Community
Oakland North is a project of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and now that it’s summer, our students are on break to work internships at other publications. We’ll be back to train a new class of student reporters in early September. If you like what we do at Oakland North, please consider donating to our Hyperlocal News Fund. You can learn more about us here. If you’ve found us over the summer, here are a few highlights from the coverage…
After four years of litigation, the U.S. Attorney’s office finally drops its case against Harborside Medical Cannabis Dispensary.
Launched on April 11 and to be held on the second Monday in every two months at Era Art Bar, the activity is welcome to all who want to try their hand at sketching.
After Hillary Clinton’s Oakland rally, Kayla, 17, had tears running down her cheeks. She was upset. Kayla, an 11th grader at MetWest High School, had walked to the rally site Friday with some classmates and at least one teacher. It wasn’t far: The event was held nearby in their campus gym. Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential contender, addressed the crowd of several hundred people, who chanted, “HILL-UH-REE! HILL-UH-REE!” Kayla and her friends—and a few others in the crowd—chanted “BER-NEE! BER-NEE!”…
The majority of people in the room seemed to be women, and many wore proud smiles on their faces. They were attending the graduation ceremony of the first all-female Green Energy Training Services (GETS) pre-apprenticeship cohort held by Berkeley non-profit organization Rising Sun Energy Center, and the room at John F. Kennedy University’s Berkeley campus was buzzing with excitement. Dubbed “Women Build,” the program trains women for union jobs in construction and other skill-based industries traditionally employing men. It launched on March…
On May 7, people gathered in Oakland’s Fruitvale district to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, commemorating the Mexican Army’s victory, despite the odds, against the French at the Battle in Puebla in 1862. The event, hosted by Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo (District 5) and the City of Oakland, began with a Mother’s Day mural dedication.
In the early 1980s, the Bay Area was at the center of thrash metal music, one of the many subgenres of heavy metal. During that decade, heavy metal became incredibly popular around the world; kids were growing their hair long, flashing the devil horn sign with their hands, and playing air guitar.
“Dogtown Redemption,” a documentary film shot over seven years in West Oakland, follows the lives of three local shopping cart recyclers.
Sury Martín and Paw Sei are part of a rapidly growing number of district parents who don’t natively speak English. According to OUSD’s fast facts website, during the 2014-2015 school year, 49.5 percent of students in the Oakland school district used a language other than English at home. Fifty native languages are spoken throughout the district.