Times interactive that offered readers a way to try different cuts and tax increases to decrease the national budget deficit, Oakland North decided to do the same—but on a smaller scale, focusing only on Oakland. Our interactive gives Oaklanders a way to try grappling with the city’s budget deficit themselves.

At Spice Monkey, last-minute food donations meet goal

A week before Thanksgiving, Spice Monkey Café and Restaurant co-owner Kanitha Matoury had been worried that food donations would fall short of her 1,000 pound goal. The restaurant, located at 1628 Webster Street, hosts one of several food drives in downtown Oakland aimed at stocking the food pantries, soup kitchens, and senior centers served by the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

To be scanned or not to be scanned, that is the question

“You want to opt-out?” the TSA officer asked incredulously. I was standing in a newly implemented Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machine at the Oakland airport. Passengers are randomly selected as they pass through security to enter the AIT machine, which looks like an oversized metal detector and projects an image of a person’s unclothed body on a screen for TSA officials to review. Those selected have the choice to opt-out of the full-body scan, but must then submit to a thorough pat-down, a procedure that some have called a violation of privacy.

It’s Wednesday … do you know who your next mayor is?

As of Wednesday morning, eight days after Oakland voters went to the polls to select their new mayor from among a field of ten candidates, there is still no new information about the outcome of the city’s first-ranked choice election, according to officials at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. The final tally remains unknown with no indication of when the results will be certified.

Final results for mayoral election expected today

By 4:00 pm today, the Registrar of Voters expects to announce the complete results and winner of Oakland’s first ranked-choice mayoral election. Registrar of Voters Dave Macdonald said on Friday that the final tally, including the previously uncounted 15,000 mail-in ballots, will likely be released this afternoon. “Who knows what could happen?” Macdonald said.

In Oakland mayoral race, Quan takes lead over Perata

Oakland mayoral candidate Jean Quan overtook fellow candidate Don Perata this afternoon in the computer-run calculation of second and third-choice votes in Oakland’s new ranked-choice voting system. Although several thousand votes remain uncounted, Quan said she’s “feeling very good” about the latest results.

Now, to find out who’s Oakland’s mayor … we wait

Though mayoral candidate Don Perata leads at the ballot box—11 points above his nearest competitor, with all Oakland precincts reporting—the city’s new ranked-choice voting system means it could be more than a week before a new mayor is formally selected. Under the rules of ranked-choice voting, a system approved by nearly more than two-thirds of Oakland voters in 2006, voters rank their top three choices for mayor on the ballot. First choice votes are tallied, and if no candidate receives…

Brown rallies voters in Oakland

Former Oakland mayor and leading gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown held a rally Monday at Oakland’s Jack London Square, making a final push toward a return to the state’s top political position. Brown was joined on stage by Sen. Barbara Boxer and San Francisco district attorney Harris, who is running for state attorney general. Brown, who was California’s governor from 1975 to 1983, leads Republican candidate Meg Whitman by a considerable margin in the latest polls.

Medical marijuana advocate explains stance against Proposition 19

As a medical marijuana patient, Ryan Landers relies on the drug to stomach a single meal each day. Despite his support of previous landmark legislation, Landers has taken a stand against Proposition 19, on the state ballot next Tuesday, which would legalize several marijuana related activities.

Marijuana in California over the decades

Proposition 19, on the ballot this coming Tuesday would legalize several marijuana-related activities statewide, allowing for taxation and regulation of the drug. To better understand where the law would fit in California history, scroll over some dates from the timeline below for a short history of cannabis, locally and nationally.

‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ temporarily reinstated

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the policy that forbids gays from serving openly in the military, is now being enforced again, after a federal appellate court granted the Justice Department’s request to keep the policy in place while a case challenging its constitutionality is being decided.