Crime
Just a few weeks after the new school year began, two families in Oakland had terrifying moments when they received threatening calls about their kids, asking for a kidnapping ransom or medical treatment fees. But both calls turned out to be scams. According to John Sasaki, communications director for the Oakland United School District (OUSD), both calls were to families with students at Claremont Middle School. During the week of August 22, two parents got a call from a scammer…
Stay the course. That was the message given to those sitting in the front row of Oakland’s city council chambers Friday night, when friends and supporters gathered to watch 29 men and women graduate from the BOSS Career Training and Employment Center, in a ceremony that acknowledged the significant hurdles they had overcome to gain employment while under the supervision of the Alameda County Probation Department. BOSS, which stands for Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, is an East Bay non-profit which…
At Safe Passages for Women in Oakland, participants used found objects to build models of a safer city.
Last Thursday residents gathered to celebrate the Ella Baker Center’s 20th Anniversary, present awards and discuss future plans to continue rebuilding communities of color in Oakland.
The teenager at the center of a sexual exploitation scandal involving multiple police departments has returned to the Bay Area, according to her attorneys. At a press conference Thursday morning, civil rights attorneys Charles Bonner and Pamela Price said they are planning to sue “everyone involved” in sending Guap to Florida and in her sexual exploitation.
The Alameda County District Attorney can proceed with charges against seven Bay Area officers involved in the “Celeste Guap” case as soon as Guap is released from a Florida jail—something a Florida prosecutor said “could be soon.”
The 10th annual Urban Shield training and equipment expo sparks a major debate about the militarization of first responders in Oakland.
Leticia Soto—single mother, undocumented worker and rape survivor—stood in the auditorium at the Oakland State Building and addressed the crowd. In one hand, Soto clasped a placard reading: “When you’re alone at night, no one can hear you.” In the other, she gripped the microphone. “Just because I’m an immigrant or just because I’m a janitor does not mean I need to live in fear of being raped,” she said. Soto, along with sexual assault support groups and a union…
A new wave of activists focused on life after prison set a national agenda for reform.