The Youth Vote 2010 forum, hosted by All City Council high school student leaders, was designed to give local students an experience with voting and the chance to come face-to-face with Oakland’s candidates. The forum included audience-submitted questions, followed by a vote for the top candidates.

Voting yes on Prop 23 means temporarily suspending (saying no to, that is) Assembly Bill 32. That state legislation, also called AB 32 and the Global Warming Solutions Act, was signed into law in 2006 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Click through to see an interactive graphic that provides a quick guide to some of the pro and con arguments and predicted effects of this controversial proposition.

Representatives John Garamendi, Barbara Lee and George Miller, along with East Bay Regional Park District Officials, will be at the Oakland Airport/Coliseum BART Station today at noon to celebrate a recent grant to improve bicycle and pedestrian trails in the Bay Area. Last week, the US Department of Transportation awarded the Park District with $10.2 million.  The grant will allow for the closure of critical gaps along pedestrian and bicycle trails and the construction of new trails.  The goal is…

Oakland mayoral candidate and local businessman Greg Harland hopes to address the majority of Oakland’s problems—high crime, unattended street maintenance, and increased parking fees and fines—using business sense.

The signature teal color of an old-school iMac stood out among a hodgepodge of items. There was a Sierra Nevada box filled with torn packaging envelopes, complete with stamps and postmarked dates. The one-man crew of 21 Grand—a downtown Oakland gallery and performance space—was purging everything that had accumulated in storage for the last decade, but the venue’s “emergency rummage sale” a couple of weeks ago wasn’t just an effort to collect a few bucks. It was to make the month’s rent.

In most cities, it’s Columbus Day… but in Berkeley, it’s Indigenous Peoples Day. Grass dancers shook to the beat of drums and non-Native Americans had the opportunity to learn about Native American culture through food, arts and craft, and traditional clothing at the city’s annual pow wow yesterday. According to the Berkeley Indigenous Peoples Day’s website, the city renamed Columbus Day in 1992–the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage–and after the inaugural year, a free pow has been held in Berkeley’s…

San Francisco Fleet Week is here and the itinerary is packed with activities–take a tour inside of a Guided Missile Destroyer ship, watch fireworks from a yacht while enjoying a gourmet dinner, or watch The United States Navy Blue Angels in an air show. The flight path spans from the Marina District to the docks along the Embarcadero, so where should spectators go to get the best views of the air show?  Look at our handy map of the hot…

Hundreds of UC Berkeley students, faculty and workers started chanting at noon during a rally in response to fee hikes, layoffs and furloughs. Early this morning, people were scattered around the campus, picketing and handing out flyers to students on their way to class. A noon rally will lead into a march and a sit-in until 5pm today. Follow us at twitter.com/northoaklandnow for live updates of the protest, and check out oaklandnorth.net for detailed coverage and photos. If you’re not familiar with…

In preparation of the Nov. 2 election, Great Oakland Public Schools–a nonprofit social welfare organization–is offering a mayoral voter guide on its website to showcase each candidate’s stance on various education issues.  The information is offered in the form of individual video interviews with the candidates, who were asked what their thoughts were on issues such as how to attract and retain teachers in the public schools, and how they envisioned their role as an advocate for students. Visit the Great…

Oakland’s Art Murmur event on Friday night focused on art of all forms. There were storyboards of comic books. There was a fawn with a surveillance camera for a head. But aside from what could be found in the galleries, the event attracted creative individuals who chose to wear their art rather than display it on a wall. Click on the article for a Flash interactive about the back stories about Art Murmur fashion.

The gloomy weather and a short-lived drizzle couldn’t deter the eaters and drinkers on Sunday afternoon as they sampled gourmet delicacies, fine wines and desserts on the rooftop of the Kaiser Center in Downtown Oakland for the 28th annual “A Taste of California—Up on the Roof.”

The second annual Taste of Temescal, an event celebrating a smorgasbord of culinary delights, sold out to hundreds of attendees on Tuesday. For $30, locals sampled signature items from each of the 23 participating restaurants on Telegraph Avenue.

As Alyssia Alexandria entered the newly renovated History Gallery at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) Friday night, a museum volunteer handed her a few scraps of drawing paper, a small yellow pencil, and a black and white pamphlet, an official invitation to play “Choose Your Own California Adventure.”

Oakland is encouraging gluttony this weekend as the city hosts two festivals, flooding the streets with thousands of locals and out-of-towners eagerly waiting to sample the various treats.