Health
When Oakland resident Eddie Velasquez was growing up, he was frequently taunted by his peers for being gay. They called him derogatory slurs and told him to be a “real man.” He was raised in a traditional Latino household, and his cultural identity made little room for homosexuality. To stop the bullying, Velasquez even dated a woman for a short period of time, but he knew he wasn’t being honest with himself, he said. Velasquez’s experience is representative of the…
Based out of Counter Culture Labs, a community-owned lab in Oakland, Real Vegan Cheese is working on making a cheese that would have less of an environmental effect than making traditional cheese, which requires collecting milk from cows. They are using yeast and E. Coli to create the cheese proteins. In this video, scientists at UC Berkeley discuss whether or not the lab-grown cheese will be sustainable and if people will want to eat it.
In 2015, a measles outbreak spread across California, sickening hundreds of people. The outbreak spread across the West Coast as well as Mexico and Canada, and led the California legislature to outlaw vaccine exemptions based on personal beliefs. Removing the exemption has caused vaccination rates across the state to increase dramatically, including in the Bay Area. But some Bay Area residents worry current outbreaks in Washington and Oregon may soon jump state lines into California.
Animal Biome makes poop pills. Reporter Sarah Trent and her cat, Kafka, investigate how they work—and how they’re made.
In a pilot program, clients receive the regular pantry food, but also receive a specially-tailored box for their needs.
East and West Oakland have an air quality problem. In fact, children living there are diagnosed with asthma at twice the national rate. But a first-of-it’s-kind legislation for environmental justice, AB 617, is trying to fix this.
Having a school-based clinic means that with parents’ consent, clinic staff can see students for their appointment without a parent or guardian being present. This makes it possible for students to access care without an adult having to take time off of work.
More than 7,700 hotel workers across the country walked off of their jobs and began the largest strike in history against the largest hotel corporation in the world, Marriott.
Activist and registered nurse Michael Harank of Oakland talks about his life and work during the AIDS epidemic, and the most memorable moments.