Nina Sparling

Tales of Two Cities: Locked Up

Welcome back to the Tales of Two Cities podcast!  This episode is about being locked up. This week we’ll meet formerly incarcerated people who share their experiences behind bars and also learn about the ways they’re getting their lives back on track after their release. We’ll also look at a different kind of lock up as we hear about animals who are affected by isolation and confinement. We will follow rodent-trapping researchers in an effort to study mammals and also…

Oakland Diocese releases information on sexual abuse, but victim advocates are skeptical

Fifteen years ago, Dan McNevin and two other men sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland, alleging that a priest at a church in Niles had abused them as children. At first, McNevin felt validated. It seemed like he might finally get justice and hold the diocese accountable. As he told the press at the time, going public and confronting what had happened seemed like the only way to move forward. Then the backlash followed. “I was ridiculed. I was…

Port of Oakland,o​fficial​s work to resolve air quality in West Oakland

The Port of Oakland is the fifth busiest in the United States, and one of the biggest contributors to the poor air quality in West Oakland, which is among the worst in the Bay Area. According to Michael Murphy, an advanced project advisor for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), “The port represents at this time 30 percent of the contributing factors of the bad air quality in West Oakland.” But over the past 10 years, officials at…

Oakland teachers strike for higher wages, smaller classes

Early Thursday morning, Oakland teachers went on strike, calling for a pay raise and a reduction in class sizes. As early as 6 am, teachers gathered—equipped with coffee, jackets, and beanies to withstand the chilly morning weather—and started to picket in front of their schools. The strike follows two years of failed negotiations between the Oakland Education Association, which represents teachers as well as school nurses, counselors and other staff, and the Oakland Unified School District. The teachers have been working…

Mausoleum of the Cathedral of Christ the Light

The Cathedral of Christ the Light stands on a big plaza in Oakland where people are sitting on benches and lawns, talking to each other, or drinking coffee between meetings. Students come to study under the sun. Children are running along the lake and near Children’s Fairyland on the other bank. Inside the cathedral, three people are praying in silence in front of a giant image of Christ. Some come and go to see the unique wooden architecture of the…