Crime

Formerly incarcerated people rebound into job market

For Carmen Garcia, the end of a prison sentence was the beginning of a new set of problems.

“The biggest obstacle for me was continuing to stay in school, because the halfway house wanted me to get a job right away, a full-time job,” she said. “And I remember a case manager said to me, ‘You need to take this job, whatever job they offer you, because now you have a criminal record and you’re not going to be able to get another job. Don’t worry about education, because that’s not going to help you.’”

Sandra Johnson needs a job: Finding work after incarceration

Sandra Johnson needs a job, desperately. The formerly incarcerated 59-year-old Oakland woman is now a City College of San Francisco student, but needs to find work as well.

In June, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously in favor of establishing a new re-entry hiring program that aims to create 1,400 county job opportunities for the formerly incarcerated.

An RV, needles, Narcan: Street-level services in an opioid epidemic

O’Neil is using the training device that comes with each set of Evizo auto-injectors, which deliver a potentially life-saving dose of naloxone, a drug that counteracts the effects of opioid drugs. This includes both prescription drugs like hydromorphone, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, and street drugs like heroin and fentanyl.

Business owners take damage done during anti-Trump protests in stride

On election night, protesters gathered in downtown Oakland after midnight yelling angry things like “Not my president!” and “Fuck Trump!” in the quiet streets. Others took it a step further and lashed out against nearby businesses, breaking glass doors and windows and spray-painting graffiti anywhere visible, like on the windows of the Chase bank, the walls of the BART public elevator and the pillars of the Oakland federal building.

Garbage cans were set on fire and worried faces peeked out through doors after the angry crowd passed. Confused bystanders were upset at the damage to their property, and others worried about their safety, while the rest followed the trail of fires left on Broadway, trying to catch up to the mob either by running or riding their bikes. By the next morning, garbage, broken glass and graffiti covered the downtown.