Alameda County
The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve nearly $3.6 million in new funding for immigrant services, amid increased concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the Bay Area. The resolution, introduced by Supervisors Nikki Fortunato Bas and Elisa Márquez, allocates $2 million for the Alameda County Rapid Response line, a hotline to verify ICE sightings and connect people to immigrant legal services. It also extends grants approved earlier this year, when the board gave…
A divided audience packed the Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting on Friday, as the board adopted a policy that discourages the county from investing in companies with poor human rights practices, among other things. But the motion also called for delaying implementation of the Ethics Investment Policy until the board’s Finance Committee reviews it. That prompted Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas to cast the lone vote against it, saying she supported the policy without the stipulation. “This is incredibly disheartening and…
Alameda County officials announced Monday the release of $17 million in emergency grants to more than 370 licensed child care providers across the county. Childcare centers in Oakland, Hayward and Pleasanton started receiving checks Monday, officials said. Quinetta Lewis, director of St. Mary’s Center Preschool in Oakland said the $50,000 her school is receiving will help provide kids with better care. “With these funds we can now focus on better facilities for our children, better wages for teachers, recreation centers…
An angry group of about 15 people stood outside the Alameda County Administration Building Tuesday, chanting: “Voters deserve better,” and “We deserve better,” as they called for the dismissal of registrar of voters Tim Dupuis. The group called on the Board of Supervisors to remove Dupuis, accusing him of mishandling ranked-choice voting counts and mismanaging election resources. Mostly, they questioned why votes take so long to count in Alameda County, where regular updates were slow after the Nov. 5 election…
With over 211,000 votes counted, the recall attempt for progressive Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price appears to have been successful. The latest election results, released Thursday night, show the yes for recall votes ahead, with nearly 65% of voters agreeing to recall Price. On Wednesday, Price released a statement on her Instagram account urging patience and optimism while votes were still being counted at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. The post’s comments received mixed reactions, with some support…
Oaklanders who frequent the waterfront paths along Lake Merritt are accustomed to seeing encampments and trash heaps. Last spring, though, they came upon a surprising sight. A small hand-built cabin suddenly appeared in a grassy clearing on the lake’s western shore, just a short walk from the swanky Lake Chalet restaurant. The structure looked as if it was made with permanence in mind. Sturdily built of measured wooden planks, with plexiglass windows and a corrugated steel roof, it was big…
Ranked-choice divides Oakland voters — some want to scrap it, others want outreach to educate voters
In November 2022, Oakland resident Ima Ekong went to her local polling place to cast her vote in the city’s mayoral election. Two years later, she says she’s still unclear how ranked-choice voting, the ballot system used in city elections, selects winners and losers. “I think it is really confusing,” she said. Ekong is not alone. The 2022 election put a spotlight on ranked-choice voting with the surprise victory of Sheng Thao over Loren Taylor in the Oakland mayoral race…
With two weeks to go before the election, supporters of Pamela Price are campaigning hard to convince voters to allow the progressive Alameda County district attorney to finish her first term. They are up against a heavily funded recall effort determined to see that Price’s tenure is as short-lived as that of Chesa Boudin, the progressive San Francisco district attorney who was recalled in 2022 — the year Price was elected. More than 60 Price supporters rallied Sunday outside the…
After spending a combined 62 years on death row, two men will likely have their sentences reduced because of alleged prosecutorial misconduct at the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. During a July 16 news conference, District Attorney Pamela Price, who campaigned on a promise to not seek the death penalty, announced that Ernest Dykes and Keith Thomas will be resentenced. The move is the first tangible outcome of a judge-ordered review of death penalty cases in the county. In April,…