Crime
The sleepy Rockridge district was an unlikely home for scandal. But in 1927, it came to light that a small Rockridge bungalow had become the international headquarters of a mystical society called the “Great White Brotherhood.”
Brandy Martell, 37, a Hayward resident, was killed in downtown Oakland early Sunday morning. Martell, who identified as transsexual, was in her car at the corner of Franklin and 13th Streets in Oakland’s city center when she was shot repeatedly through the window and side door. Hers was one of three murders in the city that night.
Is Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s 100-block crime initiative working to reduce the city’s debilitating crime problem, or is it just moving city resources to one part of the city, as crime spreads to areas where there are now fewer officers?
The Oakland Police Department announced Thursday that officers had raided a commercial building in East Oakland and seized approximately $1 million worth of marijuana as well as a stash of weapons and body armor.
Every day, employees of the city of Oakland’s and the city of Richmond’s public works departments each collect around 30 abandoned mattresses. These discarded beds cause a litany of problems for a city—there’s the cleanup cost (about $500,000 annually for Oakland), they pose a public health risk by attracting insects and rodents, and contribute to neighborhood blight. The issue of abandoned mattresses is a “regional problem” State Senator Loni Hancock (D-Oakland) said Monday during a press event in an area…
Nearly six months after the first clashes between police officers and Occupy Oakland protesters in the middle of downtown Oakland garnered national attention, the Oakland Police Department is changing its crowd control policies, chief Howard Jordan announced at a press conference on Monday afternoon.
Oaksterdam University supporters celebrated 4/20—the calendar date that matches a code word often associated with pot smoking—with a march in Oakland protesting the recent federal raid of Oaksterdam’s facilities and demanding the federal legalization of medical marijuana. At 11 am, supporters gathered at the Federal Building on Clay Street in downtown Oakland. Starting off as a rather small gathering of some 30 medical marijuana activists and patients—many in wheelchairs—the group grew to around 200 people by midday. The protesters waved…
Justin Samaniego is attending the Oakland Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy because he wants to become a police officer. Jan Gilbrecht signed up because she believes that citizens need to be aware of the OPD’s practices and make sure the department is following the rules. Gilbrecht and Samaniego were two of 45 people who attend the first night of OPD’s Citizens Police Academy, which is for Oakland residents and department applicants who are interested in learning more about OPD’s “policies and procedures” according to the course booklet that’s passed out to each of the students.
After a federal raid in early April on Oaksterdam University, an education center located in downtown Oakland that trains students to work in the marijuana industry, founder Richard Lee has decided to step down as head of the institution. His successor will be former executive chancellor Dale Sky Jones, which will officially be announced on Wednesday morning.