Gina Pollack

Friends and family gather to remember shooting victim Isaiah Sudan: “The violence needs to stop”

For three months, Phyllis left her house every night at 9:30 p.m., stood on the sidewalk and looked around, the streetlight illuminating 54th Street in a fluorescent haze. She studied the windows of the homes next door and across the street, wondering if anyone inside might have peered out and seen what happened on the night of June 5. Her gaze would drift to the ground in front of her driveway, stopping on a fist-sized square drawn in chalk. If…

Oakland reacts to grand jury decision in Ferguson shooting with protests, freeway shutdown

A crowd of protesters filled downtown Oakland Monday night in reaction to the decision by a grand jury in St. Louis, Missouri, not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. By 5:50 pm, a crowd of several hundred had gathered in the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street in downtown Oakland. A group of people briefly tried to enter the 880 freeway at the Jackson Street entrance, but were turned away by police officers without incident. The crowd…

Voters say yes to boosting the minimum wage, higher sales tax and reclassifying some felonies

As election results rolled in after the polls closed last night, advocates for several major policy changes celebrated victories at the state, county and local levels, including a statewide initiative that reduced penalties for certain non-violent offenses, an increase in Alameda County’s sales tax and a raise for Oakland’s minimum wage. Alameda County residents agreed to double a transit-funding sales tax to one percent last night by passing Measure BB. (Voters defeated the similar Measure B two years ago.) The…