Aysha Pettigrew

Dozens of tutors needed to help OUSD kids overcome COVID learning loss

Path2Math director Margena Wade-Green and six high school tutors gathered in a circle to prepare for the day of summer school ahead. Wade-Green led everyone in a deep breath and instructed them to leave everything outside the classroom behind and “prepare to welcome the babies.” When the babies — actually six second grade students — arrived, a few ran to hug their tutors. And then the tutors got to work at individual stations, each with a bag of practice worksheets…

Community raises money for Street Spirit, hoping to save paper that aids unhoused people

Over 100 people gathered at Tamarack in downtown Oakland on Saturday for a “Comeback Party and Fundraiser” for Street Spirit,  a newspaper that has focused on homelessness in the East Bay since 1995 and lost its funding in May.  The loss was a major blow for about 40 vendors, many of them unhoused, who sell the paper in Berkeley and Oakland for $2, keeping 100% of what they collect, including donations beyond the paper’s cost.  Editor-in-chief Alastair Boone is working…

Sideshow promoters face stiff penalties under new Oakland law

Oakland City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday making it a crime to organize, facilitate or promote sideshows.  The ordinance passed with six votes — councilmembers Kevin Jenkins and Janani Ramachandran were absent. Councilmember Noel Gallo originally proposed a stricter ordinance in December that would also have made it a crime to watch a sideshow, but that proposal was rejected and revised.  The revisions remove any mention of spectators and “bystander participants.”  The city has sought to deter people from participating…