Community
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 10 today, which will increase minimum wage in California from the current $8 floor wage to $10 by 2016 – one of the highest rates in America.
When Rebecca Adams started teaching yoga and mindfulness at Oakland High School last year, it was as a weekly class for the staff, funded by a Staff Wellness grant from the Oakland Unified School District.
Within the lavender walls of Oakland’s Humanist Hall, the Gender Reel Festival screened films respecting the diversity and fluidity of the transgender and queer communities.
Volunteers wielded rakes, shovels and trash bags to clear litter from creek beds and shorelines on Saturday as part of Oakland’s annual Creek to Bay Day at the Rockridge-Temescal Greenbelt.
The first Oakland Music Festival took over San Pablo Avenue, Jefferson and 18th Streets for a Saturday full of tunes, art and food.
Meet Carter, a tiny little guy who came to the shelter as a stray in early August. He’s a very laid-back, 1-year-old Chihuahua who walks nicely on a leash and loves nothing more than cuddling. His small size makes him a better match for families with children more than 10 years old. See more pictures and video here: http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/26936134
Roughly 70 firefighters battled in vain to save a nearly century-old house of worship in West Oakland late Monday after the Zion First Church of God in Christ erupted into flames.
For the first time in the Oakland Unified School District’s history, parents of all low-income children eligible to receive a free or reduced lunch must apply for the program by February 6 — or the system could lose government subsidies for the next school year.
Pastor Billy Dixon Jr. leaned forward in his seat. “Do you know what 26 seconds of solid gunfire sounds like?” he asked. He placed his cell phone on the table, and started a timer. “Bang bang bang … !” he cried repeatedly, as a table full of Oakland North reporters, students at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, looked on in silence. Dixon wasn’t joking. As co-chair of the Oakland Ceasefire program and a longtime resident of Oakland, he…